HaPpY BiRtHdAy

May 28th is Glenns birthday!
Par-tay! We wish you all the best.

Another year older and wiser...

Twilight

Glenn and the two oldest kids were invited to a boat trip and tent outing this week end but because of heavy rain showers it was cancelled. So to compensate for their disappointment we decided to have a family movie night instead. Natalie and I went out to find a new movie. I keep in touch with some of my former students from school on Facebook. They started high school this year so I don't see them too often any more. Some of the girls in my class read a lot of books, I think they read most of the books in the school library. A while ago they were superexcited about the movie adaption from the Twilight novel. And they went to see it several times. I know that Natalie likes movies that are romantic, sad, thoughtful and a little different. One of her favorite movies is A series of unfortunate events. So I convinced her to buy the Twilight movie because of their recommendations. She wasn't too sure about it and we called home to check with Glenn if it would be ok for her to watch it as she does get night mares if she gets scared. Glenn said go for it. And it was the best buy ever. Natalie has watched the movie again and again. She loves it! 

We ❤ Bella and Edward

I did some research online before writing this blog post and was thrilled to learn that Stephenie Meyers was a graduate from BYU, our favorite university! The Twilight novels have sold over 42 million copies worldwide, with translations into 37 different languages around the globe. We probably need to read The Twilight Series too.

Slow-worm

We ran into a slow-worm on our little trip! Very exciting for the kids! Natalie has never seen one before and was not familiar with the name. It gave us a chuckle. It's a wordplay and it doesn't make sense in English, so I'll have to add a little Norwegian story this time:

- Se, Natalie! Det er en stålorm.

- Oj! En kålorm.

- Nei, en ssssssstålorm.

- Å ja. En skålorm!

I think the English name slow-worm is kind of interesting. Maybe it got its name because it actually is a legless lizard? Because it is certainly not slow. Although these lizards are often mistaken for snakes, there are a number of features that differentiate them from snakes. The most important is they have small eyes with eyelids that blink like lizards. This is a feature that is not found in snakes. They may also have visible ears like lizards do, which snakes do not have. They shed their skin in patches like other lizards, rather than the whole skin as most snakes do. Adult slow-worms grow to be about 50 cm long and are known for their exceptionally long life; it has been said that a slow-worm is the longest living lizard, living about thirty years in the wild.

Born to bike

For FHE this week, we went for a long walk. The kids were riding their bikes and there was a lot to explore and enjoy! Like this beautiful view! 

Walk with me

Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow. 

Don't walk behind me, I may not lead. 

Walk beside me and be my friend. 

 Albert Camus 

I ♥ my sister

When I met my sister, I gave her a kiss - 

A promise of love and of laughter and bliss. 

For times we'll imagine, for secrets we'll share, 

to tell my dear sister I'll always be there. 

Big brother

A Pal, a confidante, a friend, 

There to shield, or to defend. 

Braving life's ever changing weather 

by standing steadfastly together. 

Much to the human heart's delight, 

Love does indeed make all things right. 

Through every joy, and any strife, 

A Brother is a friend for life!

To boldly go........

Michael has made his first Star Trek animation movie. Enjoy!

Ascension Day

Today is Ascension Day, a religious and public holiday in Norway. Throughout the month of May, Norwegians are privileged with a number of 'extra' days off. It begins with May 1st being Labor Day, with parades and speeches, then we have May 17th of course, which is Norway's Birthday. This year, Ascension Day (40 days after Easter) comes on May 21st, and with Thursday off it is easy to take an extra day off and make a long weekend of it. And although May 17th was a Sunday this year, we make up for it with Monday, June 1st being 2nd Day Pentecost, another public and church holiday. In other words, there are many days in which to enjoy the coming of the beautiful Norwegian spring. Every year I read heated discussions on people's observance of religious holidays. And this year I have to report that as new villa owners we took the opportunity to work outside on this day off. Glenn and I applied primer and are now set to start painting our house white. At least we didn't make a lot of noise disturbing our neighbors (who were also outside working by the way). 

Yikes! Bugzzzzzzzzz......

Glenn was the hero of the day removing a wasps nest under our roof. Poor Natalie freaked out after a bug attack. She went straight inside and put on a shield of protection, I told her she looked like Michael Jackson. That brought a tiny smile to her face. I hunted the bug down and killed it and I have to agree it was pretty nasty! She was not a happy girl!

