easter vacation

Look at her self-portrait - last photo. She is drawing and drawing - and she is getting good at it.

Have a nice Easter!

her first birthday party

Easter vacation has started and yesterday we celebrated Molly's 1-year birthday.
The light is here, but it is still very cold. Our plans were of course to go here during the holidays as usual - but the weather forecast is freezing cold (-15°C at night!), so we are still swinging on the fence.

♥ Molly 1 year ♥

handprints

Those of you who are following us here know that we have a tradition for handmade invitations whenever there is an occasion. Molly and I had fun doing these invitations for her 1-year birthday. Of course it's very limited how much a 1-year old can be integrated in creative projects - but handprints are such a classic and cute way to do it.

Here, here, here and here are other invitations we have done.

baked tomatoes

I love tomatoes but both of our girls are allergic to tomatoes so we don't cook with them and often end up with a lot of very ripe tomatoes. My sister's baked tomatoes is a wonderful and very easy way to preserve them and also to add a little tomato flavour as topping on soup, pizza, salad, pasta, risotto etc.

This is how to make them:
1-1½ kg plum or cherry tomatoes cut into halves
olive oil
salt, pepper, a little sugar

Marinade:
½ dc white balsamic
2 dc olive oil
1 tsp acacia honey
1-1½ tsp dried thyme
1½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp salt
pepper
1 clove of garlic

Bake tomatoes with olive oil, salt/pepper/a littel sugar at 130°C for 1½-2 hours.
Mix all ingredients for the marinade. Fill the baked tomatoes into jars and pour the marinade over them. Let them rest for a couple of days.

bathroom inspiration

We are looking for inspiration. Any ideas...? We know what we like but our budget is limited.

1.+2. Byggfabriken.
3. Pinterest.
4.+5.+7. Contemporary Tiles.
6. Made a Mano.

the end of the world

Look at Rita Rapp's lovely illustrations in this little Swedish childrens book from 1957. The story by Gunnar Skjönsberg is about a little boy who is searching for the end of the world (the title is "The Journey to The End of The World"). During his quest he is meeting all kinds of grown up persons but none of them know where to find the end of the world. At the end of the story he realizes that the end of the world is just at the end of his road, just outside the town where the green fields are beginning.

I love all the little details and patterns in Rita Rapp's illustrations and they remind me of this book from around the same time.

little kitchen aid

Frida Viola is wearing Molly's sweet little bonnet - a gift from a good friend. She is helping me in the kitchen. We are baking. I love these moments.

(and she is wearing jeans - first time ever! This morning she suddenly wanted to wear jeans. These are hand overs from her cousin who never used them either. We hope this good turn will continue.)

Caramel Baby & Child

Caramel Baby & Child ss 2013 - hard to resist.

my home today

1.+4.+5.+7. Fine little manual on Hardanger embroidery. Love the pale colours.
2. Molly - soon 1 year.
3. Our old downpipes - and yes, we are still renovating. I guess you can imagine that it's not so fun when the kids are ill.
4. Highlight of the day - I love breakfast.

Scones

Just like so many other families at the moment we are still struggling with this winter's flu epidemic - last week Molly and this week Frida Viola. Especially for Frida Viola the days are so long and at the same time she doesn't really have energi for longer lasting activities. So today we made scones. Easy to bake and even with a very quick result for little impatient ones. We used a reciepe from Meyers Bageri, just made the scones much smaller like mini scones (Frida Viola's wish), and they turned out really good.