Sunny Zoo

What a beautiful day! After so many cold, snowy and rainy days - we LOVED to see the sun and enjoy relatively warm temps. After lunch at Aunt Kaye's, we stopped at the zoo on the way home. N&E were great! We toured around without a stroller and managed not to lose Emerson. I even let them have a elephant ear - their first( Emerson hated it) and a SODA POP. Wow, that's totally breaking Heather rules. :-)

Big black bear lounging in the background

Eureka! A "Chooch Ding Dong"

The sea lions were sleeping on the rocks, in the sun - so of course Norah had to stop for a little snooze too. :-)

Family Morning

After a quick stop at Dad's office to pick something up...

we headed to Aunt Kaye's for lunch and playtime! We haven't seen her in a looooong time and it was great to catch up.

Superbowl Sunday

What a great game! Ryan and I really enjoyed the nailbiter - the most exciting game we've seen in a long time. N&E got in the spirit, colouring football pages.

Baby Papooka

One of Emerson's favorite songs and his first favorite book - Baby Beluga (Raffi).

Story Time

OMG. Today I took the kids to a new storytime...there were AT LEAST 75 kids there. It was a zoo! Everyone was so overstimulated, including me. The library is on the mall, so after a crazed coughing fit from Emerson we left and played in the kids area instead.

More snow?

I can't believe we woke up to more snow this morning! It looks like it will melt soon, but we enjoyed a little walk outside. Emerson decided he didn't like walking in it, but after a bit got into the action!

Sleep my friend

Emerson has been pretty darn good with the transition to his new bed. But tonight he fell asleep in his doorway, with his special blankie in hand.

Happy Birthday NEMB!

Neil's birthday today - he and the fam invited us for playtime at a park. Pretty park, but the ducks and geese creeped me out. Neil and James
Josie, Dannelle, Hadley and Norah
Emerson was so excited to see Josie when she woke up. She was still a little sleepy and when he ran over and yelled in her face she reached out and punched him ROFL. It was a gentle punch and I was lucky enough to catch it on camera.

Glamour Kitty

Off to school. We love this outfit from Gramma Joyce - Norah insisted on bringing her purse to school as well. Cute!

Happy Inauguration Day!

A cute little thumbnail from the kids photos through Fusion Photography.
Ready to celebrate!

Zoo, Zoo, Zoo = Cold, Cold, Cold

Brrr...N, E and I met friends at the Zoo today and it was COLD. Overall we had fun, although at one point or another everyone had a meltdown. Except Shannon and me, we managed to keep it together. :-)Paige, Brannon, Norah and Emerson
Brannon pushed Emerson all the way up Zoo hill - nice!
Very cool tarantula, photography by Norah.

Checking out the insects

Adorable Paige! I wanted to sneak her home with us.

The last time we visited the zoo the otters were "R" rated and I had to hurry the kids past - but today they were much more family friendly.

Scootering Around

Today has been gorgeous - we took advantage of the chilly/windy, but sunny day and went on a walk by the Columbia. Norah and Emerson were able to break out their Christmas scooters from G&G Butterfield finally (so far they've been riding them around the house) and test out their skills. Ryan has never been one to follow rules, so he risked life and limb to give Emerson a close up view of a train. E was in heaven with the trains going by and the planes flying overhead.

Watching the river

After a short scooter trip, Emerson decided it was too slow and he was just going to pull his scooter along after him. :-)

Stuff

Ridgefield Library with Norah, Kim and Hadley
Multitasking. I believe he was pretending to talk to Grammie Peggy on one phone and Uncle Dave on the other.

Big boy bed update - so far Emerson has been doing really well with his new bed! All bedtimes have been under an hour before he falls asleep, and most considerably shorter than that. He is even taken to napping well. yay!

G'night Emerson

Tonight is Emerson's first night in a 'big boy' bed! He has a fancy new bed shaped like a car, which he and Norah enjoyed immensely this afternoon. However, come bed time he was not so sure about this whole concept. After about 45 minutes of testing his new boundaries he finally fell asleep. I crept in on him a few hours later to take a peek and found this pose - his bedding all switch to the end of the bed, arms thrown up and special blankie over his head. Is this a sign of surrender to the new bed?? We'll see how the rest of the night goes!

A Day with Grandpa

Grandpa drove up today to join us on an outing to OMSI. We visited a few nooks and crannies we'we haven't been in before, including a reptile lab. After OMSI we stopped by for a quick visit at Union Station, the train station in downtown PDX.

Favorites of the day...

Emerson - the earthquake simulator - he must have sat on it at least 40 times.

Norah - the chemistry lab

Grandpa - he says he liked the lab and the earthquake (good grandpa) but he played the longest with a $75,000, high-powered microscope.

Heather - the big, giant ear

Just cute

Norah, in an outfit from her Aunt Lynne and riding the scooter Grandma Carmen and Grandpa Lyman gave her for Christmas.

Christmas with Gramma and Grandpa Skogen

Finally! After two aborted attempts at Christmas in Corvally (weather and illness) we made it down for a fun Christmas party! N&E had such a phenomenal time they didn't want to leave...we had to have terribly sad crying when it was time to go. G&G showered them with fun and thoughtful gifts and Gramma outdid herself with a lovely Christmas dinner. G&G gave Norah the Glamour Kitty outfit pictured here - she had to go put it on right after opening presents. It came complete with beret, purse and tights with kitties up the sides. Sassy!

