Be happy

-be happy-

There is nothing better than brand new asphalt, chalks and a bunch of kids eager to make pretty pictures and leave happy sentiments for all the park users.

Days like these make up for all those drizzly December ones.

-smile, you are wonderful-

-have a great playtime-

Sometimes...

..you have to test your sanity by baking something special.

It went so far that I had to math to finish the cake as my pans were a different size than the ones in the recipe..

But I saw this recipe a year ago and decided it would be the perfect 50th birthday present to my closest colleague of nearly ten years.

I cannot tell you how nerve wrecking it was to cut the first piece to see if it had worked out.

But hurray! There it was, the Norwegian flag all decked out in cake.

It was a red (and blue) velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and it was absolutely delicious.

Sven was super pleased too.

May- monthly recap

May starts with a day off for May Day.

We had friends coming over, so I spent some time in the kitchen.

The ridiculousness of modern cooking... 

One iPad for the recipe and the other for NetFlix...

I made Papas rellenas for snacking.

And chicken kebabs.

How do you make chicken better?

Add bacon!

This time it went through the food processor to make paste.

These were finger licking good!

Dessert?

Doughnuts and ice cream.

And fun for the kids.

I bought pretty paper straws.

And then played with them.

I also raided our Lego mini figure box to make #10 and Donna to run from the Dalek.

It hailed.

At least twice.

Our motto at work.

A huge boulder left my shoulders when we found an assisted living place for my Dad just a stone throw away from the school (there at the end of the street).

He's really settled in and enjoys the ready meals and company.

It was mostly cool, but blue skies were around.

For Mother's Day, our kids planted either a sunflower or a tomato.

And made matching cards.

Me, busy adding more soil.

Great having a colleague taking such a flattering photo.

Aah, well..

Guess we're even.

*grin*

New supplies for the fall term arrived!

Washi tapes and buttons and embroidery floss and felt and beads and...

I fell in love with the colors at the garden center.

But came home with only summer flowers.

Yup, that poured.

My favorite May green.

Ugh.. we have thieving birds here!

This made my day.

My kind of civil disobedience.

I went back and bought some.

I got a surprise visitor in dollhouse scale.

You can read of his escapades with my Esther here.

We celebrated a retiring principal and a teacher.

Great care had gone into the goodie bags for our 90 minute road trip.

Served with sparkling wine, naturally.

Oh the Eurovision Song Contest.

Such fun to watch while commenting with friends around the globe via Facebook.

I was hooked up to not only Finland, but also Germany, Sweden (congrats, again) and the US.

We organized silly Olympics for the kids at work.

Good times!

My favorite tulip bloomed.

We also bought a bush called rose almond.

Such beautiful blooms.

Hmmpphh.. birds, just aim at the LAWN!

Chocolate ice cream and sandals.

Good combo.

The Parents' Association treated the staff with cakes and sparkling wine.

I loved these tiny wild violets on my way to work.

And then, the highlight of this year.

The premiere of SkeleHulk.

The lego film David worked with the kids to create.

He only filmed, all else was by the kids.

You can watch the 11 minute film right here and now.

Tell your Lego loving kids to join you!

Finally, it was time to toast summer vacation!