American in Norway

march 29 The best thing we could have done..  was to pack up the car & get out of town.. & that is what we did... The greatest revenge is HAPPINESS.. and we were determined to have a FANTASTIC time.. no way I was going to let - some mean.. turd.. ruin our time.. NO WAY... I traveled to Prague as a backpacking college student.. and LOVED the city.. I couldn't wait to bring my children here... if I could have my way.. I would take my children to all of my favorite cities... so they will always remember their first visit was with ME.. :-)  & Prague at Easter was fantastic..  

march 28 Hello PRAGUE... here we come.. Thank goodness my children are 1/2 TEXAN.. and are used to CRAZY,LONG ROAD TRIPS! (as a child... it used to take us a good 12 hours just to get out of Texas..) could gobble this little one up...  L O V E.. after 16 hours.. (with an overnight in Denmark.. 1/2 way) we arrived.. Hilton - Prague.. 

march 27 After Dane was attacked.. I was pretty sure that our Easter vacation was RUINED.. thanks a lot - you big jerk. bully.. but after a weekend of being in the dumps.. I decided to just screw it. if the Dr. thought it OK.. we would load the kids in the car & head somewhere FANTASTIC. Dr. said Dane'sleg was healing nicely... & we should enjoy the Easter holiday.. :-) WOOO HOO... NO - ONE- can throw together a last min. road trip like me :-) We threw the kiddos in the car... and decided to head to PRAGUE for a much needed break. yes.. one of the totally cool things about living in Europe.. being able to hop in the car & just go to Prague.. or Paris... or...  heading through Sweden as the sunsets...

march 22 Many things were broken today... including my mommy heart.. today.. my son was attacked in his classroom.. by another student. while sitting on the floor.. while the teacher was in the room.. we have been a mix of emotions.. all of us.. shocked.. and down right pissed. unfortunately. if you are under the age of 15 in Norway.. you can't really get into trouble.. the max. punishment ? 3 days at home..  OUCH..  I am sure.. that 3 days at home .. playing on your iPhone & PlayStation must be pretty PAINFUL.. this isn't the first time the child has been sent home for being violent.. but he had never broke a bone.. ahem.. keep you posted..

Feb. 9th Beautiful morning.. & perfect weather for a walk with my FAVORITE guy.. We live in a really beautiful area... so beautiful in fact.. there is no reason for me not to walk along here EVERYDAY.. ahem... this is from the back of my neighborhood.. lovely, no? this is the place that many people have built their summer cabins.. sometimes I need to remind myself that people come to my neighborhood for their vacation..

Are y'all getting sick of my photos yet?    Sorry... only a few more from . THIS. TRIP... bruuu haa ha ahaaa.. I still have to tell you about Croatia & the rest of my adventures from the U.S. & then on THURSDAY... I am off to THAILAND.. I am excited about the trip... but I have been on the go a lot lately.. as soon as things slow down.. you know I will be itching to travel again. OK, so without further ado... here are a few more shots from our German Break Little Miss Eva... more like her mama everyday... - told me she just wants to travel around & take pictures when she grows up... (I think she heard me say that a couple of times.) Yep.. I am looking just a tad bit tired here- but this is after driving around 2000 km in a week.. between work & vacation... A Giant THANK YOU.. to Kelli over at Mads & Kelli for sending me over to the castle... I wasn't sure what to do with the kids.. gotta love Facebook in the t...

Yesterday was ONE.OF.THOSE.DAYS. just an ABSOLUTE shit day.. Working too much... traveling too much.. putting up with crap from a spoiled brat diva... missing my kids.. and trying to find the balance as I get in the car for another 12 hour day... I stopped about two hours into my drive to get a drink... upon returning to my car I noticed something in the FLITH on my car. (no, I haven't had time to clean my car...or my house...) I love you...  Have a NICE DAY... Yep... I had to take a picture of my car in front of all of the construction workers... and then I got all teary  - had to throw myself into the car before I started with an full blown UGLY cry... Not sure what I did to be blessed with my two wonderful babes... but it must have been something good. I am so blessed. Hope you all have a fantastic weekend... I will be spending it with my kiddos...

D is for one of my absolute FAVORITE things on this earth.... My pride & joy... my first born Dane at 12 Dane at 2 I know most parents think their children are the most awesome in the ENTIRE WORLD... but mine?.. well, they really are. Dane is special in so many ways... he is an old soul... wise beyond his years. .kind and giving.. loving and loyal... He has my wanderlust and love of photography...  Dane thank you for being you... I love you so much  :-) D is also for DUBLIN... I fell in love with DUBLIN many years ago... I love the PEOPLE.. the MUSIC..the HISTORY and  of course, the PUBS.. We are fortunate to find serious CHEAP flights and can take off for weekends away... LOVE it... Additional D info?... I have lived in  Danville CA,   Des Moines IA, and Delaware.. (Wilmington)

Love this child o' mine for so many reasons....   Love that he was willing to drop everything & run out to the beach with me tonight... just because I needed a little pick me up...  and needed to catch a beautiful sunset... Feeling VERY homesick today... My boy is the B E S T ....

