Life

Leópold and his girlfriend Eimílía, who lives upstairs.

Stefán and Einar trying to save the apple juice after the carton was punctured in the shopping bag.

Trained Fish

Probably the best buy ever available on Facebook. This fish training kit was advertised for only 1000 ikr, cheap because it is used.
Personaly, I would have been so embarassed to have spent any money on this that I would not be brave enough to try and make some of the lost money back by reselling.
Or maybe I am wrong about the whole thing, fish really are circus animals and I just missed out on a great deal.

Seriously?

Sushi NIght

Kristína and Már gave us a gift card for there Sushi, homemade style. So Saterday night the whole family came over and they made us the best sushi we have ever had, it was amazing. With the kids all playing, a game of RISK and a slumber party, it was a night to remember.

Christmas Leftovers

Christmas is over, making it about time to finish up a few things like clear out the fridge, take down the decorations and finally upload those pictures that have been just sitting on my camera for weeks. Terrible, I know.

 Leópold, eating a lizard

Kasper, and a giant Candy Cane

Stefán, with no teeth (hoping for some for Christmas)

Everyone relaxing

The little cousins, learning to share.

Kasper, all dressed up.

Stína, Már and Robert.

hamstercapades

Tonight I cleaned out behind the fridge, because I am that awesome. It only had a small amount to do with the fact that I had to pull it out anyways to catch the third hamster that has escaped in three days.
Between the 12 hamsters, 25 fish, dog, 3 boys and  1 husband, the fun never stops around here.

Congratulations Inga/Mamma/Amma

Thats what you say to someone when it is there birthday in Iceland, Congratulations! Only you say it in Icelandic: Til Hamileigu (totally spelled wrong, but I am top lazy to look it up).
And you say to the parents of the birthday kid, Congratulations - they made it another year.
But today actually belongs to Inga, my awesome possum of a mother-in-law, great friend, husbands mother and children's super amma.
Happy 60th Birthday!

we need a routine

After two weeks of school break fills with Santas, Christmas, Christmas Eve, toys in shoes, stockings, more presents, fireworks, New Years, more fireworks life seems to be a party - and we need our routine back.

These kids need to go back to school and Tuesday just doesn't seem to be soon enough.

The older boys just can not seem to fall asleep before midnight. Even now, its 10:17, they have been in bed since 9:00 and they refuse to admit to being tired.
Just wait until I wake them up at 7 in the morning.

The last two weeks have been great with visiting family, visiting us, visiting them. And don't get my started on the food, it has been amazing. The fact that my clothing doesn't seem to be fitting right shows how good the food was but,
when I served fish and rice for dinner tonight my kids wanted to know why we were eating such boring food. Because we live on an island. To many tasty food for them!

Time to get back to the normal life.

Clearing out the camera.

Part of getting ready for Christmas means clearing out the camera to make sure I can take pictures tomorrow.
Also: OUr phone company is offering free international phone calls tomorrow, so Ill talk to you sooooon!

Davíð and Michal, our most recent couchsurfer from France.

Leópold, and a Clone Trooper

Just Leó.

A sign that Kasper posted on his door, although he was not to sure which girls were hot.

Leópold working on his strategy against the librarian.

Leó at Lizzy's.

This was from some game the boys were playing. It mostly involved chasing each other around with the camera and yelling.

Our poor little Rósa.

Stefán reading.

Leó terrorizing the fish.

Best dog ever.

Angry Stefán.

Pouty Stefán

Our tree.

I saw this window while walking to meet the kids at school, around 9. maybe 930, in the morning, anyways, looks like they are growing something funny in there...

Stefán singing for us, or fooling around.

Recorder concert.

Learning how to do Christmas.

I know I have been a terrible blogger these days. Terrible blogger, crappy sister and mediocre friend.

I have been doing Christmas - the best I can.

First of all I have to say that I am so grateful, excited, glowing about the fact we are doing it Canadian style this time.  I have high hopes.

I should also mention that, thanks to my *insert here*  mother,  I learned more about the holiday season from television then I did from home, and you know I don't watch television.

I finished the Christmas present shopping, early in fact, this was the easy part. I even had great idea and really do think that everyone will like what I picked out.

The tricky bits are more like organizing the living room. I actually really enjoy (seriously!) dragging furniture around the room, trying different styles, basically pretending it's a new place. I thought I was rather good at it.

Thanks a few people, I now know this is not true. One friend once said 'I like things this way, it looks a little more normal'. My own husband remarked on how our home looked like it had been set up by a mathematician, trying to make the most of the floor space. Its true, we have a dance floor.

