8 Year Old

Happy Mother's day! In Norway Mother's Day is on a totally different date, and we tend to keep it down. Mother and Father's Days are always great for socks and panties refill!

8 year old in da house, with cupcakes (mix) even this mother can make! Arctic Dad on the other hand...made coco cake and cheese cake with cherry jelly lid. Very succesful, and 13 girls were happy. The 8 year old herself was pleased with the kick bike, that now even can be used outside (hurrah!).

Speaking of outside, we hung out by the shore in the weekend, still a bit cold - hat's not off yet. But soon, soon.

Please have a look at One Day In History: a reward winning photo project by a female Norwegian photographer with portraits of survival youth from the Utoya tragedy. The portraits are powerful, yet silent in a graceful way that honor these strong teenagers.

Wishing you a good week:)

.......40..........

18 women of choice in my kitchen. One 40 year old.

Many bottles of sparkling wine and lots of tapas. Sticky date pudding with toffee sauce. Quite a few vintage dresses.

Speeches, and my sister had made a song.

New green dress, a birthday gift!

I cried a few times. Like when my friend the restaurant manager invited me for a meal, with her babysitting.

I got flowers. And present cards to go wild. I'll get something just for me. I never do that.

I feel 40 will be fine. Like nicer wine: A little bit better.

The White Mountain

First snow on the city mountain. What do you know.

I'm clinging on to summer by writing an article about home exchange (did you know I used to be a newspaper journalist) on a Norwegian Parenting Blog.

My friend Ida brought me this cool magazine from Australia, so inspiring.

And I took my seven year old to watch a silent movie with live music. The pianist came all the way from New York (I guess he got a shock from the mountain snow too).

I'm 39 for eleven more days. I should do something wild.

 Have a good week!

The Birthday Party

We celebrated my daughter's birthday this weekend, with eight little friends. Arctic Dad stayed up to midnight the night before to make this cheese cake with strawberries. And Hello Kitty muffins is always a hit.

The next ten weeks will be hard for our country. The trial against the man who killed 77 people, mostly teenagers, has started. We'll all be taken back to the dark days in July again. You can follow the trial on CNN

On the lighter note: Within a week we'll have 24 hour daylight in the Arctic. My favourite time - I get so much done! You can clean the windows at 2 am if you want, and no one will shake their head.

Should I do a 24/7 daylight crash course perhaps, like polar night?

I wish you a good week!

Asphalt Through The Snow

My daughter's definition of spring: You can spot the asphalt through the snow.

So I guess there is spring. Since there are spots of asphalt some places.

Sweet Coco from Japan sent me some seeds for the garden. But as you can see: They will not exactly be planted tomorrow.

This one turned five! She loves to puzzle, eat olives, shuffle snow (genetically determined) and watch programmes where doctors perform complicated surgeries. What she doesn't like is having her curly hair combed. But I'm certainly no fan of children's beauty contests - for a ton of reasons.

Have a good mid week. You readers are the best!

Kitchen Demolition Dynasty

Snowfall again today. Is it the last of the season? Who knows, anything can happen in the Arctic.

This little lady is four today. She may be a future optician, with a little help from her friend granddad.



We've demolished the kitchen in the new house. To our surprise it means we definately need a new kitchen, and in a month and a half. I've heard projects like these cause divorce. Cross fingers!



My friend Teresa in London sent us our first house warming gift, a granny square pillow! We used to chase cheap Bordeaux and men together in France. Now she chases vintage goodnesses for me on e-bay.



She's also the woman behind this vintage lego loveliness that my eldest daughter guards with her life from her little sister.

Still some time to enter my giveaway! Update: Meg in Wisconsin won the Qualman-book! Check out her great blog!