4 year wedding anniversary today :)

Today Joi and I have our 4th wedding anniversary. We both totally forgot about it until this evening and now we are lauging about it :) We are obviously very romantic ;) This is my favorite picture from our wedding day.

Sigríður Jónsdóttir Gunnarsdóttir 1928 - 2009

My grandmother: Amma Sigga

My dearest grandmother passed away last Tuesday, July 14th, 81 years old. My grandmother was called Amma Sigga and she was loved so much by her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She suffered from liver cancer for the last two years and her last two months were really hard on her.
I loved my grandmother so so so much. I have so many great memories from her. My first memory is when she was babysitting my older sister and I. She was baking "kleinur" and singing to us. She used to sing all the time for us. She taught me so many songs and I learned to appreciate music through her.
Amma Sigga babysat us very often when I was a little girl and when my mother went to nursing school she would take care of the home for her, cook, take care of us three sisters and make sure we all got dinner every night. My father worked very much at that time so Amma Sigga came and took care of the household. I also remember when both of my parents got sick in their back and had to lie in bed for several days. Then Amma Sigga came over to our house and took care of everything.
Amma Sigga lost her husband (my grandpa) when she was only 53 years old. That was back in 1981. I was only 10 years old. Amma Sigga never met another man. She dedicated her life to her six children and grandchildren. She was like a mom to us, the grandchildren. We could always come to her house and she would always welcome us with love. Almost all of us, older grandchildren, have lived with her for some time. I lived with her for a few months when I was angry at my parents. Disagreement.... I was 24 years old. She never said NO to us. If she could help, she did.
When I returned from living and studying in North Carolina I bought my first apartment. I bought an apartment in the same house that she lived in, right besides her. I wanted to be close to her. My other cousins and my sisters visited her all the time. We would drink coffee, they would smoke, we would laugh, we would tell grandma stories of us partying and tell her about boyfriend problems. She asked us all kind of questions regarding men and how we did things. She used to say:" I love being around you young people". We also loved being with her. She was so young in spirit. We always felt like she was one of us. The two years I lived besides her we would have parties, both at my place and at her place. Then we would drink, talk, dance and have so much fun...until the next morning.... and she was with us - ALWAYS. She was so much fun to be with :)
When she was around 73-75 years old she decided to start working out in the fitness center we all were working out at. She wanted to be a part of this and she wanted to work out :) I remember once when I was teaching a spinning class, two hour class, she wanted to come too. I asked her: " Amma Sigga, are you sure you want to come? - It is a two hour class". She said:" Yes of course". I told her she could quit any time, when she would feel tired. Did she quit???? NO. She sat on that bike for two hours and cycled with us. AMAZING WOMAN.
My family has lost an amazing grandmother. We thank her so much for everything she taught us. We thank her for the life she gave us and for the love she gave us and shared with us.
Thank you grandma for everything and I believe that you are now united with grandpa in heaven. You are the best grandma anyone could dream of having and I am so proud to be named after you and your mother.
Love,
Guðrún Sigríður

Happy birthday my beautiful GIRL

Ásdís Hjálmrós is 5 year old today :)

I am alive and well :)

From left: Birna, Ásdís, Jóhannes, and Amelía

I guess I have not been doing so well blogging lately huh :) But I have been busy as usual and happy. It is amazing that two months of this year have passed already and I feel like the new year just began!Life is treating my family and I very well, I must say.

The kids are wonderful as always, growing and becoming more and more independent every day. Little Johannes likes to go to the toilet by himself and does not want us to help. Asdis will turn 5 years old in 8 days and she is getting more and more loving towards her brother. They love to play together and she has started watching out for him (big sister). Time flies...I really have so little to report about :) Things are so easy and good in our lives now.

We are waiting for the summer, especially the children. Asdis keeps talking about how she is going to lay down in the grass and roll around in it, how she will pick flowers for her mother and then she talks about camping trips with us. I totally agree with her. I can´t wait for the warmer weather, the green grass, camping trips, and family vacation. It will be so nice when we will be able to relax all four of us together. Usually on the weekends now, Joi studies most of the time, so it is just me and the kids. This summer it will be different :) YEAH.

