Muppets and Meatballs

My mom gave Lilli a red shirt for Valentine's day this past February. It is furry, with fun-fur type texture. It looks like someone skinned Elmo and made a shirt. Lilli LOVES it! She calls it her "Elmo Shirt."

But it is getting too small. So I've sewn the sleeves and kneck and bottom closed and stuffed it with pillow filling. It is not an Elmo Shirt Pillow. (Sorry, no pictures of it yet.)

I've written before of my friend, Lina. She was the first swedish person to actually talk to me. She is very friendly. We discovered that we were both new knitters. One night we went out to dinner and started talking about foods - American foods and Swedish foods. Of course, meatballs came up when we were discussing Swedish foods. Lina asked me if I'd ever had "Real" Swedish meatballs. I said "Not sure, I've had the ones from Ikea and the ones from the grocery store." She told me that I had not had Real Swedish Meatballs. She said that she would come over and cook me some. And she asked if I could make her Macaroni and Cheese. I warned her that I would be getting the better end of that deal. So one Sunday afternoon she came over and made us Real Swedish Meatballs. She cooked for over an hour. I made her Kraft Mac-N-Cheese. I cooked for 8 1/2 minutes.

The meatballs were A M A Z I N G! They were truely wonderful!

The next time we have Lina over for dinner, I'm going to have to make her hand-rolled enchiladas. I owe her...

Definitely Related

No doubt about it. They are definitely Dave's children. Can you see the resemblance?

Tipton and Daddy watching tv.

Lilli and Daddy napping.

School Yard Drama, Sticker Drama, Muffin Mayhem and Bears with Giant Ears

The second week of school, Tipton had a little run-in on the playground. It was after school and Tipton had dashed out the door. I was a little slow following, because the hallway is so crowded that while Tipton can just duck underneath the grownups, I've got to wait until I can squeeze by them. Anyway, he was out "unattended" on the playground for all of five minutes. When I caught up with him, he had a bruise, scrape and knot on his forehead. When I asked him what happened he said that some kid had picked him up, flipped him upsidedown and dropped him on his head. I was just a little pissed. I had him take me to the boy that had done it. Turned out that the boy was in Fritids (the afterschool care program.) He was in the Swedish part of the school, in the SECOND GRADE. This kid was almost as tall as I am. And he flipped my son upside down and dropped him on his head. He could have broken Tipton's neck, or knocked him unconsciense. I looked around for a teacher. Found all of them on the OTHER side of the playground, talking. I marched over and showed them Tipton's forehead and explained that one of their students had dropped my son on his head. One of them went over and talked to the boy, who admitted doing it. That was it. The next day Dave went into work late so that we could talk to someone from the office at the school. We were informed that someone had spoken to the boys mother. That's it. That is the maximum "punishment" allowed in the Swedish school system.

Tipton is now taking Judo lessons, so that he can defend himself.


Lilli loves stickers. She is especially fond of the foamy stickers. They usually keep her occupied for at least 30 minutes. However, the other day she was not liking the foamy stickers so much.

She learned, the hard way, not to put stickers in her hair.

Recently I have been on a baking binge. Specifically, baking muffins. I am trying to find recipes for healthy muffins that I can give my kids for breakfast. The other day I found a recipe for banana muffins. Now my kids love my banana bread, but it isn't exactly what I'd call "healthy." So when I saw this recipe I knew we'd have to try it. So one weekend morning I decided we'd give it a try. The kids wanted to help, and it took me back to those times that my grandmother would sit me on her counter so that I could help her bake.

Great memories.

The weekend before last we took the kids to a Teddy Bear Symphony. The program is geared towards children, and they children are encouraged to bring their teddy bears (or whatever bedtime animal they're most fond of.) My kids sleep with a puppy and an elephant. There was one kid there with a giant stuffed hamster. As we walked up to the building we saw a mascott. I think it was supposed to be Bamse (the world's strongest bear.) It looked like a giant mouse without a tail. It shook hands with all the kids and with all the kids "bears." Lilli LOVED it. She kept talking about the "bear." She started stalking it. She would follow it around and point and say "Bear! Bear!" And then she'd laugh.

