A New Look!

We have an unwritten plan when it comes to upgrading our house and furnishing.

A kind of agreement.

A list of things we have casually chatted over and prioritised for the next few years.

Things like new dressers and a fitted wardrobe for our bedroom. Landscaping the garden. Underfloor heating in the hallway. A new kitchen. New sofas.

Everything on this list has a rough timeline depending on a lot of things, nothing is really urgent, somethings we specifically have decided to put off purchasing (please reference this later;).

So, we decide to start with dressers and have scoped out a few, but wanted to recheck the ones we think we actually want.

As we walk through the shop, we obviously have to mooch around all the other departments. Get a feel and refine what we actually want when the time is right for all the other things on our list.

As we went through the sofa section we tweaked our criteria list. A large corner sofa or 2 three seaters, hard wearing fabric in a medium to dark colour - brown/blue. Must be comfy and deep seated. (reference criteria)

 

I will also add at this point, we had specifically agreed that a new sofa was waaaaay down on our list. Just in case you hadn't noticed, we have 2 boys, aged 3 & 10 years old in our house (reference the age and word boys for later).

So to sumerise - The last thing on our list is new sofas. When the boys are older we will be looking for either 2x 3 seaters or large corner and in a dark, no stain showing colour.

Yep - We have been known to be a little spontaneous and go with our gut instincts. When we like something - we just like it!!

Hence, we have bought new sofas. A 2 seater and a 3 seater in cream!!!!!!!!!!!

Please look at referance point 1 2 & 3. Yes, we had not planned to buy sofas anytime soon, they are not the size we discussed and completely a colour that was NOT on our radar, especially with 2 young boys.

However, they seem happy with our choice:)

They are lovely and VERY comfy, and hey, we may be in our 4th decade, but we still like to live life on the edge;)

Loving Books!

Let's say that Tim Loves many thing in life! One thing he has a love-hate relationship with is reading.

He hates the thought of reading - or starting a new book, but loves it as soon as he is a couple of pages in.

It tends to be flood or drought around here as far as his home/enjoyment reading goes.

What works for him is if he can get hooked into a series of books. Then it's usually full steam ahead.

We started out with Horrid Henry and Beast Quest in English then moved onto Taynikma and Bjørn Sortland books in Norwegian. These were the main series he covered. We also have had quite a few other books in between, including Harry Potter.

However, recently he could not find any books or series that he loved. Until he started reading the Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan!!! Yay.

Please note, he has had the first 2 books since Christmas, but refused to open them up. Well, during Easter, I decided it was time and put him on at least 30 mins reading each day. Soon he was hooked. He loves the books and it is wonderful to hear the excitement in his voice as he talk about them.

He started book 1 then, and just over 2 weeks later he is already half way through book 3!! Thank you Amazon for quick deliver of the rest of the series;)

So we are good to go until the summer. Now.... All I have to do is find another series of books to hook him into for then!!



Pappa's Pizza

In true Norwegian tradition we quite often have pizza at the weekend.

So we are quite the pizza experts in our house.

Quick Pizza History

Tig refuses to buy the most common 'shop bought' pizza called a Grandiosa (or any other frozen pizza). In fact, when I first came to Norway, I'd heard so much about it, I asked if we could have it one evening - apparently it was not an option:( I ended up buying it when he went out one night - very junky pizza, not that bad, but wouldn't describe it as good either.

Then you have the 'chain' take away pizzas. Dolly Dimples and Peppe's Pizza. Both made fresh, great choice and they deliver, but expensive - enough said:)

 

A few years ago Tig decided that he would learn to make pizzas himself from scratch. We have not looked back. They are far nicer than anything we have ever bought! 

Over the years he has experimented with different doughs, toppings, tomato sauces and cheeses. We pretty much have it all worked out now!

We love it ALL. Tim far prefers what he refers to as Pappa's pizza than any other.

We have now entered the Italian style - thin and crispy phase. Tonights offering were 4 pizzas:

Pepperoni

Serono ham

bacon

Tuna & Capers (my favourite)

Tim's contribution is to make the dip to go with it. ( He got tips from his friend O, that it was far better to mix your own from the spice rack than to buy the ready made packets).

Seriously yummy - a major family tradition around here:)

Wordless Wednesday - A new big boy bike

Tim's English Homework - My Easter Holiday

I am really pleased with the progress Tim has been making with his English literacy. (At times I forget he is my little Norwegian boy;) Apart from a few years in preschool, all his schooling has been in the local Norwegian school. He speaks fluent English with Tae and I and we try to do a little English with him each week (and not very consistently) - at times this is painful and it has been known for us to fall out over it;) He has not done very much writing, mostly reading and grammar work.

This week at school, the homework assignment for all the 5th Grade students was to write at least half a page describing their Easter break. They were given some key phrases and parent support was encouraged. 

I gave very little support as I was curious to see what he produced. I only helped him brain storm some ideas of what to include. No spelling or grammar correction at all:)) This is what he wrote .....

For my Easter holiday 2012, we travelled to M***y and visited family. Tae, daddy and I started driving at 7.30 in the morning the first Saturday of Easter and we came to M***y at 2 o clock. We travelled by car and we had to use two ferrys to cross the fjords. When we came there, we were happily greeted by my Farmor.

A few hours later, my uncle and cusins arrived from Oslo. My uncle is called R** and my cusins are called E** and I**.  Farmor cooked us a very nice dinner. We ate tacos.

The next day we hung out at home playing games. On Munday we went to the shops and bought our Easter goodies and as usual we had a very nice dinner.

On Tuesday we went bowling and I won. It was quite we funny. E** was fed up because he was losing so he asked me to throw the bowling ball and I got 2 strikes in a row. Then we started laughing.

My mum arrived that night. She had been in England celibrating my Nanas birthday.

Over the next days I went bowling again. We went for a few walks even on the beach wen it was snowing. My Farmor got sick and was in bed for a whole day. She got a bit better the next day.

My mum orgenized an Easter egg hunt. First she hid the eggs and then we went looking for them. We had three eggs each to find and an egg cup with a chocolate egg in.

On Sunday we went home to B** in the car. On the Munday we just relaxed at home.

My Easter has been exiting and fun.  I enjoyed the Easter egg hunt most.

For a boy who HATES writing, I think he did a pretty good job. On paper it turned into over two pages! What made me chuckle the most was his spelling of Mo(u)nday. Anyone who knows my accent will totally understand the spelling!! According to him, it is playing his online computer games Mindcraft and Runescape that is the reason he can read and write in English and nothing to do with mummy's blood, sweat and tears!

I'm guessing this is what he means by 'hanging out' with his brother.