I want to brag about Daniel.... Remember one of these entries mentioning how we didn't want a house with a lot of renovation needs but were led to our house anyway? Well the latest project was inspired by the upcoming addition to our family and a need to reorder kids bedrooms. I had the idea we should build a loft bed in the little portion of the room where our youngests child bed sits on the floor.




 Here is the bed that sat on the floor before. (It will be in the other room while Rebekah adjusts to a new room and then we will move her to the bottom bunk, under Ella who moves up with Isak moving out. That will happen in time to put the crib up where this bed has just moved.)

After talking through things both Daniel and I were convinced it was the most practical solution to things. A loft bed for Isak.


Guess who got to figure out all the details?
Daniel!!!
I have ideas and he has the brain for the math side of it. Then he gets to make sure he understands how to do a good solid job, price and buy materials, etc.
I am there to say its good (when he is too much of a perfectionist or our old house with no actual straight walls won't accomadate equality in measuring the dimensions....) I am also there to do the power screwing when he holds things in place or vice versa depending on which is harder. I get the easy jobs. (Lucky for us the part that needed two people and I wouldn't be able to do the other bit well due to my pregnancy his mom was here and did the second mans job.

The result is today Isak moves into Joseph's room on a loft bed his dad built (with some help) and then fitted with bedding. Hooray for Daniel and all he has done. Especially that he is going out of his comfort zone and then enjoying it! Delays frustrated him. And he looked forward to the next time he could work on it!!!!

To get ready for his new roommate, Joseph and I took an afternoon to start painting pictures on his wall. We have been talking about it for almost a year and he got brushes and paints for his birthday... in DECEMBER! So we figured we better get at it before Isak moves in. Here is what we have done so far.

This one is a window we painted looking out into space. He named all the planets on the left side. And on the wall are his race cars that he did all by himself. I think I need to update with better pictures. Then He asked me to paint him a Triceratops. He told me which of his books had the pictures and this is what I came up with. (you can see the 'window' off to the left. The dinosaur is above his tall dresser.)

When Daniel started on the bed I tried to figure out the details for a much smaller project with some help from his mom. We didn't get to far before she went home and then my second man was Daniel. What did I do? figure out how to make our entry cupboard a real closet with a shelf and a rod to hang coats on.

I am also pleased with the results.... especially the functionality I gained.  (I guess I don't have a before picture but it was just lined with big nails in all the walls for hooks to hang stuff on. In the begining stages I also blocked up where the big crack in the corner behind the heating pipes. I am hoping mice won't be able to get in there this winter.)

The next functional improvements is more shelves in rooms. (Isak also gets a desk under his bed.) And at the end of the month plumbers will switch out the old pipes in the upstairs bathroom and we will save up to the next step. (Bathroom is the expensive project we are working on. It is getting done in stages. These other things come from immediate budgets.)

Building strong family relationships

Yesterday we splurged as a family. We were out running errands and meeting appointments. We all got hungry. I knew we had nothing quick at home and not surprisingly would have to first clean up so we could prepare the meal. My pregnant body said no way. Besides I have been having more morning sickness this last week. Food, and smells have been problematic! Same time I am moving into the second half of the pregnancy. I also had a migraine the other day which enhances the nascious feelings. My body seems to want something that it isn't getting. So fast food with dark meet sounded good. But then lots of grease did not. Well we called ahead to the pizzaria in our town as we drove towards home.
Kebab Pizza. One of those things that I have learned to get used to. Yesterday however it sounded SOOO good. And it was. I was sad that I could hardly eat a second peace. (Baby is already taking up more room and I tried to eat a little salad with it so that I would get some other vitamins too.)
While we were there I thought how I wish that we had taken my family out to try kebab pizza while they were here. Lack of transportation illness etc. hindered that. Anyway it was good to eat out with the family. But Rebekah thought it was more fun to dip napkins in water and spread the soggy bits aroung the table in front of her. We also got a Hawaii pizza. I don't really like the way they do the ham hear. And all their pizzas are thin crust. Often people will eat an entire pizza themselves. It turns out we would have been fine with just one pizza. But leftovers, means I just got to eat some for my midmorning meal. and it really tasted good again. It pushed back the nausea and filled my stomache.

After pizza Joseph went to try out a soccer practice and I went shopping. Daniel picked me and the groceries up and then we got Joseph. Rather, we waited a while for him to finish up. I think a soccer team would be good for him. It is structured interaction with other kids while using energy and helping him get beter in something he loves and teaching him team work. First thing he told us when he came back was, 'but the games are on Sunday'. I was afraid of that.

