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.