Over the River and Through the Woods

Merry Christmas in Swedish

Each week flies by quicker than the previous week.  We're enjoying this time of year, but it seems to be going by way too quickly (hopefully January and February will go by just as quickly???).  We started off the weekend with our first Christmas program of the season.  This program was at Natalie's school and she knew all of the songs by heart, including hand motions. 

The weekend continued with a trip to Scandia, Minnesota, our own version of Sweden in the Mid-West.  We then went on a COLD nice a nice walk in the woods to see the St. Croix River, a tributary of the Mississippi River.  In hindsight, I suppose we may have planned a bit better with the girls attire.  But, they were extremely obedient - Joe had instructed them to wear the clothes from last nights program again before putting them in the wash.  I don't think he meant exactly the next morning.

My favorite people.

Who says you can only relax by the water in the summertime?

Linnea's learning how to be a photographer - Joe had asked her to focus on our faces :o)

And completed the day with the annual model train set-up.

And puzzles...

Ending with a little goofiness courtesy of candy canes.

Natalie says, "I don't know why Willow keeps biting me"....I think I may know.

 And so the season continues.  We hope that you are enjoying your Christmas season!

Sweet Tooth

Christmas cookies.  

Does there really need to be any text regarding these delicious, labor intensive, unhealthy, creations?

Today we spend the majority of the day making sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies.

I decided to make a double batch of each.  The reason for the increase in batch size?  We had company to help with the cookies AND I'm not planning to make these again for several months (perhaps 12 months?).

It was a lot of fun, but I think we may have overdone the batch amount.  This is the loot after sending two platefuls home with our guests. Anyone who has a sweet tooth is welcome to visit :o)

And just for fun, I took some pictures of the Christmas sites in the Norman house.  Did I mention that I like this season a little bit?

Mysigt

I LOVE this time of year. There are so many reasons for my fondness, but one particular reason is the mysigt atmosphere. Mysigt is the Swedish term for cozy, and the lights of the season definitely contribute to this feeling.

Christmas trees help too, with all of their lights.  And so, this weekend we spent most of Saturday afternoon decorating our tree.

And finished by taking photos for the grandparents...

We like our tree.

It was a lot of fun to decorate on such a perfect day - it was snowing and as the snow continues we'll continue our enjoyment with a Christmas movie and hot cocoa in our very mysigt room. 

Turkeys for All

One thing we get to enjoy on a fairly regular basis is the presence of wildlife.  Thus far we've seen deer, foxes, heard coyotes and had numerous feathered friends visit.

Coincidentally, or perhaps not a coincidence at all, these friends were much more sparse as a result of our recent holiday. If you've never seen a tom with all feathers out, it truly is a sight to behold.

We hope that you all had a wonderfully thankful Thanksgiving day. Ours was filled with great food, although I am a little biased, since....

...it was prepared by yours truly... 

We didn't get many pictures of the whole meal or of the family, I suppose because we were simply just enjoying being together.  And while many of us struggle with those infamous holiday calories, some in our family don't seem to have that problem.  In fact, they can't even stay still for a picture on parents night at the gymnastics gym.

On the bright side, I suppose that means fun is involved.  

There is so much to be thankful for, too much to list, but more than enough to simply reflect on.  

We hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.

The Power of Snow

There is something about snow.  

To convince the kiddos to play in the cold sans snow results in about a 5 minute round of soccer before the plea of coming inside ensues. There will be multiple complaints of how 'it's too cold' at the balmy temperature of 35 degrees, and it will likely take about 15-20 minutes to 'get ready' (the phrase 'I can't find....' is usually involved).

Then it snows, and not only do they want to play outside when it is 17 degrees, they want to roll around in it....

...drag each other through it....

...surf in it....

....and just generally play in it at 7:30 in the MORNING!! (Hence the dark photos...). As a side note, it took literally 3 minutes for them to get ready.

This is one of the reasons that we enjoy living in the Midwest.

The real test will be in March - will this love of snow still be there?  Only time will tell. But for now, we'll enjoy the snow and the hot cocoa that follows afterward.

Chocolate Fever

With the new school, come the new school projects.

Interesting that of all the projects that would have relevance to chocolate, Linnea chose to make a game.

Even though her teacher suggested projects such as a chocolate tasting.  Sometimes I wonder if we're really related.

But she likes to play games, so we had some fun today.

Playing Around

I'm really enjoying our Saturdays. I'm also enjoying the friendship that our girls have.

We were blessed with another mild day of fall, which almost always includes a nice walk.

Despite the brown and cloudy surroundings, it was a beautiful day.  We found a playground and enjoyed playing around.

And Willow watched and wished to be playing around (her enjoyment off-leash must occur elsewhere).

There is something about playing around - it's beautifully simple.  

We forget that things that seem simple and enjoyable can be also so necessary, for health and sanity.  

Make sure you make time to play around a little bit this week.