We are looking at swimming lessons for him this summer. To give him something to focus on and help him catch up with the rest of his class. That will do some of those things but not the team work and not as much interaction with other kids. I had the idea last night that maybe we need to just go through his class list and invite them over one at a time this summer maybe for an outing or maybe just here. We are also thinking to start inviting families here one at a time for ficka. Kind of like coffee break with out the coffee. Snack time. It isn't a cultural thing in the states but it is here and it takes a lot of pressure off as far as meal prep while still helping us build bridges. Also then they don't have to feel pressure for inviting our 'large' family over again for a dinner!

I don need to have some sort of structure and plan to the summer so that it is good and we need to work with Joseph on lifting his social apptitude and emotional strength more up to his age level. I need to find ways to teach all the kids this and team work here at home. He doesn't really want to work on that and doesn't want those areas to catch up to his intellect. (he is very proud of how far ahead he is in that category). And any change is met with resistance. I want some sort of an outing with the kids on a regular basis too. But I am not sure what I am or will be up too. Yet it is very important to the family now and in the future that we can learn these skills and also strengthen our relationships. I will have to explain how beans and stickers and extra minutes are part of my recent strategy, but not now.

So now I think I should get with it and take my current feeling of good health and attack the kitchen. Daniel works late tonight so I have the kids alone. He stayed up late last night trying to get bills and things in order that are practically impossible to do with the kids all around. (I crashed) He let me sleep in and got up with the kids. Now he is trying to sleep a little so he has the energy he needs at work.

I wonder if I can get the kids to help. Sometimes it works. I have to think of the right approach. I will work on that when I get dressed for the day. (yep... NOt done that yet either.)

about cooking chicken Korma

I just made Cheesy Ham Stopover for dinner. We will see how well it goes over on my kids. I personally don't miss Macaroni and cheese, except for the price and ease of making it. But once in a while one wants cheesy macaroni. So this is the delux version all from scratch and with swedish cheese instead of cheddar.

I think it will go over but you never know. When we went to the states and ate at a mexican resturaunt none of them liked the food verywell. Yikes, what kinds of kids do I have? Instead of macaroni and cheese kids eat pasta with ketchup here. I haven't taken to that one either. And just as common is the swedish meatballs. That is good and so are most other swedish foods. But is is weird when my kids don't know or appreciate the most common foods in US.

On the good side, since I don't have many of the premade soups and stuff that new recipes call in the states I have to make good on old fashioned scratch cooking and my creativity. An example of this is yesterdays dinner. As opposed to todays I did not use a recipe yesterday. Instead I combined my knowledge of making sauces with my creativity and desire for a dish I learned to love in England. It is called Chicken Korma, an Indian dish. In England you could by the sauce premade for a good price. And buy Naan bread too. I actually saw Naan bread in store near the mexican and other foriegn foods. Its price for two pieces kept it out of my shoppingcart but the idea of Chicken Korma stuck and I grabbed a can of coconut milk.

So basically I took a general white sauce and used both chicken broth and coconut milk for the liquid, added seasoning, curry powder and chicken chunks. While that was cooking I decided I had to figure out if I could make Naan bread. I looked up a few recipes on line, chose one from England http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/12508/naan-bread (since that has such a strong influx of Indian food). Then I had to study it and use online converters to figure out how much of the swedish wet yeast I needed and do some more adapting due to the lack of all ingredients. Also I used the swedish trick to speed up the rising time. pop it in the oven on the lowest heat. It was actually quite easy, and the cooking time was only 3 minutes per two naans. So about 9 minutes total on the hottest temperature. That was lucky that they cook so fast since the rising time elapsed the cooking time for the sauce.
So dinner was a bit late. Daniel was so happy to have the full fancy meal he suggested that we pull out our nice dishes. So we made it a special meal. Served it with broccoli cauliflower and carrots.

Rebekah gets nonbreakable dishes, but she actually ate more of the Korma and rice than the rest of the kids. (in the background is the slowcooker I had made granola in it.)

Here Ella is holding her naan bread up she has a half piece. That is why you only cook two at a time.

Definantly a meal that we didn't mind having left overs. ;)

Looking into our family

Yesterday Daniel and I worked hard on a couple small projects. One of them was to create an expansion on our kitchen counter by the sink so we have a place to put dirty dishes. If I do a lot of baking then there is always a problem. As I am working the trays move from the highchair tray to a chair or whereever they are least in the way. Even with doing the dishes regularly it is hard. Where do the dirty dishes go while you are working? No elbow room. Well hopefully this will last us. It isn't as strong as a real counter top but as long as no kids hang on it is should work.






