Boomer...

We've battled a strange stomach flu these past two weeks. It doesn't go away. Everyone has had it in the family, and I was the last one to get it, and the last one to shake it. I have now been sick for over a week. Mostly fetal position and very little sleep. Today I ate only crackers and bananas and felt well enough to sit on a chair and hold a parking sign. Isak did half my shift, thankfully, and parked 3 out of 10 cars. Not bad for a 6 year old. He earned a dollar doing it, going towards a Lego set that he wants which is $20. He has to do 20 jobs. He's crossing off a chart. Only 12 more to go. Every time he gets a new job he's SO EXCITED. He never complains about how long it is taking or that regular chores don't count.

Anja doesn't speak much, but she's developing other talents. One of those is a great sense of order. She sees a toy in the wrong toy bin and she corrects it! Today it was a "Little People"-car in the baby toy box. She spontaneously cleans when it gets too messy. She also comforts Elina and Isak any time they cry by patting and hugging, something Isak and Elina don't do for each other, that's for sure.

We were done parking early and I took Isak and Elina to the Mormon Institute where I sat on a chair fending off waves of nausea while they played on the Moon Bounces for an hour. A great success.


The kids got free cotton candy. They had to have it. Then they recalled that they don't like cotton candy. They tried it once when we went to the circus in Sweden. The outing ended with Elina receiving a near-mortal wound to her toe. We had to go home and get a Band-Aid.

Elina occupies the top bunk. Here she is with Finuds the Cat. Isak sleeps below so he has easier access to the CD player and can choose the audio book, control the volume and chapter etc.

I would rather chase a dog

Elina säger: Han ska hämta fisk och han är arg för han simmar i vatten. Och Victoria och jag skrattade för han är i vattnet. Han har en fru som älskar att simma i vatten och han är så arg på sin fru och han simmar i vatten (skratt, skratt, skratt) Och han är en barn bäbis som är stor och han är arg. När han är arg på sin fru så blir han jättearg. Han heter Kalle Julius Fisher och han heter i det sista namnet Fisher Fisher Kalle. Och han är en pojke. Han tycker om fisk för katter äter fisk. Kommer du i håg att Pelle tyckte om fisk och te och vatten blandat? Och Elina tyckte att han var konstig och en annan katt som bet en valphund och då sa katten till sin fru stackars hund, "Du dumma fru." Jag har sett en katt som bet en gång på mig, jag hade en blod här! Kalle Julius fru är den katten som bet valphunden och den var så konstig i huvudet, den hette Fru Julius. Och fru Julius sa till hunden "Hund, om du inte flyttar så kommer jag äta dig." Den var jättekonstig och den ville äta hunden. Så då sprang hunden i väg och den valphunden berättade för sin mamma som grävde jord och den sa "Mamma kan vi inte köpa lite ben till oss? Två ben till mig att spara tills jag vill ha dem" sa hunden. Och den hunden hette Dupi och Fru Dupi (mamman) sa "Det kan vi." "Tack så mycket" sa Dupi till sin mamma. SLUT.

Ward Cook-Out

Friday we got together with the church members at the park for some serious mormon grilling and potluck. Half the spread was side dishes, the other half desserts, like a proper balanced meal, besides the meat of course! We had a great time. The kids ran around like crazy. Isak and Elina played mostly at the playground, but Anja actually spent most her time doing what she loves best: kicking and throwing a ball, without needing any family participation.

PLEASE CHECK BACK AND I WILL UPLOAD MOVIE SOON, featuring much of the ward!

Bollen!

Anja, full fart nedför rutschkanan

Isak mellan språngmarscherna

La piñata

After the piñata. Elina only caught one piece of candy among the hordes of kids, thus the tears!
She was not the only one crying. Such hard lessons about first-come-first...

