New Book

The kids I've tended this past week got me started reading another series... *sigh* like I needed something else to read.... lol...

Nah, it's actually been pretty cool, and I'm really enjoying these books. It's the Fablehaven Series, by Brandon Mull. And though it's mainly focused towards children/youth, I've come to appreciate the fantastic mystical world of Fablehaven, and in many ways it reminds me of the fairytales I used to hear as a child!

I would recommend this series to everyone!

still here

It's been quiet on the blogger front from me lately, that is because I was a single "mom" for five kids for a week. A friend and her husband went out on town, and needed someone to look after the kiddles... :) It was awesome, tiring, cold, stressful, humorous, loving, all wrapped up in a ball... and I got a new appreciation for the familyUNIT. 


The kids ranged in ages from 2 to almost 10, four girls and a boy, the youngest a set of twins... CUTE as all get-up, but man, did they have energy!!!!!!!!! 
AND I get to do it all over again for about 4 days in two weeks... It's totally okay though, the kids really are lovely and the house is big and in a very nice area, so I get tons and tons of "fringe" benefits!!!! (can anyone say cable??? :D)


So, just to let anyone out there following know... I'm still here, and I'm still blogging!!!

Knutsen og Ludvigsen

I just found out about the death of a childhood "friend", an entertainer and artist by the name of Gustav Lorentzen. He was one half of the duo Knutsen and Ludvigsen, with hits such as "Juba Juba", "Kanskje kommer Kongen", "Matpakkevise" and many others. This duo entertained, taught and inspired entire generations with their songs and shows. Many of which are still popular today.

Gustav Lorentzen released a total of 17 discs. Both as one half of Knutsen and Ludvigsen, and as a solo performer. He was an avid fighter and advocate for children, working with psychologists to help children of refugees traumatized by war and terror.

According to newsagents, the beloved comedian and entertainer died of cardiac arrest during an orienteering event outside Bergen Wednesday night.

From BergensAvisen: "Lorentzen was a vocalist, guitarist, composer, writer and presenter. He was best known as a musician, but was also an ambassador for UNICEF, the author of twelve books and a persistent proponent of culture to children."

- Gustav Lorentzen was one of the finest songwriters in popsjangeren. He did so much to raise the status of music for children, "said coordinator Audun Molde at the Nordic Institute for Stage and Studio, and author of Wow! Popular Music History, to Aftenposten.no.

music is alive and well.

Jeg velger meg April

I LOVE APRIL!!!!! 

so here's my ode to this lovely month... all of it "stolen" material... well except for the pictures... lolz

Drip, drip, drop
Little April shower
Beating a tune
As you fall all around

Drip, drip, drop
Little April shower
What can compare
To your beautiful sound

Drip, drip, drop
When the sky is cloudy
Your pretty music
Can brighten the day

Drip, drip, drop
When the sun says howdy
You say goodbye right away

Drip, drip drop
Little April shower
Beating a tune
Ev'rywhere that you fall

Drip, drip drop
Little April shower
I'm getting wet
And I don't care at all

Drip, drop, drip, drop
I'll never be afraid
Of a good little
Gay little
April serenade

Jeg velger meg april
I den det gamle faller,
i den det ny får feste;
det volder litt rabalder,-
dog fred er ei det beste,
men at man noe vil.

Jeg velger meg april,
fordi den stormer, feier,
fordi den smiler, smelter,
fordi den evner eier,
fordi den krefter velter,- i den blir somren til!
Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson


April er den første måneden i sommerhalvåret! 14. april er selveste sommerdagen. Fra denne dagen starter sommerhalvåret. April er ikke en sommermåned, men markerer starten på sommerhalvåret. Derimot er april synonymt med vår og vårmåneden fremfor noen. Den er lys og full av liv over alt. På Svalbard er det midnattssol fra 20. april. Ikke rent få mennesker synes våren er den beste av alle årstider.

April was the second month in an early Roman calendar, but became the fourth when the ancient Romans started using January as the first month. The Romans called the month Aprilis. It may come from a word meanting 'to open', or it may come from Aphrodite, the Greek name for the goddess of love.

Small animals that hibernate are usually coming out of their burrows in April. The birds fly back northward or they settle down to have their families. The bees and butterflies begin to gather nectar from the first flowers of the season.

In some parts of the world, it's planting time. In other parts, it's the harvest season. Professional baseball begins in April. Then the amateur athletes begin to go outside in the warm weather. Spring cleaning starts and people start mowing their yards again.

Special days celebrated in April begin with the first day of April, when children and grown-ups play jokes on one another. 

Arbor Day is a day for planting trees, and it is observed on various April days. The Jewish festival of Pescah (Passover) is celebrated early in April. Easter is almost always in April, and, with it comes other Christian celebrations such as Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday,and Good Friday. 

April Fools' Day, or All Fools' Day, is the first day of April. No one knows where the custom began, but some historians believe it started in France. They had a New Year's festival that was celebrated from March 25 to April 1, and they would then exchange gifts. But, later, King James IV changed the holiday to January 1 for New Years. The people that still celebrated it April 1 were called 'April fish' and sent mock presents.

April Fools' Day may also be related to the ancient Roman spring festival Hilaria, which celebrates the resurrection of the god Attis. AND my favorite literary characters, well, almost, the Weasley Twins have their birthday on this day (at least according to JK Rowling!)



