• The weekend of April 20th we went to Iowa to visit Carrie, Adam, Isak and Hans. The boys both have April birthdays and were having a joint birthday party on Sunday and we didn’t want to miss out! The kids had a lot of fun playing together like they always do. Annika and James just love playing with Isak! At bed time on Saturday night Annika read to the boys instead of the parents. We have a great picture of that special time. I can’t find my camera cable right now or I’d share one of them with you. That night after the kids were in bed the four adults sat around playing games and talking. It was a great, fun evening spent together. Sunday was party day. It was great to meet so many of their friends in Iowa and the kids had a great time at the party. There was kite flying and of course cake and it was a great spring day with plenty of outdoor fun. What more could the kids ask for!

• The next day, Monday the 23rd I flew to Myrtle Beach, SC to attend a conference for work. I was there until midnight on Thursday. It was a long week without seeing my husband or kids. Work itself went just fine and thank goodness for Skype and Gramme’s! We used skype each day so I could see my babies faces and Gramme was nice enough to help Kris with the kids when Kris had to go to work.

• Annika has been saying recently that she wants to be a movie star when she grows up. When the summer parks and recreation brochure came out recently Annika flipped through it and saw that a local theatre group was going to be performing “The Wizard of Oz” and Annika decided she wanted to be in it. Of course she wanted to be Dorothy and we told her that wasn’t going to happen. We attended a family information night and all was going well until they said that each kid auditioning would have to sing a song (could be twinkle, twinkle or something similar if they wanted) as well as give a little speech. Annika was fine with the talking but couldn’t get over her fear of singing at the audition. So, her first starring role has been shelved. There is however a community education week long Cinderella play camp going on in April that she might do. There is singing involved but it’s much more laid back and during the day only whereas the Oz one was a huge time commitment. I think the Cinderella one will be a good introduction to theatre for Annika and if she likes it then we can pursue more opportunities for her.

• Levi turned 2 years old on April 28th! We celebrated that afternoon with Nana, Papa, Grandpa, Grandma, Gramme, Auntie Krystle, Uncle Pierce and cousin Ayla. Levi was spoiled (of course!) with many great gifts including a new trike that he LOVES. He doesn’t peddle but loves taking walks and being pushed around on it. We also had cake of course and he needed a bit of help to get his candles blown out but that’s OK. He still loved the cake. I asked him what color he wanted his cake to be and he answered with “lellow” so a cake with yellow frosting it was. I can’t believe my baby, my last baby, is two. He’s not a baby anymore. He’s a toddler and it won’t be all that long before he’s a preschooler. Time really does move so fast. I will miss having babies…but not enough to do it again. Hee!

• On Monday, April 30th, Levi had his two year check up. His official stats are weight was 26 pounds, 13 ounces which puts him in the 34th percentile. His height was 37.5 inches which puts him in the 98th percentile and his head circumference was 18.6 inches which puts him in the 15th percentile. I have a tall, slim, small headed child. Well, that’s nothing new! If you double his height at 2 that is supposed to be an indicator of how tall he’ll be as an adult. 37.5”x2 = 75” which would make him 6’3” as an adult! The pediatrician declared him the perfect child in every area except one – speech. Levi doesn’t say many words at all and doesn’t use his words to communicate in any way. He says ma and uh-oh but if he wants something he grunts and points and leads you by the hand to what he wants. If we ask him to say some words, he’ll try. We can get him to say yellow, please (said as an “sssss”), up (sounds like “pp”) and some others. There is no dada, no car or baby or truck or puppy or any other typical words that toddlers say. We have a speech evaluation appointment set up for Thursday, May 17th to see if he needs some early intervention. I’m pretty sure he does. I had a dream that he said “I love you, mommy.” I can’t for the day that he does. Right now when you ask him to say “I love you” he gives you a hug and pats your back. It’s not all bad, just not verbal. The other night Kris asked him to say I love you when Kris was leaving for work. Instead of verbalizing, Levi took Kris’s hand and placed it on his cheek so that Kris’s hand could cup his face. Adorable but not verbal.

• We purchased a playset for the kids in early April and last week Kris finished assembling it. The kids love it and I’m so happy we have one for them. Last night Annika even ate her dinner sitting at the table in the playset. I foresee many hours of outdoor play time this summer. Now if we could get rid of the infestation of ticks in our backyard that would be even better. We’ve instituted nightly tick checks and we usually find one or two. The woods behind are house are the likely culprit and they’re spreading to our yard from there. I don’t want to resort to harsh chemicals to control them, especially with my kids and dog out there, but maybe we’ll have to do that just to keep the ticks at bay.

• We scheduled a playdate with Ryan and Erin for Saturday, May 5th so they could help “christen” our new playset. We’ve played on theres for hundreds of hours and we wanted them to come play on ours now that it was done. Unfortunately it rained the afternoon they came over so very little playset playing was done. However, the kids had a great time playing in the house. There was hide and seek and they played in the basement and in the kids’ rooms and everywhere in between. Jeff, Maria and Charlie joined us for dinner that night and then we sat on the couch and the adults chatted while the kids played. It was a great afternoon and evening and I hope we can do it again soon. It’s important to me to keep those relationships alive and healthy not only for our kids but for us too!

• One day last week I came home from work and found Kris in the backyard with the kids. Also there was Amy next door with her two kids, Jessie from across the street with two of her kids and Mark from across the street with his daughter. All the kids were enjoying our playset and Amy’s sandbox. I was so excited to see this impromptu playdate! That is exactly what Kris and I wanted when we purchased it. We want our own kids to have hours of fun on there but we also want to have lots of friends in the neighborhood who all come to our house to play too!

