Day Two

While Gaute and Espen slept, Johan and Anders and I went out in the morning to pick up some breakfast stuff. The apartment we rented was just one block away from the rue Mouffetard, a well-known market street on the Left Bank. Lots of good bakeries and cheese shops and stuff like that. Our first stop was a bakery to pick up a couple of baguettes. Anders and Johan insisted that I take pictures of each of them with the "long breads".






Later, after the sleepy-heads woke up, we walked up to Notre Dame.



After walking around a bit inside, we went out to wait in the long line to climb up into the towers. Luckily, there was free entertainment in a street artist wearing a wig who would go "scaring" people to the great enjoyment of all of us tourists waiting in line. Anders and Johan thought it was fantastic.




It was a long wait and then A LOT of stairs up to the top, but the view from the top of Notre Dame was incredible. Totally worth it!





After Notre Dame, we met up with the group for our biking tour of Paris. Another great choice. They ended up dividing us into two different groups, so our family got a private tour of Paris. Riding bikes, we got to check lots of areas that we would have never seen on a bus. The weather was gorgeous, and it was fun riding around. The tour was 3 1/2 hours long - fine for the older boys, but I think it was a good thing that Gaute and Johan shared a tandem bike. The shot below is of the boys with our American guide, Christian.



Since we had kids with us, our guide took us by a shop which was immortalized in the movie Ratatouille. It was a shop selling rat poison, and they had lots of dead rats hanging in the windows. The kids thought that was pretty cool, especially since they'd seen the cartoon version of it in the movie.

Back online

Yes - finally - the computer with all of the pictures is back online. I've missed my good computer.

So - here come the first of the pictures from our trip to Paris. The one below was taken the night we got there when we went on a boat trip on the Seine. I was a bit late getting my camera out, so I didn't get the shot straight on, but you can still see the Eiffel Tower lit up blue with the EU stars on it, celebrating France's current presidency of the EU.

Fantastic birthday

As I mentioned yesterday, Gaute had told me that he had made reservations at a nice restaurant. When he got home from work, he told that the restaurant was Statholdergaarden, one of the very best restaurants in Oslo. Gaute actually knows the owner/chef as they used to do orienteering together, but neither of us had been there before. It's not exactly the kind of place you just pop into on a whim. It was expensive, but the food was incredible. We really went for it and got the 6 course menu of the day with accompanying wines. It was a 4 hour meal, with new courses and wines showing up all of the time, one better than the other. It was so good and so much fun!

Gaute also showed up with a pair of diamond earrings for me yesterday. When we got married, he gave me some diamond earrings and I lost one of them when Espen was a baby. Gaute has always talked about replacing them, and now he did.

These were pretty big birthday gifts this year, but last week was our 15th anniversary, which we hadn't celebrated yet. Nor had my dear husband ever done anything to celebrate the fact that I got my 2nd bachelor's degree and a job. So now we rolled everything up into one big blowout!


But - that's not all... We also found out yesterday that the offer we made on a studio apartment was accepted! Gaute has been talking for years about investing in real estate, and now the time just seemed to be right. So, we put in an offer on a little 300 square foot apartment up the street from us, which we can rent out. We'll be taking out a loan to finance the purchase, but the rental income will pretty much cover the mortgage payment, and slowly but surely we will be building equity in it.

Birthday!

It's my birthday today! And so far it's been a great day. The last couple of years, I've been getting somewhat depressed on my birthdays, and I was worried that the same thing would happen this year, but so far so good.

I woke up and opened my presents (lots of great stuff - thanks!), played around on the internet for a while. Then our cleaning lady came to clean our house (something that always makes me happy). I did a few errands, looked in some shops, and then I went and had a facial (a gift from Gaute). It was sooo nice. One and a half hours, including a neck and shoulder massage. Just what I needed.

Gaute has told me that he has made dinner reservations for tonight. He won't tell me where, but he said I should get dressed up. Pretty exciting... Time to head upstairs and figure out what to where!

