More Celebrations

We've been doing a lot of celebrating lately.  December 29 was my 35th birthday.  We went to the University Museum of Bergen.  Its Cultural History Collections include a super fun activity room for kids.  It's full of costumes and props, including a boat, a tent, a trolley car, a grocery store, and a big castle where kids can play:

Jonah in the Desert

Oscar Slaying a Dragon

Polynesians at Sea

A Horrible Witch

On New Year's Eve day, Jonah and Oscar, who are currently obsessed with Super Mario Bros., fashioned themselves really cute Mario and Luigi costumes (I helped with the mustaches).

Mario & Luigi

 This inspired Davin to bake them a pizza in the shape of a Power Up mushroom:

Power Up!

A neighbor girl came by to let us know that New Year's Eve is the night kids here dress in costume and go house to house singing Christmas carols and collecting candy.  She said that she and lots of other kids would be coming by later and that we should be ready with candy for them.  We weren't...Davin had to run to the store.  Luckily (and by bizarre coincidence), Jonah and Oscar were ready with their costumes, so when the girl came back later with her sister I sent the boys out singing with them.

An Important Norwegian Holiday Tradition:  Trick-or-Treating by Singing Christmas Carols on New Year's Eve

We got a total of about 50 costumed carolers, and only two little girls came singing a Norwegian Christmas song.  All the rest sang the first verse of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" (in English).

We had a countdown to what the kids assumed was midnight, but was actually 9:52pm.  We made noise and shouted "Happy New Year" and kissed and drank saft out of fancy glasses.  Then we put the kids to bed.  It was perfect.  But a few minutes after we got them all to bed some neighbors came over and invited us to light fireworks with them, and that was even more perfect.  The boys just pulled coats and boots on over their pajamas and went out and had a really good time (although Sergio did excuse himself after a couple of sparklers and walk back home--he said it was time to go to sleep).
 

Davin and I saw a great fireworks display right out out our window when the real midnight rolled around.  It was a really nice way to welcome the New Year.


Yesterday was Sergio's 3rd birthday.  He's getting to be so grown up--he can already wink!

He's been planning himself an orange-themed birthday for months now.  Here's a photo of the all-orange dinner we served him:

Sergio's Birthday Dinner - Mac & Cheese, Clementines, Cheese, and Carrot Stars

And this is the cake I baked him according to his specifications (he asked for a yellow cake with white frosting and orange jelly beans):

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SERGIO!

We'll have tons more to celebrate soon.  Jonah's 8th birthday is coming up on January 14, my parents will be visiting again starting January 17, and the new baby is due January 19!