Saturday Sailing

Isak has started sailing with the Sea Scouts on Saturdays. Mark and I have taken turns going, and the girls are invited, too, though we haven't brought them every time. It feels like a mini-vacation each time we get out on the lake.

Private

I have gone private with the blog (and unlocked it for a few periods of time) over the last two years and am getting ready to do it again, likely for good. It is only to prevent someone we DON'T know from trailing our every move here and to be able to speak a little more freely about where we live, places we visit and so forth, which I have kept less obvious in the past. If you know us, if you knew us, and would like to keep in touch, please let me know and I would gladly send you an invite. We don't have to be best friends, or anything. I wish there was a way for visitors of the private blog to click, facebook style, to send a "friend request" but once the blog is shut down, the only way to contact the author is via email, which it is presumed, if you know the person, you have access to. Well, I understand that is not always the case. So, here's you chance: comment on this post or email me at victoria@arcticmail.com and I will send you an invite.

More First Day of School, and 'new' car

Isak is in 4th grade. He had a good first day of school he said. His teacher seems very nice and capable. I am a bit concerned about the large classes (26 kids in each class) but then I hear about much larger classes in other schools and higher grades. It is a travesty that education is getting these kinds of cuts with such massive pressure on teachers. Something needs to be done! Well, that aside, Isak will hopefully be able to do all that is asked of him this year and not be too stressed (he takes school very seriously).

Second Day of School

Elina will walk Anja to her pre-K classroom every day since they go to the same Primary school. Such a good big sister. (Anja, by the way, has had two fantastic days of school so far - having painted, played with play-doh, blocks, colored, had recess on the playground and made a friend). 

Elina had an eye for a particular very sweet second grade teacher last year, who would sometimes walk Elina to our car on days when I picked Elina up. She would often say "In second grade I really want to have THAT teacher! She is soo nice and happy!" Add to that very positive reports from her friend Sam who had said teacher in 1st grade, Elina has prayed over the summer that she would get this teacher. It was a 1 in 7 chance - but Elina's faith was strong apparently, because she did indeed get Mrs. Richman!! Life could not be better for Elina right now. 

Elina's classroom. Taken through the hall window.

Compare previous years:

2010, 2009, 2008

Fjällräven Kånken x 3

Den nya bilen förtjänar väl ett par ord, den också. Den är ju inte NY, utan aningen begagnad och smutsig (kaffefläckar som ska vattendammsugas i helgen, bland annat). Men det är en Chevy Venture, som vi har haft tidigare och den var min favorit bil av alla stackars skrothögar som vi ägt under åren - smidig att köra och massa bagage plats och lätt att fälla ner sätena för ännu mer plats. Den här har som sagt några skönhetsfläckar, men jag är så GLAD över denna Venture. Anledningarna att jag älskar den:

- betalde endast $1500 (köpte den på en GARAGEFÖRSÄLJNING! till ett vrakpris helt enkelt)
- endast EN ägare innan oss

- plats för åtta!

- inbyggda barnstolar till Anja och Julia

- låga mil - hälften av det våran gamla Venture hade

Vi brukar ju hålla barnen bakåtvända i bilen tills de är minst 3, men Julia är inte som alla andra barn. Hon har lärt sig att få ut armarna från axelbältena oavsett HUR hårt man stramar åt dom, på BÅDA våra Britax stolar (jag FATTAR inte hur hon klarar det!). Så även om hon sitter bakåtvänd, så sitter hon bara fast över låren och därifrån kan hon krypa ut helt och hållet, den busungen. Men med dessa inbyggda barnstolar kan hon inte få ut armarna hur mycket hon än försöker. Jag vet inte vad det är med den konstruktionen som hindrar henne som saknas på Britax stolarna (ett mysterium i Bermudatriangelklass) men det funkar i alla fall. Så jag tänker: bättre framåtvänd och bältad än bakåtvänd och obältad!

Anjas första skoldag, någonsin.

Anja går i morgongruppen - gröna grodor. Eftermiddagsgruppen har gula. 