The Anglo-Saxons called April Oster-monath or Eostur-monath. The Venerable Bede says that this month is the root of the word Easter. He further speculates that the month was named after a goddess Eostre whose feast was in that month. St George's day is the twenty-third of the month; and St Mark's Eve, with its superstition that the ghosts of those who are doomed to die within the year will be seen to pass into the church, falls on the twenty-fourth. In China the symbolic ploughing of the earth by the emperor and princes of the blood takes place in their third month, which frequently corresponds to our April. The Finns called (and still call) this month Huhtikuu, or 'Burnwood Month', when the wood for beat and burn clearing of farmland was felled.
The "days of April" (journées d'avril) is a name appropriated in French history to a series of insurrections at Lyons, Paris and elsewhere, against the government of Louis Philippe in 1834, which led to violent repressive measures, and to a famous trial known as the procès d'avril.

The birthstone of April is the diamond, and the birth flower is typically listed as either the Daisy or the Sweet Pea.

April starts on the same day of the week as July in all years, and January in leap years.


And finally there's about a million holidays and events in April: 22nd - EARTH DAY!!!!!8th   - Buddha's birthday23rd - Saint George's Day23rd - World Book Day,one of the UN days30th - KoninginneDag in the Netherlands15th - Tax day (in the US)16de - Magnusmesse – Dagen for Norges eneste offisielle helgen
Magnus Erlendsson (ca. 1076-1115) ble født på Orknøyene nord for Skottland og var av norsk ætt. Han er den eneste av de gamle norske helgenen som har blitt kanonisert av paven.30th - Valborgsaften – heksenatt og vårfest i Sverige
Valborgsaften er dagen før Valborgsmesse og en kveld for feiring av våren med bål og mye bråk for Valborgsaften er også den kvelden heksene flyr til heksesabbat på Blocksberg i Tyskland.

service project

Mary and I have taken a class at the Institute at the U of U this winter, it's been great, and even funner has been to meet new people. We have become friends with the people in the Service Corner, and participating in the projects has been so much fun. Even Heidi got involved in making "Jingle-boxes". These boxes are sent to orphans around the world, who can become blind, living in institutions with stark white walls, white beds, etc.

We took the jingle boxes we've made to the LDS Humanitarian Center, who then sends them on with blankets, toys, clothes etc.

So, I am proud to present our babies, THE JINGLE-BOXES:

(The materials we've used for making these boxes are plastic canvas and yarn, plus a bell for the inside, super easy!!!!)

sooooo ready

Tussilago Farfara

I am waiting for spring. I decided this weekend I was ready to be done with Winter and welcome Spring with open arms. Now I'm wondering if Spring got the message... with snow in the forecast, I'm not sure she did! 


So, to help inspire and mollify me, I thought I'd give us all a little visual reminder. And what better than pictures of spring "signs" from Norway? And I have to admit I "borrowed" one of the pictures with a cute poem. No offence meant!!

Crokus

Påskelilje

Pusekatter :)

Public Enemy #1

We have finally moved towards spring, and with the sun and light comes the surprises in the yard. This year it's a nasty little buggar called onion grass. And from what we can tell, the only way to get rid of it, is to dig them up and pull out the bulbs. Otherwise they will flower and spread until it overtakes the whole lawn. The only problem is that this is the FRONT yard we're talking about, and the "storefront" of Heidi's businesses.... So the digging it up has become my main job, and let me tell you, I am declaring WAR!!!! Onions are nice and may look pretty but they have no business invading our yard! Now, the biggest challenge will be to make sure the lawn survives, so I'm alternating patches of digging and make sure to water the patches that have been dug. But some of the places are already turning yellow... We are hopeful though, that we've started early enough that with the rain and sun alternating every few days, we'll be successful..

Easter

The Saturday before easter I was invited to spend the afternoon with some friends I hadn't seen in a while. It was great, and it reminded me of how great Blogging and all these new social networks are, though I had not seen some of these my friends in 10 years, it felt to me like it had been only a few months. Even though I had not met my friends' kids I could pick them out and tell who they were because I have seen their pictures and read about them and their stories. I don't think the internet and it's social network will EVER take the place of human contact, I think it is a great way of staying connected and building the bonds to last for ever. And for me at least... Love is so strong that it can connect even through the "net". Feelings are just as strong to me reading someone's comment or blog as if we were speaking face to face. And I felt that love on Saturday as well.


Thank you Joyce and Wynn for raising such wonderful children! And thank you Matt and Jared for going on missions and touching peoples lives. I love you all so much and am so happy to be part of your lives even if it is through facebook or blogging or myspace or just plain emailing! ;)

BE AWARE!!!!

I am in a foul mood, and have been all day. Well technically just since Saturday night.... Just really testy, and the smallest things have sent me into rages. I am quite surprised at myself, but there are too many emotions to worry about to figure it out. At times like this, I am thankful for a set of head phones and my computer with internet access.... nothing is quite like music when it comes to therapy... well, walking/hiking is close I suppose, for me at least.


So last night I was in a rage and played a lot of Metallica, Twisted Sisters (yes I am THAT old school) and some Linkin Park. Today was just more hip-hop'y, to get my temper in check, then this evening it calmed down a bit to the pop.... 
I'll tell you one thing though, it's hard to find songs to listen to when angry!! However I managed.


Now the root of it all, I think, is 90% hormones and 10% environment/circumstances. 


Saturday as a whole was GREAT, with time spent with some of my best and dearest friends, some I hadn't seen for many many years. And GREAT FOOD (thanks Hemmerts')!!!!!!!!!!!


The real "event" is, I am embarrassed to admit, over a TV show. And misplaced expectations... sigh.... So anyways, I am keeping myself away from most social situations and the family this week.... hopefully it'll blow over and I will get a grip on myself.... (wishful thinking)

*SIGH*