Tag Archives: birthday

More November Highlights

November is already gone – hard to believe! We are almost three weeks into our nine week visit – and we have been BUSY! In addition to multiple Thanksgiving meals (and WAY too much food) we…

  • Helped decorate for Christmas
  • Had amazing pizza in Atlanta
  • Visit the Atlanta Botanical Garden Christmas light display
  • Enjoyed two open house events
  • Had a visit from Sasha
  • Found several cool walking trails
  • Celebrated Jenn’s 40th
  • Celebrated Zack’s dad’s birthday
  • Checked out a coffee shop in Atlanta
  • Went on a boat ride (yes, in November!)
  • Went fishing
  • Ate Mexican food… several times
  • Spent the night several times with grandparents, great-grandparents, and lots of aunts, uncles and cousins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Teenager?!?!

Seems like only yesterday, he was a tiny little blonde-headed boy who struggled to reach the sink to brush his teeth. But suddenly, we have a teenager on our hands. Who, by the way, is now taller than his mom. Crazy.What a blessing our William is, to our family and to others. He is kind and patient, a good friend and a natural leader. We pray that as he continues to grow in stature, he will also continue to grow in wisdom and knowledge of His Savior.

We had a fun weekend celebrating our teen. Saturday we were at a camp at the border of Norway and Sweden with friends.

 

So Sunday (his actual birthday), we drove further into Sweden for an overnight trip in Göteborg/Gothenburg.

At his request, we had burgers at Hard Rock for lunch.

We walked around the city, did a bit of shopping, and enjoyed frappucinos.

And we finished the day with burritos at Wrapped Burrito Bar – probably the best burritos we’ve had since leaving the states!

Then back to our room for some gifts…

And on our way home on Monday, we stopped and explored a really cool fortress.

 

 

Yeah, we aren’t so good with the jumping pictures!

Happy 13th Birthday, William!

Celebrating our 10 year old

We had fun celebrating Daniel yesterday. As is customary, he got to pick the meals and cake. We started with his favorite breakfast, pancakes. Then he took blueberry muffins to school to share with his class. When he got home, he opened his gifts and cards (thanks to everyone that sent cards, gifts, messages, videos, etc). Then we had homemade pizza for dinner.And for dessert, Zack and I attempted to fulfill Daniel’s cake request. He loves the movie Eight Below. And he loves – I mean LOVES – dogs, and especially huskies. So we made a cookies and cream cake shaped like an igloo, decorated with Lego huskies. He was thrilled with it, and that is what matters after all!

We’ll conclude the celebration this weekend with an evening of pizza and bowling.

Double Digits: Daniel is 10 years old!

Hard to believe, but the youngest in our family has now entered the double-digit world. Ten years ago today, a baby boy was born that would bring joy, laughter, and lots of excitement into our lives.

We are so incredibly thankful that God has allowed us to be his parents, and thankful for what a sweet, thoughtful, fun-loving, energetic, and passionate young man he is.

Happy Birthday, Daniel – we love you to the moon and back!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekend fun & preteen celebrations

As I shared on Saturday (HERE), our William turned 12 years old. It really is hard to believe!We had a fun weekend celebrating him, and enjoying some fantastic weather. It was around 23 – 25 C (73 – 77 Fahrenheit) most of the weekend, with lots of sunshine. So most of the weekend, you could find us outdoors!

Friday afternoon we picked up a friend at the airport who was visiting us for the weekend from England. We then met up with friends to grill at the beach. It had rained in the afternoon, so the evening was a little cooler. But the boys and one of their local friends decided to go for a swim. Everyone is estimating that the water was around 10-12 C. The only word I can come up with is crazy.

 

 

 

Saturday we went for a hike, then came back to the house for lunch and William opened gifts.
(He received his gift from us several weeks ago: a much-needed new bike)

After that, we headed to William’s football club for the grand opening of their new artificial turf fields, and to celebrate the club’s 40th birthday. Daniel was excited to meet some of Sandefjord’s players!

