November photos - Part 1

We spent most of November in the US, specifically VA and NC. In preparation for that trip, Dave taught Tipton about US money. Tipton caught on really quickly. In fact, he started walking around the house singing "I love money! I love money!"

Two nights before we left we went to a special light show in the park across from the library with our friends, the Scotts. Tipton and Aaron had a great time running around in the dark.

In the airport in Copenhagen, waiting to board our flight to VA. Tipton plays with the magnetic poetry kit that Grandma Suzie sent him.

Lilli plays with Daddy.

2:40 am the next morning. The kids are wide awake and "up" for the day. We kept them relatively quiet by having them play upstairs. Dave's parents had kept most of the Little People toys that the Dave and John played with when they were little. Lilli likes putting them on her fingers.

Tipton built a castle with Dave's old wooden blocks so that he would have a place for his legos to "do battle."

Mmmmmmmmm! Donuts! (They don't have donuts in Sweden.) Lilli gives the chocolate frosted with sprinkles two thumbs up!

Tipton and Papa play the "box" game from Tipton's Clone Wars activity book while we visit with Great-Grama.

Lilli saw Great-Grama's walker. She saw that it said "Lillian Middleton" on it. She said "That's mine! It says me!" So Great-Grama sat her down on it and gave her a little ride.

Super Target! (Oh, how I miss it...) We went to Super Target for some "supplies." The kids got to pick out new toothbrushes and toothpaste. Lilli wanted to carry hers. She hopped around the store saying "I'm a bunny!"

Playing with the cousins. Jack and Lilli play "in the sticky mud" (which seemed to involve rolling around on the couch/bed with all of the stuffed animals.)

Truman and Cameron. These kids really need to get out more. They think "playing" means you stand at the train table and throw all the tracks, trains, etc. behind you!

Truman has such a great smile! His whole face lights up.

Worn out. Lilli and Jack snuggle with Mommy/Aunt Jenn after a long afternoon of playing.

Happy New Year - 2009

It's been a long time between posts. I will try to do better this year. (Although that sounds familiar, like maybe I said that last year, too.) A lot has happened since the last post. November and December are busy months. I will try to catch up the blog with everything later. In a nutshell: We had a good visit to the US in November. Got to see family and friends, managed to stay out of the emergency rooms. December was filled with traditional chaos. Wonderful, happy chaos that this year included my Mom! She arrived on December 11th so that she could see the kids perform Lucia, and is staying with us through January 7th. This is the first time she has ever spent Christmas with us, and she got to spend it in Sweden! I have really loved having her here and will really miss her when she has to go back. We had some friends over for New Year's Eve. It was rather impromptu and poorly planned but everyone had a good time.

I have a few goals for 2009... I want to have friends over more often. I want to play games more often - with the kids and with our friends. I want exercise more (maybe even 'regularly'). I want to eat better - I want to make healthier meals. The children won't appreciate that as much as Dave and I will. But we are going to make an effort to have at least one vegetable at dinner, even if it's only salad. And the children will be required to try the vegetables, too. We are instituting a zero tolerance policy for the dinner table. If they play around and don't eat, they go to their room and/or to bed. No second chances. We have been way too lenient, and I don't like the dinner table being a battle ground. I want to "indulge" more - take trips, have date nights, go out with friends. I want to start enjoying life instead of waiting for things to happen.

Small things, all attainable through little changes. I am looking forward to this new year...

A Visit To Grama's

Thursday the kids slept until almost 6:00am!!

We drove over to visit with Dave's grama (aka Great-Grama, whom Lillian is named after) in the morning. We visited with her for a bit, then left to get some lunch. And to give her a break - she is 97 (98 next month) and Tipton and Lilli are loud and constant motion - they tend to make one tired just by looking at them. The kids wanted to go to Wendy's for lunch, and we all just wanted something easy and that the kids would eat. After lunch we went back and visited with Great-Grama for a little while longer. Then drove home.

It was hard seeing Great-Grama. Since she got sick back in May she has really declined. Her mind is starting to go and she gets confused. But she loved seeing the kids and they liked seeing her, too. One of the highlights of the visit was when Lilli saw Great-Grama's name, "Lillian Middleton", labled on her walker. Lilli pointed to it and said "That's my name! That's me! This is mine!" Then she climbed onto the seat and Great-Grama took her for a little spin around the room.

Cousin Donna came over for dinner. We had rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes and broccoli with hollandaise. Yum! We managed to keep the kids awake until about 7:30, so we should be back onto a normal sleep/wake schedule now. I hope.

Wonderful Wednesday

We're turning the corner on jet lag. The kids slept until a little after 5:00 this morning - woo-hoo!

The guys went to get their hair cut (well, Tipton and George needed haircuts, Dave had gotten his cut before we left Sweden) while Kay and Lilli and I went to Lane Bryant - I needed new jeans.

We all met for lunch at El Rey Tolteca's. Mmmmmm. Mexican food.