• Last weekend I had a garage sale on Friday and Saturday. I made a couple hundred dollars, most of which has already been spent. The kids got their April and May allowances. A few dollars went to the neighbor for advertising. Some went to Krystle for her items that sold. And a good chunk of it went to Kris so he could buy Diablo III. I hope at least some of it makes it to savings for the house as we do have a patio we’re saving up for! But the garage sale itself went very well and I was able to meet a bunch more neighbors during it! It was also great to have a three day weekend away from work and the weather was perfect so it was enjoyable to spend both days outside. And what didn’t sell has already been carted away to goodwill. There are a couple bigger things that were saved to try to sell on Craigslist but it’s great to have the “garage sale corner” of the garage cleared out. Now we have to organize the garage a bit better, buy more shelving and get it cleaned up a bit more so both cars can get back inside it along with both motorcycles, all the kids toys and still have room to move around!

• It has taken me so long to get this post written that now I can talk about Levi’s speech some more. Yesterday we had Levi’s initial speech evaluation. There was very little Levi interaction during this one. It was more of a question and answer session for Kris and me. They asked us a range of questions about more than just speech. Can he use a spoon to feed himself? Does he do pretend play? Will he mimic facial expressions? Can he open a door? Etc. They noted that it seems Levi is on track developmentally in every area except communication. Oh, he can communicate, just not verbally. He’ll use gestures (pointing) and grunting and leading to get what he wants – he’s effective – but it’s not verbal. In order to qualify for speech services he needs to be more than two standard deviations below where a typical two year old is for speech. Given the very large range of a just barely two year old, they’re not sure if he’d qualify yet. But, they are going to come back and do a full evaluation to see if he will. The full evaluation will likely be four 1-1.5 hour sessions at our house with a nurse and speech pathologist assessing everything one-on-one with Levi. It will seem like playtime to him. All of this plus the final report and recommendation of services (if any) must be done within 45 days of when I made my initial call to them for help. That means the evaluations will be done within the next couple of weeks. It will be interesting to see what they have to say and if Levi qualifies. We think he needs help. We’ll see if they agree.

• Levi peed in the potty for the first time! I was leaning over the bathtub washing James’ hair with Levi standing next to me when he bolted for the toilet. I helped him up onto it and he peed! He hasn’t peed in the potty since but we do put him on it before each bath and whenever he shows any interest in sitting on it. Go Levi!

• At the beginning of April Gramme retired. We were able to join her on her last day for lunch and then cupcakes at her workplace. And only a few days before retirement she sold her house. She’s currently homeless and unemployed! Hee! She’s currently living with Krystle and Pierce for the month of April and then will leave for Florida after Levi’s birthday party. We’re going to miss having her so close but I think she’s excited to get to Florida. And she’ll be back in July for a couple months and I’m sure we’ll see a bunch of her again there.

• On March 31st the kids and I (Kris was at work that morning) along with Gramme, Krystle, Pierce and Ayla all went to the circus! Gramme received free tickets and we were excited to use them. There were elephants and tigers and trapeze acts and a woman shot out of a cannon and clowns and so much more. Annika’s favorite part was the cannon lady. James wanted to make sure we were going to see clowns but then he was disappointed that the baseball comedy routine they did wasn’t funny enough for him. We all enjoyed the show. And after the show we stuck around for a bit so Annika and James could get a ride on an elephant. While nervous, they both thoroughly enjoyed their ride. Annika said when the elephant stopped walking they were slightly tilted and she thought the elephant was going to fall over!

• After arriving home from the circus we had unexpected visitors waiting for us…Carrie, Adam, Isak and Hans were in town for the weekend and were at our house for a visit! Annika and James were so excited to play with Isak. At times Annika was disappointed that Isak “wanted to play with James more than her” according to her. There may be a bit of hero workship going on between Isak and James. James is the big boy cousin so it makes sense. Isak is the oldest cousin of Annika and James’ though so they both get really excited to play with him. We just made sure that they were all playing together, shooing them all outside to enjoy the nice weather too. They all stayed for dinner and we had a lovely day together. Hans is getting so big and it was exciting to see him practice taking a few steps between Carrie and Adam. What cuties!

• On Saturday, April 7th the kids and I (Kris was again at work that morning) met Grandpa and Grandma and Krystle, Pierce and Ayla and we all went to the Minnesota Zoo together. We were hoping to see the outside animals but rain prevented us from doing that. Instead we made sure we saw all the indoor animals from the aquarium to the Tropics Trail to the Minnesota Trail. The kids love going to the zoo and they really liked showing Grandpa and Grandma all the fun things along the way. We even saw the dolphin show (me for the first time) and that was really cool too! After the zoo we all met Kris for lunch to celebrate Easter together. Maybe Old Chicago isn’t your first choice for Easter meals but it sure was tasty for us! We’re going to try and go back to the zoo with Grandpa and Grandma soon so we can see all the outside animals too.

• Easter was on April 8th and we celebrated with Nana, Papa, Dusty, Mel, Mabel, Gramme, Krystle, Pierce and Ayla all at our house. First we had to all find our Easter baskets and the eggs, both real and plastic, that the Easter bunny had hid around our house. In order to keep that fair, I kept Annika and James upstairs, playing in their rooms, until Levi woke up and then all five of us went downstairs together. Levi is a bit too young to really get what was going on but he had fun picking up the eggs he found anyway. Annika and James raced around grabbing as many eggs as they could find and squealing with excitement the whole time. Annika found her basket hidden under the desk in the front room. James found his basket last as it was tucked on the pantry floor slightly out of view. Levi’s basket was hid in plain sight – on the bench in the mudroom. After a quick treat from our baskets we got dressed up in our Easter fancy outfits and went to church. We went early to enjoy the pancake breakfast with Gramme and Nana and Papa and then the three of them joined us for church. It sure was nice having three extra people with us to help wrangle Levi! Once back at home after church Kris started cooking our fancy meal (ham and pork roast) while I made delicious homemade mac ‘n cheese. The bigger house along with the new furniture made it very easy to accommodate that many people in our house. I was so happy that we could fit everyone around the table (with one card table on the end) and in the living room. What a great day!

