Aslaksen-Singapore

Anna's birthday!

2011-07-06T11:40:00.004+08:00

Anna turned four on July 3.

Edvard loves his consolation prize.

Pizza party! I make the dough the night before, get the sauce and the toppings ready in the kitchen, and take my trusted pizza oven outside for the quick baking.

We went to Disneyland in Tokyo for three days.

At a Power Rangers show. Edvard is a big fan!

Mamma went to Hong Kong and Shenzhen and bought some pirated Angry Birds toys. Lots of fun!

And every Sunday we're at the Zoo! The one place I will miss in Singapore.

The former strongman has published another book. It is for sale almost everywhere, gas stations, grocery stores and even the Zoo. At most of these places it is the only book for sale. I guess that's the way it is in North Korea, too. :-(

March to May 2011

2011-05-24T11:26:00.001+08:00

Celebrating May 17, Norwegian National Day.

Breakfast at home.

Playing at home.

Sometimes Edvard is very sweet to his sister!

Batman and Batgirl!

Anna at music class.

We had a nice visit from Sindre, Bente, Magnus and Oda. We watched the Nordic Skiing World Cup on almost perfect streaming. Here we are celebrating Jorhaug's 30km victory!

Universal Studios.

At the amusement park. Edvard flying solo for the first time.

At the Zoo.

Frank Morgan from Williams College stayed with us for one week. We had lunch with TAN Eng Chye.

One day we ran into Persi Diaconis and his wife and had dinner with them.

At a conference in Norway.

The Workers' Party won Aljunied GRC in the election on May 7! The happiest day of my 22 years in Singapore! One week later the old strongman, Lee Kwan Yew, finally stepped down as minister! There is hope for Singapore!

Chinese New Year and Edvard's Birthday 2011

2011-02-17T12:33:00.001+08:00

Guess what year it is in the Chinese Zodiac?

Chinese New Year Party at the child care.

Birthday party for Edvard at child care.

Edvard serving the relatives on Chinese New Year.

Edvard got a bike.

And on Sundays we go to the ...

Some new friends at the Zoo.

Sometimes we go to the Bird Park instead.

Or to the amusement park.

I was at a conference at Peking University. Notice how there is no heating and people wear their coats indoors.

Forbiddingly cold city!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-23T14:57:00.007+08:00

Guess who dressed up as Santa Claus at the Christmas party at the childcare? (Anna on the right.)

Who is this?

Edvard is no longer afraid of Santa Claus!

Who is the most popular Pappa among the teachers?

First part of julebaksten: Peppernøtter!

We took the kids on a trip to Hong Kong to see Disneyland and Ocean Park. We first spent two days in Disneyland.

And then two days in Ocean Park. We all loved the cable car at Ocean Park.

The parents are exhausted, but the kids always have energy for another fight.

Visiting the panda bears.

Watching DVDs in Hong Kong.

Power Rangers show in Singapore.

Performance at school.

Class pictures.

Edvard likes tissue prata.

Dinner with Torgeir Onstad.

If you have been reading my blog, you know where we go every Sunday. (Torgeir Onstad in the background.)

If you look at the picture above, you can tell who took the picture below.

If you think tortoises are slow, you have not been feeding the ones in the Singapore Zoo!

Who says hedgehogs can't be petted?

Feeding Komodo dragons is not for the faint of heart!

How does my hair look?

Anna can write her name!

Eating waffles at the Norwegian Seamen's Mission.

July-Oct 2010

2010-10-21T11:49:00.002+08:00

Anna was sick for three weeks with a nasty urinary tract infection. She had to stay in hospital for two weeks. She had over 40 in fever for more than two weeks! Pappa slept with her, while Mamma stayed there during the day.

After one week she got a single room, and when I also brought her pizza, she finally cheered up!

Both Anna and Edvard like playing with their doctor sets, and when there was a "career day" at school, they played doctors. These pictures are taken by Anna's teacher. I think Anna would make a good doctor!

Pappa and Anna getting ready for her first theater show! "Sesame Street Live: When Elmo Grows Up". Edvard doesn't like dark places, so it was just Pappa and Anna.

We didn't have a big party for Anna's birthday this year, but I still made a cake for her. Vegard was visiting us then.

We also had a party at school for her. We bought a Princess Ariel cake.

Mid-Autumn performance at school. Both of them are nicely dressed up.

Making mooncakes.

Making cookies at home.

Edvard can write his own name with Play-Doh.

Feeding and touching the sea lion.

Feeding the manatees.

Feeding the goats.

Lemurs are fun!

Edvard does not like the kangaroos anymore, but Anna still likes feeding them.

