The Stene Train

School Pictures!

2009-11-03T16:43:00.009-06:00

Easter!

2009-04-13T00:51:00.012-05:00

ClogJam at Children's Museum

2009-03-03T15:40:00.006-06:00

Isabelle and her class had their first public performance at the Children's Museum on Saturday. They were so excited and did great! It was a huge step for Isabelle to overcome her shyness and go up on stage. (She can't wait to do it again!)

Happy Birthday Isabelle!

2009-03-03T13:26:00.011-06:00

She's looking very grown up in her new birthday outfit, she picked out all by herself.

The kids spent a day at the Children's Museum, and the Kwik Trip store set up was the highlight. Here Lillian patiently waits in line to purchase her cottage cheese.

Espen making healthier choices than he does at home.

Isabelle phoning home for more money.

Lillian loves her Winnie the Pooh plane. She seems to enjoy mowing over things with the propeller spinning.

Nap time.

Lunch at the Stene house. Espen and Lillian enjoy each others company. Isabelle wasn't feeling well and opted to eat downstairs in front of the TV this day. A rare treat, saved for sick days.

Happy Birthday Lily!

2009-01-13T10:20:00.007-06:00

Sears Photo session

2008-11-24T23:35:00.009-06:00

Isabelle's Clogging Class

2008-11-18T10:22:00.008-06:00

Isabelle's clogging class performed their routine for the parents last night. This represents less than 6 hours of lessons! Isabelle has not had any dance instruction prior to this, and we are so proud of her.

And, Lillian shows off her first scab (the first of many, I'm sure):

Lillian walks all by herself now

2008-11-03T19:11:00.002-06:00

Hallo-Harvest-Saints-Day-Ween

2008-11-02T17:26:00.017-06:00

Soooo, it was the year of the "P". We had Princess Belle, a penguin of unknown origin, and a poodle. Pink, of course. I made the princess and penguin costume. I also made a lot of mistakes, and am becoming skilled at seam ripping. But it was so much fun to see the kids in the costumes!

We met the Howards at the Mall of America, and had a great time seeing how big everyone is getting. Then we made a hasty departure because some of our children don't respond well to scary masks, and yes I realize that taking them to a Halloween party at the MOA would perhaps seem not a Brilliant Parent Move, but we thought it would be in an environment that may help them conquer the fear. Baby steps.

Anyway, we made it out of the mall in time to swing by a very nice Harvest party and they had lots of fun racing minnows and shooting baskets. Apparently Espen had all net once, which is surprising because he's never touched a basketball before.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Lillian Tries to Walk

2008-10-21T08:42:00.001-05:00

Lillian is 6 months old, and first sewing project...

2008-07-14T08:50:00.010-05:00

Gah! Where does the time go? In the last 48 hours she has crawled, eaten a bowl rice cereal, and cut two teeth. Sniff. I want my baby back!!!!

And, I started sewing this summer. I am SO excited! I love it. My first project was pajama pants for the kids. I'm going to make matching one's for Scott and I. He is less excited about this than I am. I can't wait!

Our summer is going well. It's less hot this year. I think. I don't know because I was pregnant last year at this time and it could have been 65 degrees and I'd be complaining about the heat.

Anyway, hope everyone out there (all four of you) have a great summer and I'll be calling you soon so you can talk to the grandkids!

Rachel

Dan and Kim's Wedding

2008-05-19T13:53:00.022-05:00

My "little" brother, who is now in his thirties and many inches taller than I, was married this weekend, to the lovely Kim C.

They are travelling around Italy now, then will move to Boston for Kim's residency. She just graduated from medical school, and is well on her way to becoming a pediatrician.

Isabelle was the flower girl. Our intensely shy daughter woke up that morning with a mysterious ankle pain, and a "sore-ish" throat. Throughout the day we receieved reports on her traveling illness. It seemed to come and go depending on the mood.

There was no pressure to make it down the aisle, as Kim and Dan know our daughter well, and everyone just wanted her to have a good time and twirl in a pretty new dress, made by Kim and her mother Caren.

Have a good time she did, and much to our surprise she actually made it down the aisle all by herself, and remained up front with the bridesmaids for the duration of the ceremony.

