The Pumpkins

Nick's - the robot...~
Seeger's - two face, half happy and half mean...

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The Polack's - an alien...

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Mine - happy go lucky...

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And.... Mia's super awesome pumpkin. Excellent execution for her first time!

Pumpkin Carving

I'm finally getting around to posting about our evening of pumpkin carving fun. It was fun and I think Mia really enjoyed the experience. I have lots of photos so I'm breaking this up into a few posts for your reading enjoyment.
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Here are the kids, getting everything ready.
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After emphasizing the messiness of pumpkin carving, we made the boys take off their shirts. Mia also changed!
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Mia won't be happy I posted this picture. The Polack is explaining the carving process to her and as I took the picture, she commented that it would be a bad picture because she's concentrating and she always looks mean when she's concentrating.
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We gave her a book of carving templates in case she didn't want to create her own face for the pumpkin. And because she's a rock star, she chose one of the more difficult ones.

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The Polack and I chose to make up our own faces.

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And here are the finished pumpkins. From left to right, they belong to the Polack, Nicklas, Me, Seeger, and Mia.

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Close up shots, coming soon!

Random Thought Thursday

1. It's that time of the year... as in time to fill out benefits information at work. I dread this activity. I should be thankful - working for a large university provides excellent benefits. And I'm so fortunate to have many options for life insurance/health insurance/retirement/etc. BUT it's so overwhelming. And the turnaround time they give you is minimal. But I AM lucky. And fortunate. And blessed to have options. And a job in this economy thankyouverymuch.

2. I visited the salon yesterday so I'm feeling particularly pretty today with my new highlights and the cute dress that I can only wear until November 1. Because then I'll only wear wintery clothes. Which makes total sense, right?

3. A quick look a facebook and I'm stunned by all the snow that Colorado has gotten since yesterday afternoon. (Yes, I know it's sad that I use facebook as a vehicle to receive news. It's how I heard about the balloon boy afterall. And Michael Jackson. And Billy Mays.) I'm also surprised at how many facebook friends I know that live in Colorado. Hmmmm... something to ponder.

4. I'm torn between wishing Indiana had received 25 inches of snow to not wanting to get the winter clothes out yet. Good thing I don't have the power to choose the weather. What a stressful job that would be.

5. If it did snow, that might bring some relief to the guilt I'm having about not yet raking all the leaves in the yard. Because come on, if it snowed there'd be no point in worrying about it anymore.

6. McDonald's Monopoly is evil. I actually bought a hashbrown with my Diet Coke this morning just so I could get two Monopoly pieces. Damn you, McDonald's!

7. But oh, how I love $1 diet coke's from McDonald's. I went out to eat at pretty nice restaurant the other day and I was charged $3.85 for a coke. $3.85!?!! I wasn't at the movie theater, I don't live in a big city, and the restaurant wasn't THAT fancy. How was I to know?? It's not like they print the drink prices on the menu. From now on, do you think I can ask ahead of time how much they charge for soda? Or should I just suck it up and pay the outrageous price? OR... horrible thought.... maybe I should just drink water?? That's crazy talk.

8. So the other day at school, a boy started talking to Mia. As he began, she was thinking to herself, "Wow, this boy's English is really bad." Then she realized something... he was talking to her in Norwegian. She was shocked and could barely formulate a response. He said something along the lines of "Hello, my name is so-and-so. I've been learning Norwegian for the past two years. I was wondering if I could practice having a few conversations with you?" She managed to answer yes and suggested they talk by Facebook since she had to get to class (and she's a smart girl who doesn't give out her phone number to strangers, even if they do speak Norwegian). Isn't that crazy? I'm very curious about this boy-who-speaks-Norwegian. Why and how is he learning it??

9. Glee wasn't on last night. Boo. Although, it provided the opportunity to watch In the Middle, a show I've been wanting to see - especially because it's set in Indiana. But while watching it, I got all defensive about their portrayal of Hoosiers. Even though I thought it was funny. It's too bad it isn't set in like Iowa or Kansas. (No offense to Iowans or Kansans. And if I checked facebook, I'd probably discover that I don't know anyone from Iowa or Kansas.)

