WELCOME!!

Blogger Boss needs to decide what this is going to say about how crazy her life is & how she loves coffee & walks with her hubby.


Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Here are some pictures of the latest.
My Little Guy and I to the left.
He got his 1st "big boy" hair cut (NOT willingly).
The poor kid screeeeamed the entire time...
But after I was done with the clippers, we were friends again.
He was quite impressed with his new "do" in the end!!
 Our youngest girl donning her new specs!  We found out she needs glasses a while ago, and thankfully she wears them willingly.  Here she's making marzipan goodies for Christmas.
Some of the yummy creations!  The girls had so much fun making them, and we'll all enjoy eating them!



Martha Stewart didn't help me decorate our house for Christmas this year either... But the kids and I have had lots of fun making our own crafts and baking. 

 My oldest daughter went out and picked some birch twigs, and then set up a bird-making station for her 5 younger sisters.
She put glue on the twigs, that she sprinkled salt on!  Looks like snowy "branches".
I think it turned out great!

On December 13th we celebrated St Lucia.  The kids sang some Christmas hymns, and then we served some treats (gingerbread cookies, marzipan goodies, "glögg"-Swedish hot cider, and Swedish "julmust", a carbonated Christmas drink) to some local ladies.  It was beautiful and fun!
 Baking "pepparkakor", or gingerbread cookies, is one of the most common Christmas traditions in our house.  Here's our "family", with Star watching over us.  Thanks to my oldest daughter for the cute idea!

A few weeks ago we took the whole gang bowling, here are the 5 oldest gals, waiting for our lanes to become available.
...and here's Big Guy and Little Guy watching other people bowl.


Well, that's that for now.
I've had a lot going on in the last few weeks, and I think I'm done with all my shopping.  Yes!!!
I even went and got all the food we need for the weekend, so now the cooking can start....
Have a blessed and Very Merry Christmas all my friends.  There are so many of you that I miss, and I sure wish you were closer... May God bless and keep us all in the New Year.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Here's the boot!!!

310223-01001Annelie, here she be!!! Ain't she a beauty???  Love them.... <3 <3 <3 Kaisa

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

and there went another week....

Wow.
I know I keep talking about it, but the time is ticking unnaturally fast!!
Freaky.

It feels like I'm standing in the same spot, like when you are stuck running in a bad dream, and everything else is swooshing by, tsunami like...
Heeelp!
There are SOME things I'd really like to get done, and I don't have any lofty goals.
But Ok, both cars conked out on us.  A little set back.
Time that we could have spent on other things, went to taking care of that.
We were very fortunate that neither of the vehichles had any major hickups, but the frustration still had time to get a firm grip on me.  And a bit of desperation.
When Hubby's working over an hour away, and I rely on a car to pick the kids up after school, there is a REAL problem!  Thankfully we have some wonderful neighbour girls who have helped with rides.

Saturday evening I came back from spending a night away in another city.
I went there to celebrate a ladies Christmas, with other Canadian and American women.  We had a wonderful evening, devouring great food, singing our hearts out, and laughing so hard my whole body was in pain!!!  Man, did that feel GOOD!!!
I spent the night with a Canadian friend, who's working here for a year.  When we are together, we both get as wierd as possible.  Like really off the wall goofy.
We went shopping and had a looong lunch together on Saturday, and we got more than a few stares...
Ah well,  we didn't mind.
I scored some beautiful dressy winter boots, that even got my Hubby's approval (he's PICKY!!)
Yes!!
Coming home on the train, I figured my Hubby would be at the station, impatiently waiting my arrival...
I was wrong.
Hubby was still at home, trying to get his car started!! (he just bought it, and it's a diesel, so he's not familiar with all it's quirks yet, plus the temperature was right at freezing, which makes a lot of cars cranky)
When he realized that it wouldn't start for him, he tried the Suburban.  It didn't start either!!!
Hello???  What are the chances???  Pretty big in our case, but still....
I was growling in the bitter wind down at the train station.  By now everyone else were tucked away warmly in their awaiting rides. (this was at 10.30 at nite, so the train station was closed, so I wasn't able to go in there to stay warm)
I tried to be patient, one of my many strong sides, realizing my Hubby didn't do this on purpose, but also felt a bit dismayed...
Hadn't we had enough stuff going on to last us for a while??
Hubby was lucky enough to borrow his brother's car (we are neighbours), so after I had lost the feeling in my thighs, (note to self: use long johns when in Finland) counting how many steps it takes to cover the front of the trainstation several times(it was too slippery to walk around it).... he finally arrived.