They both like feeding the rhinos.

Feeding birds at the Bird Park.

Getting ready for the street luge at Sentosa with Anna. Edvard didn't want to do it.

Waiting for waffles after dinner.

Thanks to the IPhone, Edvard now lets people cut his hair!

I try to get them interested in Disney movies, but Grandma gives them lots of Ultraman, Power Rangers, Spider-Man, Superman and Batman movies.

Mamma getting ready for her karaoke performance!

In Singapore the top students at exams are big celebrities.

Hung-Hsi Wu and Kuniko visiting.

Hung-Hsi as guest of honour for the prize presentation of the Singapore Math Olympiad.

Special Program in Science Dean's Tea.

Dinner with former Special Program in Science Head Mentors.

With Kasie and Leo at Australian National University.

Dinner with the Singaporean students at the joint M.Sc. in Science Communication.

Norway June 2010

2010-06-24T11:41:00.002+08:00

We were fortunate enough to stay with Guri and Erik this summer again. This is very nice for the kids. They love playing with the cat!

Playing in the garden at Guri and Erik's.

Hanging in the Bat Cave in the basement.

Dinners.

With Guri and Ingunn at the stables.

Guri and Erik off to Færder'n.

Off to a wedding.

Dinner with Helle and Olav.

Dinner with Iulie and Tom and the Vogt family.

With Iulie and Tom at the airport.

Tusenfryd!

The kids were too small to drive the radio cars, but some older boys let the kids drive with them.

With Lars at Lykkja!

Anna (Jia Xue) getting her first taste of snow.

Bear Park at Flå.

Visiting cousin Eva.

Visiting cousin Agnes and aunt Ell.

Visiting Aleksander, Lars and Trude.

Pizza party.

With Beate at Frognerparken.

Edvard and Anna love the children's shopping carts.

Husdyrparken at Ekeberg.

At the Folk Museum.

Playing at the airport.

In the taxi from the airport in Singapore.

Helping Pappa make pizza!

Haw Par Villa (Tiger Balm Gardens).

May 17 in Singapore.

Sunday at the Zoo!

Batman to the power of 2!

Anna hanging with the big girls at Mamma's school.

Workshop with the Gifted Education Programme.

April-May 2010

2010-05-08T11:53:00.002+08:00

Superman!

Anna getting a hug from Mads.

I had to teach a class in the evening when I turned 50, but at least they had brought a cake!

Sundays in the Zoo.

One day we signed up for a special behind-the-scenes tour where we got to see cool things like the cages for the butterflies.

Anna modeling for Edvard.

Edvard has gotten tired of the Kangaroos, but Anna still likes them.

Edvard meets Batman's local helpers.

At the Zoo we can only feed the animals at special times, but at the Animal Resort it is free for all (until the animals get fed up!)

Eating waffles on the steps of the Norwegian Seamen's Mission.

Easter party by the pool.

Ole Christensen and Goh Say Song over for dinner.

Edvard's Birthday Party

2010-03-16T17:06:00.005+08:00

We had a little birthday party for Edvard. I made a kransekake, but we also bought a Batman cake for him.

Anna likes Jarlsberg cheese!

Spider-man is Edvard's the big hero, with Batman running a close second, and Superman third. We have bought lots of outfits for him, and he loves wearing them. It must be very hot under those masks!

We've also bought a big Spider-Man doll for him.

Spider-man and Batman planning their attack.

But why are they attacking Mamma!?!

Performing in the Chinese New Year show at their new child care. Anna at the front, next to the teacher.

Edvard was a bit nervous, and two seconds after this picture was taken he ran to the toilet.

But he came back and joined in! I was very impressed and proud of him!

Anna gets a prize!

Edvard's class. He was a bit shy so I had to stand behind him.

He was not afraid of joining in for the food!

Enjoying the Year of the Tiger!

Sundays at the Zoo.

Charge!

The tortoises move surprisingly quickly and silently, and are very heavy, so they can be a bit scary. But Anna is getting braver and braver.

With Odin and Mads at the Zoo. Anna got a lot of attention. :-)

But Mamma is of course the main center of attention!

Students in my M.Sc. program for teachers.

My old classmate Arild Sekse from Bergen.

Meeting with Trond Giske.

Dinner with Randy and Fred Damon.

Dinner with Eng Chye and family.

The kids like to eat Pappa's pizza!

Edvard's Birthday, Chinese New Year and Pappa in San Francisco,

2010-02-15T22:05:00.002+08:00

Edvard just turned four. He is hooked on Spider-Man at the moment, and loved the Spider-Man costume I gave him for his birthday.

