Many of these pictures go with the videos I posted earlier.
I just thought this was a cute picture of Annika
Here is the beautiful girl again. This time with her hair all curled and making funny faces.
Caleb had the camera for a little while and he set his animals up for a photo shoot. He took his time in doing so and took about twenty pictures. I'll only post one.
Another of Caleb's pictures. This is my parents dog, Sunny. She is not particularly good with kids and so my method with dealing with it was to teach the kids to be afraid of her so she wouldn't bite them (little kids scare her and she might bite them but hasn't). Luckily Andy got a dog that is really good with kids and so the kids are good with dogs. That sheet is supposed to cover the couch which I have designated as 'Sunny's couch' since we moved in. She used to get free reign of the living room...poor dog. Now I kick her off of the other couch and she's learned that the love seat is hers.
Grandma Evie gave Caleb a Star Wars book for his birthday (which he loves) where the figures move when you turn the pages. Here is one of Caleb's pictures of the book:
Annika has a little 'jewelry box' that has some necklaces I let her play with and her hair bows. She loves to put all the necklaces on.
My sister bought them some cute new pjs and I wanted to take their picture. Here is evidence of how Caleb didn't want me to take his picture. Annika, as usual, followed Caleb's example.
This is Dawson. The cat that sleeps with Caleb. I slowly let the cat get closer and closer and now just figure what doesn't kill him makes him stronger and forget that the cat is dirty and smelly...I mean I love the cat, but I do wash the sheets more regularly...However, Caleb LOVES Dawson. He will pet him so gently whenever he sees him and asks for him when he goes to sleep if Dawson isn't already in the room with him. They are pretty bonded. And Dawson is a good cat.
Caleb disappeared one day and we found him in the laundry room watching the birds out the window. He had taken a chair in there and was sitting quietly. His Grandad would've been very pleased to see it. Then Annika wanted to join and they sat there watching the birds. You can see the tie for his binoculars around his neck.
Annika making rolls with Grammy.
It finally quit raining and I could hang clothes out on the line again. It made my heart happy. And don't you love my parents backyard? (The branches were knocked down by the wind and we hadn't cleared them out yet, but still I think their yard is beautiful!)
I thought Caleb looked so handsome and he agreed to letting me take his picture this time.
My parents went on vacation and I was by myself with the kids for 10 days. Here is one of the things that happen when there are fewer adults around (or sometimes when there are 3 adults to 2 kids even...) Caleb had been fascinated with the peeler and had peeled a carrot practically away and then I was clearing the table and probably got distracted and when I came back in Annika had put the peelings in my water. It's artistic I suppose.
Annika loved helping plant!
The kids stayed with Andy for a week in May and then Andy took Caleb camping for a boys camping trip for a couple days. Caleb had a wonderful time (Andy and Miley--the dog--did too). He has some great pictures for you all sometime. They got back just in time for the parade on Scandinavian Days so some of these picture show Caleb in his jammies--we didn't have time for bathes and new clothes as Andy was planning on because the parade was about to start. However, during the parade Andy got to go home and shower and at lunchtime Caleb did the same. I learned a little attitude lesson that day. I love Scandinavian Days but a lot of it is because everyone comes back home and I get to see lots of people I don't see often. I like to chat and sometimes this is boring for kids. But at the same time there are some fun things to do with kids. Andy wanted to come to Scandinavian Days with us and I should've recognized it as a perfect set-up. However, I was grouchy about the idea of spending a fun day with 'my ex' for lack of a better way to say it. I was in a bad mood while Andy was happy and easy-going. He was joking and I would grumble back. While he went to take a shower I realized what I was doing (I had just finished Codependent No More so that was good timing) and realized that I could choose to just have a good time and it would be better for everyone. The kids wouldn't enjoy it if I were grumpy. I'd probably irritate Andy until we ended up arguing then I'd blame him for it. And instead--Hooray! Hooray!--I nipped it in the bud and decided we could all have a good time and I could decide to enjoy myself. It turned out to be wonderful! The kids had a great time and transitioned so well from Daddy's to Mommy's house. Andy got to see and enjoy Scandinavian Days and got to do lots of the fun stuff with the kids while I sat and chatted with people. It was seriously the best set up I could think of in retrospect, where I think it could've been miserable for everyone had I continued to be grumpy. We all had a really good time and it was way fun!
Here is Annika helping Andy hold Miley's leash.
Caleb and Will with their dads. We got to hang out with the Cox's a good deal and it was fun.
This is Caleb's bow and arrow made out of tinker toys. He can actually shoot these somehow so goes a few feet across the room. One day he also made a '4-year-old' one (the one pictured), a '2-year-old' one, and an '18-month-old' one. He may have made a 3-year-old one, I can't remember. He is so creative and I love to watch him make things. I loved these ones because they looked so realistic.
