Happy Birthday Lars!

The year seemed to flash by in like, 30 seconds: Lars turned 1 this week!
With no kitchen to speak of (Grandma's renovating) and the kitchen unloaded into the family room/living room, chances of a 1st birthday party were looking slim. In step good friends Colleen & Dan Slear who live in the neighborhood & offered to host the party at their house. Here are a few photos of the great party we had, and the good friends there. Kids were Petey, Will and Grace Slear, Cecilie & Lars, and Lauren Mattison. Fire Jeep kindly shared by Petey & Will.

An assortment

While stealing sledding pictures I came across these more recent ones...

Some pictures from the snow storm

Well, I found these on Carl's camera and thougth I'd share...

Pancake Day, French Style

Tuesday was Pancake Day, of course, which is not celebrated here in the US. But it got me thinking about many fine Pancake Day celebrations with the Berkshire Massive, and one member of the massive came to mind in particular - the lovely Frenchie, Gildas.

Maker of a mean pancake or two, as well as many other culinary delights, Mr LePallec was always game for a celebration that involved some cooking.

So in honor of our dear friend G, we drank some Cotes du Rhone, and ate a creme brulee. Here's to you Gildas, wherever you are...

(Now, has everyone given something up for Lent?)

So there...

(The names of certain characters have been changed to protect the innocent)

C: Daddy, why is X a baby?
D: X is not a baby he/she is the same age as you...
C: Daddy, why does X cry like a baby?
D: When does X cry like a baby?
C: When I hit him / her!
D: Well, you know you shouldn't hit anybody, and YOU cry like a baby when Morgan (12yr old neighbour) comes over to play with you [babysit-ish].
C: Oh. Yeah.

A Life in the Day of Nilsens

My day starts around 4am, when Lars wakes up convinced he will starve to death unless he has a bottle RIGHT NOW - no amount of 'crying it out' or soothing back rubs will convince him otherwise. Grandma's theory is that he's figured out how to get some extra Mommy time in a 24-hr period.

Back to bed for me, and then the alarm goes off at 5.30am and Nilsen gets up, goes to the basement to check emails, talk to the Swedes, and shower without waking the kids up. He's supposed to wake me up at 6.15 when he leaves the house to drive 30 long slow miles around the Beltway to Reston,VA and his new project mgmt job, before Washington traffic really kicks in. Instead, we have a conversation, he turns on the lights, and I fall back to sleep for an exhausted 30 mins until 6.45 when Cecilie comes creeping into our room and puts her cold feet on my belly to warm up, and we listen to Lars chatting to himself next door.

7am, we're all out of bed and Cecilie is shrieking 'GOOD MORNING LARS!' as we go in to change his diapers. 7.20 and usually we've made it downstairs where I start the kettle boiling for coffee (1st priority - and when I think about how Nilsen & I used to be so snobbish about instant coffee!). By this point Cecilie has requested her Cinderella DVD about 6 times, and we've negotiated a yes/no/maybe so. Then figure something out for the kids' breakfast, whilst saying good morning to the contractors who are ripping out Grandma's kitchen whilst I scramble the eggs. 7.45 and I'm realising I'll never get out of the house in time, especially if Cecilie continues to be so poky about finishing her toast. 7.50, we're back upstairs and I throw up the baby gate to keep Lars off the stairs, Cecilie leaps into the shower and insists no one may join her, and Lars starts banging on the washing machine with enthusiasm.

I pull kids clothes out of drawers, and hear shrieks of 'Mommy! LARS IS GETTING IN THE BATHTUB!' and find Lars' feet sticking out over the edge of the tub, head under the tap and both of them giggling. I pull him out, strip off his pajamas and take him into the shower with us and try to get clean as quickly & efficiently as possible. Then its into whatever clean black clothes are on my bedroom chair (only black because there is no time/inclination to accessorise or coordinate). Kids into clothes, and bundle down the stairs & into the car for Grandma to drive me to Metro. Grandma is then officially in charge for the day.