She decided to ignore the cue for her time to march, and proceeded to pick apart the bouquet as she went (much to our delight). She continued dropping petals all through the ceremony, with only an occasional shy smile. The really special thing is that this is an exact and unscripted repeat of how the flower girl performed her duties for Kim's parents wedding.

Here are a few snap shots, but there will be more when the real photographer's photo's are available!

3 month pictures

2008-04-17T08:43:00.008-05:00

Lillian is making all sorts of new sounds, laughing and loving life.

Espen can't get close enough to her, so we gave him some binoculars and told him to look at her through them, which he did, and thoroughly enjoyed. He seems to finally have satisfied his need for extreme closeness, without injury to Lillian.

Isabelle is more than ready for summer, and has been scootering (?) up and down the driveway, alternating between bike rides and all out running. Can't imagine where she gets that from.

Easter pictures and more random photo's

2008-03-25T13:17:00.010-05:00

Crazy pretty much sums up our life right now. But it's that good crazy that you know you signed up for when you decided to go from two to three kids. The kind of crazy that you know will be over too soon and leave you wishing you could once again snuggle with a baby at 3am, carry a sleepy little boy back to his monster-free bedroom at 4am, breathe a sigh of relief that you don't have to get up when your husband's alarm goes off at 5am, and snuggle with a baby again at 6am.

Yes, we know it will be over all too soon, so we are trying to grab on to every day and live it, not just get through it so we can get back to sleep. Lillian seems to be cooing much more than I remember the other two doing at this age, and I'm sure her first words will be, "NO fingers! You'll poke her in the eye!".

Lillian's ever present entourage have been mostly well-behaved, although they do seem to enjoy pushing the limits when I'm nursing her. Lillian's second set of words will be "Do you want a time-out?". But the kids have been awesome at throwing away diapers and transporting impressively soiled onesies and sleepers to the laundery bin. (while pinching their noses and saying eeeewwww!)

We would love for Espen to learn about volume control, or we will all need hearing aides soon. He's gone from barely speaking to exuberantly shouting his words as though we are 800 yards away from him, when we are in fact inches from his face.

Happy Spring everyone and enjoy the season!

Introducing...

2008-01-16T17:38:00.001-06:00

Lillian Noelle Stene

January 12, 2008 at 11:00pm

8lbs 6oz 20 inches

Christmas in the new house!

2007-12-26T15:09:00.001-06:00

We had a great Christmas in our new house, with a snow storm just two days before to make it feel extra cozy. I was really hoping I wouldn't go in to labor Sunday night after we realized we wouldn't be able to get out of our driveway with out help. Thankfully the baby stayed in, and so did we!

Isabelle got her dream Christmas gift, a violin. She has been wanting one for over a year now, and has decided to join the Celtic Woman when she grows up, or maybe next year if she is good enough and Mom and Dad let her. She has graciously offered a job to Espen as her percussionist.

Espen also got a big gift, a Leapster L-Max. He has been using his sister's for 8 months and she really wants it back. He also recieved many Disney Cars related items which are all his "favorite" and I have no pictures of him with them because he immediately transferred all to our room, where he's amassing a large pile of toys he thinks he's taking to the hospital when we eventually have this baby.

Mom had her dream Christmas gift, a lucious prime rib prepared by Scott that could easily be at home in a four star restaurant. I think I inhaled half of it before letting anyone else near it.

Dad loved playing with Espen's toys and teaching him how to race his cars down a track. I'm not sure which is Dad's favorite, the Lincoln logs, the race track, or the Home Depot construction helmet with the head light. Dad wasted no time in improving the shoddy soldering job for the light, which should now withstand great impact with nary a wire out of place.

He also loved teaching Isabelle how to hold her violin bow properly. Trained as an upright bass player he could barely contain his excitement as he handed her the bow. We've both been close to tears as we watch her beam and glow while she has been making her first notes over the last 24 hours.

Well that's it from the Stene house. The next post will have baby news on it. Have a great New Years!

Fall Update

2007-10-25T14:35:00.001-05:00

After a hectic end to summer, which included hauling another truckload of STUFF out of our house in Duluth, we successfully closed on it mid September. We have since been enjoying a slower paced fall in Southwestern Wisconsin. Mom is getting bigger by the minute and the countdown for the arrival of Isabelle and Espen's much anticipated baby sister is at 10 weeks.

