The Stingeries

Monday, March 17, 2014

Tananger House: Part 1

We finally got a chance to take pictures of the house. Or rather, Jason was finally able to take pictures and I scurried in front of him trying to pick-up items and give him directions for close-ups, etc. :-)

I've divided the house pictures into two posts so make sure to come back Wednesday to see the rest of it!

The house was semi-furnished. Part of being an expat is dealing with what you have and utilizing your resources. We had to buy a few pieces of furniture to fill in some gaps and made the best with the rest of the furniture. I love the house and some of the pieces in it and am very happy with how it's turned out! I told Jason I'm never leaving Norway because I love this house so much!! :-)

Entrance

You walk from the driveway through the picket fence to get around to the front door. It's technically located at the back of the house and our back patio is at the front. It confuses people when they first arrive! So for any visitors - go through the picket fence! ;-)

Entryway

There's a ton of space for shoes and coats. There's also a huge mudroom off of the entry that is the perfect spot for parking the stroller and has additional wardrobes built in. The apartment didn't have much space for stuff like this so it's a blessing!

Living Room

There's a door separately the entryway and the rest of the house. We typically leave it open, but you walk through and enter the living room area. Most of the furniture in this room is ours, except for the big china cabinet by the fireplace, the leather movie-style seats, and the light wood cabinet and mirror/table set. Some of it we already owned in the apartment and the rest we purchased either used or from Ikea. I was a little hesitant about the red sofa, but I'm loving it and glad I went with the bold color!

We bought a coffee table, but the area works well for playing with Madi so I don't think we are going to get a table anytime soon. Plus it forces Jason and I to eat at the table rather than on the sofa for meals when Madi isn't joining us. :-)

Kitchen

Through the living room you enter the kitchen. You'll notice that we do not have a freezer upstairs attached to the fridge. Apparently this is common in Europe?! I was a little turned off by that until I saw the huge deep freezer downstairs. It's a bit of a hassle to go back and forth sometimes, but good exercise!

Upstairs Playroom

Right off the kitchen is a small room that's kind of awkward. It's not large enough to be a bedroom, plus it has the staircase leading downstairs off of it and you wouldn't want that in a bedroom anyway. However, for us, it was the perfect playroom. We can close the door to downstairs and plan to put up a baby gate between the kitchen and playroom. We can keep an eye on Madi while we are cooking and it's a great size for playing!

Dining Room

On the other side of the kitchen is the dining room. We have a double door leading to the actual front of the house and a huge patio and grass area.

I think that's a good place to stop for today! Come back tomorrow to see the bedrooms, downstairs, and back patio. :-)

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Weekly Wrap-up: Special Two Week Edition

Things got a little crazy two weekends ago and I didn't have a chance to blog. I blame it on the fact that we were still getting settled into the new house and had quite a few social activities on the calendar, including this sunny Stavanger dinner with friends, Madi's swim lessons, and running around keeping up with this little ball of energy, who's new favorite activities include using her walker , dancing, and crawling through her tunnel.

Add to that we had to make some alternate travel care arrangements for the next couple of weeks... I'm not going to go into details because I want to respect our nanny's privacy, but please keep her and her family in your prayers. Since both Jason and I have work obligations we need to fulfill this next week and can't take vacation, we've called in reinforcements to help... so grandma arrives tomorrow!!!!!

But without further ado, here is the special two week edition of the Weekly Wrap-up. You're excited, I know, so give me a high five.

I like to catch Zoey mid-yawn. She always looks incredibly evil. :-) The cats are adjusting well to their new home - finding all the good spots to explore, lay, etc.

Madi had a lot of play dates the past two weeks! We got together with our BFFs Adeline, Anjali, Campbell, and Toby!

I finished the offshore training portions that I missed last month when Madi had "the incident". Nothing like swimming in the North Sea, flipping a raft by yourself, and escaping a capsized helicopter under water. :-)

Madi has been enjoying climbing on her new chair... when Daddy isn't stealing it...could somebody please tell him that he's a little too big for it?!

What do you do when you don't have blackout blinds and haven't had time to go find them? Foil. Just call us the classy new neighbors.

Madi earning her keep by emptying the dishwasher, napping like a Norwegian outside, being adorable, playing with Daddy's shoelaces in church, excited about our baby-proofing supplies from the States, and cuddling with Mommy on her day off.

Relaxing by our first fire in the new home. Bliss. :-)

And if you're still anxious for pictures of the new house, come back to the blog tomorrow for Part 1!! :-)

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Swimming Duck

Our nickname for Madi is Duck. And it comes in many variations - Little Duck, Madi Duck, Lil' Quack, etc. So it only seemed fitting that Little Duck should learn how to swim! There are lots of swim classes during the day, but we wanted one that both of us could attend since we are working. My friend Irma told us about one that they were about to start with their daughter Indi, who's just a month and a half younger than Madi. We got the last spot in the same time slot as them and were excited to begin!

Unfortunately, we missed the first lesson because Madi was still in a bandage from "the incident". The following week there was no class because it was winter break. So last Saturday was the first class we could attend. I was at our women's retreat so it was a Daddy and Madi affair. Jason was a little over-whelmed reading through the list of instructions for the class...

Jason: Shower?! It says I have to shower beforehand. With soap. How am I supposed to do that with Madi?! And she has to shower too!

Darcy: Well, you'll figure it out. Either you'll shower with her or you'll ask someone for help.

Oh how I wish I could have seen the entertainment that was Jason singularly getting himself and Madi showered, changed, and ready for the class... ;-) I digress.

Here is a cute video Jason made of her first lesson. He brought the GoPro and got some great pictures of the two of them - this is definitely a new favorite of mine!!