First Day of Summer??!?!

It was a BEAUTIFUL day down here in Jacksonville!  A lovely 75 degrees with a gentle breeze.  Not a mosquito in sight and sunshine the entire afternoon.  It was so gorgeous outside that I pushed the kids' afternoon nap time to 3:30... it was just too nice to sleep it away.  We played outside for about an hour or so after school today.  Drew some pictures with new colorful sidewalk chalk.  Took turns swinging on the swing-set.  Climbed up the slide (both kids).  Laid on a blanket to watch the clouds, birds, helos and of course, P-3s, flying overhead.  Bird watching--with Scout on guard against the ugly turkey ducks.  And when we came inside, I decided that it was the perfect day to make fruit smoothies!  What a treat it was to the kids (and mommy, too)...they loved it right up!  Here are some pictures of them enjoying their afternoon "snack."

Haakon is leisurely walking around with his treat...

Mmmmm...delicious!

So delicious that some had to be saved for later on his shirt.

Something this good has to be enjoyed sitting down!

"Mommy, what are you doing?  Privacy, please."

"Ugh....my mommy is soooo embarassing!"

Look at that smile and darling face....don't you just want to give her a little smoochy?

Our Jacksonville Zoo Visit!

Half our entourage at the main camp of the Jacksonville Zoo!

I thought that hopping on the stationary zebra would suffice.  Do you notice the looking of longing on Audriana's face?

I caved because all of her friends were getting on the carousel.

All weekend and week, I have been hyping up a trip to the zoo to see the giraffes, gorillas, elephants, lions and birdies.  I invited our friends to go and it was a great time had by all...until Mother Nature rained on our parade.  Literally.  We got to see the giraffes, lions and birdies.  But we had to do a quick ride-by of the gorilla exhibit and totally skipped the elephant exhibit due to the rain.  The Te/Anderson family can definitely handle a little sprinkling and light rain...but down-pour, we cannot.

The kids had such a great time and I found out that I can definitely do a zoo trip as a solo parent with both the kids.  I am absolutely astounded as how well behaved Audriana is on field trips such as these (and even to a boring tile store) when we have a serious conversation beforehand about what is agreeable behavior.  Audriana had no problems getting back into her stroller when asked and sets a shining example for Haakon.  Haakon was also well-behaved and really enjoyed the petting zoo exhibit.  However, he was not too delighted when he found out that he needed to get back into his stroller afterwards.  His new thing is to make himself as stiff as a board when I try to get him either in his car seat (a big indication that we need to get him an upgrade) or his stroller.  It is super fun and not embarrassing at all for me when this happens in front of other people [voice dripping with sarcasm].

Haakon patiently waiting for his sister to finish her ride.  It started to sprinkle during his wait.  What a sweet little brother!

Brushing the pygmy goats!  Audriana is VERY selective about which goat gets to be brushed by her...in her opinion, it's equivocal to winning the goat lottery for these animals!

Haakon is content checking out the goats' unnatural habitat.

Audriana is still making her selection by process of elimination.  Though, if truth be told, I think the goats are tired of her :)

We made a visit to the Lorakee exhibit.  This birdie immediately jumped on my shoulder--scaring the daylights out me for fear that he would poop on my shoulder.

The birdies got a little too close and this is Audriana trying to protect her brother....either that or she's trying to sacrifice him to the colorful birds to save herself!

The culmination of our trip: feeding the giraffes their morning snack!

It may look like she's going to feed him, but as soon as his tongue touch the lettuce leaf, she snapped the lettuce back!  Poor giraffe.

Lettuce has been snapped back.  Mommy had to take the lettuce away and give it to the giraffe and explain to Audriana why the giraffe is not like Scout and why it's not nice to tease with food.  

Happy Valentine's Day

Despite Bjorn's belief that this is merely a made-up Hallmark holiday, I still would like to believe that there is enough love in the world that warrants a special day of recognition especially reserved for lovers.

