Friends from far away

Lydia and Lauren brought their mom to visit from Hawaii and be our first house guests.

We had a lovely time chatting and eating and hanging out. Now that the kids are a little older they remember each other from one visit to the next. And since we saw each other around Christmas it hasn't even been that long this time.

We're looking forward to our next meeting.

Red bed

Penny graduated to a bed and moved in with Nora and Helena.

She loves her "red bed" and only fell out once in the early days. She started by taking naps in it and then spending the night there. Soon Millie will get Penny's old crib in Henry's room.

Take Our Kids To Work Day

Nora got to go in to work with Mark this year. She got to see Mark's office and they visited with a coworker that goes to our church. There are quite a few tours and activities for the kids. She saw a demonstration where they made ice cream with liquid nitrogen and everyone got to taste some. They also went to a robot demonstration and one on cameras.

 She stayed and had lunch with him then we picked her up and brought her home.

She had a great time.

Art on the walls

I took down all the pictures at the old house once it was sold and we didn't have to stage it anymore so I've been living with blank walls for a while now. Anja was here for the weekend and helped me hang up a lot of pictures. We have so much fun doing things like this together. The only thing missing was Liisa. We started by carrying all of these across the street.

The first day we hung 55 things and the second we put up 32 more.

 It's starting to look a little more like home.

Yardwork with Dad

There is a lot to do at our new house, both inside and outside.

Penny helped Mark weed one of the front flower beds.

Sweet baby

Millie will sometimes lean her head to one side and smile.

We call it "being charming."

A haircut for Nora

Nora wanted a haircut and her hair was long enough to donate to a good cause.

We made two pony-tails and cut them off and then sent her to a salon with Mimmu who also wanted a haircut.

She came back looking ready for summer and much older.

Local wildlife

I like the kind of nature study that can be done without any special effort on my part. This sociable squirrel was watching us have lunch.

We've seen him at Iso's house before (around here he's known as Iso's squirrel). He doesn't have a tail but it doesn't seem to hamper his movements at all.

Henry's birthday party

Henry invited a few of his friends over to play and have dinner. They helped him get his new K'nex roller coaster started.

Everyone made their own pizza for dinner.

Henry used his new mustache straws from Anja for the root beer floats. They were the source of much hilarity.

Turning seven was thoroughly celebrated.

Henry's birthday part two and three

On his Birthday Eve Henry got some presents from Mark. You can see the Donald Duck piggy bank that used to be Mark's. Henry also got his dad's robot drawing set.

Mark left early the next morning but we had Mimmu and Iso over for taco salad and root beer floats and they gave Henry his first sets of K'nex.

Henry's birthday

Mark had a business trip on Henry's birthday this year, so we celebrated with some early cake while Anja was also in town. Moving didn't leave a lot of time for baking, so Iso bought a Costco cake.

Some presents from Anja rounded out the party.

It takes time to baby-proof a house

Millie took advantage of the confusion on moving day to play with some things she wouldn't normally have access to.

She loves power tools.

Moving Day

We had friends come and help us move all the furniture and many boxes on Saturday. Anja helped me bring over loads of clothes and dishes and miscellany on Friday in the van.

The kids got to watch the action from across the street.

Anja met the movers at the front door and directed traffic.

Lunch break.

The office was piled with boxes and will stay that way for some time.

 The house was in pretty impressive shape that afternoon thanks to all the help we had.

Packing

While the new house is getting painted our old house is being packed up.

All the art has been taken down and there are piles of boxes in most rooms.

And there is still so much that has to be done!