Hvor er mamma?

Melissa got a new book in the mail today. It is titled Hvor er mamma? Where is my mom? It couldn't be more relevant right now. This week we started approaching life at the nursery. Very careful and just a couple of hours each day. You know, so the separation isn't too hard on the parents. My days back at work are hectic and sometimes long. It has been nice to have Glenn staying at home taking care of the little ones and keeping track of the at home logistics.

Going from fulltime nursing to full stop has been tough. I am grateful we still can snuggle by bottle feeding. Love, love, love these moments of closeness.

And here she is observing and taking in all the exciting action going on around her at the nursery.

Long time....... long hair???

It's been a few weeks since my last post. So I thought it would be nice to surprise you with a few pics of my hairy little girls... *lol*

Melissa still has a bald thing going. So we thought we would help her out with a little hair extension make over. Nice braid, huh?!? Kind of a Helga the German look.

Natalie is going for the Greek goddess style.

But likes the beard and moustache style the most.

And with that we are ready to enter the blog world again!

See ya!

Puzzled???

All three kids have been sick with the flue, both Natalie and Michael had to stay home from school for a week. So we had to come up with some indoor activities to pass time. Natalie found some old puzzles and enjoyed putting them together. We ended up getting hooked all of us and I went out to get some new ones. Melissa got wooden puzzles although she was quite happy chewing on her sisters paper ones. And the older kids plus dad got 500 pieces puzzles. Now we have a project going....

Altered object

My favorite hobby is scrapbooking. I love mixing and matching paper and embellishments. A very generous and wonderful friend turned 40 years old this week. I altered one of Natalies boxes and filled it with different stuff to help avoid the midlife crisis. :)

Sprinkler run

You can let the water chase you,

you can jump across the spray.

When you're running through the sprinkler,

there are lots of games to play.

You can stay there as the water comes,

or run every-which-way,

when you're running through the sprinkler

on a sunny summer day.

We have such good neighbors! Yesterday TD showed up to mow our lawn while Glenn was at work. Michael and Natalie was tempted to run through the sprinkler. It was a spur of the moment thing and they ended up getting soaking wet.

Little Melissa slept through the whole thing.

Sippy cup

Every girl needs a pink sippy cup! This one is brilliant and Melissa loves it!

Shopaholic

Summer sale! Oh yeah, baby! We went shopping for swim wear for our vacation. Boy, did we get some great bargains. And now the sun is shining outside. Maybe we get to try the new suits tomorrow. Natalie has written about our shopping spree on her blog.

Take me out to the ball game

The boys in our family are not very devoted to sports. Not like the average Norwegian anyway. Most Norwegians devote a lot of their time to soccer. In our family, I am the one who will fight for the remote control to watch a soccer game. Glenn and Michael have however a thing for American sports. They love both baseball and American football. Michael got his own glove this summer. It is just fake leather. So here is a hint for upcoming birthday gifts or the Christmas wish list. He needs a real leather glove. :)

Now if we only had some beef jerky, life would be sooooooo sweet!

7 month milestones

Another month older.

Teething! This little giraffe is a favorite to chew on.

Melissa started lying down on her tummy to relax and rest. She is so cute taking her little time outs. She will also fall asleep like this at night.

Other favorites at 7 months old:
So NOW she likes the pacifier. She likes to snatch the pacifier from either of us. Over and over again. And once she has got it, she won't let go. She likes hiding games. We like to hide her toys and see how long it takes for her to discover it and it is fun to watch her crawl to get it. This will keep her occupied for a long time. It seems she likes rough games, e.g. she likes to be held upside down.

Staycation

Our summer vacation has been a stay-cation. We had rain every day in July. The kids have been amazingly patient and kept themselves busy just chillaxin' at home. It was nice to have a couple of sleep over guests last week though. The girls went bananas with my scrapbook supplies and the boys robbed my kitchen cabinet for vinegar and baking soda for their experiments.

Glenn took all four kids to see Ice Age 3.

We also had our nephew come stay with us and Glenn took our kids and their three cousins to see Harry Potter at the movies.

Wedding season

This summer we have been to three weddings. Last Saturday I had promised to help out with the gift table. I did not know then that Glenn had to work. Well, Michael and Natalie did a great job helping me with Melissa. At a previous wedding Glenn was asked to give a talk during the wedding ceremony and I was very much involved in writing the speech. I love weddings! When Michael told me he wanted chocolate cake for his wedding cake, I went straight home to google some pictures of delicious cakes. Now he only needs to find a girl who agrees!