• Annika and James started swimming lessons in April. Both can float on the backs and stomachs and are progressing. Annika is learning to tread water and the front and back crawl. It’s my goal to continue with swim lessons for both of them as often as possible from here on out so they both become proficient swimmers. It will be another year or so before Levi joins in the solo swimming lesson fun. Along with swimming lessons, I also signed the kids up for summer activities. James is going to play t-ball and soccer this year. Annika elected to only do soccer. But Annika did express interest in being in the Wizard of Oz play that the local theater group is performing this summer so we’re looking more into that for her.

• April 10th was a big, eventful day in our house. Not only was it Gramme’s birthday (a milestone one too!) but two other big things happened. First, Kris received his acceptance letter from MCTC and is now officially going to nursing school this fall! We’re so excited to keep moving forward in his quest to change careers. I’m so proud of him. And almost equally as momentous was James’ kindergarten orientation which we also had that day. James (and the rest of us) were able to meet the kindergarten teachers, take a tour of the school, see the kindergarten classrooms and go on a short school bus ride. James is fairly familiar with all of that due to Annika already going to that school plus field trips he takes with his preschool. But it was still a pretty big deal for both him and Kris and I. I can’t believe James is going to kindergarten this fall! He’s my little baby boy! He can’t go to kindergarten already! He’s going to grow up at warp speed now! In fact, I’ve been noticing him growing up more and more lately in how he talks and acts and his imagination and play. He is turning into such a school age kid and not my little preschooler anymore.

• This past Saturday the Annika and James had quite the packed social life. First they went to Elyse and Liam’s house in the early afternoon for a playdate. They played outside most of the time, enjoying the nice weather again. Then as I was about to leave to pick them up Amy called and said Jack and Calvin wanted them to come outside and play. So as soon as we got home, instead of going inside, Annika and James went directly to the backyard to play with them. And then later that night Annika’s friend Maija from her class at school came over for a sleepover. The girls had fun playing Barbies in her room and playing kitchen in the basement. They even let James play with them sometimes which was great. I didn’t want James to feel too left out. The girls finally fell asleep around 10pm and then at 4:57am Sunday morning I heard one of them get up to use the bathroom. And then the light went on in Annika’s room and the Barbie play resumed. About 5:15am I shushed them back to bed and turned off the light but of course they didn’t go back to sleep. Instead they played under the bed, jumped on the bed and played more Barbies. Thank goodness they were at least quiet enough that neither James nor Levi woke up because of them. We dropped Maija off on the way to church Sunday morning and had a successful sleepover in the books.

• Sunday afternoon we had a little family bonding time. Kris, with James’ help, built two fence panels for us to put around our (deep) window well in the backyard and the kids and I helped paint it. Of course James got paint on his jacket and brand new jeans. And Levi got paint on his jacket too. Annika changed her clothes so there were no paint casualties there. I think the kids enjoyed painting outside though and it looks pretty nice too! One more item to cross the house to-do list. This one was a big one because Levi liked to walk on the cement rim of the window well and scare the bejeezus out of me each time. I have nightmares about him falling over the edge and through the glass. *shudder*

• Levi has been a walking, tripping, non-talking disaster lately. First he fell on the stairs and cut his cheek. We’ve been applying mederma to that daily to minimize any scarring. Then on Gramme’s birthday we surprised her with a Culver’s cake at Krystle and Pierce’s house. And while the adults were chatting around the table, Levi climbed up on the couch and fell over the back and fell directly on his nose. The next morning he woke up with a rug burn on the tip of his nose. Poor guy. And then the very next night he tripped on a toy and fell against the barn toybox in the basement (with me standing right next to him) and got a nice bruise on his ear. My little walking wounded soldier. He’s still not talking very much. We can get him to say yellow and please (sounds like a soft “sss”) and of course he still screeches “Ma!” whenever he wants my attention. But using words to communicate still isn’t something he does. He uses pointing and his own little sign language to get what he wants. If he wants to sit on my lap he pats my leg. If he wants something to eat he grabs my hand and leads me to the kitchen and points at the refrigerator. If he wants his diaper changed (not always a fan of poopy diapers) he’ll pat his butt and then run towards the stairs to go to his room. While I adore his toddler sign language I also wished he’d start communicating with words. It’s very frustrating sometimes when I don’t know what he wants and he can’t tell me. He has his two year check up on April 30th and I’ll be requesting an evaluation at that time so we can get him checked out. I just want to know if we’re dealing with a speech delay or if he’s just on his own timetable.

• Last night we went to Grandpa and Grandma’s house. Our mission was to bring home one of our motorcycles which had been wintering there since we were in the middle of a move last fall. The Easter bunny always has an outdoor Easter egg hunt at their house for us and this was the first time we’d been there since Easter so as soon as we got there we all stayed outside to find all the eggs. The kids had a great time! They took off racing around the house looking for eggs. Even Levi found a few eggs with help from Grandma, Kris and I. Then we at a few pieces of candy, had some pizza for dinner and played before it was time to go home. Annika read from a Junie B. book for Grandma and James and Levi were busy playing with trucks. What a nice evening!

And that is what is new with us.

Tuesday after work I took Annika and James to the park when I got home from work.  The plan was when Levi woke up from his nap, Kris would drive the two of them down to the park, we’d like Levi play too for a bit and then we’d go out to dinner and run errands as planned.  We were at the park for an hour before I called home to find out Levi had just woken up from his nap…at 5:20pm!  Instead of letting Levi play at the park, Kris just picked up Annika, James and I and we headed to dinner.  The rest of us were hungry!

