"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.

Family Pictures

Not only did my parents endure a week with crazy kids, they also posed for the photographer. As we considered our wardrobe, the most common denominator color, besides white, was purple! The one color my husband NEVER wears (his least favorite). We all got a kick out of that.

Pippi Långstrump

A few pictures of Pippi Longstocking and her grandparents. Not pictured: the mountain of presents for the grandkids (who btw have been in an excited frenzy since Monday night). After being completely outfitted as Pippi, Anja wondered "Where is the horse?" More pictures to come! Isak and Elina were at school when this was taken.

Mormor and morfar, Anja (Pippi) hugging the Pippi doll... and Julia.

The identity switch has been complete. She would have slept in the wig and costume if I had let her.

Three more days!

Anja at the park during one of the many heavenly rainy days we had recently.

My mom and dad arrive on Monday evening! Our whole family is psyched. Mark is working all day Saturday and Sunday so the cleaning will be minimal with me having all 4 kids by myself. And definitely no street-sweeping. Mark always jokes that this is part of any good Scandinavian cleaning job. That joke has roots in reality of course, though I myself have only swept the street a few times...

Some more pictures in the meantime.

Julia all dressed up for church. Before the bib was put on. This kid spits up more than all our previous babies combined. She should just wear one mega-bib.

Julia and Anja in the stroller.

Happy Anja with a ring-pop during the school Jog-A-Thon fundraiser.

After running laps at the Jog-A-Thon. Isak, Elina and Sam.

Cloudcover

Trying to sit up

It's been heaven, this weather. Perfect t-shirt temperatures and rain every single day for over a week, I think. I feel peace even though our car is in the shop and will cost us about half its blue book value and the washer broke down the very same day. I am buying a new used one this weekend. Laundry for a family of 6 at the laundry mat gets old quickly. But we've been through so much worse during our construction years that these types of things don't really have the power to stress me anymore. I have this Jedi mind trick when things feel tough. I am sure I'm not alone in doing this. If I feel inclined to whine about anything in particular I imagine how much worse it could be. For example, when I want to gripe about not being able to wear anything but backless, flat, boring shoes or being very limited in what type of physical activity I engage in (like no long walks) because of my chronic Achilles tendinitis, I imagine that I have been a paraplegic until TODAY when I could walk for the first time. When I feel like whining about excess pounds left to lose from pregnancy (daily), I imagine that I was 300 lbs formerly and I reached this wonderful (ahem) weight today! So with issues regarding [lack of] money, I imagine having been homeless with the kids and suddenly landing my current life. WOW! So much better now.

Anja 2 yrs, Julia 3 months

When we moved this spring Mark rewarded himself with a very cheap dirt bike since we now live right by the onset of the path that goes to the river. He and Isak ride it about once a week. I have found that it is quite relaxing to go up and down the street 3 or 4 times (bet the neighbors love us). Gets my mind on something completely different. Anja is okay when Mark rides, but throws a giant fit when I do.

Isak can shift the gears. And yes, cool cat daddy needs a helmet, too...

The picture of Elina and the pony, below, we took today. Elina has been BEGGING me to let her go and feed a horse a carrot. So today we did. Awwww, horses.....

A Date!

Completely shocking and out of the ordinary, but Mark suggested a date. Bless him! He took me out on Labor Day. We dropped the three oldest kids at my sweet mother-in-law's house along with a Monday Madness $4 large pizza from Little Caesar's. (Why complicate things?) We then dashed off with Julia to a restaurant to eat like adults.

The Middle Girls

In Norwegian bunads. Adapted with short sleeves for Oklahoma climate, as opposed to starched long sleeved blouses. And those aren't proper bunad shoes. Still, the girls are cute, I think. But almost IMPOSSIBLE to photograph. Sit still, smile, look at the camera - all at the same time, and both together. I need a valium, or I'll just be happy with this:

Spunnet socker åsså majs...

...heja GAIS!

First Day of School - drop off

Elina is doing half day Kindergarten (same as Isak did) which means I pick her up at 10.30, and she says she had a good day. It is not really a half day, but whatever. I'm no fan of the long school days at such a young age. She is the only one in her class (probably the entire Kindergarten) to do half day and the teacher was unfamiliar with the half day pick-up procedure, which tells me that she has not had a half day kid before. Isak is still at school as I write this.

The school is big, apx 850 students compared to last year's 580. I told Isak that when I was in elementary school we had only one class of each grade. He couldn't believe it. He is used to 5 of each grade. This year there are 7 second grade classes! Both kids seem to have good teachers. Everyone has raved about how great Elina's teacher is and Isak's teacher is reputed to be very organized and structured which will suit him well.

To see pictures from last year's first day of school click HERE.

Mark went in late to work to be there for the drop off. Mark and I had just made it back into the car with Julia and Anja when it started to rain.

Outside the front doors. (Isak is wearing shorts I made from last year's jeans that he outgrew lengthwise)

This school has lockers inside the classroom - something new to both kids. Elina's had a ladybug-sign with her name, which made her happy. That's her teacher to the right.

Isak was slightly late, poor thing, because the whole family went first to Elina's classroom to see her off.