10. After some fairly humorous and not that riveting but still entertaining random thoughts, I'm not sure what to write for #10. In the words of Farmer Hoggett... "That'll do, Pig. That'll do." (Anyone know what movie that's from??)

Report Cards

It's halfway through the semester which means it's report card time. We've been very proud of Nicklas this year. He had some lower grades at the beginning of the semester but nearly all is papers recently have been A's. I hope he keeps it up! We had a conference with his teacher and learned his NWEA test scores as well as the grades on his report card. In NWEA, he improved in every subject. His report card at two A's, 3 B's, and 1 C. We're not happy with the C - it's in writing - so we've been talking to him about the importance of writing complete sentences and appropriately using capital letters and punctuation. But overall, he's doing great which is a relief from last semester.

To celebrate his excellent progress, the Polack and I took him out for a treat at Dairy Queen.

Corn, pumpkins, and straw, oh my!

We finally had a break from our busy social/work/school lives to make a trip to the pumpkin patch. We go to the pumpkin patch almost every year in lieu of picking up some at the local Kroger. This year was especially fun because of Mia. Norwegians don't carve pumpkins and she's not sure they even grow them in the country.

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There are a few local farms which offer hay rides and activities to go along with picking out your pumpkin. We decided on trying a new place, one that had a corn maze. It was a beautiful day and I'm so glad we spent it outside!

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Here is Mia on the hay ride.

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We did the corn maze first. They offer five different mazes at varying length and difficulty. Combined, the mazes total 8 miles. We had maps but in the beginning, decided to just start walking.
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That was a mistake! When we realized there were checkpoints that offered certain rewards, we changed our strategy and started following the map. I was pretty much clueless the whole time. The Polack was pretty good at following the map. Mia was the best though. She led us the entire time. She credits her corn maze skills to orienteering, an activity they do in Norwegian gym class where they have to use a compass and map to run around outside to various checkpoints. Nicklas wanted to lead the group but he didn't want to follow the map. He'd go one way and Mia would go another way and we'd follow Mia and he'd run ahead of the group and go one way while she turned another way. It was entertaining to watch the two of them.

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After the corn maze, we picked out some pumpkins.
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They really are like brothers and sisters!
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After the pumpkins, we took a hayride back to the farm house. They had several activities geared toward the kids including pedal tractor races, sandboxes, and a straw mountain. Nicklas loved the straw tunnel.

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We haven't carved our pumpkins yet. Hopefully that will happen tonight!

Random Thought - the day after - Thursday

Well, it's finally happened... I missed an RTT post. I knew this day would come eventually (I'm actually surprised it hasn't happened sooner.) In my defense, I TRIED to get RTT posted last night. The Polack and I were out with friends. When it was obvious that I wasn't going to be home in time to post, I attempted to write one via my iPhone. Well apparently Blogger and the iPhone don't like each other. So it didn't happen. My apologies.

I know you're asking yourself why I'm up so early if I was out late last night. That's a very good question, I tell you. It's a combination of a puppy who likes to get into trouble in the mornings when an 8 year old is too busy playing Wii to watch him combined with a little 5 year old who takes over my bed. Anyway, enough about me, let's get on with our randomness. As an added treat, the following random thoughts are from the folks I was hanging out with last night.

1. Teachers make the worst students. In professional development meetings, they don't pay attention, they talk amoungst themselves, and they have terrible attitudes. All things that they get most frustrated with in their students.

2. High school volleyball has changed a lot over the past 15 years. Did you know they use rally scoring now? And if a serve hits the net and goes over, it's still playble.

3. It takes some people 30 seconds to develop a random thought.

4. Whatever happened to mock turtlenecks?

5. Argyle is in. And you should always complement - not match - your argyle socks to your argyle sweater.

6. Rock Band brings out the best and the worst in people.

7. When will skinny jeans and Uggs ever go away?

8. How many athletic directors does a high school need?

9. For every two random thoughts people give you, there is only one good one.

10. It's a good thing I had help coming up for material - however lame - for this post. 6:30 is way too freakin' early to post clever thoughts on my blog. I'm not even going to proofread. So there.

