Fall Updates

While I haven't even begun to finish posting about all of our summer travels, I thought it was time to give a little more current update on how we are all doing. Autumn is in the air! It seemed quite warm to us all of September and we were wondering how cold it was really going to get before we leave in December, and then October 1st hit and along came the cold. We've had a lot of cool, clear weather, but that usually follows a lot of rain and wind. No real color change though, guess we got spoiled living in Massachusetts. We've had to use both the upstairs and downstairs fireplaces a few times because the house is just so cold! We've decided to heat the place as much as we can with just the fireplaces and only use the electric (the very expensive electric) to heat in the girls' room at night. The fruit trees in the yard produced a lot of fruit: plums, pears and apples. Not all of it is really good to eat straight off of the tree so I've been making lots of sauces.

The girls are doing really well. Linnea continues to love school and is learning to speak a lot of Swedish. She is also learning a lot at home too. The other day we had a long discussion about decay thanks to PBS Kids "Sid the Science Kid" that she explores online. She also has informed me that Sonja has an invisible arm and that is why she does things (like pour water on her head in the bath) that I can't see and it is clearly not Linnea's fault. And on Matthew's birthday, she told him he should change his name to Grandpa Jeff. I don't know where she gets this stuff. We spent last Friday outfitting Linnea with a "new" (well, new to her) snowsuit complete with snow boots. Now it's hard to convince her not to wear the whole getup every time we leave the house. It's not that cold, yet! Friday night has also become "movie night" and Linnea gets to choose the dinner and the movie and sometimes a movie treat.

I take both girls with me to open preschool once a week on Monday mornings where we usually meet a friend and play for the morning. On the days that Linnea is in preschool, Sonja seems to enjoy assuming the role of Linnea. She plays with all of the toys that Linnea usually controls and sits in Linnea's seat at the kitchen table. But she does get a little lonely after a while and is generally really excited to pick Linnea up at "SCHOOL!". School is one of the many words that Sonja can say now but she thinks it's the same as the Swedish word "skål", which is like saying "cheers". So when Sonja talks about school it is usually said loudly with an enthusiastically raised up arm as if she were holding a mug of beer. She also likes to say "whoaw", which is like a combination of "wow" and "whoa". It's really funny the way she says it and how she uses it. Like when we were checking out the stars last night "whoaw" or when she almost falls off the bed "whoaw". Sonja also goes to open preschool on Tuesdays with Matthew, while I take a little time off for myself- yay. We try to keep her busy too so she stays out of mischief.

Matt's Swedish seems to be coming along well too. He has to take a language exam soon as part of his graduation requirements. I'm sure that he'll do just fine. He's been studying a lot and practicing a lot with friends. Together we've started a weekly bible study group with our friends that have small children. The term "bible study" is used loosely though because we all have small children and it's hard to keep focused. But we knew that, so our main goal is just to get together once a week, share a meal, sing some songs, have the kids play together, discuss what's been going on in our lives and pray together. We really enjoy the fellowship. We are still attending two church services on a Sunday. Not because we are overly pious, but because one is in Swedish and one is in English. The Swedish one is more traditional Lutheran so I can follow along with the liturgy but really get lost on the Sermons. The English speaking one is not so formal and of course I usually don't have a problem following along. :-) We really enjoy both services and have friends at both churches.

I've been doing much better since I've seemed to have figured out that I have a problem with gluten. Over the summer it seemed problems with my stomach and digestion were getting really bad. I don't know if I'm gluten intolerant, luckily we've got a doctor in the family who can figure that out, but I just know that when I eat things containing gluten it's no good. So I am trying my best to avoid gluten. It's amazing what can contain gluten besides the obvious breads and pasta. We're learning to check everything! But since I've cut out the gluten I feel so much better. Even my mood and energy level has improved. I've been feeling so good that I've even taken up running again. About 2-3 times a week I go for longer (about 6 miles) solo runs out by the coast and then maybe 1-2 times a week I'll take the jogging stroller out with Sonja (sometimes Linnea too) for shorter runs, 2-3 miles or less if it's really windy, around the house.

Our camera stopped working towards the end of the trip in Norway so I don't have any really recent pictures to post yet. We did replace the camera this week with a inexpensive, used one that we'll use until we can get our other camera fixed back in the US. So more pictures and stories coming soon!