Turn off the GPS and start DANCING!!!

Colourrunners!! Early in the morning, heading for the happiest 5 km run ever!!! ...getting ready to turn off the GPS and start dancing!!! 

Gosh! So much fun even before the Colourrun has started!!!

New sneakers!

This time it was Agnes' turn to get some new runners, and she chose some very bright Nike ones!

Lovely and bright for winter!

5 things at home that starts with S...

Milla brought home Leo the Literacy Lion literacy journal where she was exploring 5 things at home that starts with the letter S.

She found:

1. Simpsons

2. Samba

3. Socks

4. Star Wars

5. Sultanas

Good job, Milla. Can you see that she drew Marge Simpson on top, Samba, a sock, and Darth Vader and Darth Maul?

Milla's Water Use Check List

Milla's class have been learning about water at school lately, and here is from an experiment in the classroom where Milla volunteered to be the helper of the SA Water lady...

She has had a water experiment going at home for the past week, measuring all the water she uses...

...she thought she'd use 102 litres of water in one week, but she used the grand total of 1,345 litres in one week!!! Wow! that is a lot! We are all very water conscious in this house and we are good at saving water and not use excess. We have two rainwater tanks and we save water even in the shower by putting a bucket in to catch all the spare water, then we water the garden with it. Still, this experiment has shown us that we need to be even more water conscious! Well done, Milla!

I can sing a rainbow!

...and some more singing! At assembly Agnes and Elliot was on stage to sing a song. Here is some footage of their practicing at home...

And here is a picture at Agnes on stage singing the song. It was just perfect! I was so busy filming the singing with my videocamera, so I forgot to take a photo of the song in action - because they were doing it in AusLan: Signlanguage!

Here is the YouTube version:

The water cycle song!

Milla's class has been learning about water and this week at assembly they presented their posters about water and afterwards they performed the water cycle song on stage!

Carefully unfolding their water posters

Singing the water cycle song...vapour goes up and rain comes down...!

Here is the YouTube version (and we have heard this many, many times this week whilst Milla have been practicing on the sofa, jigging along to the song....) - it is a very cool song about the weather!

Certificate of Merit!

Today at Assembly Milla was awarded a certificate of merit from her teacher! This is what her teacher said as she called Milla on stage:

Milla, your willingness and dedication to your school work is excellent. You always do your best, get along and show care and consideration for others, and have a positive outlook. Well done Milla. We all appreciate your cheery nature and happy personality.

Here is all the certificate winners in the school

One proud mamma!

Star Wars Iceblocks!

It is very exciting to get a parcel all the way from San Francisco!

Look at these faces! We have had frozen 'ice sabers' every day since it arrived on Monday! Thank you, Ava and Lola! We are looking so much forward to seeing you soon!

Thanks Pop!

During the school holidays that was just recently, it was a struggle to find someone to look after the girls. Here children attend school for 10 weeks, and then it's 2 weeks holidays, throughout the year. Normally the girls would come with me some days to work, and with Gregg some days. But this time, there were 2 days where we just could not work it out. Luckily Pop came to the rescue.

Thanks for looking after us in the school holidays, Pop!

The Math Monster

Like Leo the Literacy Lion, there is also a mathematics activity that they get to take home from school every now and then; The Math Monster! Today it was Agnes' turn to explore the world of mathematics.

Ooooh, it is a very exciting day when we get to take home the Math Monster's bag!

 Agnes drew an activity card that said:

Choose five of your favourite toys. 

Which one is biggest and which one is smallest? 

How do you know which is biggest and smallest?

Here are the five toys she chose: Baby Jaguar, the Unicorn, Tinkerbell (taken off her base for the moment), Husky and a Beaniegirl

Oohlala...Math Monster found a girlfriend in Beaniegirl!!! Mwahh!

Agnes said: I can see with my eyes that Unicorn is biggest and Baby Jaguar is smallest

Just to be on the safe side, she decided to measure and see who got the biggest number... Unicorn got 74cm...

...and Baby Jaguar got 14cm

Time to make a journal entry...

Working hard...

A beautiful drawing of Unicorn and Baby Jaguar

And here is the final journal entry in the Math Monster Journal

Well done, Agnes! You worked really hard and it turned out beautiful! 

Trackie-daks!

Winter means snuggling up in comfy tracky-daks! The girls got to pick some new ones from Target the other day - Hello Kitty of course.

A note from pappa

I was getting ready to move Milla's room, and one of her notebooks fell out of a box, and I found this old note...

...aaaaawwwwww!

Lihkku Beaivvin!

Going to work on Friday it was 17.Mai = our constitution day in Norway! I was wearing my new 'Lyngen-kofta' that was made for me when I was back home last, and Elliot was wearing her Luhkka. Two 'Cappa Nieidas'! 

