Norstad Family Reunion

Today was the Norstad Family Reunion, and it was lots of fun! Good food, great conversations, a game in every corner, and a park to play in. The kids had a great time there! Here are a few photos of the day. You can see many more at the following:
http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=223537049/a=8310622/t_=8310622
(I hope the link works. Let me know if it doesn't.)

Many, many thanks to Deb for all the hard work she did in organizing this. It wasn't easy, but it really paid off. Everyone had a great time! Thanks, Deb!

Conversation with Logan

Logan- "Mom, whats that sound?"
Me- "What sound?"
Logan- "Sounds like someone is tooting"
Me- "Are you tooting?"
Logan- "Yes, it WAS me."

this is the story of my life as the mother of a three year old boy



Look closely and you can see the broccoli in my sweet little angels teeth

Don't Forget

Just wanted to put this out as a reminder--Please try to make it if you can.

(I think if you double click on the "invite" it will make it larger--if not, I'll re-post it when I get home tonight.)

Off to the mountains

This weekend we decided to take a trip up to the Blue mountains, we are quite lucky here in Sydney- the beach is right there and the mountains are just 1 1/2 hours to the west. I use the word "mountains" loosely, I would say more foothills compared to the rockies. They are called the blue mountains we found out because the morning haze has a blue misty look to it. we stayed in a in the town of Katoomba- all the towns are very much tourist traps (just think Lanesboro with a kick) lots of cute shops and eateries. the kids got a kick out of getting hot chocolate that they made themselves by putting choc disks in a cup over a candle and added milk to it stirring the melting chocolate in. And if you like hiking, this is the place- lots of trails to hike. we had to be careful of what hike we went on because some were way to difficult to do with the kids. The kids did great on the ones we did go on, they love a good adventure.
The first picture is of the "three sisters" rock formations. the three sisters refers to some aboriginal legend about a father protecting his daughters..blahblahblah. we walked to these first and the rest of the weekend logan kept asking when we were going to see the mountain family again.





And one of logan pretending to be a turtle, and for those of you about to freak out about the strap around logan's neck- he was in no danger of strangulation.
it was a very nice sunny weekend up there and it was great to get away and explore. Love Kelly

Mira and her new glasses!

Mira got her new glasses today! She's been so excited to have them, and we think they will make such a difference in her daily life. She's looking forward to showing them to the other kids at daycare tomorrow. Here's a photo of her right after she got her glasses. She loves them!

On the Amelia front, she has been battling a pretty high fever for a couple of days now. She was at 104 degrees for awhile and we took her to the doctor. After a urine test, blood test, and strep test, all results came back negative, so the doctor said to keep her as comfortable as possible, give her Motrin, and that it should pass in a couple of days. Amelia seems to be back to normal now tonight, and she hasn't had any Motrin for 9 hours and the fever seems to be gone. We're hoping she stays fever free all night.

And I started my new job at Capella University yesterday. I LOVE IT! The teams are so wonderful and I'm really going to enjoy the work I'll be doing there. I'm in the communications team and help with the production on the marketing pieces. It's a very thoughtful company and they treat their employees very well. I dare say that getting laid off was a very good thing for me!

Hope you are all well!
Michelle

This is winter?

We spent the past weekend on the beach in Manly, it was a beautiful weekend, about 70 degrees and sunny. The kids ran all over while Duey and I just laid on a blanket soaking up the rays. well duey laid down and relaxed, I on the other hand sat up watching the kids to make sure they didn't die. There were strong current warnings, but the kids were happy enough to just play in the sand. The end of term for school is tomorrow so Chesney has two weeks off. She has done such an incredible job of catching up with the other kids in her reading and is at the same reading level with the rest of the class. she loves to take her reading cards and lay them out on the floor, pick out a few and make sentences with them. It amazes me how far she has come since starting school just 2 months ago. She has a few school holiday activities planned to keep her busy and it will be nice for me to spend more time with her that we don't get to have when she is at school. Logan is taking an intensive swimming coarse during the school holiday so he will have lessons everyday for the week, we will see if he will get more comfortable with going under water.
Chesney just got a new swimming teacher and she doesn't like her, actually I am not to keen on her either. She never tells the kids they are doing well and seems to make them feel bad when they don't get it right away. i am going to watch her very closely next week and if it continues I will be requesting a new teacher. at the end of lessons yesterday instead of saying good job she said "maybe you will do better next week" not exactly the encouraging type. I have a feeling we will be changing.
The weather has been just beautiful lately and we have been spending so much time outside as possible. we spend alot of time going to the park with some other moms. Logan likes to ride all the other kids scooters so one of the other moms gave logan her sons old one. Logan loves it, he rides it everywhere, I mean everywhere--from the tv room to the kitchen for dinner- then to the bathroom to wash up after dinner- then to the toyroom. it never leaves his side.

Beautiful Manly Beach


Logan Checking out the surfer babes
Chensey kept forgetting that when the water receeds, it eventually comes back up- we ended up taking her pants off and letting her run in her underwear because of getting caught in the waves and getting wet
The beach is so long and wide with great sand to play in.
Hope you all have a wonderful July 4th celebration-- Love Kelly

Look What I finally did!

Okay, some of you may think this is a bit morbid but I think a beautiful cemetary plot can be a great gift to your loved ones.
It had been over two years since I had gotten to Wanamingo to Grandma & Grandpa Norstad's grave sites (also buried next to them is Emory and Myrtle) also there are Ruth and Conroe, right behind G&G's headstone. A few years ago Jim met me out there and we made a "curved" flower bed and planted a hosta and some annuals....I went two years ago and planted some more annuals but didn't get there last year and have felt awful about that. So, I went today. ohmygosh! the weeds were thick and about to my mid calf. I dug and shook and dug and shook and cleared it all out! Then I put a "trim" around the edge and planted some perennials and some annuals and watered with miracle grow and then put mulch down...It took me an hour and 1/2!
Then the gate to the cemetary had gone closed and the inside "open" button didn't work...I was starting to panic...thankfully, I could reach my arm through the gate to hit the other "open" button.

Here are a couple pictures.

(PS G&G Paul are taken care of every year by me...they have pots {one for G&G and Ervin and another for Emil}..I fill them every year as well as mom and dad's.

I should send pics of mom and dad's .. Debra plants flowers there too and it's very beautiful...I walk over there at least once a week and check, weed, and water.)

Love to you all.

Deb