Category Archives: Day-to-Day

Day-to-Day

A typical day

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One of the most common questions we get asked is what a typical weekday looks like for us. If you’re asking about the boys, that’s pretty simple.

But for us, every day brings different schedules and new opportunities.
Most mornings one or both of us drive the boys to school around 8:25. Often we will stop at the grocery on the way home. And then we have to pick the boys up a little after 3:00 pm.
What happens in between those hours varies. Many mornings we start by watching the news – language practice! A few mornings a week we work out. Mornings also include office tasks: paperwork, emails, and maybe a Skype call thrown in.
Afternoons vary. Some days we have meetings in the city. Once a week we attend a language conversation group for a few hours with 3-5 other internationals.

(One of our only consistencies is coffee throughout every day!)

And there are days like yesterday and today, where we find ourselves going in two different directions. Zack spent the day in Oslo yesterday. And now I’m on the train to Oslo.
So routine is a bit of relative term. We depend a lot on the calendar on our phones to make sure we are moving in the right direction! We have the occasional low-key day. But most days are a little bit hectic and quite a bit of fun!
Day-to-Day

Busy and yet…

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I have a couple of new series coming up on the blog soon, involving some of our favorite things: coffee, food, and cultural differences/observations.

But for now, here are a few recent pics. We have been quite busy with regular life stuff, and a bit of travel, both work-related and personal. (It seems to be a bit biased toward Daniel, but William is getting to that age where he isn’t so interested in having every aspect of his life documented in pictures!)

Daniel built his own foosball table during a project at school, using recycle materials. We were very impressed!
A certain adorable nephew turned one a few weeks ago. Isn’t he the cutest?
Daniel continues to uncover his passion and talents.

 

The boys got some gifts from family in the states.

 

We continue to work on our sushi skills.

 

And I finally crocheted something that I will actually wear out into public…

 

which is good, because you never know when winter might sneak up again. We got 17+ inches of snow from last night till this afternoon!

 

Teaching our children important skills, like the art of a pour-over… yes, we do love coffee!

 

Day-to-Day

Speaking of the little things: what I’m thankful for post-surgery

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  1. My giant Turvis tumbler that my mom gave me for Christmas – helps a lot when I need to drink lots of water
  2. Aeropostale warmup pants that I bought for $10 (@70nok) back in Virginia – comfy, stretchy pants are a must right now
  3. Good food – Zack has really done a fantastic job of keeping me well-fed and well-hydrated
  4. And not just food. Zack has been fantastic with everything – I haven’t had to lift a finger or worry about the things I normally take care of
  5. No nausea – this is huge. The last time I had surgery, I dealt with bad nausea afterwards. But none at all this time!
  6. Emails, SMS, texts, iMessages, Facebook messages, visits, gifts, and phone calls from family and friends – it means so much!
  7. Two helpful sons – packing their own lunches for school (yeah, that might continue long term!), walking to the bus in the snow each morning so Zack can stay with me, and looking for other ways to help around the house
  8. Good books – lots of good reading material to keep me busy
  9. NetFlix – sometimes you just need to watch old movies and TV shows
  10. Baby steps – Thursday was definitely my worst day this week. But each day I’m seeing small improvements. I’m now able to sit up from a laying down position (that is by far the most difficult task), stand up almost totally straight, walk around for more than 2 minutes at a time, shower, and stay awake all day!

 

Day-to-Day

Daniel at work

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The chime sounded on my phone a couple of days ago. As I checked it, I discovered a text from one of Daniel’s teachers. No message, just a photo.

How happy it made me to see him working so diligently during Norwegian class!
For those who have recently asked, our boys attend an International Baccalaureate School. The majority of the teaching is in English, but they have about 5 hours of Norwegian class each week.
cross-cultural living, Day-to-Day

Surgery Next Week

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Apparently my last post about surgery was confusing. I have not had my surgery yet. It is scheduled for this Monday, January 19.For those that aren’t caught up, I’m the lucky 39 year old that gets to have a hysterectomy (more on that HERE). Not the most exciting thing to deal with, but I’ve had some health issues that necessitate it. And I am totally ready to get it behind me. In fact, I was totally ready back on December 3 when I was originally scheduled for surgery. But as most of you now know, that didn’t happen (read about that HERE).

