It Never Gets Old

It never gets old seeing your baby for the first time and knowing that everything is okay.  Hearing that heartbeat is just amazing.  Jon and I were able to go this morning and meet our Baby #4.  This little one was measuring right on track and was a little wiggle worm.  

I am still struggling with not feeling well a lot of the time, but eating often does seem to help.  Other than that I am doing pretty well with this little one.  Seeing the baby this morning made me even more excited to get to meet them!

Counting Our Blessings!

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your blessings, see what God hath done!

Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

We are so excited that our family will be growing in October!

Sledding and Skiing

This weekend our church had organized and cross country skiing outing.  They had skis for people to use to try out cross country skiing, and since Jon had never been before we thought this would be a great time for him to try.  I am so glad we went, it ended up being so much more than just skiing.  There was a great hill for sledding, a  lot of friends 

 The sleds the kids were using are called bum boards here.  It is just a seat with a handle, but they are very effective.

 Garrett loved going down the hill, he would get to the bottom and say 'Again!'

 Addie brought her cross country skis and was ready to get them on when she saw a friend from school was out too.  The girls headed to the stop of the sledding hill and then went right down. 

 I had never seen Addie ski like that and it was a little unnerving, but she did great.

 Jon got his turn to try out cross country skiing.

 He did very well for the most part, just a few dramatic falls.

 Ben took a turn with Addie's gear.  He didn't spend long on the skis, but I am glad he got a chance to try.

 It was an action packed day.

 One of the best parts of the day was the fire that we cooked our lunch over.  The hot dogs were very yummy cooked over an open fire.  It was interesting to watch the fire slowly sink down into the snow.  

 The favorite part of the day was when I pulled out a bag of marshmallows!

Daddy and Garrett having fun cooking marshmallows.

 Ben found a little tree to climb, it is one of his favorite past times.

 Addie spent a lot of time skiing, it was a beautiful day.

 The boys loved sliding down the hill, but they did not like walking back up.  Thankfully Daddy came to the rescue with a borrowed sled.

Addie took a turn roasting marshmallows.  She had three sticks full of marshmallows so that she could share them.  

 The spot where we were skiing was up near the ski jump at Holmenkollen.  The view was absolutely gorgeous, this is not the best picture, but it does give you an idea.

 Here are the kiddos when we pulled into the driveway.  They all played so hard and had so much fun!

Addie's Ouchie

Our poor girl had her first trip to the ER here in Norway.  Last week she tripped over Jon's foot and went head first into our stairs.  There was quite a bit of blood and I realized then that I do not do well when my kids are bleeding.  I gave her a paper towel to stop the bleeding and sent her with her Dad to the ER.  The put the first stitch in without any numbing and she didn't even flinch, the doctor was very impressed.  When they realized they would have to do more they gave her shots to numb her up.  I think the shots were the most traumatic part. 

The stairs that Addie head butted.

 Three stitches solved the problem.  They are out now and she is doing much better.  

I am so proud of my sweet girl and how brave she was when she had to get stitched back up.  Hopefully we won't have to try out any more of Norway's emergency medical care.  Thankfully they have come through for us when we have needed. them.

More Family Fun in Paris

My worth fear when traveling with kids, is someone getting sick while we are away from home.  Unfortunately, Addie came into our hotel after our first day and told us that she had just gotten sick.  So my sweet girl and I spent the day at the hotel while Jon took both boys to go to Versailles.  I don't have any pictures from that day.  Jon was able to learn some valuable lessons so when we were able to go back to Versailles the next day, we were able to see as much as possible.  

The garden at Versailles, we got there early so we were able to walk around the gardens with very few other people.  My suggestion would be to buy your tickets on line and get there early so you can be in line when the doors open. 

 Jon outside the gate of the palace.

 I loved this family portrait in the palace.

 Jon and the kids in the hall of mirrors.

 My turn in a picture!

 I love how small Addie looks in front of this fire place.  

 Here is Addie in the Queen's bedroom. You can see the secret door on the left that the Queen used to go to the King's bedroom.  

 Addison really surprised us with how much she loved the history of the palace.  She took an audio guide and I showed her how to enter the numbers for the different rooms.  She loved listening to the stories in each of the different rooms and could tell it back to us.  

 Jon and Ben making there way down the hall way.

 A family picture outside the palace.

 The palace really is beautiful.

 This globe was so neat. 

This train was our ride down through the property.  They did have golf carts that you could rent, but they were only big enough for 4 people and they wouldn't let us use one with our family of 5.  The golf carts are 30 Euros an hour and would be well worth it.

My sweet girl and me.

 Addie started running down this path, she was so sweet and free running.

 And then she fell and was limping around the gardens.  She wanted to make sure I saw the damage.

This is Jon at the Grand Canal and that is the palace in the background.

 I love this man so much.

 The grounds are so beautiful.  

Our next stop was the Grand Trianon.

 And the last stop of the day was the Petite Trianon.  We didn't get a chance to walk the grounds inside here and see Marie Antoinette's village.   

 On the way home Garrett amused himself with his truck.

 The big kids spent more time playing Angry Birds, they are getting pretty good at it.

 The Eiffel Tower at dusk, so beautiful.

 Addie's favorite part of Paris, the merry go round.

 This big man on the motorcycle.

 How fun is this? 

 My babies in front of the Eiffel Tower after their ride on the carousel.

 This is how I spent the carousel ride, sitting on the bench with the Seine just behind me.

 The kids LOVED the Eiffel Tower.

 On our way to dinner we passed by this alley and saw this view.  I love it.  We ended up eating dinner not far from here, at Ribe.  The food was very good and they put up with our kids very graciously.

 One last carousel ride.

 Addie's turn on the motorcycle.

 Garrett loves airplanes right now.

 Here are the guys that were making Jon's favorite treat, crepes.  Jon thoroughly enjoyed the banana chocolate one.

 While we traveled around Paris we used a lot of Metros and Trains.  We had a stroller with us and in order to get through we used the special gates.  This one near the Eiffel Tower stop we used frequently.  There is a button here that you push and tell them you need to get through the gate with a stroller they would open it for you.  

 Addie waiting for us to go through the gate.

 On our last day we said good bye to our shuttle driver.  It was so amusing to listen to Jon talk to him in broken Spanish.  He was from Romania and he was very nice to us.