Kids off to Ørsta

Tonight the kids are heading off to Gaute's parents' cabin in Ørsta, on the west coast. They're taking an overnight bus with Gaute's mom. I'm not quite sure how that will go, but she keeps telling us that the bus trip is great (she's done it many times), and we don't really want to drive them up there - and plane tickets are really expensive right now. The kids are pretty excited. The cabin is right on a lake, and they have a little row boat up there and go out fishing every evening. And one of Gaute's cousins has a bigger fishing boat which they take out on the ocean, too. They'll probably be up there about a week - no definite plans at this point.

I start working on Monday! I'm excited - but a little bit nervous. School doesn't actually start until the 18th, so that first week I'm working will just be planning. Actually Monday and Tuesday, all of the teachers at the school will be off on an overnight course to discuss some timely educational issue. I think it should be kind of fun - a good way to get to know my new colleagues.

Liverpool won!

They won last night, 4-1. And Torres scored!!!

Liverpool game tonight - in Oslo!

As some of you may have heard....Liverpool is going to play a training match here in Oslo tonight. And they're playing against Vålerenga who are Lyn's biggest rivals. So it's pretty exciting!! Espen and his two best Liverpool supporter friends are going to head down to the stadium at 3:00 (the game starts at 7), because they want to make sure they're there when the Liverpool players show up. This is a really big thing for Espen and his friends!!

And the rest of us are looking forward to it, too. Although, we're not planning on getting there until 6:00...

Home again, home again...

We're back from a fantastic trip to Paris. We had such a good time, and I want to write all about it. But, while we were gone, there was a huge lightning storm right above our house, and now it fried the router to my "main" computer, which means that I can't get online from that computer. And I have all of my pics from Paris on that computer, so I'm going to wait until the internet is back up and running and then right about the trip with accompanying photos :-)

We got back on Wednesday, and the weather has been gorgeous here since then. Warm and sunny and sooo nice. But we woke up to rain this morning, with rain forecast for the next few days... It kind of sucks, but it's kind of nice to have an excuse to stay inside all day, too...

Tomorrow - Paris!

I just finished getting everything packed and organized before we leave for Paris tomorrow. I'm excited about the trip - even though I've been there a couple of times before, it will be so fun to see it through the kids' eyes. Gaute has never spent any time in Paris, either, so it will be exciting for him.

I spent a lot of time yesterday putting together a tentative plan for what we will be doing during the week we will be there, as well as making any reservations that needed to be made. I want to have time to relax and wander around, but it's good to have an idea of what we really want to prioritize, too.

Our plane lands at Orly airport tomorrow at 7 tommorow evening. If we have time, we might take an evening cruise along the Seine after we find our apartment. I know that we will want to get right out and do something, and they have cruises every half hour - the last at 10:30 - and the place to get on is close to where we will be staying (52 rue Lhomond for those of you who want to look it up on Google Earth).

On Thursday, the plan is to take it easy in the morning and just wander around. At 3 pm, I've reserved a 3 1/2 hour guided bike tour for all of us. The place has gotten great reviews, and I reserved a tandem bike for Gaute and Johan so that we don't have to worry about him keeping up. I think it will be such a fun way to see Paris - much better than sitting on a bus.

I think we'll head over to the Eiffel Tower later that evening. It's supposed to be less crowded in the evening, and beautiful when they turn on the lights.

Friday is Notre Dame and the Catacombes - both of which the kids are really excited to see.

Saturday I think we'll head out to Versailles and walk around there.

Sunday is the final day of the Tour de France when all of the riders take several laps on the Champs-Elysees, so we'll be standing there with the thousands of other people cheering someone on. Gaute is in to the Tour de France and watches it every day, but I've never really paid any attention. I'm sure we'll all catch the fever on Sunday, though!

On Monday, it's off to Disneyland Paris, about a 30 minute train ride from Paris. I already bought our tickets online, so that's one less line when we get to the park. I'm sure it will be packed, though...But, it will be fun...

No plans for Tuesday, our last day. Just going to see what strikes our fancy.