I have always known that my father's family come from Birtavarre in the Lyngen-area, a Sea-Sámi area of Northern Norway. And when I was doing my PhD I found out that also my great-grandmother on my mother's side came from exactly this area. Just across the fjord, she grew up at 'Mikalsabakken' with her Sámi mother and father who both had succumbed to the assimilation policies and renounced their Sáminess and adapted a Norwegian lifestyle; all in order to gain access to what the Norwegian society had to offer. Although she never identified as Sámi publically, she taught her children and grandchildren Sámi values and respecting all the knowledge possessed by Sámi. Perhaps that was her quiet way of embracing Sámi culture.

The results of my thesis argue that the dilemma of Sámi identity often manifest itself in denial or concealment, through generations. And the suffering may have been widespread amongst those who were in opposition to the assimilation policies – but probably even more deeply felt, not to mention even more traumatic, amongst those who tried most eagerly to adapt to the assimilation pressure. Denial was found most places. Denial, that for decades was like a blanket covering life in the northern villages. Sámi was still a word of taboo. To deny the Sámi identity was a survival strategy.

With more than a century of experiencing a forced assimilation policy by the

Norwegian government, the so-called Norwegianization has made its impression on

people. Elise never proclaimed her Sámi heritage, and being the strong woman that her story has told us that she was, tells me that the forces against Sámi must have been incredibly strong and many. She disregarded society’s norms in regards to women, work and education – she followed all of her dreams and lived life in her own way. Why would she not admit to her Sámi roots? One reason could be that the Norwegianization was at its peak during Elise’s early and middle years. The assimilation policies were so encompassing of society that perhaps she worried for her family. Perhaps she worried about discrimination for her children and children’s children. Perhaps she wanted to open doors for them, as her parent’s choice had opened doors for her. Perhaps she even worried that the policies in place would discriminate against her – was it possible that she could be denied to practice midwifery? She might have had these thoughts on her mind, as the policies did express an exclusion of a Sámi workforce.

Elise was tireless in her work as a midwife, and during her lifetime she worked with many of the people that nobody else wanted to help – poor, sick, outsiders, and people living where someone would think that no one would live - in remote and isolated places - she went there. Elise showed both warmth and firmness to people. She always confronted poor behaviour, at the same time gaining immense respect from everyone she encountered. She often took on people who no one else would touch.

I have an absolute appreciation of what she contributed toward all those people that she worked with, and towards the profession of nursing and midwifery. She engendered an immense spirit of cooperation, and this was rewarded her by her receiving the King of Norway’s Honorary Medal. We can learn from Elise’s life’s work, to exhibit tolerance, grace and understanding of otherness.

It is important to give back to all of us the true story about the courage and endurance of Elise Myreng, my great-grandmother. Her story in itself is an extraordinary accomplishment, but it has a very serious purpose. Of course her story entertain and inspire us, but more importantly, her story contributes to changing the understanding that determines how societies define the roles of women. The only way to open up the full scope of opportunities for women, is to reprogram the way people see gender roles. If we tell the stories of women to defy the stereotypes, we contribute to changing the social landscape of how the world works. Elise’s story is a great contribution to our understanding of women and a corrective to the standard histories. Celebrating this heroine reminds us that women do amazing things, and it will be a loss to our whole country if we forget them. Elise was neither a mythological character nor a super-heroine from a comic book; she was a human being, an imperfect person with strengths and weaknesses - she was a quiet heroin.

My great-grandmother was a pioneer of sorts – almost a hundred years ago, she tore free from stigmas, gender and race issues, to follow her own heart.  I leave it up to anyone who reads this blogpost to ponder their own backgrounds, what it means to them, and decide where they best belong. Elise's story is an inspiring tale of bravery and determination, illustrating the classic theme of the triumph of the human spirit in the face of adversity. May the story of my great-grandmother and the courageous path she chose inspire you, as it has me.

Now, back to today's special day - and I know that everyone back home is celebrating nation-wide. Even here in Australia we celebrated, and I felt connected and proud to put on my new Sea-Sámi 'kofta'. Here we are, Elliot and I, in the early morning hours:

Lihkku Beaivvin! Gratulerer med dagen!

Pony time!

Friday afternoons having a riding lesson at the Four Oaks Farm has quickly become a favourite. 

Sophie and her dad brought Milla a pink ribbon for her hair this morning

Thank you Besta and Besten for sponsoring the girls' riding lessons! We are enjoying it a lot!

Dishwasher love!

This is the first time we've ever had a dishwasher in our 8 year togetherness! I cannot even begin to describe how good it feels to have one!! Even though our dishwasher is an ancient piece of machinery I love it....it is even rusty inside...they must have put it in when they built the house in the 1970s.

I'm looking forward to upgrading our kitchen. And I love stacking and emptying the dishwasher!

Schuletute!

This week there was Assembly on Wednesday, and the big students had made the traditional welcome gifts for the 'newies'; a Schuletute! It is an old, german tradition that greets the 'newies' and inside there is lots of little presents such as school supplies, popcorn and cookies!

Agnes and Elliot's class on front row, and Milla's class on the third row - can you see her with a red bow in her hair (in the middle of the three girls with red bows)?

Agnes and Elliot on stage with their welcome presents

Here are some pictures from their first week in school from the school blog:

They are doing so well in school so far!