Hej Do Farmor (Good-Bye Farmor)

Today Farmor has left us and we are sad that her visit went by so quickly. We are hoping that daddy will be able to go back home to Sweden this fall for a visit though and hopefully get Farmor set up with video phone via Skype and the Internet so we can see each other when talking.


Alyssa and Madison already miss "My Farmor" and we will be counting the days until her next visit with us ...


We love you Farmor!!

Fun at the Park

These pictures are from a few days ago, but we had such a busy day that day that mommy is opting to post these separately. Today we really just hung out at home, other than the girls speech therapy.

These pictures are from a park we went to after the girls' nap on Sunday (following Svenskarnas Dag). They love this park, in particular because Linny, Tuck & Ming Ming reside there, yes we are Wonder Pet fans obviously. Anyway here the girls are riding Linny (yes it is a chipmunk and not a ginny pig, but try telling that to a nearly 3 year old) and Ming Ming. Turtle Tuck is not in this picture but is the same riding thing.

We also enjoyed some ice cream after we finished playing.

Love & Hugs -

Amy

An Afternoon with the "B" Family

Farmor and daddy headed in to do some last minute shopping to finish checking off Farmor's wish list while she is here in the States and when they returned, we had a new swimming pool for the girls (this one has a filter ... so we are hoping to save on water a bit now).

Mommy and the girls spent the morning at the the girls' last day of "summer camp" with ECFE and had slightly tearful good-bye with their teacher, Miss Jen, who will be leaving our school district for another come this fall. She will be very missed by our girls especially.

After the girls' naps, grandma B, Aunt Carrie, Uncle Clayton, Granny M and cousin Alexia all arrived for a visit and an early dinner. Uncle Clayton helped daddy set up the swimming pool and cousin Alexia even tried it out with daddy and the girls.

We had a nice afternoon visiting with each other and enjoyed dinner together before mommy's family wished Farmor a safe flight back to Sweden.

We also spent some time drawing pictures with Farmor in the driveway today, we didn't know we had another artist in the family!!

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Svenskarnas Dag - Swedish Heritage Day

What exactly is a "Svenskarnas Dag":

Svenskarnas Dag is one of the biggest Swedish festivals in the United States. Many people from the Upper Midwest and Scandinavia come together to celebrate this annual event. Svenskarnas Dag is held on the fourth Sunday in June at Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis, MN. The day includes many activities such as: a morning church service, the raising of the Midsommar Pole, various singing and dancing performances by local and visiting Scandinavian groups, and the crowning of the Midsummer Queen. Authentic Swedish foods and handicrafts are also available for purchase.

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So, coincidentally, Farmor happened to be visiting us and we headed into the annual Svenskarnas Dag celebration (Daddy and I usually try to attend every year). Although it is not as "glamorous" as the above write up makes it sound, it is still a glimpse at part of daddy's heritage that we are able to take part in. It is also held in a beautiful park with a great waterfall as a part of it.

It was a beautiful day and we all headed into the festival. Daddy dropped us off at the festival and then he went to find parking for the car. While we waited for him to return, we wander over to investigate the river that runs through the park.

After daddy found us, we walked around the tents where merchants were selling their goods and stopped to have the girls' faces painted. Miss Madison opted for a lovely sun and Miss Alyssa, of course, chose the ladybug.

It was lunch time for the girls, so Farmor treated everyone to Swedish Pancakes with strawberries and cream which the girls LOVED, as did daddy. Mommy opted for Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes with lignon berries.

After eating, we all hiked down the path to the bottom of the waterfall and the girls thought that was pretty cool. "It's tall!" "Waterfall mommy, waterfall!"

The last time mommy made that trek down to the bottom of the waterfall was when she was six months pregnant and had cousin Alexia along, can you see the difference??

When we had finally made our way back up the trails from the waterfall, we stopped by the Midsommar Pole for a couple of pictures and then decided to call it a morning/afternoon and headed back to home.

It was a fun day and it was nice to be able to enjoy while Farmor was here visiting us!

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Playing at Home with Farmor

Farmor decided to give the girls an early "Hatchday" present while she was here, so that she could enjoy them receiving it and playing with it. We thought it was a great idea and so the girls were given the new Fisher Price "Dance 'n Twirl Palace" along with the "Royal Tea Party". Needless to say, Princess Madie and now, the newly named Princess Alyssa, LOVED it!! It was exactly the hit mommy knew it would be and Farmor had lots of fun giving it to the girls and playing with them.

We also spent some time Farmor showing her how good we are at riding our tricycles and steering our car!!

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Relaxing at Home

Today we decided to just take it easy and hang out at home with Farmor enjoying the arm weather and swimming!

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Therapy, Shopping, Margs & Martinis

Today the girls had their in-home speech therapy which went very well. They are making such great progress and we are excited about actually understanding and being able to communicate so much better with them. We are finally hitting all those speech milestones that so many of our peers were hitting 6-12 months ago ... fun stuff now that it is our turn!!