So, she had to be carried and comforted.
Also, in this picture you can see my shorter hair. I cut 6 inches! (15 cm)

The Red Robin Hood

That's what the kids kept calling it. We had coupons, you see. No, I am not ashamed to admit it. Isak pulled a tooth last week, and he got coupons for 3 free kid meals at the Red Robin. Add to that, two free milk shake coupons that the kids earned in the library reading program this summer. I have racked my brain for the last time we took the whole family out to eat, and I think the verdict is that it was when Elina was 2 and my parents were here and we ate at Cici's Pizza. The Fisher family just does not go out to eat. Besides considering it a waste of money, I suppose it is because we hardly ever ate out when I grew up, aside from going to cafes, ordering pizza, getting hot dogs on accasion and once in a while in the summer time we'd eat ice cream or waffles at an outdoor establishment. I cannot recall but a few times we actually sat down in a restaurant in my entire childhood. That our kids were newcomers to the dining-out life style last night became very obvious when Isak began clearing the table at the end.

Cool! They're gonna bring us food and we just sit here...

Anja prefers the melon rind to the steak fries.

Mmm, milkshake. Thanks for sharing, Elina!

Sort of like going to the zoo...

...except really close and FREE. Okay, so not completely like going to the zoo, but the kids loved it. Elina was in charge of the activity for Family Home Evening and so we went to Petsmart! Our poor, deprived kids had never set foot there. We have an audio book called "The Pet Store Mystery," that the kids love to listen to. It is in Swedish and like many other things that feature Sweden (books and movies), these things don't always exist in the US. When Elina learned that there ARE pet stores in the US, and in Norman, even, she about flipped! Besides, Petsmart is at least 5 times bigger than any pet store found in Scandinavia. I sometimes feel so bad when I realize how their little minds interpret their dual world.

We checked out fishes, water snails, hermit crabs, parakeets, finches, rats, gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs, snakes, frogs, turtles and bearded dragons (Elina: "Where are their wings?"). And at Petsmart there are always people with dogs walking around the store. And then we had to check out all the pet supplies.

Then we met our good friend, Martina, who was shopping for dog treats.

Nike (knee-keh)

Swedish pronunciation of the name of the goddess of speed, strength and victory. It also happens to be the traditional Greek pronunciation of the same name, Νίκη. This is now the name of Isak, Elina and Anja's sweet, new cousin, born September 26th in Borås, Sweden - same hospital as Isak. 7 lbs, 19 3/4 inches. Aren't newborns the best?

Walking to School

It is still very warm in Oklahoma, 88 Fahrenheit yesterday at 4 pm (31 Celcius), but the mornings have been much cooler (55 F, 12 C). So when we walk to school at 7.40 a.m a jacket is in order. Check out the tired faces! Elina's and Anja's jackets were a gift from Mormor and Morfar in Sweden.

The Weekend

The weekend brought cooler weather. At least Sunday did. It was somewhat like Scandinavian summer. Isak declared, "This is my favorite type of weather."

Lucky for Mark that I am only 5 lbs (2,5 kg) above my "married weight" these days. (He said to write he couldn't manage this during pregnancy, though. [I've gained 60 lbs each time])

We played over at our friends Inger and Steve's house. It was like a pre-Halloween rally. Elina donned a much-to-small dragon costume. Isak found a kimono (??), and Harry Potter took off his robe to climb a tree, while Snow White looked on.

Anja had a good time, too.

Phase One

The robe is done. Only the rest to go.

Game Day

Welcome to campus living. We live in a tiny residential pocket surrounded on all four sides of the campus. This is how it looks during football games. (Seen from the front, everyone who has not been inside our house expects something very small, and though it is by now means the Taj Mahal, I can reveal that it is a four bed, two living, three bath house, which extends toward the back). We used to have another tree in the yard, right where that little black is parked. We took it down two years ago as it was mistletoe infested. Now we have an extra parking spot. Perhaps by the end of this season we will have earned enough parking there to have paid for its removal.

Uncle Craig (center) and Uncle Jim (red shirt) paid us a very quick visit. They actually went to the game, something we rarely do.