Waiting...

We've still got snow, still got time to enjoy it, still got great friends visiting. Life is slowly starting to approach something more normal as Steinar's condition is consistently, but slowly, improving. He is rather impatient now.

The weather has been pretty good, but it was raining today!

Rebekka and Tobias were super happy to have Hildegunn come visit!

Back in the blogging

Ok, I have to get back in the habit of blogging. But I did blog on Sunday, so not a lot of new things have happened. We had visitors over the weekend, some of them made a tunnel for Rebekka and Tobias in the pile of snow that my dad makes shoveling snow.

How beautiful in the snow!

Since then we have been outside playing and hanging indoors, trying to get the time to pass. Rebekka won a gift certificate on flowers last Sunday, so she bought pink gerbera's so pretty. Steinar also sent me a BIG bouquet of flowers, so now we have a lot of pretty flowers to enjoy.

We do have fun outside.

It's snowing a lot, witch is nice, but we were going to Thailand tomorrow, so we kind of wanted to be on our way back to Asia. Oh well, we are just staying for now.

Strike a pose.

How to sum up

So I haven't posted pictures in forever. I know that a lot of my friends are in Thailand now, and that their internet will not be super quick, but I'm in Norway and can upload pictures really fast! So here comes an update from us in pictures.

In stead of Halloween, we have a tradition with dressing up and go carol-singing while collecting candy between Christmas and New Year, this is a great time, because all houses are filled with candy, fruit and Christmas biscuits.

On the drive from the West of Norway to the East, the landscape was just beautiful the whole way.

Can you see the threes bent heavy by the snow?

On New years eve we went out around 7 to let the kids see some fire works before going to bed. Steinar was inside, due to his foot that was hurting. Me and the kids had a lovely time.

Happy New year 2015, xin nian kuai le.
Steinar (as a joke) said that his new years resolution was to get arthises, well we are all laughing now.

Cousins playing together. The youngest one is off somewhere.

Rebekka on the first skiing-trip of the year.

Mum and Tobias are following, we dropped the staffs pretty fast, I don'r really need them, and Tobias was just hindered.

Benjamin and me has a birthday on the same day. So the kids had a superhero-party (Rebekka was a prinsess).

I'm Batman (read in the darkest voice possible)

My brother got attacked by the cutest superheros ever. 

Present opening.

Anual walk around the Christmas tree. Also called a Christmas tree party.

We got a visit from Ruth, and took her skiing, I went with the kids, and she went alone, she stopped counting after four falls. Rebekka didn't even fall four times;)

We were out in the storm "Nina", it was fun with all the snow, and so fun to play!

This has been Steinars position since New years, he also lays flat. Poor thing.

Mariannes home club, she has two, the other one is the Christmas tree party one...

Who is missing? Ruth loves explorers, so we went to a couple of museums. We also stopped by the flat we are renting out. And picked up visas for China.

A big Whale shark. It's fake, we went to the Kontiki museum, you can just google kontiki or RA1 or RA2 to see what it is all about. It is a big part of Norwegian history, we also went to se FRAM (also a boat, again google!).

There are some fake artifacts from the Easter islands, and a lot of real ones at this museum!

The pile of snow in front of my parents house makes for a lot of fun play time.
Look at the sky, it is often this pretty!

Update

I would love to show you some photos of the beautiful winter Norway that we drove through for 8 hours on Sunday. Our kids got super tired of driving after four hours, so this is something we would like to repeat often....not!

We would also like to show you pictures of our kids going "Christmas goats", it's like a mix of caroling and trick or treating, the kids will sing one song, they are dressed up as something, it happened between Christmas and Newyears and there is no punishment for not giving candy.

We would also like to post pictures of us rolling in the snow, playing in the igloo the kids help build and a lot of other snow related things... But we didn't take photos of everything and both of our laptops quit on us.. It's so frustrating being dependent on things we can't rely on...

Birthday and Christmas preparations

We got back to Steinar's mum, and soon it was Tobias' birthday, he is already 3 years old. It is crazy how the time flies. We had a great day, the kids was out playing in the snow for hours, so they were hungry and tired when they came in. Tobias fell asleep on the chair only having eaten half a hot dog.

"I'm Batman", Yes, that was what he said all day.

Rebekka and Tobias in birthday clothes.