I could write a book about that whole experience. About the difficulty in understanding language if it involves medical terminology (WAY outside my limited Norwegian vocabulary), or when I have already been given strong medication. Or about the importance of bedside manner when delivering the news that you’ve sat in a hospital bed for seven hours, but the surgery will not take place (two different people delivered the news, in two very different ways). Or about how much it meant for friends to check on me, and especially those who heard the postponement news and replied with simple messages like “I am so sorry. That really stinks.” Because it did. Plain and simple. Or about how my mom worked so hard to get here to help out, getting bumped from flights and waiting in Minnesota and Amsterdam for hours on end, only to arrive to the news that surgery wasn’t happening.

Yeah, I could write a lot. But the fact is, it didn’t happen. And maybe it was God’s plan that it didn’t happen, or maybe it just didn’t happen because life doesn’t go the way you planned.

But I am hopeful that Monday will end this part of the story! They have me placed earlier on the schedule, so it is less likely for me to get bumped this time. And while we don’t have a family member to help out this time around, I’m certain that my amazing husband will manage just fine!

I’ll try to keep you posted…

Day-to-Day, memorable eats

Sushi, anyone?

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One of our (Zack’s and my) favorite Christmas gifts this year was a DIY sushi kit. Our family loves sushi, and now we can make dinner into a fun family night event!We’ve made it twice now, and I’m excited to continue learning and experimenting.

 

Here is the sushi kit we use for our rolls: http://www.amazon.com/Sushiquik-Sushi-Making-Kit-Easy/dp/B008YWRTB4

 

celebrate, Day-to-Day

2014: The year in review

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It has been a crazy, busy, fun, frustrating, exciting, exhausting, energizing, and all around interesting year.

Here are just a few highlights from our year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

cross-cultural living, Day-to-Day, memorable eats

A Passion… for Pizza!

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Deep-dish pizza – delicious!

On most any Friday evening you can find us at home, eating pizza and watching a movie. It’s become somewhat of a tradition for Familie Dove.

We often give the boys the choice: pick up Grandis from the grocery store (Grandiosa, Norway’s most popular frozen pizza), get takeout from Balkan (our favorite to-go pizza in Sandefjord), or homemade. And most Fridays, they opt for one made from scratch.

Last night, we tried something new. Instead of our traditional rectangular pizza, we experimented with Chicago-style deep dish pizza. And while the boys still prefer the traditional style, Zack and I loved this new version!

I found the recipe HERE. I followed it for the most part. Ground sausage isn’t something I’ve been able to find in Norway, so I improvised with ground chicken and pizza seasoning (improvise is a word I often use when attempting American recipes here!). And I used pizza cheese for both layers of cheese, instead of the final parmesan layer. This was my first experience doing something like this with a springform pan, and I was very pleased with the results – well, once Zack managed to pry the sides off the pan!

Do you make homemade pizza? What type does your family prefer? What are your favorite toppings?

Our typical homemade pizza
No matter the season – we think pizza is good any time of year!
Sometimes we get a little creative – this was
a salmon & pesto pizza

 

From time to time, we go out for pizza.
Pizza almost always produces smiles!
Day-to-Day

Where does the time go?

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I could make excuses for my lack of blogging, but I’ll just sayI’m back!

Well, for now at least.

Life has been hectic. Mostly good stuff, but hectic all the same. Between lots of language study, meetings, and daily routine stuff, I simply let my writing slip. But I really do hope to get back to it now. We’ll see how it goes!

Things are going well here. Fall is here. We are getting a lot of rain. But we really shouldn’t complain after the last few months of beautiful weather. It hasn’t been very cold yet. We had one chilly morning with a little snow, but it only lasted an hour or two and was replaced by more rain.

William finished another football season. We were very proud of him for his effort. And apparently his progress impressed the coaches as well. He got one of the three awards given out at the end of each year: Best fremgang (best progress).

William with one of his coaches at their year-end party
Daniel is continuing with art lessons and is doing a great job! We attended an art show that his teacher was in, and really enjoyed seeing what she creates.
In fact, we liked her work so much that we bought several pieces. This one is now hanging in our kitchen. The photo doesn’t do it justice.
We’ve also had the opportunity to meet friends and colleagues for coffee, go to a couple of birthday parties, attend a costume party at the boys’ school, attend a musical, meet with friends for meals and other events, host a small Halloween party, and attend some seminars and conferences. Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks.