Madi: 18 Months

You are a year and a half old baby girl! You have changed our lives so much and are such a joy to parent. This month (and the ones to come!) are going to be full of big changes as we prepare you to be the amazing big sister that we know you are! :-)

Your vocabulary (both in Norwegian and English) continues to amaze us. You are regularly saying 2-4 word sentences and have very little problem telling us what you want or need (which is both good and bad!) You are still testing boundaries and we've started giving you until the count of three to do something before you get scolded. This is working so far, but probably because you are a good listener!

We love you so much Madison and can't wait to spend Christmas together here in Norway!

Love,

Mommy

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Vienna Girl's Weekend

I have an amazing husband - he's been picking up my slack the past few weeks while I haven't been feeling great, he's been working late at night, and he has never uttered a word of complaint about it. He's a gem - and a few weeks ago he let me sneak away for a girl's trip to Vienna with my friend Emily!

We met in Vienna on Friday afternoon and spent the weekend walking around, catching up on each other's lives, and enjoying the city! The weather wasn't the greatest, but it didn't stop us from doing anything. We walked the city, toured St Stephen's Cathedral, shopped loads of Christmas markets, visited the Kunsthistorisches Museum,  took a hop on/hop off bus, and walked the grounds and listened to a beautiful concert at Schonbrunn Palace. It was a wonderful weekend and I'm so grateful I was able to go!

And what girl's trip wouldn't be complete with a gabfest at Starbucks?? :-)

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Christmas Teacher Gifts

I remember being in elementary school and my mom and I making batches upon batches of fudge to give to teachers, pastors, friends, and bring to Christmas gatherings. My mom is a fudge pro and while I did good making fudge for a couple years after Jason and I got married, I haven't carried through her enthusiasm like I hope to one day.

Being here in Norway, I wouldn't dream of making our fudge recipe... We don't have a microwave big enough and high enough wattage (yes, it's a microwave fudge recipe), it's hard to come by condensed milk, and honestly, a bag of chocolate chips here runs about $10-15 (if you can find them) so you are talking a pretty pricey batch of fudge!

However, I still wanted to do something for Madi's teachers at barnehage. It was a bit simple, but I haven't had a lot of energy lately to do much so I was glad to get something made for them! :-)

I also intended to get pictures of Madi handing them to her teachers, but I forgot and then Madi started screaming because she didn't want to go home with me. Guess she really loves her time at barnehage. ;-)

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