Busy weekend

It was great to see the Klitzke clan for a visit on Friday night! We had Soren's 1st birthday party with Scott's family a week early since I work next weekend. I don't think Soren knew what to think about the cake, but in the end he rather enjoyed it!!! Hope you all are enjoying your last weeks of summer. Take Care-Solveig

Slight risk...

At the risk of being a little inappropriate, in a completely innocent way, I need to tell you a story from the lunch today. Jeremiah was talking about someone giving "a good effort." Micah piped in that he knew he wasn't supposed to say that. After a brief moment of confusion I realized he was talking about F-word, which when said quickly in a conspiratorial tone by a child who is letting another child in on a secret--sounds like "effort." While avoiding eye contact with each other (so as to not burst out into fits of laughter), Jeremiah and I explained to Micah that effort meant working hard etc. while F-word was a naughty word that we never ever say. I don't think he realizes that F-word stands for another word and we carefully avoided clearing up any confusion on that point. We'll let him think that saying "F-word" is not okay as long as we can, even if it means he also avoids saying "effort." Josiah, the wiser older brother he is, informed us that it is not okay to say the "e-word" either. We weren't quite sure what word he meant, so he explained to us that the "e-word" is an mean, nasty word to say to dumb people. He was referring to "idiot." Signe clarified that idiot begins with an "i" actually. I'm not really sure how the conversation ended and what other misconceptions I furthered, but I know that someday they'll comprehend it all. Someday they'll be parents...

Poor Poor Poet

Signe hasn't given up on the cat issue, but neither have I. Today she writes to her parents on a note-card:

I want a cat, not a bat.
I want a sister, not a blister.

Summer Fun

We are filling our days with exploring new things for Soren. He loves to swing in the backyard, play ball and roll around on the floor under the furniture while we are cooking. Scott has started farming with his folks and is really enjoying it. We hope that you are enjoying your summer.....we feel like we are still waiting for the nice weather to arrive!!!! Take Care

Notes from Isaac's Graduation

It was a quick trip, but worth it. Sonja and I left Mayville with our kids at 9:45am. We stopped for lunch in Rugby and made it to Bottineau just in time for the ceremony. Sonja kept the kids busy outside until the rain brought them in and Sharon and I found a couple chairs in a very crowded gym. The reception was at the country club and as you can see we had quite a group of Haugen's. Sonja and I were back on the road by 6-ish. She had to work today at 9am. Here are a couple things I learned from the short time spent visiting:

Sonja starts a new dimension to her job this Friday--working for the oncology and palliative care departments at Meritcare doing medical massage. She is excited to try this new venture. Shonella is employed through a grant that has five pilot sites around the state of N.D. putting together a team that works with victims of domestic abuse. She isn't sure if the grant will be reinstated but has definitely had an eye-opening experience. Dean is spending usually two weeks on the road, running out to the east coast. He said you get used to the traffic...one time it took him two hours to go five miles. Uffda! Shane and Amy are heading out for a great camping vacation soon. They will be going through Medora and out to Yellowstone. They've got Russell and Sharon's old camper and are excited for the adventure! Carley received a presidential academic award at school last week, way to go! Kori is still at Basie's in Fargo, where Isaac is headed to school next year. Before heading to NDSU he has a trip to two-week trip to Mexico with his Spanish class planned. He will work some in Botno at the DQ this summer but is ready for classes to start in the fall. He doesn't know exactly what degree he'll work toward, maybe education, maybe medical, time will tell.

We didn't get to see Ben, as he had to work at Jack and Jill since there were several employees who were graduating and couldn't work. We look forward to seeing you graduate in a couple years, Ben! Margo did a great job of putting together a party, the food was great. We got to visit some with her sister Tina and her husband who have moved to the area. The Larson's were there and Sharon (I can't remember how to spell her last name...). Brad also kept busy putting on a party, sorry we missed him in the picture!

Now you all need to keep up on the posting. It's an easy way for us to keep up on each other's lives. My family update is this: Signe is done with school for the year and looking forward to second grade already. She always tells us how much she loves the LEARN! She hopes the kids in her class will be better listeners in second grade. The boys are excited for kindergarten next fall although they will be a little disappointed because some of their friends are in the other kindergarten class. For the summer we plan on doing t-ball, vbs and some trips to the lake. If anyone wants a get-away to Lake Ashtabulah, we are taking reservations! Our cabin is open! You can even use our fishing boat! Jeremiah is excited to go up to Canada in July with Trent, Trent's father-in-law, and Dad for a week-long fishing trip. Jeremiah and I survived running the half marathon in Fargo last weekend and we are super excited to run the half in Duluth in June. Then we'll wait until fall to do another one. If anyone wants to run with us, let us know! That's our news, now let's hear from the rest of you!