Tomorrow we will be moving out of our duplex and into our new house! ...sigh, yes, it's about the fourth address change in 12 months for us and I am simply walking around our apartment in a daze, in total denial of having to pack again. So, to take my mind off the impending chaos of the next 4 days, I'm uploading pictures to the blog with a clogged internet connection. It's much more rewarding to watch the little progress bar creep along than to stare at empty boxes which need to be filled with STUFF again.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures of the places we've been hanging out at this fall, which include Norskadalen, a Norwegian heritage center which is our new favorite place to unwind at. The last item is a picture of the new house we're moving into tomorrow, and I'll be posting more pictures of it after we get settled next week. Umm, er, or next year.

Summer pictures of the kids

2007-08-23T09:56:00.000-05:00

Two of my favorite photo's of the kids by Lake Superior.

Isabelle giving Espen a helpful push. What are older sisters for?

Our insect and small mammal torture chamber.

Isabelle and Espen breaking out some dance moves.

2007-06-10T19:21:00.000-05:00

Well, we don't have a "Sold" sign in front of our house, but at least now we have a "For Sale" in front! Thanks to the hard work of my parents who painted the walls, and sanded and finished our hard wood floors. Our house has never looked so good!

There's a random weird picture of Espen, being goofy as usual. And one night the kids decided to watch the sunset. Isabelle set up the chairs and they proceeded to chat about how beautiful the sky was while lounging in their chairs. About 5 minutes later she set up the table and they enjoyed a bowl of ice cream.

2007-05-17T16:29:00.000-05:00

Recently I let Isabelle loose on one of my lesser used computers, and opened up Photoshop for her. I gave almost no instruction and she has completely surprised me with various paint settings she has stumbled into. I'm not sure she could repeat everything she's done, but she is fearless in exploring options. She also figured out how to add text, position it, and change its color and font all by herself. She's five years old. I'm not naming names, but I've worked with editors 10 times her age that couldn't figure that out. You know who you are, and I love you. Wouldn't it be great if we could all have that lack of fear of hitting the wrong button?

Anyway, I'm posting a few of my favorites. I'm also intrigued by her decision process as far as when a piece is complete. One of my absolute favorites is the one that has only two lines of rainbow colored text. She cranked it out in about three minutes, studied it for three more minutes before pronouncing with absolute finality, "It's done. Save it, Mom."

We're in Sparta!

2007-05-03T15:36:00.000-05:00

We finally made it! Scott found out he got the job at McPherson's at the end of March, and had his first day of work the day after Easter. He's really enjoying the job and we are so thankful to God he has a place to work!

He stayed in Westby, with Aunt Arlene for 3 weeks while we found an apartment. Last weekend we were able to move and we love it here. For the first time in our marriage, we have... brace yourselves... CLOSETS! And in every bedroom! It's unbelievable. Those of you who live in any Not Brand New house in Duluth will relate! It really improves the quality of life when you have a place to hang your clothes up.

We are still in the process of moving out of our house and getting it ready to sell, but think we can get it on the market in two of weeks.

Hopefully the next time I post we'll have pictures of a sold sign in front of our house!

2007-03-05T14:04:00.000-06:00

We're baaack! The snow held off until our arrival. Our miracle snowblower has been brought back from the dead more times than we can count. We captured Espen's "Pirate Face" on camera. Isabelle turned 5 in February. And Espen gave himself a new hair-do.

Scott is in the middle of interviewing for jobs. We are settling back into a routine of sorts, but not really sure if we should be unpacking or packing. So we have done neither! I have a job this month so we will be busy as Scott travels to various guitar builders, and scouts out the local scene as well.

Our Kids Find Their True Identity

2007-01-24T00:51:00.000-06:00

Isabelle and Espen have become quite the little cowgirl and cowboy during our stay here. They live in their cowboy boots and hats. Espen has actually insisted on sleeping with his cowboy boots on, and both are excitedly looking forward to showing off their new duds to all their friends in Minnesota.

In the meantime, Scott has started applying for jobs and has one interview coming up. There are several jobs he's interested in, ranging all the way from Chattanooga to Puyallup, and we're up for any of them. But the surprise to all of us has been a company in Sparta, WI of all places. Just north of Westby, where I have spent 95% of my Fourth of July's, at our family reunions. The place is called McPherson's and Scott's head over heels over their product. This is the company he actually has an interview with, as soon as we get back to Minnesota.