This past New Year's eve, Bjorn and I celebrated the 11th year anniversary of our first "date."  Though, depending on which of us you talk to, this so-called date could have been merely just two high school friends getting together for dinner to catch-up (my version)...or it was a date in which dinner was highly anticipated, followed by a spectacular display of fireworks in St. Paul, meeting up with high school friends afterwards and then the culmination of evening: a good night kiss (Bjorn's version).

Unfortunately, in Bjorn's version, the goodnight kiss never materialized:  I had no clue it was a suppose to be a date.  I was finally clued in when Valentine's Day rolled around and I received a beautiful bouquet of long stemmed red roses delivered to my dorm room in college (side note: If you ask my now-husband, he will tell that this purchase was what pushed him get his own credit card after asking his father to order the flowers on his behalf.  The whole neighborhood might have heard about the cost of red roses on Valentine's Day!).  I remember the excitement of receiving the roses (I had a gooey smile plastered to my face the rest of the day) and being the envy of my girlfriends and floor mates.   It was then that we started our long distance relationship....and what a whirlwind it has been.

Eleven years, two babies (and one on the way), two deployments, three missed wedding anniversary celebrations, multiple cross-country moves (for his job), one bike fall (me: to point out dolphins in the water to Bjorn), one 7-mile death hike up a mountain (I was told that it was only 3 miles and very nearly horizontal...it was not.  It was very nearly completely vertical) and a snow-shoeing death march (with five-week old Audriana) later, I am still passionately and deeply in love with this man.  He still makes my heart flutter at the sight of him and I still laugh at almost all his jokes and commentaries (there are many!).  His devotion to and patience with our children makes my heart swell with joy.  The depths of his love for me and our life together makes me a better wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend to him, our children, our family and our friends.   There are no limits to the things that we are able to accomplish together (including raising three kids under the age of three!).  I know that the strength of our relationship is not only deeply bound together by love, but also by our sense of purpose and dedication to one another.

Our love is not accidental.  It is very much intentional.  I hope that all of you have someone in your life or will find someone in your life who makes you want to be a better person and fills your future with the unique love and passion that only lovers may find in one another.  We are incredibly blessed with an adventurous life, beautiful children and most importantly, each other.

And it started all because two people fell in love ... Happy Valentine's Day!

Deliciousness in our Home

Over the course of the last couple of weeks, I have made a few discoveries:

One: the kids LOVE cream cheese and bagels for breakfast (toasted cinnamon raisin mini-bagel with plain Philly cream cheese); 

Two: they are fiends when it comes to cinnamon swirl bread (toasted with light butter); 

Three: I will likely need to take out a second mortgage to support their new breakfast habit.

I am sure that many of you are probably wondering how I stumbled about this "discovery."  Well, I was reading one morning in the American Academy Pediatrics handbook for infants and toddlers.  It stated that its a good idea to include some cream cheese (or really some diary) in their diet during snack time.  I took the idea one step further because our grocery store was having a special on mini-bagels and added bagels to the equation.  Presto!

Since I have made this discovery, we have gone through 2 tubs of cream cheese, one bag of approximately 12 mini-bagels, 2 loaves of cinnamon swirl bread...and that was only during the first week, my friends!  And I might mention, that no where during the multi-course breakfast do I get to eat.  Because if I do, the kids come running back to the table to eat what I have on my plate.  I usually have to give it three tries each morning until I give up and go eat in the corner somewhere...wolfing it down before my kids can come running with their mouths wide open!  

To curb this enthusiasm (or least control our family spending on it), I started thinking about trying my hand at bread making.  We do not have a bread machine (or a stand-mixer with paddle/hook) and generally, anything involving yeast has always scared me a little bit (since it is likely that I would probably boil the little critters to death, instead of gently waking it up in a warm sugary solution before it has a chance to do its magic in my baking).  But after doing extensive internet research for "amazing cinnamon bread," I came upon a recipe that sounded delicious and not too difficult (except for the yeast part, of course).   I gathered up my courage, called my amazing friend Kelly for some yeast (I had everything else on hand, except for the essential ingredient), and got cooking yesterday afternoon.