It was really cute. And kind of creepy.

The Box and A Birthday

A while back Dave bought a shop vac. The empty box sat, unnoticed, in the corner of the living room for almost a month. Then one day Dave decided to take the box to the recycle. He set it by the door, next to the other recycle. Within minutes Lilli discovered the box and had drug it into the hallway. Then Tipton wandered by and saw the box. He decided to check it out. Lilli was not happy. She wanted him OUT of HER box!


She decided the best way to maintain her claim on the box was to move in.

And close the "doors."

But she made a brief appearance for the paparazzi.

Being a nice big brother, Tipton brought her some of her favorite things to decorate her new "home."

And then there was a birthday...

Dave's favorite kind of cake is a coconut cake. Every year for his birthday I make him a coconut cake, from scratch. I use a recipe from my Gooey Desserts cookbook. It takes all day, but he's worth it!

Lilli helped him blow out the candles.

Dave must be mellowing in his old age - letting a toddler near an open flame...

The New 'Do

According to the wonderful lady that cuts my hair, I'm "trendy." Or, at least my haircut is.

For normal every day wear, I tuck the long bits behind my ears.


And when I "go out to parties" I wear the long bits down. That's the "trendy" part.


Here's a shot of the back.

She cut the part around the middle of my head shorter than the rest, and kept the top part a little longer, to cover the short part. That way she didn't have to thin my hair. As much. It seems that I have really, really thick hair. Whatever. I love the new 'do. And one of the mommies at Tipton's school said "You look like you're in your 20s!"

Just Another Saturday Morning

Dave and I take turns "sleeping in" on the weekends. One of us will get up with the kiddos while the other gets to sleep in. (Unless "the other one" is me, and then I only get to sleep as long as Lilli will let me, as she always seems to wander into the bedroom and wake me up after just 20 or 30 minutes of my "sleeping in"...)

But I digress.

One Saturday morning the kids decided it would be fun to run up and down the hall, screaming. Being the good and dutiful and loving wife that I am, and knowing that Daddy was TRYING to sleep, I made the ultimate sacrifice and pulled out the big guns: Playdoh.

We have lots of playdoh and lots of playdoh "accessories." But we don't play with it very often. So it's always like bringing out a new toy. Why don't we play with it very often?

What? You've noticed the rotten bananas on the table? Yes, they are just about perfect for making banana bread...

See that pile of playdoh in Lilli's chair? She doens't realize it's there. Nor do the kids realize that most of the playdoh is now on the floor under the table and chairs and that it will be vacuumed up as soon as they are done playing - never to be seen again.

Playdoh. So magical, so mysterious. So Messy. But it kept the kiddos happy and relatively quiet for over an hour. And the massive, intense cleanup afterward? A small price to pay so that my beloved husband can get a little extra sleep.

Pizza Pals

In our house, every Friday night is Pizza & a Movie Night. One Friday Tipton asked if Aaron could come home with us afterschool, and stay for dinner. I said yes and both boys were very excited.

I make pizzas (usually frozen, but on rare occasions I'll make one from scratch.) Cut up apples, fill cups with chocolate milk and lay a sheet out on the living room floor. The kiddos pick out a (child friendly) movie and then the magic happens. The children (usually) sit quietly eating their dinner and watching the movie.

Aaron really liked the idea of a pizza picnic while watching a movie.
After a while Lilli decided she needed to sit in a real chair. So when I got up to get the boys more pizza and apples, I came back to this.
Notice how she's holding on to the arms of the chair?

Lilli's Little Gym Egg-scapeds

Lilli was the only child signed up for the first Wednesday Little Gym class for of the semester for her age group. So the instructor let Lilli have a free play session.

First, Lilli played with the eggs.

Then we dressed her up in all the bells.
She loved wearing the bells, and danced around all over the gym with them on.

