Chirstmas Message 2011

Firstly, apologies for the minimal amount of hand writing on the vast majority of Christmas cards we sent. Right now, things are either done efficiently or not done at all!

Another year has almost past. It's been a good year for us all in all. We have a larger family, an ever increasing and over-ambitious project list and ever decreasing time.

The major news this year was the birth of Liam Philip on the 6th of August, 6 days early but weighing a good 3.72Kg.



As I write this Liam is somewhat "chunky" and full of life. Une is a really proud and loving big brother. Mari is somewhat jealous because all of Une's cuddles now go to Liam.

Une, now 3 1/2 is still enjoying barnehage (kindergarden) and developing in all the ways young boys do. We both really enjoy spending time with him. Daddy and Une even sit down for a game of chess now and again when they are not building Brio railway or Duplo.

We've had lots of visitors this year and are looking forward more in during Christmas and New year. Here's a picture taken during Une's godparents John and Jean's yearly visit.



The major project this year has been a new bedroom for Une. We decided that the largest bedroom in the house (formally know as the games room) was way too big to house a three year old so we have split it in 2. This, needless to say was not simply a case of building a new internal wall. We had to move the fuse box, close up one window, open up 2 others, install new ceiling joists and much more. The final result is fantastic and even though the other half of the room, the hall way and the loft are not finished we can already see how it will change the house for the better.

Mari, who is trying desperately to work on her PhD despite being on parental leave, finished her Masters in Veterinary Epidemiology and Public health early in the year recieving a distinction. She enjoyed the University of London's graduation ceremony in March and was one of a handful of overseas students to recieved an audience with Princess Anne.

I am still enjoying working at Flowtite. I have not had any long overseas trips this year, but have had quite a few short trips to Germany, Spain, Austria, Poland and Turkey. I have also been doing more mounting biking and cycled 3 races this year. Uncle Stephen (my younger brother) even flew over to join me for one of them, the 54km Sandefjordrittet, having the cheek to beat my 2hrs 36mins by 1 1/2 minutes. I find this a really enjoyable way to stay fit and in 2012 I plan to do the 93km long "Birkebeinerittet". This is Norways most famous mountain bike race with around 20,000 cylist taking part.



Mari will go back to work in February when we will begin 50/50 parental leave. We will continue this until the end of the summer when Liam should be guaranteed a Kindergarden place, hopefully in the same kindergarden as Une.

Peggy is getting older as are our 4 bengals but they are all well. They keep us on our toes and provide plenty of entertainment for both the boys.

We wish a very Merry Christmas to all our friends and family and a Happy, Peaceful and Prosperous 2012!

Love
Andy, Mari, Une and Liam.

Kris kindle 2011

I have demands for this on all sorts of social media and even on the good old dog and bone so here it is.

Back to singles this year and our letters have been recieved. So everyone knows who they are buying for but no one knows who is buying for themas per tradition. Hence the requirement for this blog post.

Get advertising everyone. As ever hilarity and cripticness is always appreciated.

One room becomes two #1

Since there is another on the way......... and that first born son is getting a little big for his 2mx2m box room it was finally time to get on with preparing his new room.

The plan is that the room formally known as "The Games Room" which in reality has been a store for all the toys I never get to play with will be spilt into 2 rooms. Being on the large side, it has also functioned as a domitory during family visits. It has also been deemed too big to be a single childs room. Splitting it in two will make 2 good size rooms, one for FBS and one as a guest room until it is required by no.2 in a few years time.

The first consideration when making a new room is that it will need a new door. Naturally where we are going to put the door something was in the way... Nothing other than the fuse box and all the cables going up and down the centre of the house. Here veiwed from the back after removal of panelling and planks.

After a Sunday without electricity and a very rare take out pizza for dinner it was moved to a temprorary location.

In the end there will be a new cable run from loft to basement on the left hand side of the new door and a new fuse box in the basement. Just as well, as it's now been decided that there will be another door, exactly where ther fuse box is in it's new temporary position.