Here are some pictures from our day at the park:

Annika on the rock wall.

James on the rock wall.

Annika mid-jump off the swings!

James mid-jump off the swings!

Annika working very hard in her "bakery."

James concentrating very hard on building his sand mountain.

Tonight we have Annika’s science fair.  (Auntie Shelly and Uncle Dale are coming to watch the boys and Annika is so bummed she’s going to be gone!)

Tomorrow the kids and I don’t have any plans.  Kris will be helping Pierce tile the downstairs bathroom and sliding glass door entry way after working in the morning.  My current plan is to take the kids on a bike ride in the morning and then let them play at the park before lunch.  After lunch will be nap time for Levi with some house cleaning and chores for me and some more outdoor play time for Annika and James.  We have to take advantage of every nice day we can!

James was declared the perfect patient.  His teeth are amazingly clean.  The hygienist was impressed that James brushes his teeth all by himself.  She also found James’ first loose tooth!  It’s just barely wiggly but I suspect that it will become much more loose now that we know about it.  It’s on the bottom right side middle of his mouth.  I foresee many apples in his future to try and get that tooth to move.  James was declared cavity free and sent on his way.

Annika was across the hall (open concept – no doors) so I could see how she was doing even if I wasn’t “allowed” in the room with her.  She had her first full head x-ray and was also declared cavity-free.  The dentist is concerned with how her permanent teeth are growing in and gave us a referral to an orthodontist.  Fun!  Not.  We’ll go see what the orthodontist recommends though (retainer?  wait and see?  full braces in a few years?).

When it was my turn I had Levi with me in the room, strapped down in the stroller.  He was busy playing with the two new toothbrushes (still in packages) that the hygienist had given James and myself.  He dropped them both to the floor though at one point, another hygienist picked them up and then he dropped them again.  Well, we weren’t going to play that game so we told him they had to stay on the floor until it was time to go.  He leaned over to try and pick them up and tipped himself over!  He was fine.  There was no blood and maybe only a bonk on his head when he hit the wall but boy was he mad about it and cried big tears for a couple minutes.  I snuggled him as best I could (leaving him in the stroller) for a few minutes and then scooted him closer to me so he could hold my hand during the rest of my cleaning.  I, too, am cavity free thankyouverymuch.

Anyone have any ideas on how to get Levi to talk more?  He barely says anything, preferring to grunt and point to get what he wants.  He can say a few things like mama, daddy (called Kris daddy for the first time last night!!), uh-oh, bzzz (for a bee buzzing) and a few other near unintelligible things.  Last night I asked him to say cow, bee, frog, cat and a few other words as we were reading his bed time books and each time he attempted them, no matter what the word sounded like, I praised him and gave him a gigantic hug.  He seems quite pleased with himself and me whenever I did that.  I’m hoping lots  more positive reinforcement for each attempted word and communication will help him try more words.  And at his 2 year check up in late April that we can get a referral to get him tested.  It’s getting very frustrating to only communicate with him by his pointing, grunting and whining.

This weekend we went on our annual trip to Breezy Point with Kris’s family.  Dusty, Mel and Mabel were able to make it this time too!  And Isak!  The 2 bedroom condo is becoming a little tight for 6 adults and 5 children (5 children – Annika, James, Isak, Levi and Mabel)!  I think if we’re all able to make it next year we might have to rent a room or two in the adjoining Breezy hotel for some additional space.  Maybe we can leave Nana and Papa in the condo with all the grandkids while the parents get a room to their own!  Hee.  Annika and James were able to go swimming both days.  On Saturday we took them to the pool inside the main lodge.  It was so busy!  Maybe the lack of snow meant the usual snowmobilers, skiers, etc. were enjoying the pool instead of the outside activities.  Levi has a cold so we left him napping while all this swimming was happening.  They had a great time though and for once played together nicely in the pool.  There was a little rough-housing where Annika would grab James and I would worry about her forcing him under but it was all just play.  I get a little nervous around water and my kids.  Anyway, Saturday night Nana and I took the Annika, James and Isak plus Dusty, Mel and Mabel to see the Lorax.  The kids were a bit scared during a couple parts but I really enjoyed the movie.  Yes, it’s a bit heavy handed with the environmentalism but for this hippy tree hugger, that was OK.  We left Kris and Papa back at the condo with Levi.  There is no way he’d stay seated for a movie.  He’s way too much on the go for that!  When we got back from the movie we went out to dinner.  Thank you Dusty for treating us all to dinner!  It was getting late by the time the appetizers were gone and dinner was ordered and received.  It was getting so late that James and Levi ended up sleeping on a couple coats in the corner!  And after she was done eating, Annika curled up by the fireplace in the restaurant and fell asleep too!  I couldn’t believe it.  Don’t worry, with such a large group, the restaurant had seated us in a separate room without many other people.  James and Levi didn’t even get to eat their dinner although each had a few bites of appetizer.  I guess the traveling, swimming, cold, etc. wore them down and knocked them out.  That was OK though – it made it really easy to get them all to bed that night!