We got him a Spider-Man cake for the birthday party at his childcare. I hate buying cakes, but I've realized that for childcare parties, looks are more important than taste, so I save my own cakes for the parties at home. The kids like the new childcare. Edvard has a male teacher, and likes that. Unfortunately, Edvard is still having a bit of problems, and it was very difficult to get him to join his classmates for the party. :-(

Celebrating the year of the tiger at the Zoo!

Anna taking charge at the Zoo!

All dressed up for CNY party at home.

Spider-Man has his powers, but Anna stands her ground!

Edvard likes Prata and Dim Sum!

I bake peppernøtter for both Christmas and Chinese New Year, and Anna really likes them! That warms my heart and I'm sure my mother and my grandmother would have been proud of her, too!

As usual, I went to the AMS/MAA joint meeting in January. This year it was in San Francisco. I'm always very at these meetings and rarely have time to meet up with friends, but fortunately Lars was able to meet me at the airport and we had lunch together.

Charmaine Sia, who used to attend my GEP talks, won the Alice T. Schafer Prize! She really impressed me when she was in Secondary 2(?) and immediately got the difference between the p31m and p3m1 wallpaper patterns!

Don Knuth (the father of TeX!) and Marcus du Sautoy.

The Euler Prize Committee.

I had some very nice runs in SF. One morning I covered all the hills in central San Francisco!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-02T14:12:00.018+08:00

Guri and her whole family came for three weeks over Christmas. Here we are eating pinnekjøtt.

Aksel used to work in a kindergarden and is now officially Anna's favorite uncle!

And her favorite auntie is Ingunn!

Doing the Christmas baking with Guri and Ingunn.

Opening Christmas presents. With the pool right outside our living room, Anna feels that a swimsuit is the clothing of choice for the occasion.

Enjoying some of the books and puzzles. We do a lot of puzzles with the kids, and the teachers at the childcare say that Anna and Edvard are the champion puzzlers at school! :-)

Aksel doing some engineering consultation.

Christmas dinner at the Norwegian Seamen's Mission.

We went to Sabah on Borneo to hike Mount Kinabalu (4095 m).

On our way up to the top with the guides. The guides carried umbrellas, and at first we considered that an extreme example of "fjols til fjells", but after two days we realized that makes sense for tropical hiking.

Guri, Aksel and me at the top.

Guri on top of the world.

So this is why they call it a rainforest!

Enjoying the pool after the hike!

We also went to Bali. We took the kids to the Zoo, Bird Park and Safari Park. The Safari Park was a lot of fun! Anna rode on a camel!

The playground at the Park was great!

Anna likes lions! Edvard is a tiger guy!

The Zoo was not very animal friendly, but fun for the kids. We even got to feed the lions and tigers.

The Bird Park was not that exciting, but we got some cute pictures.

Guri's family also went to Yogyakarta to look at Borobodur and Prambanan.

On New Year's Eve we had dinner with Jukka and Ika. Anna had a lot of fun!

And by now you all know what we do on Sundays!

Zoo, BirdPark and Pappa in Madrid

2009-12-14T13:48:00.002+08:00

I was in Madrid for a conference, and had a lot of fun trying to find sites from the Spanish Civil War. I was fortunate to meet Stephen Drake-Jones who runs the Wellington Society of Madrid, and organizes historical walking tours in English. Highly recommended!

We walked around near Ciudad Universitaria. Here Stephen sits near a statue with bullet holes on both sides.

Standing in front of a Nationalist pill box in Parque del Oeste.

No pasaran! Then and now. Stephen helped me find this location. What you see in the background is Plaza Mayor!

We still go to the Zoo every Sunday.

Sometimes we go to the BirdPark instead.

Dinner with Terje and Elin from Sandnes who stayed with us a few days.

Al fresco dining at home.

Class pictures.

Anna driving.

Moving to Lynnsville

2009-10-21T14:55:00.005+08:00

The pool is right outside our unit.

Mamma painting the kids' room.

The kids see their room for the first time!

Enjoying their room.

Living room.

Kitchen.

Master bedroom.

Library corner on the third floor.

The two guest rooms on the third floor.

Stairway to Heaven.

There are two small rooms (with window and aircon) and two storage rooms in the basement. I use one of them as my study.

Floorplan and layout of the development.

Saturday pancakes al fresco.

Playing on the patio.

Playing with the IKEA train set. BRIO compatible, but at a fraction of the price!

Serving pizza to the neighbors at the patio.

Blockparty.

Anna helping Pappa make Moomin gingerbread figures.

Serving the cookies to Uncle Jukka on the roof terrace.

Fun at the Zoo.

