Chains do not hold a marriage together.

It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads

that sew people together through the years.

- Simone Signoret

A happy marriage is a union

of two good forgivers.

- Robert Quillen

A good husband makes a good wife…

And a good wife makes a good husband!

- Proverb

Me & my GOOD husband!

Can you figure it out which songs they are? They are not complete, and not 100% correct, and we won’t talk about the complete absence of spaces, lol. I also have to mention that Kari goes to a Norwegian school, and Norwegian is very phonetically spelled. At her age they haven’t started learning to write English yet, so she writes her English as she hears it in her head.

Song 1:

de=san=vil=kameottomarobetsjorbadmdlrdettomaroderbisanJastfinkim-abeottomaroteiksdekabvoebstomarovindedeiisgreienlonlijostpickinapa-
djinenpreiensei

Song 2:

somdeiaivisapanastarenveikapverdeklodsarfarbihainmivertrablsmeltlaik-lemintopsdetsverjulfaindmisomveroverdereimboblobrdsfraiendedrims-
detjodertodrimrilikamtro

Little Miss Kari

Snow was coming down in droves, and it was beautiful outside. The turkey was in the oven, the tree was decorated, the table set, the presents under the tree, and everything was on its way to being a lovely Christmas Eve. However, that knot in my heart just wouldn’t let go.

My husband went out to buy a few last things, and when he came home I heard from the gasps of the girls that there was something extra coming inside the door. He had bought a beautiful Christmas table decoration at the florist. I was amazed. My husband isn’t one for romance and flowers so I thought that was so sweet.

And then – to my surprise – a bouquet shows up. A bouquet of the most gorgeous stem flowers! The flower was so delicate, yet powerful. The stem was thick and strong. The color was beautiful, and they stood so tall and proud! I didn’t even know what they were, and I’m rarely mesmerized by flowers, but these stopped me in my tracks. I just stared at my hubbylove, wondering what had gotten into him. He said he knew how much I was missing my dad, and he wanted to give me something special. I hadn’t really been talking about how much I was missing my dad, but after 10 years of marriage I guess he just knows when something’s up with the wifey

My mom – the flower guru – didn’t even know what they were, I put out an inquiry on Facebook. That didn’t make me much wiser, but I have now come to that I believe that they are a Double Flowered Amaryllis:

Thank you Hubbylove! They really brightened my Christmas

Speaking of….. THE FLU! What an insane flu season it is this year! There is both the regular seasonal flu, the swine flu, and a nasty stomach flu going around. Kari was down for the count for 10 – yes TEN! – days. We had a healthy house for almost a week, and then we were at it again. Now Julia is down for the count.

So anyway, I’m thinking I’ll try getting back into the swing of blogging things

Julia was Student of the Week for week 18. It’s really a week of appreciation, and all her friends write a note to the teacher saying something nice about their fellow student. The teacher makes a poster with all the quotes and hangs it on the classroom wall for all to see. At the end of the week Julia got to take hers home:

Translation for you non-Norwegian speakers out there:

• You are nice
• You have a good imagination
• You are good at math
• You are  good friend. I like that you were born.
• I’m in love with you*
• You are good at martial arts
• I like that you are my friend
• Your hair looks nice
• You are funny
• You are kind and give me a grape
• I like you
• You are good at jumping rope
• You are really nice
• You are my very best friend
• I like the color of your hair

*Julia claims she knows who wrote this particular quote. I do believe the feeling is mutual Ah, young love, lol.

I think this is a really nice initiative from the teacher

Husband doesn’t have his own blog and wrote a status update that was WAAAY too long for Facebook today. So, wonderful wife that I am I hereby offer my husband an honorary blog post. It’s only fair – he’s the other half of “I’m all right here” Here goes Mr. Miller’s very first blog post:

It’s great C got some time off from the girls today…. I took them shopping with me. Four different stores. Mistake… maybe..

First we had a “recycling day” by returning all those soda bottles back to the store, and the kids get the loot for helping out. It turns out they get to split nearly $50 (Yes… tons of bottles. Sick how much soda we buy in a few months). After 10 minutes of convincing the kids that we needed to go, and that they are not allowed to blow 50 bucks on candy –  with Norwegians staring at us as Norwegians do when there is a scene – we went to stop 2, the super market. Right before I open the car door to get to stop 2, Kari, (6 years old), says,

“Daddy?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“What are we having for dinner tonight?”

“Well, I’m probably going to make some chicken quesadillas”

“Thats not going to work Daddy!”