Sunday morning we started off slowly, just relaxing and hanging out together in the condo.  Papa and James went on a futile hunt for an open grocery store that was not 30 miles away.  They came home empty handed.  Apparently grocery stores in the Pelican Lake area don’t open until noon on Sundays.  About 10:30am we finally gained enough steam to get all the kids plus ourselves over to the main pool with the waterslide.  This time we brought Levi with and at first he was a little scared of the water.  He was grabbing a hold of my neck pretty tightly with his cute little toddler arms.  I sang to him though as we bopped in the water and he acclimated quickly enough.  By the time we left, almost two hours later, he was demanding trips down the water slide (over and over and over again!) and jumping off the side of the pool into the water (while wearing a life jacket).  In fact, I would stand under him while he was on the edge of the pool and instead of jumping into my arms, sometimes he would step off to one side to jump into the open water.  He’s quite the little daredevil right now!  Annika also had a great time swimming.  She didn’t wear her life jacket much.  I’ve been remiss on getting her and James into proper swimming lessons but I’ll be looking into that ASAP.  She did enjoy swimming under the water from one side of the pool to the other though and she also went down the water slide over and over and over again.  I think she’d love a trip to the Wisconsin Dells again this summer.  We’ll have to see if we can make that happen.  James, as is typical, is my more cautious child.  He did go down the water slide with me one time but that was enough for him.  He spent the rest of his time in the pool swimming around with his life jacket on or in the kiddie pool with Isak.  Isak is afraid of the water but Nana and Papa managed to get him into and enjoying the kiddie pool.  Yay Isak (and Nana and Papa!).  Sunday afternoon was more relaxing around the condo while people and kids took naps.  And then it was time for us to head out.  We left and got home right at 8pm which was perfect.  James had fallen asleep in the truck so I carried him to bed and Annika and Levi were in bed by 8:15pm which is pretty typical for Annika and just a half hour or so behind schedule for Levi.  Then I busied myself by getting things put away, caught up on a couple DVR’d tv shows and went to bed myself.

And here we are, ready for another week.  This week we have dentist appointments which should be fun.  Ha.

Annika, James and I joined Gramme, Grandpa and Grandma along with Pierce’s family at Krystle and Pierce’s house that afternoon for Ayla’s first birthday party. We left Levi and Kris at home for a bit because Levi was still napping. They joined us an hour or so later. The party was great. There was delicious food, Ayla received some fun gifts and of course it was adorable to watch her ever so carefully poke at her cake. She didn’t eat much of it but she did get nice and dirty. It was immediately into the bath for her following cake!

Annika and Kris left the party at 6pm so they could go to the community education Daddy/Daughter dance. Annika wore her fanciest dress and Kris was dressed in his suit. They were so cute! Of course I neglected to get a picture of the two of them. I hope Kris ordered one at the dance. Kris and Annika both said they had fun though. Kris said they spent most of the night on the dance floor jumping and twirling. What a great night for them!

Sunday morning we went to church as usual then stopped at the grocery store for a couple quick things (like a birthday cake for James!) and then went home to get ready for James’ friend birthday party. After lunch we put Levi down for a nap and at 2pm we had five little boys descend on our house. Kris dropped off Liam and picked up Annika so Annika and Elyse could have a playdate while James had his birthday party. We had Liam, Jack, Rohail, Kyle and Logan over for the party. Jack is our next door neighbor and Rohail, Kyle and Logan are friends from preschool. I wasn’t sure what to do with six little four and five year old boys for three hours though. So Friday night after Kris went to work the kids and I went to Michael’s to try and find a craft for them to do. We ended up getting inexpensive bare wood birdhouses, some acrylic paints and some paint brushes. James was excited because he loves the birds at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and wants birds in our backyard too. We set up a table in the basement on a spread out old bedsheet with the six birdhouses arranged on it. Then we set out paper plates with one color of paint and one paint brush each. The boys had to take turns in their colors which they did surprisingly well with. Anyway, after the boys arrived Kris took them downstairs to play until we waited for the last boy to arrive. After he arrived, we put old t-shirts on the boys to try and save their clothing from errant paint and let them loose. Jack didn’t want to paint. He was too busy playing with cars and trucks so he went home with a bare birdhouse instead and that’s OK. The boys were pretty creative with their birdhouses and proud of them when done. And then I ushered them one at a time up the stairs to the bathroom to get washed up, asking them very nicely to please not touch any doors or walls on their way up.

After all the painting supplies were cleaned up we ushered the boys upstairs to have cake and ice cream, complete with candles and singing. Then we opened presents in the living room (great presents – not one duplicate or anything that James already has – and some of the presents were so generous!). The boys loved all the things James received so we took all the toys down to the basement and let them play for the rest of the party. Some of the boys wanted to play Mario Kart, others ran around playing tag or with cars/trucks or played Twister. It was a great party! Levi slept through most of it so Kris and I were able to focus solely on James and his friends.

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. You knew that though. We celebrated it in low key married with kids style. Heh. Annika made Kris and I each a valentine. Mine is actually a book about how much she loves me. That is going in the keep pile! For Kris she cut a heart out of paper and wrote that she loved him on it. Both keepers I think. James made valentines in Sunday school but ran out of time to write on them so he just gave us blank pieces of paper with hearts stickered to them. He was so proud of them and received a big hug and kiss and excited thank you from me just the same. Man are they both some good kids! Kris bought me a bouquet of tulips, my favorite flower. I set him up for that one though, poor guy. Sunday evening Annika was talking about how excited she was for Valentine’s Day and I said that I was pretty sure I knew what my valentine was going to get me. I said my favorite flower! We were all in the kitchen so Kris was hearing everything and giving me funny looks the whole time. Annika asked what my favorite flower was and I told her tulips. Sure enough Monday night after work Kris stopped at the grocery store and along with milk and chicken and yogurt, etc. he bought a bouquet of tulips. He’s a smart guy that one. Hee. After the kids were in bed last night we sat on the couch together, shared a bottle of wine and watched DVR’d tv shows. True marital bliss. Heh.

James and his pile of presents

He was pretty excited by some of the Star Wars toys he got plus the 2 basketball hoops!  One is already set up in the basement and the other will be an outside hoop come spring.  How lucky is he!