And then, we leave early Wednesday morning...

Smoky

A few days after we arrived in California, there was a big lightning storm which caused fires all over the state. From then on, smoke was our constant companion. Some days it was less noticeable than others (when Josh and his family were there, we bare noticed it at all). Other days, you could barely go outside, it was so bad.

This morning I put on a top that I bought in California and haven't worn yet (the off-white linen one, Mom). It smells like smoke!

Aaahhh...it brings back memories of my summer vacation...

Home again!

We're back in Norway. The flight home went well, but it's always so much more grueling to fly east than it is to fly west. A long day is easier than a short night. The kids slept quite a bit on the plane, though, and when they weren't sleeping, they were happily occupied with watching movies and cartoons on the inflight entertainment system. Virgin Atlantic is great when it comes to entertainment! The kid's meal was even good this time. Mac and cheese, string cheese, carrot sticks, raisins and Scooby snacks.

It was raining when we landed at Gardermoen yesterday, but it's fairly nice weather today. Partly cloudy and 66 degrees. Typical Norwegian summer weather...

I've spent the morning unpacking, but I still have a bit to go. The trick is finding space for all of the things I bought!

Happy 4th of July

For the last two weeks, I've been at my mom's house in California. It's been a strange two weeks. There have been hundreds of fires in northern California, and the smoke from them was intense last week. It looked like everything was covered in fog, but it was smoke. Hanging out in the pool has not been very appealing. But spending time in stores has been great.

This week has been much nicer, though. And just in time, because Josh and his family arrived last Sunday. We have had a really fun, busy time. Our kids have SOOO much fun together. I love being able to get them together.

Today is the fourth of July - lots of fun and games as usual. Right now there are 20 of us up here at Mom's and Jim's house. The musicians in the family (Josh, Dan, Jim and Denny) are jamming on their respective instruments and the rest of us are hanging out and enjoying being together. A big game of Catch Phrase is scheduled for later this afternoon.

Fun, fun, fun....

Cute pictures

I didn't take these pictures, the mom of one of Anders' friends did. They were taken at a football tournament Anders played in a few weekends ago. It was super hot that day, and all of the kids had been dunking their heads under water to keep cool. I love these pictures of them eating popsicles.

Street urchins

The kids' clothes are not looking great these days. I've been trying to put off buying them things, because I know that in California everything costs about half what it does here in Oslo. Thus, Anders is going around with big holes in his tennis shoes. Gaute decided to go all out with the white trash look yesterday when he DUCK-TAPED the holes on Saturday!



Espen has grown out of just about everything he owns, so he will basically be getting an entire new wardrobe this summer. I think I will scream if I see him in his black fleece sweatpants one more time! I tried to take a picture of him yesterday, but I all I got was, "Talk to the hand!"



Our warm, beautiful summer weather is gone. The huge amounts of sunshine we got the last few weeks, followed now by the rain has resulted in gorgeous flowers in the yard, though.

Goalie

Johan had a football game last night, and he started the game in his favorite postion, goalie. He was goalie in their very first game this season, and he did such a great job that he quickly became known as the best goalie in the 2nd grade :-). So now he makes sure that he's goalie at least one half of each game.

But, although I didn't get a picture of it, he managed to score his first goal of the season last night as well!!

The end of an era

Wednesday evening Espen's class had a type of graduation/party to celebrate the end of elementary school. It was in the teacher's lounge at the school. It was arranged by the parents and the two of the classes teachers were also there. It was a dinner - one long table with all of the kids in the class and smaller tables scattered around for the parents. We had a buffet, and there were speeches and sketches as well as singing and guitar- and piano playing. Finally, the kids each received a fantastic album one of the moms put together with pictures from 1st grade until now. It was a great evening - lasted about 3 hours. These kids have gone in the same class for 7 years, and I think it's a bit strange for them that they'll be split up next year in middle school. Exciting, but strange.

