Just for the record ...

Sophie lost her first tooth on 12th November

Christmas 2011

After the travel chaos of last year, this time around we decided to stay in Norway for Christmas.  We filled the fridge and cupboards with food and drink (... first ever 600 quid shop!) to supplement the festive chocs, puddings, cakes and other treats already sent over from the UK from Jo's mum (... thanks Nana!) and settled in for a restful few days.  Needless to say Sophie and Matthew had a great time unwrapping their teetering piles of pressies as these pics show.

Sophie and Morph

Inside a ball thing

Hair glitter

Rug time

Cool Cards!  Number 1 on Sophie's Santa list

Matthew acquaints himself with Thomas and Friends

What do you have for breakfast on Christmas day?

Can't go wrong with these

Scooter boy

Sophie gets a new belt

Sophie was very proud to get her first belt for Taekwondo.

Matthew Starts School

Here he is hoping to strike up a conversation that involves a "duck" or "car".

Proofs

Can't resist sharing the proofs of these pics taken in the summer.  I know Aunty Nikki will like them!

Dress up day

Sophie loves the new climbing equipment at school.  She has played on it after school every day since the start of term.  This was on dress up day.

Soma Gård in the rain

The British School arranged a trip to this open farm on the edge of town today.  Needless to say it bucketed down.  However a big BBQ was lit, lots of cakes came out and the kids all had fun, especially swinging from the ropes in the hay barn.  Here's Matthew pretending to be a fireman.

Boy on a Mission

Mum's been to IKEA

This young man needs a chair of his own

Calmness ensues following the purchase of a mini Poäng

Little Monkey

Sophie was never a cupboard girl.  As for Matthew, he likes nothing more than to have a good firtle through the drawers and cupboards.  I'm guessing his sister was at school when the lower pic was taken.

Back to School

Sophie has been back at school for a couple of weeks now.  She's settled fairly quickly into her new class although laments the sudden and rapid reduction in play time.  She's in a number of clubs.  She now has swimming lessons twice a week and will also do Drama Club and ballet lessons.  We couldn't get her into Brownies so instead she'll do Taekwondo, which seems like a fair substitute, no doubt to be extensively practiced on her father.  The other day she informed Jo about her imaginary friend who she doesn't get on with.

Eeh look at the state of that lawn

Sola Beach

Had a surprisingly fabulous day at Sola beach. Sophie is pictured with Isabel, Isla and Jemima. The water was actually freezing!

Kongeparken

One way to keep her still for a minute...

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Børøy

We got back from a trip to Børøy, an island North of Stavanger.  We arrived in sunshine and the location was beautiful.  Unfortunately, the weather got pretty bad and we didn't last the week out.

Testing out the safety equipment before getting on the boat

Posing on the balcony on the day we arrived (... the sunny day)

Posing on the balcony

Fishing.  Sophie was keen.  Didn't catch much (or, in fact, anything)

Steinar, the fella in the neighbouring cottage, had a bigger boat than ours (50 Bhp as opposed to our measly 15 Bhp).  We took a few trips in his boat and Sophie enjoyed the speed.  She's now very keen on speedboats.

We got one small crab in our four crab pots.  Steinar got four large crabs in his one crab pot.

There's no shop on Børøy so we would take the boat to a nearby island to get supplies. Beasters really likes speedboats too.

What?