Brushing teeth

My girls are supposed to count to 100 while they brush their teeth - that is on the occasion when they get to do it themselves LOL Tonight, Matthildur turned to me after 5 seconds of brushing, said she had already counted to 120 and asked if she was done yet!!

She got to brush a little bit longer :)

I have one layout tonight. It shows Matthildur's first month - and all her firsts during that month...I used mle Card's Little Lamb Pink and Scrapping with Liz' wonderful Blocked Numbers Template. Both are available at the Scrap Orchard.

Well, I'm off to bed :) I hope you're having a good day - and thanks for stopping by!!

The postal service...

...it's not good, or so it seems. Today the girls got a letter from Zozo, our au pair last year. It was posted on December 3, 2009 in Malmö, Sweden. I think the post must have been a bit disoriented and taken the long way around the globe, because if you take the short way, there is only a 2,5 hour short flight from Reykjavik to Malmö LOLThe girls loved getting mail, and have already written letters to Zozo demanding more letters and cards from her :)

I've got layouts :)

Our family portrait LOL I used It's Snow Fun from Faith True and one of Suzy Q's Big Picture Templates :)

This one is a bit unusual for me. It's less about the photo and more about my feelings when I took it. I used Phuong Ton's gorgeous Altered Inspired Minikit, available at Scrapbook Graphics. Her papers are a work of art - you can take them and frame them as is. Seriously stunning!!

And last one tonight...
This is Matthildur Inga at 18 months in December 2007. She had been wanting a pink phone, just like her sister's, and Santa had just brought her a beautiful pink Barbie phone, complete with it's own shiny and glittery pink bag. So she was very happy :) I used Irene V Alexeeva's gorgeous new kit, Dream With Me, available at Scrap Orchard.

Bathtime

The girls take mostly showers these days so taking a bath is a rare thing. But it's always fun - and today they wanted a proper bath so I ran them a nice warm bubble bath, where they stayed and played for a good hour :)

That's Matthildur Inga having fun in the tub :)

And layouts...

This is Lovisa at the end of November. She is just gorgeous - even if I say so myself LOL

I used Design by KAT's beautiful kit, Glorious Grey, available at ScrapScandiStyle.

Both my girls are pink to the core LOL This is Matthildur Inga at 19 months, being her adorable self :) I used a new charity kit from MeKa Designs, called 100% Girl.

And lastly, there is a new charity collab brewing in the Orchard. It's called One Love and it's raising money for disaster relief in Haiti. There is an unbelievable list of fabulous designers working together on this kit - so be sure to keep your eyes open, because it will be hitting the stores SOON!!!
Well, that's it for today. Thank you for stopping by - and I hope you had a wonderful weekend :)

Big cleaning!

Today, the Christmas decorations were finally put in boxes and in storage - which meant that I could also finally clean the house and get it back to pre-Christmas normalcy LOL The girls were extremely helpful when it came to cleaning!

This is Lovisa, wiping down all the wooden surfaces of our furniture :) Matthildur took care of all the glass surfaces and then she tried vaccuming, but gave up after a couple of minutes LOL

I've got a couple layouts to show too :)

This is Lovisa singing in her Children's choir at church just before Christmas. I used Camila Designs' gorgeous new kit, Bright & New.

Matthildur Inga helping her dad make bread the other day. She loves putting the ingredients in the breadmaker :) I used Tracie Stroud's gorgeous kit, Beautiful Life.

And our referral photo of Lovisa. She was about 7 months when this photo was taken - and we got to see it for the first time on January 9, 2004, when she was 13 months old. I used a fantastic collab from Dawn Inskip and Kaye Winiecki, called Zodiac.

That's it for today. The layouts are all linked for full credit. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I hope your weekend is wonderful :)

Friday Nights

My girls wait for Friday night all week. They get to stay up later than usual, eat popcorn in the livingroom and watch their favorite two shows in the world :)They put their pajamas on after dinner and get cozy on the sofa while I or my husband make popcorn. Then we all sit down and watch these two stupid shows; a talkshow with two Icelandic comedians and Icelandic Wipe-Out. Both are ok entertainment on a Friday night when you're so tired you hardly want to think LOL And the humor of the two talkshow hosts is pretty much level with Lovisa's seven year old humor - so it's a fun night :)

I forgot to post my week 2 layouts yesterday, so here they are...

I am so loving biograffiti's 365 templates, and I love the simple and clean look of Kristen Rice's 365 kit mixed with the beautiful doodled elements of Weeds & Wildflowers' Hodge Podge kits. I think this is basically the look I'm going for all year.