We also put up som long over due trimming around a door frame. Much nicer! Those two projects took longer than we expected. So besides that there was really only enough time to give the kids one round of Missionary Impossible before the dinner routine etc began. But it feels good to have that accomplished and we love working together.

This is the delicious meal Daniel made us on Thursday night. It was curry rice and fish. The white sauce went perfect with the rice, fish and the vegetables. And he served apple juice as well. Kudos to the cheff! YUM YUM! He also made dinner on Friday but that was the quicky meatballs and instant mashed potatos. Still two days in a row.... I love my hubby.

This is what I have been squeezing into my week. I have now started sewing on the back. It has been a lot of fun. I have done a variety o differnt scrap patterns figuring the quilt out as I go. This one is being made for a friend who has way more on her plate than is good. So I want her to have a little something extra to encourage her along. I hope to finish it so she gets it Tuesday. That is the day her husband goes away for another stint of work, leaving her to run her translation business and care for 4 kids alone. Hopefully he will get a good local job soon. 

And since I know my sister-in-law will read this, THANK YOU for all the material. I think 98% is from you. You have given me my best out for the winter. A break from the typical mommy homemaker job that I love, but need hobby to give me needed down time

Today after church and dinner I decided to 'paint' a couple of family portraits. I think I will put those in for the end of my blog entry. I love my family and my life. Thanks for your part in it. :)

This one is called Blomberg Family March 2012

The next one is called Blomberg Family October 2012.

Routine changes that bless our life

It has been a while since I have typed a blog entry. I had internet issues for a long time and then I just had to slowly catch up on having regular access again. Hopefully I will beging being more regular.

We have adjusted some of our family patterns and it has helped a lot. Since the dishwasher died I have made everyone do one thing to help clean up after the meals. For the kids they get to unload the top, bottom or silverwear of our dishdrainer. Sometimes they can put away the food or whipe the table, take out the compost, wipe the stove or microwave, etc. Not only are they learning how to take responsibility since they also benifit from our meal times, but it is helping me stay on top of doing things. If I want them to clear the dish drainer I have to have washed the dishes! The better I am at doing my role the smoother the more efficient their help is.

Also we have added in a 15 minute cleanup ever night. The whole family does it together. We start in one room and work at it till it is done and then move to the next. After our trip which was right after lots of sickness our house was a disaster. So the 15 minutes plus my day long efforts didn't seem to go so far. But now... Well we have cleaned the floors of 4 rooms on our main living area and then moved upstairs before the timer beeped. That was awesome. Usually it is about 3 rooms that we get done. Life feels much more manageble. That was truly inspiration. 15 minutes is about all my little kids can keep focused for and it still takes very involved parents. But then it is a family project. We all do it. And they like the results. (Even thought there is a lot of complaining sometimes. We just remind them that everyone gets to help since we are a family and it is all of our house. If they refuse anything of theirs goes to time out (to be earned back by doing a chore on a later day) and they lose out one their alone time with mom or dad just before bed. So far they  have decided to help.

We also adjusted dinner time approximately 4:30pm (they are always hungry by then). The best help for me with dinner is the crockpot. With that I get the food ready in the early part of the day when I have the most energy and then it cooks slowly and is ready when we want to eat. (I rarely want to cook at 3:30!) After dinner and their kitchen help is done, the kids get to play for about an hour. Then we do the family cleanup followed by scriptures and a snack. Run and get jammies on brush teeth and start minutes. 'Minutes' is the 10 or 11 minutes of one-on-one time that they get just before bed. As long as it is calm (and not tv related because we don't do tv/games after dinner) they get to decide. That is sacred time to them. They love it and it is good for us. When I have to do it alone I try to Rebekah 1st. followed by Ella, then Isak then Joseph. Isak and Joseph get reading time after they are in Jammies until 9:00pm. That is a privilage that they enjoy. It also helps us to maintain the calm environment we need at night. When it is both of us we try to each do two kids.

When Daniel is here the kids love to do arabic with him for their minutes. They are learing it via Rosetta Stones program. I often read something with them or work on a quiet project. Sometimes they just want to snuggle. With Rebekah it is often pointin out the cats on her bed and meowing and planing with stuffed Dogs and barking.

I am itching to start gardening but still want to sew a lot. So that is what I try to do too. Also I try to work on one of the house projects a little every day. Today Ella and I were taking tons of nails out of the wall where old style masonite wallpaper had been tacked up. We did it the other day too. About 1 or 2 more hours I think will get the upstairs hall clear of it. The biggest problem with house projects is it is hard to find ones I can do while Rebekah is awake.

Anyway, I will try to come back with more another day. I think these changes were inspired and life feels manageble. There is a little progress every day and we do things together. That is good. Daniel takes the kids outside and runs around with them while he is working up his endurance he wants to be able to run an hour with out stopping. More another time.

