Some videos

Stian made this cool snowboard at school and wanted to demonstrate for me how he could spin it on the floor at school.

Kris made up a lullaby when Stian was a baby that goes like this "Nie Nie Stian, time to go to sleep. Nie Nie Stian time to dream real sweet. Sleep now, Sleep now, Sleep now sleepy head. Don't you worry 'bout monsters 'neath your bed." He sang it quite a bit to Stian and now sings it to Silje too. She has started singing it to her "babies." You can hear her sing "Nie Nie Baby, do do do do deep."

I just thought these two were cute. Silje hasn't said her name at all until now. She still can't say an "S" at the beginning of a word, but at least she's saying something for her name now.

Some pictures

I was looking at my phone the other day and realized I had quite a few pictures on it that I hadn't put up on here. So here are a few that show what we've been up to lately.

Silje, the piano playing superhero cowgirl:

Stian is always asking to stay later at school to either play on the playground or do some activity (one day this week it was to draw the planets and their orbits with his aftercare teacher Miss Laura). So one Friday afternoon is was 70 degrees, so I decided it would be a perfect day to stay and play on the playground. We played for almost an hour and a half before we finally decided we ought to head home and get some dinner.

Yes, that's Silje climbing up the slide. Little daredevil! Don't worry, except for the second I stepped back to get the picture, I was right there to catch her if she fell. Though she did fall one time onto her belly and went sliding down, and she thought that was hysterical. I was more worried about her falling over the edge because she kept pausing and letting go with her hands and standing up.

Awwww..... cute!

Taking her baby for a stroll.

Kris and I often remark to each other "Why do we even buy him toys?" Stian is always wanting us to make stuff with or for him. Last week alone Kris and Stian made a very cool paperboard racing boat and hydroplane, plus this racing car and helmet for Claire. He loves these things. He and Kris start by sitting down and drawing up what Stian has in mind from multiple angles. It's pretty neat. Stian has so many ideas, but doesn't have the fine motor skills yet to do this stuff himself.

Silje modeling her apron she got from Grandma for Christmas. Also modeling the goofy smile she gives when I ask her to smile for the camera.

Stian and Kris made pizza for dinner last night. Stian helped a lot, and he was very proud of how it turned out. It *was* really good.

Silje taking another baby for a stroll. She got this stroller for Christmas and loves it! The only problem is that she walks away from home until she doesn't want to walk anymore, and then we end up having to carry both her and the stroller back home again. At least it's light weight!

Silje *loves* this game.

Winter Fun

For some reason we don't have any pictures of Silje going down the hill sledding. She went down quite a few time with me and quite a few times with Kris and even several times alone. She did great and loved it. We do have this video Kris took of her going down the hill with him.

Ice balloons

Our winter ice project this year was to fill water balloons with water and food coloring and then set them outside to freeze. Once they had frozen we removed the balloons. They turned out pretty cool, though I wonder if my mother's fingers are permanently stained from the food coloring...

Santa

Santa visited Silje and Stian's school. Both kids got to meet him and chat with him. I'm not sure if they took pictures of Stian with Santa as I haven't gotten those yet, but here are a couple of the ones they took of Silje.

Birthday

Kris had a big birthday while we were up north (*cough* 5 *cough* 0 *cough*).

Christmas - Part 2

We headed up north to Wisconsin on the morning of the 26th. Stian was feeling off in the morning and as we were driving north he said "I think I have to throw up." Which sent me scrambling. I found a little snack bowl we had in the car and handed it to him. He proceeded to fill the bowl (without making a mess - good job!) and handed it to me. So then I'm sitting there holding a bowl that is filled to the brim with puke while we are driving down the interstate and Kris is trying to find an exit. Such a mom moment. We got cleaned up and made it to the lake. Stian proceeded to feel pretty awful the rest of the day and threw up several more times. Poor kid. But by the next morning he was fine again. Thank goodness as it was Christmas #2! (he must not have felt 100% because he ate almost nothing for the next three days, but no more throwing up, and he acted like he felt fine, he just didn't want to eat)

Christmas - Part 1