The 250th Post

Because I've been kind of busy lately to blog, tonight I'm putting lots of pictures together in one post. They're more or less unrelated to each other and a little random. If you've been with us all this time now, thanks for putting up with us for the past 250 blog posts!

Here's what we've been up to this past week.

Elin loves to sit in a basket, cover herself up with stuff, and then complain about it because she's stuck. She has also discovered high-pitched screaming so that helps expedite removing her from the basket.

We've also been socializing with some very important people.

For example, Viggo and I attempted going to a wedding reception yesterday for some friends from Lake Beauty. I was so excited and had been looking forward to this for months. It was Disney-themed, so Viggo and I dressed up as Woody and Jessie from "Toy Story". I'm sorry to say I don't have a picture of this but we looked pretty good as a cowboy and a cowgirl.

We started our drive to the Twin Cities and got stuck in traffic. I mean, wow, that was some traffic all right. It would have taken us waaay too long to get there. We had to turn back. That was hugely disappointing but at least we had something else to look forward to . . .

Spending some fun time with a hoard of Swedish children and their parents.

We went to a birthday party at the park. Isn't this litle one sweet? He was having a great time!

This guy kept Elin in line. No screaming here.

We pulled crackers and found some pretty random jokes inside.

Like this one.

I had never heard this joke before and loved it. It's almost as good as my other favorite joke:

Q: Why are there so many Smiths in the phone book?

A: Because they all have phones.

Ha!

We had fun celebrating the birthday of a special little guy.

More Swedish people.

There's a lot of them in Minnesota.

This one was a little more serious about the birthday festivities. So cute :)

Now we're moving on to earlier today: craft time.

I thought it would be fun for the kids to do something crafty, and we happened to have some sparkly jewels and posterboard, so they made crowns. I told them that because they are God's children and God is the King, they are like a prince and princess to God.

So I was hoping they'd internalize that.

Viggo informed me that he already knew that.

You know what Viggo wrote on his crown? "King of the Aliens". He doesn't even like aliens.

Some peoples' kids.

Elin crawled into the basket while the kids were working and got stuck.

Svea was excited about being a princess though. No alien queen here. Thank goodness.

Then our friend Kristin came over and she was kind enough to play "Jumping Tomtens" with Viggo and Svea, and she held Elin, who insisted on heing held every second by Kristin. She was her little buddy.

I made Swedish pancakes for lunch.

Kristin had never had Swedish pancakes.

We fixed that.

Kristin asked, "So what's in Swedish pancakes?"

I said, "Oh, you know - eggs, flour, butter, sugar, and milk. And Swedish." Obviously.

They turned out just right.

Kristin is going to come back and visit us again, I just know it.

In other unrelated news, I taught Viggo how to play chess last week and he has been beating me ever since. It was espcially embarrassing when we went to Caribou Coffee for a date the other night and he beat me at two games of chess and a round of checkers. It is quite an experience being beat by a 6-year-old at chess in public. :)

And Elin found that sitting in a bin is just as fun as in a basket.

Happy Monday! We hope you'll stick around for the next 250 posts!

Home in Minnesota

We have been very busy this past week putting away, reorganizing, downsizing, prioritizing, etc.

But what we have been enjoying most is just being together in our new house!

Elin loves the kitchen and likes walking around the island again and again!

Beyond our backyard there is a large field that the owner uses for yard waste; it goes in a couple of big mulch/compost/potentially bonfire piles on the far side. In the morning he empties the bed of his truck with a bobcat. This has provided major entertainment at breakfast time!

Svea watches Viggo in the field. They can run all over the place. It is so much fun to watch them run and run!

We have lunch on the deck now. We don't actually have a table but the kids don't need one anyway. And I like sitting on the deck just because I can. The fact that we don't have real deck furniture right now seems pretty irrelevant. We have the deck - what else do we need? :)

Nate found a near-perfect condition used Trek bike for Svea. Now she bikes around like a big girl. On our very own driveway!

The street in our neighborhood is a very sleepy one. Perfect for kids to bike on.

Our backyard has a garden with lots of cherry tomatoes growing. We harvested some tonight.

