Where did we leave off?

Oh yea...May. Wow! It sure has been a long while since I last left any word...it's hard to know where to pick up sharing on this blog! I'm so sorry. We had a super summer we'll have to share with you all later. To everyone who came for a visit, thanks for the company! To anyone who still wants to come, it looks like our time here is ticking...we'll let you know more when we know more.

For now, here's what we've been up to this month.

School of course...and homework.
Eli is quite the little student. He love his fourth grade! They get planners in 4th grade and learn a lot about keeping track of homework and what needs to be done that day. He' good at it. His grade gets to earn "Academic Avatar" cards for extra work they choose to do. Eli is riding his bike to school for 30 days to earn one of these cool cards.

This month the elementary classes had Share In Our Learning. Each class had a time for parents to come visit their kids in the class and see what they do and what their class is like. This time I remembered my camera for each visit!

Eli, Showing off his wiggly pencil...

Adam, reading a bit during a free moment. Can you guess what book?

...and showing off his all about me page and fetching a folder from his back pack.

Mary Alice loves her teacher, Mr. Kallenburg. She was upset that she got a "boy" teacher this year. She just knew she should have had Miss Megan, Adam's old teacher. When we went to meet her teacher the day before school, she would not even talk to him. BUT, after the first day of school she came home and said, "Mom, I like Mr. Kallenburg. He's all right and he is funny!"


With school came soccer, or rather, Football here in Europe. I found myself suddenly volunteered to be in charge of organizing Kindergarten soccer. Phew! That added to my plate of - company in town, Dave just finding out we may be moving by Christmas, a kids sale I had to prepare for, girls camp to prepare for (a bit late in the year, but we pulled it off...), a Young Women's activity to plan for (my turn to be in charge) and Dave too busy with work to be home for dinner if at all. How do moms do this?! Thankfully, things are now much calmer and running pretty smoothly? I think.

Older kids are fun to watch, but my favorite will probably always be kindergarten soccer. These kids are so funny! You never know how a game will go. The girls often like to chat more than play, the direction gets confusing and they often score for the other team, there is always one or two crying or upset about....I'm not sure what, and at least a couple that have no desire to do anything with the game or even kick the ball. Last week, a few orange team members were doing stretches and tumbling type moves in the goal box while the ball was rolling by. I wish I had my video camera to catch the fun...

Eli loves to play.

We had to sort of make Adam play. Doesn't that sound mean. It really isn't for some kids. I was sure he wanted to, because he said so until it was time to begin play. He is not a fan of new things....yes he has played before, but a new team and new coaches, new anything, even the first day of school, is not a good thing for this boy of mine. When the season began, he sat in the car and cried. Now, he loves it. And, he gets to earn Wii time when he plays. I'm not a fan of sitting ducks and this is a fun way to get in some exercise. Go Adam!

The highlight of September for Eli, his birthday, of course!
First a celebration with the family - my favorite. We went out for Chinese dinner. It's the only day Dave will ever eat Chinese. Then we came home for cake and presents! It was way cool when we checked the mailbox on the way home and found Grammie and Grand-dad's gift!

This weekend we finished off his birthday celebration with a friends party. Next year....I think we'll just do the family thing. It was fun to have the party, but they wear me out!


Other happenings....

Can you guess what happened to Mary Alice's nose?
She had a lovely fall on the way to the bus stop Wednesday morning and landed on her nose! OUch! There was a lot of bleeding. I carried her back home and we cleaned her up, let her rest and gave her lots of love. Then, she became very concerned about missing her new favorite thing, Girl Scouts (which is after school on Wednesday's). She was ready to go to school right before lunch so off we went and she happily finished her day with her usual smile and fun personality! Good job Mary Alice. I am glad your nose is looking so much better.

The last bit of recent events....

The boys just being boys. I'm glad I was able to catch them on the camera.
Adam started looking through his straw then Eli had to have a look too.

Hopefully, I will take less time for sleep and post more...more often...or find more time during the day. I thought with all the kids in school all day I would find time to do so many more things...ha, ha. Later!

Look what Mary Alice can Do!

She told me she needed them off in the fall. Then again in the winter when it was too icy to do so. She has been asking me all spring to take those training wheels off her bike...Daddy finally got to the task and she was off and riding like she already knew how, or something. First on the little tiny bike then on the bigger silver bike. She biked around the neighborhood, then on the bike trails with daddy by her side. And she did not want to stop. We figured she rode about 6 miles her first day on the bike without training wheels. Wow! That's some good biking Mary Alice!