Well.  Like I said, he got them figured out, and I feel peoples prayers helped us out, again.
With cars you never know... but after cleaning the distributer cap, and replacing it on the Suburban, she ran nicely!!  So that was all for this time. 
I was praising my dear Hubby for being so good at pretty much everything!
He can build a house, do accounting,(that's what he went to school for) fix his own cars, clean the house, make dinner, bake, and most importantly, take good care of me and the kids!!

Soooo... now I have to roll up the sleeves and get back to the grind after a few days off.
What was I doing anyway???
Oh yeah, playing a game of "good housemaker"....

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Dear diary...

Today I feel like writing just to write, so we'll see what pops to my mind!

It's December.  And the fact that Christmas is indeed coming, is slowly sinking in...
And I'm getting excited about it too!
Watching the kid's excitement rubs off on me.
I remember the Christmases I spent as a singel girl, living quite far away from my parents, meaning I didn't make it home for Christmas every year.  Christmas was nice and fun, but I had a hard time getting the "feeling" that you have as a child.
Wanting to see the familiar decorations, listening to Christmas songs, singing along.
Baking, wrapping gifts, writing little riddles that we'd add to the gifts.
My younger brother and I had a riot with this, and when we hit our mid/late teens, things would get out of control.  We'd be laughing hysterically at our really stupid "riddles", that pretty much said straight out what was in the package!  We'd wrap my dads socks separately (so if he was getting a 5 pack of socks, he'd actually have 10 gifts to open)
Yes, we were nerdy, and man was it fun at the time!
As we handed out the gifts on Christmas eve, it seemed like our dad got the most gifts!
We also made joke gifts at times, and that tradition our oldest girls have continued.

A few years ago one of our girls had wrapped a sticker with great care.
I'm taking layers and layers of wrapping paper, with roughly a whole roll of tape keeping it all together...
When you finally got to the sticker, it said:
"You did it!"
I've been making joke gifts for the kids as well, and one time I wrapped packaging bubbles for one of the girls (our petlover). There were about 15-20 of them, and they were in a long "string", about 6 by 4 inches in size.  I drew googly eyes on them and gave them all names... She had wanted a pet for Christmas, and now she had a whole "farm"!
She kept them for a few years.  :)

Last night Hubby and I went grocery shopping and took the time to go out for a quick coffee as well.
Coming home there were candles burning, and the remains of "pulla" (cinnamon rolls) and "glögg" (Swedish "apple cider") were to be found on the table.  The kids had been practicing Christmas hymns in time for St Lucia! 
Christmas is so much more fun when you have kids to celebrate it with.
And it's NOT for the gifts sake.
They see the magic in all the little things.

When I was single, and even during our first few years of marriage (before our oldest kids were old enough to understand what was going on), Christmas seemed more "mechanical", although I enjoyed buying gifts for others, eating good food and all that, that pure joy was missing.
Now it's definitely here.
To watch the kids eyes when they see mysteriously shaped packages wrapped up, waiting to be opened...
To feel your belly close to bursting from all the good food and treats...
To squish the whole family on the couch and sing Christmas songs till our throats are sore...
To read the gospel of Christmas together as a family (even if it felt SOOO long when I was a kid!)...
To look around me and see all of our kids gathered around us. (always brings tears of joy to my eyes)
It makes me so happy for their sake that they have each other.  That they get to grow up together in this crazy bunch.  Big families are a lot of work, but during holidays "The more" is definitely merrier!
To feel that great thankfulness coming from deep inside you...
It's magical and wonderful and beautiful.

I'm excited.  And I think I have to figure out a joke gift or two...