Name Bugs

This afternoon, Timothy left to play soccer with some people from church. The skies had turned cloudy and gray, and the kids were restless when I sat down to read to them. I thought something needed to be done. So, I got out some paper and crayons, and we set out to make name bugs.

I had never done these with the kids (although I don't know why K and I had never done them). For those who don't know what I am talking about, you take a piece of paper, fold it in half lengthwise, and then write the person's name along the fold. Then, you cut around the letters. When you open up the paper, you have a shape unique to the name. I showed them a "Mommy" bug, and then Kristen wrote out her name and colored it. I wrote AJ's name for him, and they insisted that we needed a "Daddy" bug, too. So, I did one for him. I took a picture of the results. AJ was still coloring his, but the picture shows the Mommy, Daddy, and Kristen bugs (from left to right). Kristen had accidentally written her name along the outside of the paper instead of the crease, so hers looks a little different than it would otherwise.

This kept them entertained for a (short) while, and they seemed to enjoy themselves. Now to think of something else for next time....

Easter Blessings

This is the first year we really had a chance to celebrate Easter as a family in Sweden. Last year, Timo took the kids to a service on Friday while I stayed home, sick. Then, we all stayed home Easter Sunday as no one was feeling well that day.

This year, I began preparing the kids for Easter by doing the "Resurrection Eggs" that are available through Family Life (I think). This way, they were very familiar with the Easter story before the actual day. We had also planned on having some Swedish friends over to dye eggs during the week before Easter (something new to them) and then have an Easter egg hunt afterwards. However, both kids came down with fevers, and K's tonsils were like little marbles hanging in the back of her throat. My thoughts were, "Here we go, again." Thankfully, both kids recovered by Easter morning.

We did dye the eggs during the week, as kids don't always care whether or not they are sick when they want to do something. They had a blast looking around the house for the eggs, and we even had a second hunt a couple of days later. We also made "Easter cookies," which were just sugar cookies in various Easter shapes. We had a couple of crosses, a crown of thorns, dice, two angels, a spear, and several round ones that were supposed to be eggs.

We ate our Easter dinner Saturday night, as I figured this would be easier than doing it Sunday night. It turned out perfectly. It seems that Swedes don't really celebrate Easter as much as we do in the US. I think Friday is more of a celebration than Sunday. We went to church, and Timo was invited to play soccer that evening. He has been waiting for this all year, so I, of course, said he could go. Then, one guy's wife invited the kids and me over while the guys were playing. It was a beautiful day, and we just relaxed and talked outside while the kids played. We also had Fika, which is always nice. Then we went on a leisurely stroll around some paths behind their house. When we got back from our walk, the guys had returned, and we ended up talking until almost 8pm, when we excused ourselves since we not only had to get the kids to bed, but we still needed to feed them. It is a good thing we had not planned on eating our Easter meal that night!

Overall, it was a wonderful day with many blessings for us all.

Midwives and Riverwalks

Today I had a midwife appointment, and Kristen wanted to come with me. In case you didn't know, she wants to be a "baby doctor," so she is always interested in what the midwife does during my appointments. AJ was dropped off with Daddy, and it was just the girls left.



Everything was normal with the baby and with me, and I learned that they don't routinely test for GBS in pregnant women here. Just another difference, between the US and Swedish medical care, I guess. They also don't give Rhogam shots at 28 weeks or perform the glucose test at 30 weeks.



Anyway, after the appointment, I tried to text Timo to see if he wanted me to pick up AJ right away. Since he did not respond, I asked Kristen if she wanted to walk along the river with me. It was a beautiful sunny day (though a bit windy), and it was great to be outside. Along the way, I saw the first flowers growing outside that I have seen this year. Little purple crocuses dotted the riverwalk, and it was refreshing to see a sign of life where all has been dingy yellow and brown. Since I had the camera with me, I thought I would take a couple of pictures of Kristen on this beautiful day.

