Good Morning Truman

Isak utvaldes till klassens sk Terrific Kid och den morgonen när han skulle tilldelas sitt diplom hände det sig så att Elina hade utvalts att leda the Pledge of Allegiance, tillsammans med ett antal andra elever. När hela skolan fyller gymnastiksalen varje fredag för veckans samling är det verkligen en syn. 870 elever tågar in klassvis och sätter sig i komplett ordning. Sedan kommer musikläraren längst fram och gör lite armrörelser mot eleverna, som de härmar, och hela salen faller i total tystnad - förutom en och annan besökande förälder som inte kan hålla mun. Allt fortgår utan en enda påminnelse om att vara tysta. Disciplinen på skolan är verkligen kanon. Här är lite halvkassa bilder från i går morse.

En elev från varje klass.

Cherry Creek and Down Town Canal

The first pictures are very local - pretty much our back yard. "Our" nature trail as we call it, that leads down to the Cherry Creek and the sand dunes - where we go a lot. And then another body of water, the Bricktown canal in Oklahoma City, that we haven't been to in a long while, until yesterday.

Too crowded?

Oklahoma State Tree: The Red Bud, in bloom, about to turn green.

Oklahoma Land Run Memorial Statues

The post-adventure buffet: Julia saw a plate that she liked, and went for it.

Cowboy Fun

We're having out of town visitors. Sandra, John and Monyka Despain. So we've done some touristy things. Lots of fun.

Easter 2010

The kids had their best Easter egg hunt experience ever this year. Awesome teenagers in charge had creatively hidden the eggs.

 Elina very focused.

Anja knows what to do.

Isak strikes gold. Or almost. Some of the eggs contained money!

 Within reach!

Pace and Isak with their eggs.

Elina with hers.

Anja was truly in the spotlight when she opened hers, cheering wildly at each sight of chocolate. By the end of it everyone in the room could say, "Ja! Choklad!" in Swedish.

Cousins

Get-together with cousins Eliot and Merritt, Jim's kids - at Grandma Donna's house.

 Elina 04 and Eliot 03 - 6 months apart.

Isak and Merritt.

What follows is one of the funniest picture series, ever. Anja was completely uncooperative, and Eliot and Merritt kept telling her what to do, so I had to remind them to face the camera. Isak and Elina were just silly.

Old Pictures

These are snapshots of old pictures. I don't have a scanner.

Recognize Julia, I mean Mark, in Donna's lap?

Mark - I mean his dad, James - in 1958. He was 21.

 Mark center, Jim left and Craig right.

Mark right.

The Dead Animal Smell

What's that DEAD ANIMAL smell in the car? It was really hot over the weekend and on Sunday when I opened the car door it was clear that something was rotting... Not a diaper. I knew that much. I never leave food or anything in the car, either. A forgotten lunchbox? Nope. I've trained the kids far too well for that, I think. It could never smell that bad anyway.

Well, on Friday we went to Sam's Club and as always Elina begged for shrimp (she eats it out of the bag, like other kids eat candy). She fell in love with shrimp in 2008 at my sister's graduation, and often wonders if I can make the shrimp soup my parents had catered for the occasion... Anyway, I had forgotten about the bag of shrimp.


 And so had Elina, apparently...

Seeds and Such

I don't have a green thumb. But I managed to grow some pretty flowers, some tomatoes and a few other things at our old house. Last year we moved in May and had a baby at the beginning of June, so no garden was planted. I also wanted to watch through the season to see what was growing here already. This year we are planting a few perennials, like Echinacea and strawberries. We're also planning a small pumpkin patch from seeds we saved from last Halloween. I'm hoping to add more each year. The kids LOVE gardening, especially Elina and Anja.

Soccer for the non-competitive

What you are seeing here is the occasional soccer we play with friends. Everyone against the goalie (one goal), and multiple balls - that part is important! No score is kept.