mysdag in the garden...

yesterday we took a couple of hours off of our normally stress, try and get something done schedule and just enjoyed the girls and the garden..
now that eijla has started with tasting real food, she is enjoying the mess it involves, a little bit of porridge goes a long way on that little face.
thomas mentioned that he was thinking about "klipping" the grass, so zoe thought she would get a head start. cannot imagine how long it would take to do the whole lawn with her little scissors.
but it did not last long until she went from "klipping" mode to monkey climbing mode.
there was plenty of snuggles and laughter...


all in all, a really snuggly, fun day in the garden. nice to take some hours and just forget about reality, stress, and all that.

midsommars day part 2

after the "beach", the österströms headed home and we headed south. the puppies will be going to their own homes this next week, so this was our last chance to see them all. we can always use a little extra puppy snuggles! the girls were pretty excited to see farfar and farmor as well.
zoe gave farfar some tips on how to scrub new potatoes. i think he took her advice to heart.


what's that? a bird, a plane? why no, it is a zoe monster. pappa threw her around like a ball, and she loved every minute of it.
luckily pappa only pretended throw around eijla, and she thought that was just fine.


when it was time for the puppies to eat. eijla thought she could join in the fun. a couple of them had to sniff her out, but it seemed like she was excepted, until...
she started splashing in their food, then they were not so into it.
but eijla had a blast, she even thought the clean up was fun.

our last puppy snuggles! boo hoo. luckily farmor and farfar will be keeping one, little ellie. so the snuggles will not be totally over. thanks for one last visit with your amazing puppies bonita!

midsommars day

zoe and maya had a sleepover again in their little tent. the next morning they were ready to play again. before breakfast they were out in the hammock hamming it up.
before the österströms headed home for some peace and quiet, we drove out to humlasjön. the bridge had been put out so the girls risked their lives by running on it, despite us parent types, repeatedly demanding they only walk. ah, kids, they are invincible. it was pretty cold but thomas and the girls waded in, but because of the wind, there were small waves, so it was hard to see if there were any tadpoles this time.
even eijla enjoyed a little stroll on the beach...
after the strenuous walk on the beach, eijla was ready for some food. though this time the spoon ended up being a bit more interesting than the actually food.

middsommars afton

summer is here, and so is midsommars. first on the agenda, picking some flowers. zoe is well trained and picks some beauties...

even pappa gets into the flower feeling.

next on the agenda: good friends, check. good food, check. drinks, check. wonderful summer weather, double check.

then it was time for eijla's very first taste of solid food. what better to start with than a middsommars new potato.
it went well, but seems like the spoon was not the funnest thing in the world. went much better with a "finger spoon". congratulations eijla! welcome to the world of real food, well, kinda.
after a yummy meal, it was time for the pappas to rest and all of us girls when down to the playground in the village. it was great for the girls to burn off some energy, so that we would be able to keep up with them later.
then it was back to the house to dress the middommars pole! which apparently can be a clothes line pole as well! it maybe was not the prettiest of middsommars stång, but it was made with love!

even eijla and monica had turns trying on the daisy chain crowns...
glad midsommars, and thanks to the österströms for sharing it with us!

it's hammock time...

i finally got the rope out and the girls helped me put up the hammock today. oh, it is nice to have a hammock again. and lucky us, the röke house came with the perfect place to put it. between two trees with just enough shade. the girls had to try it out. i think they approved.

turned into a little bit of a photo shoot. zoe thought it was hilarious that eijla wanted to stand up. "she can't stand up! she is only a little baby!" she kept saying in her funny zoe voice.

we caught this cool looking little bug that zoe really wanted to have her picture taken with.

looking forward to chillin in the hammock with pappa!

missing pappa

thomas has been working the last few days up in vaxjö, so we have been missing him. but the girls are always glad to hear his voice on the phone. eijla was complaining, but then i put the phone up to her ear and she responded with this little half smile. so cute.
cannot wait till you're home again pappa.

4 months old today

our baby is growing so fast. congratulations eijla! we love you to bits.

the girls take on halmstad

my dear husband, who got me this wonderfully amazing car that nearly drives itself, while entertaining the kids, found some nice summer tires for it up in halmstad. seemed like a great reason for a little girlie trip. so zoe, maya, anya, eijla, monica, and i all piled it and headed north. the tires were quickly and easily aquired and placed, then it was off to the pippi playground for us. eijla was pretty boring and slept nearly the entire time, but anya was in a great mood and flirted the camera and her momma!
smoooch!
zoe and maya had a great time running around, climbing on everything...
they really got going on this big swing, hanging upside down and all, but they were just moving too fast for me to get a pic of them in action, so there's just one of them slowing down.
home again home again, here we have "toothless"(yes, zoe loves how to tame your dragon) chillin' out with her new tires at home.

check out that cutie in the mirror!

eijla is getting so stable now, she sat up in this chair all by herself for about 5 minutes. yeah eijla!

zoe conducts another fotoshoot

i am under the impression that she is not blinking but actually closed her eyes on purpose in this shot because i said in the shot before that i thought i had blinked. kids are crazy mimics, be careful what you do around them, they copy EVERYTHING: scary.

another day of work out in röke

nothing like starting the day off with a happy baby! eijla is loving her high chair. i think she hopes that it will soon involve proper food. but after breakfast it was time to work.
zoe gave pappa some pointers on how to spray paint the garage, especially since he had to do everything higher than 106 cm!
but that did not keep her from working hard on the floor of the porch. she is a painting queen.
and what did farfar do? good question. no really, after a hard day of work, he got to squeeze in some eijla snuggles. the house is now officially a bit more green!