baking and driveways...

zoe loves molasses cookies, though i am not sure if it is because she gets to roll the dough in sugar, and then sneak pinches of sugar when i am not looking.  my little sugar monster.  but eijla got in on the action today. they were a great little baking team.

 they were barely cool from the oven before the girls were devouring them.  good that our cookie jar has a lid, or i think eijla would have eaten them all!

 this evening i was working on the driveway, and so to keep eijla happily occupied i put her in her wagon with the itouch.  should i be worried that my one year old already has such a good grasp of touch pads?  she loves the thing, and goes absolutely crazy when she sees it and doesn't get to play with it.  think we have created a monster!

 the stones we ordered for the driveway have a "random" layout, which means it is a detailed layout that looks random.  i was trying to puzzle it all together,  you can see it is not going that well.  but i can say i am much happier to be laying stones than shoveling them!

garden snuggles...

today, farmor and farfar came up for a day of snuggles with the girls.  farmor and zoe read books out on the trampoline.

farfar had some relaxing time with the dogs.

and eijla tried to play catch with bonita.  that was entertaining!  i love snuggles days in the garden!

first breakfast in the greenhouse!

we enjoy our first cozy morning meal in the greenhouse today.  relaxing before the storm....

which of course was shoveling tons and tons, i believe the total to be 26 tons of stones for the under layer for our plattor in the driveway.  thomas and i are sore!  but we are ready for the stenmjöl now,  hopefully it is a bit easier to shovel!

and the girls were so sweet playing together in zoe's princess tent while we worked.  sometimes it amazes me that we produced such well behaved children.  not sure we deserve them, but love having them! 

the easter bunny comes to röke

the girls awoke this morning with a serious spring in their step.  they knew the easter bunny had come and brought lots of candy!  they ran around the house like crazy monkeys trying to find all the easter goodies.  it was so cute seeing the girls work together to find it all.

zoe was pretty excited.  she filled her bucket up with all kinds of jellybeans and chocolate eggs.  yum!

 

later there was some high flying princess action out in the greenhouse.  another great family day.  gotto love it.

bjärred besök

so spring is in the air, the greenhouse is built. it is time to head to a nursery!  and it just so happens that one of the best ones is down by farfar and farmor.  and thomas just happened to want to go for a test drive on some ducatis down in lödde.  so i packed the girls and dog into our car and thomas rode off on his bike.  the nursery was full of goodies, and zoe bought lots of flowers.  then we headed to otto pers gård where farmor keeps her sheep.  they just had lambs, and the girls loved them.  eijla and a little white lamb were trying to prove who had more attitude...

zoe was super proud that she is now big enough to hold the lambs.  good thing they were so friendly and not shy at all.  the girls did not want to leave them alone.



 
farmor had an utstallning that day, so we popped and and checked out all her beautiful pottery.  that farmor has got talent!
then farfar took a turn looking cool on the bike while thomas got ready to ride...


it was a great day.  flowers, plants, lambs, motorcycles, pottery, and grandparent snuggles, a little bit of something for everyone.

and the projects just get bigger and bigger...

yesterday was a busy day. not only did i finish building the greenhouse, but the digging guy came and helped us finally reclaim our yard again after installing the geothermal heating. he was amazingly fast and leveled the yard really nicely. i was also nice to have to shovel the last ten tons of dirt by hand!
and there we have it. a big even, though not level yard that is just waiting for some grass.
meanwhile inside the girls were super good while we were working. they just cuddled up and watched a movie together. too cute.
and then after fixing the yard. they dug up the side of the house for fixing the draining, and they dug up a big section of the driveway so we can lay stones. the projects just keeping piling up!
pappa managed to get a well earned snuggle session with the girls out in the greenhouse. but he does not get to rest for long! poor pappa!

come wind or wind this greenhouse is going up!

so i couldn't wait for the wind to die down, and checking the weather report just made me depressed a week of high winds. soooooo....

yep all you need is a mormor to hold up the sides while you build! though there were certainly a few times when we all had to run and hold it up together because of the wind! but hey we did it! after a few hours it was stable enough to leave overnight. if it had not started getting too dark to read all the connection numbers, i do not think i would have stopped!
thank you so very much thomas and mormor, and zoe too! i could not have done it without you guys!

så blir en small barnsföraldars fest!

tom turned, well, really old. so we all headed over their house to party with him and monica. lina and elin were also there. it was a crazy party. let's see, monica read books to the little ones...
thomas and the big girls snuggled up with tom's phone and went wild, as you can see...
and then monica read to the big girls...
then she read yet another story to the girls. hmmm, i am beginning to wonder if our ability to actually party has disappeared with diapers and princess dresses! i did not even have a single picture of the birthday boy. but happy birthday tom, thanks for sharing your calm, but enjoyable evening with us.
of course today i had to rest and recover from the big party last night. so eijla and i have laid in the hammock and tried to figure out the building instructions for my greenhouse, as it is just too windy to try and build it today.

time to start building my own little house!

if we build it (the frame). it will come (my greenhouse!). everybody pitched in. eijla was especially great at keeping an eye on everyone and making sure the job was done right.
"mom, do you really think you are holding that vertical, c'mon!"
after lars and eijla made sure everything was level. thomas and lars screwed in the frame. proud of thomas for staying calm even though we had to move and dig up and re-measure a hundred times!
" how tall is this going to be? what a two story greenhouse?!?! seriously guys!"
zoe even got in on the action and made sure that the supports were good enough for a balance beam. yeah! soon i will have a greenhouse again!

dirt, dirt and more dirt!

our first 10 tons of dirt arrived this morning. the weather is shaping up, so it is time to start reclaiming our yard after installing the geo thermal heating.
not sure what eijla loves more riding around in the wheelbarrow or ...

eating dirt!
zoe does her best to keep the dirt only on her shoes. such different personalities these girls have.
but they really are the best of friends and great sisters. love the cuddles.
and zoe was thrilled to get a little ride on pappa's motorcycle. she cannot wait until she is big enough to ride it with him on the road!
a dirty but enjoyable day in the garden. spring is here!

spring is flying by...

the weather is still cold, even been freezing almost every night. so thomas and the girls have been busy working inside the house. ripped off all the wallpaper and crap on the main kitchen wall and started prepping it for tiling.
we had a visit from anya and maya and their pappa tom. eijla and anya played, uh, lovely music on the piano.
the tiling is up, and eijla is enjoying her new little perch on the new windowsill with her friend violet.
meanwhile zoe and thomas are hard at work tiling the rest of the wall. going to be great to have a kitchen that is a bit more our style, not to mention, much easier to keep clean than the ugly weave wallpaper.
my favorite shot of the week was of zoe while watering the plants. though i am not sure how much actual water the plants got. bonita and zoe were soaked anyway.