Feeding the kangaroos with Lars, Trude and Aleksander.

Hanging at the gym!

Anna loves playing with Mamma's shoes!

Childrens' day at the child care.

Dinner with my first cousin once removed from Australia.

Playing at the Norwegian Seamen's Mission.

Taking the subway.

Norway June 2009

2009-06-29T11:13:00.009+08:00

I think what the kids love most about Norway is the children's shopping carts at the grocery stores.

Some of the guests at the traditional pizza party.

Walking around Holmendammen.

Anna og anda.

At the playground at Holmendammen.

With cousins Eva and Anna at Ramme farm.

At Eva's place.

Anna + Anna

At Oddvar's tomb.

Pizza with Guri's family.

Watching Kung Fu Panda with Guri's family.

Jamming at Guri and Erik's place!

Playing with the cat.

Sankthans at Holmendammen.

Janette made some new friends

Guri and Erik off to sail the Færdern Regatta, the worlds largest overnight regatta.

Confessions of a shopaholic? Buying a Moomin house at "Riktige Leker".

Enjoying more Schleich animals.

Playing with the trampoline at Egil's place. We just found out that Egil's oldest son had voiced Thumper/Trampe in the Norwegian version of Bambi. Respect!!!

Playing with Aleksander at Lars's place.

Visiting Kirsten og Kjell.

Playing at the animal farm at Ekeberg.

Dinner with Beate's family.

Playing at the Fram Museum.

Enjoying the stave church at the Folk Museum.

Enjoying lefser at the Folk Museum.

Making lefser with Guri at home.

Visiting Lars's mother.

Sailing with Guri's family.

Dinner with Terese and the Smith family. Anna likes playing with the boys!

Anders and Oluf.

Merete and the kids.

Dinner with the Vogt family.

Tante Elle gave Edvard a fire engine, which he loved playing with at the table.

Anna and Eva.

In Frogenrparken with tante Helen, Iulie and Tom.

Lunch with Per and Liv.

We got two upgrades to business class on the way home!

Anna at the playground.

At the pool.

Anna is already a master of social networking.

April-May 2009

2009-05-21T14:21:00.007+08:00

Pappa's latest toy: a double hotplate for making pancakes at the table for Saturday dinner!

Mamma invited her class for a party, and I taught 25 primary school kids how to make pizza. Quite an educational challenge, given that almost all of them have maids at home and have no experience with housework. However, it went very well, and there was enough food for everybody. Maybe I should buy an additional pizza oven?

Inspecting our new house.

Playing together.

Playing at West Coast Park.

Anna swinging at the Norwegian Church.

Every Sunday we're either at the Zoo, Bird Park or Animal Resort. They love to feed the animals.

Anna even rode a pony. Next time she'll try without the pacifier!

Going for a swim.

Anna starts childcare

2009-02-28T13:15:00.007+08:00

This month Anna started in childcare. She was crying a lot the first few days, but now she seems to be very happy. She also likes being in the same childcare as Edvard, but Edvard seems to feel that his little sister has invaded his domain a bit.

We've also celebrated Edvard's third birthday. We brought cupcakes to childcare. At first Edvard ran and hid in the corner, but eventually he came out and joined the rest.

We also had a party where I baked some cakes. I'm getting pretty good at Kong Oscar, but I still need to work on kranskake.

Edvard's favorite toy is a set of animal cards that Aunt Eva gave him for Christmas. He plays with them every night before going to bed.

He also likes helping Mamma with her makeup.

Anna is a happy girl!

Every Saturday they go to a gym play group.

Blowing bubbles with Grandma.

We go to the Zoo almost every Sunday.

Dinner with Roger Howe and Lynn.

Chinese New Year 2009

2009-01-27T21:23:00.008+08:00

Anna is the hostess with the mostest on the first day of CNY. Edvard is VJing in the background. Given his Dragon Warrior outfit it had to be "Kung Fu Panda"!

The start of the solar eclipse.

Modeling the latest in geek accessories.

Visiting friends on the second day of CNY.

Anna with my old house cleaner, Ah Kuai.

Anna modeling for Pappa.

Watching Kung Fu Panda once more.

Edvard loves the Zoo, so we go there almost every Sunday. And when we're not there, we're at the Bird Park!

Staying cool at the Bird Park.

Dinner with Jukka's parents.

December 2008

2009-01-27T21:05:00.011+08:00

Enjoying the Christmas calendar from aunt Eva.

Class picture from Edvard's child care.

At the Jurong Bird Park.

Edvard is a sweet big brother.

Having Gil Strang over for dinner.

Christmas Eve!