Saturday night, William chose to eat at his favorite place: Star Grill. It is a small kiosk in our town that serves excellent burgers.

Then the boys were off to the small tivoli downtown (carnival). They enjoyed three of the four ‘big’ rides. They both looked a little green afterwards!

 

 

We finished up with William’s requested dessert: yellow cake with chocolate frosting, and of course, 12 candles.

Sunday was spent with more friends. We started off with brunch at our house. We introduced some of our friends to a true southern breakfast: biscuits and gravy, bacon, grits, breakfast potatoes, and grits. Then after a nice long walk, we finished it off with dinner at a friends house, and even got to meet a new family that has two boys almost the exact same ages as our boys!
I think it turned out to be a great weekend for our entire family.

One year away from a teen: Happy birthday William!

He is growing up so fast. The boy loves his family. He enjoys football (soccer), biking, reading, going to school, posting (too many?) photos on Instagram, and being outdoors. He is patient, kind, sarcastic (like his dad and mom), pensive at times, and a natural-born leader. I enjoy watching the way he looks out for his younger brother, and the way he also doesn’t put up with his antics too much. I look forward to seeing God’s plans for him as they begin to unfold.

Happy 12th birthday, William!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NWotD: Familie

Familie
(noun) Family.Used in a sentence
Familie er viktig for meg.
(Family is important to me.)

Related words
Far: father
Mor: mother
Sønn: son
Datter: daughter
Bror: brother
Søster: sister

Related to us
We are very excited that Zack’s brother and sister-in-law had their first child, a son!
Vi er veldig glade for at Zacks bror og svigersøster har fått sitt første barn, en sønn!

The Newest Little Boy Dove

Look at those cheeks, and those sweet little fingers
– so precious!

He’s here!

We are so excited for Josh & Savannah (Zack’s brother & his wife). Their first child, a healthy and beautiful baby boy, was born March 5 at 3:33 PM EST.

It’s hard to believe Zack’s baby brother is a daddy now!

Everyone is doing well, and we are so thankful for this new little life!

I prayed for this child, and God gave me what I asked for.
And now I have dedicated him to God. He’s dedicated to God for life.
1 Samuel 1:27-28
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Denne gutten var det jeg ba om, og Herren har gitt meg det jeg ba ham om.
Nå gir jeg ham tilbake til Herren for hele hans levetid. Han skal tilhøre Herren.
Første Samuelsbok 1.27-28

It’s Magic!

Some of our friends gave Daniel a magic set for his birthday last month. If you know Daniel, you know how perfect this gift is.Our little performer is having so much fun learning the tricks. Here is a quick video of one of the first performances by the Great Danino…

Gratulerer med dagen

We had fun celebrating Daniel’s birthday this past week!We began with a taco night with some friends on Monday night. They gave Daniel legos and a magic set – a perfect gift for a kid who loves to perform! It was a fun evening.

On Tuesday, we spent [a lot] of time shoveling to get the car out of the driveway, so we could take something to Daniel’s class. No junk food allowed, so I made fruit & yogurt parfaits, and they were a hit!

When we got home, Daniel opened gifts from us, as well as cards from family & friends in several different countries.

He chose homemade Hawaiian pizza for dinner.

After dinner, several friends came by to help us celebrate. Daniel got some cool books and a gift card to the local toy store. My friend also graciously helped me make a traditional Norwegian birthday cake for Daniel. And I have to say, Norwegians know what they’re doing when it comes to cakes! I had fun learning to work with marzipan to decorate it.

On top of all that, our neighbors also supplied him with his first set of langrenn skis, poles & shoes. (So thankful to have sweet friends, who also happen to have older boys with hand-me-downs!)

Wednesday we were in a neighboring city for house church. Daniel was surprised with more gifts: a Norwegian picture dictionary, and a Norwegian kids’ cookbook. Perfect for our language learner, who also loves to help in the kitchen!
I think our little man
really enjoyed his first birthday in Norway!