Brrrrrrrrr

February has been COLD.  Maybe not Minnesota-cold, but cold considering that the kids and I either walk or take the bus everywhere!  

Ben and I warmed up at the beginning of the month by going to the butterfly house with a friend and her son.  The kids liked splashing with the fish and playing in the dirt the most!

Sophia and I made chocolate chip cookies during Ben's nap one day.  They were tasty, but a little different because the chocolate chips here are just not the same...

We had fun making a Valentine's craft.

Crazy-haired Ben coloring his hearts.

We also made cut-out hearts for a Valentine's Day Tea at Sophia's school.  This activity didn't last long after the kids figured out that the cookie dough tasted good.  Ben was super sneaky!

After school play-doh time :-)

Ben was making meatballs - his favorite food!

Finger painting fun (also during Ben's nap!)

On to watercolor painting, which seemed safer than finger paints for Ben :-)

 Dirty hands!

We're all ready for summer!

January back in Stockholm...

We had a nice January with lots of playdates, a couple of dinner parties, and some outings...but I guess not a lot of pictures to prove it :-)

The kids survived their 7th trans-atlantic flight...but suffered jetlag, as usual.  Aaron took some video of the kids dancing during the wee hours of the morning when I was sleeping.  I'm sorry to have missed this dance party, but so happy to have been sleeping!

Ben started waking up in the morning without his PJs on and it was starting to become a headache because at the same time he also he became very interested in the "potty".  He's still in his crib...so can't find he way to the bathroom without assistance and, well, you can probably figure out the rest for yourself.  I bought extra crib sheets, but it only fixed the problem...didn't solve it.  So.....Ben got some new (old!) PJs!  Notice anything funny about these?????

And....finally....a little mad once he figured out that he couldn't unzip them anymore!  Score!

We visited the Nordiska Museet.  I really liked this museum!  Here, Sophia is standing by a replica of the museum.  We just walked inside, so the lens was a little fuzzy from the change in temp.

Sophia's Bday!

Sophia got to celebrate her birthday a couple of times.  We celebrated while back at home at the Maple Grove Maze and then back in Stockholm at the Aquarium on her actual birthday.

Cousins!

At the aquarium on her birthday!

The "Nemo" fish were her favorite.

Christmas 2010

Well, it has been nearly two months since Christmas, so I finally decided it was time to document our awesome trip home :-)

Pictures of kids with their cousins our 1st day back!

We cut down a Christmas tree with my dad!

We went sledding and had bonfires!

The kids enjoyed winter s'mores!

Hmmm...not sure Ben was enjoying this ride?

Sophie even took off on her own!

The girls in their red Jessie cowgirl boots and t-shirts!

We went bowling when we were at Papa Craiger and Gramma Rue's house.  Sophia had done this before, but it was Ben's first time!

We also went to Wisconsin Dells with Papa Dennis and Gramma Jill.  Sophia quickly became an expert on this slide (I bet she went down over 100 times!) and Ben was pretty comfortable in the water by the 2nd day.