Pictures

I liked this picture -- Mary and Andy with Kieran followed by my dad with Megan on his shoulders.

Meg catching a ride with Bjorn as we walked to the take-out spot on the Colorado River.

Mary and Emma sitting in the boat. Yes, it's broken and yes, it's out of the water, but it's a nice place to rest down by the take-in spot on the river.

A self-portrait of Mark with the fire and the sunset in the background.

Margaret and Megan really hit it off at the end. Here they are on the chair in Mom's living room.

Here are all four grandchildren -- Megan, Andy, Emma and Margaret in their matching pajamas.

Another picture we tried to get of all four kids in matching Christmas pajamas. Emma, however, wished to have nothing to be done with it.

Just a few

We took 177 photos while we were gone. Here are some of the highlights. Andy proudly showing his name on his stocking.
Darling Baby Emma who is now 18 months and walking everywhere, especially wherever the Big Kids go.

Darling Baby Meg, pooped from the trip and giving me a much-needed break on the way plane ride back.

Bitsie, Cousin PJ and me at the Christmas Party.

Pop with his oldest grandchildren.

Most likely Mom's Christmas card.

I love that neither of them seems to sure here.

Drake, Andy and Ben at the flight museum.

Susan stuck in the control tower.

Me with Meg with her bow and darling Christmas dress and matching red tights.

All four grandbabies in matching pajamas. I have about 20 variations of this photo. It was like herding cats to get them all together and in the end, not on picture was great of everyone.

Christmas is coming!

It's so much fun watching Andy gear up for Christmas. There are still parts of it he doesn't get, but generally he's excited to help wrap presents and he loves putting presents under the tree. We have talked about Santa and he's dutifully opening his advent calendar, but I'm not sure he's put the whole thing together yet. That said, I can't wait for Christmas morning when he comes down to see that Santa has come. I'm even thinking we should leave some cookies out for Santa Christmas night to help get ready. Well, if I get around to making cookies.

It's been funny talking with Bjorn about Christmas traditions now that we have to worry about Andy remembering and getting it (or questioning us). His tradition is opening presents on Christmas Eve (when the Swedes traditionally celebrate). That evening, the jul tompte (Christmas elf) comes and leaves gifts for the children. There is usually a fun event when everyone goes out to look at Christmas lights or the moon or something and the jul tompte usually comes and leaves presents when we're gone. It's quite fun and involves lots of glogg (Christmas wine) drinking.

For my tradition though, we have stockings over the fireplace and we rush down Christmas morning to see what Santa has left us (assuming we've been good). Usually there are a few unwrapped presents from Santa and gifts in our stockings. Then we settle in to open presents from the family. Bjorn and I disagree on this part though -- I say there are Santa presents and then presents from family, but he says they're pretty much all Santa gifts. So much so that he wants to hide all the presents until that morning to make a bigger impact. You'd think we would have this all worked out with Mark and Jennifer, but by the time Bjorn and I got together seriously, they already knew about Santa so it wasn't a big deal. I think I'm okay with doing it his way...so long as he's the one moving all the presents. I'm not quiet as helpful in my enlarged state.

My cold/stuffed ear continue to nag me, which is making me more pregnant and cranky than I think I would be otherwise. My doctor said to take Sudafed as needed during the day and Benadryl at night to try and dry everything out. It is definitely improving my symptoms and I love that the Benadryl is helping me sleep. All the drying is unfortunately making my throat pretty dry, but I'll take that over the coughing and snot making any day.

Christmas card

Here's the top (and so far, only) contender for the Christmas card this year. The sun is a little too bright in the background, but I think everyone looks pretty good. It's too bad Andy is looking the other direction, but he's smiling at least. What do you think?

Happy Thanksgiving

It's been a nice day and we have lots to be thankful for, like good health, family, friends, jobs and a seemingly healthy baby girl wiggling inside my belly. Then the extras, like the Cowboys going 10-1. Granted, it was the New York Jets, but I'll take it.

We went to the house of old family friends of Bjorn's for omelettes and Bloody Mary's before coming back to get ready for dinner here. We had a thin crowd, just the three kids, my brother-in-law and us, but it was nice, friendly and low key with some amazing food.

Andy picked today to be too hyped up to nap. He's so exhausted now he can't sleep. He wore his blue blazer today as did his father and they looked quite darling. I also got all three kids to pose for some Christmas card possibilities. I like the idea of getting the whole family in the picture, not just the kids, but with my ever-expanding waistline that causes bitchy women to ask if I'm having twins, I opted out of that this year. Next year...

I'm still getting used to the new camera. I only took 70 pictures today and blew through two more batteries (at least they're AA). It's so much more powerful it requires me to actually think. What's up with that?

Global warming?

It's been unseasonably warm here the past few weeks. That sucks because I really love the snow, but the upshot has been that it's warm enough for Andy and I to spend some time outside, usually with me pulling him in the wagon. Everyone here seems to be freaking out that this is a sure sign of global warming and that we're all shortly going to drown this month as the ice caps melt and North America becomes under water. I do think there is some cause and effect with emissions and such, but I also believe the earth goes through periods where it is warmer and colder. Fortunately, no one is counting on me to predict these things.

The funny thing is I vividly remember nearly two years ago walking into the hospital to deliver Andy. It was a warm January morning. Granted, I was 9 1/2 months pregnant, hot and hormonal, but I walked in with just a light jacket. I don't even think a jacket was required when we checked out. That last long enough for me to get off the narcotics and driving again for the temperatures plummeted and we were stuck indoors for most of the rest of my maternity leave. Funny, I couldn't tell you what I had for lunch yesterday, but I can describe the weather patterns from those few weeks.

Meanwhile, we tried to get a family picture with Andy's grandmother when everyone was together for Mark's birthday. Guess who didn't want his picture taken. I think next year I'm going to pick the Christmas card photo where he's bawling. At least it would be funny.

Christmas cards

We spent about a hundred hours this morning (okay, maybe one) trying to get a nice picture of all five of us for a Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa card. The older kids were late because they sleep later and Andy was starting to need his nap by the time we finally got started. It was a little tense, but after some trial and error with the self-timer, we got a decent picture of all of us. This isn't the picture we selected, but Andy's expression sums up what we were all thinking. After we finally got a good one though, we all liked each other again.

I ordered them again from Costco. It's cheaper than Ofoto/Kodak Gallery with the huge bonus of the cards (allegedly) being ready tomorrow. With that pace, these might go out before Christmas after all. Maybe.

Andy's new thing this weekend (in addition to his cold) is his letters. A while ago, I bought the letters B, A and B, painted them white and planned to hang them on Andy's wall. It's been a while now so I currently make a point of explaing the letters to him and having him repeat after me. The funny thing is he's become so attached to two of them "AB" that he calls for them by name, rather insistently I might add. He even took a nap with them yesterday. I got him a wooden puzzle that says "Andy" for Christmas. I'd say based on this he's ready for it.