A Few Photos

This is Mia after a day in the forrest! Could hardly keep her eyes open! Who could resist this face! Can you please tell me where Kenneth and I are suppose to fit?

Making Crayons!

What to do when it is raining and miserable outside? Make your own crayons!

Who Could Resist This Face?

I ask you now if you could resist such an impish grin? Especially since it has a smear of chocolate across his chin! He will bewitch you heart and soul until all you can do is hug and kiss those little cheeks even though you know the minute you set him down diaster is waiting around the corner. Whether it be the new box of Cheerios (which cost like $8 a box over here), or toppled basket of freshly laundred AND folded clothes or it could be retrieving whatever happens to be dumped in the toliet that day. Whatever it is he is quickly forgiving because he gives you that impish look and chocolate smile!

Course it does help to have a sister there to serenade you through it all!

Update on the lastest!

Time seems to slip away from me before I can even take a deep breath. There haven't been too many earth shattering events here so here is a quick update on what has transpired!

-We had our Relief Society Birthday Party, of which I was incharge of. There were many hours put into that evening, and I now have a new respect for those people whose job it is to edit movies. I decided to make a short little video to show the sisters. After much help from our ever computer genius brother-in-law Rune, and several "chats" across facebook with Jan (from England) I started on the journey of making a video. This journey is not for the feeble mind, after 12 hours the video was finished, and it was 6 minutes in total length!

These 2 cakes were done by some sisters in our ward. On the first one that long word is Releif Society in Norwegian.

-The children have been doing amazingly at school. It isn't any easier and there are those days when no one wants to go. However, they are all choosing to speak Norwegian to those around them, even if those people know English. The speak a great deal to their father now in norwegian, it is so fun to hear them communicate in another language. Amazing too. Mia is learning a little bit as well I think we're going to try to get her into a little preschool 2 mornings a week to see if that can help her with the language. I know that a month of school she would be speaking a ton!

-William cut all his molars and that was quite the time. Unlike my other children who seemed to pass through this phase with ease William did not! They are however, all up and he is eating like a true Tollestrup boy, mash potatoes and gravy are the favorite of any dinner!

It Snowed!

We awoke to a blanket of white fluffy snow this morning. Mia was so excited she couldn't wait to get on her snow gear and head out to make all the snow angels she could.

William was loving being outside our little apartment and talked and gabbered the entire time.

He couldn't quite figure out how to walk with snow boots, so he just crawled around in the snow licking his gloves!

Big sister ever so protective, Will is trying to eat as much snow as possible of his mittens!

Birthday Girl!

Mia turned 5 yesterday! She woke up in the morning and said "Mom! I'm awake!" Then came out of her little room with a huge smile happy to be up and at it for her birthday!

She wanted to have the missionaries over for dinner for her birthday. There are 2 Elders in p-day clothes because right after they finished eating they were going to help someone move and didn't want to damage their suits. We had Mia's favorite dinner, penne pasta with alfredo sauce, rosemary bread and a salad. We're loving the fact that we now have a big table, just not big enough for us all when the Elders are over!

Mia's package from Grandma and Grandpa! She was so excited to get it, she was showing anyone who came over. She LOVED that it was addressed to her!

Andy's Room----just what she wanted!

Grandma packed it well, not a surprise. NO ONE can pack like my mom.

Will was just as excited as she was, and everytime Mia arranged the toys he came to grabbed them up!

She loved her Toy Story toys and has take Buzz and Woody to bed with her a few times, just like Andy did! Later before she went to bed Mia came and snuggled up with me on the couch and said "Mom, my birthday was just GREAT!". This morning when she woke up she was almost in tears because she said "Mom, my birthday was great, and now it is over!" When told that she was going to have a little party on Sunday with her cousins she said "Will I be 6 then?"!

Such a cute photo I had to post it. He is growing up too fast, he loved all the action of the birthday party, except when we all clapped after Mia blew out her candles, he doesn't like loud sounds.

Saving the Best for Last!

So it has been like forever since I've updated our blog. Life has been going about a mile a minute here. We've been able to start the upstairs, major renovations needing to be done. The house we live in is broken up into 2 apartments, however, we are going to be able to get the entire house. IT will be WONDERFUL as it will add 3 bedrooms, a bathroom, a study area (formerly the upstairs kitchen) and an attic for storage. In case you missed it we have been living in a 1 and half rooms with a small kitchen and living room right now. I feel somedays like my head is going to explode for lack of room, organization, order, room, room, and did I say room. The clouds are thinning and we're heading in the right direction. In order to get the upstairs though, we needed to build an entry way onto the side of the house. That is taking place right now, Kenneth's dad has been hard at work for the last couple of days and it is coming along quite well.
We've also had our first encounter of "battling the system" you could say. You read about families around the world trying to stand up for what is right, moral and correct behavior. I always read these accounts with an attitude of "good for them", nice to hear, a real feel good story. It wasn't until recently having gone through it ourselves I realize behind every story are many prayers, discussion, fasting, prayer, and more prayer.
If this seems a little vague here is the situation we found ourselves in. After PE classes in school here the children are to shower. Community showers from grade 3 on, I don't think so. So we had to put our foot down and have a few pow wows with adminstration but we were able to keep our stand that our children will not be showering at school, they shower at home. The children were happy with this, but it wasn't over quite yet. Sabrina had a bit of a tough time, not wanting to be different, not wanting to stand out. She worried over this and it all came to a head last night when she was getting ready for bed. She cried and cried about school in general, especially PE class, thinking the girls in her class might think she was weird for not showering, the boys who tease etc etc. Not knowing what else I could say to make it easier for her, we had exhausted the topic of standing up for what is right. We did the only thing I knew was left to do. We knelt down in prayer and asked for guidance, assurance, and the spirit to make Thursday a good day at school for Sabrina, that she would be able to explain herself without meeting any opposition. So like any mother I waiting in suspense until she walked through the door at 2:30pm. She had had a great day, no problem whatsoever. She later sat down by me on the couch and said "I don't know why I made such a big deal about today last night." and I said "Why do you think you had such a good day at school today?" It was one of those times when you couldn't have scripted it any better for teaching your child about how Heavenly Father really does hear and answer our prayers. Even though it has been really rough for her, I am thankful that we had this experience. She was able to see and feel first hand the love of a father in heaven, and I hope and prayer she'll never forget it.
Sometimes I forget how tough this has been on the children. They not only had to switch schools, they had to switch languages, cultures, a complete turn around in their lives. When you think of the pharse "Saving the best for last!" think of this generation that we are now raising. The heavens really did Save the Best for Last! They are and will be an amazing generation to watch grow and learn. What a honor to be the parents of these maginificent children!