Rosie poo

We may never know why we started calling her that.

Rosa is my dog. We call her Rosie poo, and sing songs to her with that name. I can admit that online, but do not know if I would do it on purpose.

In fact when Stefán's playschool teacher asked my if my dogs name was actually poo, I denied it.

But now she has earned the name, for real.

She has always been terrible for eating other dogs poo, or rolling in it. The brown steaks down her back are usually a give away before she gets within smelling range.

But the other day was great, she comes into the living room with a mouthful and drops it at Rob's feet (my father in law) a good offering. Perhaps a gift for letting her stay here.

Rob did not share her enthusiasm for the smelly treat, but no one can say she doesn't mean well.

Happy Birthday Stína

Today was Kristína's birthday and party in her yard.

We even managed to get the gift in time!

In a typical Kristína style amazing food, all made from scratch, was served. In our own style, we brought hot dogs, Bonus brand.

The kids played for hours in the yard, and neighbours yards for hours and had a fantastic time.

I have to admit I fell asleep for an hour, pregnant tired.

I even invited Helgi to the party. It is always good to see him, and he does know the birthday girl, but Davíð still told me off. I guess it is rude to invite people to someone else's birthday.

and we met a girl with a Darth Vader tattoo on her back. Our friend collection gets better and better.

The Family Bullies

I guess every family has them and it makes me sad that one of my sons is one of them.

I am grateful that Stefan and his cousin Garpur are so close, but I do not like how they treat others when they are together.

I should make it clear that when they are alone together, you have never seen sweeter boys, but add one more...

When they are at his house they tease his little sister.

When they are at mine they tease Kasper.

I left this sibling issues until last week when they started picking on one of Stefán's friends.

Now it is clear to all parents involved that these two have to stop, I just wish I knew how to make them stop while keeping them as such good friends.

Shapeshifting

I am now 29 weeks pregnant and honestly can not believe how fast it is going.

It seems like only yesterday that we found out, and now I can not stand, sit or lie in one position very long with out being uncomfortable.

My bones hurt, but I hear this is normal with the third and so one.

Should drink more milk....

How pregnant I look depends on the baby. Sometimes I think he pushes out and I feel about to explode, then I look huge. Sometimes he leans in and I hardly look pregnant at all, but my back will hurt more.

I would live in a swimming pool if i could, it is the only place I do not feel like a beached whale. I am even used to the naked showering and washing now, even pregnant. I just hope no one tries to touch my belly in the shower....

Only 11 weeks to go, unless I am late and this often happens with me, but we still have no idea of a name.

I guess this will be a last minute decision.

Deep Sleep

After moving cross country, hopefully for the last time, we are not getting things back together.

One item that did not make the cut in being shipped was our bed. A single bed that Davíð has used since high school was simply no longer meeting our needs and just plain getting old.

Now that we are down south again it is time find a bed, and we did.

It is perfect. King size, more then 2 meters long for Davíð and Chiropractic.

It was love at first sight, I rolled around on it and was even more amazed.

Then they mentioned the price and I was mad. I would rather sleep on a mat on the floor or another single bed.... or so I thought.

But this simply is not true. Being 7 months pregnant with my third kid and getting a little old, 28, my back is not as kind to me as it once was.

Not to mention Davíð who has been bending in half to sleep.

So, with some generous family contributions in birthday presents and anniversary gifts, we have managed to buy the dream bed.

Now I just can not wait to get our apartment to try it out over night!

and if you want to sleep over, I think we can fit you on there too!

Stupid Bus

As if it wasn't bad enough that they cut the bus service even more, they had to change the website and take away the English.
I guess they figured they could save money and most the foreigners left after the Kreppa anyways, so we leave the English?

All I really needed to know was how the buses were running for the holiday, and my Icelandic was not good enough to make sense of it, so I am feeling a little annoyed.

but...

Happy Iceland Day!

copy cat

We were at Kristína's to feed the Guiana pigs the other day and Stefán showed me that he has been on far to many long road trips.

Reenacted -

Stefán rides around the house on an Ikea ladybug, leaning over an imaginary steering wheel.
He stops, looks at me with droopy eyes and tells me we will need to stop at the next gas station for a coffee, he is very tired.
Next trip around the room he stops again. With the droopy eyes he looks a little angry. He is getting hungry, we should have bought cookies at the gas station when we stopped.

Trust a kid to point out how stupid we look sometimes.

Happy Birthday Tye!

Today is one of my dearest siblings birthdays.

Yippee!

Although I feel awful being so far there is no way to be there for him, I know he will still have a great time,

in the Tye way.

