Gott Nytt År!

The White Christmas of 2009

 Christmas Day 2009

The last time I had a white Christmas was 2001 when Mark and I spent it in Sweden. As Elina observed after last year's experience: "Christmas comes even if there is no snow, and presents too." But this year we got the full package - just not an extended family get together, because of the roads.

Leading up to Christmas (click for larger view):

 Christmas Eve Morning

Christmas Eve 2009.

 

Isak's Christmas Concert 2009

Christmas picture 2009

At least we haven't raised the bar so high it can't be outdone next year. As usual, our Christmas picture is an unplanned snapshot where everyone was wiggling. Not very sharp, either. We like to keep it real.
Merry Christmas from our house to yours!!

Lucia på denna sidan vattnet

Högkvalitativ video. Efter två övningar och en generalrepetition gick premiären för det svenska Luciatåget av stapeln. Jag ber om ursäkt att min röst hörs så tydligt. Vi bestämde att vi vuxna skulle sjunga med, och jag hade kameran 30 cm från mitt ansikte. Man kan väl säga att det är dagis-kvalitet. Men genomsnittsåldern är ju låg.

Klart bästa ögonblicket är när Lucian i mörkret inte kan hitta tejpen med krysset på, där hon ska stå, och Isak stjärngosse får (i nervositeten)  för sig att han ska stå på andra sidan än där han stått på repetitionerna. Eftersom det är ett Lucia tåg med BARA pojkar, förutom Elina, så måste ljusen ibland användas som vapen. Det tror jag alla åskådare förstår.

 The Swedish girls in Norman

A set of twins, and two Mormons, who would have thought?

Christian, 3 (gingerbreadman), Jonathan, 4 (elf), Benjamin, 8 (starboy), Elina, 5 (Lucia), Isak, 7 (starboy), Daniel, 6 (starboy), Max 3 (starboy)

What is Lucia?

I've received this question often. I hope to present you with video evidence next week from our own house, not quite at this level of excellence:

O, Tannenbaum

We got our Christmas tree up early, American style. (When I was a child we always brought the tree in on the 22nd of December, decorated on the 23rd, and then threw it out on the 6th of January, though my grandmother Erna who just died [see post below] always kept hers until Easter). Last year I kept ours until Valentines Day!! I am ashamed to admit it.

Anja visade att hon associerar julgran med dans. Detta tack vare "Pippis jul" och tog genast min hand och ville sjunga "Räven raskar över isen". Hon klarade av en någorlunda igenkännbar version av "Och får vi lov, och får vi lov..." Elina och Anja spenderade resten av kvällen liggande under granen och beundrade den. Isak tog sig för bröstet och sa längtansfullt, "Nu känner jag att det är jul." Nedräkningen har börjat. Adventsljustaken från Duka som vi fick julen 2001 står på bordet. Chokladkalendrarna öppnas varje morgon. Och på torsdag nästa vecka blir det litet Luciatåg här hemma hos oss tillsammans med de andra svenska barnen. Vi har Elina som Lucia och 3 stjärngossar (Isak 7, Benjamin 8, och Daniel 6), två tomtar (Jonathan 4, och Max 3, tror jag) och en pepparkaksgubbe, Christian 3. Anja 2, Hannah 1, och Julia 0 får medverka i framtiden, men tills dess blir det tomt för tärnor i Norman...

Class picture 1982

A friend from this photo contacted me last month. He sent this to me and wondered if it was me in the picture. Funny how MUCH I remember from that year. We did some AMAZINGLY creative games during "free play" that involved 6-8 kids each time. It was so much fun. I was 5, turned 6. Our teachers were Siri and Elsie.

One day a group of us decided to escape through the bathroom window which was up high and required climbing on the toilet. It went great until one kid stepped into the toilet bowl. It was bound to happen. My best friend was Charlotte in the navy striped shirt. She moved the summer following pre-school and I never saw her again. I often wondered what happened to her.

The boy in the glasses on the top row, Fredrik Horn, could never remember his birthday. Every so often we were asked to respond with our birthday during roll call, which was held every day. His was July 11th. The whole class knew it, but he could never remember. But what he lacked in birthday-remembering, he made up for in muscle strength. I fought (wrestled) him every week over some silly disagreement and always lost, crying. Did that stop me from trying it again next week? Not a bit.

The memories are sweet. All the girls liked the skinny boy in blue on the second row, Tommy. I was no exception. Kent-Åke (tall boy on the back row) and I ran into each other one day landing us both bawling with massive bumps on our foreheads.

No problems spotting me, right?

Three People that I Love

My grandmother has died. She was my dad's mother and I got to know her really well. In fact, I can happily say I knew all four of my grandparents well. Only my mother's mother is still alive. My mom's dad died on Oct 18 - when my first-born was 3 months. My dad's mom died on Oct 19 - when my last-born was 4 months.

I am sad I won't be there for the funeral. But I am happy that I got to see her in March and that she spent some fun time with me and Elina and Anja.

Erna Greta Sofia 1931-2009.

Taken in her mid-to-late twenties. Mother of six, ran the home business (curtain store at first, then huge egg farm) along with her husband. Artistic, vain, hard-working and smart. She taught me how to mop floors properly and gave me girly blouses and dresses growing up. Was given a life that did not fit her, according to herself. Her antics have made us laugh over and over through the years. I will miss her.

Hans-Erik 1918-1999.

Taken in his seventies. This is how I remember him. He farmed organically in the sixties and seventies when everyone else laughed at him for having flowers in his field, but it did not bother him a bit. Danced to his own tune his entire life. I was always so proud to be his grand daughter. He taught me how to eat flax seeds and other healthy foods. Books can be written about his adventures.

Arnold Johan 1932-2002.

Somewhere I should have a better picture. He was in his forties here, but looked much the same until he died, in my mind. He named his fishing boat after me, bless him, and sailed as captain of a cargo ship up and down the coast of Norway until his retirement. He taught me much about World War 2 and about his childhood. A truly kind man, and a quiet one, that I miss very much.

Costumes, costumes...

At the annual Trunk-or-Treat. Mark and the kids in front of The Beast.

Elina as "The Whale" at the church carnival. (That 's Jonah as a stick figure). (Ser ni Söte Göte?)

With Halloween comes Trunk-or-Treat, school parties, regular Trick-or-Treat, MOUNTAINS of candy and tons of fun. And this year we also had a Carnival at the church with a Scripture themed array of costumes. Elina's favorite Bible character is The Whale, in Jonah and The Whale. She made her costume by herself. She drew it onto the cardboard (Mark cut it out) and then she drew eyes and mouth and painted it. I helped fasten it at the end. Isak wanted to be Joseph Smith after some deliberation. This allowed him to wear parts of Indiana Jones costume. To be more 'period accurate' he wore his Norwegian folk costume shirt with a vest over it, and got away with donning Indy's hat. He put a Book of Mormon in the bag and called himself a prophet.

He had planned to use most of last year's Star Wars costume for an Old Testament prophet, but decided at the last minute he really wanted to find a way to wear his Indiana Jones hat. Clever, huh?

Indiana Jones and Fuzzy Pink Cat before heading off to school this morning. I will never, ever sew anything in that dreadful fuzzy material again.

This costume has recieved more delighted outbursts and comments than any other costume any of our children have worn pervious years. I brought Anja to the store with me like this and everyone squealed and remarked on it. Same thing when we came to the kids' school. Pippi just soaked it all up. I had to alter the costume because it was too big. But this means she can be Pippi next year again, and the year after that if her Pippi-obsession keeps up.

Julia's first Halloween. Slept through most of today's festivities. Thanks Sarah for letting us use this costume for the second time.
The Fairy Godmother.

The Beast

As selected by Mark. And the kids LOVE it. It has a purple interior, accordion blinds, flip-down TV and a full size electric bench seat that turns into a bed at the push of a button. (What's not to love?) I named it. It is HUGE! We're taking it on our long drive to San Antonio for Thanksgiving. Very excited about that trip. Tack så jättemycket, mamma, pappa och mormor för bidraget!! I'll be driving the Jetta on most days. That blessed piece of German engineering fits me, 4 kids (in three-point seat belts) and the Urban Jungle double stroller at an incredible gas mileage.

looking out the rear

Follow their gaze and you'll know where the TV is...
Isak is operatin the VCR where his hands are.

"There is no bad weather...

...only bad clothes." Or so say they in Sweden, at least - but it rhymes: "Det finns inget dåligt väder, bara dåliga kläder". And a popular saying it is because the weather in Sweden requires good clothing much of the time. Our three oldest kids just LOVE it when they can use their some of their Swedish gear. Btw, kids in Sweden never have inside recess. At least I never remember having an inside recess in all my school days. I know northern states in this country could never adopt Oklahoma standards for inside and outside recess. Kids in North Dakota would never go outside.

I think Sadie was the least enthusiastic about this back-yard playdate. And it lasted for hours.

The pictures of Julia, below, were taken just a few minutes ago as she premiered the Exersaucer! She was wholly enchanted and her eyes were even bigger than normal (see picture) as she surveyed the new possibilities life has offered to her. Anja tried to convince me it was her toy, but she didn't force the issue. This is true to her sweet personality. Anja just knows how to get along with people, most of the time. Elina did her best to showcase each and every gadget on the tray. Click HERE to see a picture of Anja in the same Exersaucer, though she was 6,5 months in that picture, Julia is 4,5.

Check it out!

Pumpkin Patch

Elina and Anja and the ponies.

American tradition of visiting a farm and pumpkin field, going on a hay ride, getting lost and then found again in the corn maze and petting animals. The kids LOVED it. It was hard to photograph because of the 5 pm sun was extremely bright. Thanks Jensen's for inviting us! Elina's favorite was feeding the ponies straw. She opted out of the hayride to stay close to the horses. "I felt like the horses were mine. Like I was the one who took care of them," she said afterward. Isak loved the straw-bale mountain and the slides where he, Benjamin and Daniel jumped around and roughhoused. Anja loved the animals too - not just the horses but also the calves, rabbits and chickens. But her favorite activity was probably the horse/tire swing. She picked mud, after choosing a pumpkin, and tried to feed the mud to a pony...

"More straw?"

Gotta love that Oklahoma sky!

Elina and brand new friend Emily considering the bumpy slide. And that sign is a joke, btw.

Fisher and Jensen kids in the corn maze.

Anja's favorite thing.

Isak is practicing for Halloween. When he isn't practicing his whip, he is a remarkably tender brother to the sleeping beauty below. He just adores her.

Julia 4 months. I wish she spent just a little more time doing this.

Elina found a turtle last week that she kept in the back yard for a few days, until it escaped. Have I mentioned she loves animals? She was in tears the first night he spent in our yard because "Red Nose" as she called him, had to stay outside in the rain.