Just the cats

Our kittens are 8 weeks old and will be leaving the house soon. I decided to try and take the photos while they are still here :)That's the mommy cat, Rosalin, giving one of them a bath - while the kitten tries to play with her and get her aggravated LOL

That's it today, my husband is home, but leaving in an hour or so. He won't be back until after the weekend, so I'm going to try and enjoy him while he's here :) Thanks for stopping by!!

Healthy living

Today is the first day of my healthy living plan LOL so I made salad for myself for dinner even though the girls got sausages.

I love salad - in any way shape or form, so I don't know why I don't make it more often. Probably because I'm the only one who'll eat it LOL

Layouts - I finally got into DST today, although only periodically!!

This is Matthildur at 18 months. She was mesmerized by all the colorful and huge butterflies in a butterfly garden we took her to :) I used Kjersti's gorgeous Swept Away kit.

And that's Lovisa beating her little sister in the Dinosaur Playstation game they like to play :) I used Scrapidea-timkova's new kit, In a Good Mood.

Ok, that's it. Layouts are of course linked for full credit. Thanks for stopping by - and happy Wednesday :)

Kittens

Well, we have kittens. They will be 8 weeks old on Thursday - and they are a big pain in the back side. But they are also immeasurably cute and adorable LOL My girls adore them - sometimes they love them a little too much, but the kittens don't seem to mind some tough love now and then :) I love them - but they irritate me terribly, especially at night. They sleep from 7 pm until midnight, which is when I usually go to bed. At that time they start to play. A lot!!! And usually on my bed - on top of me, and part of their play is running as fast as they can across my face. Again. And Again. It's no fun - and I can't wait for them to leave, although I know I will miss them :)That's two of them, sleeping soundly on my bed until I woke them with my flash. They did not like it one little bit - they are giving me the evil eye, and I believe one of them is sticking his tongue out at me!!! But that's what they get for waking me up in the middle of the night LOL

No layouts today, DST is giving me trouble :)

Playing a game

We got some cool games for Christmas but haven't had a chance to play them all. So, today, after school, we tried one of them. We did find out that we had to have at least 2 teams with at least 2 players on each so we have to wait a bit to actually play it for real - but we did make quite a good game of it just the three of us :)This is Lovisa giving Matthildur directions on the game :)

Couple of layouts too...

This is Lovisa on January 2. I used the January Mega over at Scrap Orchard - just a fabulous winter kit!!

This is Lovisa again, in July 2008. We were camping and she was just loving the freedom and the good weather :) I used Wild Dandelion Design's Day to Day kit as well as a fabulous template by Dani Alencar.

The layouts are linked for full credit - thank you so much for stopping by :)

American pancakes

We got up rather late today - at least for us :) Usually the girls get up sometime between 5 and 7am, and theydrag us out of bed with them. This morning, they woke up just after 7, but instead of getting us up, they started to play, so we could stay in bed until 9!!! Getting out of bed at 9 is almost unheard of in my house LOL
My husband made us brunch today, bacon and eggs and American pancakes. I love it when he does that!!

After that heavy brunch, we went out and walke 3,5 km to my in-laws' house. Lovisa was a trooper and walked the whole way, but Matthildur only made it a very short distance and then she got a ride in the pack on her dad's back :) She's a lazy butt LOL

I'm in charge of the Member Spotlight Challenge this month over at Scarp Orchard. I'm highlighting a layout by keyr, called Attitude. I made it into a template, which is offered free for the challenge...I made this layout with the template, using Wild Dandelion Designs & Kristin Cronin-Barrow's gorgeous collab, Snowy Sweetness :)These are my girls on January 2 :)

Well, that's it for today. I hope you're having a wonderful weekend and thank you for stopping by!!

Cleaning up

My daughters had friends over this afternoon - and after they left at 6pm, the girls' room was like a tornado had just hit it. So, they were sent in to clear up a bit - and for some reason, they actually did it smiling, singing, dancing and made it into a game LOLThat's Lovisa Lin showing my how to enjoy cleaning up a room :) Other than that, today was supposed to be about cleaning, organizing and putting away Christmas decorations. Well, I finished taking everything down and making the pile on the diningroom table almost as big as a mountain of decorations. I also managed to clean out the kitchen a bit and make it workable again - AND, I managed to clean out our closet, which was no little feat, let me tell you!!! There is just too much stuff around here - and this year I've sworn to de-clutter the house. I'm going to go through everything and give away or throw away all that hasn't been used since we moved in here 4,5 years ago. And that's a LOT of stuff!! I'm a big gatherer of stuff - but I really enjoy living in an un-cluttered house, so I have to stop with the gathering LOL

Anyways, in between cleaning and organizing, I made a double layout with one of Penny Springmann's new double templates :)

It's a bit small on here, but if you like, you can take a better look at the left side here, and the right side here :)

Well, that's it for today. Thank you for stopping by - I hope you're having a wonderful weekend!!