Christmas dinner at the Norwegian church.

Visiting Master Oogway at the Zoo.

New Year's Eve dinner with Jukka and friends.

November 2008

2008-12-01T11:13:00.009+08:00

I have started the Christmas baking. I first made a batch of peppernøtter, using my mother's recipe. They are quite simple to make, but delicious, so go ahead and try the recipe on my baking page yourself.

Next came a batch of goro, using my grandmother's recipe. They are much harder, and I had never done it before. But I want to make sure that my kids get to experience the lovely cakes my grandmother made, and I hope they will eventually pass on the traditions, too. So with the help of my cousin Eva, I got a goro iron from Norway, found a recipe and went ahead. The hard part is to roll out the dough in a thin layer, which is not easy to do with a sticky dough in the tropics. I really wish I had baked it with my grandmother when she was still around, but I learned a lot, and hopefully it will be easier next year! The recipe is on my baking page.

We have also put up the Christmas tree.

Most weekends we go to the Zoo or the Bird Park. Here we are feeding the giraffes!

Watching the jaguars being fed.

Edvard and an emu.

Edvard doing his "happy dance" with a swan at the Bird Park.

Anna is a very clever and happy girl!

October 2008

2008-10-19T16:09:00.008+08:00

They are both working on their modeling skills.

We are often stopped by strangers who want to take pictures with the kids!

Meeting the lions at the Zoo.

Edvard can eat noodles.

Anna eating waffles at the Norwegian church.

I take them to the playgroup at the Norwegian church every Monday. I'm the only pappa in the mamma-group.

At the pool.

We have a little playground at our condo.

We often go to a "playscape", where Edvard loves to crawl around, but Anna so far mostly sits in the ball pool.

Edvard likes Duplo!

At Underwater World.

Edvard is very happy in his childcare. However, they do not take kids older than three, so then we will move him to another kindergarten, and start sending Anna there, too.

There are six Singaporean students going to the University of Oslo this year. I had a dinner for them together with some of the students from Oslo who are at the NUS this year.

Olympic Games

2008-08-24T12:03:00.004+08:00

The local cable provider has six Olympic Channels, so we have watched all the three Norwegian gold medals. Here Edvard is celebrating the women's handball gold with a piece of chocolate.

Anna's hero is Gro Hammerseng!

Edvard is a very nice big brother!

Edvard prefers basketball.

Celebrating Mamma's birthday!

Edvard on a filed trip with his child care. Can you spot him in the group picture? (Third from left.)

Anna's first birthday!

2008-07-23T12:36:00.010+08:00

Anna turned 1 on July 3, and she celebrated by taking her first steps on that day!

Anna enjoying one of her presents.

They both love the kitchen set.

Visiting Pappa in the hospital when he had his appendix removed.

We had a big birthday party for Anna. I had planned to bake a lot of cakes, but ended up in the hospital. I got out just the day before, so I had to bake in a rush. Not everything worked out that well, but I learned a lot. Unfortunately the picture was taken with the flash off, but I hope you can see the kransekake, toscakake and kong Oscars kake (with an Elmo face!),

Opening Anna's presents the day after the party.

Enjoying the penguins at the Bird Park.

We bought a buggy board for Edvard, so now he can stand behind Anna on the stroller.

Anna is already very good with the ball. She trying to decide whether she wants to play football or handball. The Norwegian women's football team won the Olympics in 2000 and the World Cup in 1995 and the women's handball team won the World Cup in 1999 and lost the Olympic final to South Korea in both 1988 and 1992.

Norway June 2008

2008-06-29T16:38:00.009+08:00

We had three wonderful weeks in Norway in June 2008.

Edvard and Mamma checking in.

Edvard likes to stay close to Mamma.

Anna is all over the place.

We were very fortunate in that Lars Kristiansen let us stay in his apartment at Torshov. We could go for lovely walks along Akerselven.

Visiting Iulie and Tom.

We had a great weekend with Guri, Erik and Ingunn at their cabin.

Enjoying a quiet moment in the the morning.

Watching the swans.

Edvard got his first boating lesson from Guri!

Visiting Helga and Svein.

Anna teaches Edvard how to turn off the TV.

At Holmenkollen.

Visiting Erling and Astri where we had stayed in 2006.

Edvard helps teaching Anna to walk.

Visiting Kristian and Inger.

Breakfast at Torshov.

Tante Eva had taken out lots of fun stuff to play with!

Tante Eva even had special plates and utensils for Anna and Edvard!

And she had a BIG ball!

After dinner we went to Ramme gård to look at cows.

We had lunch with Bobben and Reidar at Bygdøy.

