Trick or Treat

Witches
Originally uploaded by Groovy Biscuits.

Well it was Halloween weekend here in Bergen and a fun time was had by all. Norwegians don't generally go in for the whole trick or treat thing but as we're all 'internationals' we celebrated in true halloween style.

Ziela and Erlend organised a halloween party for the kids and adults on Saturday afternoon. First of all, the men went to play squash while the women started the cooking and getting the kids ready. The kids had some pizza then the dads took them out trick or treating round Ziela's neighbours.

After that, we all ate Ziela's curry while the kids played upstairs. It was a great laugh for both adults and kids. I dressed up as a devil woman, Heather was a witch, Hamish was a lion (for about 30 seconds) and Alan was a doctor (he borrowed Erlend's white coat and stethoscope).

Jamie was a 50's housewife complete with bouffant hair and girdle! Mette was a black widow spider, Nick was a hanged zombie with a rope around his neck. Ziela was a sexy maid and Erlend was a WOMAN!!! The kids were the usual mix of princesses, witches and vampires and not forgetting Lilia's spiderwoman costume!

We eventually headed home around 9.30pm after Alan had consumed way too much beer and wine and was becoming obnoxious!

Sunday was a quiet day largely due to Alan's hangover! We just did some housework and watched some telly.

Here's some photos from the party yesterday. Enjoy.

the odd couple!
Originally uploaded by Groovy Biscuits.

Trick or treat
Originally uploaded by Groovy Biscuits.

Zara
Originally uploaded by Groovy Biscuits.

Kirsten drops her sprog!

A BIG congratualtions to Kirsten and Andy who had their first child on Sunday morning. Ellen was born at home in London and weighed a healthy 8lbs 6oz. Finally my friends are starting to have kids and I don't feel like the old mother hen!

Weekend's events

Ok here's a post of this weekend's events...

Went to Coop Obs (supermarket) with Heather in the morning. Quite eventful actually as there was some Norwegian Pop Idol playing live in the shopping mall. Grabbed a quick hot dog then headed home. Then I took the kids over to Ziela's for the afternoon while Alan stayed at home listening to the football (some things never change!)

Jamie, Torbjørn and her kids were there which was good. Just went over to keep Ziela company really as Erlend was in Oslo for a few days. The kids played for a while and ate hot dogs and chocolate before we headed home at around 8pm. Got the kids set up with a movie in Heather's room and relaxed for the night.

On Sunday we went to Jamie's to collect a desk she said I could have. They have a new one and were going to burn the old one until I said I would have it. I want to put it in the dining room and use it for my card making and art stuff. Got the kids to bed early then settled down to watch the last ever Monarch of the Glen.

I had Ziela, Michelle and Jamie here on Monday to feed them haggis for lunch. Only Ziela had eaten it before and the others were curious to try it. I think they liked it - they ate it all so that must be a good sign? I told them to just enjoy the tast and NOT to think about what's in it!

Ears

Just a quick post to let you know that Heather's ears are now fine. Ziela's husband Erlend (who's a doctor) had a look into her ears with his ear light tool thingy. One ear had nothing at all in it and in the other, the gromit had come out of the drum and was sitting in the ear wax waiting to be flushed out naturally.

This is great news as it means Heather can go swimming again without ear plugs and more importantly her hearing seems fine.

Au Naturalle

Au Naturalle
Originally uploaded by Groovy Biscuits.

Here's the long awaited pic of my new hair colour. I quite like it to be honest but I think it needs some 'natural' highlights. All comments (good or bad) welcome!

Haggis

These haggis games are hillarious. Try them.
Haggis Games click here

Never again...

Ziela invited a few of us over to her house on Saturday for some drinks. Alan was babysitting so couldn't come. There were a few of us there, Ziela and her husband Erlend, Michelle and her husband Jørgen, Kathleen, me and Jessica. It started off quite civilised with Kathleen making her lychee martinis - very nice! But I guess none of us realised that these lovely lychee martinis were almost 100% vodka!!! A few of those and several shots of Jaegermeister later and I was absolutely rubbered! Actually we all were.

The night is mainly a blur but I do remember a few things like me walking into the patio doors (I had been out on the balcony and someone had shut the doors), pouring vodka onto Ziela while she was in the shower, falling into the coat stand with Erlend and managing to get all kinds of crap in my hair like gel, Bailey's and green suntan lotion. The mind boggles it really does?

Anyway me, Kathleen and Jessica were bundled into a taxi at 1.30am and went home. I felt ok until I got into bed. The room just would not stop spinning the next thing I know I'm jumping from my bed into the en-suite and vomiting into the toilet! Felt much better after that :)

Needless to say, Sunday was a lost day. I didn't have a headache but just felt very fragile until about 3pm. I managed to drink 3 litres of saft (squash) and only peed once all day!

NEVER AGAIN............until next time! hee hee

SHOCK!

During a brief moment of madness I decided to dye my hair back to its natural colour for the first time in almost 20 years! It's so flippin expensive to have your hair done here and my roots were getting really bad so I thought maybe I should go natural again. I dyed it myself, the colour worked fine but I think it's too boring now! I'm glad I did it though as it got rid of all the brassy blonde bits I had. So I think when I come home at Christmas, I'll get some subtle highlights put back in but more golden than blonde this time.

