Pink and Red

Happy Heart Day...love, the girls

 

Halfway

Sonja Jean turned six months old last week!



 
Cold and snowy when this baby girl came in the spring. 75 and sunny on her half birthday in October. Go figure! I know we probably get tired of hearing each other say it but WOW time flies!! Seems to go faster and faster with each child!

 

 Such a sweet little completion to our family!

 

 

 

40 Weeks

40 weeks

We have a baby!!!

Sonja Jean was born 4/9/2013.

Now 1 week old, we all seem to love her more and more each day.

Ballerina

We had our first dance recital!!

Someone was VERY excited.  Here she is practicing before the big night.

And here she is in her debut performance...featuring the dinosaur song.

Pretty good technique for a beginner

So now I am officially a soccer mom AND a dance mom.

She LOVES it and that is what matters.  As put by her preschool teacher during our conferences the other week, "Once Maari finds a passion she knows and sticks with it."  Very true

Little Dots

I finished an entire sweater!! 

The bigger my girl gets the more meaningful that statement is. I still do not have the patience to finish one in an adult size. someday

The pattern is The Little Dots Sweater by Yumiko Sakurai.  I used an all cotton yarn.  This child has VERY sensitive skin so cotton is our fiber of choice.  I really love the little button detail on the back but Maari rarely lets me put her hair up.  You see princesses wear their hair down...ALL THE TIME.  So, most of the time you cannot see the cute button.

Oh well, hair up or down she likes her new sweater!

Growing

February vs. November

 Same shirt, bigger baby!

The Beginning of the End

30 WEEKS!

You know the end is near when...

it becomes nearly impossible to put any kind of footwear on (is it ok to wear flip flops when it is below zero?)

the crazy pressure on your bladder tricks you into thinking you need to use the bathroom even when you don't really need to

you find yourself sitting in the clinic waiting room every other week instead of every month

even your maternity clothes start to dig into your abdomen

it becomes difficult to stand for too long or sit for too long or lay down for too long or do anything for too long

you find the "crazy pregnant lady" from the first trimester making her reappearance

Yes, the third trimester's arrival, with its ups & downs, has made us even more excited to meet that little lady!!

Here Comes...

Too much Halloween candy?  No, that's not it (well maybe some of it).  We are having a BABY!!!  Our family becomes five this spring!

Halloween

This year it was Pippi Longstocking and the Beast...yes Connor being Beast again.  It is getting to be more about the candy and less about the costume for him as he ages.  Next year I might have to make him venture away from this mask.  Maari also wanted to be the same thing she was last year - a princess of course - but we talked her into trying something different.  At least one of them had to change costumes!  With that hair she just had to be Pippi at least one time in her life.

Poor Pippi was sick for the big night...so was mom.  But we still made it to the neighborhood pary/tractor ride/trick-or-treat.  Maybe all that candy we ate will make us feel better.

Maari seemed more excited about these pumpkin seeds than the candy.  She was so eager to bake them and then took one taste and declared a "YUCK."  Oh well, the rest of us are enjoying them!

Princesses

Like many three year old girls, my daughter is crazy for princesses:  Cinderella, Belle, Princess and the Pea, Snow White, Jasmine...and now the Seven Nasty Princesses.  We went to a play put on by some local 7th-9th graders all about some pretty vain sister princesses.  I think the idea of naughty princesses (aren't they usually perfect?) was a bit confusing for little Maari.  Also, the ladies ended up learning their lessons from two witches and instead of living happily ever after with the prince, he fled from the whole lot of them.  None of this follows proper fairytale protocol.  However, I think she kind of got the gist of it.

The "real life" princesses were not at all nasty and were kind enough to pose with their most adoring fan.

And even share their beautiful head pieces.

Making our Maari the 8th princess (although not at all a nasty one!)

Into the Wild

 A little picture show of our camping trip a couple weeks ago:

Our campsite was only 5 minutes from home, so I don't know if you would call it true camping.  However, without all of the daily chores of home it felt like we were much further.  The kayaking was a highlight for Connor.  Maari I think enjoyed her campfire baked blueberry pie most.

This trip was kind of a test run, preparation for something bigger.  Connor, Dad, and Betsy are right now on a more rugged trip...one not quite suitable for Maari and myself.  Far up north in the Boundary Waters, they are true camping.  They have been gone since Tuesday and I have had NO contact with them.  Yes, they are so far in the wilderness that there is no cell phone coverage.  This freaks me out just a little...what if...?, what if...?, what if...?, and so on and so on in my head.  But according to Justin that is the fun of it...being truly AWAY from it all.  But moms worry.

And I am sure it is beautiful and peaceful and lovely... I just don't know if I could handle all of the hauling.  Because you see one can't just drive up to the campsite, one must canoe/hike to it.  All of the gear must be hauled in: food, clothing, sleeping bag, cooking utensils, and canoe. (Did you notice Betsy's little backpack in one of the pics?  She was practicing, getting ready to carry her own food).  But again, that is the beauty of it...true wilderness.  Maybe some day Maari and I will enter the wilderness but for now the state park down the road will do just fine!

Here are my boys (+Betsy) up at Grammy's house on Lake Superior the night before their departure into the wild.  Dad practicing his firemaking skills and Connor talking to Mom on the phone one last time.  Can't wait for them to come home!

Connor at Camp

This week we are coping with the absence of camp.  For the past eight weeks (has it really been 8!?!?) Connor has spent three days at camp.  Looks to me like he enjoyed it!

To be ten again!

And no, mom was not hiding in the bushes taking pictures - can't you just see me all incognito, camera ready?  I think my extremely loud screeching three year old would probably have given me away.  No, the staff was just kind enough to share their photos.

This was Connor's third year at the same camp and he loves it!  He comes home so full of excitement and stories which makes mom happy.  So I was shocked when one day he told me he didn't want to go to camp the next day.  I tried to pry out of him why: was he being teased, bullied? was he tired, bored, sick?  "No, no, no I just don't want to go on Friday, but I'll go every other day."  Finally, several hours later I finally got it out of him.  They were going to be having a big Hunger Games competition and all his friends knew everything there is to know about Hunger Games and he knew nothing.  So we had the big "It is better to try to solve your problems than run away from them" speech after which Connor proceeded to the computer for a crash course on the Humger Games.

And guess who came home with THE trophy, guess who won the whole thing against ALL the kids in ALL the age groups and ALL the counselors...yup, that's my boy with the giant gold goblet!

(lesson learned!)