Books and Birthday

I have a box high up on a shelf. A rainy day/ crisis box, of toys, books and things I do not like standing out, things we have too many of, or simply items to save for- a rainy day. A couple of days ago they all went into a whine. Hard to know why, but at any rate, I scooped out the books, plopped them all in living room area, and they were happy. I especially loved these two reading two each other. Communicating. Wonderful. The book is by R. Scarry by the way. The pictures they seem to like more than I do... Well, it will be back up on the shelf soon.

We have been cooking a lot lately, all sorts. But wanted to highlight once again an exciting book we are using. A lot of fusion, and new tastes, lots of veggies and lots of produce you simply cannot get here. Exciting. For example a simple LotusLandLinguine with crunchy woked vegetables and the simplest, tastiest peanut sauce I have ever had.

AND i had a birthday a few weeks ago. And received this wonderful old and functional! (adjustable from espresso ground to Bodum grind!) coffee grinder from Anders. We have cut back on coffee, for the best. Now we splurge on weekends, and go for quality cortados. And the grinder was just as much for kids as for me. The grinding is a great activity. Also for grain for breads.

Toy making WITH children

Jasmin needed som money for her store, Noa needed logs for the tractor. Toy making is not so complicated. Needed: saw, branch, kids.

I have been looking quite a while for a child sized REAL saw. Found it not at a hardware store, but at the only real toy store in Norway:Alveslottet. The owner had also been on the hunt for some time. They do exist. Quality is good enough.

Baskets of goods. Food, boats, money, blocks.

This is a wonderful tractor we received from Aunt Rikke, Faster Rikke, Anders' sister in Denmark.

Quick peek at the trees and one of the squirrels Anders made for Christmas. Beautiful.

Package from Beneath the Rowan Tree

It took me a while to reorder the playsilks after the fire. I did not want to go for these Sarah Silks which I didn't really like, so I found a wonderful woman on Etsy.com, Beneath the Rowan Tree, who hand-dyed them and sent them to me in Norway. Absolutely wonderful quality and colors! I am so happy, and so are all the kids, they have been in use ALL the time. Really the best toy ever.

My unwrapped magic.

Basket of silks

In addition I ordered 7 little dwarves, one for each day of the week. Have to switch them out every evening, but Jasmin is already finding a little joy in finding them in the mornings, aknowledging their color, the color of the candle and todays dinner on the menu planner.

Thursday hiding in the trees

A beautiful little gnome for today