Reidar has a big gong that Edvard loved!

Bergljot and Lasse joined us, too.

On June 7 we had a naming party for Anna at tante Ell's. Here Anna is playing in the garden of her great-grandmother Anna.

Edvard loved staying with tante Ell.

We had almost 30 guests.

Onkel Carsten giving a speech.

Playing with second-cousin Anders.

With Carsten and Terese outside great-grandma's old house.

Karen with Edvard, Ellen, Helmer and Anna.

Tante Ell with Anna.

Playing on the terrace on Sunday morning.

Visiting Beate and Per-Magnus.

Visiting Kirsten and Kjell.

Sindre and Bente who stayed in Singapore in 2007 let us have a baby party at their place.

Pappa and Edvard at the playground in Sofienbergparken.

This is where Pappa was born, the former "Kvinneklinkikken i Josefines gate", which is now an apartment hotel.

Staying on the third floor was great practice for Edvard!

We went to the Høyer family party in Horten. It was the same weekend as the Færderseilasen regatta. Guri and her brother Hans Petter invited us on board the boat they were on.

Dinner at the Høyer party.

With tante Lucy.

Visiting Merete.

Anna is a happy girl!

We all had a great time in Lars's apartment.

Edvard visited his first stave church at the Folk Museum. He loved running around the external gallery.

April 2008

2008-05-02T10:59:00.005+08:00

Nothing exciting happened this month, but lots of cute pictures of the kids.

At the child care, there are now 9 girls and Edvard. The girls are fighting over who gets to put his shoes on, carry his bag, put away his mattress and so on. No wonder he is having trouble learning basic skills! :-(

He is getting good at pushing Anna's pram! He is very sweet to his little sister.

Anna on her rocking reindeer.

Future TV addicts.

Grandfather's grave.

More elephant rides.

Feeding the goats at the Animal Resort.

Feeding the swan with Pappa.

Here we are with Lars just before he left.

Visit from Lars

2008-04-02T06:48:00.007+08:00

My friend Lars from the Bay Area visited us for a month.

Lars at the bird park.

Edvard likes the birds.

On Sundays we go to the Bird Park, the Zoo or Go-Go Bambini, which is a huge playscape. Afterwards we go for Chinese lunch. The kids look very cute!

Anna can almost walk!

At the Norwegian church.

Pappa is trying to learn cake decoration!

Pappa teaches in the evening this semester, and Edvard comes to pick up Pappa.

Everybody loves pepper crabs!

Eddvard loves lotus paste buns.

Surfing girl!

Edvard can feed himself!

Edvard's Birthday, Part 2

2008-02-25T12:38:00.005+08:00

We have been celebrating Edvard's birthday for almost two weeks! We had a big party for him on Saturday. However, first we took him to the hairdresser. He hates having his hair cut, and screams the whole time, but he looks great afterwards!

I baked two Kong Oscars kake, and one kransekake (wreath cake). I had baked the kransekake in December and kept it in the freezer until now. I had a bit of problem putting it together, and the icing was a bit too thin, so it looked a bit funny, but the taste was wonderful and I learned a lot! I have also finally figured out how to get the yellow cream for Kong Oscars kake stiff.

Blowing the candles!

The next morning, Edvard surveyed his mountain of presents!

He got a nice book in the mail from tante Ell!

On Sunday we went to the Zoo with some Norwegian friends. Edvard got to ride on an elephant!

Edvard is very kind to his little sister! He has learned how to put the pacifier back in her mouth when she loses it.

Edvard has improved a lot at climbing!

We gave him a slide for our balcony on his birthday!

He loves the slide in the playground downstairs, too!

Edvard's Birthday!

2008-02-14T10:44:00.008+08:00

Edvard turned two years old on 13 February. I bought cupcakes and took them to childcare. I actually think my own taste better, but these looked nicer.

I brought Anna and Janette along, too.

Just hand over the cupcake and no one will get hurt!

All the kids had a great time, but Edvard was crying most of the time. :-(

I made balloon animals for all the kids, too!

We've also done other stuff. Last weekend we took Anna swimming for the first time. She liked it.

Chinese New Year

2008-02-09T16:46:00.000+08:00

We had a nice visit from Bernt Øksendal and Giulia Di Nunno just before Chinese New Year.

There was a big CNY party at Edvard's childcare.

Anna is growing up and can sit with us at dinner now.

Grandma, the two cousins and Jukka came for reunion dinner on the eve of CNY.

The kids are great friends!

After dinner, Jukka and I baked almond and walnut CNY cookies.

The almond cookies came out great!

Anna is very cute!

Anna and grandma!

Karen's uncles and aunts came over on CNY.