Making bread

We are trying to adapt a healthier and cheaper lifestyle LOL Part of that is making our own bread. We have a breadmaker so it's not like it's a huge deal - but sometimes I just feel that it's easier to buy it. So I'm trying not to buy any bread, then we are forced to make it ourselves :) Matthildur Inga loves to help with any kind of housework - all 3 year olds do, don't they? - so she got to help her dad put the ingredients in the bread maker.

Lovisa would have had her nose in there too, but she had a friend over so she was busy playing :)

I've got a couple of layouts too :)

Matthildur Inga on Christmas Eve. I used Scrapidea-Timkova's new Granny's Christmas Tale.

This is Lovisa Lin on a trip we took in July 2008. We were visiting a secluded bay area - there was no one there except us, some birds, an awesome view and total quietness. Even the girls decided to honor it and just take it in :) I used Dawn Inskip's gorgeous new goodies that were released at The Lilypad today. She is guesting there this month and has some fantastic stuff for the January BYOC!!

This is Matthildur during that same trip. There were some ruins there from an old fishing station and she was enjoying trying to balance herself on the rocks and leftover walls :) I used Irene V Alexeeva's gorgeous new kit, Kiss Him He's Green, perfect for fairytale layouts - and even Valentine's layouts!

Playstation

I had a meeting this afternoon and got home a bit late. When I got home the girls and my husband were busy singing with Queen on Singstar - a totally unbelievably difficult band to sing with!!! When they were done, the girls got to play their Dinosaur game on the Playstation, where Lovisa won game after game after game - but Matthildur didn't care in the least, so it was a good deal, I thought, since both were having fun :)

This is Lovisa, my 7 year old, enjoying her victory LOL

So, it's been a week and I decided to scrap my layouts right away. I'm going to keep it simple. I use Biograffiti's 365 templates - which are almost like completed layouts if you choose them to be, but I added a little bit extra, backgrounds and a couple of elements, mixed from K Studio's 365 kit from last year and Weeds & Wildflowers' Hodge Podge series, also from last year.

I add the photos to the layouts each day when I add them to the blog and to facebook, so basically they are ready when the 7th photo goes in there :) So, here's my Week 1...The layouts are not linked, since I'm not going to upload them to online galleries. Only here and facebook.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you're having a wonderful day :)

The kittens...

We have 3 kittens in the house, they are approaching the 8 week mark, almost ready to leave the house and their mother for new families. When the Christmas tree and the decorations went up, they were too small to figure out that they could have fun with it. Not any more!!!! Now, they definitely know how much fun a Christmas tree can be! They climb up in the middle, then walk on the branches until they get to the edge - where they can easily reach the fun decorations and lights. So much fun for them, not so much for me LOL

We have a fake tree and sometimes I find the branches scattered around the livingroom floor - decorations still attached, but the lights hanging to the floor. This is Anna, having fun with the lights. I was reading Pippi Longstocking to the girls when the kittens were born, so their names are Lína (Pippi), Anna and Tommi :) It's good we had two girl kitties and one boy kittie LOL

Ok, I've got layouts too :)

This is Matthildur Inga on January 2. She was tired on our walk and lay down in the snow with such a sweet smile. She's really energetic, but gets really tired on walks so our resolution is to adapt a healthier and more active lifestyle with the girls in the new year. She needs to build up stamina - and so do we :) I used Phuong Ton's gorgeous new kit, Resolutions, available at Scrapbook Graphics.

Matthildur Inga again. This time in February 2007, when she was just a few days short of 8 months. It was National Bun Day in Iceland - a day where we stuff ourselves with buns filled with whipped cream and jam and covered with chocolate on top LOL This day falls on a Monday every year in February - and this was Matthildur's first taste of whipped cream. She LOVED it :) I used a bunch of new stuff from Dawn Inskip, available at Catscrap and Pickleberry Pop.