A quiet 45 min. ride where I slap on some makeup & read the front page of the paper, then hike the 14 blocks to the store where I spend the day selling ceramic pigs, silk flowers and sofas to the wealthy. On a good day Nilsen can stop by on his way home and pick me up (the benefit of starting work at 7am is finishing at 4!) and we get 45 mins together to think of all the things we need to be discussing. On a bad day I do the reverse hike back to Metro, ride 45 mins home and then get picked up by one of the adults in the house and one or more unhappy, hungry children.

7pm, 7.20 and we re-enter the fray, usually with Lars ready to crash well before dinner is finished. The big question is whether or not Cecilie has napped, because if she has you know you're in for some corkers, and a very busy evening of lots of playing and stories. If not, she's falling asleep in her soup and the rush is on to get them in bed before it all ends in tears. Her newest approach to bedtime is having some time alone to read books before its time for lights out - how can I argue with reading time? Her day finishes with a few songs, and the reassurance that Grandma will be right up to kiss her, if she can only lie still with her eyes closed.

Then its back downstairs to sort out the toys in the playroom, find all the missing pieces, watch the Olympics, and pack lunches for the next day. One for Grandpa (no place to buy lunch at his office), one for Torbjorn (ditto), and one for Kirsten (lunch in Georgetown ain't cheap!). If there was any way to cook dinner in the middle of construction, then those dishes need doing, but dinner out is probably on the menu for the next month or so.

The day ends with re-tucking blankets around sleeping cherubs, getting the bottle ready for the 4am wakeup call, and pretending to read/solve SuDoKu for 30 seconds before turning out the lights.

We keep promising that in our free time we'll get the trim painted in the Yellow House so the floors can be refinished so the kitchen can be installed so the laundry room (which currently holds all the kitchen units) can be installed so we can finally move in by the move-in date of April 30ish. This would, however, be based on the assumption that there are funds for all of this frenzied activity. Hence, Torbjorn's new job and my old(ish) job and hence the lack of free time. Hey, we're living the American Dream.

The truth

I wanted to be part of the fun too so when Cecilie told me it was only for girls I said that I was a girl too.
No, you're not! was the response and when I asked how she knew I wasn't a girl, I was told that I just didn't have enough hair!

The snow came down...

Oh, we've got tons of it... 14 inches, or 35 cm if you like it better that way. I realize it's not SO impressive to the Norwegians among you, but it is the most snow the Nilsen family as seen in 10 years!

It has brought Washington to a standstill. 70,000 are without electricity in Maryland (we've got it...), and they still haven't gotten around to plow the street outside so we are housebound, except grandpa who's been around the neighborhood looking for good Samaritan opportunities in his truck - he found a plenty!

And the kids are loving it, Cecilie is going down the hills on her christmas present inner tube with a wheeeeeeee, and Lars is jumping up and down with joy! (at least doing jumping motions...) We might even get to keep it for a couple of days, a truly blessed Sunday.

Let it shine, let it shine

I made a discovery (thank heavens for NPR)...

Live performances from concerts arranged by the producer Bill Graham in the San Francisco area from the sixties until 1996...

It is an eclectic mix to say the least: The Allman Brothers, The Band, Cream, The Doors, Bob Dylan, The Eagles, Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Madonna, Bob Marley, Metallica, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Tom Petty, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Santana, Bruce Springsteen, U2,Van Halen, The Who, Neil Young, Frank Zappa, and that's NOT EVEN MENTIONING THE REALLY GOOD ONES. All live, all one of a kind, all free.


It is a radio stream so you don't know what you'll get and you might have to wait a couple of songs to find something you've heard before. The selection is ever expanding, so this musical education is likely not to stop until you reach the end of the internet and want to go home.

Daddy, daddy, I have delightful news...

Not to his mum, not to his dad, Lars decided to take his first independent steps today to his sister... She in turn ran to the top of the stairs and shouted the above, it was all very exciting!