Full house!

Edvard and Mamma are very close!

The whole family!

Multitasking!

Edvard loves Mamma!

On the second day of CNY we went visiting. First to Sun Laoshi, Edvard's favorite childcare teacher.

Don't you think I look cute?

Then we went to visit Ah Kuai, who used to clean for us before Janette started working for us.

Anna and Ah Kuai's 93-year old mother-in-law.

Edvard has gotten very good at sliding. Even in his CNY best!

New Year's Eve

2008-01-03T12:59:00.001+08:00

Anna is six months now, so I've started taking her along when I go running with Edvard and she loves it! Edvard is maybe not so happy about his little sister intruding into this Pappa-Edvard activity, but I think he's getting used to having her next to him.

I have a single baby jogger that I have used with Edvard for over a year, but as soon as we were expecting Anna, I started looking around for double baby jobbers. I got a cheap one through E-Bay. It's not a very good model, but it works, and because of my hip injury I can't run as much as I would have liked to anyway. The baby jogger is a fabulous invention!

We had Eng Chye and his whole family over for dinner. The kids said that my pizza was better than Pizza Hut's, and they loved Grandma's almond cake (kong Oscars kake).

I have finally figured out how to make the cream stiff.

Edvard is a bit jealous, and very possessive over toys, but most of the time they are very good friends!

Edvard is now very good at jumping down from the bed, and loves to show off his skills!

On New Year's Eve we went for buffet dinner with Jukka. Janet likes buffet dinners, but she also complains about gaining 5kg after she started working for us. But I don't think feeding your maid too much cake is considered maid abuse.

The proud mother!

Fireworks!

Edvard is getting much braver these days!

He dares to do more fun stuff!

Now he has learned to kick a ball!

Christmas

2007-12-27T06:25:00.000+08:00

We opened presents on Christmas Eve.

Anna practicing opening presents.

Edvard got a little train set from Mamma and Pappa.

In the evening we went for a fabulous dinner at the Norwegian church. Janette was the only maid there. The other maids were waiting outside or sitting alone at home.

The kids threw Santa Claus into the swimming pool! But Edvard was scared of him, and had to be carried by Pappa.

On Christmas Day, Jukka came for rice porridge lunch. He gave the kids a set of Moomin soft toys!

They can't talk, but they seem to communicate somehow.

We hope they will always be friends!

Bedtime mayhem.

More bedtime mayhem!

Beautiful Babies

2007-12-25T15:10:00.001+08:00

Here are some pictures of the kids taken with Mamma's phone.

Mummi Pepperkakehus

2007-12-22T20:53:00.000+08:00

Today Jukka came over and we made the Mummi Pepperkakehus. I had bought the forms from Hikmet. I had made the dough yesterday, and it was very good. However, it is very hot here, even if we worked out in the living room with the aircon on. Not very good for baking.

This is the tricky part! We both got burned on our hands. :-(

Under construction.

Mission accomplished. The proud architects!

Lille My likes the house. Snusmumriken is visible on the right, too.

I took it to a Christmas party with Mamma's family. They all loved it! Edvard ate a lot, too!

Two days ago I also baked kransekake. It is now in the freezer, and I will assemble it on Christmas Day. Stay tuned!

Edvard and Anna out and about

2007-12-21T20:58:00.001+08:00

On Sundays we usually go to the Zoo, the bird park or the Science Centre.

One day Jukka came along. Edvard likes Jukka, because he is used to his voice from all the hours we have run together with Edvard in the baby jogger.

Every Monday morning I take Edvard to the playgroup at the Norwegian church. This is from the Christmas party.

That was the first day we brought Anna along, too. I also decided to bring Janette along to help me handle two kids.

We live right next to West Coast Park, which is very nice!

Edvard is a sweet boy!

He is quite good at walking in stairs now. Notice the extra railing at the childcare!

Here we are out celebrating Mamma's birthday together with Grandma!

He is still very scared of slides, but once I get him going, he loves it.

It may take a couple of minutes to get him to go down, but it is worth it!

Edvard and Anna at Home

2007-12-21T16:58:00.000+08:00

For earlier pictures of Edvard and Anna, please see the home page of Edvard and Anna.

Here you can see Edvard wearing his school uniform!

This is the sports version of the school uniform.

Edvard is very sweet to Anna most of the time, but he is becoming a bit possessive of his toys.

Here we are saying good night to them!

Edvard is quite photogenic. Here are some samples from his modeling portfolio. In the bathroom.

By the swimming pool.

On our balcony.

Anna is working on her portfolio, too. Mamma is still her stylist.

