Aksel is 2!!!

Aksel is 2 years old! I can hardly believe time has flown by so quickly. He is such a sweet, stubborn, charming little boy. We had a fairly low key day starting with pancakes and ice cream for breakfast and then a bit of a family dinner (plus some friends) in the evening. A wonderful day for such a wonderful boy.

Aksel and Elias helping me bake the cake :-)

Playing with new toys - a train set!

Pancakes and ice cream - yummmm!

The cake!! Why do I torture myself so??!

Part 2

July started beautifully - with me being in Seattle without the husband and kids! A nice break away. And right when I came back, Håkon had arranged a surprise night away for the family (have to take advantage of every long weekend there is in the land of NO HOLIDAYS!). So we drove half an hour east to Dina Town, which is an old play park with cartoon dinosaurs everywhere and free games. I always wanted to go when I was little, so it was kind of funny to be there! Elias had a great time. Then we stayed overnight at a B&B and then headed to a Harrison Hot Springs in the morning. The weather wasn't that great, but we still had fun! The rest of July was sunny and hot, so we have spent a lot of time by the water.

Dino Town!

Aksel is his happiest if he has a stick to bang or a rock to throw

Digging in the sand with Gramma at White Rock

Summer Part 1

I'm realizing as I look through our pictures that we have a lot, so in order to make my job easier and to not bore you silly, I think I'll divide it up a bit! So here's an idea of what we have gotten up to in May and June!

In May we went to visit my brother, Leroy, in Kamloops, about 2.5 hour drive from here. It was lovely to see my brother, but the trip was pretty much a disaster besides that! Aksel was super sick with an ear infection, or something, and had a high fever and barely slept the 2 nights we were there. It was also quite cold, which it normally isn't at that time of year, which made it a bit difficult to spend too much time outdoors, especially for Aksel as he was sick. We went up to a lake to walk around a bit, and it was actually snowing!! Couldn't believe it. Then the 2nd night Håkon got a stomach bug and was up all night ... so when Aksel wasn't up, Håkon was jumping up beside me to rush off.. Thanks Leroy, for putting up with us!

Then in June, Håkon's cousin, Åse Berit, came to visit us from Norway on her way to the States to visit people where she was on exchange with earlier. We had such a nice time with her, and the boys LOVED her - she didn't get much peace, I'm afraid! So we toured around Abbotsford and the Vancouver area. We went to White Rock one day, and we have since gone there quite a lot. The tide pools there are wonderful for kids - shallow bits of water with all sort of fish and crab in them to find and are warm and shallow so the grown-ups can relax too!

The cold walk around the lake with Leroy

The boys helping me plant the garden

Very messy after some time in the dirt pile and water!

White Rock

Elias very proud of writing his name - look closely!

17. mai

This year we didn't make it to the 17.mai party with all the other norwegians as we were at a wedding, but we still celebrated in our own little way - with a BBQ and ice cream outside. So fun to hear Elias say "Åååå så deilig!!!" when he saw the ice cream and strawberries!

Aksel is finally starting to talk a bit, and even has some norwegian words mixed in. "fly (airplane)" and "ut (outside)" are definitely favourites. And he is starting to settle down a bit since he can communicate a bit better. Elias is FULL of questions and talk - which is both really sweet and really annoying :-) He is doing another soccer course which is lots of fun.

We are doing lots of work in our backyard this last while, and hopefully will be planting the rest of our vegetables in a few days! Good to have some experience from last year to draw on!

17. mai ice cream and strawberries

popcorn and barnetv!

sniffles, birthday and other things

Elias is 4 years old! Ok, 4 years and a month :-) He had a great birthday - a super hero birthday! I made capes for all the kids and then we made masks as a craft during the party. Lots of fun! He is such a wonderful boy, truly caring and curious about everything! He got his first bike as a birthday present, which he is loving. Now if only he would understand the concept of brakes! Right now his favorite thing is to play lion with pappa before going to bed and then reading a book by the light of the nightlight. He also just finished swimming lessons. I was so proud of him, he was the only one who would go completely under the water and he learned how to float on his front and back. So he passed his first level of swimming only after 6 lessons!! Do we have a swimmer on our hands?!

One of the reasons why it's been so long since the last blog is that we were sick pretty much from December until the end of February. Bad colds, ear infections, stomach flu, and the list goes on. So it's been quite exhausting. We've now had a month of being healthy, but now it looks like things are going downhill again. Aksel has his 3rd ear infection of the year, Elias has a cold, and Håkon and I are feeling not so great. Hopefully it won't last another 3 months!

Aksel is doing well, he continues to charm all of us. It's a good thing too, it balances out his screaming when he doesn't get his way! He is definitely pushing his boundaries and figuring out how things work. He is obsessed with cars and dogs at the moment. And of course doing everything Elias does!

Norwegian Olympic sweaters knit by Håkon's mother

Elias's birthday breakfast of pancakes with ice cream!

Super hero party!

Decorating easter eggs.

Merry Christmas!

Looking back over this year, so much has happened. We have been truly blessed and are amazed that life is as settled as it is. Some of the things we are most thankful for are: our wonderful family, Håkon's job, the friendships we have made, our church, the opportunity to spend time with my family, my parents, and this beautiful house we get to live in!  