Here is my beautiful girl with the flowers.

Kristen is standing in front of the river that goes through downtown.

A Long Journey

Back to the US

In November, we ventured away from the cold and darkness of Sweden to visit some friends in Arkansas. We were able to visit our old church as well as host a birthday party for Kristen with her old friends. Then we headed down south toward Louisiana for Timo's sister's wedding (Anne-Marie). On the way, we stopped at the Crater of Diamonds State Park to look for diamonds. We found quartz, jasmine, volcanic rock, and .... no diamonds.

The kids had fun at the wedding. Kristen was a flower girl, and Timo was a groomsman. AJ and I participated in the audience. Both kids enjoyed dancing at the reception and eating cake.

The day after Anne-Marie's wedding, our family parted ways as Timo headed back to Sweden to work until Christmas and I took the kids even further south to Costa Rica.

Costa Rica

Even though the weather in CR was a bit rainier and cooler than I wanted, it was still a great time to be away from Sweden. Poor Timo had to deal with the days getting shorter and shorter while I basked in the tropics.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family that is in CR as well as some dear friends, Dick and Sheila Dudney. It was nice to be with family during this holiday, but I still missed Timo.

While in Costa Rica, I took advantage of the diverse plant-life around my parents' place and taught Kristen (and learned quite a bit myself) how to identify many different plants. In addition to the banana trees, coffee plants, and heliconias, she learned how to identify red and pink ginger, the golden shrimp plants, Brazilian red cloak, flame vine, angel's trumpet, Madagascar almond trees, bougainvillea, and more. We went on almost daily walks through the gardens, and it was nice to get outside without having to bundle everyone up.

We also went out to visit Judith and Ale in their jungle abode in Paso Marcos. Their friends, the Joneses, gave us a ride out there, and we arrived after a very bumpy and windy drive. I am not sure this would have bothered me if I had not been pregnant, but I was grateful for the fresh air blowing in my face during the windy portions. After a certain point, there is one road in, and one road out. It had washed out earlier in our visit to Costa Rica, and I was hoping and praying that it would not wash out again while we were in the jungle. It didn't. We all enjoyed being in the jungle, and Kristen, my picky eater, willingly tried all the new jungle food and LIKED it. Judith and I decided that Kristen could be a jungle girl because she didn't mind the mud, and she liked the food.

This was the kids' bed at Paso Marcos.

Kristen and AJ by a creek in Paso Marcos

While in CR, Kristen also took advantage of having a grandma who willingly taught her Christmas carols. She knew some, but she learned many more while at Grandpa and Grandma's house. She and my mom would also read stories together, sing other songs, and just talk. Kristen told me she and Grandma were "pals."

Meanwhile, I dealt with daily "morning" (all-day) sickness. I did manage to bake with the kids a few times and cook for my parents as well. AJ didn't handle being away from Daddy very well, and he wanted to stay by my side almost constantly. Auntie Judith and Uncle Alekcey were the exception. Auntie Judith has a way with kiddos, and both AJ and Kristen had a blast with her when she was around. At the end, AJ did warm up to my parents a little more, though.

Colorado


We left Costa Rica a few days before Christmas to meet Timo in Colorado for Christmas with his side of the family. Kristen and I went to The Nutcracker with Timo's mom and some of his sisters. Kristen enjoyed it, but she was really tired and fell asleep right before the "Dance of the Suger Plum Fairy."


Timo's sister, Sarah, and I had the kids put on a short "pageant" Christmas Eve. AJ was a wise man, and Kristen was an angel.







Almost all of his sisters were home for Christmas with their families, and Kristen and AJ had fun playing with their cousins. Kristen went skiing for the first time, and both kids loved sledding.




Back Home

At the beginning of January, we headed home to Sweden again. It was good to be home after being gone for about seven weeks. It really made it a lot easier to be so far away from friends and family. I just wanted to be home, and home is in Sweden for the time being.