In the spirit of this lovely day I think I will tell you about this one time my mom wanted Shantell and I to clean Tye's room. He was about 10.

We found some tool box full of moldy sandwiches and he screamed that he was keeping them they were important.

I am happy he doesn't keep sandwiches in his room anymore, but I am more happy we do not have to clean his room anymore.

Paving the road - after I leave

As life typically goes, they are paving the road in front of my house.

It will not be finished until after I leave but I still get to enjoy all the benefits of a construction zone surrounding my home. I live in a duplex and we are completely surrounded.

People just have to park a few blocks away and walk home, I am sure the exercise is good for us.

I also love the smell of dirt in my laundry, hanging it outside just is not giving that fresh smell anymore and I don't have a dryer :(

The best part is, in typical Icelandic style, there is nothing blocking off the huge machines, tools or holes in the ground, leaving the ideal play place.
OK, so it is a little dangerous, the boys love it and Rósa really did need another reason the bark!
I do not know how we are going to move through this tomorrow!

6 Years

Today was is my six year wedding anniversary.

At this time 6 years ago I was getting ready for my midnight wedding.

My sister (who was pregnant, like me), my Dad, Tye, Travis and Cory were around for the event.

Davíð was with his parents, and I heard from him later he was incredibly nervous something would go terribly wrong, but he was wrong.

The Justice of the Peace showed up at exactly midnight, impressive considering she must have been a hundred years old. Her husband was with her and he did not look happy.

The weather was perfect. A beautiful, clear, warm June night at the Alberta legislature grounds.

The fire on the eternal fountain glowed and warmed our hearts.

Drunk teenagers laughed and rolled around on the grass and down hills. This kept the atmosphere playful and I am thankful to them for that.

Memorable moments include the ring not fitting my fat pregnant fingers and the certificate being dated for June 7th, not 6th. The 7th is my birthday and I refuse to have these things on the same day.

6 Years.

Every year comes with challenges in life, I know this. Every year Davíð and I have gone through challenges, trials and life, but this is the first and only year we have had the problems between us and not just in our life. The first time did not stand together.

This has come and gone, everything is fine now, better then ever in fact.

We have improved, our marriage has been strengthened and our love for each other stronger then ever.

This year I learned that you can never take someone for granted. I learned that everyday is another day to show how you feel. And after being really tested, I learned how much my husband means to me.

Marriage takes a lot of work, from both people. I now know that this work is worth it, in every way.

So on this wedding anniversary I am more grateful then ever.

Ah, Iceland!

Thanks to the Icelandic Weather Report and articles like these:

http://icelandweatherreport.com/2005/01/betcha-didnt-know-that.html

http://icelandweatherreport.com/2005/06/icelanders-dissected.html

You can learn everything you need to know with out the expensive airfare, at least these were things I noticed right away as well, and found them just as shocking.

Like:

Icelanders hold the world record in the following:

* Credit card usage
* Cocoa Puffs consumption
* Use of electricity
* Sponsoring children in Third World countries
* Internet penetration
* The number of rules for writing poetry
* Going to the cinema
* Subscribing to Walt Disney picture books
* Sales of the computer game Championship Manager

Icelandic drivers:

* Park wherever they feel like it: in handicapped parking spaces, diagonally across sidewalks, with their rears sticking out onto the road

* Drive at whatever speed they feel like, slow or fast
* Use indicator lights very sparingly, if at all
* Are always right on your ass, making parallel parking virtually impossible on busy roads
* Will slow down and stop in the middle of a road if they feel so inclined, irrespective of the speed of surrounding motorists
* If two people who know each other are coming from opposite directions they will almost inevitably stop their cars in the road to have a chat
* Ignore zebra crossings and green pedestrian lights
* In fact, ignore pedestrians in general

(the driving I have always complained against, although after leaving the capital area I now think this is only a Reykjavík problem)

4. Icelanders are terrible at recycling. They throw newspapers, bottles, furniture and electronic equipment into the household trash. Through a serious effort on behalf of the municipalities, however, they’ve finally managed to learn that toxic things like batteries must be disposed of in the proper locations.

or

5. Icelanders do everything at the last minute. I am not kidding. As a freelance translator and copy editor, at least 80% of the assignments I get are for things that needed to be done yesterday.

Although a lot of these seem like huge generalizations - they are almost painfully true and that makes them a little more funny.

I would recommend reading the rest of the articles.

More of Davíð's Birthday

OK OK, a week late is not so nice, I know that. But it has been a busy week.
These are just 4 more pictures from the dinner with Inga and Rob before my camera did not want to work anymore.