Piano and freezers

Today was piano lesson day. The two oldest wanted piano lessons from me so I have begun teaching them on Thursdays. It is fun to see the different way they think about things and how they love music. Isak loves learning to play new songs. His first week he learned one. then the next week he got two more. This week he was asking for new songs. I think for Joseph the intellectual appeal is big right now but the biggest part is spending time one on one with me. I taught him about the note values last week and today he wanted to find a song that had all of them. So we started looking through the primary book till we found one. Now he wants to learn that one for his new song. They are both working at one hand songs, but playing with twho hands. I and Daniel both feel strongly that it needs to be fun for them. So I only add in the technical stuff a little here and there and try to tailor the lessons to them and their interests. To try to teach them finger/hand position and get them ready for multiple notes with the same hand... I have them do finger gymnastics. Little challanges and lots of praise. Ella sometimes wants to learn and sometimes doesn't. The advantage of me being the teacher is I am flexible. I only teach on Thursdays but if one kid doesn't want to do it. Ok. When I did do it with her it was playing games to group the sets of three and two black keys together. And start learning I am a child of God. I think we did one phrase. I can't really teach unless Daniel is home and has Rebekah, because she doesn't understand to leave the piano alone while we are doing lessons. And since the piano is under her room we can't do it when she is asleep. ;)

So it is what I have already been doing with them but on a regular basis. I give them assignments to practice during the week, which happen more or less.

Originally I thought that we would pay me as the teacher, but we can't afford that. But Heavenly Father has a way of blessing us anyway. I would have saved up for an 'assistant' A sturdy kitchen aid thing, Swedish brand sold all over the world. I was given a tool that helps with the stuff I wanted it for now. I have been making juices and purees with it. It going to be close to see if our full upright freezer can hold everything that I am putting up this summer and fall. Should we plug in the freezer box and up the electric bill? (Fridges and freezers are a huge part of electrical usage thus bill). It will definitely make it easier to sort things and keep the variety in use. We have a lot of a few things and the rest is hiding in the mix. Oh I just remembered the pumkin that will come. hm.. freezer box? We got four pumpkins this year! I am selling two. But I still have tomatos growing, apples, pears and fall raspberries. So I think I will be plugging in the box.

At least I know we will have plenty of fruits and vegetables all winter. Even if it is an apple pear zuchinni based diet! And now as the weather keeps me inside more, I am turning my mind towards inside house projects.

Family Home Evening

The best night of the week, and second best only to Daddy Sunday in ranking with the kids: Family Hom Evening, every Monday night. It is one of those family times that we don't mess with. We all look forward to it. I think one of the things that makes it so great is every week each person is involved in something. And we all take turns rotating through each item.

The apples on our rotation chart tree each have our names. Right now we don't rotate the baby through but her apple sits on the tree waiting for the time when she will be ready to help in the assignments. The assignments are: Lesson, Activity, Treat, Music, Prayers (deciding who says the opening and closing prayer).

Child number three chose the typical choice: Follow the Prophet or the Swedish version, Lyss till Profeten. Once in a while a child will choose another song, but usually the variety comes in with a parent.

Our oldest chose mom to say the opening prayer.

Daniel had the lesson and did it on finding answers in conference. He used Elder Uctdorfs recent article on preparing for conference. He extracted a question from each of the kids, something they will want the answer to in conference. (When our oldest has the lesson he likes to read it out of a "52 weeks of family night". Our second asked for help to read out of it last week, but we try to help those who will let us, involve them in teaching a lesson with interaction and not just straight from someone elses book.)

The Activity was alphabet bingo. Mom chose it with a little idea help from the oldest. If the kids choose it is is often "Björnan Sover" in English The Bear Sleeps. It involves singing and running. Since our house has a lap on the main floor we can run around inside quite a bit. Perfect for small kids. Sometimes it will be the Jam Jar game. Or soccer or tag outside.

Closing prayer was Dad.

The treat tonight was peanut butter and honey no-bake cookies. Very gooey and very sweet. That was child number two who chose it. He wanted to do chocolate balls which is a sweedish chocolate oameal treat. But we had no sugar on hand. Honey won't work in the Swedish one so I suggested the American No-Bakes and for once did it with Peanut Butter. That was sweet! We had to scramble to find something to make baby happy when we realized we couldn't give the treat to her following the no peanut butter until 1 1/2 years rule (avoid peanut products to lessen allergies to them). She got marshmellows.

So far we all love Mondays, and even the sour mom is enjoying things by the end! (It can be a little stressful pulling the night off, but it is so worth it!) I hope to keep it that way.