My new job is going well. I really really love it and how diverse it is. I love the people I work with and being able to help so many people out with their computers. Another big plus about my job is that I can go to the gym at lunch time. I love it. Now I am working out 8 times a week. I lift weights 3 times a week, do cardio 3 times a week and then I do Rope Yoga 2 times a week. I really really love it :) I guess I will let this do for now. Hope all my friends and family who read this blog are doing well and that you are all in good spirits. Much love, Gunna Sigga/Gudrun

Happy birthday my beautiful BOY

Jóhannes Kristbjörn is 2 year old today :)

Merry Christmas

Early christmas greeting to all. I know I will be too busy when it gets closer to christmas so I decided to post a "few" words here. I have been extremely busy lately. We got a virus on most of our computers at work late November and since then we have been running around the institution fixing computer and setting some of them up again. It is so time consuming to get every user ready and make sure they have all their software installed, printers, etc. This time has been so much fun for me though. I have learned so much and basically been thrown into the deep end of the pool and told to swim... as we say in Iceland. I have loved being so busy and learning so much and for once in my life I have not had time to eat hehehehe. Then after being so busy at work I have gone home to take care of the kids and prepare for christmas. Joi is doing his final exams so he is completely out of the home and studying all the time. He works so hard and I am really proud of him. He has now finished 3 finals out of four. His last test will be December 16th. YEAH.
The children are wonderful as always. November month was so good for us. Asdis had been a bit difficult in September and October and we decided to change our method in the upbringing. Instead of telling her "no this and no that, and giving her punishments for everything wrong she did -" we decided to concentrate on the positive things in her behavior and reward her for doing the right things. IT HAS WORKED SO WELL. Of course this is no news to us. We knew this before, but we had forgotten about it and we were stuck in the negative i.e. punishments. She is now like a dream to us and of course all our christmas lads are helping out now :) The kids are so looking forward to christmas. They started to ask me to decorate in the middle of November. So I started a little bit then. I have never finsihed decorating so early :) I also baked the christmas cookies early - of course also for Joi who needs something to nibble on while he reads.

Johannes jr. has also developed quickly in the last few months. He is now talking so much. He repeats everything we say and is starting to use two word sentences. Last Saturday, for example, I said "more beer" to Joi. That night the little Joi repeated this again and again. "more beer" "more beer". We laughed alot... He is also soooo stubborn and big tempered. Of course he is also so gentle and sweet - but when he gets mad....oooohhhh we hold our ears!

Well, I guess I will let this do for now. I hope all my friends and family who read this blog will have a happy happy christmas and a happy new year. I hope that the economical status in Iceland and in the world will not affect us too much. We need to continue with our lives and continue being happy even though things get harder and we won't have the same amount of money as before. As long as we still have each other and the love for one another, we will be ok. We must remember what are the most important things in our lives: LOVE, FAMILY and GOOD HEALTH. Much love to ya'll. Gunna Sigga - Gudrun

Good News

My father is back home and his surgery went ok. They were able to fix certain things regarding his heart problem, but not other things. But time will determine if his heart will get better. The problem with it today is that it is beating in the wrong tempo. If I can explain it that way! The heart is very irregular and beats sometimes very fast even though he is laying down relaxing. So that has been going on for over 4 years now and his heart is now very tired. He needs to relax and make sure the heart gets enough rest. Sidnei - I hope you are reading this - perhaps I should send you an email :) hehehe

Thanks for the comments, especially Robyn and Juliana. Thanks for thinking of my dad :)

My grandma is also a little better. She is still in the hospital but she is now walking around the hospital and trying to get stronger, so that she can go back home and take care of herself.

My kids are ok. Johannes is healthy and we are looking into a good month of November :) My husband is never home and when he is home, he is actually still away. His head is into the books and it is hard to get through to him. But I know of one way to get through to him that always works .... hehehehe. I try to use that method a few times in a few, just to make sure he is still MINE heheheh. But seriously, I am really proud of him and how much work he is putting into the studies. I love him so much and I can´t wait for us to have a christmas vacation together. Wow... no school for 3 weeks. YEAH.

News about me... heheheh I am always doing the same things. I work, I take care of our kids, I cook, I clean, I work out 5 times a week, I try to read a book every night and so on. No seriously... I am actually really bad in my right hand and up to my shoulders. I think I have the "mouse desease"... I can´t remember what it is called in English. But it is because I spend too much time in front of the computer and using the mouse. Now I am trying not to get on my computer when I come home from work in the afternoon. No computer on the weekends either. I need to get better because I work with computers :) I am working on this. I go and have a massage, Joi gives me a massage once in a while, and I work out. Other than that I am extrememly happy and content in my life. I can´t complain about anything. So this blog of mine is probably super boring and super positive heheheh. Much love to you all. I got to go to a meeting. Bless bless, Gunna Sigga