Children of the New Forest

When I was little my Mom and Dad would read us bedtime stories every night, I have no clue why we do not do this with our kids. After all it was one of my favorite parts of the day.

We would snuggle up and look at the pictures while my parents read us a story. Most of our books came from the library where the librarians knew exactly who we were. I'm quite sure that in my Moms case she was continuing what was done for her as a child because when I think of my childhood and my moms parents Books play a key part in it.

Unlike our bedtime routine with my parents, my Mormor would often read chapter books to us. I remember her reading to my older cousins and finding it boring and for some reason I have a distinct memory of sitting down and really listening for the first time and becoming surprised that not only did I follow the story with out seeing any pictures but I was very interested in everything I heard. Since then I was hooked.

Once our family went to a summer vacation home by the beach. I do not remember much about it and I may have my facts completely wrong but this is what i remember. I know that this was a place that we rented. Normally we would go to a home that was owned by my grandmothers aunt and let everyone use, but for some reason this one time only we actually rented a place. It was modern compared to the house in Vejers. I did not like it nearly as much. in many ways it was just another house. Where was the romance in that? I remember that there was a tray on the coffee table with smooth rocks from the beach and that we drew on them. My Mom made a point of finding some to replace them and I think she was a little concerned that they were not as smooth and rounded by the waves as the ones not covered in markers.

I should mention that this was not us misbehaving. We often would decorate rocks.

while in this vacation home I was bored. There was however my Mormor and a small book shelf. She picked up a very used old looking forest green hardback with yellow uneven pages, minus a few missing part way through, and started reading. It was my kind of story. A group of siblings on their own trying to live in the wild, encountering allies, enemies, hardships, romance and in the end it all works out, but not until after they have been through loss and tragedy, in an era long since passed. When it was time to leave the summer house behind the still unfinished book came along. Do not ask me if this was right or wrong, I have no clue what happened behind the scenes in the world of adults, I just know that I felt guilty for wanting it, and have ever since wondered if any one ever missed it, did we leave a replacement behind? Did we ask first? Did we pay for it?

This book became a regular for me and Mormor, she had a shelf of books that she rotated through and this one was requested again and again and again. In spite of that I can't really remember any details or even major plot. Though I do not really care, I still love it.

The book is....

Children of the New Forest by Captain Frederick Marryat.

One Fine day I am going to have a copy of it again and I am going to revisit those fond old memories all over again. This time it will be in English though and I I'll finaly figure out what happens on those missing pages.

Then i will read it to my kids and maybe just maybe it will be one of the books they ask me to read again. So here's to the past and all the beauty it holds and here's to the future so full of possibilities yet to be determined and discovered and most of all lived.

Yesterday.

Yesterday was a pretty intense day for me.

The University of Texas is a huge school. It has over 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students That is a lot of people.

Yesterday a guy in a ski mask ran around on school campus shooting a machine gun and finally ran into the library. He was found on the 6th floor of the library where he had shot him self. if you want details here is a  News article.

Jed is a UT student and he was in class when the emergency sirens started, the school send out text messages and emails to all the students and staff and as soon as they realised what was going on his instructor made them all move to a different class room. The room they had been in was facing the library and had a big row of huge windows not a good place to be when there is a lunatic in the library with a semi automatic weapon.

Jed got online and saw that i was on facebook so we started chatting.

He told me what was going on and assured me he was fine.

 here is a snippet.

9:30amJed  -but we are in an inside classroom with tables against the doors

we are on lock down

9:30amMe -scary!

aaaaaaaaaaaaah

time to pray

9:31amJed -I'm gonna study

9:31amMe -OK

i love you do not die!

hide behind the door and take em' out with your pocket knife

9:32amJed -I'll get right on that

9:33amMe -stab em in the shoulder blade so they cant use their arms

and kick them in the nuts for good measure

9:34amJed -the girl next to me says to poke them in the eyes too

9:34amMe -good call

.................................

9:50amJed -the police just moved us into another room

they barged in with automatic assault rifles and made us all put our hands up

several people took pictures of the police with their cell phones

9:53amMe -ha ha

9:54amMe -OK so that is pretty scary!

see if someone will email you their pictures

hello blog!

ahh I'm freaking out and I'm not there! how are you?

9:55amJed -just fine

9:55amMe -OK that is good

9:55amJed -the police pounding on the door kinda freaked me out

we were hoping that they really were police when we unblocked the door

9:56amMe -did you hide behind the door like i told you to?

9:56amJed -no

they were blocked with tables

and I was talking to my teacher about lesson plans

9:57amMe -yea, that's worth dying for

lesson plans

9:57amJed -did you see the police presence?

some how I don't think that my hiding behind the door to take them out would help much

all I would have done was get myself shot by friendly fire

and you should have seen them come through the door

9:59amMe -scary i bet

9:59amJed -they were ready to shoot us if we gave them a reason

the shooter had an automatic rifle

and they are looking for another one

As you can see there at 9.54 I have my priorities straight!

