May in Mpls

These are a bit outdated now, but I love smiley Leif, Kaj on the trampoline, and a lovely shot of Doug and Germaine. Good times!

Catch up! Mall of America

OK - It's official! We're at home, and I have no commitments - it's blog catch-up time! These photos are from the MOA in May. We had a great time with my parents and Doug and Germaine. I love that the boys get to see them so often!

Has it been a month? Yikes!

Apparently life is pretty busy these days! Kaj wrapped up Kinderfarm on Thursday for the school year and is excited to go three days a week in September. Leif is so much fun right now, running from room to room, sometimes getting into mischief. He loves the pantry and delivers the Cheerios box to me at least three times a day.

My favorite moments of the weekend include

1) Kaj leaning into Leif, giving him a big hug while saying, "I love you, Leif." Leif beamed from ear to ear and didn't even fall over.

2) Leif seeing a big, relatively spooky picture of a skeleton on the front of a book and pointing and saying, "Dada." :)

3) Kaj telling another 3-year-old at Aunt Mary's birthday party that he was "three and three nickels."

I've pulled together some recent photos to share of the boys and their daily adventures.

Mr. Smiley before bed

They LOVE the hose

Kaj's physics demonstration/homemade sprinkler, frame 1

frame 2

frame 3

Leif watering the bushes (or possibly his shoes)

Operation Camp Out, Take 2 (The first night Kaj was too "distwacted by the sounds oustide") The did make it until morning the following night.

A common sight

Leif discovered Kaj's hat, had a little trouble getting it on his head, and found that when he brought it to mom or dad, they would put it on his head for him. For a usually hat-resistant kid, he loves this John Deere cap!

Kaj playing with cousin Jericho

Leif and Jonus

They boys playing with play dough

Adventures in Landscaping (yes, this is a nod to Adventures in Babysitting)

This post if for my mom. Hi, Mom. She's been asking to see some photos of the work we've (rather, Tom) been doing in the backyard. It's a work in progress, but I can see where we're headed now. Raised veggie beds, boxed in. The grass around the periphery of our fence, tilled. Compost bin - in the spirit of Earth Day - built from old pallets from the lumber store. We also built a small patio space for our grill off of the deck for safety and all.

The compost bin and the lower level of the deck - the boys play at the sand table at least an hour a day now that it's nice out

the view to the north from the upper deck

the grill's new home

ready for flowers

the beginning of our raised beds

we moved the swings onto the mulch area

and moved the firewood

latsa hastas

free mulch from the city

the reworked side yard - the grass is a disaster, but that's step 2

Tom played around with the shape of the path

pondering layout

And in case you're looking for photos of the boys...Sorry, they're in bed!

Watch out, world!

HERE I COME!!!

Happy Easter!

Easter Egg Hunt @ Gloria Dei

We had a lovely morning at church taking part in the annual Easter Egg Hunt. The kiddos had a lot of fun, Sunny came to cheer them on, and we got to visit with some of the other parents of young kids. All in all, a fun event!

Kaj made an Easter basket, and carefully added beads to the handle. Nice fine motor skills, bud!
I love this... One of the families at our church has chickens apparently and brought in 4-day-old chicks for the kids to...well, torture? Hopefully they weren't too traumatized. Here Kaj is showing Leif what this cute little thing is all about.

Planting seeds in "my own cup of dirt."

This was the beginner-level course. Not much hiding here...

I brought home two felt baskets from Target the other day, one with a bunch of balls on it (very Leif) and one with a robot (very Kaj). I didn't even have a chance to tell Kaj which one was his before I hear, "I want the robot one." At least I know my children. Leif will make his way across a field to retrieve any sort of ball. I think he's going to be our team sport guy.

Leif checking out the cereal-stuffed eggs for the not-yet-candy-eating faction.

This is GREAT!