So, I am really bad at blogging, so I am not sure if anyone reads it anymore since I never update it, but I thought I would write anyways. 

We have been doing pretty good. Magnus has started his job and although not enjoying it, it is a job. I keep telling him it has only been a couple months and to give it a few more months before you determine to really not like it. He is talking about starting a leaf raking business, so if that gives you any indication on how much he doesn't like it - he is really not liking it. 

It is hard to see him depressed these days, but I am just praying it will get better. And if anything, once he finishes his internship we can always do something else. 2.5 more years and then we will be done with his whole schooling gig. 

I am doing pretty good, although last week was a hard week for me. We are TTC (trying to Conceive) and it hasn't been happening. Last week I thought for sure I was pregnant, but I wasn't and it really hit me hard -  I am not sure why, but it did. I thought It would be easy to get pregnant since it was very fast with Mika, but it isn't and so I am so hoping that it is in God's timing.  I really felt alone in this whole thing and wished for my family to be closer. I struggle with finding friends here that I can call "family".  I am realizing that family is very important and sometimes wonder if we made a mistake is staying here, but I really can't think that way and so I need to move on and put those thoughts behind me. So, all that to say, we are not pregnant yet, but hope to be soon. 

On a positive note we are looking forward to Christmas and having all of my family here, including my sister from Pak. Yippeee... that is very exciting and I can hardly wait. 

Mika is talking a lot these days and everyday something different comes out - it is very fun. But, he is also at the stage of really trying us, and that is hard. Discipline is hard! I am so lost as to how to really discipline, but I am praying that we can figure it out. Be consistent is all I hear, but where do you draw the line in what to be consistent with and what to just let go. We are to choose our battles too, so where is that line of being strict and being too strict? I pray we can figure this out, but man is it hard. 

So that is our little life right now, nothing too exciting. We are happy and doing good and healthy and that is a huge blessing....

so, my blogging has not been very good lately, but my wonderful Grandparents let me know that they really missed it, so I decided I better get with it.  

We have been very busy and our crazy life just seems to get crazier. We got back from Norway a month ago and we have been house sitting ever since. Every week we have had to move houses, which is a pain, but I am very grateful for a place to stay, so I will not complain. 

We are now staying at Green Bay Bible camp and working for our rent, which has been a huge blessing. Ever since we got back from Norway I have been working full time and Magnus has been daddy day care full time, which is fun to watch although I think Magnus is now very ready to get to work. He starts his new job at the end of the month and I will continue working pretty much full time until then.   We get our house that we have had for the past four years again this year, but not until the beginning of October.  So until then we will put our roots down at the camp. 

Mika turned two last week and he has just been so much fun. He is so in love with Hockey and cars that pretty much every other word is one of those. He is talking more and more every day and I am just so loving this stage.  Today he got on his car underwear and his Hockey Jersey and he headed out the door ready for town... I wish I would have taken a picture of that. It was the cutest thing ever. 

The crazy summer life of the M's...

   in Oregon playing with his cars (daily activity)
Magnus's Graduation in Canada 

  Mika in oregon helping Pappa with the firewood

I guess I should really update our blog, since it has been like two months... yeah, I am not that great at doing this whole thing, but I will try and do better. 

We are now in Norway, which was an awful, awful trip, but we are here and although it has been almost 10 days of sickness - I think we are on the right track to wellness. I am just so thankful that we have 5 weeks here to make up for the last couple weeks of "He.. double hockey sticks". The trip would have been great, but Mika was really sick, and I mean really sick. He could have been on a "World Vision" commercial I am sure of it. He had the flu, and it hit him hard. His eyes were so swollen and full of goo that most of the time you couldn't even see his eyes. His fever was very high, and I could not get it down and we were flying across the world. It was bad. His ears hurt him so bad, and his face was so sad and miserable. I felt like an awful parent and cried a lot during the flights. The worst part was that we had a layover in Zurich for 15 hours... All Mika wanted to do was sleep and so thank God, the airport there had a baby room with cribs and toys and everything you need to take care of your baby. So note to those traveling lots... Go through Zurich if you can. 