This post was brought to you by the letter F

The adoption of Yzerman has brought frog fever to the household. Seeger has been playing his toy frogs and as a result, I'm finding faux amphibians all around the house.

Unfortunately, so has Freddie. These poor guys are no longer able to hop.

Seeger is devastated. (Not devastated enough to actually pick up his toys and put them away and out of Freddie's reach, mind you.)

I'm not looking forward to the battle of Freddie vs. the Christmas tree. Stay tuned.

On a separate note, I'm finally enjoying the fall foliage. This is the view from our front door.

(I was going to name this post Freakishly Footless Faux Frogs until I added this last bit. I'm feeling particularly alliterate today.)

Mark time, mark!

When I was in high school, I participated in the color guard for the Baron Brigade of DeKalb High School. Known as the Bridgadiers, my color guard days were so much fun. I loved performing, I loved the challenge of moving from chart to chart, I loved the camaraderie of everyone in the band. We worked hard for our craft, practicing all summer, including several day long practices in August, and then two hours every evening after the school term started. Contests were held every Saturday with the goal of making it to the state finals.

During my high school tenure, our band made it to state every year. The top 10 bands in each class (there were four classes based on school size) competed. The Baron Brigade placed seventh my freshmen year, seventh my sophomore year and my junior year? Seventh. We started to think we were cursed. Then my senior year... I don't know if it's because it was my last year or if others felt the same way but my senior year show was THE BEST. We placed fifth that year. The highest my high school has ever placed.

Its marching band season right now and many Baron Brigade alumni have reconnected via facebook. Several photos and videos have been posted. I'm very thankful that someone was able to post our performance at state from my senior year, the year we did City of Angels. I'm posting it here, just because I want to have a permanent connection to that show. Feel free to to watch it if you'd like however I warn you, it's 10 minutes long. For those that could care less about marching band, you will likely be bored. But for those that know what it's about, please enjoy. Oh, and check out my three second close up around minute 6:39.



(DeKalb participated in the marching band regional contest this past weekend. It was held at our local high school, which is about three hours from my home town. I was so bummed that I couldn't make it, especially with it being so close. I tried to console myself by telling everyone that I would go to the state finals this year. Unfortunately, they're on Oct. 31. I can't give up Halloween with the kids for the event so it looks like I'll miss the Baron Brigade perform this year. Bummer.)

The newest family member

Meet Yzerman.... Nicklas's new "pet". For a school project, he had to create his own ecosystem. He chose a fire bellied toad, a cricket, dirt, grass, and leaves.



And now the project has been turned in, returned to us and suddenly, we have a new pet. Oh, joy. Mia has already stated that she better never find Yzerman in her room.

My sentiments exactly, Mia, my sentiments exactly.

No laughing, please...

Did I mention that I have to make Seeger's Halloween costume?


And I don't do sew??

I've started the project and it's going reasonably well considering my skill level. I've never made an article of clothing before. I don't know how to work a pattern. So I'm making it up as I go. I bought three yards of pink flannel, had Seeger lie on top of two layers, drew an outline of his body, added a pointy head, cut it out, and sewed it together, leaving openings for the hands and feet.

No laughing now but here's how it turned out.

(Remember, no laughing!!)

Okay, so you can laugh. How could you not laugh at this quality workmanship? I love that the pants are too short. And one sleeve is longer than the other. I had to cut a slit in the back for him to get it on. And I knew his face would be covered but I wasn't sure how to do it.

After some research, aka web surfing/image googling, I decided to cut a hole for his face and make Patrick's face on top of it. I bought some felt and went to work and I have to say, I love the results. I was very impressed with myself (except when I sewed the front of the eyelashes to the back of the head. That wasn't very impressive. It's since been fixed.) I seriously love this picture. I pull it up every once in awhile and gaze it longingly, so proud of myself. True story.

I still need to do Patrick's swimsuit - lime green with purple flowers. Then we're adding pink socks (since the pants are SO SHORT) and pink mittens. We'll stuff the head and belly and be good to go.

Not bad for a homemade costume.