While I always noticed that my living room did not look like anyone else's I thought it was OK, but Davíð said it is not cozy, and maybe he is right. I have no sense for these things and I appreciate someone being honest with me. But now I have a problem, we will have 12 people here for Christmas and my home is not cozy.

I've been dragging the couch around the room for weeks - I don't know where it will be cozy - you should see my muscles!

And decorations! My mother in law has done Christmas for the last few years, and before that the kids were to young to notice, but now I need to get going. I am even seriously considering getting a tree, or at least a branch.

I unpacked everything even close to an ornament that the kids have ever made and stuck it to a window.

Then I hit the second hand store and grabbed a bunch of decorations that needed a home, and I stuck them to the windows too.

After a trip to Húsasmíðjan (Icelandic home depot) for a few strings of lights, there is a hint of Christmas in my home.

But it still doesn't look right, it doesn't look like everyone else's, and I'm not sure how to change this. I am grateful that my children like me the way I am, they don't mind my ways.

Tomorrow I am thinking thinking of going down to the Salvation Army store to try to borrow the florescent pink tree they have on display. I already asked about buying it, it is not for sale.  But maybe they will lend it to me? Then I am going to cover it in popcorn.

At least the meal should not be too difficult. Kristína, my sister in law, is taking care of the turkey and potatoes, Robert, my father in law, is taking care of the lobster, and Inga, my mother in law is trying to get together a pumpkin pie.

I am taking care of the stuffing after seeing Kraft Stove Top had been imported to Hagkaup. I bought 6 boxes, after wiping the tears away. It was a happy moment.

I am also in charge of the salad. What is a Christmas salad? So far I have tomatoes and cucumbers, sliced fresh on a plate. I should probably do something else too, but first I have to see what vegetables and fruit look decent at Bónus, then find some recipe.

But the day is sneaking up on my quickly and there is really only one more day to get it together. 

So, until tomorrow night, I hope, back to the preparations.

Tourists pay more at the Blue Lagoon

Going to the Blue Lagoon is one of the top things to do in Iceland, it's so amazing, beautiful, good for your skin and incredibly expensive, if your not Icelandic.

The listed price on the English site is 28 euros , about 4300 Isk, while on the Icelandic Blue Lagoon home page you see an advertisement for 1500 Isk. This offer is only valid if you are paying with an Icelandic card. If you click on this ad, then try to change the language to English you will only be redirected back to the original Blue Lagoon page (in English), where there is no 1500 Isk offer to be seen.

I have been to the Blue Lagoon several times and have never paid anything near to these crazy prices. Once I was even let in for free because I was with some a walking group, that only advertised in Icelandic, although someone did come and ask what we (I was with a friend) were doing here.

So, clearly, the Blue Lagoon makes all the money off people who can not speak Icelandic.

LESSON OF THE DAY:
Before you come to Iceland, befriend an Icelander. It'll pay off.

Seriously?

Dead Fly Art?
I can only hope my kids do something more productive with there time then this.

Come to Iceland

I dont know how many times I have to say it.


Chilling Out in Iceland

Sewing

Before today, I had not sat behind a sewing machine since Home Economics in grade 8.
I figured it was something like a bicycle, something you could always remember how to do.
And it turns out that it is even more unsuited to me like I remembered. I was never meant to be a seamstress.
But I did manage to fix the blanket covers, a few shirts, lots of pants and make a sleeping bag for Leópold.
To keep the little guy happy I had to feed him Fruit Loops in his high chair so he wouldn't complain while I neglected him to sew, but he was happy with the treat.
Now that the important things are done, and I still have a few days with the borrowed machine, the boys and I are turning the terribly old sheets into capes and customs.  Leó just got a king outfit made out of pillow cases.

Laga.is

Davíð has offically started his own business, Laga.is. He fixes everything!
We are so excited for him!
and you can like it on Facebook :)

Too much sugar!

Anyone who knows me also knows I put a lot of sugar in my tea or coffee.  I am just crazy about the stuff - to the point that Davíð worries about my health. I think its OK.

It should also be noted that I do not drink beer, or anything else for that matter, but beer is the important one today, because I made some last night.

At least I got the first steps going, including melting an entire kilo of sugar into the mix, and I have to add more at the end!

After doing this (my first attempt at making beer, Ill let you know how it goes later) I no longer see my sugar consumption as a problem. After all there must be at least as much sugar in a beer as there is in my coffee, if not more.