Pictures from Isaac's Graduation

Easter

Amid the anticipation of egg hunting we played a few games...ate some yummy food....and just enjoyed the weekend!!!!! Hope that you all had a Happy Easter-Solveig

Easter

The daffodils are blooming and spring is on it's way. It was 75 degrees so it is fun to be outside. We are looking forward to Sonja, Nikki and Mike coming this Sunday to stay for a week. Then Tammy and Dale come good Friday soo it will be a house full. Jordan is coming the folowing Saturday with 5 of his friends from Gustavas. The just want a good meal and a hot shower before the head back to school on Sunday.

The birds are really busy eating from the feeders. I have seen blue birds, several kinds of wood peckers, BlueJays, cardinals, titmouse, gold and purple finches. It's fun to see them wait their turn at the suet block.

It was a milestone day as I called to sign up for Medicare Do you celebrate that or go into depression. Guess I celebrate.

Harvey's golf league started tonight so he just got home. Time to get something to eat.

News from a far country

As I just read my last blog....I could say ditto. Not much new here. I read all of your blogs....good to hear from you.

Dorothy and I were visiting this morning...We are planning a trip to England/Scotland/maybe Ireland....What ever we can fit in.....who's on board with us.....Terry said he had to get this summer's fishing trip over first. I may contact Ruth Kinley and see if she has any info on where we might locate grandma family's communities. Let me know if you are interested. For us it will be a trip from one Britton to another Britian.

I go in for surgery on April 22. In the hospital for 3 days and then recup for 6 - 8 weeks. What a horrible beginning to summer....if summer ever comes.

I have 3 days off from school this week for spring break. Wednesday my quilting friends will work on the banners for confirmation. two of them are 3 yards long. one is 3 yards wide.

Maybe I should get a cat here at Britton so Signe would come more often and play with it. It was nice to grow up on the farm and have mostly outside cats...

We gotta get a CAT??!!!

Alright, if someone else doesn't write something this is going to turn into a Penn Blog. Eeek... But I've just got to share this story with you all. A couple nights ago, Jeremiah was putting Signe to bed. After he sang her the lullaby "Tell Me Why" she asked to sing it to him "silly". So she makes up her own version, which went like this: "Tell me why--papa and mama get to sleep together. Tell me why the boys get to sleep together. Tell me why--I'm all alone. Tell me why, papa, tell me why." At this point Jeremiah's heart was so broken and the tears had blurred his vision (and apparently his decision) that he told Signe we could get her a CAT this summer. Background: Signe had an imaginary cat as toddler (named Pootie). Signe has asked for a cat (or if not a cat, she'd settle for a kitten) for at least the past 2 Christmases (stuffed cats have NOT pacified her). She says everytime she can make a wish (like when blowing out birthday candles etc.--she asks for a sister or a cat). Recently at a school event she reported to me that she had to stand up and say her name and one thing about herself. She stood up and said, "My name is Signe and my mom won't let me have a cat." Are we terrible parents? Yesterday she brought home an art project. It was a piece of paper with several wide different colored stripes going across it. In each stripe was a different sentence. Here is what it says" Signe likes to read, I love cats, Got two little brothers, Never got a cat, (then there is a picture of a cat), Everybody likes me." So please, all you wise sages of the previous generation, tell me what to do! I do NOT like animals and I don't want any in my house. Jeremiah says if we get a cat, we get a dog! How can I possibly deny my most pitiful cat-loving daughter the one desire of her pure heart! How can I possibly live with a detestable (sorry to you animal loving people) animal? --Siri

Open Invitation

Since it has been over a month since anyone has blogged anything, I figured I needed to set an example and catch everyone up on life at the Penn's. I'm hoping it will encourage others to share!

We had high hopes of an inaugural Penn ski weekend a couple weeks ago. Parents should know better than to plan events like that. Micah broke his arm jumping off the dresser. So we cancelled the trip and worked on taking baths with plastic bags protecting his right arm (thankfully he is left handed). But kids are amazing and he had his cast off in 3 weeks so we headed up to Walhalla, ND this past weekend and taught the kids how to "pizza" (this generation's term for snow-plowing). It was a great time and we look forward to next year's ski season. I do miss Sunnyside and the t-bar up at Bottineau. It'd be fun to go back and see how it has changed. Maybe the Haugen's need to plan a ski retreat for January of '09!

Signe was extremely excited to show me another loose tooth after school today. She informed that her girlfriend had been punching her in the face and knocked it loose! Signe had to call her friend and share the good news. I'm not sure I quite understand this parenting business... Josiah is (surprisingly) all in one piece, for now. He asked me the other day if it would break his bike if he rode it off the roof, so I'm not holding my breath that he'll stay injury free for long. (I am watching the stairway carefully, just in case I see any bikes headed up.)

