forgot this one from a couple of weeks ago

just for grandma...

Sorry everyone, no new blogs for the last week. Just some fun anecdotes and photos. last weekend Lilja was sick and this week we have just been so busy..Most exciting part of the week?? Our tickets are booked to Holland and Germany for our summer vacation. Lilja and I will go to Holland first and then meet Aran in Germany with his whole family. Going to be such a fun and exciting trip.. already looking forward to it!! Lilja will have more stamps in her passport by her 6th year than I have.. Second exciting part of this week.. Lilja is reading and taking off.. Wow.. did not expect this huge leap in development. When I came to Durango I set up an "America Reads' reading tutoring program in the schools through Americorps.So I kind of know something about teaching reading.. Well, don't need my tips for this girl.. she just got it.. I will try and make a video soon of her reading.. so tonight we were reading "Tom and his mom" the pages go like this: Tom's mom is on a box. Tom's mom can fix it.. well the word "dime" was in one of the pages.. Lilja sounded out the word and got it by herself.. then she said: Momma, that is a beautiful word to read... just love this girlie, and am loving seeing her get the bug of  reading, just like aran and I ...

jut love this girl.. her little smile...

but it never fails... the big one is right behind it

The one thing about a chalkboard it that you can't frame the art.. well, I took a picture of this one as I just love it.. She called it.." Mommy and me room day..". She made it when I was painting her room.

Lilja's new big girl room

Well, the transformation has started. Lilja's room is becoming a big girl room !! No more yellow, Winnie the pooh, or a tree in her room. Make room for tan walls, bright pink and turqoise accents and a giant chalkboard wall.so right now one room is almost done . Holes a re fixed, clutter is cleaned up and her room feels clean and looks so cute . I made the curtains myself and a bright pink beanbag is on its way. Lilja is spending her time writing words or reading her books that now are displayed like art . Lilja and I are loving the room !! Now to begin het sleeping area ... let's have a couple of days of rest .

Ready set go

Lilja's first fun filled snow day !!

it is pretty uncommon to have a snow day here in Bayfield but the storm came with a vengeance and dumped 14 inches . Lilja was so excited and she did not have to go to school and could play outside all day .

Ofcourse we had to make our snowman different than everyone elses.. notice the perfect resemblance to a koala ??

Ofcourse she has to earn her keep 

Miss little model !!

..

snow day !!

Lilja's first snow day

last day of vacation !!

Ok, here is our last post of our vacation. Tommorrow is the first day of school again and I will go back to work. It has been so fun , all that skiing and sledding, we will miss the fun family times. Today we met maddie for a little sledding .. lilja got a new little sled that she tried out yesterday. This way she could also do it herself. She seemed way more the daredevil by herself . Too funny !

first down hill sledding by herself

Jt and lilja went down this little hill all by themselves.. wow, it went faster than I thought . Lilja had blast, snow in her face , going fast and almost airborn. But she does have her limits and is really good at expressing them .

Aran and lilja have been sledding down our hill a lot of times, for me that just does not look like fun. However, real sledding down little hills on bucket sleds seems a lot more fun. Today we took care of jt for the day and ended up going sledding in the afternoon.. soooo much fun !! Lilja and I went down a really long one, but snow kept spraying in our faces from my boots trying to slow us down. Lilja said, momma, that hill was too big for a five year old.. I think I like the small ones better. She did have a blast and jt was so sweet with her trying to coach her back to the big hill.. but she held her ground.

new game !!

So lilja and I went skiing by ourselves . To try and get some exercise in I started pulling her with my pole like daddy did yesterday. Thought I would not be able to, so pretty proud of myself and excited to keep skiing with lilja

Our game to go fast

Time to ski

finally a ski day!!

We had some great snow on New Year and it was finally time to go skiing. Lilja's skis are looking way too little, but we wanted to see how she was doing with these.. she did amazing and new skis will be bought!! It is so fun to see her really enjoy a sport we enjoy too. Plus we went for our first doggy walk again for my boss. Barney is their new puppy..an 11 months old Beagle.. He is going to be a handful!!

New glasses for me and Lilja are definitely needed. You realize what you need when your hands are freezing and your glasses are not really working for you anymore.. Lilja's glasses are somewhere... we need three pair I guess..

what a view

Lilja was wearing the perfect gear!! Thanks Oma and Opa!! Aran says, there is no bad weather, just bad clothing...

The lone ranger

Playing peekaboo with Lilja and Barney

Boo!!!

and this is Barney!!!Yep, he is a stubborn little rascal.. I will be earning my money for sure!!



New Year day!! It snowed pretty much all new years day.. actually it dumped pretty good.. Who do you think were out there playing in the snow while it was still snowing.. yep, Aran and Lilja.. down the road they slid, playing in the snow and on the swing.. the goggles were so she could see as the snow was coming down pretty good.

This swing is the best thing EVER!!!!