They send home C’s artwork from school periodically. It’s not always interesting, but sometimes I can see he’s really been concentrating on something. It’s great.

Katy(posted on Apr 19, 2007 at 10:34 am)

These were done at school, throughout 2007.

Katy(posted on Jan 26, 2009 at 6:34 pm)

Thank you to Alexi for sharing his photos of our lovely Lauren.

Katy(posted on Mar 3, 2007 at 9:38 pm)

Rian loves it when we hold her while bouncing on the exercise ball. I got her all ready for bed and went into the kitchen for a minute. When I came back the ball had rolled out of the corner and over to her. She had a lot of fun playing with it and Matt and I thought it was pretty cute so we took a picture!

Tracy(posted on Feb 14, 2007 at 9:50 pm)

Lauren got Ruby this hoodie for Christmas. It has a cute little cat patch on one side, and (Lauren thought) it had pockets which Ruby loves. It only had faux pockets, really, so I had to open up the seams and stick some pockets in there for her.

And, it looks like (aside from this movie) this is the closest we are going to get to a family picture. So, I’ll start the week’s review. I started knitting pants for Ruby. I’ve noticed that my attitude towards knitting has changed. I feel more goal-oriented, and less like it’s a crazy experiment. I feel more sure of myself and less apt to toss it away if it starts being problematic. I’ve been very very tired lately, napping with Ruby 1.5 – 2 hours every day. Ruby’s been talking a lot lately. She says “My” instead of “I” (“My eating carrot”), and often says “me” instead of “my”. Ruby has been doing great with the potty this week. I’ve been reading lots of blogs and knittng of course. Chris has been doing a lot of research about space and the planets lately.

Chris stayed home Monday to recover and we kept C home, too. We watched the IMAX space travel movie and some of the BBC planets documentaries. Chris went back to work, and C to school on Tuesday. It was cold and icy. Chris brought home 14-inch tortillas from California, and we invited Johannes over for big huge burritos Teusday. It’s incredible what a huge difference big tortillas make to the burrito experience. And the quality of the tortilla was very different from the normal tortillas here. The Californian tortilla was so soft and almost sweet.

Wednesday night was game night, and out of control! 9 people! Christian and Divisha, Stanislav, Johannes, and Alan brought 2 friends. We played two games, different versions of Ticket to Ride. I like that game a lot. We had pumpkin seeds roasted with sugar and spices. Mmmm! Chris stayed home Thursday to work, and Ruby and I kept busy cleaning the kitchen and doing laundry and such. I went to norskkurs in the evening, which has switched to a late schedule, which means Chris has to put the children to bed by himself.

Friday was another big cleaning and organizing day and Ruby had lots of fun climbing up and down the step ladder. Chris stayed for Friday Beer at work, did some work-place-bonding. When he came home we put the kids to bed, and we built a fire and watched Mr. Bean. I finished one leg of Ruby’s pants!

The weekend was interesting. Ruby and I slept in Saturday while Chris and C played Mario Cart. We had a nice lazy day around the house. Lauren babysat Saturday night so we could go to a party at Chris Beer’s house. I had a lot of fun. Adults! Conversation! Cocktails! It’s been a long time since we’ve been to a party! Sunday was a nappy day for me, lazing in front of the fire. Chris and C played more Mario Cart and Ruby toddled around the room. Chris and Ruby seemed a little sick, and I’m pretty sure Ruby had a fever at bedtime. But she was ok when she woke up.

Katy(posted on Feb 9, 2007 at 7:46 pm)

Rian turned 6 months today! She was already dressed up for church so I wanted to get a picture before we changed her. I was really lucky and got her smiling in the first shot! Matt isn’t a big fan of her headbands, but I figured it was a special day so I put it on her anyway.

Tracy(posted on Feb 14, 2007 at 9:52 pm)

Wendy sent an email to the family with some pictures of Logan about the sad thing that happened to him. A dog snapped at him and he got some cuts and bruising on his face. Robert responded and shared these other pictures of Justice, who slipped off a stool and cut his lip. Poor guys!

Katy(posted on Feb 9, 2007 at 7:24 pm)

Ruby brought our basket of things that open and close into the front room. Each of the things that opens and closes (boxes, bags, a lipstick case, etc) has a little thing in it. One of them was the music box that Johannes gave C for his 3rd birthday.

Katy(posted on Feb 16, 2007 at 3:32 pm)

It’s not really fair to say that C has had a “slow start” on Norwegian, I guess. I’ve heard lots of stories of children in a new country who refrain from speaking the new language for a year or more. C was so young, though… I hoped he would pick it up faster. I think he’s been hampered by the fact that his teachers speak to him in English as well as Norwegian. (Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice that they can understand him, and it’s nice that they can talk to me in English, but it would be better if they stuck to just Norwegian with him.) I think it’s partly his personality, too. He’s often not adventurous, often reserved.

At the beginning of the school year, he came home with a few phrases and words. Ikke for deg means “not for you” and ikke gjør det means “don’t do that.” He also picked up the words pålegg, leverpostei, brødskive, and vann which mean “bread spread”, “liver pate” (which he’s not supposed to eat!) “bread slice”, and “water” respectively.

But! Last week, and this week, he’s been slipping Norwegian words and phrases into his regular conversation. Last week he told me “I speak English and a little bit of Norwegian” whereas before he was adamant that he only spoke English. This week he said to Ruby “vil du ha denne” which means “do you want this?” and later said to me “jeg vil ha den”, “I want to have it”. He’s also saying “passe seg!” (“watch out!”, from sledding on the playground), “leke sammen”, “playing together”, “gå ut” (go out) and “det er ikke lov” (“that’s not allowed”). He’s also saying jakke, regnbukser, and stovler: “jacket”, “rain pants”, and “boots”. It’s a functional vocabulary!

So, it’s coming along. I’m encouraged by this recent flood. I hope it means he’s been holding back until he’s more confident, and that now it’ll come easier for him. Everyone keeps telling me that he’ll be teaching me Norwegian soon. I hope so… somebody needs to!

Katy(posted on Feb 5, 2007 at 11:20 pm)

Rian’s ½ birthday was last Sunday. Happy ½, Rian!

Katy(posted on Feb 9, 2007 at 9:36 pm)