Thursday, 24 January 2013

Skating on the Lake



The lakes have been frozen for over a week now (Yep, it's been -10c quite a bit this week brrr!), and we have not had a chance to get out on them. Since the weather is suppose to to warm up after the weekend we thought we had better be quick.


Tim caught the Metro straight from school with his friend B and met me as I finished work. Right next to my school is our local lake which is approved for skating. I had my skates with me, but since Tim had his friend it meant my ankle could take a rest.




The boys had so much fun.


They raced right to the other side of the lake - leaving me on bag duty! So I slowly made my way over to watch them.




Apart from racing, they did tricks; they tried hopping while skating on one foot and jumping off a rock, both were quite entertaining.



Obviously, since Tim is now a cool sixth grader, he had to take his coat off (It was soooo cold)..



After a while they found an old popped ball and a long stick and played SlÄball;)
Hopefully we will have a chance to skate on the lake again, otherwise it will be back to the local ice rink. But we loved it while we could:)





Sunday, 20 January 2013

Game Time!



This afternoon the sky was clear blue and it was a crispy -9c outside.

We had a discussion regarding what to do - ice skating, a walk, a cycle ride or family games? 

Games won!!


We have not really played any formal board games with Tae as a whole family before, and it was very interesting watching him grasp the rules.


When we started out, patience was not a strength. Taking turns with only mummy is one thing, but waiting for Pappa AND Tim to have a go too was quite a challenge;)


After a while, he got a lot better and it was fun watching him read his card and move his own counter with varying degrees of help.




Once Candy Land was over, we moved onto a new game Tim received for Christmas called 'Norge Rundt'.


The whole of Norway is divided into 4 areas and you are given 4 cards from each area with cities and towns on.

The person to visit each of their places wins. There are also chance cards and Norwegian history and geography questions along the way!!

As it was quite a complicated game, Tae acted as official dice thrower for us all so he could still play a part. 

I was very surprised how much fun this game was as you had to really plan your route. It is also great for learning Norwegian geography!!

I will mention that both Tig and Tim are slightly competitive when it comes to playing games. We ran out of time to finish the game, but for the record - I was winning:))

Earlier in the day Tae had fun playing hide and seek with Tig. We really have to work on his hiding skills - apart from giggling very loudly from his spot, he took the 'I can't see you, so you can't see me approach:)



Sunday, 13 January 2013

Sunny Cold Sunday




Nothing beats where I live when the rain stops!

The weather at the moment is cold and crispy (-5c) with blue skies and sun.



 I love that even though we live a 5 minutes drive from the city centre, we are also a 5 minute walk away from many beautiful places, either the lake, mountain or woodland. 

This means we could head out the door and cross the road to feed the ducks.The boys grabbed their scooters and we were off.



They had fun scooting along on the ice! Not the safest thing and they took turns slipping, sliding and falling over, but they survived (well, almost - but no broken bones and great gross motor skill practice).  



No snow, but a really thick layer of ice and frost. The lake was totally frozen (I see lake ice skating in our near future:).


Finally it was time for the serious business of feeding the ducks. 


Tae still feels the need to shout in his loudest voice to the ducks. "Ducks, come and get the bread...come on ducks, here it issssss!!!" Not too helpful;) I think we have the only duck pond with traumatized ducks!



Tig kept on eye on our duck feeder, while Tim went off exploring. He kept trying to break the ice and to see how deep it was.




I just went around snapping photos and playing with my new camera lens that the above mentioned boys got me for Christmas:)))

This year I am going to try to be better at actually appearing in photos with my boys, so they have a record I was there! So I let Tig have the camera (Yes, I am very protective of my Nikon;) and catch a photo of Tim and I.


I know we are stood on a slope, but he is seriously catching up to me. #slowdown #dontgrowup

Wednesday, 9 January 2013

Question Time!


As 2013 begins I decided to interview the boys about their favourite things with a few fun extra questions thrown in.



Tae

How old are you?
I am 4

What is your favourite colour?
Yellow

What is your favourite food?
Brown cheese

What is your favourite drink?
Biola (yogurt/biotic drink)

What is your favourite toy?
Airplane

What is your favourite TV show?
Peppa Pig and Mickey Mouse

 

What is your favourite treat?
Sweeties and lollipops!

Which are your favourite clothes?
Pajamas:)


Where is your favourite place?
On an airplane

What do you like to do outside?
Play with water

What is Pappa's job?
Daddy works in an office

What is mummy's job?
Mummy is a teacher

What do you want to do when you grow up?
Fly a plane






Tim

How old are you?
I am 11 and a half

What is your favourite colour?
Black and red

What is your favourite food?
Super noodles and KFC

What is your favourite drink?
Mountain Dew

What is your favourite toy?
X-Box and computer



What is your favourite TV show?
Simpsons

What is your favourite treat?
Chocolate orange and penguin biscuits

Which are your favourite clothes?
Creeper hoody and Umbro football pants



Where is your favourite place?
On a football pitch or in the computer room

What do you like to do outside?
Football

What is Pappa's job?
Calculates that all the numbers are right

What is mummy's job?
Special needs educator

What do you want to do when you grow up?
Own a gaming company



I also asked them how old they thought Tig and I were! Tim scored correct for both. According to Tae, mummy is 2 and Pappa is 10!!

The interview was carried out and answered in English:) The answers really are spot on and give a  true insight to each of my boys!


Friday, 4 January 2013

New Year's Eve


As creatures of habit, we spent our New Year's Eve with our lovely friends G & I.
We arived early to celebrate the gorgeous T's birthday! How the years have spun past. She has grown into a beautiful young lady. I am still coming to terms with the fact she is now taller than me!



We relaxed and watched as the delightful I, who happens to be an amazing chef made some nibbles. We then got the children ready to go out jule bukk (think treat or treat with carol singing).










When they were all ready we sent them off wrapped up for the cold rainy night - Tim and O ran off before I took their photos, so I snapped them wet & cold, but happy with briefcases full of sweeties when they returned!





By 7.30pm, one party boy had crashed and burned and took himself off to bed.




Lots of chatting, laughing and bubbles flowed.











E & F were there too, but I've not asked them if I can post their pics,so you'll have to take my word that they had smiley faces too;)

Then it was time to ring the New Year outside with fireworks.




Tae had woken up, put on his Pj's, and refused to get out of bed to join us. So he enjoyed the view from the window:)





With us taking turns to 'stand' with him:)