Isabel’s Collections

Almost every day Isabel will take her little bucket and run down to the beach to go treasure hunting. She finds all kinds of seashells…

Dead little crabs…

The parts of big dead crabs…

Rare big shells…

Beautiful rocks…

She keeps her collections in jars in our bedroom window.

Grateful Sunday 28

Friday was Isabel’s 7th birthday and I am dedicating this post to her because I am so grateful for

271. her silly nature.

272. her love for animals and rocks.

273. her love for her sister.

274. for her being a pappa’s girl.

275. for her being so shy, yet outgoing.

276. for her caring so much for all her friends.

277. for her love of dancing and performing.

278. for her serving heart.

279. for her sense of humor and sarcasm.

280. her strong health.

Happy birthday big girl.

Pictures from the past few years–Isabel

Isabel was born on July 1st 2004 in Norway.

She loved animals from the beginning and was always cool.

She has always loved snow and being outside. 04/05

Her first Norwegian Constitution day. That is me wearing my national costume. 2005.

Constitution day 2006. This year we both wore our costumes. This was a month before moving to the US and pappa had already moved here.

Summer and Christmas 2006.

Birthday and fall activities 2007.

Birthday and Fall activity 2008. This year she discovered ballet.

Summer and Start of school 2009.

Tulip festival and start of school 2010.

Easter egg hunt and skateboard adventures spring 2011.

She has grown so much and time has just flown by. I can’t believe she is 7 now.

On My Mind–Isabel

My wishes for my Isabel’s future

• that she will be able to work as a veterinarian or a business owner as she loves animals and is very driven.
• that she finds her place in the world may it be Norway or USA.
• that she finds the love of her life.
• that she can have all the animals she would like.
• that she stays close to her sister.
• that she sees the value of knowing her heritage.
• that she always remembers that the love of family is what is important.
• that she becomes a safe driver.
• that she always comes back to where she belongs.
• that she will always know how much I love her.

Teacher gifts at the end of the year

It is a dangerous thing being a blogger and following other blogs. 1. you get inspired to make and do so much, 2. you want to make something a little original, 3. you learn that it is common to give gifts to teachers and those who work closely with your kids at school.

This year I got to volunteer at the annual Walk a Thon at Isabel’s school and I took lots of pictures of Isabel’s class mates and teacher. I figured it would be nice for her teacher to get a little memory photo book at the end of the year and decided to buy a kit to make on since I am not really a scrap booker.

I found a school kit and a little album at Big Lots and had some pictures printed out. In about one hour I had this all done.

The first page is just a note saying to and from.

On the second page I had Isabel write five things she like about her teacher. She was really cute about it and wrote some really nice things about her teacher.

In the middle I had another little place for Isabel to write something. We decided that it would be nice if she wrote the names of all the kids in her class here. I really love the colors of the set I got.

When school started last fall Isabel had a hard time every morning being hysteric about whether or not there would be any fire alarm testing that day at school. She has very sensitive ears and has some anxiety. The school counselor and her therapy dog then promised Isabel that she would come and get her whenever there would be any sort of alarm testing at the school. This really made a difference in our daily life.

One day though there was a fire alarm test scheduled, but it was raining hard. Still she came and got Isabel and they stood outside waiting in the rain for the alarm to go off. Instead it got changed to an earthquake training. According to Isabel they were very wet and the counselor could need a big umbrella. We found a very big umbrella that I embroidered {Seek Cover} on. Then we bought a bone for Ernie. Isabel is so excited to give this to them tomorrow.

For our cross guard and a couple of other chosen people at Isabel’s school we have made a few magnets. I love how the little apple looks so big and shiny like this.

A big thank you to those of you who teach our children in the schools today. With all the budget cuts and the pressure there is from both parents, community and government today I know it is a very stressful and demanding job. Thank you for hanging in there and doing such an awesome job.

Anti Procrastination Tuesday

Yet again it is Tuesday. Guess what... I actually picked up my whole house on Saturday and blogged about it yesterday here.