Besides hopefully inducing others to share some of their daily lives on the blog, I'm wanting to invite any and every one to run the Fargo Half Marathon with us this May 17th. So far Jeremiah, Trent? and I are training for it and we'd love more company. You don't have to "run" it all and if you have questions about training, give me a call! The more the merrier!

Hope to hear from you all! ---Siri

Freezin's Greetings!

Hello from cold Jamestown!

This is day two of double digits below zero. The two previous days showed highs of 36 - now that is a temperature swing! We are mostly staying indoors and are sure to warm up our cars before going out. Not too different from other winter days, except the kids are complaining about not being able to play outside.

Sara waits with great anticipation each day for her friend Samuel (our daycare provider's son who is in 5th grade) to get home from school. Sara thinks the sun rises and sets around him. This may be partly due to the fact that he takes her sledding every day. Now with the cold weather, she is missing her little play date. However, this week she is keeping busy as Chef of the Week; making snacks for her friends. Here she is making dough for individual pizzas that the kids will top to their liking.

Last week, Ben had the opportunity to go to ski school at Big Sky. To hear him talk, he was dropping out of Kindergarten and joining this alternative school. He had a great time (he made it to Green Dino) and is ready to go again. Trent didn't get to do as much skiing as he would have liked, but is glad that now he and Ben will be able to do this activity together. Sara and I stayed behind so I could continue to bring home the bacon as well as prepare for my Grandma's birthday party.

My Grandma turned 87 last week, so we celebrated with an open house at the Pingree Community Hall. My cousins and their kids all came home so we were able to take 4 generation pictures and catch up with each other. We are a small bunch, but are rarely all together. My cousins' children are the same ages as ours, so they had fun playing together. Grandma also had the pleasure of visiting with the entire group of Steele nieces and nephews (her sister's children) and some of their kids and grandkids as well as many other friends and family. Fun was had by all.

Congratulations to Priscilla and Mylo! Sorry we missed your special day (also our anniversary!). Please post some pictures. We would love to see them.

Hope everyone is healthy and warm!

Tonya

Bits and Pieces

Well, after almost 2 months I am finally able to access the blog from home....I found out that our cookies had to be a bit higher on the scale for internet usage on a blog.....And I thought you could only eat cookies!

Sounds like Russell and Sharon are really enjoying Texas....truely relaxing!

Are the Wattenfords all settled now? Two houses in one.....Is all the carpentry done?

There really is not much news here.....It's cold, sometimes windy.....two hours a day on the road driving! Take a pill and go to sleep.

We've started a new Bible Study on Monday nights...Stepping up to the Psalms of Ascent....a study of the songs the exiles sang on their way back to Jerusalem...It has been VERY interesting and entertaining so far. 17 women......Lisa Person's who is a great neice in law to Gordy Persons who used to live behind Dorothy and Harvey on Elm Street in Fargo....any way....she is the other facilitator....Gordy Person also is a pilot and so is Lisa's father-in-law....so, of course, Terry has that connection.

My confirmation class is going to take a lot of time in Feb.....We are making three HUGE banners for the front of the church. They are also making stoles.....Where are those quilters when you need them!?!?! Luckily there are only 6 confirmands and hopefully their mothers will help A LOT. We are up to listing 65 names for God....Every Sunday we name 5 more......

Tonya's grandma McIlonie is going to have a big birthday celebration this Saturday....Terry and I plan to go up if the weather is decent...Trent and Ben just got back from skiing....Ben went to ski school....his first time skiing. They didn't go skiing the day it was -25. Trent learned to ski at -30...no wonder his hair stayed red!

Dorothy, Russell, and anyone else that remembers Andy Rehor "Andy Apple" on radio. He just died. I don't know any of the details....I got an email from Karen Anderson.

Well, I'll be anxious to hear from all of you....time to correct confirmation tests! The hardest question for them was "What do you talk about in school?" They thought it was a trick question.

Love you all. Susan

Snapshots from Boulder

This first picture is of Signe and mom at rehearsal with Solveig in the background on piano. I may be biased, but I think they sounded pretty good!

Next is a picture of Micah, James, Signe and Patrick on our hike in Chataqua Park on the afternoon of the wedding. James is squatting down to be the same height as the others, something Peter said he doesn't often need to do!

Thirdly, a picture of Signe and Kate on top of a big fun rock that we stopped at before we went back down the mountainside.

Lastly a third generation cousin picture. I don't know why, but I think we missed taking a second generation picture!

Looking forward to a few pictures from others (hint, hint, Priscilla, Mom, Mary!).