And her trademark - a written note with a statement on exactly what she is thinking and feeling!

Fairytale

Natalie told me yesterday that she is working on improving her writing skills. I am doing this in two ways, she told me. I have started to write short stories in a diary I got from my aunt Siv. Also I listen to music and try to write down the lyrics in cursive. She has made a scrapbook for this purpose. You know, mom, I might be a children's book author when I grow up. I think that is a splendid idea!

Taco pie

I spend too much time reading posts in various scrapbooking forums. There is literally nothing these women can't answer - they are my oracles. Whenever I have news to share with my family, fun web sites, new jokes, I have most likely read it on one of the forums. My family usually laugh and think this is a little amusing. But who is laughing now? Because today I made taco pie, a recipe shared on my oh so beloved scrapbooking forum. We loved it!

Flower of The Sun

Natalie has planted sunflower seeds at school and brought her plants home today. I am sure miss Junior Gardener will nourish and shower her plants with love and care and that they will bloom and grow! And hopefully we can blog more about her flowers of the sun later this summer.

The scientific name of sunflowers is Helianthus, Helia for sun and Anthus for flower. Sunflowers are a great choice for planting to attract birds to your yard. Sunflowers are one of the fastest growing plants. They can grow 8 to 12 feet tall in rich soil within six months. It requires only 90 to 100 days from planting to maturity. The former Soviet Union grows the most sunflowers. The sunflower is the national flower of Russia.

Ninas Guide to Indoor Gardening Part 1

I am sooo not Mrs. Green Thumbs when it comes to indoor gardening. There is probably nothing that satisfies and brings me more pleasure than being outside digging dirt and pulling weeds. I ♥ gardening! I am sad and embarrased though to admit that every single plant I drag inside wither and die in record time. When we moved into our new home I had big plans of filling our window frames with tons of vibrant green indoor plants. Oh yeah, market garden, here I come! And I guess I have to come back several times too. Because those darned plants didn't even make it through one week. I cried my heart out to one of my friends in despair. I know plants need light and water. How hard can it be? She brought me the most hardcore plant available - The Crown of Thorns. Because it doesn’t mind drying out, it makes a good flowering container plant in situations that would kill most. Sounds like my kind of deal. And I am happy to report that after two weeks, my plant is now actually flowering! Yeah, me!

Some facts about this wonder of all wonders: Common names are Crown of Thorns, Christ Plant, Christ Thorn and allude to the legend that the crown of thorns worn by Christ at the time of his crucifixion was made from stems of this plant.  Interestingly, the stems of this plant are pliable and can be intertwined into a circle.  There exists substantial evidence that the species, native to Madagascar, had been brought to the Middle East before the time of Christ.

Its Scientific name is Euphorbia Milii.

Euphorbia  - Euphorbus was the Greek physician of King Juba II of Algerie. King Juba II was the first person to find a succulent-type Euphorbia, and he named it after his physician. Milii - named for Baron Milius, once governor of the island of Bourbon, who introduced the species into cultivation in France in 1821.

The poinsettia is also in the same family as the Crown of Thorns.

And now that my self esteem got a big boost, I might step it up a notch and see if we can get this indoor gardening up and running. :)

The talk

Oh yes. The time had come! It was time for the talk. I am going to remember this moment forever and here is the censored version, director's cut. My daughter is disappointed in me. Very disappointed. She can't say it enough. And shakes her head. She is never going to have children. 

Obviously, it has been a much covered topic among her classmates recently and my precious daughter has stubbornheaded claimed they all just had to be wrong. I guess chasing butterflies with her friend and disturbing them in the act led to a highly informative conversation for Natalie. Even though it came from her best friend, she just would not accept the story of the flowers and the bees. You can always tell when Natalie is thinking about something. She will never open up and talk about things on her mind untill she is ready. The boys were out of the house. Typical. It was all up to me. Again. I was hoping I could turn this one over to Glenn. Still haven't fully recovered from the talk with Michael. It actually wasn't too long ago. My poor sheltered children. You know, I do this easily in school, teaching very specific and intimate facts about procreation and parts of the human body. But the horrified look on Natalies face just left me speechless. And boy did she have a lot of questions. This is where the censorship comes in. Her reference guide was a very loud movie scene from Click starring Adam Sandler. Oh my! 