At the pumpkin patch

Not the REAL pumpkin patch mind you. Actually it was a real pumpkin patch but not in my mind. You see, Seeger's class had a field trip to the pumpkin patch. We all got to pick out pumpkins. That's great and all but since the Kubatski makes a trip to the pumpkin patch every year, I didn't consider the field trip with Seeger's class to be the real deal. We're going to pick out our pumpkins - the carving kind - this weekend or next. But in the meantime, Seeger and I got to practice.

After driving 90 minutes - yes, 90 minutes - we finally made it. Seriously, who plans a field trip with three busses of kindergardners that lasts 90 minutes? ONE WAY? When there are perfectly good patchs IN THIS COUNTY?? Anyway, by the time we made it there, the kids were definitely ready to get off the bus and make their way to the hayride. Here's the tractor that pulled us out to the patch.



Everyone searched for the biggest pumpkin they could find. Except Seeger. He searched for the smallest pumpkin. The kid marches to the beat of his own drum, I tell ya.


After the hayride, we ate lunch and enjoyed assorted activities like a haunted bouncy house, a very large caterpillar (too hard to explain), a haystack mountain, and a maze.

Just when we'd nearly finished all the activities, it was time to get back on the bus. Right after I took a picture of my group, though. This chaperoning opportunity was quite an experience. The kids were, uh, spirited. Let's just say I'm used to Nicklas classmates.

Scene's from the feast

We took the family + neice and nephew to the Feast of the Hunter's Moon. This is an annual local event that re-creates the gathering of the Native American and French fur traders in the 1700's. I wish I had more photos but it was just too stinkin' cold to really enjoy. The kids were miserable which made me miserable - especially after shelling out $80 for tickets, food, and parking, only to hear complaining about cold fingers and too much walking. We stayed about an hour before I took the little ones back to the car so the older ones could enjoy the festival.

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This picture is of the opening ceremony and flag raising.

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Here's a quick shot of the little ones.

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I should point out that once the kids were back home, they ran outside to play WITHOUT jackets or shoes. Sheesh. I made them come in to get properly dressed and amazingly, they were outside for hours and weren't cold and their feet didn't hurt. It must have been a Feast thing. :)

Random Thought Thursday

Hey, hey, everyone. It my favorite day of the week. Let's get this party started.

1. Fall has finally arrived and the leaves are beautiful. Too bad the rain won't seem to stop. It's been really cold this week - around the mid 40's - and I was starting to get all grumpy about it. But then I realized that if I actually wear a coat and thrown on some mittens, I can stay warm and be happy again. Duh.

2. The Halloween costumes are coming along very nicely. I was able to find some stick on jewels so I no longer need a bedazzler. After bidding $15 on an ebay Thighmaster, I was outbid. Seriously. I didn't realize the demand was so great. BUT all is saved as I found one for $1.99 at my local Goodwill. Quel luck!

3. Whatever happened to Brian Dunkleman? I don't know why but this question has popped into my head a lot lately.

4. I wonder how many people actually know who I'm referring to? Brian Dunkleman co-hosted American Idol with Ryan Seacrest during the first season. He quit after the first season. Oops.

5. One number - 229,450. What do you think of that, Heather?

6. I'm super excited about Christmas this year. I have no idea why. I usually don't get into the Christmas spirit until after Thanksgiving. But I'm finding myself thinking of gifts to buy, browsing the Christmas section at Joann Fabrics, and watching for the chocolate to go on sale so I can make Kubatski's Turtles.

7. Is it sad that the only store I browse at is Joann Fabrics? Any other store I go to I'm in and out. But Joann's? I could spend hours going up and down the aisles.

8. Tonight is my last flag football game. Overall, I've enjoyed the experience however I could do without the games. We always lose. Really, really badly. It's quite embarrassing.

9. Next week is Fall break for the Polack and the kids. They get one whole day off from school. One whole day! How generous of the school corporation. I'm taking the day off too and thought we could plan a long weekend trip to somewhere. But instead we've decided to spend a long weekend at home. I keep telling myself it will be a rare treat. (One that I'm pretty sure I'll fill with house cleaning, leaf raking, closet organizing, and laundry. Maybe. Probably.)

