Not so terrible two

Another birthday chalked off, making a massive total of..... two!

Not so terrible either, at least not yet.
Gone now are the baby presents, replaced with what he loves best at the moment, all things automotive.

Presents enjoyed by more than just the birthday boy. 

With the usual suspects assembled........

 

The seriousness of the situation seemed to be giving Brand stage fright or maybe he was just wanting to get back to playing with his cars.

 

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Cycle sisters and running boy

Summer, and after attempts the two previous summers to get Maud to learn to ride a bike she at last realised that it isn't in fact difficult, scary or just not fun at all, in fact completely the opposite. My promise of buying her a new bike if she ever learnt to ride one was also not forgotten after all this time so after doing this....

387 from matt on Vimeo.

she got this...

Henny of course then went into Henny super deep thought mode and saw that it might actually be quite fun to be able to ride a bike although her belief in her own ability and that gravity quite often seems to introduce her head to the floor even when just walking was a bit of a worry for her. Still with the age old 'don't worry i'll hold on to you' (honest) leaving my lips, she set off. A few runs holding then pretending to hold and she was off uttering the sentence in a tone of utter disbelief 'I can ride a bike!!' (only in Norwegian of course)

sept13 076 from matt on Vimeo.

followed by her ever attendant one man Henny cheer group he likes a bit of running and shouting

sept13 078 from matt on Vimeo.

Henny 5!

Another birthday, they keep adding up, the latest count 5. Happy Birthday Henny!

Magical number 7

So much more than just a birthday, Maud had a huge day in her life today, is there anything better than number 7.
Presents before breakfast and then jump in the car to Stange to visit Martinus who we haven't seen for a year.

The day turned out to be so much more than we could possibly have imagined, we got the usual fabulous welcome and even a birthday cake for Maud.

a play in the snow

and then something that Martinus had seemingly been thinking about for a while - he proposed to Maud, which she accepted, so there had to be wedding there and then. Martinus ran upstairs to get his sunday best on, and there was a wedding. Rings were exchanged, Martinus declared his undying love for Maud and it was all very moving. So 7th birthday and Married on the same day!

 

 

Monkey and me

After a good 2 or so frustrating (for us) months finding his balance and maybe taking a step or two before grabbing the nearest solid object Brand has finally decided he can now walk. So he is doing his old man style shuffle about the place grinning from ear to ear.

Monkey and me from matt on Vimeo.

MVI 4732 from matt on Vimeo.

Get up, stand up.

It's been coming for a long time, but only now has he finally decided that he wants to stand by himself, no steps yet, but can't be far away i'm sure.

1

The super important landmark that is the first birthday came Brands way today, following on from yesterdays celebrations at nursery see here for pictures, Brand had a bit of a lie in and awoke refreshed from the previous days festivities ready for the day ahead.

Big cheesy breakfast grin.

after which a birthday bath with sisters skinny. 

ready for a spot of present opening, closely watched by older sisters as ever. 

he was happy to see cake but couldn't be bothered to blow out the candle.

split camps for cake eating, Brand held court with the big kids...

the monkeys sat out in the kitchen

a spot of thinking time to let the cake, ice cream, cup cakes and pretty much quarter of a watermelon settle.......

and then it was time for a spot of playtime.

followed by a spot of film watching.

A successful day by all accounts and something which he didn't really want to end judging by the way he didn't want to go to bed.