Happy Birthday, Brigitte!!!

happy Birthday to my sisiter!!! eventhough you are an ocean away, you are always in our thoughts! Love you, Your sis..Aran and Lilja!!

a great Saturday

Aran went hunting for the first time this season so our Saturday morning was just the two girls.. What to do.. Let's run a 5K for a good cause.. stroller and all. i am pretty proud of myself, as I ran the whole 5K and did it in 34 minutes (pretty bad time as I used to run a lot faster, but the stroller was heavy ;) then I stained half of the deck until it started pouring down rain.. not sure what is going to happen to the deck now, we'll see.

Lilja ready for the run..

Mamma ready for the run.. pretty blurry photo but I had to put a picture in there for proof of attendence..

Lilja is really liking to finger paint, it can really keep her attention for a while..

funny enough, Lilja's tummy mommy is an artist, my mom is an artist and I thought I was a good artist ;) Lilja will probably be one too..

Lilja is getting pretty good at her colors, but has a couple of favorites.. Black, orange and PINK..if she can choose a color though it is usually orange..

photos from Friday

Aran got off early today just to spend some time with us before the busyness of this month. So we had tickle hour, walked the dogs dwon the lake and just had fun.. here are some extra photos from that time

Lilja did not want to smile for the camera, so the silly face came out!!

Upside down Lilja!! she loves this game.. Only daddy can do this.. your heart stops when you see him throw her upside down.. i guess that's the daddy way!!
Just a picture to show all those teeth.. again only two on the top as you can see, however two on either side are coming out too, and now a whopping four teeth on the bottom!! waiting for more...

I love this photo, love the shirt, the colors and that look. Lilja started walking through the tall grass and it 'tickled" her..

tickle time

Daddy came home early today and we had some family time in the guest room. This room is nice and airy and Lilja seems to gravitate to that room. We just tickled, laughed and spend some time together. next week is going to be crazy, as Aran has a conference and then Lilja and I are going to pick up Oma and Opa in Denver.. so family time was priority.. it did the job... lots of laughs!!

bow hunting

Aran has been practising his bowhunting for the season, but now we have a little one running around. so including Lilja in the event is always a challenge.. her little chair becomes her safe spot. Jjust like the dogs have to sit, Lilja has to sit until daddy shoots the 4 arrows.. then they all run to get the arrows.

The La Plata County fair

The County fair is here. We'lll wait with the rides one more years as Lilja is still so little . Last year I took lilja to see all the animals and she was pretty scared of them. This year she was very fasinated with them. Still pretty timid, but she braved through petting them. She really liked this pig named Petunia that was getting a brush rub down from it's owner, what a life for that pig!! However, it will be sold tonight.. so actually...what a short wonderful life for that pig!!

Petunia and Lilja.. notice the soft blue brush and the pig sleeping..

little baby porkchops..

a real lamby!!

the goats, she was getting braver.

Lilja's first REAL icecream cone

Lilja has had little bites here and there of our icecreams but today she got her own little cone. Mind you, mommy and daddy ate a lot of it as she was sooo slow to eat it.. but she seemed to love it..!!!

our little prodigy

yes, here are more photos, mom!!

My camera died after this night.. so i am waiting for everyone else's but here is one of our family nights random photos.
Lilja loved watering the plants. it seemed to become her and Uncle Eddy's job every night.. loved the colors. especially with that cute little pink dress. Uncle Ewoud, Jill, and Cole loving up Lilja, with uncle eddy in the background.

Lilja LOVED Cole, their youngest son.. she would look for him around the house. "Wee is Cole??"

Snuggle time with Ries, Uncle Eddy's oldest.. they were buds and played lots of playdoh. She is the artist in the family and made Lilja a great name plaque.

Brigitte and Lilja very eary in the morning.. Brigitte wanted me to leave Lilja in her crib a little longer.. she is not used to a 6:30 wake-up call on her vacation. Hmmm, how would that work?? Don't get up Lilja... just go back to sleep ;) yeah... right...

the water in Seattle

My other uncle Ewoud and his wife (Jill) and their two children Cole and kees came up from Santa Barbara to meet Lilja and to look at some schools for Kees. So today some of us went to the harbor and went kayaking and swimming..
here is Livy in the kayak.. Brigitte and Dara brought the kayaks over from one side of the harbor to the other.

The beaches here are pebble beaches with tons of clams everywhere.. such a difference from the California beaches.

Lilja was probably the one the longest in the water.. we all took turns.. well, I took the photos and had a break.. they all googled over Lilja :)

Dara and Lilja singing..

Brigitte looking quite athletic in her kayak..

Brigitte and Lilja checking out the water.. This was the perfect place for Lilja to play as it was pretty shallow , but that water was very cold!! However that did not seem to mind Lilja.
Livy wanted a body sand rub and she got it..

Lilja got one too.

Dara and Jill ( my uncle's wife) racing to the end..there was definitely some competition going..

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Seattle here we come!!

My sister and I met eachother in Seattle and stayed with our Uncle Eddy ( my mom's brother) his wife dara and their two girls Livy and Ries.
This time Lilja packed her own toys.. First morning with Tante Brigitte..Lilja loved the books she brought.

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PICT1342

I found this video in the youtube archives.. probably one of our first
videos.. how little was she??