10. Should I or shouldn't I brave the rain and 40 degree weather to make a quick jaunt across the street for a 74 cent Polar Pop filled with Diet Pepsi? Hmmmm... decisions, decisions.

Two Moms and a Norwegian Girl

Facebook exchange between me and Mia's mother....

Hallo Natalie.

I just want to say hi and ask how you all are doing.... It`seams as if everything still goes wery well. Are you still in the "Honeymoon-stage"???Atleast it sounds as if my daugheter are haveing a wonderful time , thought hectic -:).Hope the boy`s still "loves" Mia and that she have some time for them. Frome the pictures it seams as if the enjoy eachother. You have to wonderful boys. I really hope Mia have/take time to do her school-work properly , and that her grades are good.

Here in Kristiansand we have sort of adjusted to the fact that Mia Elisabeth lives with U and I`m starting to getting used to just haveing one child at home.BUT - it helps to look at the storries and pictures on your blogg ore Facebook , and Mia`s Facebook , to "see" that she and you are doing fine.Take care please give my love to Mia and best wishes for you all

Vibeke

ps hope you don`t mind me not useing the Dictioanry to write English , I have over the years , writing to my Sisterinlaw , stoped useing it because I stoped writing because of the time it took to look up the spelling of english words.




Hi Vibeke – Thank you for writing! Things are great with Mia. She is doing very, very well. I don’t mind that you aren’t using a dictionary when you write. I’ve been able to understand you so please don’t worry about your spelling.

You’re correct – Mia’s schedule has been very hectic! I’m not sure I can say we ever experienced a honeymoon stage. Our family is very casual and laid back and we haven’t gone out of our way to act as “hosts” to Mia. We treat her like a family member and she’s fit in very well so I don’t think Mike and I have felt like our life has changed that much since having Mia. We do a bit more driving and shuttling back and forth to activities but that’s about it. Her grades at school are good. She has homework almost every day but she is usually able to complete it at school. She’s taking seven classes and has A’s and B’s (the highest grade is an A) in all of them except one. She has a C in fashion/sewing. She is a little surprised about this so she is planning to ask her teacher why.

Mia’s schedule has been very busy with soccer but her season ended yesterday. She’s taking a few days off and on Monday, she starts swimming. Although swimming will last for several months I don’t think it will be as time consuming as soccer. Her soccer practices were every day (except Sunday) from 5:30-7:30 – right in the middle of dinner. Swim practices are either before school or right after school so she’ll be home earlier than usual. I’m hoping we’ll have more family dinners together.

Her social life has really taken off in the last couple of weeks. She’s done a lot of activities and shopping lately. Most have been with girls from the soccer team so it will be interesting to see if activities will still be planned now that soccer has ended. She’ll meet a whole new group of girls now that she’s joined the swim team.

Mia had a fun weekend. On Saturday, she got her hair done and then went shopping at the mall with a friend. She took the bus from the hair salon to the mall. It was her first time using the public bus and I think she enjoyed the independence. Usually she has to rely on Mike or me to drive her places, although she has a friend that takes her to school every morning. Saturday night, Mia and the rest of the soccer team spent the night at a teammate’s house. They went teepeeing. This means they took rolls of toilet paper and threw them over trees, draping and covering the branches. They did this at houses belonging to members of the boys soccer team. It’s a fun thing that teenagers do and I think Mia enjoying participating. Sunday we went as a family to the Feast of the Hunter’s Moon. It’s an annual celebration re-creating the fall festival started by French settlers and Native Americans in the 1700’s. It’s held in Lafayette once a year. Sunday evening, we went to my in-laws home for dinner.

This Saturday we’re going to another Indiana University football game. I don’t think Mia is going to go though. She received an invitation to go shopping in Indianapolis with some friends. Hopefully, Sunday will be a day we can relax and sleep in.

The boys LOVE having Mia around. They will be devastated when it’s time for her to return to Norway. I don’t even want to think about the tears we’ll all have. There will be many, for sure.