He's been taking steps for a little while, mostly when stood up by an adult and "encouraged" (I've had some luck with using the forward momentum of a hand held walk, aka "the push", the ladies are attractive enough for him, apparently, to walk to them if they reach their arms out, let's call it "the pull" for balance). Today he stood up by himself, took aim for his big sister and stepped across the floor to her - five was the total count of steps, so I think we can mark the date as the official FIRST.

I've got a fast car

Out driving with the kids, Cecilie is insisting that I am driving too fast (we're three minutes into this conversation... )
C: You ARE driving too fast daddy, the trees are moving away very fast.
T: No, I can assure you, I am following the speed limit.
C: If the police catches you, you, Lars and I are all going to jail.
T: Cecilie, I am going as as fast as the policeman say we can go.
C: What would you say if the policeman stopped us?
T: Oh la la!
C: No human being says "oh la la".
T: Well, I am a human being and I just said "oh la la".
C: Daddy you are a curious person.

Three (and a half) conclusions:
1. Stay away from Cecilie in the afternoon if she misses her nap.
2. I am pretty good at diverting silly conversations.
3. The French are not human beings, and possibly - I am French...

More or less important information

I picked this up from a 15 old Norwegian, between the two of us I am not sure how much authority we have, but there you go:

There are over 2700 different languages in the world.
Basque, is considered the most difficult language to learn, it shares no similarities with any other language.
Somalia is the only African country where the population speaks the same language.
For each 100 girls there are 106 boys are born.
People drinking coffee are less likely to commit suicide.

The biggest toy distributor in the world is Mc Donalds.
The animal killing most humans every year is the mosquito.
Your blood is makes up about 8% of your total body weight.
More than 80% of your brain is water.
We are born colorblind.

You read this at about 75% of the speed you would read something on paper.
Men shave on average 20 000 times in their lifetime.
A city dog lives three year longer than a country dog.
A giraffe can live longer without water than a camel .
93 % of all cards are purchased by women.

Your desk contains 400 times more bacteria than the average toilet.
Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
Bill Gates' home was designed on a Mac.
Nintendo started making games in 1889.
Yellow houses sell faster than houses in any other colors.

Sony's first product was a rice cooker.
The most dangerous profession in the US is fishing.
Fiji is made up of 322 islands.
There are over 187 888 lakes in Finland.
There has been more than 190 coups in Bolivia since the nation became independent in 1825.

Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952, he declined.
Cleopatra married two of her brothers.
Richard Nixon's daughter married Dwight Eisenhower's grandson.
Humphrey Bogart and Diana were related.
The circumference of the moon is the same distance as from New York to London.

An average four year old asks 400 questions daily.
The Hollywood sign was erected in 1923, originally it said Hollywoodland.
The last Olympics where the gold medals were actually made of pure gold were in 1912.
Canada is the only country that has arranged an Olympic game and not won a single gold medal.
Between 1900 and 1920 tug of war was an OIympic sport.

The first televised Olympics were the games in Berlin, 1936.
Half of all Americans does not know that the sun is a star.
One of five Americans don't have a passport.
1000 times more chocolate is consumed in England than in China.
On average 0,7 % of the world's population will at all times be drunk.

Nine out of ten victims of shark attacks survive.
4 % of children are born on the date set by the doctor.
Women that read romantic novels has more sex than women not reading this type of literature.
Japan is the country in the world that consumes the most electricity.
Flying is the safest form of transportation in the world.

The End...

Not quite sure why, but this appealed to me almost too much, thanks Xander...

Bittersweet

Another from Cecilie:

All in the spirit of the Year of the Princess (most favourite being Cinderella), she has now started calling me Stepmother.

Sigh. This is in punishment for being at work all the time, as if I needed further proof that this particular parental compromise isn't working well.

