More Pictures

We took Rob and Mical candlepin bowling.  In the first game I won with a score of 69.  But in the second game Rob won with a score in the 70's.  Here is baby sleeping.  He slept the whole time we were there.

Kisses for Mama.

Aunt Mical and Uncle Rob Come to Maine

We had so much fun with Uncle Rob and Aunt Mical who flew up from Florida to visit us.  One day we went to a lobster pound for lunch.  Here is Mical taking a bite out of her lobster roll.

Islwyn at the pound.  He was more into his root beer we were sharing than the lobster.
Lobster!


Jonathan and Amund waiting for the food to be ready.

We went on a hike at Acadia.  Here are some pictures from various parts of the hike.  Islwyn walked almost the whole 1.3 miles on his own.  He is getting to be such a big boy!







We stopped and saw this light house too.

Hanging Out

We haven't been up to too many really exciting things lately.  We tend to hang out at home a lot--especially in the afternoons after nap time.  Yesterday, after Islwyn got up, he did an art project of cutting out paper and stamping shapes out of paper.  Amund watched from his chair.  We got some cute pictures of the funny faces Amund makes.

Islwyn took this picture.

Islwyn playing with the bag that his art project stuff goes in.

More baby faces.



 

About Amund

I thought I would share a little bit about the person who Amund is named after.  My Great, Great-Grandfather (my mom's, dad's, mom's, dad) Amund Nilsen Nordrum.  My grandparents sent me a picture of a picture of Amund Nordrum and also a written account about him that was written by his daughter (my Great Grandma Olson).  Below is the account she wrote--I typed it up.

Mr. and Mrs. A.N. Nordrum

 Amund N. (Nilsen) Nordrum was born April 12, 1861, at Ringebu, Norway.

Anna Julia Takerud was born November 13, 1867 in Freeborn County Minnesota.  Later, with her parents, she moved to Ottistal (sp?) County, Minnesota where she resided until their marriage, February 23, 1886.

The fall of 1885 Dad came to Dakota Territory, where he settled on land, which is now Eldon Township.  The spring of 1886, together with three other families, they traveled cross-country by wagon, and drove their livestock on foot to their homestead.  Their first year was spent in a sod house, across the road from where they built a frame house, which was re-modeled from time to time, and later was a beautiful home, with barns, granary’s etc.  Their farm consisted of 400 acres, part of which still belongs to their descendents. 

 Money was scarce, but with faith, courage, determination, and hard work they succeeded.  There were many hardships.  Prairie fires were fierce.  So fire breaks were plowed.  There were the Indians, wild animals, especially wolves.  Mother told of being alone one night, with her children, while Dad was away making fire wood, and she heard much commotion out doors.  She covered the windows, fearing it was Indians.  The next morning she discovered it had been wolves.

 The blizzards were many and severe on the open prairies.  Dad told of tying twine to house and following that on other errands out-doors.  In one storm Pastor Blegen from Leeds, having had church service and dinner at their home, when a storm came up, so he spent the night.  The next morning Mother made wraps from gunny sacks and wrapped his feet and legs for his 14 mile walk to Leeds.  Dad walked with him half-ways to carry his satchel.  This was March 8, 189?.

 The corner stone of St. Olaf Lutheran Church, of which they were charter members was laid October 31, 1897.  Dad served as treasurer from the time the congregation was organized until his death, Math 13, 1922.  Then Melvin was appointed, serving until his death in 1936.  Another brother, Arthur, then held the office, until his sight failed.  Mother passed away November 9, 1934.

 We were a large family, namely Melvin, Nels, Mary, Emil, Alma, Inga, Clara, Arthur, Amanda, Norman and Pearl, plus 2 sons who died in infancy.

 The houses were small and not too warm at times.  Frost would be thick on windows, on which we made rings with thimbles.  Mother knit the families mittens and stockings, besides sewing our clothes.  Much of this was done by lamp light.

 School terms were held in one room buildings, one teacher for all grades. Many pupils did not exceed the 6^th grade.  Our school was known as Rigga School, later changed to Westrum school.  Some of the fine neighbors were John Anderson, John Rysne, and the Huffmans.

 Getting business done, groceries, mail, and medical attention was 9 miles away, and transportation horses or oxen.

July 6, 1916 lightning struck barn, killing three horses, and injuring others.   July 16 of that year a Norwegian school program and picnic where held in grove.  And in August a ladies aid sale and picnic were held.

