Busy Hearts

It's been a busy few days...too busy to even blog, which has not happened since I was in Cyprus back in October and out of Internet-range.



We got back from the cottage on Tuesday, where we'd had an awesome time skiing, jumping, making bonfires in the snow, and generally enjoying ourselves.



We spent Tuesday afternoon and evening back at the house, just the four of us. Mike and I threw ourselves over the piles of work that were waiting for us, and the boys had a joyous reunion with their beloved computers and play station. Four days of nonstop outdoor fun in the Norwegian mountains give boys horrendous electronics-withdrawal, apparently.

Wednesday was another day of frantic working for Mike and I. Over the past three weeks, I have translated some 50,000 words, which is a crazy amount of words. I am starting to dream of CT machines, but have not yet gotten to the point where I'm worried that our rushed translation will cause permanent injury to some unsuspecting patient. I'm sure that'll come by the end of this nasty project, when we'll have reached some 150,000 words.

Wednesday night we had my sister and her family over for dinner. We made Chinese food, which, although not as good as the authentic stuff, beat the hot dogs we'd been surviving on for the last few days.

Since it had been a full 24 hours (gasp!) since my boys had last seen their cousins, they convinced us that my nephews needed to spend the night on Wednesday. Not that it took a whole lot of convincing. The boys are on their winter break, and, frankly, it is easier to have the four boys together, than my two alone.

Thursday was spent pretty much like Wednesday, with us working and the boys playing in the house, except for the hour or two when they were banished outdoors to enjoy the spring-like warm weather we've been enjoying lately. We even put them to work clearing the snow from the walkway, which was dangerously icy to walk on:



Somehow, the boys managed to finagle another sleepover through Friday, which was just as well, because yesterday was my parents' 39th wedding anniversary.

39 years of wedded bliss is not usually celebrated in grand style, but seeing as we are here this year - and likely won't be in Norway at this time next year - we jumped the gun a bit on the big 4-0 years of marriage for my parents.

The grandchildren even got involved by making awesome congratulary cards to their grandparents. They wrote cute little messages and drew balloons and coloured fairly well within the lines. No small feat for boys who are not artistically predisposed or interested. They were very proud when we hung the cards up on the wall by the dining room table.



And imagine my surprise, people, when I realized that B boy knows how to draw hearts. Hearts! This is my fit-for-fight warrior child, who sleeps with his Lord of the Rings sword and dreams of becoming a Jedi Knight. The same child who has been diagnosed with severe fine motor skill issues and refuses to write more than 10 words at a time. But if you're in need of a heart - here's your man:



Speaking of artistic skills, I baked a heart-shaped cake of which I was extremely proud until Mike burst out laughing at my attempt to create the number 9 on the cake with sugar, and kicked me off decoration duty and onto washroom clean-up duty while he took it upon himself to decorate the cake. The nerve!

I think I even heard him mutter something about "I see where Benjamin gets it from" under his breath. Clearly he was unaware of Benjamin's heart drawing ability, because this cake rocked:



The night was a huge success. My mother cried when she saw the boys' cards, the food was awesome, the cake was a big hit and the boys...well, they played and played and played some more.

And despite having been together for 5 out of the last 6 days, they were still upset when they had to say goodbye to each other last night (I'm starting to really worry about how they'll cope when we pack up and return to Canada).

Today has been yet another day of work for us. The boys have done very little but play electronics and card games, and Benjamin only got out of his PJs in the late afternoon, as we prepared to go visit my parents for a quick dinner of leftovers from last night.

Tomorrow is looking like another sunny and warm day, so Mike and I have promised ourselves to take a break from the overload of work and drag the boys out into the fresh air for a nice, long walk. Something tells me they won't be thrilled...

Have a lovely Sunday, everyone!