Anja har väntat och längtat efter denna dagen. Medan Isak och Elina ville att sommarolvet aldrig skulle ta slut, undrade Anja när skolan äntligen skulle börja. I måndag på den Amerikanska version av uppropet "back-to-school night" fick man som vanligt veta vilken lärare, klassrum och klasskompisar man fått. Anja har två stycken, en lärare och en assistent, som båda verkar fantastiska. Anja ville stanna kvar i sitt klassrum när det var dags att gå, och tyckte INTE om att vänta hela tisdagen dessutom. I morse var det då äntligen dags och Anja hade beställt lockigt hår. Ja, vad gör man inte? "Men bara idag!" Fram med locktången klockan halv sju på morgonen - fast så jättelockigt blev det inte, men hon var glad.

Hon går bara i skolan 2 timmar och 40 minuter, men gissa om det var en nöjd tjej jag hämtade! Hon hade fått måla, leka, läsa och ätit mellanmål. "Det var en flicka som ville vara min vän. Och vet du mamma, jag är en stor skolflicka nu, för jag har faktiskt gått i skolan länge." 

Anja älskar sin jättesnälla lärare.

Sista Sommarlovsdagen

Vi gick en promenad på OU campus i morse, precis som förra året, på sommarlovets sista dag. Men till skillnad från förra året, så började universitetet innan de kommunala skolorna i år, vilket innebar att campus inte låg tyst och tomt, utan var fullt av fotgängare  överallt. Och där kom vi - Inger och jag - med 7 barn och två hundar (och en barnvagn). Det var roligt och trevligt, men vi kunde inte släppa Sadie lös som vi brukar och när vi vadade i den första fontänen så blev det också den sista, för strax efter nedanstående film blev tagen, kom campuspolisen och sa till oss att ta bort barnen från fontänen, vilket innebar att det inte blev någon repris av DETTA från förra året.

 Julia var med och plaskade i år. Faktiskt plaskade hon mest. Hon t.o.m la sig på mage och "simmade." 

Gratis kex, små chipspåsar och festisar delades ut till förbipasserande. Alla barnen fick. Elina hade picnic med Sadie på en bänk. Den hunden gör ALLT som Elina säger nu för tiden.

Den Fina Elina Ballerina

After only 3 rehearsals with a very talented friend from church, the girls in Elina's Sunday school class put on a little Swan Lake performance at the talent show this evening. Elina was SO excited. She has always wanted to take ballet lessons, so this gave her some of that exposure. (All the other girls in her class have taken ballet, most of them for several years).

 Madeline, Jocelyn, Emarie, Hayden, Abby, Elina

Nina with her little swans.

Below is a video of the performance, scroll down.

I guess now is as good a time as any to tell that Elina had another seizure last Friday (Aug 12). It was very similar to last time: in her sleep, in the morning, full body (grand mal), did not stop on its own, responded to meds, she was out of it for a long time after, only opened her eyes and spoke a few words after receiving a priesthood blessing, doesn't remember anything for a period of 4 hours, slept a long time, had nausea and a headache, bouts of fear several days after when she had to be hugged.

The main difference this time was that we did not have to go to the hospital because we were prepared with emergency medicine at home. Isak was the one who discovered her. It has been 9 months since her last seizure, and we were told we could 'breathe a sigh of relief' if she did not have another one in 6 months. Well, statistics aside, now she has an official Epilepsy diagnosis since she has had several idiopathic (with no apparent cause) seizures. Another common thing between last time and this time, is that she was low on sleep. Sleep deprivation can trigger seizures. She had been staying up late the week leading up to this last seizure, and the first one in December she was low on sleep too, having been up at night with allergy attacks, and going to bed a bit late. So bedtime is very strictly enforced at our house now, and we are praying that her seizures stay few and far between so she doesn't have to take daily medicine for this illness.

With all that in mind it is especially sweet to see her here:

It's genetic, I'm afraid.

I know I should not feel guilt. It's nothing I did on purpose. But I have passed nearsightedness on to poor Isak. I was almost 12 when I got my first glasses. Isak is only 9. But so far it is very mild, but sometimes he has trouble seeing certain things on the board at school. I'm hoping at least 2 of the girls get Mark's perfect eye sight. But even if they don't, we can at least congratulate ourselves that they are all cute, and if Isak is setting the precedent they will all look just fine being bespectabled. Besides, he is not too upset about it.