So maybe I should back track a little... Magnus finished school and then we cleaned and moved out of our house on the lake once again. May 12th we went to Oregon for a couple of weeks and had a great time down there catching up with family. Mika really enjoyed his Grandma and Auntie Nora. Then we came back up to Canada for Magnu's Graduation, which went really well and Magnus once again came away with the highest awards the college offers. The Governor General Award and the Bachelor of Business Award. We then do a road trip to Calgary to visit friends, which was Great! and then on to Saskatoon to visit some other friends. We left from Saskatoon to Norway. A crazy trip, but we are here now and enjoying the summer here in Norway.  Although a little too hot for me at times ( I am a coastal girl at heart I think ), it is good to be here with the family. 

So that is our little update, and I will hopefully put up more soon. 

I see the light at the end of the tunnel

  So, we are nearing the end... I can see the light! Magnus has only a couple more days of exams and we are FINISHED! Yippee.. I am so exited, 

although I can't get too excited because he has another two years of intense apprenticeship with more schooling ahead, but this stage is over and onto stage number 202. 

We have a few more weeks in our 1.7 million dollar home and then we will wait and see if we get to housesit next year. I really pray we do, and I am almost 

convinced we will. It has been three years, so why not another eh? God has blessed us so much and the great thing about living this way is that we have had the privilege to see God's faithfulness in our lives and his provision.  Every year that goes by my Trust in God builds, and I think that makes it worth everything. Which is a good thing because we have a lot of work ahead of us... Immigration, visas, somewhere to stay in the Fall, job for me and the list goes on. 

But until all that stress starts to pile on - we are going to celebrate Magnus's graduation and his finishing with flying colors.  Not sure how we will celebrate, but we will! Magnus and I had originally, back when he started school, talked about doing a 

cruise or an all inclusive trip somewhere just him and I, but I think we will have to save that until our 50th anniversary, when magnus will actually be making more then $30,000 a year. =) we are going to Norway though and that is as good as any all-inclusive trip to Caribbean, just a little colder maybe and the people speak Norwegian instead of Spanish, but the bead and cheese is diffidently better there then down south.

Spring is Finally here!!

Spring is here, and man am I happy.. It has been a long winter and it feels so good to feel the warmth of the sun. That is one thing I do enjoy about living where there is all the seasons because you really appreciate the Spring time and especially the Summer. 

We are doing well and Mika has been so good these days. He is doing really well at playgroups, and at church, and around other kids.  Things have really changed in that area and I am so proud of him. He has been a lot easier as far as discipline goes and not testing me constantly. I was really on him a lot last month and I think it paid off. He is now obeying and listening most of the time. I think he was just at that ripe age of really figuring out what he could get away with. I am glad I didn't let things go and was on top of it because it is paying off. Of course things could change quickly so we shall see next month.  He is such a boy and it amazes me how he  just loves anything boy. He is fascinated these days with motorcycles and bikes, he loves bikes, but he doesn't even know what it is??? go figure. And any big machine we see, like a backhoe or a tractor, he gets so excited! I don't need to ever take him to a zoo, I just need to go and let him watch a construction site for a while and that makes him so happy. I am constantly amazed at the built in attraction for cars and machinery in boys.. I am convinced there will be these things in heaven because I don't think guys can exists with out them.  

A lot of people have been asking us .... are we staying or going? And we are staying. We have made a decision to stay here due to many things, but that main thing is that if we were to go to the States Magnus would have to do another year of schooling (they require 5 years of university) and we just did not want to go through that again. Magnus would have had to start school now online and go through the whole summer doing a ton of course and we were just not all that excited about that when he is graduating here in a month. Also, we have great friends here and I just felt that when I think of Mika growing up, I want him to grow up around boys his age and families that I respect, and we have that here. There are so many boys his age and Mika already loves them.  Another area is the economy in the States is a little shaky and we just weren't sure if the Firm down there would still give us a job in September.  Magnus has a job here with a big firm, which has it's good and bad things, but in all I think it will be a good experience and a good resume builder. So, yes, we are staying in Canada and I pray it is the right decision. 