After our naps, we all headed to the Eden Prairie Center for some shopping at a few stores that Farmor wanted to go to before she heads back home. The girls had fun playing on the floor game in the mall stepping on bugs and playing soccer.

After shopping, we went to Uptown Minneapolis to have dinner at Bar Abilene which included a few Margs and Martinis at our table. It was a busy day but lots of fun. Mommy is so thankful that the girls cooperate so well for us at restaurants ...

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Weekly Playdate & Relaxing with Farmor

Today Farmor joined mommy and the girls for our weekly playdate with our ECFE classmates at the park. It was a beautiful day once again and Farmor enjoyed playing with the girls at the park. We even took a few minutes to collect some wild flowers for daddy, because, you know "Daddy loves flowers" as Miss Madison informed mommy.

After naps that afternoon, we relaxed at home with Farmor on the deck and enjoyed some fun in the pool. The sun was a bit strong today and after a while in the pool mommy forced hats and t-shirts on the girls, they didn't seem to mind and just kept on playing!

Love & Hugs -

Amy

PT & OT Evaluations and a Trip to Albertville

Today was a busy day for the girls and us. We started early in the morning with a physical therapy evaluation for Miss Madison mainly due to issues with her in-toeing walking and her clumsiness and falling. At the same time, Miss Alyssa was evaluated by an occupational therapist for a potential "sensory" issue. Both of the girls did really well with their evaluations and we will be starting 3-4 sessions of PT and OT respectively for the girls. These sessions will be every other week opposite their speech therapy they are receiving through the same group. The therapists felt that both the PT and OT would only take a few sessions to teach the girls and mommy and daddy some techniques to help work on our concerns.

Following our morning of testing, we all jumped back in the car and headed to Albertville for some serious outlet mall shopping with Farmor. The girls were really well behaved and it helped that we found a nice new playground just installed in the outlet malls parking lot for us to use. Mommy and the girls made good use of this find while Farmor and daddy checked out a few stores without us.

We were all tired after the long day, but we had a lot of fun!!

Love & Hugs -
Amy

Camp Minnesota with Farmor

Today was the second day (second week of three consecutive Mondays) of a "summer camp" for ECFE kids. Basically we get to go and play at the ECFE school room doing all things Minnesota for an hour each week with our favorite teacher, Miss Jen. Farmor decided to join us today so that she would understand what the girls do daily and also understand my blog more.

The girls had a great time and loved having their Farmor in the classroom with them. Farmor helped us make butterflies, paint glasses of chocolate milk and even helped decorate our Minnesota Loons!

Later that afternoon, we all made trip to Target for Farmor to pick up some "essentials" that are cheaper here in the States compared to Sweden.

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

We love you more than you could possibly ever know ...

We had a fun filled morning playing with daddy, the girls kept him very busy making teddy bears out of play doh. After our afternoon naps, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a visit and an early dinner. We got to wish Grandpa, Uncle Clayton and Uncle Kory all a Happy Father's Day and Farmor got to visit a little bit with everyone, including Granny M.

The girls had fun playing with the bubble machine grandma got for them and the wind today caused the rest of us to have a bit a soapy after taste to our beverages from all the bubbles the girls were making!

We hope you all had a very Happy Father's Day ... we know we did, because we have the BEST daddy every ...

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Maynard's With Farmor

Today was a beautiful day outside and we all decided it was the perfect day for dinner at Maynard's, which is a great little restaurant/bar on Lake Minnetonka with a super huge outdoor dining patio on the lake. We had great food (and a few martinis). After eating we took a stroll down to the boat docks to feed the geese, ducks and really large fish.

Then, as all good shoppers would, we took Farmor shopping at Target to get, you know, all the essentials ... and then some ...

Finally, just because these are rare and hard to come by, here is a picture of mommy and her girls:

Love & Hugs -

Amy

"There is MY Farmor"

... straight from the mouth of Miss Alyssa!

Farmor has arrived, only about 20 minutes late, which was enough time for the mommy, daddy and the girls to make their way to the top of stairwell tower at the airport to watch a few airplanes land, including Farmor's flight. The girls thought the high-speed glass elevator and the escalators that we rode were WAY cool, almost as much as watching "daddy's" airplanes land.

The girls awaited patiently for Farmor to clear Customs and practiced waving their Swedish Flags and chanting "Hej Farmor" ... "Hej Farmor" ...

Oh and yes, the dirty looking cheek on Miss Madison's face is actually a bruise from her fall a couple of days ago ... pretty nice huh??!!

When Farmor finally appeared though the door, the girls waved their flags and said "Farmor" ... yeah, we forgot the Swedish "Hej" but still did pretty good.

So, without further ado, here she is ... our Farmor:

Farmor arrived with gifts, of course, for the girls. The Pretty Ponies were a big hit and here is Farmor helping them brush the ponies hair while we waited at the airport for daddy to bring the car around.