Someone to watch over me

Best buds! Melissa is blessed with the BEST big brother and sister. They do such a great job taking care of their little sister. There is no doubt that she already adores them.

I'm hungry.....

Melissa enjoys her cereal much more now and will even sometimes empty the plate. She gets three meals a day in addition to being nursed. She is superhappy if she gets the heel of a load of bread. And her favorite meal? Vanilla ice cream. :)

Trendy in purple

Xbox

The older kids in the family are also playing with LEGO, except they are playing the game Lego Indiana Jones on our brand new Xbox. So you probably think "does this household really need another video game console?" Well, I guess we did. Features such as integrated Live service that allows players to compete online and download game demos and the support of high definition had mommy convinced. And wireless game controllers are nice! The fact that we are pretty much homebound this summer called for a little surprise. So while it's raining outside, we are enjoying some indoor fun!

LEGO - play well

The company name Lego was coined by Ole Kirk Christiansen from the Danish phrase leg godt, which means "play well". The name could also be interpreted as "I put together" and "I assemble" in Latin, though this would be a somewhat forced application of the general sense "I collect; I gather; I learn".

Melissa however thinks it means I taste! I learn!

I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill

I love blueberries! The outdoors are abounding with delicious ripe berries and I am lucky to have two children that picked me some the other day. My favorite meal when I was a kid, was pancake wih blueberries. Somehow my men, both Glenn and Michael, are not 100 % convinced pancakes are actually dinner and we don't eat it very often. They are the meat and potatoes type. I think I might have to take off and pick some more one of these days. Yummy!

This song makes me happy! :)

Hiking Kjøsterudjuvet

Glenn took the kids hiking Kjøsterudjuvet today, a spectacular gorge that he used to hike a lot when he was growing up to go swimming at Gamledammen. Kjøsterudjuvet is our very own miniature Grand Canyon. The gorge is 1300 meters long, with a 250 meter adventurous climb. The walls have a height of up to 60 meters, and at its narrowest the gorge is no more than 4 meters wide. The kids enjoyed the steep rock walls, unspoiled wilderness, iron ladders, water and the gorge's truly bewitching atmosphere.

Are we going to climb way up there?

Better hold on to the rope

View down the gorge

Getting soaked in the iron ladder

Might as well jump in to have a nice refreshing bath

Wet, wild fun!

Soft pretzels

I got a new recipe this week that I was anxious to try immediately. Oh my, these soft pretzels were yummy!!!!

My little shadow

We have turned our living room into a play area for Melissa her first months. Soon the mattresses on the floor will be reduntant. She likes to follow me around while I'm doing housework.

Teething Tot

One of Melissas bottom front teeth has pushed through the gum line. She drools more and likes to chew on things, but doesn't seem to be too bothered from it.

I got some more toys out from the attic and this Fisher Price stroller was a huge hit! Melissa was able to pull herself up while holding on to it. Natalie enjoyed seeing some ouf her Duplo LEGO again!

Who's the fairest of them all?

Melissa had quite an interesting conversation with a very cute girl the other day. She enjoyed it very much!

One week later

This picture was taken outside today! Nice green grass. It is literally popping up in front of our eyes.

Landscaping

Glenn and I are having fun being gardeners these days. Monday July 6th we planted grass on our property. Sayings such as watching the paint dry and the grass grow are actually what we bascially do every day around here. We have been blessed with rain. Yes, I said blessed. Even though we are freezing and soooo miss sunny summer days, the rain has been exactly what we needed as far as our grass project.

The whole family was outside participating in the work. I used the rake, Natalie and Michael sowed grass seed and Glenn rolled the sylinder. And Melissa was sleeping. We have set aside an area for a small vegetable garden. :)

Sizzlin' summer

What a week this has been! Gorgeous sunny days! No time to cook or waste time in the kitchen, we feast on greek salad, pineapple, strawberries and water melon ~ it is DELICIOUS!

Primary objective - soak the opponent!

Relative wetness

This is a rather subjective means usually done by eye. Water fight participants simple do rough approximations regarding the amount of their clothing has been soaked through versus how much dry surfaces remain. In the event all participants appear to be fully covered with water, sometimes participants opt to wring their clothing as further means to show how wet or dry they are. And by the way our hall way looked when these two decided to end their war, I'd say it was a tie!

Sold!

Another huge blessing this week. For six months we have waited for our old place to be sold. And this week a wonderful family of three decided to buy it. We had so many good years there and are happy for our buyers who I'm sure will make great memories of their own in Hovbakken.