Hiking tikes

My friend and I went hiking this morning with our children. We had a wonderful time.

We were quite the group--two moms, three kids, two babies in slings. It was unlike any hiking I've done. I like to move up the trail fast; the children like to pause, pick up acorns, look for blackberries, point out the trees, or just sit. I'm looking up while they're mostly looking down and all around.

Look at those dirty fingers! Just be glad they aren't in your mouth.

A friend recently made this sling and let me borrow it to break it in. Robbie likes to sit in it cross legged like a little Buddha.

Emily and Mike--two little tikes that like to hike.

Aebelskivers

 

Because many of our ancestors came from the Scandinavian countries, Adam and I wanted to visit the Scandinavian Festival held annually in a nearby town. We loaded up the van with a stroller, baby carrier, and the kids to see the artwork, crafts, dances, and foods that may have been familiar to our ancestors.

  

Of the food, aebelskivers (hollow, pancake like balls) served with norse berry jam, and bif paj (Swedish meat pies) were the two obvious festival favorites. The lines for both were extremely long. I had time to change Robbie's diaper while waiting for Swedish meat pies, and Adam and Emily waited at least 45 minutes to claim our share of aebelskivers.  My friend had waited 1 1/2 hours earlier that day.

I didn't grow up learning a great deal about the traditions of my ancestors, but Adam and I would love to learn about and even adopt some into our family culture. We thought we'd start with family pictures. I have to say Robbie did the best impression.

The Birthday Girl's Day

Today was Emily's fourth birthday. It was such a special day, I wanted to share the details via this post. 

Emi was out of bed just before 7, just as I was finishing her birthday cake decorations. Emi got a sneak peak of her sparkly pink My Little Pony cake before she'd even had her birthday cereal.

We opened some presents before Adam had to leave. Emily opened her present from Mom and Dad A and was excited to see a My Little Pony dress, which was just what she needed for her new birthday outfit to wear to our Monday morning playgroup.

After playgroup, we went to McD's for happy meals. We rarely eat out, so for Emily, this trip was a real treat.

She and I colored My Little Pony pictures while the boys napped.

Once Adam came home, we were back to presents and cake. She sat at the table for 5 or 10 minutes just placing her unicorn stickers on her new helmet without having a clue that a bike was waiting outside for her to uncover.

Cake time!  I poked a sewing needle through a My Little Pony picture onto the cake's hard frosting (just like you would do when tracing an image onto a pumpkin for carving out), then removed the paper picture and connected the dots left on the cake with frosting to create this image.

For Emily the best part of the day was our evening walk/bike ride after we finished our cake and ice cream. The best part of the day for me? That would have to be when I went to read Emily her bedtime story, but instead discovered her already fast asleep, her book wide open, lying right on top of her face. What a day!

Adam's First Bike!

That is, this is the first bike that he assembled, and it's for our little girl who'll be turning 4 tomorrow. We bought her some unicorn stickers to decorate her new purple bicycle helmet, too. You know, Adam and I aren't really into unicorn stickers, purple helmets, or pink and shiny new bikes, but when you have a 4 year old girl at home who is into them, getting these things is really fun for us!

5 months (almost)

Robbie

We Don't Need Water!

The other night, Emi and Mike were in the tub and Mike started to drink the bath water. Adam and I told him to quit drinking it. We had recently had a Word of Wisdom FHE , so this must have been on Emi's mind when she exclaimed to her little brother, "We don't need water and we don't need alcohol!"