Spring Show

Ieri c'e' stato lo spettacolo di fine anno della scuola di danza che frequenta Gaia. Uno spettacolo molto bello, lungo ed impegnativo che si e' tenuto al palazzo dello sport di Loviisa. PapaF si e' occupato delle musiche come tecnico del suono.

Yesterday there's been Gaia's dance school spring show. A beautiful, long and difficult show in the local sport-hall. PapaF took care of the sound engeenering.

 Gran Finale

 Gaia all'uscita vicino al manifesto

Passaggiata al parco per rilassarsi dopo lo show :)

Gaia e Jimmy, number one supporter :)

Let the sun shine...

This is the nightless night period here in Finland. Well it will grow and grow until the end of june, when after the midsummer the darkness will slowly find its way back. Yesterday I took a picture at 10 pm (22:00) and the sun was just about setting. At 4:30 this morning I woke up for few minutes and the sun was shining already. I call this a blessed period after so much darkness. We're all is for late bed-time and early wake-up. As somebody told us in when we visited Nordkapp '' we will sleep in autumn '' :)
Now that we've been living here permanently, I totally agree !

In Finlandia questo e' il periodo della notte senza notte. Beh in realta' aumentera' fino alla fine di giugno, quando dopo il midsummer il buio tornera' lentamente. Ieri ho fatto delle fot alle dieci di sera e il sole stava iniziando a tramontare. Questa mattina alle quattro e mezza mi sono svegliata un attimo e il sole gia' splendeva. Dopo tanta oscurita' questo e' un periodo benedetto. Noi andiamo a letto tardi e ci svegliamo prima. Come ci dissero quando visitammo Capo Nord '' dormiremo in autunno'' :)
Adesso che viviamo qui, sono completamente d'accordo !

Che ''picata'' !

La gioia di un bimbo piccolo e' contagiosa, ti riempie il cuore, e la risata poi ! Ci ricorda che la vita e bella :)
Se poi aggiungiamo alla risata un po' di bambinese ....

James gioca con il nuovo acquisto di Seba e Milla, una macchina per le bolle di sapone :)

'' Che picata ! '' ( che ficata ! ) grida felice Jimmy mentre le scoppia con le manine  !!

April flowers - Fiori d'aprile

One of the best sides of living here in Finland is the nature. Nature is still pretty wild and it changes dramatically according to the weather and season ( whom change dramatically as well, four very distinct seasons, with different climate, light and nature )

Uno degli aspetti migliori della Finlandia e' la natura. La natura e' ancora piuttosto incontaminata e cambia in modo impressionante a seconda del tempo e della stagione ( le quali a loro volta cambiano in modo drastico, quattro stagioni distinte, con diverso clima, luce e natura )

Here the april flowers in my garden ( none of them was planted, they're wild ). Very different from may flowers I will show in the next days :)

Ecco i fiori di aprile nel mio giardino ( nessuno e' stato piantato, sono selvatici ). Sono molto differenti i fiori di maggio che mostrero' nei prossimi giorni :)

A wonderful doughter - Una figlia meravigliosa

Ieri la festa della mamma e' partita un po' sottotono.

Durante la colazione i ragazzi mi hanno chiesto cosa si festeggiava :(

 (qui in Finlandia i giorni di festa si issa la bandiera e tutti i nostri vicini avevano la bandiera su ).

Il pomeriggio pero' Gaia mia ha detto che si sarebbe occupata lei di preparare la cena ( cucina cinese ) e cosi' ha fatto ....

 Yesterday mother's day didn't start in the best way. During breakfast children asked me why flags were up ( here in Finland on official holidays the flags are up ).

But in the afternoon Gaia told me she would have taken care of the chinese-style dinner, and so she did ....

DELICIOUS !!!!!

Grazie Gaia !!!!!!!!!  

Cartapesta - Papier-mache

This is so far one o the biggest project any of my kids started and carried on, even better, this is a project that TWO of them started and are working on, and I'm all for working together, so I'm twice as happy :) .

few days ago Milla and Seba asked me if they could start a papier-mache project. I of course agreed. I used to make them play a lot with papier-mache when they were younger, I used it a lot in the past and they already realized small projects for presents.
So they started with a simple mask idea but then they moved the project upstairs ...

 And the mask became a full doll !! When they showed me what they were doing I was speechless, they moved the urniture around to create a little papier-mache lab near Seba's bed and are using few different dolls to make all the body parts. They invented ways to keep the 'stuff' in shape while drying and it's complitely their idea how to connect the parts. I didn't suggested anything at all.

 Here Milla is showing an arm in the making

 

 And here a view of their lab with Seba's at work.

I'm very very proud od their project and can't wait to see it finished :)

Smoothies and baskets

I'm quite happy with my last (finished ) crochet project and my last purchase :)

This is our new blessings basket. I crocheted the basket with chunkie wool doubled and a very big hook ( was it 8 or maybe 9 ) and decorated it with a dark green ribbon.
Inside colourful blessings and short children's prayer, mostly invented by me. I think that giving thanks habit and pointing at good things in our life is a healthy habit for everybody and especially for the children :)

And here my purchase : a new blender ! Especially designed for smoothies. I wasn't a smoothie fun, but after giving it a try now I really love them ! Here I was preparing carrot-apple-orange smoothie, super good !!

Have a nice day !