My girls the photographers...and models

Madison and Mikaela get creative sometimes, and Madi has really started to enjoy her new camera. It is funny sometimes to see how they turn out as she doesn't have patience to wait for it to focus and actually shoot the shot she wants. They also make some of the most interesting dress up outfits--the sun was beautiful when we were taking pictures, so I thought I would share. Madison loves to make up new poses :) She is my model, actress, creative one. Mikaela is definitely an athlete and so far is happy to follow her sister in whatever she is doing! They both are so cute sometimes...I believe it is so they stay alive longer!

Less sugar diet...

So...we are trying to eat less sugar and are failing miserably! Here we are on a Friday night making caramel popcorn with only 2 cups of brown sugar!! They were soo good and the girls had a blast making them. Thanks Katrina for the awesome recipe :)

Hanging out

SO...our posts aren't nearly as exciting as living in the Caribbean, but we still have fun and want Grandma and Grandpas to know what we are up to. This is yet another way my girls get o so creative with their boring mother!

Home School

This is Madison's "body" from our home school creation. Michelle has the best ideas (I claim none of this creativity!) There is a brain on top, painted bones underneath and then the arteries and veins. So cool. In the background you can see our attempt at recreating Matisse (a famous artist) and our calendar that is struggling to be kept current.

Costume Creations

We went to Jasper's birthday party and it was one where you got to dress up in your favorite costume...well! Mikeala was a fairy and Madison created her own princess, fairy type thing. This is what she decided to do with her hair! She is so creative! Must get it from her Grandma Diana :)

"Married" girls

When my girls dress up they like to say they are getting married--then they are "married" girls. It is really cute; it is nice to have them at home and to get to do so many fun things with them. I love being a mom.

Virginia

Well, we've made it!! Sorry we haven't been keeping up...life is always interesting around our house! I think we are finally settled and loving what life is bringing us lately! After the crazy moving months of the DR, and then the crazy vacation month of December, we were so ready for some peace and normalcy. After having the flu when we got here to D.C. and some other illnesses, we worked through my 32nd birthday (me sick as a dog) because, of course, we have to get used to all the bugs of Virginia now!! Oh, and we'll do it again come August in Mozambique. Maybe someday we really will have awesome immune systems, but for right now it seems we just keep getting used to all new bugs from all new places :)
Madison is homeschooling with Sam, her cousin. Michelle and I love to have our kids at home and love even more that we get to teach them together! She teaches Madi two days a week and on those days I teach all the kids Spanish with the really fun program I did when I was in Russia (ILP). It seems to work out really well. Madison has taken to the idea of being at home and enjoys her cousins tons! She even has accepted doing it with me at home. The Lord has helped us find the things that we need to make our family work and we are continually being guided in this process. Thank heavens for help!!
Mikaela loves that she always has mommy around; we all loved Juana, but I think my girls prefer Mom and Dad. Tobias is home a lot because he is learning Portuguese really fast. We all love the library and are already feeling that we are going to have serious withdrawals as we prepare for Mozambique is August. Daddy reads lots with the girls in our new red papasan chair. Niki is into red and so we have lots of new red stuff. We also love our new car mostly for the DVD player that is already installed in the car--we watch lots of DVDs from the library and everyone in the whole family is happier!! We also love being able to get around by ourselves :) We have recently learned though that after all of Tobias' hard work in getting such a great car, it may just be too ostentatious for Africa. Oh well. We'll find another one with a built in DVD player and leather seats. Those are the MOST important :)
We love our time together as a family, we love living in America for a while, the parks, the libraries, the friends and family. We are so lucky to live next to my best friend Michelle, who married Tobias' cousin Peter (yes, I set them up and now we have the same last name!!) It has been such a blessing and a tender mercy! We love them!
Hope you are all doing well. Christmas cards are on their way in the next month...or two. Loves to all.

Let it SNOW!

Well, we have had no lack of snow this holiday season and our kids are loving it! Here are some of the fun pics. Madison and Mikaela in the snow, and in their get up, plus my sister and brother working their way down the hill, and the same crazy sister with shorts on outside!! It is funny to think we were just at a tropical resort.

Family Reunion

So, nothing less than a miracle...but the Norris siblings got together for a reunion, and surprisingly it has been wonderful. We even were organized enough that we got family pictures taken! It was inside so the lighting isn't perfect, but we did it! Wahoo! Hospital visits and a 40 year snow storm that hasn't let up hasn't dampened anything. We are stuck in Oregon...but we are with good people and having a good time! Here't to family!!! Lovin' it!

Niki has Malaria...no wait, it's Dengue..no Leptospirosis...