That afternoon we all just sort of crashed. Dave's Uncle Bob came by for a visit in the afternoon.

We all fended for ourselves for dinner. Managed to keep the kids awake until 7:15.

Tuesday, Still Jet Lagged

2:30am. 3:30am. 4:45am.

2:30am Tipton woke up. He played in their room. He did not play quietly. He had the light on and was singing at the top of his lungs. Lilli, however, managed to sleep through it all. Thankfully. I, unfortunately, did NOT. I got up several times and reminded him that the rest of the house was still asleep, and that if he woke Lilli up he would "regret it."

3:30am Tipton went back to bed. Not sure if he actually went to sleep or not. But he turned off the light and quit singing.

4:45am Lilli woke up for the day. She tiptoed into our room and whispered in my ear "I need breakfast!"

So we came downstairs for Ego blueberry waffles. Tipton wasn't long behind us.

Dave needed to have his glasses fixed, so we went to the mall. The kids fell asleep in the car on the way there. And they woke up hungry. So Kay and I took them to Chic Fil A while Dave and George went to drop off Dave's glasses to be fixed. They met us back at Chic Fil A and said that the line was too long to wait to drop off the glasses and that they'd try again after lunch. So when we we'd finished eating they went back to the drop off the glasses and Kay and the kids and I went to Stride Rite. Both Tipton and Lilli needed new 'outdoor' play shoes. Lilli had been wearing her little black patten mary jane shoes to play outside (not exactly good for her feet.) And Tipton's shoes had a rock embedded so far into the bottom that he could feel it inside his shoe. Youch!

The guys were still busy so we went on to and ran a few more errands. Then met back up at the eyeglass place.

For dinner that night Dave made chicken stir fry. Yum! We managed to keep the kids awake until almost 7:00 before they begged to go to bed.

Monday, Monday

2:21am. That's what time the kids woke up. Ugh. Dave got up with the kids so that I could "sleep in." Lilli climbed into bed with me around 3:00 and put her little ice block feet against my bare leg. That was pretty much the end of my 'sleeping in.'

We have a really nice set up here at Grama Kay and Papa's house. We have the second floor (the loft) all to ourselves. There are two bedrooms. Dave and I are in one bedroom and the kids are in the other. They've got bunk beds. We also have a full bathroom, and a large area that has become the playroom. There is also a TV with a dvd player and a recliner chair. This playroom area has been a godsend. When the kids wake up in the wee hours of the morning they can play without waking up Grama and Papa. When they become too loud we can put on a dvd for them to watch. It also keeps the toys on one location (which means that I am not constantly picking up toys so that they don't get stepped on/tripped over by the grandparents.)

We went to Foster's for lunch. Mmmmmm - great big American hamburgers (aka "gut bomb".) And they have the best fries, too.

That afternoon Kay and Lilli and I went to the grocery store. American grocery stores. Where you actually have selection. And junk food. We tried not to go too crazy. We got the kids a few new dvds to watch. And Lilli picked out a sticker book. We picked out a Star Wars activity book for Tipton. It came with a light saber pen. That has been the biggest hit. He takes the book and pen with him everywhere we go.

For dinner I made chicken nuggets. We didn't have potato chips so I just used bread crumbs. Not as good without the potato chips. Again, halfway through dinner the kids were asking if they could go to bed. I think we were able to keep them awake until almost 6:30.

Back in the USA

We arrived back in the USA on Sunday, November 9th.

A friend dropped us at the train station and we took the train to the airport. The kids behaved themselves in the airport. This was our first plane trip without Lilli's car seat. So she got to sit in the plane seat. She figured out how to unbuckle the seatbelt pretty quickly. Because she wasn't in the car seat, she didn't sit as high up and so she couldn't see the video screen as well. Consequently, she spent much of the NINE HOUR plane ride in MY lap. Ugh! On the way back I will have to stack all the pillows and blankets in her seat so that she can see her OWN video screen. Since Lilli was sitting in my lap I had to watch age-appropriate videos. The kids movies were Wall-E and Finding Nemo. We've got Finding Nemo at home, and we had seen Wall-E this summer (and I didn't find it very exciting.) However, they also had Mamma Mia! So we watched that for most of the plane ride. As much as I like that movie, I think three times in a row is a little much.

Of course, neither Tipton nor Lilli slept on the plane.

The kids were very excited to see Grama Kay and Papa waiting for them when we came through baggage claim.

We managed to keep the kids awake on the drive "home" (Grama and Papa's house) by making them sing silly songs. Once home, we started getting dinner ready. The kids were just barely awake enough to eat a few bites before begging to go to bed. They were in bed, asleep, by 6:00. Dave and I weren't far behind them...

Halloween

Text coming soon, but I wanted to get the pictures posted...

Lots of Lilli

Lilli is quite the budding artist. She is always wanting to paint or color with markers or make pictures with stickers, etc. Here she is working on a self portrait.

