Update

I just looked at our blog and realized I have not posted anything since October 09. A lot has gone on since then.

We have been living in Oklahoma for about a year and a half. I still miss living in Sweden, but we really like living here. We had our first snow of the season a couple days ago which was nice. I love the fact that there is little to no shoveling. The other side to that is instead of the bitter cold in the winter, we have extreme heat in the summer.

In August, Tim took a different position within Norris which keeps him home more. It has been so nice to have him home. He is coaching Josh's basketball team again this year and enjoying it. With 3 children and 5 teams, I am busy running around all the time. I love that Tim can help with the taxi service.

Josh, Annika and Ellie are all doing fantastic in school. They have amazing teachers and are at a great school. The school was nominated for exemplary status and should hear in February (huge honor) and our Kindergarten teacher just was awarded National Lutheran School Teacher of the Year. All 3 are playing basketball with Josh and Annika on two teams. Last week we had 7 games.

Tim sent me back to Europe in September to visit friends. I had a great time in the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. It was so fun to spend time with friends. He also just sent me back to Chicago for my nephew Liam's baptism. It was so nice to be able to be there.

Well, for now I can only hope that I will continue to make time to update this blog. I could use the excuse that I'm busy, but we all are. I was told at a seminar once that "God gives us enough time in the day to get done what NEEDS to be done." So I tried to ask myself- "What am I spending my time on???"
Nikki

Blessings

I have been thinking a lot lately about our moves. It seems like as soon as I feel really settled in, we pick up and move somewhere else. I began to dread the moving process as well. I don't do well with "setting up" a "new" house. I do not organize well, and don't consider myself a decorator. One of the hardest parts of the move for me personally is leaving my friends. It was pointed out to me recently that this is really a blessing. Not the leaving part, but the friend part. No matter where we have moved to, God has provide me with amazing women to become friends with. I usually have friends before the unpacking is even done. What a blessing! As I look back on all our moves, each place has special women that I have connected with. I am so blessed!
Each place we have lived has been amazing. I have enjoyed living all over. If I were to really think about it, I would have to say it was because of the friends we made. To all my friends all over the world... Thanks for being such a blessing! You are truly a gift.

Too Funny

I know that I haven't finished updating our October trip, but I couldn't pass this up. If I wait,I'll forget. Tim had made fish for dinner last night and the kids were not too excited about eating it. Ellie was the most vocal about it. After we had her take a bite, she looked really sad and said, "Poor fishy." It was too much. Needless to say, she was done eating fish for the night.

October update

Now that it is December, I should continue my udate on our October trip. One of the fun things we did while in the States was to go to the Chicago Children's Museum located on Navy Pier. Of all the times we visited Chicago, we never went there. It was fantastic! Papa dropped us all off while he went to a quick meeting. He did manage to join us later- just in time to do some major building. We all had so much fun.

They worked hard at building a skyscraper with Grammie.

They loved climbing around in the ship.

Building a 2 story house with a porch was a lot of fun with Papa in his suit. Too bad there was not enough fabric to cover the house.

We felt like we were back in Sweden with the rain gear they put on to play in the water area. What is it with kids and water? They could have spent the whole day in this area. I do have to say- it was fun!

It was so great to spend the day with Grammie and Papa at such an exciting place. I'm glad we went. Not to mention that we stopped for treats before we headed home.
Everyone was a bit tired and slept well that night.

Weekend Getaway

A little continuation of our trip to the States...

When we flew into Chicago, Tim continued on to California for work. The kids and I enjoyed going to Grammie and Papa's. The kids were very excited to meet their newest cousin, Ahren.

Tim had his 2nd week of his executive course in San Fransico. Unfortunately, he was extremely busy and didn't get to do much site seeing. Fortunately for me, he wants to go back and visit some time. Since he was going to be out west the following week as well, if was decided that I would visit him for the weekend. The kids were extremely excited about staying with Grammie and Papa. I don't even want to begin to think about what went on that weekend! I don't think they missed either one of us.

Tim and I both flew into Laguna Beach. The weather was outstanding and the scenery was even better. Our friends, the Aubles, happened to be vacationing near there as well. It was so nice to be able to go out to dinner and spend some time with them. We were also able to go out on a sailboat in Long Beach. It was extremely windy, but great for sailing.

Tim even sailed for a while.

On Sunday, we spent the day with Tim's cousin Jenny. She lives in LA and gave us the grand tour. She showed us all the sites. We even spent some time at Venice Beach. Very interesting to say the least. We finish the evening with a fantasic dinner near Rodeo Drive.

I love little weekend getaways with my husband!

Haircuts

I know, I tend to let way too much time pass before I update this blog. So much has happened in the last two months. I will try and take some time and update in parts. Today, I want to share the girls new haircuts.

Due to Tim's work schedule, we were able to spend October in the States. While we were there, Annika and Ellie got haircuts. Seeing as this was Ellie's first haircut, it was kind of a big deal. Also, both girls were donating their hair to Locks of Love. It is amazing to think that Annika donated 12 inches about 2 years ago.

Annika was asking every morning if today was the day she was getting her hair cut.

I still can't believe she had that much hair to give away.

She looks so much older.

Ellie has been wearing her hair in French braids. Her hair was a bit wavey from that. She did have a little natural curl on the ends, but I'm sad to say that it is no longer there.

Ellie donated about 14 inches and still has a bit of hair.

Finally an Update

Okay, I've been told by enough people that it has been a while since I updated the family blog. We have had a lot going on that I could share. No real good excuses as to why I haven't done it sooner.

The kids started school on August 20th. Josh is in 4th grade and Annika is in 2nd at the international school. With a new school year, comes a new group of students. We are looking forward to getting to know them better. Some more of our very dear friends have moved away which is not easy. The Maasland family has now moved to Russia. Another very hard "See you later." Andrea was my Shannon Watson here in Sweden. (I still can't believe they were so alike!)

We decided to keep Ellie at the Swedish school she went to last year. She loves her teachers and friends. We also thought it was good for her to have the language as well. She is starting to use more Swedish at school and at home. Over the summer, she didn't want anyone speaking Swedish to her.

Some very exciting news from Sweden is that we had Kelly, a pastor from the states, come for two weeks to study the possibility of planting a church here. After his two weeks of talking to a lot of different people and learning about the area, it looks like we are moving in the right direction to have an English speaking church here in Helsingborg. We don't know all the details yet, but we are really excited.

While Kelly was here, the boys went fishing. The weather was terrible, but they caught fish. It was so nice to eat fresh fish for dinner. Tim did a great job cleaning and preparing them. I don't have a picture of the before, but here is one after he cleaned one of the fish. Josh also caught a big one.

Andrea stopped by and was excited to see all the herring. In Holland they eat them raw. We are sure going to miss her!

This past weekend, Ellen and Henrik were here to visit. We had a fantastic time. They even got to enjoy Tim and Josh's catch. Tim prepared some herring and it was fantastic.

I'll share more about Ellen's visit soon.