Academic Star

Well of course as a Mother I'm expected to brag a little bit about my kids, right? Torin prior going to Kindergarten we thought was SO smart. After all he could count over 100 at 4 years old. Funny thing is, is that once they get into school you tend to realize, rather quickly, that there are a lot of kids that can do that too. Being our first though we have no other comparison except what we were doing at 4. And I know that I wasn't counting past 20 at 4 :)

Kindergarten was fine for Torin, 1st grade was more of an awakening to that he is an average kid and trust me we feel VERY blessed for having an average kid. It wasn't until this past month that Torin has broken out a little more. He's trying more and things are coming more easily to him.

We got an email from his teacher last week that stated on his achievement test that he had gone 11 points over from where they had hoped he would be at the end of the year. Now, we really don't take these tests too serious and especially myself NEVER being good at standardized test don't get too hung up on them. However, the test that he had taken at the beginning of the year projected his growth to be at a "20" by the end of the school year and mid way he is already scoring "31". His teacher was really impressed by this and said that it was the most growth out of the entire class. Then Torin came home last night and said that for the math achievement test they had wanted him to be at "100" by the end of the year and he scored "203".

So I am bragging a little bit and the reason why is that I am just SO proud of him. Reading is by far not his favorite thing to do but he knew that it was something that he had to work on. He tried hard and is now gleaming from the results of it. This is such a rewarding thing to see as a parent. Just so proud of our little bug-a-boo :)

Peefooo

Well our little Bercan is definitely getting older and has started a new little "trick". When he is stinky or his diaper is too full "for him" he'll touch his diaper and then wrinkle his nose and wave his other hand saying "peefoo". Then he will want to be changed. Not sure that this is a sign that he's going to be good at potty training or not but I'm not willing to take up that adventure for at least another year.

When I have a wife....

I have to blog this quick before I forget it so I apologize that I still haven't gotten California pictures up yet...They are coming I promise!!!

Monday night we dropped the kids off at Bjorn's parents to try and pick out some tile. It was an errand that needed us both focused versus one of us gathering the troops and ensuring they didn't take the store down. We had met at Bjorn's parents house thus we had two cars. Vaughn of course picked me to drive home with. He and I always have our little conversations when it's just the two of us. I treasure these moments and this is why....

Out of the blue he says to me, "Mom, when I have a wife you can come over and watch our kids, okay?". I of course am thinking this is too cute and ask if I could come over once a week to watch their kids so they can go on date night. A silent pause, "Ahh...yeah that would work out great Mom. And sometimes we drop them at your house so they can sleepover, that okay?" I love these so grown up conversations that will most likely end in the coming years and not be brought up again until he really does have a wife and kids.

On the other hand Torin still tells me that he is going to have 11 children. I hope that Bjorn and I are still active enough to keep up with ALL of these potential grandchildren :)

Christmas Card Photos

This year I decided to not put us in the Christmas card and just do the kids. It was super cold outside and there was a ton of snow already so really trying to get all of us was just too hard. Bjorn's parents had given us the toboggan and with borrowing a few santa hats from a neighbor the picture just worked out. I know any one looking at the blog has probably already seen them but I just wanted to post them...

Bercan ~ 1 year

Vaughn ~ 4 1/2 years old

Torin ~ 7 1/2 years old

My boys....

Vaughn and hockey

Vaughn is just so excited to be doing hockey this year. Unfortunately, we have missed a hand full of his practices from being out of town but if you ask him if he likes hockey he'll tell you "I can get up." with a huge smile from ear to ear. He's definitely a hard worker and doesn't like to give up. It's fun to see how hard he tries and he is definitely getting better with each practice.

So excited to even being trying on his equipment.

Vaughn was so happy to get number 99 and tells us

that he is Gretzky. Not sure that he lives up to that

but he definitely tries hard and has a great spirit.

Going down the ice...

Staying up....

Leaning into it...

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Door County with Noni. The boys love the hotel that we stay at, love swimming in the pool and the playground. We went out to dinner for Thanksgiving and it was a great time. We hung out with Sara, Slade, Josie and their new baby. Torin is in awe of Slade as he fishes and hunts. Slade is actually pretty cute with Torin about it showing him video of some of his fishing trips and talking to him about it. Torin just sits there in awe listening to him, mouth wide open. We of course went to paint pottery as the boys love doing it. It was a great weekend and a lot of fun!

Noni and her boys...

Sleepover at Noni's....For Mommy's birthday Noni took all of the boys for an over night. They were actually really good as there was a promise of cinnamon rolls in the morning...a Noni special :)

Three Generations

Papa Bernie is definitely someone that the boys love. They love to visit him even though we don't get there as much as we would like to. Here are some pictures from his 93rd birthday party. I love all the boys together with Papa!