I never thought I would be happy the day my kid started hitting

                     

         

    

   

These last couple weeks have been so much 

better with Mika. Now I really think that he was still getting over being sick and that was why he was acting up so much. I think he was sicker with the measles then I thought. He is so good when he is sick that I have a hard time knowing how sick he really is. Also, I am understanding him more and accepting him how he is. Since he was such a easy baby I had it so easy, now I think I am actually having to be a mom and deal with emotions, and personality issues.  I sometimes still get overwhelmed and wonder how in the world I am going to deal with him, or train him to be a boy that sticks up for himself.  He doesn't know how to handle boys that pick on him or push him, he just cries.  I never thought I would be excited or ok with the fact when he starts to hit, but I am... He started hitting other boys at playgroup the other day when they got in his space. At first I was mad at him, but then I was like "yeah!"he is learning to stick up for himself. Of course, I still get on his case for hitting, but it is good to know that he can stick up for him self.  Yesterday we went to a playgroup and there were lots of kids there, and Mika was awesome!! I was so happy... he was actually a lot better then some of the others. He was running around and talking and playing and being so good. So I think things are looking better. He is still sensitive and unsure about other people, but at least Playgroups are looking better for us. Next week we start swimming lessons 2 days a week, so we are excited about that. Mika has a new word this week that he loves to say, and that is "Hockey". He was watching it with Magnus this weekend and then all of the sudden he blurts out "hockey", and now all he ever wants to do is watch hockey. It is so cute, he gets so excited when he is watching it. I guess he is a true Canadian, and he takes after his Pappa who loves hockey. 

Also, we have officially booked our tickets to Norway for this summer. It looks like we are going to be going there for most of the summer. We had originally booked them on airmiles for May when we were thinking of moving to Oregon, but now that we are seriously looking at staying here, we have changed them to July and August. We have now almost paid for the tickets with all of our ticket changes, but that is what you get for being indecisive.  We are really excited and looking forward to spending a lot of time with the Grandparents. 

"What goes around comes around"

So, it is true "what goes around comes around" ! It is a depressing day when you realize your wonderful, amazing, beautiful, bright, cute, adorable little toddler isn't really any of those. I finally accepted the truth that I have a tough toddler. He was the easiest baby ever to be on this earth I swear. Sleeping through the night at 5 weeks, and I mean sleeping through the night, always happy and content and never fussy. Then we reach the one year mark and that was ok, but now it is a year and a half and I have my hands full. My biggest issue is that he does not like other kids, and when I say does not like, I mean screaming and throwing fits when other kids come into his comfort zone. Other kids come and try to give him a hug and he freaks out! He is good at home, expect for his testing and stubbornness that I deal with a lot, but in public he is a nightmare, and that is hard for me. I love going to play groups and getting out seeing other mom's daily, but Mika can't stand it. He is very emotionally unstable for at least the first 45 min, and then after that he is somewhat ok. I am pretty sure Mika will never get invited to Birthday parties, and I am sure he is ok with that. I guess Magnus was the same way and so I blame it all on him. Magnus told me last night that he use to scratch kids if they came close, and I was like 'Oh boy I guess I have that to look forward to next - great' . At the same time Magnus turned out pretty good I have to say, and so that is what I hang on too. I was told that the super sensitive boys are the ones that turn out the best, and I have to agree. I keep telling MIka that I am going to spank the demons out of him, but I should probably not to so hard on him and try to figure out how to deal with it in a right way. Let’s just say I am planning on reading anything I can that deals with emotional disorders in toddlers, if there is such a thing. I still love him when we aren't in public though, and at home he is a cutie and I love him. I just fear that we aren't that popular and will never get invited anywhere, and it is probably true, but oh well.. what goes around comes around I guess.

A very long drive, a very sick kid, and a thirsty car.