So here are a few pictures of the police escorting Jed's class to another room. They took every one in the whole building and crammed them into 4 class rooms. I'm assuming so they could search the rest and have a smaller area to protect should there be a need.

Can you see Jed? there he is in the back of the group with the gray and orange shirt!

Intense!

Imagine a group of police officers dressed like that bursting into your class room screaming at you to put your hands up! I might have peed my pants.

It's Grandma time!

It was time for James to go back home so Becky came to share his last week here.

We celebrated Ivy's birthday a few days early so that they would not miss it.

Ivy was of course happy as can be!

And poor Jed was sleepy as can be. We finally covered him in Ivy's presents.

Astrid having her hair fixed by someone who has skills far beyond my own.

I think Becky had fun doing the girls hair.

What do you think about the red eye fix in this picture?

I don't know but i think it makes her look slightly...scary?

She was sucking in all the attention like a rainwater in the desert sand. You would think no one ever noticed her or something.

Most of our bicycle helmets were dead so ivy got a fancy Dora one. Even came with knee pads!

Time for thank you hugs!

Ivy gleefully opening her presents.

Look at all the water bottles in the background.

Our water here in Pflugerville has lime and calcium in it and actually leaves a white coating on stuff.

When the twins were small and we had to boil their bottles every time we wanted to use them, we had a pot on the stove constantly. When we cleaned a bottle we just put it in the pot and when it got a few in it we would boil it. Since all we put in it was water and clean bottles we did not bother to was the pot. After a few days the layer of residue from the water that stuck to the sides every time we boiled the water was building up enough that you could scrape a bunch of and it looked like toothpaste. So we do not drink the water here. We used to filter our own water but the filters only lasted about a third of the time they were supposed to and it just got really expensive. So now we buy the water and as long as the bottles are good we take them to the store and refill them with the culligan water filtration system there. It costs about 27 cents a gallon. I've gotten used to the oddness of getting your drinking water from the store. Every now and then I still marvel at the fact that we actually go through all this trouble to get water from the store when we have it running right out of the tab.

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuug.

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuug.

Getting presents make people hug a lot!

Everyone wins!

My other "twins"

I love this picture!

I had it open in a window last week for about 3 days! There is just something very natural and real about it.

Jed and I both grew up with a little brother very close to our own age and we quickly agreed that having a companion sibling like that was something that we definitely wanted for our children as well.

People used to ask us if we had 2 sets of twins and in some ways i almost felt like we did.

I think that the fact that the next round of siblings were a definite pair only helped them see them selves as such. They are the big kids the twins are the little kids. They are in school together The twins are at home together. It's been like that for almost 2 years now. 

This is what Ivy has to say about her brother.

 My brother is silly and he makes me laugh. he's really really funny. He likes to make me flip over on the bed. He makes funny faces. He makes funny noises. He likes to play the Wii. He likes to go to his friends house. He likes to play with me. He likes star wars. He likes to play with Pokemon. I love my brother because he makes me laugh. He says allot of of funny things. My favorite thing to do with my brother is to play games.

This is what Ian has to say about his sister.

My sister Ivy is really funny. Ivy is funny because she makes really funny jokes sometimes they don't make sense at all. Sometimes she gets under her blanket and plays silly games with her dolls. she likes to make funny faces. I like to play games with her. We like to copy what everybody says. Sometimes she tries to make her voice sound like a boy. But she can't really do it. i love her because sometimes she acts like the silliest person. Hug!- That means i like to hug Ivy. 

 Aren't they adorable!

AAAAAAAAAh I just love them!

I hope that they stay close when they grow up. They are in many ways so very different that I do not know what will happen. Especially once they get to high school. For now though they get along well, rarely fight, and often as not can be found falling over each other giggling over the lamest jokes that they make up, and of course you can't but laugh with them.



Warning! The cuteness is nearly fatal!

These are my kids!

wow! I'm one lucky mama!

So I think i have to share it with you because i feel generous.

These are of course from when the twins were just born like the ones I posted last week

Stay tuned for more Awesomeness!

Traditional Change

James spend almost 2 months with us this summer.

It was really nice having him, and by the end it just felt so normal to have him around that it seemed wierd to have  him leave.

When James was very small he went and spend a week with Jed while their mom was gone for a school thing. Jed was living with a bunch of roommates at the time and happily returned his bouncy little brother with a mowhawk.

Well, it would have been "wrong" to not try and live up to expectations.

So this time Jed and James bleached his locks.

This was some serious business.

Jed got so pumped that he made a cake in the middle of it all.

James waiting while his head got more and more itchy.

Final touch ups

Alien fingers "J.T. text home!"

James feeling pretty pumped to because in the middle of his "after pictures" he starts working out.

You really notice his brown eyes more with the contrast of the yellow.

