Wishing you all a very Happy New Year

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and well wishes for 2010.
I'm going to use one of my newly found photos in this post. It's a photo taken of Lynne and myself on some New Year's eve quite a few years back (almost 15). I thought it appropriate today. Many moons ago when we lived in the UK, together with all of Lynne's friends from University (Bath), we went on many occasions to Glasgow to meet and party with Steve and Fiona for new Year's Eve. Those days were a little different than they are now for all of those people....but all that's for another post.

The second photo is from an identical gathering, same people and place, just a different  year. Happy New year Everybody!

New Gim-Jams from Granny and Gran!

The girls received many many presents this Christmas (many thanks to all once again), but a big favorite with each of the girls was the pajamas that they each received from Granny Owens and Gran Taylor. It has been quite tricky this week simply deciding which to wear each evening…. Boy if life were only that easy ! They are shown below!

 

 

Old Photo #2 - Eilish and Elaine

This was another old photo I recently “found” in our big photo box when I sorted through it. It’s a picture of my dear sister Eilish (shown on the right) and my cousin Elaine. Not really sure when this was taken, about 15 years ago would be my guess (if anybody out there knows the exact occasion of this photo I’d be interested).

Anyhow, Eilish and Elaine, I’m thinking of each of you today. Happy New Year to you both!

Mimicking Mummy!

It’s Funny thing how nature works really. The other day as Lynne was feeding Connor, Isabel was desperate to be close to Lynne and feed her baby. Just like Anja was at her age when Isabel first arrived home, Isabel is currently obsessed with baby dolls. Add to this then the fact that we are spending a lot of time with Connor, Isabel is mimicking a lot of what we do.

This is a picture from the other day. she is feeding her baby whilst Lynne fed Connor beside her (but out of shot). I think I may literally get shot of I posted one of those online :)

I pulled up some old photos of Anja when Isabel was one month old. Just like her sister now,  she loved feeding her baby too. She has no interest now of course, she has moved on since then.

Connor's First Bath

Connor had his first bath the other day. We had to wait until his cord fell off before he could be plunged into the water. Thus far he‘s not a great lover of the bath, not really as snug as a the soft warm environment he’s used to I guess. As you can see, the girls are more than willing to help with Connor at every opportunity.

Tindra Update

We received a nice note with pictures from Eva-Lotta and Håkan this morning. Thanks Eva-Lotta, I’m sure Håkan was just getting round to it. Tindra is almost two years now, as usual the ‘where does time fly” seems very apt. It only seems like the other day that Håkan returned from his life in West Lafayette to resume his life in Sweden. Merry Christmas to each of you, Happy New Year, many thanks once again for all your presents and Happy Birthday to Tindra.

Christmas 2009

We have emerged from our Christmas celebrations. We spent a few nights visiting friends before spending a few days hunkered down at home. We visited Randy and Lorraine on the night before Christmas Eve to exchange gifts, Lisa and Brad’s house for some food and relaxation on Christmas Eve itself and then on Christmas Day we hosted the Webb’s for dinner and evening activities.

The following days were then resting up with late mornings, early nights, daytime naps, very regular feeding for Connor, DVDs, playing new games, lots of hot chocolate in front of our open fire, Daddy spent more time dressing Barbie’s than he has ever done in his life, lots of book reading, lots and lots of diapers too. Below are a few selected photos…

The crowd that gathered at Randy and Lorraine's house..

Exchanging gifts with Brooke....

The girls playing dress up on Christmas Eve....

Christmas Dinner 2009 with Kaisa and Kevin and Children...

Hot chocolate in front of an open fire whilst it snows outside...hmmm..

Merry Christmas Everyone

It's Christmas Eve here in the Midwest and I'm sure those of you in Europe are well into the celebrations and are preparing for Santa. Our girls here are almost delirious, they are hyper. This morning they pulled all of their clothes from there wardrobes and drawers….can you image how that went down.

We would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I hope Santa comes to all who have been good and that everybody has a very relaxing day. I look forward to speaking with many of you tomorrow.

