Wordless Wednesday - Advent Lights and Ola the Elf!

 

Supermarket Sweep - Tae Style

Why did we think shopping on a Friday evening, whilst Tim was at youth club was a good idea??

If it's at my level that means I can put it in the trolley- right?

After insisting he would not sit in the trolley, but hold mummy's hand, he changed his mind and wanted to push!

That was until he found some sweeties:)

 Hmmm, more things at my level:)

After a warning not to touch, back to holding onto the trolley.

Until he found his favourite smoothie drink.

Then quickly distracted by the CandyMan selection.

As a finale, he tried his luck by asking for an ice lolly!! It is November and freezing outside!

To his credit we survived without having to bribe him or force him into the trolley seat. There were no tears or tantrums, but the food bill did seem quite a bit higher than usual;)

Introduction to Norlish

The language Norlish is very special and unique.

A small population use it.

Since we are a bilingual household, it sometimes leads to the third language of Norlish being used.

When Tim was younger he mostly used English and Norwegian and very little Norlish, however, Tae uses the 3 languages equally.

 

So, what is Norlish?

Its basically what we call the mixed up, blended version of both our languages;)

 

Now Tae is speaking all. the. time. it can be quite amusing to listen to him.

 

It's almost like he has so much to say that he can't process out the choice of English or Norwegian. The majority of the time he speaks to Tim and I in English and Tig and 'others' in Norwegian.  In most cases he does know and usually uses the correct word, but it gets muddled sometimes.

In fairness, the Norlish does come out more when he is more excited or tired. Examples include;

Mummy, what is dette (that)?

Pappa kjøre (drives) car!

Tae lage (make) the coffee.

Can I have litt brus (little bit of pop) pleeeease:)

A little mer (more).

But given that he was exposed to English, Norwegian and Korean for the first year of his life, he is doing pretty good!

 

Each day when Tae leaves Nursery/Barnehage he calls out to the staff

'Takk for idag' quickly followed by 'see ya later'!

Yep, he covers both bases (which they think is pretty cute;)

Wordless Wednesday - National Adoption Week: Flashback to Day 1 with Tae

 

 

The boy loves hats:)

That would be Mr Tae!!

Tae loves hats. Given the weather in Norway, this is a good thing:)

He has quite a selection of both summer and winter ones.

In fact his winter collection is getting out of control.

Here are a few of them, including his absolute favourite!

I refer to his favourite head piece as 'ugly hat'.  This is the one he chooses to wear everyday to and from and during daycare - although I usually leave an extra one there as well!

Bless him - at least it keeps him warm;)

Let's Talk About Tim....

Let's talk about Tim.

Where do I start?

Well, he has a beautiful soul and a heart of gold. He is kind and thoughtful. Tonight, I'm tired and Tig is sick, so he is putting Tae to bed. Gotta love older brothers and yes, he is only 10 years old.

It's not always apparent how sensitive he is, he is very good at hiding this to others. This is partially due to his lively personality.  He is not usually the one quietly sitting in the corner;) He knows where the line is and has been known to pop his toe over it, but when caught, takes full responsibilty and often charms his way out of it;)

He has a great sense of  humour and will often tease or laugh at himself. Tonight when I was eating some of my English chocolates, he said it wasn't fair that I wouldn't share, because he shares everything with me; even his washing;)

He adores and loves his brother more than words can describe.

He is very determind, stubborn and knows his own mind (traits all my 3 men have - heaven help me)!

So, this brings me to why I wanted to document who he is at this moment in time.

This week we had his Grade Five parent conference with his new teacher. Before the conference he was very nervous, to the point that he suggested holding off on his pocket money until afterwards in case he didn't deserve it:0 We asked him a few times why? We explained that if there was anything we needed to know, please tell us rather than find out from the teacher!

We have no illusions that Tim can be a monkey, but basically he is also a good kid. But to be honest, he'd made me slightly nervous too.

So in we went.....

and you know what? 'the boy did good'!

He is trying hard, paying more attention in class and getting his work done. Previously, if Tim didn't see the point of an activity, he had a hard time engaging in it.

We have always been told that he is strong academically and his National Tests results reflected this. He did amazing ..... phew!!

My sensitive little bundle of energy is growing up. He is taking responsibility and is going in the right direction.

So not only is he gorgeous on the inside, charming, and a handsome devil on the outside (I know I'm biased) he is also a smart cookie!!

Wordless Wednesday - Eyes front and smile x2 - easier said than done!



Tae discovers console games!

Ok, Tae is already an iPad addict. He can navigate it better than I can. He watches his favourite films and plays simple games on it.

However, this weekend Tig and Tim introduced him to the Wii (or willy as he call it - oops;)

Obviously he doesn't really play for long. He waves the remote in front of the screen enthusiastically, copies what the others are doing, then stands happily watching Tig and Tim play his game.

He also sits on the sofa with the spare remote and swings it side to side saying 'Tae help daddy'. A very happy boy:) He enjoys pretending to hit the nails in;)

I just sit back and watch bemused as Tig and Tim enthusiastically play the game Bob the Builder!

Of course they are only doing it for Tae;)

Bubbles for grown ups

Someone in our house turned 40 recently!!

They were very lucky to be whisked away to Scotland for the weekend by their husband and fabulous friends.

Our friend GB also celebrated his 50th Birthday.

A limo picked us up from the airport and drove us to meet another great friend for a super international lunch including a significant amount of champagne:) Thanks AM.

Dinner Friday night was a unique experience. We dined at Malmaison and had the chef's table which had a huge glass window next to the kitchen and a TV showing the chefs at work.

The food was delicious and steak was definitely on the menu. Mine was 400g and Tig's was 700g!!!! Of course we began the evening with champagne before enjoying a wonderful red. I know my buddy IB will know the name of the steak and wine, but I'm hopeless at remembering the details, but will not forget the taste.

After a day and night spent in the city we travelled on Saturday to Gleneagles.

Time was spent relaxing and taking on country past times including a gentle walk and jacuzzi time.

The menfolk went off to a whiskey distillery, whilst the ladies indulged in a champagne high tea (can you see the pattern of bubbles being consumed;)

In the evening we ate at the 2 star Michelin Andrew Fairley restaurant. (For the details of the 9 course food and wine menu I will wait until the amazing IB writes it up on her food blog and link it here)

We had a fabulous night and needless to say it began and ended with bubbles.

We checked out on Sunday and spent the afternoon enjoying the Scottish scenery of castles and a small seaside town before catching our flight home.

A special thank you to my wonderful MIL who came to visit and looked after Tim and Tae whilst we were away.

They both love Farmor, as I explained to Tae that we were going away and he was staying with Farmor, who bakes amazing cakes and supplies endless ice lollies, my sweet little mummy's boy ran grabbed Farmors hand and shouted "bye bye mummy!!!"

Where is loyalty these days.

So.... I survived turning 40 and to be honest, I quite like it.