“Well why not?

Julia, (7 years old), says:  ”We need to vote on what we should have for dinner daddy”.

Me: “OK? Well… your mother and I want quesadillas”.

Julia: “Well, you loose the vote daddy!”

Me: “How is that? Its 2 against 2 and mom and dad are in charge!”

Julia: “Well you see daddy, our friend is coming over tonight and if she was here right now her vote would have been on our side and it would have been a total loss on your end because that’s 3 against 2. So you see, we win and now it’s pizza tonight!!!”

Me: “What!!?? You can’t do that! What is this? A democracy???”

Kari says: “Yes Daddy it is!” (Dont think she is sure what democracy means?).

I bought pizza for tonight. I could not find an argument against their cunning and intelligent plan to get theír way without me being a dictator and overthrowing their “democracy”.

Yes, we have him duly wrapped around our little fingers!

Breathing in that ice-cold air she stopped to take it all in. The world spins so fast. It’s loud, it’s hectic, and paced forward by a relentless timekeeper. Cars whooshing, voices talking, phones ringing, clocks dinging, dryers humming, cats scratching, tv talking, radio playing, kids laughing, kids fighting….they had all gone silent. Just for a moment there was nothing, and it was lovely.

“Hey Pappa”, she thought. “I wish you were walking here with me tonight, you would have loved it”. As the timekeeper passed midnight on February 24, 2010 she stood there in that beautiful silence and remembered. She could hardly believe it had already been a year. “I miss you Pappa”, she said out loud into the dark wintry night. She looked up into the heavens and wondered if he could see her standing there. She smiled thinking he could.

(Missing you)

So why were our closets in such a sorry state? And why were both hampers filled to overflowing, and an extra bag had to be brought in to hold the excess? Well, here’s my excuse explanation:

January is coming to an end. It’s the last day. I survived it – again A few months a year are particularly busy. The yearly company Kick Off is an event that takes a tremendous amount of my time and energy in January. It’s undoubtedly the most fun I have at work, and I love every minute of it’s insanity. However, being that busy means that something’s gotta give. I can’t do it all. Nope, it’s true. I can’t. At least not if I want to maintain some semblance of relationship with my children and husband in January.

One of the things that definitely has to give in January is laundry. This final weekend of January has been get-back-on-track-weekend, at least where laundry is concerned. Here’s a glimpse of my weekend fun:

Load after load after load gets washed, dried, and folded. The piles of folded clothes gets higher and higher as each load finishes. When it’s all done it will find it’s way to the closets. No, I don’t put away each load as it finishes. I will not make 5 trips to Julia’s closet with pants, I will make one. That’s the kind of lazy I am – or efficient – or energy saving – or whatever you want to call it.

I believe both husband (though he kindly doesn’t complain) and children are rather happy that it’s all getting done. Personally I can’t wait until it’s all done. I’ll then proceed to enjoy it for about 5 minutes – that’s about how long it will take before at least one basket  is half full again – ha!

The weekend hasn’t been all laundry though! It’s been filled with a visit to my mom’s house where we gorged on amazing home-made cinnamon buns. We also found time for bowling, and a movie. The soundtrack of the weekend has been John Meyer kinda smooth.

Another January will be packed away in a few hours. Here comes February. And a one year anniversary on the 24th… but that will have to be a whole ‘nother post.

Here’s to all my fellow working moms out there – laundry can wait once in a while! As long as everyone has something clean to wear, even though it might not be their favorite shirt, there’s no crisis or shame in taking a break. It’ll still be there when you get around to it. You can take my word for it – ha!

I made it for the first time for her 4th birthday. She said: “Mommy I want a rainbow cake!” After making my mind jump through a few hoops this is what I came up with:

Then she was going to celebrate in class and I had to make the same one:

And then her 5th birthday rolled around and look what she ordered for the family party:

Shockingly a slight twist was allowed for her 5th birthday party with friends:

And now her 6th birthday party cake:

I dub this one the “Flower Power Cake”, lol. The traditional rainbow cake with a flowery twist.

I suspect she’s like her mother… she loves traditions

If she asks for it again on her 7th birthday I will make it. As much as I twitch at the mere thought of how boring it is to place all those little colored chocolates on the cake and think “again????”, I also think “Allrightythen!” because it’s a super easy cake to make, and they come out pretty cute. The bonus? People actually EAT this cake too

Watching my cat sleep is like looking at a baby’s ultrasound -
it’s hard to figure out what’s the head and what’s a leg! lol