Ahhhhh - good times!

Malmo Festivalen!

Every August there is a festival in Malmo. I guess it's kind of like a state fair, only without the livestock and agriculture. Just lost of crafts booths and food and rides.

Of course we had to go!

We started off at one end of the pedestrian mall and walked down to the other, hitting all the highlights along the way. The first ride we stumbled upon was the carousel. Tipton and Dave had a ride. Lilli had fallen asleep in the stroller.

We walked further on and came upon the food booths. A few of the more memorable booths:
"Los Gringos A Taste of Mexico..." Fajitas, Tacos, Muffins? I wasn't aware that Mexico was famous for it's muffins.
Nor was I aware that Mexico is famous for it's Wok entrees.
Hey, look! Someone drew a smiley face on the statue!
In the middle of Malmo - a little piece of home.

Tipton and I went on a kiddie roller coaster. And when we got off Dave showed me what was holding the roller coaster up. Yikes!

So the next ride was one that stayed on the ground.

We let the kids go on a few more rides, then headed back for the car.

Overall, Malmo Festivalen was fun. The craft booths were crafty, the food was - interesting. And the rides were, um, exciting!

The Second Little Pig - or Maybe It's the Third?

Have I posted about the finger puppets? I really should go back and read my own blog...

A while back Tipton asked me "Can you knit me the three little pigs?" Uh, sure, sweetie. I'll try. So I found a pattern for pig finger puppets. I knit the first little pig out of solid piggy-pink. Then I found this yarn that reminded me of bricks. So really I guess this is the third little pig (and I'll have to go back and knit up a second little pig.)

Random Cuteness

Just some random pictures of the kiddos being cute.

Tipton and Lilli riding on Daddy Puppy

Tipton giving Lilli a ride on Daddy Puppy.
Lilli sitting in the toy basket in the kitchen.
Lilli modelling the finger puppets I made. One of the little pigs and the big bad wolf.

Circus Olympia

The circus came to town! Or, rather, came to Oxie - where our friends Adriana and Samantha live.

So the day that Elvira and Keith left, we went to the circus with Adriana and Samantha. Tipton and Samantha were very excited:
Dave and Lilli were excited, too!
I think the kids enjoyed themselves. There was one act, where these two guys kept rolling/flipping/falling over each other - I thought Tipton was going to bust a gut laughing!
The kids all had pony rides at intermission. Lilli's very first pony ride!
After the pony ride, Tipton had a little nap. The circus started kind of late, and he'd had an exciting week of looking at Really Big Rocks and climbing towers.
When the circus started up again, Tipton opted to sit in/on the Daddy barc-o-lounger

Samantha opted for the Mommy barc-o-lounger.

A fun time was had by all.

Paddle Boats and Pizza

The day after our jaunt around Copenhagen we decided to hang a little closer to home.

We spent the morning/afternoon walking around downtown Malmo. We did our own little version of the Malmo Canal Tour, in paddle boats. We took two paddle boats - a Boys boat

and a Girls boat.

Tipton wanted to race, but the guys were no match for Girl Power!

That evening we drove to Lund. We showed Elvira and Keith the cathedral:

It's much bigger in real life. Ha ha. No, seriously, this is a really cool little wooden replication, inside the church. I'm not nearly as talented a photographer as Elvira, so this is the only picture I took inside the church that actually came out. Here's a shot of Elvira and Keith outside the cathedral:

After the cathedral we walked down to our favorite pizza place. Didn't take any pictures there, but ate some really good pizza!

After dinner we walked along the pedestrian mall. I saw this in one of the windows:

which may not seem like anything really exciting, but as a kid we had a dog named Snigelfritz. Our dog was named after slug repellent??

We really enjoyed Keith and Elvira's visit. I miss my friends. I am really enjoying living in Sweden, but I miss my friends. It's funny - you really find out who your good/best friends really are when you move away. They are the ones who keep in touch. And some of them even spend their one week of vacation to come and visit!