two years

Saturday (4/16) marked two years of living in Norway. We celebrated by taking Rory bowling for the first time. She was excited about it. And she seemed to have a good time. There was one point when her score was better than mine. There is a restaurant at the bowling alley and we ate there after we finished our game.

slowly, slowly, slowly

all smiles

you have to push the ball hard

still smiling

On our walk home Rory wanted to have her picture taken in the hat.

at a park close to home

Sunday we dyed Easter eggs. Rory was excited about that too. But they may have been because she wanted to eat one of the eggs. But only the white part.

getting started

our finished eggs

coolest egg ever

Snow White?

Rory picked out her own clothes today. And then dressed herself. It turned out pretty well. According to Rory she looks like Snow White because of the headband(you can see it in the mirror). It's true, Snow White does wear a headband.

she only wants to wear short sleeves these days

I dressed myself

We went to the library today. And then went shopping for a gift to take to a birthday party on Thursday. When we got home we had lunch and baked cookies for an Easter party tomorrow. 

She's recovering from pink eye and a cold. She got antibiotic drops at the doctor yesterday and her eyes are looking much better now. 

Stepler and I just booked a trip to Prague! We leave next Thursday for the long Easter weekend. 

cross-country skiing

We all have our own cross-country skis now. Rory and I got ours in the sales this year. Stepler got his last year.

Rory's skis are pink

having fun skiing on the carpet

Yesterday we tried them out in Stavtjørn. It was a little more than an hour away from Stavanger and there was lots of snow. It was a beautiful sunny day.

There were a few falls. And I definitely like the flat parts best. But we all had a good time. Next weekend we'll try it again on the Marathon family ski trip.

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cupcakes!

Rory and I made rainbow cupcakes today in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. Fun times. We also downloaded Over the Rainbow (Glee Cast Version). We wore green. And Rory was totally excited about St. Patrick's Day.  

not totally excited about having her photo taken

up close

all that was left on Rory's plate

vacay

Last week was winter break here in Norway and we went to Grand Canary for the week. Sunshine! Warmth! Sandals! Shorts!

Okay, so it wasn't as warm as I would really have liked for a beach-y vacation, but it was a wonderful escape from the Norwegian winter. We all enjoyed just being outside in the sun. I got a bit of a tan. And read five books. (I love my Kindle and traveling was the big reason why I wanted it.) Rory and Stepler swam in the pools most days. There was a playground at the hotel. Rory enjoyed Mini Disco in the evenings.  We'd planned on going to a water park, but it just wasn't warm enough for that. So we went to a zoo instead. And on Thursday we rode a camel through the sand dunes. 

It was an easy five-hour, non-stop flight from Stavanger. Our hotel was quite nice. The buffet had way too many choices. Unlikely that we'll go back though, as there are so many other places to explore. 

Negro the camel had one hump

big girl bed

We FINALLY got Rory a big girl bed.  Never once did we catch her trying to climb out of her crib.  And she liked to sleep in the very corner of her crib.  So it seemed like there were no good reasons to get her a big girl bed and good reasons to keep her in the crib.

Then one day we read the instructions that came along with the crib.  It recommended that when your child reached 35 inches she be taken out of the crib.  Oops.  Rory was almost 38 inches.  So it was time to get her a big girl bed.

Rory was excited to help pick out her new bed at Ikea.  The following Saturday morning she helped take apart the crib and put the new bed together and couldn't wait for it to be finished.  She was so proud to have a big girl bed.

She's been in the big girl bed for more than two weeks now and (knock on wood) it's going really well.  Night times have been good since the beginning.  She hasn't fallen out of the bed and has gotten in our bed only once (when she had a cold).  The worst of it has been being called into her room to fix her comforter and that has decreased in the past few days.

Afternoon naps were a bit more of a challenge to begin with, but most days she's taken a nap, in her bed.  She's had several days when she's stayed in her room playing and then fallen asleep, but she's napped.  And that's really all she needs, an hour or so of sleep, any longer and it takes her too long to fall asleep at night.

ready for bed on her first night

hair cut

The other day Rory said her hair was shaggy.  Today she said Mommy, when will I get my hair cut again?  Today's question my have been prompted because I got a hair cut yesterday and Stepler cut his on Sunday.  But it's just as likely that she was asking because she needed a hair cut.  I knew she needed one and I'd been thinking that I'd cut her bangs and that would be the end of it.  But since she asked, I decided maybe we should get it done at a salon by someone with training and experience cutting hair.

We had some errands to run this morning so we stopped by the salon in the shopping center closest to our house to see if someone there could cut it.  I was able to get an appointment for about an hour later so we had time to run our errands (all in that shopping center) and go back for the cut.

Rory was very good and patient while getting her hair cut.  She was slightly distracted by the cartoon character on her smock with big beehive hair, the person across from her getting her hair colored, and the people who got their hair washed at the nearby sinks.  But all in all, really good.  The woman who did the cutting was very careful and thorough and I think Rory's hair looks quite cute!  She did too, smiling big at herself in the mirror when the stylist took her smock off.

A successful hair cut in Norway!  Actually two, I'm pleased with my cut also.