I moved!

Hey, I made a new home for hello grey day this weekend. Don't worry, you can come too! Hop on over to:

hellogreyday.wordpress.com

I won't be posting here anymore, so really, it's going to get pretty boring.
Come over where the party is!

Getting Cozy

It has been freezing cold here the last few weeks, and all I've wanted to do is pull my socks up to my knees, drink tea, and make our house cozy and warm.

Nesting really kicks into overdrive right before the holidays. It's pretty primal really. All of a sudden I've got the all consuming desire to do odd house projects, re-paint everything in our house that's white, and fill the cracks around windows and doors.
I want to stockpile food, and make hearty meals in our giant red pot. I want to buy all the candles, and set our house ablaze.
I want to put wreaths* on all the vertical surfaces, and lamb skin rugs on all the horizontals.
(Most importantly on our dining room chairs, because though we LOVE having metal chairs, they get arfully chilly on the cheeks come Winter.)

So now we have this house. Bright whites, fire everywhere, animal pelts, fresh greenery, hearty food. I was taking it all in, when it hit home...
We've got a serious Scandinavian thing going on here.
And one look down at my wooden shoes, and back up to my braided hair says, yes, I've got a very Scandinavian thing going on here.
I think there are some Swedish relatives on one of my mom's family tree branches cheering me on, and probably spilling glogg all over the lower German branches in the process.  
But seriously, it's getting out of hand. I almost bought one of those yule goats they sell at IKEA this time of year. Which I feel like I have no business buying. I don't even really want a yule goat.
I think you must first know why there is such a thing as a goat made of straw, in order to justify buying one...but still,  my eyes light up at the sight of them.
And in the quiet of the night, Keflavík, my spirit airport calls.

Should we gather the means to go yonder, I'd love to visit Stockholm. (I've been learning my please and thank you's (Tack!), just in case. It has never hurt to be prepared with polite phrases.)
But you check out this episode of Jamie Oliver's trip to Stockholm. I think it might make you want to put on your clogs and go too. Those mushrooms on the beach! You had me at eating mushrooms on the beach, Sweden.

Anyways, Thanksgiving is next week and Christmas is just around the corner. Both of which I'm looking forward to with a glad and peaceful heart. Our little pep talk a couple of weeks ago did a world of good.
And now thanks to a little elbow grease and a few extra wreaths and fuzzy woolens, I feel like Home is all set for a snug winter.
Next up, buy a turkey!

Also few fun posts about parenting in Norway and Denmark from Cup of Joe:
An American Parenting in Norway
How babies sleep in Denmark


 *Box wood wreaths are on sale now at Trader Joe's!

Vikings and Valkyries

Cue the Music!
So this year for Halloween we went Norse. Specifically we were Vikings and Valkyries.

We read this book over the Summer, and Greta was quite taken with Edda, the littlest Valkyrie. So when I was mulling over ideas for this years family costume, Vikings and Valkyries seemed like fun for Kent and I, with the added bonus that Greta would be 100% on board, yeeeeet not a Disney princess! Woooo parenting win! Besides, I had just found the most adorable Oliver sized flail at Target that day...it was settled.
I asked my friend Leanna if she was going to host a Halloween party. Because at this point we had a great costume idea, a baby flail, and no where to go.
I needed to save my party planning energy for December (see previous post) but I knew Leanna had a spark for putting on events, so I went ahead and made the match. Party, meet Leanna. Leanna, party. I offered to co-host, and the rest is history. The party was a hit!
Costumes were made, but like serious costumes were made. Leanna and her family came as How to Train your Dragon characters, and they were as authentic as you can get without the use of a hand loom and animal bone. Our friends Zach and Greta made giant paper mache bear heads, and there was a spot on Lego movie family as well.
Our costumes crossed the gamut in construction materials. Paper, paste, sheet metal, rivets, leather, fur, cloth, feathers, plastic, wood and mucho gold paint.
My dad lent a hand (and a pop rivet gun) when it came down to the heavy duty pieces.
For the armor, we made a pattern out of poster board, and then cut it out of sheet metal with tin snips.  I found the perfect metal pipe flange in the vent aisle at Home Depot, that we opened up for the Romanesque detailing at the bottom of the breast piece. Then we secured the two pieces with rivets, punched a few holes and wove in some leather straps, and darned if wearing armor doesn't feel awesome.
Greta was excited all month long. She drew pictures and told anyone who would listen at church about her Valkyrie costume.
On Halloween day, we suited up while listening to Wagner (of course) and sang Flight of the Valkyries in the car on the way to school, just to prepare the world for what was coming. I loved watching her explain to Spiderman what a Valkyrie was in the school line. The little boys face changed from skepticism to respect. Heck yeah, you respect the class Valkyrie.
Here we are from Greta's concept to, construction, to finish.
And look we won best group costume!