I know I haven’t been posting as many pictures on facebook or on my blog. We’ve been so busy! But I’ll try to do better. I know Mia’s been on facebook a bit more so hopefully she’s writing you. I do know she was wondering if you’ve received her recent phone bill. Tonje got hers and I guess it was quite expensive. Mia is worried. We downloaded Skype onto our computer so she can talk that way and not use her phone.

I think that’s all for now. Thanks again for writing and for sharing your wonderful daughter with us!

Best,
Natalie

The hair cut

Freddie got a hair cut. Not surprisingly, I hate it. Not as much as the haircutting fiasco of 2009, but pretty darn close. At least HIS hair will grow back pretty fast.

Where is Tim Gunn when you need him?

Seeger decided he wanted to dress pretty - "like a girl" - the other day. I told him to help himself to my clothes and put on whatever he wanted. This is what he came up with. (I do want to point out the shirt is his, not mine!)

Hmmmmm.... Although I like the jewelry....

I'm not impressed with his choice of a slip and slippers. It seems he chose the UGLIEST things I own to assemble his outfit.

I totally thought he'd put on some high heels so I asked him why he chose the slippers. He said they're his favorite because they're so soft.

I can't argue with that. This comes from the boy who hates wearing jeans because they're too scratchy and insists on always wearing "soft pants."

Welcome sign

I had some business in the other half of the state a few weeks ago. and used the opportunity to visit a friend from college. She, her husband, and her two beautiful daughters graciously hosted me for over the overnight trip. I especially loved the welcome sign they made me.

It was so much fun hanging out with the girls. They are ADORABLE. And they LOVED me. And I LOVED them right back. I can't wait for our next visit!

The one with all the capitals...

1. It's ridiculous how excited I am about Facebook FINALLY releasing the new Bejeweled. As if my addiction could get any worse.

2. In my last check of status updates, the word monsoon was mentioned four times. Apparently we're expecting a lot of rain today?

3. I'm really concerned about having a blah autumn. As I grow older, I appreciate the change of colors more. Last year's temps were so hot and cold all fall that the trees never really changed. They just went from green to brown. I've been really paying attention this year and so far, nothing that exciting has happened. Still lots of green with some brown and other bare trees. I'm catches glimpses of reds, yellows, and oranges but not enough.

4. Mia's soccer season is almost over. She's joining the swim team but fortunately, their practices are before or right after school. It will be nice to finally see her in the evenings.

5. Today Mia and I are meeting her school counselor to talk about US colleges. She thinks she might want to attend school in the US so I suggested she do some campus visits. She wants a public school in an urban area and she's interested in working with children. Hopefully Mrs. C. can help us focus our efforts.

6. This weekend is quilt camp. Sadly, I didn't sign up so my mom and I have decided to have our own quilt camp. We'll be sewing all night Friday and all day Saturday. I can't wait to finish some projects. Have you visited my quilting blog? You should take a look, if only to feel sorry about the lack of progress I've made over the past few months.

7. So this morning starts out as any other morning. Nicklas gets up, showers, and gets dressed. I wake up Seeger, help him get dressed (which he can do on his own but not before 9am), meet everyone downstairs and get them breakfast. They're halfway through their bowls of cereal when I realize - OH MY GOD, IT'S PICTURE DAY!! I had totally forgotten all about it. With less than 10 minutes before the bus is due to arrive, I had them scarf down their cereal, change their clothes and I attempted to at least "do" their hair. We made it okay but WHEW, did I have a scare.

8. I started writing this post a few hours ago and as I was typing #6, I realized OH MY GOD, I FORGOT TO PACK SEEGER'S LUNCH! I usually do that during breakfast and with the craziness of remembering about pictures, I didn't do it this morning. With less than 30 minutes before my class starts, I decide to run out, buy him something, and drop it off at the Y. NOT enough time. Luckily, the AWESOME Polack was able to push a school meeting back a half hour and take care of dropping lunch off for Seeger so I didn't have to. Of course, I'd already walked to my car - in the MONSOON - and started driving before I realized he could do it for me. I was able to turn around, park, walk back to my building - in the MONSOON - and get back to my building with five minutes to spare before class. There is no way I would have been on time had I actually had to complete the task. I totally owe my husband. BIG TIME.

