Family time

 I've finally finished my exams, and I'm off to see my sister and her family next weekend

 specifically, my niece Dina and my nephew Andreas

 Here pictured at Easter (ahem ahem)

"Does anyone want to go to the hairdresser?"

The most glorious cherry cheeks that ever existed

Christmas 2015 at my sister's house

 My niece and nephew had a lot of christmassy energy going on

 Even though my sister had limited their number of presents this year

 Andreas, two and a half years old, will be a famous portrait photographer

 Or a famous paparazzi?

 Andreas, me and Dina waiting for the opening of presents. 

Andreas was wearing a shirt, but it disappeared.

 Some indoors skiing, trying on his sister's new ski boots and skis

 Sister helping out, documenting her brother's skills with an ipad

 "I'll film you first, then you can film me afterwards"

 Trading of skis and ipads

Andreas with his paternal grandfather (i.e. not my dad), enjoying his new books

Christmas with my sister, brother in law, and niece and nephew (respectively five and two years old) was a rollercoaster of an experience, as it is when you throw expectations, sweets, sugar, presents and late bed hours into the mix. It was so good seeing them again, and realising how much they've grown in the past two months. Also being with children at Christmas is beautiful - the past two Christmases I've spent in Colombia and Spain with all grown-ups. Being with children I get to show more of my childish side and go back to my own childhood Christmases, which is nostalgia heaven. 

More parties because

 there should always be parties, especially family parties

 because there is so much leftover cake that we're still finishing it a week later

 and I get to be with my sister and nephew

 and one grandmother after another

 Andreas gets to sleep on his grandmother's lap

and practice his posing skills with me (we're both slow learners)

As I've mentioned a few times already, I've been spending more and more time with my family this past year or so. Ah, I suppose that's what comes from being older, and from knowing that you're going away for an extended period of time. 

Andreas on a short visit

 Hello there pretty flower

Let me tear you off and throw you on the ground

My nephew and his dad had just been on a trip to Svalbard, to see friends of their family and my own brother. They came by our house to have dinner before heading home, and I brought Andreas with me to the buttercups. He is infinitely amused by stroking his hands through flowers and grass, and even more by "picking" the heads off the flowers and dropping them. He's becoming more and more aware of his surroundings, using his big brown eyes to ask for permission (especially if he knows he's about to do something he's not supposed to, i.e. throwing food around).

Family times

 Andreas has gotten so much bigger since last time - two months of his life is actually quite a bit

 And he's getting up, falling down, walking about, climbing, fidgeting and enjoying himself

 not to mention throwing soap bubble containers into coffee cups and laughing

 While Dina and I had an entertaining show for "the adults" (I don't count as one of them).
Said show consisted of singing, playing drums with spoons and drinking water from a bowl

We also had slightly creepy mask scenes in the middle of the day

As these children seem to have a neverending energy. That never ends.

While the rest of us fell down into chairs and sofas and dozed on every available surface at different points of the day, these two kept going until a little past bedtime. I love my niece and nephew, but I must clearly build up some stamina.

Mountains and babies

 A few weeks ago my mum and I took a roadtrip

 From Tromsø to Setermoen, to see my sister and her children

 Namely, Andreas, aged almost nine months

 and Dina, aged almost four years

 And let's have another photo of Andreas because of baby cheeks

What did we do? We bought food, we made food, we ate food, and then we played around and watched films and baked and sang songs and pinched cheeks. Oh, and we celebrated mother's day, so Dina and I both made cards for our mums.