Rest in Peace Mormor

God looked around his garden

and saw an empty space

Then he looked down upon this earth

And saw your tired face

He put his arms around you

And lifted you to rest

Gods garden must be beautiful

He only takes the best

My Grandma Solveig passed away Sunday night Norway time. She has been ill off and on this past year and has been so tired. No matter how much we prepare for such passings, I find that we are very unprepared when the time comes and a loved one leaves us. Mormor, kommer til aa savne deg saa mye! Er glad for at du er i en saa mye bedre plass naa. Vent paa oss, saa skal vi en gang feire jul igjen i paradis!

The Krazy Coupon Lady!

This is one of the most awesome blogs out there! I am addicted to finding the best deals, and it gives me a high to know I either made money (!) or spend less than half of the original cost on something. Check it out! These days we can all stand to save some money, and this blog pretty much takes the extra work out of couponing!

Next year!

I am SO making this for next year!!!
It is adorable!

Way overdue!

I have not posted since June 17th! Kaia was only 2 months old and she is not coming up on 7 months! Yikes! Like really did get more busy with two little ones:)
I guess I could recap the past few months, but instead, I Will just post what is going on right now.
Our house is off the market and we hope to re-list in the Spring. My dream house sold, so I am not in too much of a hurry now:)

Thanksgiving is coming up and we'll be celebrating in town with the in-laws. It is also my big 3-0 bday the Saturday after Thanksgiving! I love birthdays, others' and my own! I don't think there will be a party though due to the proximity to Thanksgiving.

Like I mentioned earlier - Kaia is almost 7 months, has two teeth and scoots around! I am certain she will be crawling in the next month. She still sleeps through the night and is a happy, happy girl.

Madeline is 22 months, a happy and smiley girl. She still loves her baby sister - sometimes too much. She has unfortunately had a tummy bug the last few days but is on the mend now.

Victoria is going, going and going:) Busy girl with many friends. Loves to be outside and can't wait for winter! She does not have that last wish from me, I can tell you that! Oh, ans he is now a whopping 8 years old!

Michael is my helper. He has grown so much lately and is so mature. I love having conversations with him about things he has learned at school! He turned 11, and it freaks me out that in 4 years he can have his driver's permit!

Kevin is working away, keeping a roof over our heads, food on the table and love in our home. I love this guy! He even cleans up puke after the kids whenever they get sick! Can't find a guy better than that!

I am at home sick - actually - took the day off since it is late start at school, and then ended up sick. Good thing I took it off, huh! Our van is in the shop. Had it fixed Friday, but then Saturday the check engine light popped on, so it is back. Hopefully nothing major!
I also teach Norwegian again, twice a week, through Sons of Norway here in town. I love it! I have a great group of students and they make me laugh. I do wish I did not have to take two evenings away from my family, but that is how it is right now.

I have to dig out our camera and post picture from the last half a year, but for now, this will suffice to show we are still alive:)

Summer is here - and so are the storms and the goodbyes:(

What a day!
With working in the place I do, I get to meet many wonderful families, and since we live in a medical town, many of them don't stay forever. Today I said bye to one of my favorite families and I came to the conclusion that I am not a big fan of the residents leaving season! Me being all hormonal (I blame it on new mommy hormones still!) goodbyes are a sure way to get the waterworks going!
So, instead, they will now be "See you later"s instead. Good luck to all my resident friends and their families! I have loved getting to know you all, and wish you the best in your futures. I hope that it won't be too long before I get to see you guys again. I know I have my mind set on a girls trip to Vegas for sure:)

Then, if that was not bad enough - we got one of those nasty summer storms. You know, thunder, lightning, warnings on the TV, tornadoes touching down places! If you have every been to Norway and experienced a thunderstorm there you would laugh at me. I was terrified of storms there, and the ones in the US are SO much worse! Kevin has gotten so used to me being terrified that if the storms start at night he'll just automatically roll over in bed and hold around me - knowing I am shaking in fright! For real, I am really that afraid! I try to be brave for the kids (at least until they are sleeping!) but man that is hard!
Anyways, I have yet to look outside since the worst of the storm passed, but from what my fellow Rochester people are posting on Facebook, it does not look good out there. At least we did not have tornadoes touch here, but wind gusts up to 70mph is a lot! So, when this post is done, I will be heading up and out to check out the damage.

I am not a big fan of Minnesota Winters either.....makes me wonder when the time to head home is! I would be able to handle a Norwegian thunderstorm all by myself after 11 years in MN!

Summer is here

at least the kids are off on Summer break now. It started out cold and rainy, got hot and humid, and stormy! I am hoping for a summer like last year, when we only had the AC on for a few days early on:)

Michael is thrilled to be off from school, but not so much about getting up to go to work with me. He participated in a track meet on Tuesday - pictures to come.

Victoria wishes school was still in session, and has been my early bird this week. She also ran in the track meet - pics to come again.

Madeline is still adjusting to a later nap, loves baby sister and being outside!

Kaia is growing like a weed. She is 2 months old today. We go in tomorrow for her 2 month appointment. She is such a fun baby, and she sleeps through the night every now and then. Since I feed on demand it is a hit or miss if we get the last feeding done at the right time for bedtime, but that is ok.

We had another showing today, before the big storm hit. Hopefully it turns into a sale. Of course, I know not to get my hopes up. We have one house we really like, and another one on our list to check out, so if we do happen to sell our house soon, at least we're thinking of our new home:)

We're heading to Kevin's parents place this weekend as his younger sister is coming with her family from OK. We're very excited to see them again, and to meet the youngest addition to their family (she is almost 1!). We'll also celebrate Father's Day there and Lois' birthday.
Then we'll head home for two weeks before my parents fly in (barring no natural catastrophes or strikes or anything like that). We're very excited to see them again, especially since my mom has yet to meet her youngest grandchild. While they are here, Kevin's older sis will be coming to visit with her two kids, and after my parents leave we'll go camping at Kevin's aunt's lake with them, and the rest of the Minnesota in-laws. It will be busy but fun I am sure!
The month of August will be a work month, except for a week when the older two kids are (at least the plan is that they will) spending with grandma and grandpa in Moorhead. Kevin and I do not have big plans since we'll have the little two girls still, but I am hoping we can come up with something other than watching movies at home:)

So, pictures to come later. Kevin has the memory card packed away somewhere. I really do need to get some new pictures up here though. And hopefully I will be able to keep up with blogging as well...