Goofing...........yes yes we can't ever seem to look normal on pictures. But then again maybe this is normal after all this is about what we look like on all pictures.

see? This is what I'm talking about!

And a close up of his nose.

Jed putting the final touches on the brownies. i do not make brownies. I have come a long way since we got married and i can actually make some pretty good food most of the time, but I do not make brownies. When I do something always goes wrong.

Look at those happy boys!

After

Before

The sad truth about my lard.

look at this super good looking man.

Being such a stud you would think he was married to someone really hot!

But surprise!

He's all mine hahahaha.

cute Astrid bugger.

I love the reflection in her glasses.

See you can grow out your hair and donate it. So why not my lard?

Turns out that no one has been interested in my donation.

So now I have started working very hard on getting rid of my lard the old fashion way.

This morning I felt like soggy noodles. I did my workout but i had the hardest time mostly because my right knee and ankle was hurting every time I started doing much of anything, but mostly because I felt like previous mentioned pasta.

Some days I swim, some days I run 1.3 miles, but most days I use your shape on the Wii

I really like it. Even though it is a far cry from a personal trainer it does tract my movement and analyses which kind of workout will be the most beneficial for me depending on how I preform that day and over all. It offers me a variety of different workouts and is constantly changing the program to make sure I stay challenged. It does not always work out exactly the way it should but I always get a good workout.

I would love to get some more programs for the Wii like Wii Fit

There are so many different ones though.

Just look!

There are so many options! Some of these require the balance board that goes with the Wii fit so make sure you have everything you need to get the game to work before you buy a game.

I would love just about anything for myself, but most of all the Wii fit above. There are several programs designed for kids that I would love love love to get for Christmas or birthdays.

I'm not the only person around here who could use some extra physical activity.



I would also love to get my bike running again and have the trailer hookup working so i can go for a ride with the twins while Ian and ivy are in school. That would be really nice. Especially now that it is finally getting cooler.


(OK I can not figure out why my links are acting all funky because they are straight enough in the editing page, but I finally got them to stack right so I just do not feel like messing with them any more)

And we're of to Sweden!

My moms oldest brother and his wife and my adorable cousins.

In their lovely mountain home with a view over the ocean.

This from the street just a little ways down hill from the house.

Cute Little sweetish looking farm house.

The house we lived in when I was little was painted the same red because my mom loves the little red sweetish wooden houses so much.

Susanne the beautiful.

All bundled up for the wonderful cold.

Little Cecilie having fun on the trampoline.

You just gotta love all the wood!

Little Cuteness!

More cuteness!

Now that is what I call baby proofing your coffee table.

And I miss this kind of bag of candy!
Bless you Scandinavia!

Sigrid. Queen of the house!

Hans Henrik cooking up a storm.

OK so I think he is actually doing the dishes but it just does not sound as rad.

Funny face!

banana time for the monkey.

Henrik took me to see his forest lands that come with a house and a lumberyard plus stables and other goodies.

This is a view from the front steps of the house. There is a nice sized are cleared for parking and working in between all the small buildings then there is another area cleared for backyard purposes the rest is just pine forest and wildlife.

the inside of the house is mostly empty because they do not use it much in the winter.

This is an old house. Everything is heated with a huge wood stove in the basement. This is the oven. Back in the day it was used to bake bread. I'm sure it still works fine but not the kitchen upstairs has modern appliances.

I love the skies casually stuck in the basement

Here is Henrik next to the oven again. The Big white block with pipes all over it is the mighty contraption.

The little oval door is the oven closed. The wood stove heats the water in the house as well. That is why we came. The water in the pipes inside the house has frozen and burst a pipe upstairs. So there was some cleaning to do. It heated up in the house nicely quite fast.

In the basement there was a big room full of wood for the stove as well.

The old hayloft in the barn is empty but the mighty orange lumber maker is enjoying the place of honor.

My uncle the lumberjack / social worker HA ha.

Henrik accidentally taking a picture of his many layers of clothes.

1. Camouflage jacket

2.Plaid fleece jacket.

3. green jacket.

4. mystery tan. barely sticking up on his neck.

Me in the stables. These once held horses.

Me and some hay!

Once the wood stove started going the snow started melting of the roof.

A quick walk from the house to the tree fort/hunting cabin. This little bridge went over a shallow creek

So much wild life here. The ground was covered in tracks. Here is a small sample! Deer, rabbit and Ida! There were also bird and fox tracks and who knows what else.

I promised my children that i would build a snowman and take a picture. Well it was not exactly snowman building snow but I did it!

The Mighty Snowman with his powerful straw arms declares his intentions to dominate the world!!!! MuHhahahaaaaaaaaaaaa......

I think we ran him over when we drove out of there but I'm not positive so watch out world.

And last but not least. I was quite impressed with their grocery store. Even though it in no way compares with HEB it had an amazing selection on the fresh produce and I tried mu first dragon fruit. Quite good. Slightly kiwi-ish.