Peaceful

A friend of mine asked me today how I can be so at peace with everything. I don't think she meant to be rude. I chose to take it as a compliment.

I know things have been tough and we've been thrown a lot of challenges at us, but you know what, you can't do anything but to deal the cards you've been dealt so why try otherwise!?

I'm content. I have been blessed with an amazing family and incredible friends. We lucked out with buying a wonderful house for our family. We are healthy and happy. Things could be worse.

So here I am... Sitting at home. My boys are sleeping peacefully in their beds and I just spent the evening relaxing with the love of my life. How can I not be at peace? Life is good!

Coffee with the 'Mommies'

I love my little family, but it's always nice to get out of the house for some R&R, so tonight I headed downtown to meet the girls from my 'Mommy Group'.

We met when we were 6 months pregnant and were expecting babies within a couple months of each other. We actually started out with 18-19 mommies, but after a few of them moving, we're now down to 15 (I think). During our first year as mommies, we met once a week. We started out going to coffee shops, but as the weather got nicer we started going on walks with our little ones in the stroller. As the kids started getting more mobile, we changed our meetings to our houses instead. This made it easier because now the kids could lay on the floor and play.

Our babies are now TWO years old and no longer babies, but our group is just as close of friends. Now that we're back to work and the kids are at daycare, we don't get the chance to meet as often, but we keep in contact towards e-mail and good ol' facebook, as well as try to meet for coffee or visits at each other's houses as often as we can.

We're an awesome group and I'm so glad we've been able to stay in touch. It's not every day that a group of 15 women meet and ALL get along and stay friends for years!

Whoops, I got a little sidetracked...
Point of my story is that I had a great time tonight. It doesn't get much better than a cute coffee shop, good friends, a delicious coffee drink, and great conversation! <3

My 'other' family

After living in the States for 9 years, my family decided it was time for them to move back home to Norway. Originally, we had only planned to stay in the U.S. for a year or two, so this desire to move back didn't come as a surprise.

I, however, was not ready! I had just finished my first year of college and loved it so far. I loved my school, my program, and especially, all of my new friends. I had really gotten comfortable there and did not want to start all over at a new college. So I made the decision to stay in the U.S. alone. This was a huge deal for me, as I had always lived close to my family, but it was the right decision!

When my parents and sisters moved to Norway, I leaned on my best friend, Nicole. She invited me into her home and let me live with her and her family in the summers when my college campus was closed.
Nicole and her family invited me to all of their holiday celebrations. They even made a bedroom in their house for me! They became my security and comfort to help me survive living on the other side of the ocean from my family.


I have tried to thank Nicole and her parents many, many times, but really, how do you thank someone who has done this much for you? How do you pay back someone who has offered you their home, their family time, and their love? I wish there was more I could do to let them know how much they've impacted my life and how thankful I am to them.

They are truly amazing people!!!

I miss my American friends!

I love it here in Norway and wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I love my house and my neighborhood. I love my family. And I love my friends!

However, I had a day today where I just wanted to jump on a plane and go see my friends in the States. I have so many amazing friends from high school and college that I really miss! I miss going out for coffee, having a girls night out, bringing all of the kids to the playground so they can play while we run around after them while trying to have a conversation at the same time. I miss going out on double dates. I miss running down the street to visit our best friends who were only a couple houses away from us.

Simply, I miss all of the great times with our friends overseas.

Don't get me wrong. We have a lot of great friends here so it has nothing to do with that, but I wish I could get together with them all from Norway and the U.S. at the same time. We would have so much fun together and they would all get along so well!

If it only was that easy!

Well, my American friends: I miss you guys and hope we can come see you guys soon again. If not, know that you're ALWAYS welcome to visit us as well. xoxo

Busy but fun day

Today has been one of those days that has been BUSY BUSY from the minute I woke up until I went to bed.

I woke up this morning at 6:15am. I had gotten all of the daycare stuff ready last night, so all I had to do today was to take the boys' lunches out of the fridge, put them in their backpacks, and bring them out to the car. Then I spent 15 minutes getting myself ready before I went downstairs to wake up Aiden and Elliot.

Aiden woke up right away. He's one of those people (unlike me) who jumps out of bed with a smile on his face and excited to start the day. Every morning he runs into Elliot's room to wake him up. Elliot loves getting woken up my Aiden - much more than by us! If they have time, Aiden will jump into Elliot's bed and hand his big brother a book to read to read him. Then it's time to head upstairs to get the boys ready for their day.
I dropped the kids off at 7:30am today, that way I got to work early so that I had plenty of time for a cup of coffee before I started my day. Today, I only worked 'til 3pm. Then I did some quick shopping before I picked up the boys at daycare. Elliot had a birthday party at 5pm so while Mike made dinner for Aiden, me, and him, I helped Elliot wrap his friend's birthday gift. Elliot wanted to pick out his own clothes and I was so proud of him - he was so handsome! He even put gel in his hair so he could look cool. It was super cute! He's all grown up now :)

The party lasted until 7pm. Mike took care of Aiden and got him ready for bed, while I picked up Elliot. I like driving and picking up the kids to social events so that's why I'm always the one to do that. I like getting to know the other parents and hearing all about what they did, etc. When Mike picks up Elliot, he just gets him and comes home - then I miss out on all of the stories, etc. haha!

After the party, I helped get the kids to bed, then I stormed off to meet my friend, Kine, for a movie. We've been wanting to see Hangover for so long now and this was the only day we both could go. The movie was SO funny. I laughed so hard that I was crying! :)
Now it's almost midnight so I'm going to get some stuff ready for tomorrow and head to bed.
G'nite folks!

Fishing trip w/ friends

After several weeks of crappy weather, the SUN all of sudden appeared this morning. And if you don't know us well enough, sun equals picnic in this household. It took us a while to get out the door as we love our looong weekend breakfasts, but finally around 11am we were ready to go picnicing and fishing.

We met at our friends, Janne and Ben's, house. Mike and Ben had this plan to bring the two oldest kids fishing, while Janne and I were going to just play games and hang out with the two youngest. By the time we got to the park, everyone was hungry so we fired up the grill and ate some delicious food. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, salmon-burgers, potato salad, and watermelon. Mmm yum!

Then we headed down to the river to try out the fishing. The two 5-year-olds lasted a good five minutes before they got impatient and bored of fishing. Meanwhile, Janne and I were chasing the two youngest (1 1/2 and 2 1/2 yrs. old) who were really anxious to go swimming in the river. Not such a good idea. Needless to say, we decided that hanging out by the water with two daring kids didn't work, so we brought them up to the park to play games instead.

Although our fishing trip wasn't too successful, it was a fun day outside with friends anyway!