We are back from our little trip to Oregon... A very long drive, a very sick kid, and we almost ran out of gas! Exciting I guess, but more stressful then anything. 

We started out on a very nice Saturday morning, quickly realized we had no oil in our car, so we waited for Walmart to open, bought our oil and off we went. Half way to my Mom's house Mika started to cry and when I got him out of his car seat I was shocked to how warm he was and wet from sweat. He wouldn't eat and was a very unhappy camper. We rushed to the a Safeway and got him some Tylenol and off we went. Mika slept most of the time, but every 45 min waking up crying because we was so sick. We would give him more Tylenol and then off again we would go. Because we were so focused on Mika being sick and just wanting to get to our destination we didn't realized we were running low on gas. We had turned off from the I-5, and quickly realized that there were no gas stations open after 11:00 in the morning along the Oregon Coast. We prayed like crazy and rolled into North Bend (where my mom lives) at 12:30 in the morning with only enough gas to probably make it another 5 miles - talk about a God thing. We left Kelowna at 6:30am, but due to our oil issue, didn't really leave until 7:30am, and then got to our destination 17 hours later.....  We were happy to be there lets just say that! 

Mika was miserable for 3-4 days while we were there, which was really hard for us, because we wanted to have a relaxing time and for my mom to enjoy Mika. But after that pasted we did have a good time and mom had some quality time with Mika. I don't think Mika was himself really the whole time we were there, but at least he did get better towards the end. We pretty much figured he had Roseola ( a infant Measles type of virus ). He had a rash and a high fever for 3 days. 

Anyways, the reason we went down to Oregon was to figure out if we were to move there or not after Magnus Graduates in the Spring. We had felt that doors were opened up down there and that was were God was leading. We really weren't excited about it, but due to my mom's situation and everything we felt it was right. But, when we were down there we realized that Magnus would have to do practically another year of schooling to qualify for the CA program, and the firm didn't really guarantee us a job. I am sure they would hire Magnus, but because of the economy they couldn't give us a guaranteed answer, which we really wanted. We also looked to see if we qualified for a mortgage and again they didn't really give us an answer or know what to do with us. So we went down to Oregon for more clarity and came away even more confused. So we are back to square one. Where to put our roots???? It is a very hard decision because so many things are involved. It isn't like whatever we can just move later if we want too, because it is two different countries. We lose residency in one, and have to gain residency in another, which makes it very difficult. Maybe we will just go and pitch a tent right on the border that should solve it. Anyways.. Do we do another year of school and pay a lot of money for it, live with my mom and work part time in Oregon? Or do we give up our US residency, gain Canadian residency, and start the CPA program in the Fall with KPMG? uhhmm .... not too sure, but I am just hoping that something becomes more clearer in the next couple of weeks. 

Rocks, snow, a lake, and a Wendy's ballon.

 

  

So, yesterday we went to Wendy's with our good friends Colleen and Miles because it was the Dream day, where they donate all of the profits and wages to send special need kids to DisneyLand.  So we like to support that and any excuse to get Wendy's is always good. Anyways, Mika would not go anywhere that day with out the ballon, but I really wanted to go  outside and take pictures of him throwing rocks, because he just loves that. He insisted on taking the ballon, and at first I was not happy with that, but then once I started taking pictures I really liked them and am happy with his whole balloon obsession. We went on a walk to get the post, and it was so cute how everyone that drove by, probably coming home from work, would look and then get a big smile on their face. I just love that with kids, people can't help but smile, even the grumpiest ones or the ones who have had the worst day.  Right now Mika is really upset. He is holding his ballon and trying to tell me that his balloon is no longer flying high in the sky, but dragging on the ground. Too cute.... 

So, I just have to put these photos on of him and his Wendy's ballon. Besides going to Wendy's we are busy with playgroups every day and different things. I am really looking forward to Spring, so that we can actually walk outside and not slip on ice, or go to the park! what a concept - playing outside. I saw a little green thing springing up out of the snow yesterday and I got all excited, so we will see, maybe it is a early Spring? 