On the upside, Stepmother is no longer allowed to make The Princess breakfast - 'Mommy' (aka Grandma) is the only one fit for the task. Thus letting me finish my coffee in peace and get more sloppy kisses from Lars. A small upside. Double sigh.

Rock 'n Roll

Not having digital pictures to go with these posts sucks. For example, you guys are missing the Year of the Princess, with full princess dress (courtesy of Santa) and glass slippers whipped out for every occasion. She even managed to track down Princess Gummi Bracelets at the video store last night. ("Oooh, if we're watching videos with Grandpa we'll need junk food!")

And many of the Cecilieisms these days you have to be there to get the context (her syllogisms are just getting so complex...) But really, she is just so THREE:

Riding in the car today, I asked her if she knew what N-A-P spelled. "Bible?" she guessed. Confused, I said no, but then she launched into "The B-I-B-L-E, yes THAT'S the book for me!!!" [although her spelling is more like B-I-L-I-E, as in Cilie]. Anyway. I corrected the spelling, and got the standard Cecilie response to correction: Hmph. It was quiet a few seconds, and then she exclaimed "ROCK AND ROLL!!!" then launched into "rock and roll, yes THAT'S the word for me!"

Spent a rare day off with Grandma & the kids, shopping the clearance sales. 4pm found both kids giggling maniacally, hiding under racks of winter coats at LLBean and thinking they were very clever. But not really seasoned shoppers - both were exhausted and asleep by 6.30. Bless.

Art Alive

This happens to be the title of a segment on Cecilie's own favorite TV station, Noggin ("I am using my noggin..." geddit?). ...and now here is Jeremy, in Blog form (he even has a link in the margin for all your repeat visits).

He doesn't do cute animation of little children's stick figures, but I like what he does, and it doesn't take much to see that one day he (or at least his art) will be on TV, as well as in most respectable museums and big galleries. Well, I presume it will be a step down as it is already in a feature film...

It is a great site, I certainly like the opportunity to have a glimpse into an artist's mind and recomend it highly...

Christmas card?

Fuhggeddaboud it...

If you haven't received it by now, you probably never will. It is a crying shame and we are ever so sorry...

For each of our 9 married Christmases, the ritual of clementines, glogg and Christmas cards has been a real high point of the season for us. But this year, this year.... This year our spirits were more than a little depleted, before December even started, so what little festive cheer there was had to be marshalled and totally focused on the tasks at hand: making a special Christmas for the kids and a big Nilsen family visit. (Not necessarily two separate tasks, but you get my point.)

But in the tradition of old fashioned Christmases, maybe a few stories can cheer up an otherwise glum point in the proceedings. ("A story! A story!" I hear the small children cry.)

Cecilie blows her mum a raspberry at the dinner table, and Kirsten whispers (so that the whole family doesn't notice Cecilie's atrocious manners): "What is THAT about?"
"It's a poem, that my father told me about."

She's a Dylan in the making: a poet, didn't know it!
"Just a little something I learned over in England..."

One day during Christmas, mum got home from work, and Cecilie leapt on her excitedly and exclaimed 'Mommy! The most magical thing happened to me today!' When mum enquired what that might be, Cecilie whispered 'I... ate.. chocolate cake.' (We blame Auntie Eileen's influence on tiny Cecilie for this primeval urge.)

More christmas pictures

Cousins in national costumes

Baby Jesus

If christmas was half as overwhelming for anybody else it would explain why no one has been blogging across the world the last month or so...

Well, it is officially over, today the children in Puerto Rico got the presents the three kings left under their beds in return for some grass and water.

Hey ho, even we need to take the tree down... but not before Cecilie reminded her parents that tomorrow we should call Auntie Eileen and Uncle Sasha and thank them for our presents. "...but we need to talk quietly to them, so to not wake up baby Jesus --no no, baby Reuben..."

Had we had a digital camera we would at least be sharing some pictures... We'll dig around in our analogue archives to see what we can find, and we promise to get back into the rhythm of things... cross our hearts and all that!