But as time passes on the beautiful home we all loved and enjoyed is now vacant.  But many happy memories, together, as a family, still linger, with the three remaining daughters.

Amund Gordon Williams next to a picture of his namesake Amund Nilsen Nordrum.
These next two pictures are of the quilt my Great-Grandma Olson (daughter of Amund Nordrum) made for me when I was born.  Amund sleeps with it.  I love the old fabric prints!  Many of the pieces of fabric are probably from old flour sacks I would guess.  But you can see when you look at it that it is made up of fabric from many different decades.

I think Amund is really fortunate to have someone like Amund Nordrum to know about as his namesake.  He seems to have had a pioneering spirit, been a hard worker, and a kind and faithful man of God.  All that I hope and pray for Amund.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Olson for sending us the picture and written account.

Below is a picture of Grandma and Grandpa Olson.  I love this picture of them--as they are laughing.  This is how I always think of them, always having a good time!  Amund Nordrum is Grandpa Olson's grandfather.

DSC_0203, originally uploaded by jonvw.

Amund at 2 months

Islwyn having snack after nap and watching Wiggles.

Amund taking a nap in the sunshine.  Poor buns had to have some shots today :(.

I can't believe he is two months old already!  He had his appointment today and is doing great.  He is 13 pounds and 24 1/2 inches tall.  He still has big blue eyes too!  The only bad part was when he had to get his vaccinations.  Poor baby.  But it was just a couple seconds and then he was better.  While I think it is hugely irresponsible to NOT vaccinate your kids, I have decided to spread his vaccines out a little bit so he doesn't get like 4 or 5 at one time.  But rather two today and then go back in a month for another one.  Anyway, I took some pictures of the boys with photobooth--so they're not the greatest pics, but it is a good picture of what we are doing right now.

Happenings

So Islwyn decided he really needed to make a pie the other day. A blueberry and chocolate chip pie.  He talked about it incessantly all morning and then after nap started asking about it again.  So he and I made a pie.  He is really good at baking!  Anyway, after it came out of the oven, Islwyn took this picture of his pie.

Amund and I have been trying to have play time while Islwyn naps.  Usually Amund naps almost the whole time Islwyn is napping, but he also usually has a little bit of time when he is up and wants to play.  The other day we were playing together on the floor and took this picture of us.

Tummy time.
Rolling around on the floor.  He is always smiling and gurgling at me, and then when I get out the camera, he stops and either starts crying or gets really serious.
Cool onesie, you can compare Islwyn in the same onesie at about the same age by following the link below.  They look so different to me!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/96026355@N00/247850725/

Some Book Ideas

Here are some great children's books that Islwyn and I have been enjoying reading lately.  

If you want to read a book that is just really funny and kind of gets the kids a little riled up....SkippyjonJones (by Judy Schachner) is a great book (http://www.skippyjonjones.com/)!  It is about a little siamese kitty who thinks he is a chihuahua.  He is always getting into trouble and gets sent to his room, then his imagination takes over and all kinds of funny things happen while he is a chihuahua (in his dreams).  The author used really clever rhymes and little songs written in Spanglish that is really funny.  Some favorite quotes Islwyn LOVES from this book are:

"I bounce on my bed and once or six times I land on my head!"

"AAAAAAchoopichu!"

"Out came Skippyjon with his birthday pinata on his head!"

"Holy Guacamole!"

"And then they all went crazy loco."

A really great book for before bed is Ten Sleepy Sheep (by Phyllis Root, illustrated by Susan Gaber).  It is a very soothing book to read, all written in little poems.  It is about 10 baby sheep who can't go to sleep and then throughout the book the sheep fall asleep in different places around the farm.

A really good book that would promote a lot of discussion with kids about 3 years and up is called Mole and the Baby Bird (by Marjorie Newman, illustrated by Patrick Benson).  Actually Islwyn has been reading this book since he was born and it never gets old.  But I feel like right about now he is getting to the age where we can talk more about what is happening in the story.  It is about a mole who finds a baby bird, so Mole takes the baby bird home and takes care of it.  Soon the bird is big enough to fly and be outside again, but Mole wants to keep the baby bird because he loves him.  The illustrations are beautiful, there is just enough text for a small child, but there is a lot of stuff going on in the story to get kids thinking.  

I hope you enjoy these books as much as we do!