It still amazes me that Håkon got a job so quickly, and one that he enjoys so much and learns so much from. It also amazes me that we have so many good friends just one year after being here. Friendships take time, so we were prepared for a hard year, but God has really blessed us. We have met these friends through our church. There are so many churches in Abbotsford that it was a bit overwhelming when we first came here, but the first church we tried, a Vineyard church, felt like home!  So our Sunday mornings are spent there and our Sunday afternoons are spent with my extended family. My parents, my sister and two sets of aunts and uncles get together with my gramma and have a visit and a light dinner. It's nice to be able to get together with everyone, and for it to be a regular thing as it just becomes a part of our schedule. I feel really lucky to be so close to my parents as well. It is so nice to see the relationship built between them and our boys. Elias and Aksel get so excited to see them, even if it's only been a day since we last saw them! Aksel doesn't say many words, but Gramma and Grandpa are definitely two of them! It has also been lovely for us to have such ready babysitters! And without them, we would not have this house to live in either. We took over part ownership of my parents house in the summer and have been busy renovating since. Slowly, but surely we are getting there. The house is great for us with lots of space and a nice big yard for the kids to play in.

It is truly a joy to watch Elias and Aksel grow and to see their relationship with each other develop. Elias is such a caring boy, always looking out for people, making sure they have what they need. He takes care of Aksel, tries to distract him when he's grumpy (much to mamma's delight) and is very into his imagination, constantly providing us with hot chocolate, cookies and icecream! Easy to see what his favorite foods are! Aksel is a charming little boy who gets away with a bit too much because of his smile! He still isn't the best sleeper at night, but "this too shall pass".  Playing outside is his favorite thing to do, besides giving Elias a hard time.

So what have we done this year? Looking back we really have had the opportunity to do a lot of things and experience new things. Here is a short and random collection of things that happened this last year:

• Trip to California for a wedding in Pasadena, our extended family, and at the same time visiting friends from Trondheim in Mission Viejo. Håkon tried to ride the waves, only partly successful
• Mexico holiday while Grandma and Grandpa were babysitting kids with hand, foot and mouth disease. 
• Cabin trip to the interior of BC enjoying swimming, ATV driving, and relaxing.
• Ice Hockey: Being introduced to the NHL and AHL has sparked a new sports interest for Håkon in addition to following the Norwegian soccer league through early mornings on the computer or TV.
• Knitting: Kari is impressing Abbotsford with Norwegian knitting and teaching knitting lessons.
• Skype: through Skype we have been able to keep in touch with family on a weekly basis. Very nice!
  
• Visiting with kids: yes it is possible. When in Norway we always left to go home for the kids bed time. Here we have learnt just to put the kids to bed wherever we are visiting and then just bringing them home when its time to go. It actually works and increases your social life after having kids.
• Unexpected Norway trip. Håkons grandpa died after a short period of being sick. It was good to be able to go home to spend time with family and celebrate his Grandpas great life. Truly an example and inspiration for us. 
• Visits from Norway. Eirik and Lina (Håkon's brother and sister-in-law) visited us this summer and right now Håkon's mother and father are here. Such a treat to spend time with them and the kids are loving it.
• Donuts and coffee: We are now pretty good at ordering coffees, bagels and donuts at the drive through. ;)
• Swine flu - no we didn't get it, yet anyway.
• Gardening: yes we have a garden, but don´t quite know what to do to keep it nice. Thankfully grandma and grandpa is giving useful tips and help. 
• Raging MAD: Yes sometimes, at least a couple of times a week, the kids drive us nuts, and wondering why on earth we wanted this, but it passes and then we remember why we love these kids so much.
• Provision: We realize how once again God has provided for us in abundance, we are truly grateful.

We wish you all the best for this next year. We hope we get to see some of you (live or on Skype) and hope you get a wonderful Christmas season.  

   

gingerbread house decorating

fall

Again, many things have happened these last few months! For example Aksel's first birthday!! We had a wonderful day celebrating with family and a few friends - and I think he enjoyed his first piece of cake all to himself!

We went to California in the beginning of September for a very good friend from Norways wedding as well as to visit some other friends from Norway! So we had a great week of being "norwegian" with speaking lots of Norwegian and eating Norwegian food - as well as laying on the beach and spending time with good friends.

One of my closest friends from New Zealand came to visit me together with her hubby and kids. It was amazing to meet her kids for the first time and spend some quality time together after so long. Can't wait until next time!!

Soon after that, Håkon and I had the opportunity to go to Mexico along with some people from his work - which we gladly accepted! So we had a 5 day holiday in Cabo San Lucas in an all-inclusive resort. Without kids! We had a wonderful time, but unfortunately the kids got super sick while we were gone with hand-foot-and mouth disease. Which basically meant that they had sores all in their mouth - no food, no soothers, no bottles = not a fun time for my poor poor parents. But they survived and the children survived so I guess it all ends well. So unfortunate that our first time away from Aksel turned out like that. Hopefully it will be better the next time we go away!

As I'm writing this, Håkon is on his way to Norway. His grandfather died on Sunday so he is going for the funeral. I am sad that I'm unable to be there to celebrate his life but am so glad that Håkon will be there with his family. He'll be gone for a week so hopefully I'll survive with the kids without having a nervous breakdown!

Birthday boy!

Beach time in California - Orange County

Elias and Ezra - good buddies

Sunset cruise in Mexico