Lilli is growing up so fast. Sometimes it's hard to believe that she is only three (and at the same time I can't believe that she is ALREADY three!)

Lilli loves to dress up. Usually she gravitates towards skeletons and/or princesses. But on this day she wanted to be Super Kid.

Lilli has started to catch on to the fact that when Mommy says "No" she means "NO." And that no amount of whining will change that (it will only serve to make Mommy angry, which is never a good thing.) However, every now and then Lilli will test that to make sure Mommy still really means "NO." Recently she "tantrummed" herself to sleep in the hallway.

It was close to dinner, in fact I was preparing dinner when she fell asleep. So I just left her on the floor (she seemed pretty comfortable) until dinner was ready. Then I woke her up and told her to go to the table. I walked away to check on something and when I came back I found Lilli like this:

It seems she wasn't quite awake.

We recently got a box from Dave's parents. Inside was a shirt for Lilli. Grandma Kay saw it in the store and told Papa "Oh, wouldn't Lilli just LOVE that!" So Papa put it in the basket and that was that. And Grandma Kay was right. Lilli absolutely LOVES it! (You can see some of Lilli's artwork on the wall behind her.)

Little Ballerina

My friend, Sam, gave Lilli a ballerina dress. Her daughter had outgrown it. Lilli was THRILLED!

When we got home from Little Gym she put it on and danced around the kitchen.

About an hour later I realized that I hadn't seen or heard Lilli in a while. I found her in her bed, asleep. This is what I saw when I looked in her room.
One tired little ballerina.

Kivik äpplemarknaden

This past Sunday (Sept 28) we drove across Skåne to Kivik to go to the apple market (sorry the link is in Swedish, couldn't find one in English. Just click on the picture and you can poke around the website.)




One of the things this market/festival is famous for is the giant picture created with apples. Every year there is a different design.


It is pretty impressive. It is enourmous. It is beautiful.



And the details!


The statistics for this year's picture:

For those of you who can't read swedish...



The picture's size: 104 sq meters
Number of apples: about 35,000
Weight: about 3 tons
Number of nails: about 70,000 (The nails are used to hold the apples in place - the apples are placed in between the nails.)
Number of apple varieties: 9



Here we are in front of the apple picture. But the festival/market was more than just a giant picture made from apples... There were lots of craft booths and food booths. The kids got to try different types of apples and ciders and juices. There was bread and cheese and sausage also available for sale and sampling.

We bought some apples and sausage and fresh pressed apple juice. Oh, and freshly fried apple donuts. I mean really fresh. We watched them make them. And they were Oh So Good! So incredibly good, in fact, that we stood in line a second time and bought some more to take home and have for breakfast the next day!

We also ate lunch there. Kivik is right on the water. We ate lunch at a little fishing cafe. The kids had meatballs. Dave had the fried fish and I had shrimp and crayfish crepes. Yum!

This was our view while we were eating lunch.

It was a beautiful day, and we ate donuts! It just doesn't get much better than that.

Run for Cancer

Last Friday the children at Bladins participated in a Run for Cancer to raise money and awareness. They ran/walked laps around a nearby track for an hour. Alltogether the students, teachers and parents did over 2600 laps, covering over 1000 kilometers.

Tipton alternately ran and walked. He thinks the did somewhere between 8 and 11 laps.

The preschool teachers decided that the preschool kids would only walk 2 laps, then they could play/rest. Lilli lasted about half a lap before she started complaining. Now, to be fair, she had been running up and down the track for at least half an hour before the official start. So she had already put in her time, so to speak. Anyway, rather than listen to her while for the next lap and a half I had her climb onto my back. After we'd gone a little while Lilli said "Mommy, I want to run!" So I asked her "You want to get down and run?" To which she said "No." So then I said "You want me to run with you on my back?" And she said "Yes!" So then I said "Not gonna happen. I will carry you on my back, but I will not run and carry you on my back. If you want to run, you need to get down and run." She didn't want to run that badly. We finished our two laps, then stepped to the side to take a break. When there was about 10 minutes left, Lilli decided that she wanted to do more laps. She started off running, with me running beside her. That lasted for about 1/4 of a lap. She finished the next 1 3/4 laps riding on my back.

It was a beautiful day and lots of money was raised.

Quick Beauty Tip

If you find yourself without a lipstick, but have access to markers, a purple marker will do in a pinch!

Picture Day

Last Monday was Lilli's school picture day. She went to school in a beautiful dress that Grandma Suzie had sent her.
That night while I was making dinner Tipton and Lilli asked to color with markers. I figured it would keep them occupied and relatively quiet while I was cooking, so I got out the markers and lots of paper.
As I was rolling the springrolls I glanced over and saw them coloring - on each other.
I wasn't able to get any pictures of Tipton. He had little circular stamps all over his face. Like freckles. Fortunately the were washable markers.