Paul, Lynne, Anja, Isabel & Connor!

My First Cute Photo!

For the first time, Connor was behaving for the camera today and I shot this photo with our old camera and the new portrait lens! He's sitting on his Mummy’s lap, his tummy had just being topped up and has his Daddy's full attention…what’s not to like! I think it turned out pretty well.

Generally he’s a pretty good baby. He does need to feed a lot though. He has rarely gone more than two hours before letting everybody in the house (and neighborhood) know that it’s time for him to eat again. When his tummy is full he’s perfect!

A Major Trip Down memory Lane!

Yesterday’s post about the Cook Islands with Carina and Björn spurred me into doing a project that I"ve being meaning to do for a very very long time. Go through all our old photos and get them arranged for digital imaging! Wow…what a trip down memory lane. I must have looked at 6-7000 photos today (it did take me several hours). I have thrown most away but  have about 2000 ready for scanning (more on that later). This has given me a huge database of blogging material. I came across way too many photos of drunken nights and silly faces…

I came across an old family portrait which I scanned myself at home. This was taken when Mum and Dad celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary which would have been October 1995. What do you think?

Moreover, how have we fared since then? The photo below was taken the night prior to Clive and Tracey's wedding this year! We did get an official photo taken but I've not yet seen it yet!

What a Difference a Decade Makes......

I was combing through some old files this evening and came across the one below. It's a picture of Lynne, myself, Carina and Björn, two very very good and dear friends of ours from our time in Sweden.

That picture was taken on the Island of Aitutaki, one of the fifteen coral islands belonging to The Cook Islands dotted literally in the middle of the Pacific Ocean somewhere. If you know nothing about these islands you must look into them, they are a hidden treasure that in our earlier lives we were lucky enough to spend six weeks visiting! This picture was taken on Christmas Day. I know this since we are drinking  Glögg (seen in the picture). Set the scene...we are on this paradise island, the weather is something else, just in from scuba diving and a day at the beach and we are drinking a mulled wine from Sweden designed to celebrate the cold, long dark nights!

Roll the clock forward a few years, almost ten! Between the four of us we now have six kids, four girls and two boys! Chances are we're not likely to visit the Cook Islands anytime soon (I write this with a chuckle since right now I can't even imagine visiting the grocery store with all three kids).

Anyhow, we've had fun tonight reminiscing over the Cook Islands once I stumbled across this old photo. Then..., this is not a joke, we received a card from Carina and Björn with a picture of their family in 2009.

Carina and Björn: - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year....here's to another trip to the Cooks...someday!

Blink.....

Blink….the name of a good book but in our case, the time it takes for our girls to get into trouble if you take your eye off them! I mentioned that they did some coloring over the weekend; well more than they should have….I really don’t need to say anymore, the pictures capture it all. The bad part was that Lynne and I immediately burst out laughing when we saw them which was truly the wrong message since they now think this is a fun game that can and should be played whenever!!

Weekend Update

It was a rather quiet weekend really. It snowed lightly virtually the entire time so we stayed indoors for the most part. Videos were watched, diapers were changed, teh baby was fed, papers, magazines, and books were read, diapers and feeding occurred, arts and crafts were conducted, coloring, shopping…did I mention diapers and feeding…well just in case!

The girls did go over to Emma’s house on Saturday to build a gingerbread house and drink some hot chocolate. The girls had a ball as you can see, thanks a million Laura and Adrian!  Then to cap it off, we were treated to a very nice meal by Kaisa and Kevin so thanks to you too!

Merry Christmas ....a little light humor!

Brooke showed us this cool "Elf  Yourself " gizmo which she had done with herself and her boyfriend. We did it for the kids and they thought it was hilarious!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Santa at Bethy's House

Equally exciting last night at Bethy's house was the visit by Santa to the party. It was quite interesting to see each of the children’s reaction to sitting on his knee. Some cried, some were brazen but most were speechless and very shy!

We had a wonderful time, he was a great Santa, thanks for having us Bethy and for all the treats and fun activities!