And that will be in about 2 and half weeks. We'll arrive in Duluth, unload our U-haul full of all the things we've managed to accrue here, while simplifying, turn right around and head back towards the Twin Cities, then to Sparta!

3 more weeks to go!

2007-01-15T00:31:00.000-06:00

Scott is coming down the final stretch of school and attempting to finish 4 instruments before the end of January. He's building an acoustic, an electric bass, a mandolin, and an electric upright bass. He's been going full steam ahead for 4 and half months, attending school 6 to 7 days a week. I don't know how he does it, but it's so exciting to see his instruments take shape.

We spent Christmas and New Years in Billings, Montana and were thoroughly spoiled. All this traveling is getting to my head, and I woke up several mornings wondering if I was in Duluth, Phoenix, or Billings? We made a day trip to Logan, Montana to check out a mandolin builder, as well as spend some time in Bozeman. We went to Museum of the Rockies and saw real dinosaur fossils inside and real snow outside. It was incredible.

Then we came back to Phoenix last week and went swimming.

And finally, yesterday we went to the Phoenix Zoo. Just in time for the temperature to drop into the upper 40's with a stiff wind from the north. But, being from Minnesota, we threw on a sweatshirt and laughed at all the people in winter jackets. Until our lips started turning blue. Downright embarassing how fast our blood thinned out. All it took was 4 and half straight months of temps averaging in the mid 80's (minus the 4 days my parents were here).

Kids and Palm Trees

2006-12-07T19:25:00.000-06:00

More Guitar Picts!

2006-12-07T19:13:00.000-06:00

Has it really been 2 months?

2006-12-06T12:23:00.000-06:00

Wow, look! It's already December. We finally got a new camera so now I can update this with some pictures. Scott is busily building away. He's got a mandolin sans strings, an acoustic with the top, sides and bottom all connected, and his electric bass is almost ready for the paint booth. I don't have recent pictures of everything, but I'll post what I have. We had a great Thanksgiving (it was 84 degrees!) and my parents came shortly after for a nice visit. In keeping with our family tradition of changing weather patterns whenever we travel out of the upper midwest, the daily high temperature's dropped about 35 degrees within 48 hours of their arrival. (Thank God!) The people of Arizona had no idea what hit them.

Unpacking

2006-10-06T14:15:00.000-05:00

We made it to Phoenix. We've been here for almost a week. We are in a great apartment, by a lake and a couple swimming pools, a playground, and several conveniant grocery stores within walking distance.

Scott's parents were visiting relatives in Phoenix right before we arrived, and they surprised us with the apartment, found with the help of Uncle "Punk" and Audrey.

We are settling in, and getting used to the heat and the monsoon season here. I have a hard time typing monsoon without laughing. It's hard to believe that 100 degrees and bright sunny days with 40% humidity is their wet season, but it really is. I scoffed at the warnings of mosquito's, thinking it can't possibly be wet enough for them here, but I did notice about 18 new bites on my legs yesterday after a quick walk. They must be microscopic monsoon mosquito's because I never saw the buggers.

Scott is going to class 10 hours a day Monday through Friday learning about repairing guitars, and 7 hours on Saturday's to learn about building amplifiers. In one week they wrap up the guitar repair session and start the building session.

Once we get the camera working again, we'll post pictures of the area and all the beautiful blooming flowers!

The Stene's

Next stop, Phoenix!

2006-09-21T22:37:00.000-05:00

Scott has been in Phoenix for a month, attending the luthier school, Roberto Venn. For those of you as knowledgeable as I am about this, he's learning about building and repairing guitars, not becoming a better Lutheran.

The rest of us will be joining him in about a week. We aren't completely sure where we will be staying, or for how long. (details, details....) But we hope to find that out soon, as we wait to hear on the possiblity of full tuition coverage through the Veteran's Administration, and what sort of freelance jobs will come through for me.*

*Read, "when we know how much money we'll have, we'll know what sort of place we can afford, if any!"

For the relatives who haven't seen the Stene Kiddo's lately, here's a semi-sort-of-recent photo of Isabelle and Espen.