I thought being done with school would mean that I would have tons of free time to get the house organized, have lunch with friends and stuff like that. So far, it doesn't seem to be working quite like I had planned. I have put off so much, just waiting until I was done with finals, that I now have quite a backlash I need to take care of. Much more fun than studying for exams, though!!

Last night was Anders' summer program. We went out into the forest up behind the school, and the kids explained some of the cultural history of the area and performed some short sketches. We ended up at a lake where we all sat down and ate our picnic dinners. It was a fun evening - and luckily the weather cooperated. We've had really warm, nice weather in the 80's (it's humid here, so 85 feels really warm!), but it's starting to cool off now. Yesterday it kept looking like it was going to rain, but luckily none came. Forest fires are starting to pop up here in southeastern Norway, so a bit of rain wouldn't be a bad thing...

I'm done!!!!!

I'm officially a teacher! I had my last final today - and I got an A! I am so incredibly happy to be done... I can hardly believe it...

And now it's Friday evening - 84 degrees outside - and I'm headed out in about an hour to a friend's 40th birthday party. And I bought myself a new outfit after I finished my final, so I'm feeling goooood!!

I'm on the website!

I just looked at the website for Ekeberg School. They just updated it and changed the whole look. If you look under praktisk informasjon and then ansatte, you will see my name under teachers for the 2nd grade (scroll down a little bit). I feel like it's even more official now!

The bad thing is that the teachers in Oslo are still on strike, so I still haven't gotten in there to meet anyone or anything like that...Hopefully the strike will be over before we leave for California!

Blogs everywhere these days...

My stepmom, Mary, has a blog now, too! Interesting enough blog, Mary, but I'm just wondering when you're going to start writing about soccer!!! ;-)

Only 2 more days

My last final is on Friday, at 9:45 in the morning. When that's done, then I'm done. I will officially be a teacher!! I am so excited to be done with college. Looking forward to a spring with no finals.... Everyone keeps telling me that these last 4 years have gone by quickly, and they have in a lot of ways, but in other ways I feel like I've been studying for tests or writing papers forever.

For those of you who think I talk way too much about football, you can stop reading here :-D. Tonight Lyn is playing against the local team, Korsvoll, right up the street at our local soccer field. In addition to the football series in Norway, they also have a tournament. While in the series, teams play against other teams in their same league, in the tournament, teams from different leagues can play against each other. Thus, Lyn, which is in the elite league is going to be playing against Korsvoll, which is in the 2nd division league (the 1st division is between the two leagues). Whoever wins the game goes on to the next game in the tournament, and the winner is out of the running. Lyn will undoubtedly win tonight, but it will be a fun game, regardless.

They won!

Lyn won last night, 2-0. It was a great game!

An update - I got tickets to see Coldplay!! They're coming to Oslo in September. Tickets went on sale at 9 this morning, and after waiting for about an hour to get into the website, I finally got in and got tickets. Almost everything was sold out (!) but I managed to find some seats for me and Gaute and Espen. I can't wait - Coldplay is one of my very favorite bands!

Big game tonight

Tonight Lyn is playing against their arch-rival, Vålerenga. Vålerenga hasn't won a game against Lyn since 1981, despite the fact that they are nearly always doing better in the series. Lyn and Vålerenga are the two top teams in Oslo, so this is a pretty big game. We're going, of course :-).

Last night we had my friend Maria over with her two kids (her husband was out of town). Her two boys are 8 and 6 and get along really well with Anders and Johan. The weather was gorgeous and we barbecued and stayed outside until 10:00. Norway when the weather is nice is pretty hard to beat!

Almost done

I had my Social Studies oral exam yesterday. I think it went fairly well. It was pretty nervewracking, though. When we got there, we had to choose between two different essay questions. Then we had two hours to make an outline. Then, using our outline, we were to make a half hour presentation of our response to the essay question. I felt like I knew quite a bit about what I was supposed to talk about, but I got so nervous, so hopefully I managed to say something intelligent.

But, now it's the weekend, and it's really sunny and warm. And I only have one final left, and it's an oral exam in English, so I'm not too worried about it. And then I am done and officially a teacher!!

