Ryan's daily clothing routine:1)Underwear
2)Wool Long Underwear and Undershirt
3)Jeans
4)Fleece Sweatshirt
5)Wool Socks
6)Ski bib
7)Waterproof, insulated jacket
8)Waterproof mittens
9)Waterproof, insulated boots
10)Wool cap
11)On *very* windy days, face mask
12)On *very* ice days, ice pick attachments for boots
13)Oct-February reflective vest
14) change of shoes to wear inside school
*This is for walking to school, which he does about 1/2 mile everyday, usually with a neighbor. Thusfar, the weather hasn't been over 38 degrees. This would NEVER have happened in the states. A bonus fact: There IS NO such thing as a 'drop off/pick up' lot, lane, etc. Kids walk to school. Always. My new rule is "you must stay outside for at least as long as it took me to get all of these clothes on you!" *I will never complain about having to simply spritz my kids down with sunscreen before going outside!
One of the driveways - I have shoveled this too many times to count. I actually ran out of places to put the snow and had to wrap it & dump it around the corner down the street. Apparently, I have some sort of mental/physical block against shoveling snow in mid-April, so our last snowstorm, which dumped about 6 more inches this week, is still sitting in the driveway, trod on many times by my all wheel drive vehicle. That's why we got it!
Heath and I at his squadron Christmas party. In February.
I was actually trying to take pictures of the ENORMOUS snowflakes that were just hovering but the phone camera just couldn't pick it up. So instead, here is a photo of "Main St" Bodø...It's not actually called that, but it's a good comparison.
When in Norway....We bought cross country skis, boots, bindings, poles etc for the whole family. Skis and skiing equipment are the one thing that is actually way less expensive than in the states. I will now add, 'who the heck buys cross country skis?!' We tried it once and have now gone back and purchased downhill skies, boots, and bindings for the whole family. WAY more fun. Still and all with 10 sets of everything, we still spent less than in the US. This photo was taken in a store called Coop Obs! (The exclamation mark is part of the title of the store. So Heath and I always like to make sure we say it emphatically) It's like the Super Walmart of Norway. Only without the Walmart prices.
One of the driveways - I have shoveled this too many times to count. I actually ran out of places to put the snow and had to wrap it & dump it around the corner down the street. Apparently, I have some sort of mental/physical block against shoveling snow in mid-April, so our last snowstorm, which dumped about 6 more inches this week, is still sitting in the driveway, trod on many times by my all wheel drive vehicle. That's why we got it!
Heath and I at his squadron Christmas party. In February.
I was actually trying to take pictures of the ENORMOUS snowflakes that were just hovering but the phone camera just couldn't pick it up. So instead, here is a photo of "Main St" Bodø...It's not actually called that, but it's a good comparison.
When in Norway....We bought cross country skis, boots, bindings, poles etc for the whole family. Skis and skiing equipment are the one thing that is actually way less expensive than in the states. I will now add, 'who the heck buys cross country skis?!' We tried it once and have now gone back and purchased downhill skies, boots, and bindings for the whole family. WAY more fun. Still and all with 10 sets of everything, we still spent less than in the US. This photo was taken in a store called Coop Obs! (The exclamation mark is part of the title of the store. So Heath and I always like to make sure we say it emphatically) It's like the Super Walmart of Norway. Only without the Walmart prices.
My baby is 4. This was a tough one. He still seems like such a BABY to me. Maybe that was because he was still in diapers on his birthday. He quite literally woke up one day and decided not to wear diapers anymore. And hasn't had an accident since. We're going on 3 weeks now. I have heard so many people say that can happen, but I never thought my child would do it that way.
Will picked out a Batman themed birthday party for AJ because AJ didn't really care and when he realized he had an option, he changed his mind several times a day. Living in a place that forces you to plan months ahead of time if you want to order anything online is not for the fickle party planner. So, we put our stake in Gotham City and he loved it!
Mr Mustache, aka Alfred Pennyworth (Batman's Butler) was master of ceremonies for the superhero training course. (The mustache is a horrible fighter pilot tradition, in which during the month of March -every year- fighter pilots grow mustaches) I LOVE April! Thanks to my Supermom Friend, Cindy's fantastic birthday inspiration, we came up with a cape decorating, obstacle course, and freeze dance party. I am a pessimist and a perfectionist who feels I'm never getting it good enough so I was afraid that this party wouldn't meet my vision. BUT, it actually did. We had girls and boys from 2-9 years old who all participated in everything and really had a great time. (Freeze dance did turn out to be a Watch the Wimberleys spectacular, but I was in charge of the music. So it didn't last too long!)
Me with the birthday boy in his, according to Heath, Count Dracula, as opposed to superhero, cape. I wonder why I never feel like I'm getting it good enough!! ;)
Pure J-O-Y. 
I don't know what else to say about this one.....This guy's concert photos are plastered all about town.
One night after we got back home to Norway after a very stressful trip home to CA, for the death and funeral of Heath's father, Heath and I needed a break. We REALLY needed to refocus...but not yet having found a babysitter made that difficult. I decided to set up a card table in the basement and made a nice dinner for the 2 of us to eat. Alone. I fed the boys early and put on a movie on the 3rd floor to give us plenty of noise separation. When Heath got home from work that night to find the effort and gesture he was so touched. It was a wonderful dinner and I can't even remember what we talked about...it just felt great to prioritize our marriage. I highly recommend this for an emergency date night. Anyway....the boys LOVED the idea of having a special date night restaurant in our house so I have decided to take each of them on a one on one dinner date as well. Our lives are so loud and busy; there is constant chatter, banter, and conversation which makes for a fun family dynamic but it's not until I'm alone (not in an up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-with-a-puker kind of alone) with each of my children do I realize that I may not actually 'hear' everything they're always trying to tell me. I can safely say this goes for Heath & I too. My first dinner date was with Will, the middle child...whom I always fear is a little overlooked until he's in trouble. He's very independent and is my #1 mischief and mess maker. I want to make sure that he gets more from me than behavior and clean up lectures. We moved our table from the basement to the upstairs for a better view and had chicken taco trays and milkshakes. Looking at this picture makes me want to go snuggle up with him while he's asleep and not miss a minute of his spunky fearless childhood. It's going so fast. I will not even begin to say that I don't have time to actively maintain a decent blog... I WASTE so much time on Facebook and post so many photos and quick updates there...I could easily be doing more here! My goal was to keep this blog as a diary. I have failed terribly thusfar. Now, if I can figure out a way to import my FB posts here I will be caught up on the past 3 years of not blogging! In the meantime, I'm going to put up a few pictures to get you up to speed on life in Norway. My earnest intent is to maintain this blog from here forward and make it personal again!
