I think I can...I think I can...I think I can...

I think I can FINALLY find some time to post some new news and pictures. Since the last post, which occurred after Halloween, we have experienced many new things. First, we moved into our new house, second Mikko got his two new teeth, and I guess that's all, but it's a lot. We are happy to be in our new home and neighborhood, which I love and it's great that Karl volunteers to "walk the dog" which I have now learned is code for "I am going to find someone's garage and have a beer."

We are also enjoying preparing for Christmas. I took the boys to the parade in Ely on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Leif met with Santa after, but Mikko crashed. Leif is looking forward to seeing Santa again, so Mikko can get his picture taken with him too. Leif doesn't want to miss an opportunity to remind Santa what he wants for Christmas. (HINT: Only everything!). And, not to forget to mention that we all enjoyed a nice, hot sauna after our evening in the cold. Mikko may even graduate soon from dish tub to sauna bucket.

My Little Masked Men

Leif LOVED Halloween. He enjoyed carving pumkpins, kind of enjoyed scooping out the guts, and mostly enjoyed the candy, candy and more candy. Which begs the question: how much candy does a four year old need? The answer is 20lbs, give or take. (Note, I didn't actually weigh it, that's just what I am guessing on my mommy scale.) Leif trick or treated in a storm trooper costume complete with his storm trooper gun. I am sure the storm trooper has a name, but I cannot remember. Mikko got squeezed into a dinosaur costume. It said it fit 6-18 month olds, but my super-sized baby barely squeezed into it. And, the legs were too short and the arms were to long. Also, my scheduled baby knew that at 6:30 he should be getting ready for bed, and "sang" himself to sleep in his carseat - allowing Leif to hit a few more houses before calling it a night.

Mikko, Leif and I waited for Karl to get home for a quick dinner before going out. Leif and I also put on our Halloween tattoos. Please note the candy corn tattoos on his cheek and finger.

Leif finished the night trick or treating at his house, where my parents treated him to some Halloween goodies. We ended the night with a good laugh when he put on the ears and glasses that Grandpa and Grandma had brought.

Halloween with kids is SO much fun.

Baby Genius

Mikko, like his brother, is already talking. Now, if I only knew what he was telling me. I am posting a new video of Mikko and one of Leif at about 5 months. They make me laugh.

My Little Pumpkins

I think the two biggest holidays, at least for a 4 year old, must be Christmas and Halloween. There has been so much excitement around our house ever since last Thursday and the arrival of a certain storm trooper costume. Leif thinks this costume is especially great since it comes with a gun. So as not to spoil any spooky surprises, I won't post any pictures of the masked one until after Halloween. I will post one picture of Leif and his pumpkin masterpiece that he carved with Grandpa on Saturday. Carving occurred after my Aunt and Uncle dropped off a 4 pound bag of candy for Leif. You might think I am exaggerating, but I really don't think I am. My darling son has also discovered that at Grandma and Grandpa's house (we were at my parent's on Saturday) Mom's powers are suspended and if he wants to have suckers and sugary creepy crawlers and all the chocolate milk one boy can have - then who is mom to say no. (Of note, guess where Leif stayed on Saturday night??? HINT: not at home :)

And Mikko, my little Finlander, had his first sauna. I am not sure what all the "experts" say about bringing a 6 month old into a sauna, but because a sauna is good for the soul and good for little colds I thought he and his congested little chest could benefit. He loved splashing around in his little dishpan sauna tub, and I loved watching him. Since I was the only one there, however, I could not take any pictures of my little sauna buddy. I did attempt to take one after sauna, but he is quite roly poly these days and did not want to stay still for me. I did my best, though, and have posted those as well.

My final picture is of a nearly completed house. We have had great guys working very hard to get our house completed. We are surprised everyday with new things. Soon we will be into the new house and busy unpacking boxes. We are looking forward to it.

More Pics

Here is the best family photo of the weekend. Mikko would not look anywhere but at Leif. And, the nature picture is Caribou Falls.

Wow!