Speaking of being a teacher, I have no found out for sure which grades I will be teaching next year. I'm going to have 2nd grade, and English in the 4th and 7th grades. I'm pretty happy about that. I really wanted to have English with older kids, which is what I'm getting, and I think it will be kind of fun to have little kids, too. I'm not sure yet which subjects I will be teaching the 2nd graders. Ekeberg school had a big planning session scheduled for the afternoon and evening of the 3rd of June where the old and new teachers were to get together and agree on who would teach what subjects and things like that. The teacher's union in Norway is striking right now, though. Not all teachers are on strike, but they're slowly but surely taking more teachers out on strike, and yesterday they announced that starting on Tuesday, all of the teachers at Ekeberg school would be striking as well. So, needless to say, there will be no planning session. I'm kind of bummed, because I was really looking forward to getting to know everyone, but that's the way it is. And, I will be happy if they get their goal of a wage increase! We'll see how long the strike lasts. It's already been going on for a week, and more and more schools are on strike. Not the kid's school yet, though, although they're dreaming and hoping....

Weekend

When we were up at our cabin at Easter, I managed to leave my iPod up there. I use my iPod A LOT, so it was somewhat of a crisis. I took back the old one that I had given to Anders, but I've been really missing my good little Nano. And I really needed to get it back before we leave for California. Since every weekend until we leave on vacation is filled with various activities, Gaute decided to take a quick trip up to the cabin this weekend.

I've been doing my usual - sitting in front of the computer with a stack of books by my side - so I didn't feel like I could go. Espen definitely didn't want to go if I didn't "have to" go. And Anders decided he'd rather stay home, too. Which left Johan, who wanted to go, but not if Anders was staying home. So Gaute told him he could bring a friend, and he was so excited!!!! He invited his current best friend, Benjamin. Anders and Gaute were at an orienteering race yesterday until about 1, and Gaute, Johan and Benjamin left after that. They're headed back again today, so it's a short trip. But they found my iPod!! There's quite a bit of snow still up at our cabin - here's the picture Gaute took with the webcam up at there yesterday.



Since it was just the big boys and me left here at home, we decided to do something fun, too. We went out to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe here in Oslo. I've been to the Hard Rock in Paris, Washington, D.C. and New York, but never here. I thought they would think it was pretty cool, and they did. Lots of cool rock-n-roll artifacts and music videos playing throughout the meal. And they even had a kid's menu, so Anders could have his favorite, "mac and cheese from restaurant".

After dinner, we went to see the new Indiana Jones movie. They had just recently shown the three first movies on TV here, so they knew all about Indiana Jones. It was a pretty exciting movie - we liked it a lot. All together, it was a pretty fun evening. (As long as I try not to think about how much it cost...)

Nordberg Grand Prix

Last Sunday was Nordberg Grand Prix, the soapbox derby. It has gotten to be a huge event, and the prime minister was there to hold a speech and everything.

Espen decided he was too old this year, but Anders and Johan were there in their car again - christened California Cruiser this year!

TGIF

It's Friday - yippee! There's something pretty fantastic about Friday afternoons. Even though my only big plans for the weekend are studying, it's still nice to know that I don't have to make any school lunches tonight and that we can sleep in tomorrow. The weather is even fairly decent - I think I'm going to go out on the deck with a glass of wine in just a few minutes :-)

I've been studying like crazy the last few days, trying to get a grip on the stuff I'm supposed to know. I was on the computer from 8:30 until 4:00 yesterday, and I nearly had a nervous breakdown last night, because I felt like it had been a waste of time. But then today I had a great study group, which really helped a lot. The other three in my group are fantastic and we really help each other out. I feel much calmer now, and feel like I might actually be able to get a decent grade on my exam next Friday.

At about 10:00 last night, Gaute and I looked outside and noticed how incredibly light it was. It's been cloudy lately, so the fact that the days have been getting incredibly long has gone unnoticed. Until last night. I went out and took a picture - and here it is:



And now it's time to go make pizza - Friday night, you know...

