A belated birthday wish to Lola!

Happy birthday baby girl! I'm blessed and honored to be your Mama.

You have made us laugh, uncontrollably.  We've cried in frustration.  We've worried about the coughs, the sneezes and the fevers. It's been worth it.  You are fun, spunky and you are entirely unique.  You laugh loud, you love bigger.

I love you!

On 30 November 2010, I gave birth to a baby girl who completed our family.  She is wonderful finish. I'm sad that I'm not going to have more, but I know that this is what it's about.

Enjoying my heritage

Last week, A was given the assignment to choose a food that is important in her culture.  It brought back memories of lefse at Christmas.  It's a fond memory.  It was a happy time.  It's one of the reasons that Christmas is my favorite holiday.  The scents.  The sounds.  I looked forward to it all year.  Lately I have been struggling with finding the happiness of the season.  Perhaps it's that I've let life get to me.  Or maybe it's hard because I'm thousands of miles away from family.  Whatever the reason, it's been hard for me.  Sad.  Lonely, but not lonely.  I realize that's a contradiction of terms but it's truth.

So, when she brought this assignment home, I knew immediately what I wanted to do.  Lefse!  It's the first thing I think of when I think of my Norwegian heritage.  And lutefisk.  No way am I making lutefisk, though!  The first place that I searched for a recipe is AllRecipes.  Surprisingly, there were very few lefse recipes.  In the interest of saving time, I found one that was a flour base rather than a potato base. I don't have a potato ricer, either, which would have made it easier I'm sure. The recipe was a success, and it was similar to potato lefse, but different.  More importantly, we were making memories together.

I'm looking forward to going to the Culture Cafeteria!

Thankful for... life, love and happiness

In rough economic times, I am thankful that my husband has employment.  Employment that allows us to live in an exotic location, if only for just a time.  Employment with medical and dental benefits.  Employment that allows me to be a stay-at-home-mom.  We have truly been blessed.  I know that not everyone has the same blessing.

I'm thankful for life.  It's much too short.  Too short to hold grudges.  Too short not to live it to the fullest. Death has been a sad reality for me lately.  With the passing of my father, I realized how close to home it could hit.  My dad was a wonderful man.  Noble, stoic, and loving.  He fought for justice for those whose voice could not be heard.  He is my inspiration and I learned a lot from him.

I'm thankful for love.  The love of my husband, who loves me in spite of my faults.  He loves me far more than I deserve.  He is patient, he is kind, he is firm and he is gentle.  He completes me.  The love of my children, biological or not.  I am humbled everyday by how much they admire me. My family.  My friends.  Love surrounds me.

I am thankful for happiness.  To be happy in times of great sadness.

I have truly been blessed.

A hui hou!

Thankful for...teachers

Today I am thankful for teachers.  It is through their patience and endurance that my daughter is learning what she is.  I can only imagine how difficult it is.  It is truly a gift that I can never repay.

I'm thankful for the teacher's that I had through the years.  I am who I am because of a culmination of things, education being one of them. Having an education helped me through some of the hardest years of my life.  I will never regret that.

I've considered going in to teaching but I feel like I'm getting to be too old to go back to school.  It's not about the glitz or the glamour.  It's about helping the youth of today succeed.

So, if you haven't thanked a teacher lately, please do.  They need to hear it.

A hui hou!

A week of thankfulness

I've decided that for Thanksgiving week, I'm going to blog about what I'm thankful for.  I have had a roller coaster of a year, to say the least.  It helps to reflect on the blessings I have encountered this year.

Today, and everyday, I am thankful for all of my lovebugs: TSgt Lovebug, C, Princess Cranky Pants, M and Sweet'n'Lo. We are the non-traditional family. By that I mean blended; a can of mixed nuts.  A family brought together by two people who fell in love.  Life in a blended family has it's fair share of heartache, grief and disagreement, just like any other family.  What makes us different is that we didn't meet, fall in love and have babies.  We had babies before we fell in love and then after, too. It throws a wrench into the "birth order" theory which is another post entirely.

After three years of life together as a blended family, we have found our sense of normalcy. We've got two of the kiddos full-time and two of the kiddos part-time.  But, it's a full-time love that we're sharing. There isn't a moment that goes by that we don't think about what we're doing and how it affects everyone, even when we are miles apart.

Each of my lovebugs has a quirk.  Sometimes, it's many quirks.  I love each and every quirk.  I love that it makes up the unique blend that is our family. I love that we are a non-traditional family.

To all of my lovebugs: Thank you!

A hui hou!

Changes ahead!

I'm going to be giving my blog a new look in the next couple of days.  I've already started. I'm going to go a new direction with my blog but I haven't decided which direction yet. But, I'm here to say that I know it's been awhile and that I'm coming back.  Don't give up on me!

A hui hou!

October?! I swear it was just September!!

I was hoping that once I got the school schedule down, life would slow down, too! That doesn't seem to be the case.  August flew by and September went just as fast! Annika is settling into her school routine just as I expected her to.  She is a "stick to the schedule" type of person.  As in, do NOT stray from the schedule or mass mayhem ensues.  I'm sure that it will get easier as she gets older but she does not adapt well to changes in schedule.  And that's okay.

We finally found a gymnastics class for her to join.  It sounds like just what she needs.  And Girl Scouts is coming up too!  After Fall Break, Annika started an after-school Math program.  She is very mathematically minded, but she has a hard time understanding certain math concepts.  Math Whizz will help her with this.  Next week is parent/teacher conferences.  Holy cows! I can't believe that the first quarter of school is done!

Lo is on the move.  Crawling, crawling, crawling! She does walk, but prefers to crawl.  She is a little peanut at 16 lbs but she is a very good eater so I am not at all concerned!

The hikes we've been taking are fun! I just bought a new pair of hiking shoes and I am eager to try them out.  Our hikes have been postponed or canceled the last three weeks due to scheduling and weather.  I am hoping that we will get back in the saddle this weekend.

As October comes to a close we have a visitor coming in: My MIL. She will be meeting Annika for the first time.  They are both excited.  We are also volunteering at the Making Strides for Breast Cancer walk again this year.  Annika is very excited about it.  She has been bugging Travis to get us signed up!  We have the girls' Halloween costumes.  Annika will be a Sweet Lil Treat and Lo is going to be Rapunzel from Tangled.

Going in to November we have a birthday party to plan.  It's hard to believe that Lo is 10.5 months old already! Time flies!

I think that's pretty much everything that's been happening in the last month or so!

A hui hou!