just so much fun !

day two !!

day two of ice skating

We went back to our little secret iceskating rink. The ice was a little bit more rough but also faster . So again we had a lot of fun. Not the sunshine like friday, so we made a fire and warmed up with marshmallows.

This is the result of two hours of iceskating and sledding . 

Lilja and marshmallows !!

Lilja and Lilli loved sliding down the hill. Can you see the difference two days make to the snow. We need some bad !

Just a picture to prove I was also on skates 

Many falls, no cries, she just got right up.. she is a cold weather, snow loving girlie girl.. it is going to be a fun winter 

before she got wet

just one more

Lilli and rudolph and getting soaked

Lilli and rudolph came out of the Christmas Box. Lilja has not put them down except when she wanted to play in the water. what do you think happened when she went in the water check out picture number 3.

Lilja, don't go too deep in the water !!

Well, guess what happened? Yep , on all fours right in the freezing water.. I had to take a picture, but she was pretty upset with me .. she did not want t o look at me.. I guess because I was trying not to laugh..I tried.. I promise 

Lilja is really a snow and ice girl !! She did not stop playing, eating, skating, sledding and just throwing the snow, plus she did not stop smiling !!

Hmmm, where do you think she is going with that big snowball ??

Yep.. I git pretty wet !!

She really did Not Stop Smiling !! 

Trying to take a family picture, straight into the sun.. but the background is amazing 

The two girls 

Lilli and lilja were such great buddies. They really helped eachother and rooted eachother on 

We will be back on Sunday with better clothes, mote food and a sunshade with some chairs.  So excited yo gave found this gem. 

Our friend Greg invited us to join him and his daughter Lily to a secret ice skating rink up at purgatory. Theyfound it yesterday, cleared it and today we even cleared it more. What a wonderful day it was. The girls just ice skated for probably 2 hours and sled just a little bit but wanted to keep ice skating. We bought lilja some new, more comfy skates and she just did great .. she is such a winter girl !!we will go back on Sunday.

Lilja x-mas tree

Lilja has been waiting for the day after Thanksgiving so we can take two little stuffed animals out of the Christmas Box, Rudolf and Lily and she can decorate her own little Christmas tree. we also had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at our friend's robin first we had a football game then we had international Thanksgiving dinner with 30 misfits. Lilja had a blast.

It was so cute, she put a baby angel with a "mommy " 

Lilja took her time to decorate "her" tree. 

Lilja's favorite part of the thanksgiving dinner ?? The turkey and the dessert ofcourse 

Freddy, robin ' s husband let lilja chose her dessert 

Desserts galore..I made the two on the top left.. gluten free crusts.. they were pretty good. There were some other people that need gluten free, so they were exited. I also made gluten free stuffing... it was...interesting . 

International football  game. Americans against the foreigners . Not sure who won :$

Robin ' s boys 

Next year we need some color coordination 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

What am I thankful for? Every year the answer starts the same... I am thankful for Jasmin, Lilja's tummy mommy, who made us the family we always wanted to be. And for James, Lilja's birthdad, who trusts us to be the best parents we can be. I am thankful to wake up every morning with a smiley little girl chattering up a storm.. and a husband that is supportive partner and such a hands-on dad.. I am thankful that our family and extended family is relatively healthy, some bumps here and there.. but relatively healthy and that we get to see them as much as we have. I am thankful for our jobs we love and for our bosses, who understand the value of family and do not frown upon staying home with a sick child. I am thankful for our friends that through laughter and support get us through the challenging days of parenthood.  Most of all I am thankful of being able to see Lilja grow up.. getting smarter, sassier and experience life;  going to school, learning to ride a bike and making friends.. We are so lucky, so thankful!

I 

I did not know the video was on while I was taking pictures of her.. too funny 

Oma made this dress for lilja. She wanted to wear it right away !!

These are the photos I thought I was making instead of the video 

Changed lilja's room again to a big playroom.. my favorite part is her dollhouse all lite up .. 

Our first chore chart. Lilja loves it...but...we forgot to write "clean your room " conveniently ; ((

L

Lilja and I had a little tea party for her "friends"

national adoption day !!

Today is national adoption day .. a day to honor the birth moms, adoptive parents and the adoptive children. Five years ago this weekend we met beautiful jasmin . I remember looking at her and hoping she would love us as much as we loved this young, sweet and nervous girl who was about to make the biggest decision of her and Lilja's life. We met lilja that afternoon and took her home after a very emotional placement ceremony. This song reminds me of that day , that moment when I first met lilja. I had not expected the feeling of utter love for this little baby ..she did not come from our bodies, but she came from our wishes and into

hearts ..

Our little model

I love taking photos of lilja.. I always take a lot of them as she can have some silly faces.. here is proof of all the silly faces of lilja

this weekend

Lilja and I were house sitting this weekend. Being woken up early by the dogs, not so fun.. but an early hot tub time with lilja...priceless. we also went to a birthday party of lillibeth who turned 7, her mom made every child a lovey to take home. The kids could choose what smell they could put in this little rice bag that would fit in the tummy of the lovey it was the most amazing take-home birthday gift I have ever seen. And she had found out every child's favorite animal.. lilja's was ofcourse the Koala but there also was a dolphin a seal an elk, a cat, and a bear. Just so thoughtful and very cute! These photos were done on my phone, so no long stories

A birthday party, hikes and keeping busy!

My parents left a week ago and it has been so quiet at the house. Luckily we had to take care of Caroline's house so we kept busy.. but those first couple of days are just quiet.. really quiet.. But slowly we are getting back in our groove. We are needing to take care of Caroline's house pretty much the rest of the month.., so we will make lots of pictures of the ranch and the hottub for you. But here are some fun photos of the last week.


Kara, one of Lilja's friends turned 5 today and we went bowling.. It was a lot of fun.. might become our new thing for this family.. we all seem to enjoy it.. and FYI Aran is really really good!!

 

there was a little merry go round in the bowling allay of all things.. it was the toy of the day..

 

Opa and Oma have been gone for a week and we are slowly getting used to all the quiet in the house. so we are taking walks and keeping ourselves busy..

Lilja had her rain boots on and was heading for the water.. those boots are not for swimming!!!

Hmmm, look at that look.. what is she thinking!!

and she just kept running..and running..

 

the day my parents left we painted Lilja's ghost pumpkin..Keeping busy alright..all three of us. do you see the ghost cut out of the pumpkin??  aran did that!! and I made roasted pumpkin seeds.

 

 

and we made the dutch cookies Oma had bought with her.. al these things we wanted to do while they were here but had no time to do.. We did it all in one day.. Too much time on our hands 

they turned out pretty good..They usually are not for decorating, but we had some time.. did I tell you we had time on our hands???