Then he wanted to play a while before we had cake.  So while the kids played, a few of us toured some of the houses for sale in our neighborhood.  We were trying to convince Dusty and Mel that they needed to move closer to us.  I don’t think they’re convinced.  Somewhere in there we ate (so much food!) and then we had cake and ice cream.  Here’s James with his cake:

James and his cake

Those fingerprints on the cake are courtesy of Levi, of course.  He was eager to try the cake out.  After cake and ice cream it was just about time for the Super Bowl to start.  The adults gathered in the living room to watch while the kids continued playing, mainly in the basement.  And by the 3rd quarter everyone was gone – long drives, tired kids and long days made it an early night for everyone.  It was a great day though.

And because no post would be complete without pictures of my other two awesome kiddos, here are two more pictures:

Annika and I - self portrait - while James unwraps gifts

Levi and Auntie Krystle being photobombed by Ayla! Too cute!

Kris filled out his nursing school application last night.  It’s due today and I’ll be dropping it off at lunch time.  The deadline for the application is February 1st so we won’t probably hear if he’s accepted until a few weeks after that.  I’m crossing my fingers that he gets in!

Last night was a disaster at home.  We sat down to eat a meal we’ve never made before.  We had chicken enchiladas with tomatoes, cheese and some cream cheese based “Santa Fe cooking creme“.  It was delicious but before Annika even took a bite she declared she didn’t like it and didn’t want to eat it.  Dinner has become such a struggle with both her and James.  James ate a few bites, declared he liked it, agreed that we should make it again and then caught wind that Annika didn’t like it or something and changed his mind to saying he didn’t like it.  And then Kris finished his dinner and left for work and I continued to battle with the kids to get them to eat.  Levi, my only remaining “good” eater, ate a bunch of his and even grabbed a few tomatoes off Annika’s plate.  My precious baby got the “good kid award” last night, that’s for sure.  I’m not proud of the yelling I did last night but sometimes my frustration runs over.  Do the kids like tortillas?  Yes.  Chicken?  Yes.  Cheese?  Yes.  Cooked tomatoes?  James Yes.  Annika No.  So why wouldn’t they eat it?  They didn’t like the “sauce.”  I made them eat a whole bunch of it anyway (maybe 1/3 of what they were served) and then sent them to the basement to play.  I was done and angry and didn’t want to see their precious faces for a while.  I’m sure they were tired of me too.  Every parent has those nights, right?  We had a pleasant bedtime routine with baths and books and kisses and hugs.  Thank goodness kids have forgiving hearts and short memories.  I love my kids.  I really do.  But I am so tired of struggling to get them to eat sometimes.  We usually use the “eat as many bites as how old you are” rule but last night I made them eat even more than that.  Just to be mean, probably, but really out of frustration.  Please tell me this is just a phase and that they won’t be this finicky forever.  They weren’t always like this.  I especially hate when they “like” a meal one time and then “dislike” a meal the next time we make it.  Or they’ll eat it in a restaurant (stir-fry with rice noodles for example) but won’t eat it at home.  Argh.  At bedtime last night Annika asked if tonight we’d make a dinner she likes.  *sigh*  We can’t have mac ‘n cheese and hot dogs or peanut butter sandwiches every night, dear daughter.  After they were in bed I went and took a relaxing, whirlpool bath.  Kris poked his head in once and I even told him I needed some “alone time.”  And then I got out of the tub and went to bed.  Today is a new day.   My patience has been renewed and hopefully tonight will be better.

Do you see that? We’ve had 1 day without plans in the last 12 days! No wonder I’m exhausted and sick. I couldn’t call in sick to work on my first day back after an extended break though so I toughed it out at work today. Hopefully I can get to bed on time tonight so I can get some decent rest. Now, let’s walk through each of those fun things above and talk about them in more detail!

We were scheduled to close on the old house on Thursday, December 22nd. All five of us plus the buyers and their 21 month old son sat at the title company office for almost three hours that afternoon. And we left with us still owning the house! It was frustrating but while all of our paperwork was there and signed, the buyers lender was having issues with their computer system and couldn’t get the paperwork to export from their system and sent over to the title company. So we all left frustrated. We got an e-mail around 1:20pm the next day saying the paperwork was ready and we’d close at 2:30pm. We all converged back on the title company office for another hour but this time left with signed paperwork and an officially closed house. We handed over the keys and garage door openers and then ran out of there to get to Erin’s party on time.

Party! Erin turned 6 on the 23rd and we were invited to their house to have dinner and dessert with them. The kids were so excited! It had been a while since they had played together and as soon as we walked in Annika and James had run off to play with their friends. Maria had made us a very good dinner and when Erin opened her gifts from us she seemed to like them. Maria said she had spread them both out the next day across the kitchen table and was having a blast with them. The kids were sad to leave and we had already set a date for a playdate the next week. Maria gave each of the kids little goodie bags and the boys’ bags included Hex Bugs. Levi really likes his Hex Bug. He likes to put it in his mouth (of course) and let the bug vibrate on his teeth. He also loves to put his Hex Bug on the floor and then squeal when it comes near him. He loves it. We sang happy birthday to Erin, enjoyed her ice cream cake and then we had to go soon after that to get the kids home and in bed. I don’t like having to drive to their house. Boo for being so far away!