We met our next-door neighbor. He's from Sweden. His garden is amazing. He was out picking dill for pickling cucumbers when we were out picking tomatoes. He floods his garden in the winter so the kids can go ice skating. He also told us the pond a few houses down from ours freezes well for skating too. Uff da! What a great neighborhood we've been blessed to live in!

It was so fun to look for the veggies with Viggo and Svea.

Svea wants to grow three pumpkins in the garden next year. I'll keep you posted on that.

We love living here. We are so thankful!

Saying goodbye

We were invited by some wonderful friends to a POOL in Delaware to have fun saying goodbye. I wouldn't call saying goodbye fun, but being at the pool with friends was so fun.

I had never been to a pool in Delaware. Like, one you get a membership to and go to all summer long.

I always had the kids play in the backyard with a hose.

When I said I had never been to a pool in Delaware there was a collective gasp. What can I say? I'm just a simple country girl.

Tiny baby Dylan came. :)

Lots of yummy food was brought. Viggo sat right down and ate platefuls of it.

Look at all these beautiful people.

We're friends with them, you know.

Elin and little Tristan enjoyed hanging out.

Elin had plenty of help adjusting to life at the pool!

The kiddie pool, where all the action happens.

I'll miss you.

You too. More than you know.

I'll miss you so much.

I miss you.

I'll miss you too!

Thanks for such a special time together, everyone! We love and will miss you so very much!

Sneak peek of the new house!

Okay people.
Here's some pics of our new place.
Just to give you a taste of what our life will soon be like.
Get ready for a great tour!

I am guilty of always looking at the garage last. So in honor of this being the most important part of the house (according to Nate), I am showing it to you first.
That's a three-car garage.
It's insulated.
And - get this - it's heated.
Nate is really jazzed about that.
I'm just happy that it's attached to the house, so when I come home with lots of bags of groceries, I won't have to trek through the elements to get everything inside.
I've always trekked. At camp. In Minnesota. In Pennsylvania. In Delaware.
Through the wind, rain, snow, scorching heat. Bags and bags of food and stuff. In and out, in and out.
No more trekking for me. I will park in the garage and walk directly into the house.

Here's the dining room and the island in the kitchen.
An island in the kitchen of our very own.
The prettiest island in the whole world.

Nate will show you around here. Now you're in the basement.
Isn't it cool with that built-in desk on the side?
I sure hope they don't leave behind that creepy statue with the primitive nightstick.
Other peoples' decor can be so . . . interesting.

That's a fireplace.
Our very own fireplace.
The prettiest fireplace in the whole world.

Here is Nate on the patio.
Our very own walkout patio.
The prettiest walkout patio in the whole world.

Here's the kitchen.
Our very own kitchen.
The prettiest kitchen in the whole world.

The other side of the prettiest kitchen in the whole world.
Did you notice that all the appliances match?
I did.
I noticed that right away.
And just look at all those cabinets.
I am kind of wondering if they'll leave the loon toaster cozy. See it next to the fridge?
I kind of hope not.

These are drawers in one of the bathrooms.
We have no drawers in bathrooms right now.
That makes for interesting bathroom organization.
I think that bottom skinny drawer is my favorite drawer in the entire house.
Our very own bottom skinny drawer.
The prettiest bottom skinny drawer in the whole world.

Here's when you come in. A nice little entryway.
When you come to visit, be sure you take off your shoes because that tile is pristine.
But if you forget, that's okay. We'll forgive you.

Three words for you:
Maintenance. Free. Deck.

So, when we moved out of our old house in Minnesota, I was very, very sad to say goodbye to my beautiful front-loader washer/dryer. I really loved those things.

Well lo and behold.

What would be in our new house but the exact same front loader washer/dryer.
How about that!

I love a good pantry.
So you get to see part of ours.
Our beautiful pantry.
A pantry of our very own.
The prettiest pantry in the whole world.

It was Elin's birthday that day.
Our little baby girl is one year old.
She's on loan to us from God but for this season in our lives, she belongs to us.
The prettiest one-year-old baby girl in the whole world.

I think she was my favorite part of the house that day.
Her little giggles and cute laughter gave it life that made it seem like home.

We hope you liked the tour!