Vaughn, Berc, Bjorn, Bernie and Torin

This was a cute pic from the day....

Teddy

For Berc's first birthday he got this crazy over sized Teddy Bear. We saw it in Costco and showed it to him just to see what his reaction would be. Not scared at all he grabbed it with two hands and buried his face into it hugging it.

Now hugging Teddy is a daily occurrence. In the morning we'll say "Give Teddy a hug" and he just runs and buries himself into Teddy. He just loves his Teddy so much and it's just so cute how he cuddles and kisses him....

Hugs....

Kisses....

Water park fun

Being that Bjorn travels for work one of the perks is that we get a free night at the Depot Hotel in Minneapolis that has a water park in it. It's fun for the kids as it's just the right size for our age kids. Last year we gave the free night to our neighbors as the boys had been disrespecting and it was a hard but good lesson for them to learn.

This year it was a ton of fun except for Bercan who was cutting his four front teeth at once. He was fine if he was in the water as he loved it but he was miserable out of it. He ended up going home with Bjorn that night because was just so uncomfortable.

Here are a few photos of the water park fun:

Berc having fun in the water

A weekend of fun with my boys

Playing in the big pool

Vaughn and his friend that he met at the water park

Berc going down the slide

Loving the water park....

Halloween

Another year of craving pumpkins, going trick or treating and having our friends over afterwards for chili and fun.

Pumpkin carving was fun this year. Bercan sat and played with the drawings that we used for the carving. Vaughn did an alien from Ben 10 and Torin and I worked on doing a spider together. Bercan had some pegs that we stuck in for him. Because Bjorn was on a 2 week traveling stint with a short break home he didn't get time to do one this year.

This year Vaughn went as the white power ranger. He didn't want to wear the mask that came with it, instead he wanted me to paint the face on him. Being that I am not the best artist I thought it turned out pretty well. Vaughn being the laid back one of the family thought it was AWESOME!!! Vaughn only made it to about 4 houses and said that is was boring. That's just Vaughn being a goof ball. Torin went as a skeleton but would not wear the mask as it was "Too embarrassing". This is just a Torin thing, everything is embarrassing to him. Bercan went as a dragon. This was Torin's costume when he was little. Bercan looked just like him but of course 5 pounds bigger. He loved getting dressed up and walking around in his dragon costume.

It was a fun Halloween but busy with getting all 3 dressed up and out for trick-or-treating. Next year should be even more interesting with the 3 of these crazy boys...

The dragon

Happy dragon and Gorilla

I love how Berc is looking at Bjorn in this picture...

Vaughn's Ben 10 Alien

Torin's spider

Berc digging in with a safety knife

Berc's pumpkin

Here is Bercan playing a game with Bjorn. Funny thing is that as soon as Bjorn put the mask on Berc gets scared until the mask is put back on that he's good to go again.

Fall Fun

This Fall was a busy one. From both of the boys starting school, soccer, hockey, Berc's birthday and then volunteering with a husband who was gone for two weeks just seemed to about put me over the top. However, amidst all of that we still had time to get in a little fun out in the Fall weather which was some of the best that we have had in a very long time. Here are a few photos from the fun times.

A beautiful Fall sunset from our backyard

Bercan playing in the sandbox.

Torin preparing to catch a football

Yes, it was this nice that Vaughn is in shorts and sleeveless shirt.

Berc in the leaves

I just love that these two love sleeping together. It's many nights that we will find them together snuggling. This is Vaughn's pose which seems that he always is a little crazy.

Bercan 12 months

I want to post a few things about Bercan at 12 months as to not forget them about him when he is older. He's a determined little man whatever is said about the third one being laid back does not apply to him. He'll go with the flow but laid back is something that he does not know about. Since he started to crawl at 6 1/2 months we have been on the go. At 9 months he started to crawl up the stairs and on to things. He's a mover and a shaker. He's got a smile that can melt just about any heart and the most beautiful blue eyes. Berc's also got a lot of personality. When he's not happy he doesn't just cry he'll give you a mouth full of baby smack. I can't remember when he started doing it but it's been at least 6 months that he's been able to "trill". I've attached a movie clip of it as it's really an unusual thing for a baby but he's got it down pat. He loves to eat most things but is the most picky eater out of the boys. He adores his brother and loves his Mommy and Daddy so much. He loves to give smooches and hugs. Even though his temperament can be a challenge at times we feel blessed that God gave him the ability to express himself. Here are a couple of photos and a video clip of Berc at 12 months.

Close to taking his first steps....