Love & Hugs -

Amy

And Then There Was One ...

One may be the loneliest number that you heard; however, in this case it is the number left standing in the way of the girls seeing their Farmor for the first time in over 13 months ... so we say One is the happiest number that you ever heard (unless you are mommy who still has a LOT of cleaning and preparing to do before heading to the airport tomorrow). However, on that note both mommy and daddy are off of work for Farmor's entire visit (through the 25th) and this a break from working full time that mommy has been in need of for a long, long time.

Swedish Lesson Of The Day ...
for those of you wondering what the heck a "Farmor" is, well she is a genuine authentic 100% Swedish grandma. Farmor means "Father's Mother", which is really rather brilliant actually. In Swedish, rather than have multiple grandmas and grandpas, you have a Farmor, a Farfar (Father's Father), a Mormor (Mother's Mother) and a Morfar (Mother's Father). So, never any confusion like here in the States when we say "Grandma is coming" ... umm okay, which one ...

Anyway, aside from a full day of work for mommy, the girls have their second session of the in-home speech therapy services set for this morning. Hopefully they will like "Kris" this time as much as they did last time! Mommy is just waiting for their wee little bums to wake up this morning so we can check and see the damage to Madison's face and Alyssa's teeth from yesterday's and last night's accidents ... keep your fingers crossed that the damage has been minimal ...
Love & Hugs -
Amy

One - Two - We Love You

Only two more days until Farmor's arrival!! Whoot! Whoot! The girls would not cooperate for a picture today, so I am using instead self-portraits from "me" day at their school:

Madison:

Alyssa:

Since today was rainy here and the girls had to miss their weekly playgroup at the park, after naps we decided to "drop" in on gaga (Grandma) for a visit. The girls were thrilled they got to see gaga, cousin Alexia and Uncle Clayton, although papa (Grandpa) was out of town on business.

While at gaga's house, Miss Madison got to show off her brand spankin' new cheek bruise (not cheek as in bum either ... cheek as in face). Yes, our little walking safety hazard has taken yet another spill, this time a four foot long running dive-like header into a wall, nice huh?? Yup, Farmor will be greeted by a huge purple cheek and big blue eyes.

Following in her sister's footsteps, Miss Alyssa decided to try that same running dive on her way into bed and planted her two front teeth nicely into the top of the wooden railing on her toddler bed ... leaving behind a bloody gum and two nice deep indentations into the bed ... thankfully no broken or heaven forbid missing teeth ...

Here is hoping we are all still in one, albeit slightly bruised, piece when Farmor does finally arrive ... oops believe it or not, but daddy just tripped in the office on the shelving we are installing and is trying to join in on the fun ...

Lovely ...

Love & Hugs -
Amy

Ett, Två, Tre

Now in English ... one, two, three ... DAYS UNTIL FARMOR ARRIVES!! We spoke with Farmor on the phone today and she is very anxious for Friday to arrive and is ready to go!

Today we had our first "summer" session of the private speech therapy. The girls were seeing the same therapist during the spring in back to back appointments, but now they are being seen simultaneously by two different therapists. Madison met her new therapist today and Alyssa got to stay with Melissa who has been helping us for a several months now. They both did well and had a good time "playing" with the therapists. We are making good progress. The girls' ECFE teacher, Miss Jen, was amazed at the difference in Alyssa's talking in just the past three weeks since the regular school year ended and the Summer Camp started yesterday. It was nice to hear that progress is being noticed by others!!

Love & Hugs -

Amy

"Four" is the word of the day ...

and is also how many more days until Farmor arrives, I understand she is already heading to the airport so that she doesn't miss her flight on Friday ... okay I am just kidding, but I do know that she has been packing for WEEKS already!!!

This is our attempt at holding up "4" fingers in honor of the day:

Today was also the girls first day of "Camp Minnesota" which is a one hour classroom time at ECFE for three Mondays in a row to learn about all things summer and Minnesota. Daddy was home, so he got to attend class with us and we had a great time. Alyssa especially liked the pretend camera and binoculars and has officially add them to her "hatchday list" of wishes. Madison was really into the art activities today, so mommy and her made a campfire picture, painted a Loon and made a funny painting by dipping pine cones in paint and rolling them on paper.

We enjoyed circle time with songs and a special story about Clifford the Dog fishing. Madison was not afraid to announce to everyone that she couldn't see whenever a younger child stood in her way ... "I can't see!!"

We are already looking forward to next week, maybe Farmor will want to go to school too!

Love & Hugs -

Amy

Fun in the Sun!!

Well, with only five days left before Farmor arrives ... we enjoyed a little fun in the sun (when it was peeking out from behind the clouds)!! The forecast says rain and thunderstorms all week, lets just hope the sun comes back before our little Swedish Sun Bunny arrives on Friday!!

After playing in the wading pool and with the water table, the girls were ready for Popsicles to help stay cool.

Love & Hugs -

Amy