American in Norway

We had a fantastic day.. Amazing what a beautiful summer day can do for your spirits... (look at those legs!- baby girl is growing up..)   I sooooo appreciate my time at home & with my babies.. and even the time with my "babies daddy" It was a perfect long weekend.. spent recharging the batteries..   One of the things the kids are most concerned about the divorce,  is that we will no longer have family time together..   As we explain.. over and over and over..(can't say it enough) We will ALWAYS be family.. ALWAYS..   Bj and I may not be married anymore.. but with two beautiful kids.. we will always be family.     Yesterday was perfect weather & Eva was itching to get out to drive the boat "alone".. We loaded the family up and headed to town for ice cream.. then home for a family dinner.. We ate.. we joked.. we talked about our summer plans.. America with Mom.. and Cyprus with Dad....   the s...

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.. 

Shoes By the Door Amid the mess And the stress The calls and the shows I'm reminded Lord Despite it all I'm truly blessed So for evermore Dear Lord This shall be my prayer To be loved And for kids shoes to be lined up Aside the front door. (thank you to my fabulous friend MW- for the wonderful words to my photos..)

march 23

march 19 ORIFLAME march 20 my daughter.. the ARTIST.. march 21 these are just the sunglasses i removed from my old car... lol. I may have a problem.

Feb 24,2013 The AMAZING thing about living in Norway is the weather.. One day.. the sun is setting at 3pm.. and the sky is filled with heavy dark clouds..screaming the winter is here..to stay.. probably FOREVER... and the next (week) .. you realize the days are long-er, we are headed to the best time of the year. I am so blessed my daughter still thinks it is fun to wonder around our area.. looking for pretty things & fantastic sunsets.. and that is exactly what we did on Sunday..

Feb.16 Despite having her face smashed in just a few days earlier in a sledding accident, baby girl was ready to go again...  (THIS she gets from her daddy) I can not even watch...ugh. crossing fingers we make it through Winter Break  without breaking anything..

I wish this would be a lovey post.. & what was received in the kisser.. was a kiss. Sadly.. it was not..   :-( Baby girl had a sledding accident.. fell off her sled & right into a rock.  (yes while mommy was in Stockholm no doubt.) HELLO ROCKY! Bjørn sent me this photo during my meeting.. pretty much everything I could do not to fall apart.. She is doing fine,, but this girl of mine.. sigh.. not sure what I am going to do with her!

I was now SERIOUSLY sick... spent the entire day curled up on the couch.. the only sunshine today.. (and the only picture snapped) - was of my little ray of light.

My urgent rush home from Stockholm was to get Eva to Disney on Ice. She had been counting the days since Santa left the tickets in her stocking.. Bless her sweet heart... she grabbed my hand when she found me sleeping on the couch, after returning from school & said.."you don't have to take me mommy... we can just drop it, if you don't feel well. Figured I had already slept for almost 18 hours...  I am sure I could get up for just a few hours to take her to the show...    Ughhhh . But we made it! thank the lord for good ol' American cold meds...  looking a little crazy in the eyes.. lol

smor·gas·bord (smôrgs-bôrd, -brd) n. 1. A buffet meal featuring a varied number of dishes. 2. A varied collection: "a smorgasbord of fashionable paranormal beliefs" (Martin Gardner). This evening's post will be a smörgåsbord  (a bit of this.. a little bit of that..) of our day today.. Speaking of smörgåsbord... (word for the day y'all)  that is what we had for dinner.. this evening. had nothing to do with my whiny 8 year old..  but more of the..  "heck, lets clean out the fridge :-)" Mama had a salad, son had pea soup.. (he loves pea soup.. yet will not touch a pea normally..hmmm) & princess had buffalo wings, cucumbers & kålrotstappe... (NO idea what that is in English) & Daddy? - well, he had everything. Despite having two giggling girls up much too late last night, I was up at the crack of dawn... I had big plans... I was going to get LOADS & LOADS done.. sat down to check emails (HUGE mistake) & w...

We had a fabulous sunshine day... which I had to take advantage of... Eva... was feeling generous, and  agreed to go to the beach with me.. :-)  I was unable to pick JUST ONE... so bare with me This was Dane's pick.. This is one of my favorites... I love that she still looks like my baby girl.. as I went through the different shots, I was amazed,    her expression could make her look 5 years older or younger, I love her little profile...                     One of the beaches where we like to go.. it takes so little to have a fabulous day with my favorite girl... xoxoxo   To see more fantastic sky shots... hop on over to Tina's - a little piece of heaven... & SKYWATCH ...

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...

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...

Eva F I N A L L Y   lost her second tooth. My children are just like me.  They like to hold onto these baby teeth as long as possible.  I still had a baby tooth or two in ninth grade.. (weird little tidbit for ya.) Eva lost her tooth at school... & then she LOST it again..for real... is in NO TOOTH for the tooth fairy. I explained that the Tooth Fairy knows what a nice little girl Eva is... & I am sure if we just leave a little note... explaining how the tooth was lost... that the TF would still leave her a little something. (There are so many weird little things you don't think about when you marry someone from a different country/culture... How do they celebrate Christmas?  Easter? What happens when you lose a tooth? Growing up, we always left our tooth under our pillow for the tooth fairy.  Here in Norway...they leave the tooth in a glass of water... usually by a window.) Back to Eva's tooth... So I get little Miss ready for bed... we write her...

Its Wednesday... Time to show you what I have been up to this week.. the  Black & White version. If you would like to play along ... head on over to Lisa's at the Long Road to China We have had AMAZING weather this week..  feels as if SPRING HAS SPRUNG here in Norway.  Little Miss Eva & I headed over to the Beach to take some shots... here is my conversion to B & W. I am really digging the B& W because you can't tell just how mismatched her outerwear is. Lol Want to see what others around the world have been up to this week?  Head on over to Communal Global.. (after you leave me some lovin of course... :-)

I was off today...sun was out & I was feeling GOOOD ... so I decided to keep Eva home & play hooky. We packed a picnic lunch/thermos of cocoa & headed to a little chain of islands not far from our home. Today was one of those REALLY GOOD DAYS... Thank you baby girl!