We left Texas on Friday the 12th to come visit my dad here in Oregon. The plane ride was one of those wake up before the sun ones...and I had the worst headache the whole way--Tobias gets major brownie points for watching the kids the whole way. I felt like if I opened my eyes I would throw up. Well, I figured it was sitting next to the engine that caused me to be vibrated into feeling so crappy. Well, in the afternoon when we finally got home and ate (I didn't throw up but wanted to!) I took a long nap hoping I would feel a bit better. All evening I was uncomfortable and wondering why I couldn't get into a comfortable position. By four in the morning I gave up and came downstairs. I started to get the chills and was really just in so much pain. I would shake to releive some of the pain. Tobias woke up and helped me around 6:30 but nothing was helping. I rested for a few minutes, but went back to the shaking and being miserable. Long story shorter, we went to the ER in the afternoon and I was in the hospital Saturday through Wednesday. They thought I had all kinds of funky things from the DR...but in the end it is a kidney infection ( I am sure the bacteria comes from the DR!) I guess I have had a urinary tract infection for a long time that worked its way up to my bladder then kidney. Let's just say I will be drinking cranberry for the rest of life!!! Kidney infections are evil! I had no idea you could be so sick!
I have been so totally out of commission with tons of family doing everything for me! They watched the girls, drove Tobias everywhere (his license is expired) and all the stuff you do to take care of a small family. We are now in the middle of a big family reunion with my all of my siblings here for the first time in like 15 years or something. It is pretty darn cool--I just wish I could enjoy it a bit more. I am now waiting for my body to recover not only from the infection, but from some problem in my neck. Yikes! Thank heavens we are in America!!! It could not have "happened" at a better time!
Just a last word in this blog...America is amazing. I was astounded at how the hospital functioned. It's own team of IV nurses, infectious disease doctors, ekg people (they came right to my room and were in and out in 7 minutes), the C-scan people who made me drink this nasty bath water stuff-they were so quick and clean. The check-in nurses even asked me for a "Clean Catch" sample of my pee! In the DR I am not sure they know what that is! They had their own transportation people who just go around to the rooms and take people on strechers to their different exams--I was impressed. We might not have everything right in our country, but we are sooooo blessed!! It was like being in a lodge on the mountain. I had huge windows where I could see tons of pine trees and watch the snow. It was beautiful--especially the last day when I could actually see straight and get out of bed! I felt like a little lab puppy feeling the wind on my face for the first time when we drove home. I kept the window down the whole way. I don't desire to go back to a hospital anytime soon, but if I need to, I hope we are in America!! Here's to your health!

Playin' with the cousins

Here we are in Texas loving hanging out with cousins. Madison has been so excited about doing this...and now we get to! We dressed up to go to Riley's presentation and decided to take some pictures. Layla wasn't exactly excited--but the others turned out sooo cute!

Moving

Boxes, boxes, and more boxes. Pulling hair out...and lots of fun! We're done!!! WAHOO!

Ode to Madison

Madison is our little actress. So creative in how she thinks about the world and how she sees things. Like her Grandma Diana, Madison loves to create with paper and pen or with her imagination. We are always acting out something and inventing "calvin-ball" like activities. Madison is like her Oma when we go to the park and she cannot resist picking the flowers. When we come home with a collection every time, I ask why she won't listen and not pick the flowers. She says, "But they are so pretty, I just wanted them!" We come home and "organize" them is what she says, and she makes sure we all are given some. It is now the same thing at the beach...we go and she only wants to collect shells; we have so many now I am not sure what we will do with them! She is very compassionate like her Grandpa Kay-always looking out for those around her and she really does notice when something is the matter. One day while walking, we passed a little girl crying in the back of a parked pick-up. Madison turned right around and wiped the girls' tears. It was remarkable to me that there were no barriers for Madison. Color didn't matter, nor the fact that we didn't know anything about this little girl. One of our favorite things about Madison is that she has a BIG heart.

Inherited from Oma and Opa Madison loves to see new places and new things. She loves when visitors come...we decided that our house is called Hotel Bradford (we are actually one of many hotel Bradfords). There are people here all the time and Madison loves to see who they are, go through their luggage, wake them up in the morning, play with their babies, etc. My Aunt Sharolyn came a few days ago very late at night and then we left in the morning to do some errands before she woke up. Madison kept asking where she was as she was concerned maybe she didn't come. She wanted to meet her and welcome her to our home. I had to laugh at our little hostess.

Finally, Madison is a mixture of her mom and dad. Stubborn like...OK, like me. But Tobias' side isn't far behind. Her verbal abilities for sure come from the Bradford side...and her ADD--or constant ability to be doing, comes from her daddy. Her joy for life comes from Tobias as well. I tried to convince her that this year, because of moving and such, to do a party at McDonalds like all the other kids...but no, she really wanted lots of people and a party in her own home. Tobias is always inviting people over and we are always entertaining. I guess it is fair to say it comes from both of us. Her high-spiritedness comes from me, I admit it. Madison loves life and will take the world by storm. Actually, she is in the process already.
We love you Madison! With all your smiles and giggles and hugs and kisses. You are so special to us. Happy Birthday.