OKay... I will spare y'all with the "oh how I miss back to school in the USA". The kids had a great day... this sure was a LONG summer. Eva is in a different classroom with a new teacher...(WOWY)   Dane, of course, same classmates...same teacher... New school year would not be complete without photos... so here you go.  :-)

Umm hmmm.. looks like we have hit the PRE TEEN years in all of their GLORY... Can you just hear the SARCASM dripping from  my mouth??... And I can just IMAGINE my mother having a good laugh... in her corner of the world... (at my expense) I am not sure how old I was when I realized my MOTHER was pretty much right about MOST things. But she IS... & I know that..  and often sit and wonder how the hell she managed to raise four..not. always. easy. children.. I have 2. PRETTY.GOOD. children & still wonder if I am going to drop the ball I wonder how old my kiddos will be when they realize I am MUCH smarter than I appear,  and just like my mother... I am RIGHT pretty much most of the time. I really do know what I am talking about... I don't want to be a killjoy ... I really don't .. . Just like my mama... I just want to keep my babies SAFE & HEALTHY & HAPPY.. and get them onto the next phase.. Just like my mama... I can handle pretty much a...

Just thought I would share some pictures of the kids weekend with their daddy... I was stuck working all weekend..but Bjørn did a fabulous job of keeping the kids busy during their fall break. He threw the camping gear in the back of the van & headed south... First stop Kristiansand ... this is a BIG summer holiday place..  turns out to be pretty nice in the fall as well... They have a zoo.. not sure if this is the only Zoo in Norway...but Bjørn said it was nice.. much nicer than the Kansas City Zoo.. (which I think is the only zoo our children have been to) Added bonus.. there was an indoor water park... have I mentioned both or our children were born with finns? - they are total water babies... Bjørn didn't take any pictures for fear of not having a battery for when they arrived to Prekestolen.. (eye roll..) - so glad he reserved the battery for all 10 pictures he took.. Lets face it... he is more fun.. but I am WAY better at playing photographer. Next day, they m...

Little Miss Eva as Bat Girl... She REALLY wanted to be Buzz Lightyear but compromised with me when I couldn't find the costume.. as long as she didn't have to be a PRINCESS... Here is Kristoffer with the awesome piñata his mama made... way to go Caroline ! Dane was a commando ..... I was SOOO MAD.. I left my memory card at home.. so I think I was able to get 4 pictures.... Sometimes I can be such a DUMMY. We had a great time at Kristoffers b-day... trick or treating wasn't too bad... just a lot of work trying to find the right house ... sigh... (which TOTALLY justified the many bottles of wine we needed to recover from taking 9 kidlets trick or treating) At least the newspaper wasn't filled with upset readers writing in on how HALLOWEEN should STAY in AMERICA... (oh yea... I have read that EVERY YEAR for the past 4 years...) I am still worn out from our fun filled weekend... but there is no rest for the weary... less then a week til Bjørns b-day.. eeek ! I have...

Forgive me if this post goes all over the place... I have worked myself into a "tizzy" & that is never a good thing.... This is not a TEACHER BASHING post... this is a different culture..not sure what to do, I NEED to do something kind of a post.... : ) Usually I don't write about things I get really REALLY upset about... although I seem to do a lot of bitching... I really don't mean it... ask anyone who knows me in person... I really am a pretty positive, upbeat, person ... Today I am upset .... no, better make that PISSED OFF ... it is no secret that I didn't really WANT to move back to Norway... I try to cope with it the best that I can... & bitch & moan in a half hearted kind of way... but enjoy most aspects of life over here... My family is happy... I love my new house.. my job... and am finally making some real friends here.... However, there are a couple of things that I can't get over/used to here in Norway... the Health Care... & the...

When I was little...our summer vacations were about 3 months long & we spent pretty much EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. at the swimming pool.... We loved it.. thats what we did... (I don't remember being bored...) Sometimes if we were LUCKY, one of our parents would drive us down to ASTROWORLD for the day... & some summers we would make the 17 hour trek to my grandfather's HOG FARM in Ill... & catch the 4th of July parade... (in a town of maybe 900 people it was always a BIG deal....) BOY are summers now, WAAAAAY different than I remembered..... Last night Dane got a call from his godfather who wanted to know if he wanted to go sailing for the next few days... After 2 weeks of CRAPTASTIC weather.... (seriously...rain,rain & more rain & hi ghs in the 50's) The sun FINALLY popped out & they were headed to sea...did he want to go.... OH YEA!.... SO I packed little Thursten Howell up & sent him to sea for a few days of swimming, sun, seafood.... What a summer t...