9. Monsoon is probably a bit of an exaggeration but it's definitely raining pretty hard right now.

10. Is my overuse of capital letters annoying at all? I'm definitely trying to make a point - in an entertaining sort of way!

Hanging out with the team

How lucky is this kid? When we were in Bloomington a few weeks ago for the IU football game, he and his Papa ventured in to Assembly Hall and came upon an open practice for the IU basketball team. After watching for awhile, they were about to leave when he was called onto the court. By TOM CREAN. He was walking on air for days. (No photo though.)

And at the last football game, he went out on the court AGAIN to shoot baskets.

We keep reminding him that he's incredibly lucky and no one else we know has gotten to shoot baskets on Assembly Hall floor, ESPECIALLY TWO TIMES!!

Nothing exciting in the video below but figured there are a few of you who might watch it. I think he actually makes a basket or two. (And in case you're wondering, the guy in red is actually an Ohio State fan. I think he truly appreciated the moment, probably more than Nicklas.)

Mia's Bucket List

Things Mia wants to do while living in the US. Eat donuts. The girl eats very healthy but apparently in her eyes, donut eating is a US thing. They have donuts in Norway but she's never had one.

Along those lines, she also wants to experience a big American breakfast. We promised we would take her to IHOP. Stuffed French toast…. Yum…..

And the third thing Mia wants to experience – which cracks me up – is go to a garage sale. She’s asked me a few times if we could do this. I’m not much of a garage saler but I promised we’d hit some up during the prime time spring season.

She’s excited about Halloween which they celebrate in Norway however most of the kids buy cheap looking costumes from the store. She loves the idea of mom’s making costumes for kids. (Now I feel pressure to make a kickass Patrick the Starfish costume for Seeger!) In Norway, they don’t really do pumpkins. So we’ll definitely go to a pumpkin farm and let Mia experience picking and carving her own pumpkin.

I think she’ll love Thanksgiving too. She’s really bummed she won’t be here for the Fourth of July. I told her she could come back and visit any time.

One American activity Mia has really enjoyed is tailgating. She has vowed to take this practice back to Norway and can’t wait to make all her friends do it with her. She’ll get plenty of practice in the upcoming few months.

Random Thought Thursday - Thoughts around the World

1. Flag football? Not going so well. Our team lost 37-0 last week. Supposedly tonight we're playing a team that's more at our level. In other words, they're also 0-2. I would feel better about our chances if there was more than one girl on the team that could catch the ball while running. I certainly can't. If I'm standing there waiting, I'm good to go. But if I have to run and catch? Not so good. I think retirement will be calling me after the season ends.

2. After thinking I was getting off easily regarding Halloween costumes this year, Seeger up and changed his mind. First he said he wanted to be a ghost. I was super excited - that's about the easiest costume to make. Now he's decided he wants to be Patrick the Starfish. I'm against store bought costumes but I'm SO NOT a seamstress. So my children's costumes have to be easy or end up looking like they made their own. At least Nicklas is sticking with a hockey goalie. It will be easy to assemble everything he needs.

3. Items needed to complete the adult costumes include a bedazzler and thighmaster. If anyone can help with this, please let me know.

4. I'm back to loving Glee after the hiccup of the Acafellas in episode 3.

5. Anyone heard the Noisettes? I'm anxious to download a few of their songs. They'll be in Paris on October 29. Maybe I should go see them?

6. Thanks to my friend, Christy, I've taken my addiction to Bejeweled up a level. you owe me now, Christy, for sucking me in even further. I'll take more Owl City music, please.

7. Owl City will be in Tokyo on November 24. Maybe I can check out his show after I recover from my trip to Paris.

8. Who am I kidding, I'm not going to Paris. Or Tokyo. I don't even have a passport. Yes, you read that correctly. My passport expired oh... EIGHT YEARS ago. I'm too lazy and cheap to buy a new one until it's absolutely needed.

9. This week is the county fair in my hometown. Many of my friends are meeting up with their kids to enjoy the food and festivities. (In that order, I'm sure.) No Mouse Game for me this year. Hopefully I can make next year.

10. I wonder if anyone will click on any of the links I've provided? Or am I wasting my time? Feedback please.