MADISON IS FIVE!!!

Happy Birthday to Madison :)
We just finished her 7 hour birthday party and wanted to post the pictures for those who know that the 16th is Madison's special day. It is amazing that our baby is now five. She was the star of the show today wearing her favorite (wears it six days out of every seven) butterfly dress. The small cake with a doll sticking out is my poor attempt at a princess with the cake as her skirt. Madison also saw the cake of her dreams at the store so we bought it too! Good thing--the cake went so fast with the 30 or so quests. Everyone swam to their hearts content and we stuffed ourselves with hamburgers and cheese puffs! Also lots of fresh fruit :) The kids had a blast and Madison was the princess for a day. Happy Birthday little one--we love you so much.

Trip to the Southern Coast

On our adventure to the end of the world we saw so many cool things! I am sure we took a few extra hours getting places because of all the things we wanted to take pictures of! Hope you enjoy a trip through rural end of the world Dominican Republic. (click on pictures for more info)

My schedule

Ok...so is anyone interested in what goes on the last few weeks before one moves with the foreign service? I wish I could write as well as my friend Jay Porter...but we'll see how well I do. In October the craziness started with General Conference and the power going out for some friends. We ended up having the two families together all weekend...it was a blast! Then we decided to go to El Salvador last minute...Our bestest friends, the Roses, were moving anytime in the last part of October, but we weren't sure when. So we really wanted to spend as much time as possible with them, which was always--the beach, the Colonial Zone, the zoo, everywhere! The week before they moved we were at their house everyday-Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and then Tuesday. Wednesday was the day they left so we helped them get the last minute things done and off to the airport. Their tutor, Stephanie, came home with us and we helped her with her last few days. Thursday we spent at the beach, Friday she had to be at the airport at 5 am. Tobias is in charge of those airport runs. Good thing too...I'll tell you that story later. Thursday night we had a wedding dinner for some friends and were out till midnight. I had run home from the beach, changed quickly and headed back out. All day Friday was spent trying to buy something suitable for the wedding (they are really fancy deals here). Then buying a present, then the salon for nails and hair. Two salons looked at me as a white girl and just said "no, we don't do up-dos." OK...We finally found someone who took pity on us and we spent over an hour in a salon getting all dolled up. It was funny and fun. Beckah was a good sport hanging out with me. We rushed to the wedding, to have it start almost an hour late--should we be surprised??? NOO! But, we were. They had asked us to help with the pictures so we had to be on time. It was an awesome wedding in a beautiful hotel. There were two brides who were sisters and then two grooms. All were Dominican except one groom. It was an interesting experience to help the parents fit in who couldn't speak Spanish. They were lovely people.

The wedding was an interesting cultural experience. First they were married in a separate room, then we moved to this big dining hall where we were stuffed with nuts and lots of drinks until they served dinner at 11:30 pm. WOW! The food was wonderful and the music incredibly loud. We loved watching everyone dance...but didn't dare go with them. We went for the only slow song and danced very much like gringos...No one joined us...and I am sure they got a really good laugh out of us. Again we got home soooo late! That Monday night Tobias' cousins came and he picked them up at 111 pm---BUT they had forgotten their passport for the baby. Oh, and they didn't have a birth certificate for him because he is only 7 months old and was born at home. The paper work just hadn't been turned in yet, and they hadn't even thought to have a passport for the babe. Thankfully, instead of having to get on the next plane out, their American cellphone worked and they were able to contact Tobias. Tobias saved the day with some wonderful diplomacy! It was a nothing less than a miracle. OH WAIT!!! Even I am getting all mixed up in schedule. This was the previous week when my friend was moving. I ended up taking the cousins with us to their go away party on Tuesday and then to the bus station on Wednesday morning headed for a resort. The timing was perfect because of how crazy the week was. Saturday night they came home alive from a crazy taxi ride, and Sunday was interesting at church with French, English and Spanish speakers with everything being translated 3 ways :) That afternoon was a babyshower...that night choir...the next week we spent going 100 miles an hour to all the cool tourist places. It was actually really great to get out of the house and to play with the girls while seeing the sights one last time. The zoo was a favorite with hippos that were so awesome! They make the coolest sound and are just so HUGE!