Great concert

The concert last night was great! We actually considered not going (!), because there had been so much going on during the weekend, and we were pretty worn out. We decided that would be way too lame, though. And we were very glad that we went, because it was a great concert! Both Robert Plant and Alison Krauss are great, and the music they make together is wonderful. And even though Gaute didn't get to see his favorite band Led Zeppelin, he got to see his favorite lead singer, at least!

Cold 17th of May

Yesterday was the big day - the 17th of May. Last weekend it was really warm and nice. Yesterday it snowed! We had to be up at the school at 8:00 in the morning, and it was cold, snowing and windy. Brrr....After the flag was raised and the 3rd graders read the speeches they had written, the kids walked in a parade around the neighborhood.







Then we went home for a about half an hour, warmed up, put on more long underwear, and headed downtown for the big parade there. The weather was, thankfully, much better than it had been up at our house.







And we weren't the only ones there....

By the way...

...that nice spring weather that we had a few days ago - it's gone, gone, gone. It's cold and rainy now. :-(

And, one other thing happening this weekend. Gaute and I are going to a concert on Sunday. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. I bought Gaute tickets for Christmas. Back then it seemed like May 18th was ages away...

This weekend

Johan had another football game last night. He was goalie (we say keeper) again. He is a natural! He did such a good job. I was really proud of him. He and Anders have spent many hours up at the football field (Korsvollbanen) kicking the ball around, and the results are showing up now.

This is a pretty big weekend. Tomorrow is the 17th of May - Norway's Consitution Day. Kind of like Norway's 4th of July. The day will be just as crazy as it always is when you have 3 kids in elementary school. We have to be up at the school by 8 am when they raise the flag. Then there's a parade around the school, followed by the big parade downtown. Then in the afternoon there's a big to-do at the school. We're all pretty worn out by the end of the day.

Tonight is a big game - Lyn against Stabæk. Stabæk is currently ranked as the number one team in Norway, and Lyn is number three (!) so it should be a good game. The 16th of May is a big football day in Norway. All of the teams play against each other, and it's fun to go to the games.

Espen won't be joining us at the Lyn game because he's playing a game himself. His team is in a cup, and the game starts an hour after the Lyn game. Kari and Grim are going to go watch him, and Gaute and the boys and i should be able to catch the last half hour or so.

Time to go make some cookies and cakes for tomorrow!

Johanna

Johan has a set of twins in his class, a girl and a boy (Axel and Siri), and they had a birthday party yesterday. They invited the whole class, and they asked the girls to dress up as boys and the boys to dress up as girls. The girls had no problem dressing up as boys, but not all of the boys wanted to wear dresses. Many of them did, though, including Johan. He makes such a cute girl!



In other news, Gaute was lying pretty low last night after getting one of his wisdom teeth pulled yesterday afternoon. He's had a sore tooth for about a week or so, and finally went to the dentist yesterday. A chip of his wisdom tooth had come off, and underneath it was a big hole! The dentist decided it was best to take it out before the whole tooth broke off. He saved the tooth and brought it home, and it was not a pretty sight!

Spring!

Last weekend it was really warm - as warm as gets around here in the middle of summer. Today it's cooled down a little bit (62 right now at 3:30), but it's still sunny and nice. And all of the spring flowers are blooming.

Like our cherry tree -



And the tulips along the fence -




Today I got started on studying for my oral exam in Social Studies. It's still over 2 weeks away, but there's a lot of stuff we need to know. I want to use a few hours every day, so that I'm not cramming at the last minute. We can take 30 pages of notes with us, so the key is taking good, organized notes!

Tonight we're having homemade macaroni and cheese for dinner. We haven't had it for months, and Anders made a special request. We're eating really early tonight. Anders has a football game - he has to be there at 4:30. And then Espen has a game at 5:30. I think I'm going to make Norwegian waffles for dessert when we get back. I have a great new recipe for them, and I make them at least once a week for dessert!

