Darling Davis

Susan's sister Cassie and her son Davis stayed at our house this past weekend.  They were in town for Susan and Cassie's grandma's funeral (remember?).  Although the occasion for their stay with us was not happy, it was a delight to have them as house guests nevertheless and to spend time with Davis, who changes so much between visits.  It's been a while since I have offered you pics of the little tyke, so here you go:

Scandinavian Seafood Delights

For this Scandinavian Saturday, we had special guests: Susan's sister Cassie, her son Davis, and Susan and Cassie's dad Roger.  Because of the busy-ness with the funeral yesterday and the house guests this weekend, Susan wondered if I'd like to postpone today's Nordic meal.  Instead I took on the challenge of preparing an ethnic meal that would allow our family to try new Scandinavian recipes but that would not turn off our relatives with ingredients or flavor combinations that were too out-of-the ordinary.  Suzanna was my assistant this week, and here's what we came up with:

Death in the Family

Susan's first day of school this year started with a phone call bearing sad news: her grandma Laura had died the night before.  (That's why Susan wore to school that day a necklace that Laura had rosemaled--remember seeing it in the photo a couple days ago?)  Just last November, Laura's husband (Susan's grandpa) passed away (remember?), and Laura's health declined steadily in the months thereafter.  Laura moved from a nursing home in town to one in Richardton, ND, where she lived her last few weeks with good care and individual attention.  Susan and the girls stopped there to visit with her about a week ago, and Susan's dad Roger and a couple of his sisters spent most of their time with her in her final days.  She died peacefully Tuesday night, and her funeral was today.

Back to School (and the Pool)

The school year has begun for everybody in our house.  I had start-of-the-year meetings to attend last week, and classes at the university started at the beginning of this week.  Susan had her teacher workshops Monday and Tuesday, and she started school today.  Our daughters got registered at their respective schools over the last couple weeks (remember?) and had open houses this past Monday and Tuesday in preparation for their own first day of school, which also was today.  We're getting back into our school-year routine . . . and I've got photos to prove it!

Scandinavian Overload

Do you recognize what these children are doing?

Another School Year

What's going on here, you may wonder?  Well . . .

Fish Fry and Frozen Food

I know that you want to know what everything is.  Read on!

Because I took Susan out to eat last night to celebrate our anniversary, our family did not have a Scandinavian Saturday supper.  Instead, Abigail (my helper this week) and I planned to make the Nordic meal tonight, and that's just what we did.  Well, we did prepare tonight's dessert yesterday afternoon so that it would have plenty of time to freeze, but otherwise it was a Scandinavian Sunday supper this week.  (It was a Scandinavian Sunday in another way, too: we spent the first part of the afternoon at a Sons of Norway meeting for our lodge.)

Date Night

Today Susan and I are celebrating 17 years of marriage.  We had a big party last week (remember?), and it included our kids; so tonight was a kids-free evening in the form of a date: supper and a movie for just the two of us.

Abigail's Two (Out of Three) Birthdays

Abigail, our "middlest" daughter (as she refers to herself), turned 11 years old today, and she couldn't have been more excited for this day to arrive!  And why shouldn't she be excited?  Today was her second birthday celebration, and she still has one more to go!

Significant Birthday for Kevin

Okay, today's my birthday, and I'm now as old as Susan, and it's a "significant" age . . . let's not dwell on that.  (Besides, I've already written about it here.)  Instead, let's dwell on all the wonderful things that Susan planned for today to celebrate my birthday.  It was a terrific day!

McGregor Centennial, Day 3

The McGregor, ND centennial celebration wrapped up today with a focus on Zion Lutheran Church, which also is 100 years old now.  Our family provided music for the church service in the morning and the program in the afternoon, so it turned out to be A Very Moberg Day at Zion.

McGregor Centennial, Days 1 and 2

I'm having a good time at McGregor, ND, a little town not far from the farm on which I grew up.  We're here for the town's centennial celebration, and we've seen lots of friends and relatives who returned for the event.

Surprise!

I grew up on a farm not far from McGregor, ND; and both the town and its church--Zion Lutheran, which I attended while growing up--are celebrating their centennials this upcoming weekend.  So for months we have been planning to return for the celebration, as have my out-of-state sisters Cathy (OR) and Sandy (NE).  Little did I know, until today, that they also have been planning a surprise birthday party for me, which is why they encouraged us to go to Dad's a day early (the centennial events start tomorrow, but they planned the party for this evening)!  Susan was "in on" the party plans and collaborated with my sisters, even utilizing the time that I was in Chicago last month to bake and freeze a bunch of sweet treats to contribute to the spread for the party.

What Susan didn't realize until tonight is that she, too, was a guest of honor for the party!

Supply and Demand

The girls appended that warning to a poster advertising their lemonade stand today.

Surprise Dinner Guests

My sister Cathy and her roommate Kathy are on a vacation to see Kathy's family in WY, Cathy's family in ND, and many sights and sites along the way.  Their itinerary today involved driving from SD to Dad's home in Tioga, ND on a route that would take them through Belfield and Watford City.  We will see Cathy this upcoming weekend (watch Pensive? No, Just Thinking after this weekend for more details), but Kathy plans to take a train back to OR before then, meaning we wouldn't have seen her during this trip.  So yesterday we offered to drive to Belfield today (it's about 20 minutes west of us) to meet them whenever they got there so that we could visit with them and then let them get back on the road.