Bronze medal in the Geek Olympics

   
Well, I am very proud of my hubby who is the 3rd smartest person in Canada (I am a little biased, but I think he is the smartest anyways). A couple of months ago he qualified for the final of an accounting competition that was all over Canada, which put him in the finals against all the big Universities in Canada. Some of the top Business Universities known world wide for their Business programs were in the finals. He became a hero at the college, and although feeling a lot of pressure to do good at the finals in Toronto, I think he enjoyed it. The college paid for him, his accounting prof, and another student that was in it together with him to the finals. It was a five day competition and they were treated like royalty. Banquets, wine and cheese and the whole package. But, of course, Magnus comes down with the stomach flu the first night there... He never gets sick, and then in this important competition he gets the flu! It might have been food poisoning - it is hard to say though. It is just such a bummer that he didn't get to enjoy all the fancy food, but even more of a bummer that he felt really sick on the day of his competition. But that didn't stop him, and he did really well and him and his buddy came in third over all. Pretty good I would say for only studying at a local college, not even an University! So, as much as I tease him that he won the Geek Olympics, I am super proud of him. He is not one to brag, but I am so I will brag for him.

On the different note, things are going good and we are back into the swing of life. Magnus back at school and I am just hoping we can make it through to the end. I feel a little burnt out of all this schooling and I am not even the one doing it.... I think it is just building up for the past four years, and I am just wanting it over with and to have a "normal" life. We have never experienced that, so maybe I don't want that, but it sounds good. =)

Mika isn't walking these days, but running everywhere... I can't keep up with him anymore. He is a good little boy, but a bit sensitive I am noticing and in this stage where we can't leave him anywhere... it is very annoying, but we will have to deal with it. I am not sure how to deal with a sensitive boy, but I am just praying that I can handle it well. I am not a very sensitive, emotional person, so this might be a challenge for me. I tend to just ignore him, but maybe I should be a little more sensitive to him.

Happy New year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Wow, time flies and even when you are doing nothing  it seems to take up your whole time... Magnus finished his exams for this year, and wow has it ever been nice to have him around... The simple things like sitting together to watch T.V. in the evenings, or go and do things in the afternoons like a trip to Starbucks is such a treat.   I don't have to hear, "sorry but I should really study" I despise those words, and will not miss them.  The only down side is that his first day off he did everything that he has been meaning to do for the past four months all in one day. I told him to space it out, but he is too eager, so I think he is getting a little bored now. I only had to send him on a "man trip" to the junk yard once to get out of the house. A few of my friends have their husbands home doing "Paternity leave" for a couple months (in canada you get a year of paid maternity leave, so if you want to, you can split it between the mother and the father) I really do not think magnus could ever do that.  Anyways, it has been great! My family was suppose to come up for Christmas, but due to the awful snow storms here and there, they decided that didn't want to risk it and I totally agreed.  So that was a disappointment, but we had a great time with Mika and it was a nice family Christmas. We got Mika a couple cars, which he loved and was drooling over. He also got a big stuffed dog, which he loves! He got that one from the neighbor who had a huge light display and was handing them out to all the kids on Christmas Eve. It was really generous of him, and Mika has just loves that dog, which is twice his size. 

We have been snow shoeing a couple times and Magnus has been able to get out skiing a few times as well, so that has been really nice. Mika is saying more and more words, and is walking everywhere.  Someone told me that a baby's first word says a lot about what they are like personality wise. I am concerned about Mika because his first word was "cookie" and everything now is "cookie". 

Mika's list of words:

Cookie = cookie

Baba = ball

Bapa =  Pappa 

agua = outside

carca = car 

 animal sounds: dog, cow, monkey 

Anyways, there is a lot to talk about but I will not bore you with details, and I should get some breakfast for my boyz going...  by the way, we had a great new years with a little party at our house with some close friends, the only bad thing is that we stayed up to 2am and Mika woke us up at some time after 7am. We are not young with a hot childless marriage anymore.. and I think it is about time we realized that.