One night and two posts....I cannot believe myself! We have had a lot of good things happening lately. Not only is our house coming together, but we were able to take a weekend trip "up the Shore" to enjoy some family time and leaf look. Leif is quite a little hiker. He loves being the leader and did a great job leading us on the trails. He can also cover quite a distance. We did one hike that was nearly two miles and he hiked happily along. He also enjoyed taking breaks to throw rocks into the water. Until, however, we read a sign on a downed tree stating: NO THROWING ROCKS INTO THE GORGE. Being the generally rule abiding son of prosecutors...he thought maybe the police would throw him in jail for breaking the rules. When we assured him that would never happen, he thought it was because he was cute and because daddy knew the police. I do not know if that bodes well for his teenage years. Anyway, I have to agree that he and Mikko are pretty cute. Enjoy the pictures!

One...Two...Three...House...

I think it looks easier than it probably was (I wasn't there), but it was pretty neat to have a vacant lot one day and then a completely assembled house the next. Our house arrived last Tuesday on 4 semi-trucks. They sat on Tuesday, due to rain, and were assembled on Wednesday. The whole process only took a few hours. Pretty Amazing! Now that all of the giant blocks are stacked, work has begun on the garage, then the front porch, as well as all of the details within. I keep wondering how they will get everything done within the time frame. I always think this as I look around our house and wonder how I will get this mess put together and moved on out. I cannot believe how much "stuff" we have brought into this house, when we have only lived here for four years. I do think that most of our stuff consists of toys, which cannot under any circumstances be parted with. I keep bribing Leif to sell some things in a garage sale, but he is not easily persuaded.

Do I look like a preschooler?

This is the question that Leif asked on his way out the door to his first day of preschool. He is showing off his lunch box. He was SO excited to be going to school on his own. And, he commented that after this school he will be in kindergarden. I said yes, but asked him what I would do all day without him. He responded, "I guess you can do whatever you want." I guess that's true. And, while I'll be home with Mikko, I will miss my special time with my special little guy. I am having fun, though, watching him get so excited about going out into the world without me.

Fall Hike

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Java Bean Who?

As more and more of my friends become "bloggers" I am interested in how they came up with the titles for their blogs. Then, I started to wonder if anyone wondered why my blog is so entitled. My blog is named after our beloved black lab Java, who will be 6 years old this month. He was our first baby - actually our guinea pit (aka experiment). We thought if we could survive with our dog, and if he could survive us and things went well then we could graduate to becoming parents of a real baby. So, our dog's official name is Java Bean Bob - named in honor of my love for coffee. Java listens (sometimes) but displays that great labrador personality and has been awesome with Leif. So, here is a picture of a thirsty dog on our hike on the Laurentian Divide.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

What's up, Blog?

Here I am after not blogging for almost two weeks...has it really been that long? Well, I am just sitting at the computer on a cool fall evening in northern Minnesota. I am enjoying a nice piece of homemade apple pie (that my mom sent for my husband...oops) and have just put the two kiddies to bed. As my Leif was falling asleep, I was washing dishes and listening to Peter Mulvey http://www.petermulvey.com/ (my current favorite artist). There is at least one song Leif likes, and after prolonging bedtime by yelling out a few "I love you"s he then yelled out again. So, I went down the hall expecting to get yet another "I love you" when he asked if I would turn up the music. Can I be too proud that my son actually enjoys some good music, and I do not have to play Wiggles, DoodleBops, etc. I suppose I can give some credit to Karl who has been heavily influencing Leif to like not only Bruce Springsteen, but Tom Petty and Mudcrutch as well.
Speaking of musical children, check out the video showing another off these talented kids (and by kids, I mean Karl and Leif), though I have no doubt Mikko will be musical too.

Why My Husband Plays Guitar

...and doesn't dance.