Afterwards he got cake and strawberries. Between the playing the food and the gifts, he had an amazing day.

Superman is having a power-nap.

Cousins, oldest and youngest together.

The next day, we were going to a "club", we were a bit late, so we pulled the kids on a sledge there, but they weren't open at the "right time", so we looked at some ducks in stead. Then we sent the kids inside and went for a sledge ride down the hill our selves.

Do you see our "club" in the back?

Louring the birds with snow...

Rebekka and Steinar's mum had a lovely time making Christmas decorations and doing other crafts things on Monday. They sat for hours! So much fun, and grandma has a lot of craft-things.

Making decorations. 

Marzipan figurines making.

Today the Christmas tree came up. In Scandinavia we don't put it out until 23rd of December, or little Christmas eve as we call it.

How cozy is this.

So beautiful!

There are so many things we have forgotten about Norway, and it is so good to relive them! One thing is the extreme darkness I have mentioned before. I went to the city where me and Steinar went to University this week, and the sun was up between 9.30 is and 2.30ish so strange.

This is the size of the plane I few with, it is 9 in the morning.

This is taken today at noon.

The extreme rain is another thing. In China where we live, we don't really have much rain and those days when it does pour down, we'll just stay inside. But last Sunday when we went to a "club" Steinar walked to the car, and from the car to the club...He was soaking wet! It has also snowed insainly much in no time at all, we go in for an hour and we can't trace our steps when we go out again, crazy.

Rebekka is skiing.

We are driving, so pretty!

How good it is to hang with old friends and our families. We love our friends and family back home, don't worry Chinafriends we are coming back, and we love you too.. But how good it is to know that we have friends and family that care for us and love us.

This is the city center of one of Norways largest cities.

Rebekka and Steinar's mum, enjoying crafts.

Face drawings!

The last thing is: Nature. We are in the west now, and I have been to the middle of Norway, I just have to say that Father did an amazing job creating Norway!

Winter city.

Again, this is taken at noon!

Do you see the mountain?

Driving down from a mountain.

The beautiful dark sky

Norway and the rest of the northern part of the hemisphere is gradually getting darker. You guys, it is really dark here. We are also in a valley now. On Saturday it was sunshine, or it was a clear sky, but the high mountains prevented direct sunlight in any part of the city. It is so strange. And when it is cloudy it hardly feels like daytime at all.

Picture taken at 11 in the morning.

I remember my first winter in China, feeling that it was not dark enough or cold enough. Well, candlelight is beautiful, but it is strange that the sky is so dark all the time. I think it is colder in our China town right now though...

Look at that Rapunzel long hair to the left.

In the time we have been back we have gotten to go to one Christmas concert for kids, and the mum got to go on a consert with her sister in law. So fun! It does feel more like Christmas is getting close when we are here, and the star is in every window, the advent candles are being lit, kids and grandma is baking Christmas cookies and gifts are piling up in our closet.

Rebekka and Tobias's oldest cousin, he is taller than Marianne now! Bu xing!

Joy in December

We finished up November seperatly, and at the end of the week I think kids missed their parents and I know the parents were acing for their kids. It was however a good week for all of us.

On a consert with the "Holy boogie guy".

Tobias got to see snow for the first time, he bonded really well with his uncle and nobody but him were allowed to help. When Mum and Dad came back Tobias spent 90% of the night in his parents bed, sleeping partly on them, and when Steinar drove over the mountains, Tobias wanted to "carry his mum" the whole time.

Decorating cookies.

Rebekka got to try skiing for the first time (cross country for those who don't know that that is what is real skiing). She got to try a Norwegian kindergarten and she was so busy most days that she only had time for two sentences in the phone. "I'm busy playing we can talk later". She has loved having us back and fell quickly in to "normal" routines.

Gingerbread cookies with decorations:)

Steinar got to spend the week excercising, reading books, being quiet, sleeping and having minimal internet connection. He is now outside playing with kids.

We were at a cabin, you can see it behind the trees there.

Marianne had a great week, she got to feel that she enjoyed the present, it is hard sometimes to look forward to the future, because it is good but with hard things as well. It was also a time for reading and taking long walks 17km+ was the most I walked in one day, we got lost looking for old inscriptions on rocks (it was dark and we met a guy saying they were covered in water right now...). I loved seeing my kids again and I am finding things to look forward to.

I'm OK!