The Rest of January

Tipton shows Lilli how his latest marble track goes.

The weekend that Dave was in the US, the kids and I went to the park with the Scotts. I had brought a soccer ball and Ian (Aaron's Dad) took on the kids in a match. Here Tipton displays his sneaky tactics for gaurding Ian so that Aaron can score a goal.

And here Ian decides that he can use the same strategy. He picked up both boys to prevent them from getting the ball away from him.

What with it being winter and all, I decided I need a new scarf. Only I didn't really want the hastle of a scarf, so I knit a neck warmer instead. It's like the turtleneck part of a turtleneck sweater. Lilli models it for me.

On the last day of their Little Gym session, parents and siblings (and anyone who wants to come, really) are invited into the gym to watch the children "perform." Lilli demonstrates the bear walk on the parallel bars.

This is one of Lilli's favorite things to do - kick back and relax in the big circle.

Lilli practices jumping and climbing and landing on two feet.

At the end of the session Lilli got a 'diploma'.

And a hug from Emelie, her instructor.

And then it was time for Tipton's class...

Keisuke, Tipton and Maxime - the three troublemakers, uh, I mean musketeers.

Tipton "builds a house" against the wall.



Tipton bear walks across some parallel bars.


Tipton does a flip over the bar.



And at the end of the class, Tipton also got a 'diploma.'



He and Keisuke check out their diplomas.



Tipton wanted to make sure I got a good picture of his diploma.


And here is the group photo of the entire class with the instructors: Sandra, Sebastian and Malina. Tipton is crazy about Sandra.


And totally non-child related, I knit myself a pair of mittens. They actually fit, and are very warm. I love them!!

January Part 1

The start of a new year always brings lofty resolutions. This year one of my goals is to do more arts & crafts with the kids. To that end, I bought the kids long sleeved art smocks and some chunky paintbrushes. So now when Lilli says she wants to paint, instead of thinking about the mess and the cleanup I just put her in her smock and let her go. I'm not completely insane, though - I only let her have a few colors of (washable) paint. I cut out a few sections from an egg carton and tape the sections to the easle and squirt the paint into the sections.


Lilli is still enjoying her play kitchen.

The first snow of the year! It wasn't much of a snow. It didn't really stick on the ground, and it turned to rain about 20 minutes after this picture was taken. But the kids and I went out to play in it, and I showed them how to catch snowflakes on their tongues.

This was the Christmas that kept on giving. Several boxes arrived from Grama Kay and Papa. Inside were gifts not only from Grama and Papa, but also from Uncle John. Here Tipton shows Obi Wan Kenobe's starfighter - a gift from Uncle John. You can't tell from the picture, but Tipton was really, really excited about it.

Uncle John gave Lilli twin baby dolls. Lilli is all about babies and dollies, and she is always talking about her baby (twin) cousins Cam and Tru - so this gift was a HUGE hit!

Tipton's big gift from Grama Kay and Papa was the Deluxe Marble Race. And he was ALL about it!

They gave Lilli a new Elmo/Sesame Street puzzle. She wanted to open it right away. Here she's asking Daddy to open it.

Lilli likes to take her socks off at the dinner table and hang them on her chair.

Tipton could not wait to get started with his Marble Race. First thing in the morning he set to work.



Lilli is feeding one of her new twin babies. Notice the rocking chair? It belonged to Great-Grandpa when he was a little boy!



Lilli models the new scarf that she begged me to make for her. It is a lovely scarf and she was very happy with it. Unfortunately, she will not wear it (or any scarf) when she plays outside.

Again with the Christmas that keeps on giving... Aunt Jenni came to visit and brought Christmas gifts for the kiddos. She'd just come from India, where she'd bought a sari for Lilli. Lilli LOVES it. (Unfortunately, it was just a size or two too small.)





Aunt Jenni brought Tipton a new hot wheels toy.



Of course, Lilli must accessorize her new sari.




A visit from Aunt Jenni isn't complete without a sword fight.



Tipton, the dutiful big brother, comes to his little sister's aid to battle Aunt Jenni.



This is just such a great picture of Lilli. You will note her "pony tail." Lilli is growing out her hair (she has finally stopped pulling it out!)





And still giving... A third and final box arrives from Grama Kay and Papa. Inside is Lilli's big present - pots and pans for her play kitchen. They are just like the ones Grama Kay has (only smaller, and plastic.) You can tell Papa did the wrapping/packaging. Lilli was getting a little frustrated with all of the tissue paper.



And just so Tipton would have a little something to open from this box, they got him some Star Wars action figures. I do believe these are the biggest hit of the Christmas season.



The other part of Lilli's big gift was a little microwave. The buttons make noise when you push them and when you press the 'Start' button, the turntable turns around and the timer counts down. It is just the coolest thing! And it came with more play food. By far the biggest hit for Lilli.




Another visit from Aunt Jenni. And in my effort to keep true to my goal for the year we did some arts & crafts. Paper machier! We started off with simple balloons. Then Aunt Jenni made balloon animals - a giraffe and an elephant. I only got this one picture (we had just started) because then I sat down and started 'helping' and was way too messy to go near the camera. Lilli really got into it. But Tipton didn't want to get his fingers messy!




Lilli loves to help me in the kitchen. She is always asking me what I'm making. And she always wants to help. Here she is helping me make chocolate chip cookies.