On Saturday the 24th we gathered up the kids, the presents, the food, the fancy clothes and the dog and went down to Nana and Papa’s house. We were the first ones there and Annika and Nana had a nice time playing with paper dolls. James and Levi had fun playing with the trucks and tractors in the office. We tried to get Levi to take a nap and he did take a short one in the pack ‘n play. Mid afternoon Dusty, Mel and Mabel joined us and shortly after that Carrie, Adam, Hans and Isak arrived via train from North Dakota. James had fun tracking the train online with Papa. When they arrived we said hello quickly and then all changed so we could get to church on time. Nana and Papa were singing in the choir so Carrie, Dusty and our families sat in a pew together with Aunt Anita. Uncle Jim was the pastor that day and it was nice to hear him preach and to sit with Aunt Anita. Levi has a hard time sitting still during an hour long church service so we sent him up and down the aisle to spend time with all the adults. At least it gave me a break from trying to entertain him and keep him quiet. When we got home from church, we finished getting dinner ready and then all sat down to eat together. It was a lovely and ethnic meal! We had lutefisk and Swedish meatballs along with the mashed potatoes and white sauce. The kids all love Swedish meatballs! No comment on the lutefisk… Everything was delicious though, especially the almond bread I had for dessert! All that was left was presents! We had a hard time keeping the kids under control. They just wanted to rip into all the presents all at the same time. I’m not sure who gave what to each kid but I do know that they love all the gifts they received. Books, trucks, keyboards, pajamas, etc. have all been read and played with and loved. Isak was funny. He’s two and has the patience of a 2 year old and would just start ripping into something. We had to ask him a couple times to wait and you could just see it was torture for him! After all the wrapping paper had been cleared away we put the new Christmas pajamas on all six grandchildren, lined them up on the couch and pleaded with them to smile so we could get a picture. This is the best picture I got: (It’s not too bad!)

The Froyum cousins - Mabel, James, Annika, Hans, Levi, Isak

Christmas morning the kids let us sleep in until about 7:30am. We left Levi to sleep more and sat down to open presents with Annika and James. Annika stated matter-of-factly upfront that the package from Santa was not big enough to be an American Girl doll like she requested at the top of her list to Santa. She didn’t seem overly disappointed so we just rolled with it. We left the Santa presents for last and had the two of them take turns opening their gifts from us. Their reactions are so funny sometimes. Annika opened her new roller skates and simply said “But I already have roller skates.” I asked if they fit her anymore and she said she didn’t think so and then the light bulb went off that hey, these might fit her and there ya go, a good gift. James showed the proper amount of delight over each gift, even when unsure what that gift actually was. Twister? What is this Twister game you gave me? After an explanation and later, an actual game of it, he liked it more. Annika looked puzzled at her new purple dress, wondering if it was a shirt or a dress. I told her it was a short dress that she could wear with leggings and that it was made by the same company as one of her favorite blue short-sleeve shirts. Then she was on board and has worn it at least three times since then. Levi woke up just as Annika and James were finishing their presents from us so we made time for Levi to sit down and open his presents too. He’s too young this year to really understand what’s going on and wasn’t much interested in opening his gifts. I helped him out to hurry us along a little bit. Then it was time for Santa! Annika opened hers and while it was indeed not the American Girl doll she hoped for, it was a Rapunzel dress-up dress. And guess what – it was also on her Christmas list to Santa! Well, what do you know?! James thought his monster remote control truck was cool and big which is just what he wanted and Levi thought his new Little People train was cool although James commandeered it and played with it more than Levi did those first couple days. It wasn’t too long that they were able to play and then I was hustling them to their rooms to get dressed.

We spent Christmas Day with Gramme, Krystle, Pierce and Ayla at Gramme’s house. We arrived at 10am to a beautiful brunch laid out with the good china in Gramme’s formal living room. We like to get fancy on Christmas! All of the food was so, so good as were the mimosas! The kids were anxious to open presents so after the dishes were cleared we sat down in the living room and Annika handed out the gifts to everyone. We were all spoiled rotten as usual but Annika was spoiled the most. Gramme gave her the coveted American Girl doll that Annika had been asking for. Annika got real quiet when she opened it so we couldn’t tell right away how excited she was. It wasn’t the exact doll she asked for (Kit) but it was one that looked like her. Annika gets self-conscious with all the attention on her and withdraws and that’s what she was doing here. She loved it though. She even got another outfit for her doll from Krystle and Pierce and Ayla that she loves. Emily (she’s named the doll Emily) has a special place in her room where she sleeps and she travels around the house with Annika to participate in most of Annika’s play. Annika loves her so much. James received a water gun which will be great fun this summer. Levi received a zoo duplo set from both Gramme and Krystle and Pierce and Ayla. Fortunately they were complementary sets which was great and are a fun addition to our Duplo stash. Kris received a nice book and game and I got a red vest and a sewing machine. I have made my first sewing project, a blanket for Emily, and didn’t do too terribly bad for my first sewing experience in probably 20 years! We spent the afternoon with Gramme before heading home for the evening. It was a really nice day.

We had one more Christmas celebration. The day after Christmas we went to Grandpa and Grandma’s house for a delicious meal at noon. Turkey, salad, potatoes, appetizers, wine…I could go on. It was all so good. Once again after eating we convened in the living room and doled out the presents. Annika was being awful – she could only find one gift under the tree with her name on it and she was acting like a spoiled princess because one present wasn’t enough for her. I hope this is a phase and that the gratitude lessons I try to instill in her will take hold. I had some harsh words for her in private letting her know I was disappointed. I hope to not see a repeat performance of that behavior. What she didn’t know was that Grandpa and Grandma had bean bags for all three kids and because they are big and difficult to wrap, they had hid them in the basement. When Grandpa came to the living room with them at first the kids didn’t really know what they were. It didn’t take long for them to jump on them and starting playing with them. We now have bean bag chair games in the loft at our house. I just have to keep an eye on them because James tried to roll down the stairs on his bag one time and then Levi the mimic thought he should try it too. Ugh. Anyway, Grandpa and Grandma were very generous and gave us a gift card for trees and shrubs for our house this spring. I already can’t wait to break ground. We played a couple games and then it was time once again to head for home. Annika always asks now if we can play dominoes when we go to their house. She plays on her own and is getting better and better at it. It’s so fun to include the kids in our games now! James plays on Grandpa’s team. I bet in a couple years he’ll be playing solo too.