That's it for today. Thank you so much for stopping by - and have a wonderful day :)

Dancing

Today was our first day back to school and work after Christmas and New Years. Both my daughters have been on vacation since December 18 - and today, when they got back home at around 4:30, they were both tired. When they are tired, they start out by sitting in front of the TV for 5 minutes with empty faces. Then, when they have recharged, they get fun LOL Matthildur wanted to watch a show with lots of singing, and the whole time, she sang with the show and danced around the living room floor, just oozing energy!! Then she ate and was asleep in 2 minutes flat LOL

I apologize for the horrible quality of the photo - but I have a horrid feeling that my faithful old camera is giving up. All my photos are turning really grainy these days. Or maybe I just need to cuddle it a bit :)

No layouts today - but thank you so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!!

Sliding

It's cold today - and very slippery!! But it's also sunny and since today is our last day off for Christmas we decided to go for a little walk with my nephew, who spent the afternoon with us. We hit a slippery little slope on our way and the kids had so much fun sliding down - on their butts LOL

Actually I had so many photos to choose from today - but this one just shows how much fun they were having :) This is our weather today...

I took the photo at around 3:15 today and the sun was about to set so it was already getting a little dark - but I like it anyway :)

And two layouts again - I'm slowly but surely getting into my scrapping mode LOL

This is Matthildur Inga on a walk we took on Saturday. It was cold and she had rosy cheeks and a red nose - although she firmly denied having a red nose, telling us that she was NOT Rudolph!! I used Julie Bullock's gorgeous kit, Snowtime, available at Scrap Orchard.

And Lovisa Lin on that same walk. The lighting was just perfect and she got herself in between the straw in the snow and posed away :) I used PST Designs' gorgeous Somewhere Above, available at Pickleberry Pop.

That's it for today. I hope you're having a wonderful day - and thank you so much for stopping by :)

Guitar solos

My 3,5 year old went from crying to hyper in just a matter of seconds many times today. I guess it's time for Kindergarten again - she's been off since December 18 LOL

This photo is taken just a couple of minutes after her lates meltdown - she found her big sister's old guitar and proceeded in giving us a concert, with quite the stage show, dancing, singing and playing the guitar. It was fun to look at and listen to - but it was really difficult to get a decent photo of her since she moved around so much LOL
Other than that, the day has been quite uneventful. We went outside a little bit but all the photos I took were bad. I think it's the weird lighting we are having. It's only a few hours of daylight here and today it was overcast so it really never got really bright. So, I didn't have enough light to take photos with the flash off - and if I turned the flash on, it looked like I was taking photos during the night. And I didn't have time to play around with the camera settings - so it's my own fault too LOL I also thought of posting a photo of our dinner since we are back to normal eating and trying to keep it really low calorie - but I didn't think anyone would like seeing a photo of boiled cod mashed with boiled potatoes and a little bit of ketchup :)

Oh, I have a couple of layouts too. I'm trying to get back into scrapping mode after having spent all of December doing almost anything but. It's slowly coming back!!

This is Lovisa Lin on New Years Eve 2008. I haven't scrapped the 2009 photos yet. I used Edeline Marta's new kit, New Beginning, available now at Scrapbook Bytes.

And this is Matthildur Inga shoveling our sidewalk during our late November snow storm. She enjoyed it only when she was shielded from the wind :) I used Katrin's Designs' new winter kit, Magical Winter Dream.

Both layouts are linked for full credit :)

That's it for now - thank you so much for stopping by, and I hope your day is wonderful!!

We locked ourselves out!

My photo for Day 2...

The feet of my 7 year old disappearing in through our kitchen window!! We locked ourselves out and she had to crawl through the kitchen window, land in the sink, jump down to the floor and open the balcony door for us to get in LOL I'm just glad she is a tiny little thing and can still fit throught the opening of the kitchen window!!

Other than that, the weather is fantastic!!! We went on a walk after our locked-out adventure and it was just perfect :)

Have a wonderful day - and thanks for stopping by!!

Happy New Year!!

I'm giving Project 365 another chance this year - without any pressure as to layouts or daily blog posts. Just photos and a little bit of journaling each day :) I'll see if I can make it past 2009's 6 week mark LOL

Happy New Year everybody :)

We had a wonderful New Years Eve, surrounded by our families and the girls were literally in grandma heaven LOL They both made it past midnight, our three year old took a little nap at 10:50 pm, but woke up just in time for the fireworks at midnight. They had a blast!!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your year will be wonderful in every way!

Countdown to Christmas at the Orchard

It's December 1 - and all the Mega's at the Orchard are on sale!!!

Check back every day for more fantastic deals!!