Ms. Claws (aka Sabina) entertaining us with her new hair-do.

Jule Fest in Poulsbo

Okay, so I'm the one who had the best time. What's new? I drug the kids (and Mike) to Poulsbo on Saturday for the JuleFest (Norwegian Christmas Festival). The best part was the traditional dancing around the Christmas tree singing Norwegian carols. They wove in the Swedish celebration of St. Lucia riding in on a boat and being escorted to the bonfire by Viking men with huge torches. St. Lucia was a Christian who was martyred. After the head Viking made a declaration, the bonfire was lit.
It's great to have this little bit of Norwegian fun this close to home!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving brought many new friends for dinner and more for dessert. As usual, the Karaoke Queens stole the show.

Amy Grant

Wow! Talk about feeling old. My son turns 19 this week and Mike and I went to an Amy Grant concert last week that was her 20year reunion tour of Lead Me On. And yes, we were there 20 years ago at the original Lead Me On Tour! I know her name brings up exciting discussions but she still has an amazing voice and you have to believe in God's grace... Oh but for the grace of God go I.

Spent the weekend with my friend, Kim, in Vancouver, BC. We met in Norway and never thought we'd be living this close to each other~ what a gift!
The boxes are slowly being unpacked and at least we now have the living/dining area painted and the furniture in its' place. We bought an electric fireplace to somehow make up for the ones we left in Ohio!

We are slowly moving through the boxes and someday will be able to say we're settled in Washington. Here are a few pics of our house; we are the 2nd from the end. Don't you love our nameplate?? (Hytte is Norwegian for cabin) As a joke, we kept telling the girls we were going to have "Holy Husfelts" on our house; they were appalled that when they came home yesterday, it really was on there!
And isn't God good to give us neighbors who fly their Seminole flag daily??
The girls are adjusting to their schools and activities. Not too surprisingly, Mallory came home yesterday as the student of the month. She doesn't waste time making a good impression. Lydia was selected for student council. Emilie is finally getting her knee back in shape and getting involved with cycling and sports med, and Britain has emerged as our new little soccer player.
I am off to Vancouver, BC, to see my CD, my great friend, Kim, from Norway, this weekend. It will be a much needed reprieve from unpacking boxes.

Back to School

The girls started back to school last week. Pretty amazing that we are in a carpool with 7 families, 15 kids and 5 different schools! Lydia was anticipating going to high school this fall but here, she is in Jr High another year. Mallory, who was in middle school last year, has been "demoted" back to intermediate school here so she gets to spend another year in school with Britain!
The week before school started, the youth group had a "messy games" night. Thus, the picture of Mallory and Lydia getting in the shower with everything from ketchup to peanut butter to oatmeal to SQUID from head to toe. It's a good thing we didn't have to pay the water bill after that shower. But, our car smelled like throw up for a few days!