So where do babies come from? Natalie will answer - that thing in bed.... Of course followed by the question, so you actually had to do it three times? One for Michael? One for me? And one for Melissa? And I just nod for now!

HaPpY MaY 17th

The Norwegian Independence Day is the National Day of Norway and is an official national holiday each year celebrating that the Constitution of Norway was signed at Eidsvoll on May 17 in the year 1814. The constitution declared Norway to be an independent nation. All over Norway, children form parades with an abundance of flags. Each elementary school district arranges its own parade with marching bands playing and children singing and shouting Hurray for Norway. The parade takes the children through the community. The parade concludes with the singing of the national anthem and then it’s time for speeches, entertainment and games and relays. It is also a day for eating hot dogs and ice cream.

Ja, vi elsker dette landet som det stiger frem!

We had a wonderful day in beautiful May weather.

Working nine to five.....

Preparing for our May 17th celebration means a lot of work for mom, especially when we have local community responsibilities as well. Some of you may remember how much I really do NOT like ironing. Well, no way getting away from that while preparing our national folk costumes.

This is a detail picture from Natalies costume this year.

The silver jewelry is a special gift from great-grandma Weight who bought it on one of her visits to Norway. My mother brought it for Natalie this Easter so it was the first time she wore it. The silver needed cleaning and after using a tooth brush and a lot of patience it was really sparkly and shiny!

Some other mommy-tasks before the BIG day was baking cinnamon rolls. I also went to the children's school to get everything ready for our celebration.

It was a good thing we had our flags ready because Saturday night was party time! Norway won this year's Eurovision Song Contest! Yeah!

Fairytale

Little artist

Last night I heard my name! Mom, mom hurry! Natalie had Melissa in her room for some sister play time. Who would have thought they were drawing? *smile*

Here's Melissas very first drawing! Quite an artist! :)

Just the right size

Now, that's more like it! Of course I need my own sippy cup!

Gult er kult!

Cheers!

Gimme some of that!

I'm soooooo thirsty!

Chick flick

Ok, so since the boys were out having a blast at the movies, the girls needed some fun as well. We decided to watch a chick flick, Another Cinderella story

All set for watching the movie while enjoying some chocolate chip cup cakes.

Our own little princess!

Although Natalie is the one with all the chores and who dances and sings like Cinderella!

It's a good time to be a Trekker

Michael and Glenn had a boy's night out and went to see Star Trek. They came home totally on fire and to quote Glenn: William Shatner is out, Chris Pine is in. Captain Kirk is dead, Long live Captain Kirk! Michael and I just got home from watching Star Trek and we were blown away. It was amazing how well the actors portrayed the original cast, and Chris Pine IS capt. Kirk. And Karl Urban was awesome as Bones. The music from Michael Giacchino was incredible. J.J. Abrams has totally revived ST. Do I dare to wish for more ST from him....

There's no reason to hide the fact that this household has its share of devoted Star Trek Fans. Although I think we'd like to claim we actually do have a life and therefore probably are not considered true Trekkies... 

From our visit to the Hilton Star Trek Experience in 2004.

Set your phasers on stun! 

It's showtime!

The Young Ambassadors, a song and dance performing group from Brigham Young University, visited Norway this week. We got to enjoy two different evenings with the talented performers. On Wednesday we attended a fireside at church and enjoyed more than one hour of beautiful and uplifting music. 

After the program was over, the YA members socialized with the audience and my kids were thrilled to speak English. How can they possibly be my offspring? Talk about the apple falling far from the tree. They were asked their names and age and whether they had lived in Norway their entire life. Nikki, one of the girls, said Natalie had a beautiful butterfly in her hair, and Annalece commented on their beautiful eyes.  Bailee said they spoke English very well.  They also spoke to three of the guys.

The kids were totally on fire and started the count down to the BIG show. We had fun in the car on our way home as we raced cars with one of the host families travelling with six of the YA members.

Picture from Wikipedia

It was our kids first visit to the Concert Hall. A very special place for me! Because of all the concerts my father took me to but also because it is the place where Glenn and I shared our first kiss. Romantic, huh?!?