Today is the 17th of May

In the life of an American, this is just another perhaps lovely or cold spring day. In the life of a Norwegian, this is the national holiday...a very big day filled with parades and other fun stuff. This day began for us (and any Norwegian who has any affiliation with school-age children) early - like any other school day. We get up early, dress up in our Sunday best, then send our kids off to the bus stop to catch the bus for school. Once they arrive at the school, they board another bus by grade to ride into the Stavanger city center for the children's school parade. We at home, finish up getting ready (in other words, get Mary Alice who likes to move at what seems like turtle pace, ready). Then we jump in the car and drive downtown to watch the big event. We decided to meet up with members of the branch and the missionaries again, if we find them. There are many walking in the direction of the parade, dressed up in their sunday best or best Norwegian cultural dress (called a "budnad") in varying colors, depending on where you grew up in Norway. The ladies wear long wool skirts with elaborate embroidery that usually includes a sort of apron, with a shawl and silver necklace/broach. Few of the men wear a tailored vest with knee length knickers and wool socks. The rest wear suits with ties. They look great and the feeling is formal and festive when you begin to see them everywhere! I don't think I have ever seen anyone dress this nice for a parade in America, let alone for the whole day during the 4th of July festivities! Its neat and it really feels like a special, respected day for this country. I like how they dress up for their country and literally look their best! It says a lot to me. Ok, back to the parade. When we arrive, we are greeted surprisingly with cheers of "Hurrah" led by the former branch president in his loudest cheering voice. I should have brought the video camera just to capture his fun and good cheer for all the kids parading by. It's worth watching a parade with this crowd. This year, that also included 8 missionaries (6 of who serve here locally - WOW!). This parade is all the local schools. Each school carries a banner at the front, usually has a band, and many of the littles are dressed in budnad's. I wish I had taken a ton more picts. Here's a few I did get.

Walking to the parade.

Dave took this picture...he still likes BMW motorcycles.

The only vehicle in this parade, besides the two politi bikes with it.

Little watchers.

Most of the schools have a band.

This is a girl from the branch. I think she's around 10?

This was an impressive line. They were all doing a Norwegian folk dance.

Two little friends from the British International School.

Eli.

Adam.
Had to show one more. He is walking with a girl from Poland.

Do any of you know this guy? Festive Elder Fisch.

Following the parade we find our kids and start walking to the car. Once we have even began, the streets are already practically empty and you would never have guessed there had been a parade here just 20 minutes ago. As we approach our car, we find that all the others have pretty much gone their separate ways. We jump in and head home for lunch and perhaps a relaxed day at home with no other plans but which is sure to include lots of play among all the expat kids who live here in our neighborhood. The Norwegians are still out watching other parades and continuing to celebrate their country's big day. It is fun to have our children participate in the school parade. It draws in a lot of people to celebrate with Norway and their beautiful children. It was a great parade. Thanks Stavanger!

Spring has mostly Sprung

Finally, the leaves have appeared...on some trees, not all, and some flowers too... though still somewhat sparse. And I gave our lawn its first cut yesterday. Spring is mostly here but it still feels so cold! I still want my ears covered and at least a fleece jacket with a long sleeved shirt underneath when I go outside most days. That seems silly when it looks so warm, but then I go out and wish I had them if I don't.
Summer is just around the corner. Even if the temperature doesn't tell me so, the light sure does. We put our kids down late tonight...about 9 o'clock and the sun was still shining. It's just beginning to set as I type. I didn't realize it was already working toward the even later June Solstice. No wonder my kids were sooooo energetic tonight. Good night.

The Company Came . . .

And then they were gone.

Time flies way toooo fast when you're having fun. It was like the story
"the Relatives Came". (One of my favorites by Cynthia Rylant.) It felt like there was just too much to squeeze in for the short 10 days they were here, but we squeezed in just about as much as we could and wore ourselves out having a great time doing it. Phew! Next time, I'll remember to schedule in some more time to just relax!!! (Is that possible when you are the lady of the house that has 6 extra guests within?) Thanks so much for coming Karen, Tom, Tyson, Justin, Rachel and Mason!!! We miss you!

Here's a few highlights from their visit:

A viking invasion, with a few fairies...

They made their own shields, then we headed for the nearest viking farm.

Littlest viking.

The fairies happily skipped along with the vikings...
even after one of them broke her wand.

The ocean

Some of World War Two's invasive German leftovers

A little snow

Some friendly Trolls

A hike to Priekestolen

The "older, more mature gang" went for a very early spring hike
to Priekestolen.

They all said it was awesome!

And Justin even survived a thirsty drink from a "Puddle"...
no sickness followed that I am aware of.

Downtown Stavanger

I think the kids favorite part was feeding the pigeons.

We hung out feeding those birds for a good half hour or more.
The locals thought Mason's cowboy boots were way cool.
The girls dressed for town.

The Very small automobiles were fun to spot.
Most all of them are small, but not this small!

The Ferries


The ferries across multiple water ways were COOL.

The bread slicing machine at the grocery stores a hit...



A yummy stop at a bakery deli gave us all a tasty treat
and the kids a chance to buy something with foreign money.

We saw just a few old churches.

And a lot of other neat sights.

Best of all was having the company of cousins!

Mary Alice and Racheal enjoyed as near as sister fun as you can have
without actually having one.

Twinner hair,

sharing a room and barbies

and cultural dresses.

Mason discovered puddle splashing with Rain Boots

and enjoyed some gooey yummy Easter chocolate almost as soon as he found it.

He's a fun little buddy and quite the little helper!


He vacuumed and helped with laundry. He thought the front loading view was awesome and kept a vigil watch for when it was all done so we could move it to the dryer then the laundry basket and, he dragged us in there more than once to see how awesome it was too! What fun!
He also set the table, watched the bird (only dumped the water a couple times) and got everyone excited about the wooden train set again.
He's one fun and busy little boy!

Tyson was the happiest and best dish helper! Thank you.


They all survived jet lag and 20 hours of travel both ways!
My favorite comment was Tom's "I don't ever want to do that again."
(About the jet lag long trip to get here...)
I could only laugh because we know all too well how that feels.
Thanks for coming!