We went to this wonderful island on Thursday, came home and did laundry packed in a hurry and went to sleep so we would be ready for our "trip to the end of the world." (see Eagle Bay) We came back in time Sunday to download and swap pictures and Tobias did the crack of dawn airport rujn once again! We loved being with Anna and Karl and their baby Michael. They blessed our home with softness and a wonderful spirit of contentment and love. Thank you for coming even at such a crazy time! We sure love you guys :)

This week I have been going through every nook and cranny of the house--you know the ones you try to ignore but just keep piling up! Well, we end up paying thousands of dollars for our little junk drawers, so I have to go through everyone. Needless to say my husband's ebay hobbit, oh wait, habit...oh wait, hobby...Well, this thing with ebay saves us TONS of money. BUT a lot of "great deals" accumulate in our nooks and crannies! We have been weeding and sorting and selling and giving away. I am at the point where I just want it gone! If you want to pay me, OK, if not, take it anyway! :)

Beckah's mom came last night and now we have Madison's birthday party Saturday (tomorrow) and Thanksgiving on Sunday because we will be at the resort on the real day. All at my house--we are excited to do all of it...it just keeps us crazy :) Next week we have immunizations, going away visits, tourist stuff with Aunt Sharolyn and then getting all suitcases packed and away, plus all the airplane freight separated as well--come Monday it all has to be sorted because the packers come! AAAAAAAAAA!

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we say goodbye to all of our stuff and head to the resort for the rest of the week. Monday and Tuesday are goodbyes and Wednesday we are out-a-here! Here's to moving!!! :)

Eagle Bay

Our trip to the end of the world started on a Friday afternoon and after driving 3 hours we hunted for a place to stay. If only people here could understand that if you have a telephone, webpage or some way of getting a hold of you that their business would be sooooo much better. But, alas, it was not to be. We searched and searched and finally ended up at our hotel in bed by 9:00. By that time we were all done and especially NOT wanting to keep the children awake one second longer. I thought we would die of paint fumes, but we survived our hotel and started bright and early the next morning out to Eagle Bay. It is right next to the Haitian border so we had to drive another 2 hours to get to the National Park only to have them tell us that one of the cars in our group could not make the drive and we would have to stuff them into our cars or take a 150 dollar boat trip. We decided on the boat trip which just added to the entire adventure. Getting in the boat was probably the biggest part of the adventure since there was no stable dock and we just had to jump for it and hope the waves didn't knock us over. Our stuff was mostly dry and we made it out into the open ocean while Mikaela was stuck on land to come with the rest of our party and Tobias and I were busily scooping water out of the boat. Needless to say I was very grateful to be alive at the end and reunited with our youngest--Tobias was in hog heaven. For those of you who know this it will come as no surprise to you. The water, like I said, was amazing, but I could have done just fine with a half-hour ride to the beach close to town and not had 500 mosquito bites the next day nor the trauma that it is to drive in the back of a Ford Explorer with a 5 year old and a 2 year old for about 20 hours in 3 days.
We saw pelicans flying very close, gorgeous blue water, and were pretty much by ourselves (with our friends of course). It was a nice day at the beach and even nicer to arrive home safe and get cleaned up in a proper shower with shampoo and conditioner. I have been there once, I don't need to go again. Just like eating the iguana Tobias made and the lamb his friend butchured and we ate 1 hour later...I have tried them once and have no need to do it again. Tobias, I am sure, will crave these same experiences for years to come--oh wait! We are in the foreign service and are moving to Mozambique, Africa!!! I think it won't be too hard to come by more of these kinds of nerve racking, bug biting, back killing, mom-torturing adventures :)

Peter and Michelle's Visit June 2007

Okay, so I am just going to start putting up these memories when I get a minute...I am done organizing for our pack out! Tobias' cousin Peter married one of my bestest friends in the whole world, Michelle. You will see them, but these are several pictures of their sons and our daughters. Man do they all love the mud! It is so interesting to go back to the first people who visited us...we were so new at everything, but got acquainted real fast! We went to the northern coast and stayed at a beach called Las Terrenas. It was quite the adventure with getting there and the roads that were like craters on the moon, kids getting motion sickness in the back seat while going over mountain passes and rain that didn't stop for a few days. We switched hotels half way through and enjoyed ourselves immensely. These pictures are taken at a beach we found that we decided to talk a walk on because it was raining. We found the fresh river running into the ocean and the kids had such a good time, we all forgot the rain and just ended up staying. It was such a blast!

Memories

So I found these pictures while cleaning up our hard drive and was pretty nostalgic--I almost felt sad at the beautiful creatures that come into our lives--and THEN GROW UP!! Just kidding, a little. I love how Madison could not figure out how to do the thumbs up sign and has her bathing suit on inside out, and how much Mikaela loved the water. Of course, Madison is the one covered in mud! And I am sure we have so many more pictures of the girls with their fingers up their noses! I want to go back and blog so much of our lives! It is just too much fun to have memories and then to share them. We love our girls so much and feel that they are such a wonderful treasure.