On Friday we went to a fully booked Oslo Concert Hall where the Young Ambassadors showcased American musical theatre, music and dance. The Young Ambassadors company consists of 26 performers (13 men and 13 women) and a 10 piece show band.  The program was kind of challenging for us as we are not too keen on a lot of the Broadway musicals. That's kind of an understatement for Glenn who was almost suffering. Haha. Melissa was a little startled at the loud music and the applause but was quiet during the whole concert. Such a good girl!

Among our favorites were the Elvis tribute Can’t Help Fallin’ In Love, the Four Seasons Tribute Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,  Songs from the 80's - Billy Joels Tell Her About It, Break My Stride and Footloose and the highlight for the kids was the ABBA tribute. Take a Chance, Super Trouper, Mamma Mia and Dancing Queen was fun!

Picture from the Young Ambassadors web site

After the show we talked to PJ and Jeremiah who remembered the kids from Drammen. It was important for Natalie to talk to one of the girls. She would have been heartbroken if we'd left home without seeing one of them, so we tracked Shayla down and she was so cute to Natalie. So as a memory to cherish for the rest of her life, here is a picture of Nikki, the girl who lifted Natalies spirit in such a special way and won her heart.

Picture from the Young Ambassadors web site

I do have some fun memories from prior YA concerts, one from the 1981 tour when Eric who played the banjo fell through our bunk bed while sleeping at our place and also from the 1992 tour in Berlin, Germany - but that's another story!

It was nice to be able to thank Randy Boothe, the artistic director, for his awesome effort and talent that he has shared for more than 25 years together with different members of the YA.

New hair cut today!

A little embarrased to face my hairdresser today as a hair cut was much overdo. Pretending to be a hair colorist myself this past year has not been too successful. I was asked if I minded if they put an apprentice on the task. She just won a national comptetition and she did pretty good. Although I felt horrible while three people were consulting her trying to figure out what to do with this mess. It has never been easy defining what's my natural hair color, but I do consider myself a brunette - and found it proper to share some brunette jokes today. 

Q. Why are so many blonde jokes one-liners? 

A. So brunettes can remember them.

Q. What's the real reason a brunette keeps her figure?

A. No one else wants it

Q. What do brunettes miss most about a great party?

A. The invitation

Q. Why are brunettes so proud of their hair?

A. It matches their mustache

Q. Why does a brunette have curtains on her PC?

A. To open windows

Q. Why does a brunette throw water on her keyboard?

A. To surf the internet

The hair is the richest ornament of women.  ~Martin Luther

4 months old

Development at 4 months old

Melissa is starting to sleep on a schedule! Her daytime sleep is more predictable, - typically morning and afternoon naps that each last for two to three hours.

She intently studies her hands and bravely stuff them into her mouth. She also grabbes one hand with the other and then pull them apart. New skills call for new toys. Anything that provides an easy grip is popular.

Melissa makes the sounds "Ah goo" and "Ah gee" and enjoy a bit of chat time.

She does little mini sit-ups and plenty of push-ups and rolls over from her back to her front when she is lying on her side.

She eats less frequently and is much more easily distracted, so we sometimes go somewhere quiet when we're feeding. Not making much progress on the solid foods yet.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream...

It is nice and sunny outside and today is the first day of May, the ice cream month. When I was teaching elementary school and we were learning about our National Independence Day Celebration on May 17th, I always made sure my pupils practiced to eat ice cream as it is a common rule in Norway that the children can eat all the ice cream they want that day. Needless to say it was one of the best school days of the year when we had our annual ice cream party.

Ice Cream History

Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.) is known for his love of snow flavored with nectar and honey. The Roman emperor Nero (54-68 A.D.) had ice and snow brought to him from the mountains. Legend has it that if it melted before the slaves returned, they would be executed!

Marco Polo (1254-1324) tried ice cream while exploring China. He loved it! He brought the idea of ice cream back to his home in Italy. In the 1920s, immigrants coming to Ellis Island were served ice cream as part of their welcome to American culture. Many didn't know what ice cream was. They tried spreading it like butter on bread!

Some fun facts

Around 13% of men and 8% of women will admit to licking the bowl clean after eating ice cream. 

Biggest ice cream sundae - 12 ft tall!

The average single-scoop ice cream cone takes 50 licks to finish.

It takes 12 lbs. of milk to make just one gallon of ice cream.

The boys are enjoying their first outdoor ice cream of the season.

And Melissa got a taste of it too!