Happy

Last Friday our happy hour turned into a neighbourhood grill fest in honor of Thomas leaving these fair shores

Chris and yours truly pondering that last delicious burger

Dave hanging with the ladies

Ellie going for a swing

Some more on those cute Nilsen kids...

We're on the homestretch of the catching up on photographs (these pictures were taken only last week...), and it brings some sadness as well as relief: taking/sorting /posting pictures is a labor intensive stuff, but revisiting "favourites" is always a pleasure, and I think these are quite special...

Lars has taken a fair time to warm up to his new sister, but these picture captures a change of sorts - this arrived with him recognizing that he can make her laugh, and them "finding a bond."

Lars has grown ever so enamoured over the last couple of weeks, and is now asking to hold her and constantly engages her in 3-yr old hilarity. (Which really does crack her up...)

This girl continues to be the head honcho around here - right now we're working on gaining consensus that she's not old enough to babysit Annika when Mommy goes to the store.

Another Proud Mothering Moment

So, there was a playdate here at the Yellow house today. And really, the 5 yr old playdate is a piece of cake. The girls come up with cracking games all on their own, and motherly intervention is restricted to fastening buttons and undoing zippers. Today, they played Orphanage (as you do), and took turns being Miss Hannigan. The trick (I have learned) is to keep one final craft/cookery item in your back pocket so that when they get weepy and disagreeable you can announce it, ta da!, and potential ending of friendships is forstalled.

We were reaching that moment around 3.15, and so I made a deal with the girls. "hey girls, I just need to jump in the shower, and then we'll make Rice Krispie Treats. Pink ones, even, for Mother's Day. And then we can do that cool Spin Art painting project. Ok?" They seem to buy into my plan, and so I plonked Annika into her bouncy seat in the bathroom and whipped through the whole soap/shampoo routine.

Just as I hop in, Cecilie whips the door wide open to ask if they can play in the yard. My answer was "not while I'm in the shower, and besides, its raining, isn't it?" Somehow, that phrase in PreSchoolese translates into "sure, absolutely, because 5 year old girls can only benefit from outdoors adventures in the rain!"

The next thing I know, Cecilie is back at the door, shouting "MOMMY! ELLIE NEEDS YOU DESPERATELY!" Oh God. Really, I've done it. My poor mothering is exposed, a child has been seriously injured oh no oh no oh no. But oh, right - I'm stark naked. And there's an infant on the floor here that will howl the house down if I leave her here. So I shout down "WHAT is going on, Cecilie???" and I find out that BFF is stuck up in the new treehouse and terrified to get down.

So I decide that I at least have time to put shorts & a tshirt on and avoid streaking in my own backyard. but then, what do you do with the baby whilst you play firefighter and bring her down the steep ladder? Sure, set up the stroller, Naked Lady, whilst you're at it. So in about 2 minutes I've run through my old First Aid training, got my sweaty workout clothes back on, buckled Annika into the stroller sideways, and booked it down the backyard to the treehouse to poor Ellie, who is howling from the treetops "This was NOT MY IDEA!!!!!!!!!!!"

So, BFF is rescued, tears are wiped away, and Cecilie has quietly slunk away to the sandbox, working on the assumption that 'out of sight out of mind' is the smartest approach in this situation. (For the record, not only should she not have gone outside - friends are not allowed in the treehouse until Daddy fixes a solid ladder...)

Both girls are sent directly back to the house to sit on the couch for a second. By the time I make it inside I have calmed myself slightly, to the point where I can discuss reasonably the fact that they broke some rules, and that the rules were actually meant to keep bad things from happening, not just to keep fun things from happening. SHEESH.

I guess the moral of the story is not to take showers?

A Perennial Favorite: Cecilieisms and NEW! Larsisms

Cecilie: so, pretend that you're the baby and you're getting into lots of shenanigans.
BFF: um, what are shenanigans again?
Cecilie: they are like.... when little kids get into lots of different kinds of trouble. You know, like 3 year olds do.
BFF: oh, yeah, I remember about shenanigans.


[background: Lars fell & really scraped up his knee yesterday. Lots of scabbing. Also big discussion on how fearfully and wonderfully we are made, self-healing & all that...]
This morning:
Lars: Hey! When is my new body getting here?
me [before coffee]: huh?
Lars: I said, when is God giving me that new body?

Random spring pictures

The front yard about a month ago: a cherry, miniature maple, dogwood and red bud makes a pretty spring scene. The neighbors refer to the Norwegian flag as the "drinking flag", we're not sure how that came about...

OK, an anecdote of bad parenting and redemption:
We forgot to arrange for a tooth fairy visit after Cecilie lost her first tooth, she didn't mention a word about it to us, and had we not found this note under her pillow when we tucked her in the night after we might have our first child in therapy about now... it all ended with a midnight hunt for spare change and a stroke of genius involving a silk bag and a liberal sprinkling of fairy dust - the tooth fairy is off the hook, for now...

Grandpa on a nocturnal walk with a not-sleepy-at-all Annika. It's an old trick we picked up in England many years ago, but when it is a once-in-four-months incident rather than once a night, it is novel enough for a photograph...

The new wheels. RIP Torbjorn's first Execu-mobile, the Great Golden Saturn.

Lil' traveller

Just a giggle a minute, Annika has really taken to wearing glasses.

With the other kids the glasses have come off like Britney Spears' knickers, but Annika loved wearing them - I worriedly see a very glamorous future.

This one is slightly unrelated in time - but the subject is the same so we kind of just slapped it in here...

Fooling around on the big bed

It started out as a deadly serious photo session...

...but it soon turned a little chaotic...

...notice how Annika's pose doesn't change through these last ones - let's assume that she was a little overwhelmed by the ruckus

Little french sailor girl

How charming can a baby get?

Hand made is special, we don't know exactly who spent their evenings putting this outfit together. Farmor found this outfit on a doll! We never saw the doll, we have our own...

How do you like the Alfafa and / or TinTin look?

Cutie pie

We just couldn't select between these three of Annika and her most favorite toy in the whole world, so we're posting the whole bunch...

Girls were allowed...

...but only the littlest one was amenable for photos

Life is good anywhere for a baby, but a fire station is special

...at least that's what these guys think.

Engines galore

...but the absolute highlight was riding the trucks -

...so they chose a few

Posing...

...and just plain having fun

Firestation mania

For Jack's birthday we were invited to the fire station to visit Fireman Charlie and crew

The best of times was had by all (especially Birthday Boy Jack whose Best Present Ever was full turnout gear...)

To watch the fireman get his kit on was quite something...

...maybe even a little scaryish...

The FDR Memorial

We never made it to the Jefferson Memorial (scene of the most romantic wedding photos ever, and the official location of the Cherry blossom festival), but the FDR more than suffices...

Sooo big

Under a ceiling of blossoms, Cecilie's cheeks are even pinker...

somewhat random, this one is from the bathroom floor