Anna is a very happy girl, just like her Mamma!

One day cousin Merete came to visit!

This is by the swimming pool during Anna's one month party. Our maid, Janette, likes my baking!

Edvard is getting much better at Duplo, but I still have to help him a bit.

We bought him a little tent from IKEA last week. He loves it!

The best Mamma in the world!

We made a Christmas calendar for them.

Jukka and Guy helped us decorate the Christmas tree. Jukka was a forestry major as an undergraduate, so we brought him along as a consultant when buying our plastic Christmas tree!

Edvard in Childcare

2007-12-21T16:46:00.001+08:00

Edvard has a great time in childcare. There are 10 kids, four Chinese girls, one Dutch girl, one Arab girl, one American girl, one American boy, and one other White-Chinese mixed boy.

All the kids are very nice, and there are no bullies.

The teachers are also very nice. Edvard's favorite is the Chinese teacher. She really loves Edvard, too!

For climatic reasons, they are mostly indoors, but they have a little playground, too.

Edvard's social skills have improved a lot after he started in childcare, and he is not as scared and timid as he used to be.

I drop him off in the morning, and Mamma picks him up in the afternoon. We plan to send Anna there once she turns 18 months. But at that time, Edvard will graduate to another childcare for kids over 3 years.

Christmas Baking

2007-12-20T16:12:00.000+08:00

Hi everybody,

I've finally gotten around to creating a blog so that you can see how Edvard and Anna are growing up! We celebrated Christmas with Edvard last year, but that was in the middle of moving to our new condo. This will be our fist Christmas as a full family in a settled home, so I decided to go all out. Being Norwegian, that meant baking julekaker (Christmas cookies). My five favorite cakes are (in no particular order)

Peppernøtter
Fattigman
Goro
Kong Oscars kake
Kransekake

The last two are not traditional Christmas cakes, but I am happy to use any excuse to make them.

My Mother used to make peppernøtter (pepper nuts). Her recipe is from Schønberg Erken, and is a bit different from other recipes by the same name, but absolutely fantastic!

My Grandmother, who Anna is named after, used to make fattigman. The literal meaning is "poor man". They are known as klejner in Danish. Grandmother created an aura of mystique around them, so I thought they would be very hard to make and I had never dared to do it earlier.

However, I am quite adventurous and ambitious when it comes to baking, so I went out and bought a deep fryer, and it turned out that it was not that hard to make them. As soon as the dough hit the fat in the fryer, my kitchen started smelling like Christmas at Grandma's! I almost started crying!

I still need to perfection them. They got too oily. In fact, they went bad after only two weeks. I guess it is harder to store Christmas cookies in Singapore than in Norway! The recipe call for Cognac, but I replaced it by grape juice. However, I just read somewhere that the purpose of the alcohol is to keep them from absorbing too much fat. I also need to make them even thinner. Mine became more like smulteringer (Norwegian donuts), and not like the crisp cookies that Grandma made. Oh, well, better luck next year!

Grandma also used to make goro. However, you need a goro iron. Thanks to my cousin Eva, it is in the mail. Will try it out once I get it.

Grandam's masterpiece cake was Kong Oscars kake (King Oscar II's cake). When I left for the US in 1982, I asked her for the recipe. At first she didn't want to give it to me, saying that if we started making it, we wouldn't want to come and visit her, but eventually she gave it to me. I had tried it out a couple of times in the past. I recently made it for a friend's birthday party. I was a big hit. People were queuing up for seconds while I was cutting it, and in the end people were licking the baking paper!

Kransekake (wreath cake) is a Danish/Norwegian specialty. I had never made it before, but last month I ordered a set of kransekake molds. None of the Norwegian stores that sell it on-line would ship to Singapore, but I found it at the Vesterheim Museum Shop in the US, so I didn't have to bother cousin Eva with this. I've made the dough, and I'm going to bake it later today. I will freeze it and assemble it for Christmas Day. Stay tuned!

It is also fun to make pepperkakehus (ginger bread house), and I'm trying to get the kids interested in the Moomin, so I just ordered shapes for making a ginger bread Moomin House. I'm going to do it together with a Finnish friend, Jukka, this weekend. Stay tuned!

By the way, he has a Finnish cook book that contains both fattigmann and Kong Oscar.

Since this post is mostly about baking, I can't resist talking about my last big baking adventure. Here in Singapore it is common to give away cakes when the kids turn one month. So I decided to make cupcakes for both our colleagues. Here I am at Karen's school with half the cupcakes.

I'm also enjoying my bread machine. I've found a great recipe for a loaf with a mixture of wheat, whole wheat, oats and sunflower seeds.