Swedish Delight

About 6 years ago, before we had children, we took a trip to Sweden in February. Eric had been sent to Stockholm on a last minute business trip and Kristen was able to tag along and spend two weeks exploring the winter wonderland that is Stockholm in February. While Scandinavia is not a popular winter destination, we had a wonderful time romping around the snow covered city and ice skating on the many frozen lakes. We also discovered a little known, seasonal delicacy, the Semla. The sweet bun smeared with almond paste and topped with whipped cream is legendary in Sweden and only available in the days before lent. I've looked high and low for a local source of Semla. I've never seen any sign of them at IKEA, home to all things Swedish, and I don't know of any bakery that makes them. So when I was discussing this with our friend and neighbor Shilpa who grew up in Sweden a few weeks ago, she decided to try her hand at making Semla and invited us over for a fika to try them out. The Semla were absolutely delicious and the company was delightful. The kids and a wonderful time playing together on a delightful California day and best of all there was no romping through the snow required!

President's Day

Grammy and Pop-Pop came to visit with us for President's Day weekend. We had lots of fun showing them all of the new tricks Lillian and Nathaniel have learned since their last visit.  Nathaniel showed them how he can mostly sit up, and smile and jabber at people.  Lillian showed off her artistic skills by building and painting a birdhouse with Pop-Pop.  And of course the big event was the ice-skating, birthday extravaganza where Lillian got to show off her moves as well as the awesome skirt Grammy made her.  Thanks to Pop-Pop for taking these beautiful pictures of their visit.

The Month That Got Away . . .

When I sat down to write this I realized it's been a month since our last post. This month has really gotten away from us; too many obligations, too little time to relax and a little baby who demands constant attention. Now that the pictures are finally downloaded here are some highlights from the month that was.

Lillian took a sudden interest in sewing at school and started sewing up a storm. First she sewed a little heart, then a stuffed bunny, then a cat complete with button eyes and an embroidered mouth all within the course of a couple of weeks.

Nathaniel turned 3 months old and graduated to all sorts of big baby activities like sitting at on the table with us at mealtime and playing with his very own baby spoon. We also put up a baby swing in the back yard, so now he can swing all by himself. Nathaniel has also taken a real interest in the world around him and often insists on facing forward instead of snuggling in order to see what his sister is up to.

Kristen started back at the office one day a week and Eric started taking off one day a week to stay home with Nathaniel. So far everyone seem happy with the arrangement.

We celebrated Valentines day with a home made heart shaped chocolate, almond, cherry desert. It was decadent and delightful.

The Swinger

Nathaniel had his very first park swinging experience today. It was all Lillian's idea, and at first he seemed a little uncertain.  But after a few minutes he got comfortable holding himself up in the swing and he seemed to approve of the experience.

Nathaniel at 2 Months

The past few weeks have been a bit of a blur. It started on Friday the 13th, when Eric came home from work with a sprained ankle from basketball. The following weekend we attended a birthday party, where Eric was likely exposed to strep throat from the mob of 4-year-olds. This resulted in a week where he was sick in bed, unable to hold Nathaniel. Despite these difficulties we managed to snap some really cute pictures of Nathaniel in action. Meanwhile, in a random act of kindness, Lillian graciously gifted Nathaniel with one of her many stuffed ducks this week as well.

Lillian Sings to Nathaniel

Nathaniel is now big enough to sit in the Bumbo seat. That means that Lillian has a captive audience for her shows. 

Sisterly Love

Lillian loves snuggling with her baby brother, but sometimes all the sisterly love and affection is just too much for little Nathaniel to handle.

Here comes Peter cotton tail . . .

 . . . hopping down the bunny trial!

Happy New Year!

To celebrate New Year's Eve we decided to take a little day-trip to Santa Cruz to visit one of our favorite beaches at Wilder Ranch state park. The beach has a beautiful sea cave dubbed "The Fern Grotto" due to the lush ferns dripping from the cave roof. It's a bit of a hike out to the beach, but we all enjoyed getting some fresh air and exercise after indulging in too many goodies over the holidays. We brought along a picnic at Lillian's request and had a little family picnic on the beach. Nathaniel seemed to enjoy his time at the beach, he had some tummy time on the blanket and even managed to stay awake and happy almost the whole time we spent at the beach.

Fun with Grandpa Terry and Grandma Betty

Lillian's Grandma Betty and Grandpa Terry got to spend the week before Christmas visiting with all of us. Lillian had the week off of school and got to take her grandparents to visit a few of her favorite haunts like Happy Hallow Amusement park and Zoo and Hidden Villa Farm.  Here are a few scenes from their visit. Thanks Grandma Betty for taking so many wonderful pictures!

Gingerbread Princess Castle

After last year's gingerbread pirate ship, and the humble cottage produced the year before, we decided to create a more extravagant gingerbread creation. At Lillian's request we constructed a gingerbread fairytale princess castle. Eric was inspired to use ice-cream comes to make pointed towers with bubble gum pennants, gingerbread people inside and a green moat. Lillian helped add some decorative touches. The results are pretty impressive!

Christmas Show

Once again, we were treated to a display of extreme cuteness in the form of dancing and singing trees at the holiday show at Lillian's preschool.

An Early Christmas

This past weekend, for the first time since our wedding we had the pleasure of hosting both sets of grandparents. Grammy Elaine had been here helping us all out with the new baby for the prior five weeks. Pop-Pop Tom came out to visit at the end of Grammy's stay. A few days later we were joined by Grandma Betty and Grandpa Terry. Since we had a couple of days overlap with all the grandparents in town, we decided to do a Christmas celebration a few weeks early. We started the day with a visit to the Christmas village in San Jose and then had a nice dinner followed by a gift exchange. Lillian was the star of the show, unwrapping the abundant haul of new clothes, books and toys brought by the grandparents. Nathaniel enjoyed having four grandparents eager to snuggle with him, as he wanted nothing more for Christmas.

Saint Nicholas is coming to town

This past weekend our friend Britta had a party to celebrate Saint Nicholas day. The German tradition says that Saint Nicolas visits houses on December 6th with his list of good deeds that each child has done and delivers a small gift to children who have been good. Lillian was initially terrified of the man in the big red suit (her usual reaction to anyone in costume), but she got over her fear and patiently listened as he told her what a good big sister she was being to her new baby brother. Later she got to sit on his lap and tell him what she wanted for Christmas. She asked Santa for a beautiful baby doll. Santa might be able to make good on that, we're just glad she didn't ask him for a kitten like her friend Jessie did!

Ducky Games

Lillian has been wanting to play with her little brother and introduce him to her toys. Yesterday she set up some ducky's and other assorted toys in little circle for him to play with. Nathaniel, decked out in his little red garden gnome outfit, obliged by sitting on the couch amid the toys for a few minutes. He even opened his eyes to look at the toys a few times. The toys didn't seem to impress him much, but Lillian is exciting enough that he spat out his plug. Ah, good times!!!

Big Sister

Lillian has really taken to her new role as a big sister. Today during her preschool's Thanksgiving potluck she wanted to introduce everyone to her new baby brother and serve as bouncer to make sure that her brother didn't get too overwhelmed with attention. She is constantly giggling at all the silly, scrunched-up baby faces that he makes. She has also been enjoying holding him and we have made her holding Nathaniel a part of bedtime stories.