I'll post a photo soon - having a bad hair style day today so it'll have to wait!

A day at the races

The 'gang'
Originally uploaded by Groovy Biscuits.

Here are some pictures taken from the children's fun run on Saturday. This one shows the gang. From left to right:

Hana, Emma, Heather, Hamish, Daniel, Nadja and Zara.

Heather and Hana
Originally uploaded by Groovy Biscuits.

Hamish on starting line
Originally uploaded by Groovy Biscuits.

October Holiday is OVER yey!!!

Apologies for the delay in new posts heather had her october holiday last week. Surprisingly we had a fun filled week with loads of stuff going on.

On Tuesday we took the funicular up Mount Fløyen (one of Bergen's 7 mountains) with Ziela, Michelle and Jamie and all the kids (too many to mention). We had our lunch at the top while the kids played in the playground. Fortunately it was a glorious day which made it all the better. In true Norwegian style, we walked down again - yes we WALKED down again. It was actually a really nice walk and the kids had great fun.

Wednesday was chaos day! I had Ziela, Michelle, Jamie and Mette here with all their kids (12 in total) for some lunch and play. Needless to say it was utter pandemonium! Alan came home early while the fun was in full flow and almost had a heart attack on the spot. There were kids everywhere! However, the kids had fun which is what matters!

Didn't do much on Thursday during the day but I took Heather to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in the evening. We decided that we would do something with just the older kids for a change. Fortunately they were showing it in english here with norwegian subtitles. Alan stayed home with Hamish. So there was me and Heather, Ziela with Hana, Michelle with Matthias, Jamie with Emma and Mette with Sebastian. The movie was great as expected. Went for a MacDonalds afterwards.

Me, Heather and Hamish walked into town on Friday afternoon to meet Ziela with Nadja and Zara. It was a beautiful day and quite warm for the time of year so it was really nice to walk. Took around 30 minutes. Did a bit of window shopping with Ziela and got the kids and ice-cream. Alan met me in town later and took us to TGI Friday's for dinner. YUM.

On Saturday we took the kids to Fana Stadium where there was a kids fun run on. All the kids signed up and were given a number and a t-shirt. Even Hamish managed to run. All the kids had to run twice round the race track (800 metres). After that we headed home with Emma in tow. Jamie had her brother visiting so we all offered to take one of her kids for a sleepover to let her go out on Saturday night. We had Emma, Ziela had Daniel and Michelle had Amanda. It was good for Heather as Emma is in her class and they both love playing with Polly Pockets and drawing.

Bit of a lazy day on Sunday. Got up late. Heather and Emma didn't get dressed until 11.30. Headed back to Jamie's at around 12.30. Heather stayed there for the afternoon to play while me and Alan and Hamish went to Åsane to look at cars. We headed back into town and went for lunch at Egon Restaurant in Bergen - very nice! Ziela brought Heather back early as she was feeling quite ill due to Jamie's cat. I had forgotten to give her anti-histamine before she went.

So Heather has now gone back to school and we're back to our usual routine.

I surprise myself sometimes!

During a very brief spell of boredom (10 minutes) I decided to count my shoes and can announce that I officially have...

36 pairs of shoes
14 pairs of boots
2 pairs of slippers

Well, a girl can never have too many pairs! I think I should go shopping soon. I've found a stockist of Camper in Bergen - YIPEE!!!

Busy busy

Have had quite a busy week in all. Alan's parents left on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday Heather had choir before school and ballet after school. Thursday I took Heather to school on the bus in the morning as we had a coffee morning at 9am. That was fun as we all brought something to eat and the younger kids played happily. We use the church hall so there's plenty of space. I made shortbread which always goes down a treat.

After the coffee morning, Jamie, Ziela, Michelle and I went for a walk twice round the lake at school then Ziela had a meeting so Michelle, Jamie and I (and respective kids) had more coffee at the cafe opposite the school in the Sletten Senter. We drank more coffee and ate lots of brownies, cheescake and Singapore noodles until 3 when we had to collect the kids from school.

Friday was quieter. I did some housework before heading to the school to collect Heather. Ziela drove us home which was good as it was raining again. Friday night, we put the kids to bed with a video and popcorn then we lit the fire and Alan and I snuggled down with a DVD. Anchorman - have you seen it, it's hillarious!!!

Saturday, we went over to Michelle and Jorgen's for lunch except Ziela was making fried rice but she didn't arrive until after we left at 3! So we had hotdogs with the kids instead! It was good as we hadn't met Michelle's husband Jorgen yet. Alan and Jorgen seemed to get along well, similar work clients, etc.

Today Ziela and Erland came over with their 3 daughters Hannah, Nadja and Zara. Heather and Hannah played upstairs while Hamish and Zara just fought as usual. Nadja was quite content playing with Hamish's toys. Zara and Hamish have a kind of love hate relationship. They're only 2 days apart in age so they fight a lot but Hamish still kissed her when she left. They all left around 4 and took Heather with them so Hamish is now watching TV and I'm enjoying the silence!