This American Life

I have to make a plug for This American Life, a fantastic radio program that I download and listen to as a podcast every week. I just listened to the show from last week, and they explained in an easy-to-understand way all about the housing crisis. I knew a little bit about the subprime mortgage crisis, but only in a very general way, and this really opened my eyes.

Some pics from the last week

Things have calmed down a lot. I have turned in both of my term papers. Still have two oral exams, but that's "just" a matter of studying - much better than writing!

I want to post some of the pictures that I've taken in the last week - here they are:

Last week I took the kids to Burger King. It was a big treat since we don't go there often.



I took Anders and Johan and our neighbor, Sebastian, on a bike ride. The river below our house is really full. Tons of snow in the mountains this year which is all melting now. Up by Lillehammer they're having lots of flooding. Luckily none around here, but the river was really full, and it was cool to look at.





Last Sunday we went on a hike - the weather was nice, but when we got up higher, we ended up walking through lots of rotten snow. Our shoes got all wet, but it was fun. Our goal was a cabin maintained by the Norwegian Trekking Association. No one was there when we were, but it is possible to rent it out to stay in overnight.






The next pictures are from Johan's performance in A Midsummer Night's Dream - the neverending play. He was very cute, and he did a good job, but it lasted WAY too long! And no one knew their lines...






Finally, a few pictures of Johan's first official football game. This year is the first year they're registered to play in a series against other teams. Thursday was their first game. The weather was incredible - about 75 degrees at 7:00 pm - and they won - 6-3!!

This is his team:



And this is Johan - he was goalkeeper in the second half of the game, and he did a fantastic job!

Woe is me

Last weekend was pretty nice. I took several pictures, thinking I would post them here on my blog and write somewhat intelligible commentary to them. Then Monday morning came, and reality hit me like a brick wall. Two huge papers (which each count for half of my grade for the semester) due within one week, and a schedule in the evenings which makes me want to cry. Yesterday, to take an example, Johan was in a play with his after school program. It was from 3 until after 5 (they tried to do A Midsummer Night's Dream with 7- and 8-year-olds, and it took FOREVER). Then we ran - literally - home to eat a quick sandwich, before we headed back up to the school again. The 7th graders had a performance which started at 6. And in the meantime, Anders got himself up to his football practice.

Tonight's schedule is similar...

And, then this morning I realized that Mother's Day is on Sunday. I can't believe it!!! How is it possible that I manage to forget Mother's Day EVERY SINGLE YEAR! There's no way that I can manage to even get a card off in time.

Right now I'm feeling pretty low...A new 4-day weekend is coming up, the weather is gorgeous, and I'll be inside working on my paper.

Feeling sorry for myself is really lame!

Dinner AND a movie

We decided to go all out last night. First dinner, then a movie. And both were very good. We went to Mucho Mas, a Mexican restaurant (Molly, we were there last summer - this is in a different location, though). It tasted really good, and it's pretty cheap for Oslo (everything is relative...).

Then we went to see in the In the Valley of Elah. I had actually never heard of the movie, but we decided to go for it anyway. It was playing at a theater in Oslo which only shows good movies, so if you pick a movie there, then you're pretty safe. Plus, it's pretty easy to find parking there, they have really good, comfortable seats, and they serve wine that you can take in the theater with you! The movie was great - glad we chose it.

Today the kids don't have school, but Gaute has work and I have a class. The kids will be on their own for about three hours in the middle of the day, but, happily, that's not a problem. I really like having kids who are big enough to be on their own for a while. They all know how to use a phone and can call us if there is any problem. Gaute's office is only about 10 minutes away, so he can be home quickly if he needs to be.

I'm off to what will most likely be my last English class. Officially, it is the last lecture, but I saw that they have now scheduled another lecture for next Friday, since our teacher was sick a few weeks ago. I think I might drop that lecture, though. She's going to talk about something which is not relevant to my final, and I have become pretty cynical when deciding what I want to spend my time on these days.