He picked out this frame by himself.

Swimming

The one thing that makes the summer heat bearable is swimming every day. We spend from about 5 pm - 8 pm at the pool, sometimes a little less, depending on morale. Isak, Elina and Anja are taking swim lessons for 35 minutes every evening for a month. Isak and Elina are just doing stroke improvement and learning how to dive. But it is Anja's first time taking lessons, so she is practicing kicking, arm movements, blowing bubbles, back floating and such. Julia is not taking lessons. She has proved to be of the same kind that her brother was - a complete FISH in the water. Give her some water wings and, voila, she goes. And to think I kept her from the pool for 6 weeks for fear of having two non swimmers with me. Julia swam by herself the SECOND day she was in the pool. Last summer she barely got to swim because she would just run into the pool if given half a chance. I think she went swimming a handful of times last year. But this year she is so much easier to have in the pool than Anja. She still tries to jump in, but if she were to actually do it, she'd be okay this year.

The picture and film clip were taken after Anja and Mark went home. Anja complained that she was - wait for it - COLD! So she went with Mark. Heaven help her when we finally get to spend a full summer in Sweden. She'll remain on land all summer, I fear.

Elina's Horse Riding Camp

This was Elina's second year to go to day camp and ride horses. Her favorite horse from last year, Ronnie, had tragically died from colic during the winter. He now grazes the eternal meadows. Instead Elina got to ride May for 5 of the 7 riding sessions. She loves May, and wasn't very happy about riding the slightly more temperamental Tug for the riding session parents attended! But she did great. These pictures show her riding Tug. But he is a beautiful Morgan, 27 years old and a former world champion show horse. In fact, there is not an ugly horse in the whole establishment. And Elina's riding improved a lot this week. I didn't get a variety of pictures this year. Julia is too wild to control while follow the group in various settings. But HERE are pictures from last year, and Ronnie, rest his soul, is pictured there, too.

There's that smile!

Progress and Child Labor

Our new rent house. It will be rented by August 1st - we have a lot of potential renters. We closed 'suddenly' on June 8, after waiting since January for a cloud on the title to clear. So the summer has been rather pre-occupied with this project - which means Mark has spent a lot of time working on it, amazing man that he is, forsaking pretty much all fun things for laboring in the hottest Oklahoma summer on record.  It is a smallish house with 3 bedrooms, about 1150 sf. Lacking other help, Mark has brought Isak to work on the house many times and been very pleased with his abilities and work ethic. Isak power-sprayed the exterior (getting it ready for a new paint job), helped sand the floors and painted tons on the interior and not complained once. (Elina is due to get her share in a few days). Mark paid Isak well enough that he was able to order the Mace Windu Jedi Starfighter lego set that he has wanted for a long time (wo unto to those who oppress the hireling in his wages, right?). Here are some pictures. Ignore the date on them - (Mark took these with his work camera and it needs adjusted.)

EXTERIOR BEFORE:

EXTERIOR AFTER:

It needs a little touch up, but 98% done.
This picture is contrasty and makes it look darker than it is.

LIVING ROOM BEFORE:

LIVING ROOM AFTER:

Window pane has been fixed now.

DINING AREA BEFORE:

DINING AREA AFTER:

HALLWAY BEFORE / AFTER:

one of the BEDROOMs BEFORE:

BEDROOM AFTER:

ANOTHER BEDROOM AND ENTRY:

 The post-construction cleaning crew.

 The post-construction mess- makers. :)
Actually, they played really well in the empty house for a long time.

 A very basic bathroom.

 And a very basic kitchen.

Mark divided the garage into a front and back. This is the back:
A utility room with space for some storage, like lawnmower and bikes.

And the front of the garage he turned into a room. Because of the cement floor we thought it would be cold in the winter with a wood surface. The day Mark went to install the carpet we tore out of our dining room we discovered that it was too small  after all (it had holes from our floor heat/air registers we had forgotten about, among other things). At least we could  use our pad. So Mark and Isak ran down to the Carpet Market, found another piece of carpet and an installer to boot! I did not stay long enough at the house to see the finished product. 

Monkeys!