We didn’t slow down the next day. We invited our old neighbors Ryan, Erin and Charlie over for a play date. The kids were excited to see each other and spent the first 20 minutes running and screaming through the house. As usual they calmed down and played so well together for 2-3 hours. It was nice to visit with Maria while they played. I don’t see her much anymore!

The Wednesday of Christmas week was our only day with no plans. We cleaned up around the house and relaxed. It’s nice to have those days every once in a while.

Thursday Are, Jessie, Mia and Vanja came over for a visit. They came over from Norway for a visit with family and friends over the Christmas holiday and we were so excited they could fit us into their schedule. Are brought Kris another bottle of Aquavit. Our last one was gone (sadly – heh) so Are needed to replenish us. Man, that stuff is awful but it’s kind of a long-running joke now that whenever Are comes to visit he brings Kris a bottle. Annika was being an ungracious host which was again making me mad. We had just cleaned up her room and she was upset that the girls were dumping out the Barbie and Polly Pocket stuff and mixing them together and making a mess. Um, isn’t that exactly what you’re supposed to do on a playdate? I assured her we’d clean it back up again after they left but to just enjoy the girls while they’re here. Jessie and I talked about the girls and activities and even though they are in a completely different country we have surprisingly similar routines and opinions on priorities for our children. Some things are just universal, aren’t they?

Friday of that holiday week was a big day for Annika. Thanks to a couple groupons Krystle and I purchased, Annika, Gramme, Krystle and I went to have manicures and pedicures that afternoon. We went to a small salon in St. Louis Park where they had 2 pedicure chairs and 2 manicure stations. Basically we had the whole place to ourselves for the majority of our visit. Annika and I had pedicures first. Annika’s still so little (except, not really, of course) that her little legs didn’t reach very far into the water. And she couldn’t sit back in the chair and feel the massage feature. But I think she liked it anyway. She chose an electric blue color for her toes. Then we moved to the manicure stations while Krystle and Gramme moved to the pedicure chairs. Annika was a polite, shy little girl and did whatever the technicians asked her to do. At first when they would ask her to do something she would look at me for approval and I would tell her to listen to them. She got the hang of it though and had pretty pink nails at the end of the manicure. Gramme just about didn’t make it through her pedicure though. Gramme has notoriously ticklish feet. She was fine with most of the massage but when the pumice stone came out she turned into a giggle monster. She had to ask the technician to stop a couple times so she could regain some composure. Of course Krystle and I just laughed along with her. It was entertaining to say the least!

Before we left for our spa afternoon though we welcomed Uncle Mathias home. He drove straight through from his home in Texas and arrived at our house about 11:30am. He was tired (of course – it’s a 24 hour drive!) but we were excited to see him! He brought his boxer puppy, Dakota, with him and Dakota and Dagur had a blast chasing each other around the house and playing. It was like father and daughter, the two dogs looked so similar!

Why was Mathias in town? Because we had two family weddings to celebrate! First up was Nick and Lindsay’s New Year’s Eve wedding. We put on our fancy clothes that Saturday to go to the wedding. The wedding was beautiful and the reception location was very nice. It was at a golf course and reminded Kris and I of our own wedding. During the social hour we tried to keep the kids entertained with snacks and a movie because there wasn’t any room really for them to run or play. This worked fairly well. I was mortified when Levi and my cousin’s son (also 1) were standing looking at each other, sizing each other up and then Levi takes both hands and pushes the little boy in his chest, knocking him to the ground. I immediately reprimanded Levi (no push, etc.) and my cousin Angie picked up her little boy. He has an older brother and is use to such rough treatment so he wasn’t phased at all by the shove but I still felt awful and apologized several times. What a bully my kid is! I think we need more playdates stat to properly civilize this child! Ugh. It wasn’t long after that though that the ballroom opened and we could sit at our tables. It was way past the kids’ regular dinner time and they were hungry and getting squirelly. We strapped Levi into his high chair the first chance he gave us (without screaming) and tried to keep him entertained. Dinner arrived and we finally had some occupied kids for a little bit. Dinner was delicious and not long after it was time for the kids to go home. Gramme drove down and picked up all 4 kids (Annika, James, Levi, Ayla) and brought them back to her house for the night. She also had our Dagur and Dakota. Brave woman! This meant we were free to party the rest of the evening and party we did! Krystle and I danced most of the night and Kris was out there with me too at times. We had a great night.

The next day we got to Gramme’s house just before noon the next day with low in tow. We had even more partying to do. This time it was my cousin Grant’s graduation party at my aunt and uncle’s house. Dave, Darleen, Evan and Grant had come up for the wedding from North Carolina. It was so fun to see them all again! So we picked up the kids from Gramme’s and went to the graduation party for a few hours. There are no little kids at that house any more so we had to keep a pretty good eye on Levi. Annika enjoyed the many treats available. And James snuggled up on Aunt Darleen’s lap for a good 20 minutes and told her all about his life. She is of course smitten with James now and can’t believe he just snuggled up with her for so long. He looked at her at the end of their snuggle time and said “I’m done with your lap now” and then hopped down. My precious boy. I may need to ensure he and I have more snuggle time together. Levi was working on minimal nap so we didn’t stay too long before we went back to Gramme’s to pick up Dagur and then head home.

I was fortunate enough to have one more day of vacation before I needed to report back to work. That Monday, the 2nd was a relaxing day at home for us. Nana and Papa came to visit that evening which the kids were excited about. I wasn’t feeling 100% so I spent some of the afternoon on the couch resting.

And that was our full and fun Christmas break. Now we’re back to normal life and routines. School. Homework. Playdates. Kris applies for nursing school soon (by Feb. 1st) so please keep your fingers crossed for us that he gets in!