Rojo the Dinosaur

G&G had a llama visit their home today, so we snuck in for some of the action. The kids were entranced by Rojo - he was very tame. As far as llamas go. :-) Norah was like a llama paparazzi, several of these shots are from her. Emerson initially called Rojo a horse, but then decided it was a dinosaur...

G&G

N&E and I had a treat today, when Grammie Peggy and Hadley joined us on our excursion to visit the great g'rents. It was a bit of a zoo! Norah and Hadley, pretending to sleep in Great-Grandma's bed
Great-Grandma, reading to Emerson

Visiting with Great-Grandpa

Happy New Year!

As we greeted the New Year (miserable colds and all), I was surprised to take a look a back at 2008 and see how many FIRSTS we had - notable moments that made our 2008. Some big, and many more small, fragments of our day-to-day lives. Norah and Emerson will both begin 2009 as brand new four and two year olds, respectively. Here is a look at a few of their FIRSTS in 2008.

NORAH

• First concert – James Taylor http://skogenfamily.blogspot.com/2008/07/james-taylor-norahs-first-concert.html
• First ballet recital – Teddy Bear Picnic
• First camping trip http://skogenfamily.blogspot.com/2008/07/our-first-family-camping-extravaganza.html
• First slumber party
• First day of preschool http://skogenfamily.blogspot.com/2008/10/norahs-first-day-of-preschool-aka-how.html
• First Beaver football game
• First Norwegian Dance performance
• First ballet – La Boutique Fantasque with Gramma and Grandpa
• First Nutcracker performance
• Norah decides what she will be when she grows up - an astronaut and a face painter (when she’s not flying through space, yes – that’s what she said). http://skogenfamily.blogspot.com/2008/05/when-norah-grows-up.html
• First train ride
• First Pi Phi philanthropy day
• Portland Art Museum visit – The Dancer, featuring Degas, Forain and Toulouse Latrec http://skogenfamily.blogspot.com/2008/04/dancer-portland-art-museum.html
  First signature http://skogenfamily.blogspot.com/2008/04/milestones.html
• First trip to the Enchanted Forest
• First Library card
• First Syttende Mai celebration
• First summer reading program at the library
• First sled ride

EMERSON

• Master of many signs and many more words
• First sentence – Momma, boompa bake (momma, balloon broke!)
• First Haircut http://skogenfamily.blogspot.com/2008/08/emersons-first-hair-cut.html
• First camping trip
• First trip to the Enchanted Forest http://skogenfamily.blogspot.com/2008/05/enchanted-forest.html
• First Snow
• First phone chat
• First hike where he was able to walk himself
• First Trick-or-treat on his own
• First Easter egg hunt
• First VANS, a Skogen family tradition
• Reading first letters – T, K, B and C
• First train ride http://skogenfamily.blogspot.com/2008/07/mt-hood-railroad-grammies-birthday.html
• First run through a sprinkler
• First Syttende Mai celebration http://skogenfamily.blogspot.com/2008/05/syttende-mai-norwegian-constitution-day.html
• First fireworks display
• First trip to Powells Bookstore http://skogenfamily.blogspot.com/2008/08/powells-bookstore-portland-oregon.html
• First ride in a Jeep
• First sled ride

Happy Birthday Emerson and Ryan!

Today Emerson turned TWO and Ryan turned...well, that's his business at this point. Ryan had the day off, so we entertained ourselves with family activities. It was great fun opening Emerson's presents and playing with them (we all helped out in the play department).

**

Year two has been full of leaps for E! He is a sweet little guy with a very silly sense of humor. His current fave toys - Brio Thomas Tank trains, matchbox cars, any and every Jeep, and a big Tonka dump truck. He also likes to keep track of everyone's shoes and if he is ready to go, he'll round them all up, pass them out and tell us its time to GO, especially on a walk. We hear 'go walk' all the time. Emerson's language skills are constantly growing and he has just begun recognizing many of the uppercase letters of the alphabet. His fave books this year have been Baby Beluga, anything train-related and most recently Miss Spider's Tea Party and Good Dog, Carl. He seems to have no fear of anything physical and runs, leaps and nosedives whenever he is in motion - which is constantly! He loves to talk on the phone, both to real people and pretend friends. He eats just about anything and is especially fond of DIP (a four letter word in our house). If possible, he makes everything dippable, even a cup of water will do. Emerson's excitement in exploring his world brings great joy to our family. His dynamic personality is a constant source of happiness.

**

Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted all the birthday photos and video off of my $%*#@ camera. Of all the thousands of photos I take, it had to be the birthday ones that get fouled up. Grr. Really grumpy.

Lille Leikarringen 2008

Addison Paige Bennett

A miracle and a blessing - The Sevey family's sweet baby girl. I was so fortunate to be there for her debute into the world. She is beautiful!

Christmas time

Christmas at Norse Hall

December 4, 2008

Norah performed at the holiday party at our Sons of Norway lodge - her last Norwegian dancing performance of her first year. We have had so much fun at Norse Hall, and with her children's group!
Outside the hall, built in 1911. She's almost grown out of her first bunad, so we'll have to start working on sewing another one. We may even make Emerson a boy bunad, as he's pretty into the dancing as well. :-)

Norah and most of her Lille Leikarringen group, with her teachers, Miss Karen and Miss Lori.