Shannon + Jen = Nigella

As many of you probably know, Nigella Lawson is quite famous in the European baking/cooking world.  She could probably be compared to Martha Stewart, although more famous rather than infamous.

For today’s Ævintýralandi   excitement, I baked the flower kaka seen in the flickr badge (the cake w/the bright pink base was a practice version).  I also made 20 or so cupcakes in case we ran out of cake.  As you will see (soon), I used the Wilton candy flowers for the cupcake decor.  While I was surprised that Peter called me Martha (in a good way) last night, I was even more shocked to receive the following story from the mum of Kelsey’s friend, Helena:

  Kelsey's mom made some beautiful cakes with 
flowers that were so unbelievable I think maybe the woman on TV is 
playing her( she was referring to Nigella Lawson the British cook on TV 
might be playing you!).

I was floored by this and in no way do I feel I deserve the praise.  However, many thanks to Helena for the kind words!  There is nothing more appreciated in the world than thoughtful comments on a job that was definitely labor-intensive (overall). 

So, between my efforts in the kitchen and Shannon’s assistance with all decoration-related purchases, we are Nigella!  Check back later for more pictures of Kelsey og hana vinátta í Ævintýraland.

Til hamingju

með fimm ára afmælið Kelsey! 

It’s something about age 5

It simply must be.  Kelsey has been so super helpful lately, even more so than usual.  Constantly checking on things and even asking when there is nothing urgent.  Tonight she strolled into the kitchen and queried, "What can I do to help?"

Totally out of the blue, and unfortunately, I had nothing at the moment.  She noted, though, that I was watering a large plant in the sink.  She promptly went into the den and brought back a plant almost as tall as she is! 

Then she helped with the guinea pig and afterwards, took a break to work on her favorite website, http://www.starfall.com.   Her activity of choice? The book about recycling and cleaning up the environment, naturally.

Birthday Anticipation!

The party favors, cake mix, cake pan, and most of the Wilton section of a Michael’s store arrived today, courtesy of our party planner and invitation-maker, Auntie (Dr.) Shannon.  I am not sure whether we had more fun opening all of the packages or she had a better time making the purchases. 

Oh, and yes, the invitations have arrived!  If possible, they are even cuter than in the picture.  They were shipped by Global Priority Mail and arrived within 7 days.  So, if you have nothing that Icelandic Customs* might want to taste/borrow, feel free to send it to our actual doorstep.

Kelsey also received a package with an actual gift in it!  Okay, she received two (the Birthday Box is here, Dad & G), but she won’t see the others til her birthday; one wrapped gift is a suspiciously-Barbie like box and could be quite telling.

So, I let her look at the gift from Shannon, Mark & Sandy.  She looked and then when asked promptly put on the table for next week.  She didn’t shake it or play with the bows (a la Jen & Caitlin) or state affirmatively that she knows exactly what was inside (Pete) or eat the ribbon and then yak it all over the floor (Bailey).  Nope, she put it on table and is perfectly content to wait until the big day.  Frankly, if she didn’t look so much like I did as a young’un, we might worry. 

Then again, she spent this evening cleaning up the entire den for me without so much as me asking her to pick up one toy.  Hmmm….

In other news, Caitlin is doing well in her enrichment class.  Since she is still two years + ahead in literacy and one of the few native English speakers, she is pulled out each week for enrichment in said subject.  Her first project was a two page report on ther topic of choice.  Her older classmate chose Hilary Duff while Caitlin picked Velociraptors. 

We did not realize just how ‘heavy’ the topic was until we sat down with her last week.  Most of the research was more on an upper high school level.  She ended up shortening the paper slightly, but 6 plus hours later, it was complete.  She proudly typed every word, including more Latin than should be legal for a third grade report. 

As it turned out, her enrichment class was canceled today due to the teacher being ill.  Berta, Caitlin’s new homeroom teacher, thoughtfully let her share the report with her classmates.   The entire class listened, asked questions and even the boys really were into the discussion, thanks to the dinosaur theme. 

Go, Cait!

*liquids, hard to find clothing, pharmaceuticals of any kind, any items someone in Customs might need for their own personal use….

afmaelið hjá Kelsey

Ju, ju,  tvær vika!  Yes, in only two weeks Kelsey will be five!  We are having a countdown to the birthday, to the party, to when she starts grunnskola (kindergarten).  I think the only thing she is not counting down to is summer vacation, as it means her last days at her leikskola.

I am even quite sad about the impending end to her playschool days.  Despite the fact that it is a playschool and there is no formal curricula, Little Miss Independent has flourished in so many ways.  The baby who was barely 3 when we arrived is now completely bilingual and amazingly with it.  She helps me get ready in the mornings!

So, in order to properly celebrate with 20 plus extremely active börn, we are going to none other than Adventureland!  While I love Adventureland, I am not extraordinarily fond of their invitations.  A certain crafty person heard of this situation and offered up her first international commission for homemade cards. 

You can see the above invite and other masterpieces by Shannon at Crafty Dog Blog, a subsidiary of 3 Salty Dogs.  Many, many thanks to Shannon and we hope to see the results in person in 3-5 days. 3 -5 days, you ask?  We finally decided to test Global Priority Mail since pouch completely stymies and confuses us in how some mail can arrive in such a timely fashion and other pieces seem like they were stopped in a time warp. Given the security risk  of having mail delivered at home is, uh, tiny at best, we thought it was worth a shot.