One of the ways I fight my procrastinating tendicies is to do 10 minute challenges. Just like I did on Saturday. Of course sometimes I have to give myself a little bit longer time to do something, but generally it really helps to at least time myself.

I just found that I have something in common with actor Bradley Whitford (who played Josh Lyman in The West Wing). No, I'm not going to star in any new TV show or anything, but I just read an article in Good Housekeeping where he shares one of his best tips on how he downsizes. He, like me, has found a solution on the amounts of papers and artwork our children bring home from school. We take pictures of everything and when our children don't see it, we throw all of it in the garbage. Well except for a few pieces that we just have to keep.

I had planned on doing this for so long. Isabel were in pre-school last year and brought home so much artwork that I filled two bags with it. It is currently taking up room in my daughters closet and I still haven't done anything about it. Still I did manage to get all the kindergarden school work and artwork delt with the other day. I thought it was going to take days, but it only took an hour or so.

This is one of the first artworks she made in kindergarden. It is in the garbage now, but I will always keep this picture as a memory. Eventually I will do this with everything from pre-school as well, and then I will scrapbook these pictures and put them in a box with the artwork that I do save.

I have procrastinated long enough on this, but unfortunately the rest will have to wait another couple of weeks as we have a big birthday party to prepare for this Saturday.

Sofie is turning 1 on Saturday and Isable is turning 6 next Thursday and we will have a big party on Saturday. No more procrastination here for the rest of the week. I got to get ready for this party. Decorations, food and a pinata. Guess today will be spent running errands, unless I wait with that till tomorrow. Yes I know I am procrastinating here, but I always finish in time no matter what.

See you all next week for another Anti-Procrastionation Tuesday.

Crafts, cake and my baby.

So Sofie is still sick, but she is slowly getting better. She started out teething, then she got a really bad ear infection of which the first antibiotics didn't work on, then when she finally started to get better with a new antibiotic she gets a virus. It has been a hard week and a half.

I have not taken the time to do any crafts this whole time. I'm barely taking time to cook for the rest of the family. Honestly it is mostly because I find it hard to cook or do anything with only one free arm.

Still due to a lot of gagging accidents in her bed (she is trying to relieve the itching of the new teeth coming in) I have become proficient of changing her mattress cover with only one hand. Which reminds me of last year when I learned to put on mascara one handed while holding a colicy baby in the other. I can't believe that on Saturday it will be a year since I had my little baby.

Today is the last day of school before summer. Isabels kindergarden class has invited the parents to come early to enjoy a little summer concert of the songs they have learned this year. I am so excited. My little girl is getting so big.

Friday was birthday celebration day for all the summer birthday kids. Isabels birthday is July 1st and she had decided that she needed to bring cake for everyone in her class and she also wanted to give all her teachers a gift. Unfortunately that means that mom has to come to the rescue.

Thanks to this blog that I found a while back. I knew exactly what I could make quick and easy and still be proud to give. Post it Note holders. I am so happy with the ones I made. It only took me about 20 minutes to make and most of the time was spent finding the supply and putting it back again.

Isabel was proud to give and the teachers glad to receive them.

My hubby stepped in to help when he heard about the cake. He found two boxes of brownie mix in the cupboard that was leftover from our brownie craze last fall. So while he made them, he sent me out to go shopping for supplies.

I wanted to decorate the brownies, but knew I had to use a frosting that would harden so that I could wrap them into plastic for the kids to bring home from school.

My solution was purple chocolates from Wilton.

I melted half a bag of chocolates with 6 Tbs of margerin and added powder sugar till it got the consistency I wanted. Then I carefully spred it over the brownies and added the flowers for decor.

After I was all done I wrapped them all in plastic bags. 23 brownies for her whole class. 1 left over. It looked so lonely...
I had to take a bite... Ups forgot to take a picture. There it is.
One very tasty, gooey piece of brownie. Good thing I had already wrapped the others. Otherwise there might not have been any leftovers when I was done.

Umm, brownies...

So for the kids birthday party on Saturday I will make a chocolate cake with a chocolate rainbow made from the same chocolates that I used on Thursday. It is going to be gorgeous.