These are the days

These are the days made to enjoy. Those last few end of the summer days...even though we don't have school age kids, we know as soon as school starts the days will be shorter as fall passes by and winter approaches. So many exciting things going on, too. For one, Leif and I planted pumpkins this summer and of the whole packet of seeds, we got three plants. Of those three plants, we got a plethura of blooms and one pumpkin of promise. We're hoping he makes it to October so we can carve him up. If we get two I might even try to do a real homemade pumpkin pie. We'll see. Our other big event is the house, which we also hope will be ready in October. We walk down every night to see the progress. Tonight, we have forms and the concrete has been poured for the walls.

Another big event of the day - Leif rode his bike on our walk. He has been a bit reluctant to try to ride his bike, since on his other bike he could back pedal and this one has breaks. He only took one spill, and after repeating "I think I can, I think I can" (just like the train, as he pointed out) he got the hang of it and actually enjoyed his ride. I still think it's funny that I have ridden a bike since I was about his age, and I only would wear a helmet now so that he will. He, on the other hand, is requested to wear a helmet on his tricycle.

I am also posting a video that Karl took of Leif on our walk last night. His repsonses are kind of hard to hear, but Leif started by asking us why we fell in love, and then turned to him talking about not wanting to get married because "it's too hard" and he doesn't want to kiss anybody. We, or course, couldn't stop laughing and look forward to playing this at his wedding.

The Great Adventures of Leif and Mikko

What would summer be without running through the sprinkler? Leif and I enjoyed an afternoon outside while Mikko napped. I had the sprinkler out to water our garden and lawn, which were pretty thirsty after days and days of sunshine and heat. Leif stripped down to his TMNT (teenage mutant ninja turtle - for any moms of princesses out there) undies and went running. He had fun playing and I had fun taking pics. I didn't get to play photo-mom for too long since he wanted me to play trucks with him.

My little friend Mikko has also been having fun finding his thumb. I did my best to try to interest him in a pacifier, and bought every kind I could find at Target, but he is making his own decisions now (at 4 months), so who am I to interfere. Although I think it's kind of cute now, I know I will be begging other moms for advice in a year or two.

New House

So soon, so very very soon this hole before us will be our basement with a nice, shiney new house sitting on top. Back in May or June...who can remember with a new baby in the house, we decided that it would be a great time to build. I don't know if we really thought that we would go through with it, but one of us never stopped the other, so now we are right in the middle of a building adventure. Actually, we are doing a modular home, so we really can't complain. And, our contractor has become our new BFF as he has spent so much time (many, many, many) hours with us over the summer.

If all continues to go well, we should be in by the end of October. We are looking forward to the move since the new neighborhood has a ton of kids Leif and Mikko's ages, but also since we will have so much more room...and I will finally have my own bathroom.

Here are some pictures of our "hole." We have been our walking to check out the progress. Our new house will be about 6 blocks from the old one. Fun!

Happy Fourth Birthday. At the end of July Leif celebrated his FOURTH birthday. While he is enjoying playing with the many presents he received, I am still trying to get over the fact that I have a four year old son!!! I suppose, though, I will say that every year. He is a typical boy, though. He loves being outside, fishing, chasing frogs, bugs and candy. I love that he is developing his own personality and I am really enjoying spending my time answering the many questions he comes up with. I am also learning that if I really listen to him, he can sure teach me quite a bit.

A brief clip of Mikko. He is discovering his voice and repsonding to people. Having these "conversations" with him is a blast!

Boys of Summer

Here we are already into July. Leif is looking forward to his FOURTH birthday at the end of the month. And, Mikko, the little brother, is always looking forward to his next meal! The boys keep us busy, but they are fun. Mikko is getting quite smiley and is talking more and more. Leif, the brilliant kid that he is, is always creating new stories and adventures for us.

Boys of Summer

Here we are already into July. Leif is looking forward to his FOURTH birthday at the end of the month. And, Mikko, the little brother, is always looking forward to his next meal! The boys keep us busy, but they are fun. Mikko is getting quite smiley and is talking more and more. Leif, the brilliant kid that he is, is always creating new stories and adventures for us.

A Proud Big Brother

A proud big brother. Leif is very happy to hold his little brother. He also loves helping out and is eager to entertain his little brother, though Mikko is not very interactive yet. I look forward to watching these two together as they both grow.