First time on skis

Yesterday, Einar went skiing for the first time.  Einar and Dad had a day out by themselves, and went up to Mt. Baker for some down hill time.  There was a lot of falling down, but at the end of the day, when asked, "Is it better than Disneyland?"  Einar said, "Yes!"

 

Snowy weekend weather

It was the first snow of the season in Bellingham.  Einar, Soren, Jared and Karla had a great time.  There was also a lot of energy expended by the end of day on both Saturday and Sunday.

Halloween Costumes!

Karla did a great job on costumes this year.  Soren was a fire truck.  Einar was a whale shark, so don't worry about being eaten.

A year ago this Monday...

We moved into our house almost a year ago!  However, if you want to see some of this last year's highlights just check out the other posts.  We have enough photos to catch up on from the last three months.

Soren at the playground at Boxberry Farms.














Einar showing off his carrot picking skills at Boxberry farms.

The Einar Express zooms down the sidewalk!













Sammy and Einar at Alki Beach.

The giant's pizza oven across the street.  (Just kidding.  It's actually a lime kiln on San Juan Island that Jared visited while on a school field trip.)

We don't know what they were planning.  We're not sure we want to know what they were planning.

Eating ice cream when you're two.  That's the way you do it.

Rainbow at sunset.  We had to go across the street and then face east to take the picture.













Over the past few months Einar finished Preschool and is now getting ready for Kindergarten.  He has been getting ready for this by doing a lot of playing and drawing.  He has also been doing some reading.

The good news with Soren is that he is starting to string two words together.  The bad news is that most of the time he is saying, "no way," and, "knock, knock."

Einar Ditches His Training Wheels While I'm at Work Tonight

In the half an hour after I left the house to go to work tonight, Einar rode his bike for the first time without training wheels!  When I left it looked like the evening was going downhill fast with lots of crying, failed attempts to go to the park, and 5 year olds making bad choices.  Jared creatively turned it all around with an impromptu "let's try this" activity and soon Einar was riding his bike down the sidewalk with the neighborhood kids cheering him on.  Thankfully, our neighbor Chris was able to get these pictures for us.

Needless to say, when I left it felt like work was the best place I could have been going tonight, but it turns out that all sorts of great things were taking place while I was gone.  

Can you select the nap skipper in this picture?

If you selected Soren, you are correct!  This was the dinner scene at our house, but it wasn't the food, because everybody else cleaned their plate, so it's all Soren.

(Karla is writing in Blue.  Thanks Jared for updating the blog tonight after capturing such a great picture of Soren asleep at the table!)  Well, I just got home from work and found out that this nap skipper and his brother were awake until 10 tonight and eventually had to be separated because they kept each other awake.  I guess a little power nap at the dinner table only fueled the fire.  


Unfortunately, it seems as if Soren won't be taking that afternoon nap nearly as long as Einar did.  I shouldn't be too surprised though since Einar still sleeps in until 10am (like he did this morning) and Soren is ready to go most mornings at 7am sharp.  Completely different kids.

Over the past couple of days there has also been a ferry ride to Lummi Island, running through the sprinklers, and other fun activities.

Ferry rides can start off as a bus ride.  On Tuesday we rode the number 50 bus as far as it would take us to Gooseberry Point.  Then we hopped on the little ferry that would take us to Lummi Island.

At the ferry terminal

Soren hanging out at the beach.

Einar playing in the sand.

Wet after a little sprinkler action across the street.

R.J, Gabe, and Einar doing some gardening work.  I paid these gardeners with fresh peanut butter cookies.  I think perhaps they got the best end of this deal since I still will have to go out there and finish up the job =).  At least I got to eat some of the cookies too!

Einar and Soren helping Jared with his homework.  Jared actually had  a physics homework assignment where he had to figure out stuff based on a 35lb kid and a 50lb kid swinging.  That is exactly what the boys weigh right now so he took them to the park and took pictures of them swinging and include the pictures in his project.  I hope he gets extra credit for including accurate models!

Vancouver, Birthday and Easter

The family went up to the Vancouver Aquarium and had a fun morning.  There was plenty to see and all of the viewing areas were great for small people, like Soren, and everybody else, too.  Afterwards, it was off to Ikea for lunch and some shopping, then a return to Bellingham.

Soren turned 2 this last Tuesday!  Below is him receiving the royal treatment for the morning.

He is also happy to display his new Tonka Fire Engine, which big brother Einar was happy to help unwrap.

Soren had his 2 year doctor's check-up on Friday and he is measuring in at 3 feet tall!  Good thing Einar still has a whole foot on him.  For now.

Today is Easter Sunday, and in celebration, the guys went to church nicely coordinated, but not exactly matching.

Winter in Bellingham Not So Bad Thanks to This Year's El Nino

Well, it's been four months since my last posting and I apologize to all my neglected blog readers for my absence.  Much has happened in that time with major holidays, me going back to work, Jared finishing up his first quarter, and just continuing to explore our new surroundings.

Yes, I did go back to work before Thanksgiving.  I'm a barista at the Sehome Village drive-thru Starbucks working about 25 hours per week.  My availability is based on Jared's school schedule so that he can watch the boys while I'm at work.  Going back to Starbucks was a great choice for me so far.  I'm working in a busy store for a manager that I knew when I was in Fremont, we get a pound of coffee a week and a great discount go take everyone out for coffee on our walks and errands too.  I also get to see other people besides this crew here at home and Jared has been doing an awesome job juggling childcare and his studies.  Did I mention that I started my job about 2 weeks before his finals and he still managed to get 3 A's and a B?

We had a quiet Thanksgiving here with just the 4 of us since my family was scared away at the last moment by our never-ending plague.  The boys and I had finally recovered, but Jared was fighting off a scratchy throat.  Tor and Jess had good reason to stay away and be healthy because Jess is pregnant with twins now!

December was quite nice with Jared off from school for most of the month and doing lots of the cooking and laundry.  Good break for Karla.

Let's see......Einar turned 5 in February!  He is growing most nights while he is asleep he says.  We've seen it in his height as we measure him whenever we visit Grandma and Grandpa and I'm also convinced that he is growing more wrinkles in that brain of his as measured by his ever more sophisticated word choices and his improving penmanship and reading capabilities.

Soren turns two at the end of the month and is a big fan of the word "No" of course.  He also likes to flash his big smile and let everyone know that "it's all about ME!"

Now for some pictures......