Lilli's first time on ice skates! We signed Tipton up for an ice skating class. He loves it! (His friend, Samantha, is also taking the class.) We were going to have Lilli take the class, too, but she prefers to hold onto me while she skates. So while she is physically able/ready for the class, she is not yet ready emotionally. We'll try again next year.



Samantha and Tipton ice skating.



One Saturday morning Tipton and Lilli decided to create a big "family" with all of their stuffed animals. They got all of Lilli's stuffed animals and all of Tipton's stuffed animals and lined them up on Tipton's bed.

Christmas Day!

Our first Christmas in Sweden. Our first Christmas without the extended family. It was strange, not to have everyone around. But it was also kind of nice. We stayed in our pajamas all day. All Day. It was a very laid back day. No rushing around. Hardly any chaos at all. That being said - I give to you Our Christmas!

Santa brough Lilli a play kitchen.

Santa brought Tipton a green light saber and the General Grievous Star Wars Legos that he wanted.
And then there were the Christmas stockings... Tipton tore into his and was all excited to see everything it contained.
Thr first thing Lilli pulled out of her stocking was a Kinder egg. She stopped right there and immediately started opening the egg.
Then she started eating it.
Meanwhile Tipton kept pulling the toys and treats out of his stocking.
Lilli pulled out a few more things, but mostly she just kept eating the chocolate egg.
Daddy and Tipton decided to put together the General Grievous star fighter.

Lilli took a break from the chocolate to play with a dolly that Santa left in her stocking. The dolly is dressed like a chef, so Lilli took her over to her new kitchen to play.

The boys kept working on the lego star fighter.
Lilli finished the egg and moved onto her chocolate snowman.
The boys kept working on General Grievous star fighter.

After the stockings were emptied and the star fighter was completed, we had breakfast. I made french toast - with Julbrod. (Christmas bread - it tasted kind of like pepparkakor!) Despite all the chocolate Lilli had devoured earlier in the morning, she managed to eat an entire plate full of french toast.

Tipton ate several plates of french toast.
And here's me, making all that french toast.

After breakfast it was time to open the presents!

As seems to be a tradition, the first present that Lilli opened was from Cousin Donna. And as usual, it was the Biggest hit - Elmo!

Tipton got several new books - more Magic Treehouse books, a couple of choose-your-own adventure books, and some Fisher Price beginning reader books.

Lilli got some accessories for her kitchen from Grandma Suzie.

We had a very game-filled Christmas. Tipton opens the first game, Monster Match.

Lilli gave me a smoothee machine. It's pretty much just a blender with a tap, but I love it - as does Lilli. Every morning for breakfast she begs for "moodeees!"

Tipton got some new computer games.

He also got an Optimus Prime transformer.

Daddy got some 'days of the week' socks from Tipton (just like Tipton's!)

Daddy got some new jammies from Lilli.

Lilli got some new books from Grandma Suzie.

Tipton was thrilled with his new pokemon card book and all the packages of pokemon cards - including a Big pack.

The Scotts (Ian, Sam, Selena and Aaron) gave Lilli a wooden, nesting Russian doll, which she loves.

Lilli got a couple more dollies - she loves her dollies.

The Killmeyers (Chris, Amy, Mark, Leanne and Karen) gave Tipton Labyrinth Junior - a game he had been dying to play.

Tipton was so excited about the Star Wars Lego shirt from Grandma Suzie that he immediately put it on.

I gave Dave a new bathrobe (since we hadn't been able to find his old one since moving to Sweden.) He was very happy.

Tipton was very excited to get "Ace" - a character from Planet Heroes - from Grandma Suzie.

One of the biggest hits this Christmas were the Fritos that Donna sent. (Mmmmmm - clam dip!)

Dave was very happy to get the Stephen Colbert book from my Mom.

In addition to games, we got many puzzles this Christmas. Tipton got a Peter Pan puzzle.

More kitchen accessories from Grandma Suzie. Lilli especially liked the matching hat and apron.

Lilli got some Kid K'nex (so maybe she'll leave Tipton's alone.)

And it just wouldn't be Christmas if we didn't play a few games. Here Lilli and I are getting ready to play the Snail's Pace game that she got for Christmas.

Of course we had the traditional Christmas dinner of turkey, two kinds of stuffing, two kinds of potatoes... We had forgotten to bring back a box of the Uncle Ben's Wild Rice to stuff the turkey with, but I was able to find a recipe for it online. And I still had several boxes of Stove Topt stuffing that Jenni had brought me earlier in the year. I made mashed potatoes and found a sweet potato to bake for Dave. I must tell you that I picked out the smallest sweet potato I could find. Here's Dave holding it.

We cut it into thirds and cooked it forever, and it still didn't cook all the way through. I have never seen such gigantic sweet potatoes - and like I said, this was a SMALL one!

In the afternoon we called home. My sister, Christine, hosted Christmas this year. So I called there and got to talk to her and my other sister, Melany. They relayed my Christmas wishes to Mom (who can't hear on Christine's phone.) Then we called Dave's parents. We were able to call them over the computer, so we could see them and they could see us (because we've both got little cameras - don'tcha just love modern technology?) The kids were very excited to see Grandma Kay and Papa, and also Great Grama (who was there.) Later on we called back and got to see/talk to Cousin Donna. I think Dave even managed to get ahold of his brother, John, for a few minutes.

It was a good Christmas. A little sad in that we were so far from our families. But it was nice to be just the four of us - relaxing. We carried on as many of the family traditions as we could (like clam dip, two kinds of stuffing, working puzzles and playing games) as well as creating a few new ones (like staying in our jammies all day.)