Anja is Four!

Anja has talked and made plans for her birthday party for months. She wanted a purple cake. She had a particular guest list in mind. She was going to have her very first party with friends her age. On Monday, her actual birthday we had some friends over and we shared some cake with them. She also got two presents from them. It was great, but it was not her party party. The one with the pinata. That was happening today, Saturday.

Then Anja's little cold suddenly turned into an ear ache and her ear drum RUPTURED! It was SO sad. She was so sick and listless but when we told her the party needed to be cancelled (even though we had cleaned the house, bought the supplies etc) she feebly lifted her sick little head with her hair matted with blood and pus and said "No!" in a pathetic little voice. Later, Isak set the table with her Rapunzel table cloth, Rapunzel plates, cups and napkins and we ate cupcakes and ice cream as a family. And Carolina and Hannah dropped off a present: a My Little Pony mother and baby with a pink car! That made everything so much better.

Last night Everyone was feeling a bit under the weather. Elina had bad asthma symptoms and so we lounged on the couches. Isak, Elina, Anja and I watched Les Miserables: In Concert (25 anniversary edition) and it had all three kids absolutely captivated (skipped the prostitution scenes). This performance was completely without stage props, only costumes, and they still followed the whole thing, enthralled, scolding me when I tried to fast forward through a song.

 Monday afternoon, May 2nd

Julia stayed close by Annika, Marie's baby. 

Wow! I think she likes it! Thanks Sam and Sofia!

Luke and Madeline brought a necklace, bracelet and Barbie and Hello Kitty coloring books!

Saturday: Isak lights the 4 candles. 

What the Jensen's dropped off. Now if she could only get to keep that pony baby to herself. Julia has claimed it as hers...

Last Soccer Game

Isak had his last soccer game today, for this season.

He did some nice turns in today's game.

"Good game!"

Team picture with the wonderful Coach Bob Green in the back.

I forgot to use my film-feature. I only remember it at the end of the game and then I couldn't seem to catch any exciting action. Oh well.

Elina's 1st Grade Music Program: BUGZ

Elina and all the first graders had their music program yesterday. It was extremely cute, as always! They had a day performance and an evening performance. Elina was visibly more tired, and a bit less focused in the evening. We were very proud of her because long singing performances like this is one of her least favortie things to be a part of, believe it or not. All the pictures and video is from the evening performance.

Sofia and Elina before the show. 

(firefly and butterfly caterpillar)


 Elina in pink on the back row.



Elina was most excited about her speaking part. I am finding that she is into theater, but not so much musical theater (unlike her sister Anja who enjoys both and was very sad she was not a part of this show).

Other recent performances:

Twelve Words 2010

A Neverland Tale 2010

Christmas Concert 2009

I Dance Myself To Sleep 2010

Color Our World 2009

There have been others that I did not document for whatever reason. I won't make that mistake again, if I can help it. They are precious to me!

Dentist Visit

I took all four kids to see the dentist this morning. They all did well. Isak and Elina went in without me. I joined Anja and Julia. And this post is basically to brag about Julia.

The personnel at the dental office weren't sure how much they could do for a not-yet-two-year-old. But true to form, Julia observed how Anja was examined and happily climbed up into the dentist chair and motioned for the dental hygienist, Cara, to lower the chair back (like she had done with Anja), opened her mouth WIDE and let Cara count all her teeth and examine with the mirror etc. Cara and the Dr. Williams himself were very impressed with how still she sat and how unbelievably cooperative she was. Kids her age normally do not cooperate for more than a few seconds, if at all.

I took this picture at the very end of the visit and Anja has a bit of a frown for some reason, but was pretty happy throughout.

Julia & Anja

Easter 2011

It RAINED on Easter, which was wonderful because Oklahoma is experienceing a bad drought and we had not seen rain for 3 months, and our part of Oklahoma was until this weekend experiencing its DRIEST year on record. But that very welcome rain meant inside egg hunt this year, because it was really pouring outside. The kids weren't sad, though. And we all had a great time at our friends' Teresa and Ryan's house. Here are a few pictures.

Food! Ryan and Teresa were the perfect host and hostess.

Madeline and Elina at the kids' table. 

Julia at the toddler table.

And Teresa had name tags for every person!

Luke and Isak playing some piano after dinner.

The girl's waiting for the eggs to be hid in the rest of the house, before the hunt.

The boys were waiting, too.

Julia's first egg hunt. She caught on quickly. But what's this?

Definitely not candy!

Happy with their loot.

More Adventures of Julia

Julia flooded the bathroom last week. She climbed up to give a doll a bath and filled the sink by pulling the lever that stops it up - she just didn't shut off the faucet when it filled, nor when it spilled over. She came running down stairs crying to get me (thank goodness) and she was sopping wet. The whole floor was a pool by the time I came upstairs.

That isn't the only thing she does, of course. She drinks out of the dog water, climbs on the dining room table, falls from various places (like down the stairs while carrying a twin size comforter), takes out and puts in DVDs in the DVD player, puts DVDs in the Wii, gets undressed - and dressed, goes to the bathroom (without help, on the regular toilet) and uses lots of toilet paper, disassembles any of Isaks Lego sets down to their individual pieces if his door is left unlocked, has specific ideas about what to eat and wear, colors on paper (and sometimes on walls), runs down the block to the park by herself (if given half a chance), rides a bike (or at least tries), walks in clogs without breaking her ankles (!), wears dresses with joy, dances to any music, pushes and pulls Sadie (our 32 kg Labrador Retriever) around to where she wants her (Julia herself is only 12,5 kg). She throws food from the high chair every time she is done eating (so Sadie can eat it) even though she knows she is not allowed. Perhaps because she is not allowed. She grabs any and all utensils from drawers she can reach (have to be careful where we place her high chair). This week I had to cut a big chunk of her hair because she had found sticky tacky and stuck that in her hair. Sigh - she had so little to begin with...

But she can sit perfectly still and listen to a storybook she finds interesting from start to finish, even if it takes 20 minutes or more to read. And if she has hit someone (usually Anja) she turns immediately to give the most sincere hug as soon as I tell her to apologize. And she prays with her hands together and her eyes closed. And she LOVES everyone in the family with hugs and kisses on the mouth. So, what's not to love?

Baseball Cougars

Isak and Elina are part of a homegrown team put together by some friends of us. Today was our second practice. Elina isn't very enthusiastic, I'll admit. But she enjoys the little group batting, throwing and catching practices before the "game." And that girl knows how to run fast. (Her sport is probably track and field, the 100m dash, whereas Isak is more of a long distance runner). Isak doesn't think he is very good, but he has actually hit the ball (never struck out) and consistently runs to second base on his own ball. I have been impressed, because hitting the ball that someone else pitches seems very hard to me.

 Taken today. It was hot! 

 These three bottom pictures were taken last practice when it was a lot colder. 

Here is Elina trying out her swing.

 In the outfield. Isak is number 3 and Elina is number 17. 

Söndagsfina om våren

Så totalt omöjliga att fotografera! Men underbara, så klart. Fast det skulle ju inte såra mina känslor om de stog stilla tillräckligt länge för ett fint foto. Taget i dag.

Spring is in the Air!

 

One cannot mow pretty flowers like this!

"Inquisitive" Elina - Terrific Kid

For the second year in a row Elina was chosen as the "Inquisitive" Terrific kid from her class. "It means that I wonder about a lot of things," she explained. Yes, our girl isn't one to just accept things without delving deeper for answers.