Amazingly, the yeast survive my sugary solution and did its magic!  The bread came out beautiful and super scrumptious!  There is nothing like having the sweet aroma of cinnamon and bread wafting through your home.  The best part was that Haakon LOVED the bread and kept asking for more this morning.  Audriana took a slice, but requested for more bagel with cream cheese.  So, here are the pictures I took of my first "real" bread (banana bread and other quick breads can't count!).  Those of you lucky enough to live in MN just might even get to try this cinnamon bread as I think I am going to try to make it again there!  

Oh, and one more thing: Audriana has also just discovered the deliciousness of BACON!  When she sees it, she "ooohs" lovingly and quickly snatches it up and eats it.  Wonder where she inherited that affinity for bacon.  Hmmm.

The result of an afternoon's hard work--cinnamon swirl bread at 11:40PM.

Close-up of that yummy goodness!  The kids gobbled it right up at breakfast this morning.

On another note, it was a beautiful day in Florida today.  Bjorn thought it would be super fun to give the kids Twizzlers as an afternoon, before nap-time, treat.  I think his generosity with the treats has to do more with the fact that he won't get to spend Valentine's Day with the kids tomorrow and less with it being super fun.  Anyways, I snapped a few pictures of the kids with Daddy and their Twizzlers.

The babies love their Daddy and can't wait to give him his Valentine's Day present soon...details to come!

Our baby enjoying her swing and a Twizzler together...courtesy of Daddy.  

Our other baby enjoying his regular swing with remnants of Twizzlers around his mouth.

Poking Daddy with a Twizzler before he leaves.

With Twizzler juice all over her hands and face, Daddy thought it might be a good idea to take off his shirt to hug his baby girl bye-bye.  He was right.

Our grocery experience...

As my belly is getting bigger and bigger, I have found it harder to do any sort of shopping with two kids in tow.  Its not that the kids misbehave (believe me, they can), but rather is the fear that the double umbrella stroller will not be conducive to the shopping experience, or worst yet (and this is especially true at the grocery store), Audriana's favorite double duty shopping cart has run away with other short people.  For those of you out there without two youngsters who are still young enough to WANT to ride in a shopping cart, the double duty shopping cart is the shopping cart that not only fits two kids, but has two steering wheels for each kid to pretend to be driving around the store.

Bjorn introduced this contraption to Audriana during our family grocery outing 3 months ago.  It is the bane of my existence.  She now refuses to be in any type of shopping cart that does not have a steering wheel for her to steer the cart (because, I guess its not mommy who is pushing 50 pounds of kids plus all their food for the week).  Audriana also insists that Haakon ride along (which he is more than happy to oblige)...but only in the right side...and only properly buckled.  Of course....safety first.

When we get to the grocery store, there is one stop that is absolutely necessary: the bakery counter.  At our grocery store, the bakery counter has a tray full of chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies and sprinkled cookies just for kids 12 and under to enjoy...free (which is probably why their prices are a tad high!).  Audriana is pretty patient about moseying over to the counter.  Haakon, however, totally different story.  It used to be that the kids could sit side by side in the cart and enjoy their cookie while I finish grocery shopping.  No longer.  Audriana will take her time to finish the cookie.  Little man will shovel, push, and grab as much of the cookie into his mouth as fast and as much as he possibly can.  He loves to chipmunk food.  Not surprisingly, Haakon is usually done with this special treat about 5 steps after walking away from the bakery.  At which point, he will claw and harass his big sister into giving him her cookie.  This is a lose-lose-lose situation for all parties involved: Audriana is screaming bloody murder at the possibility of having to share food; Haakon is hollering, hitting, fake crying, and sometimes, biting, to try to get at the cookie; and I am embarrassed that strangers in the store think that I only feed my kids food at food sample stations at the grocery store.

The other day, I only had Haakon while Audriana was at school.  We reached critical mass at the deli counter...the bakery was just steps away and smell of freshly baked cookies was too much for the cookie monster to handle.  So now, to avoid a scene, I ration Haakon's cookie.  The last quarter is given at the check out lane when a meltdown is usually imminent.  It is amazing how much magic a quarter piece of a small cookie can make!

Play time pictures!

Afternoon snack time in the playroom!

Pause for a snapshot!

No idea what these three seem to be concentrating so hard on as the food had already been eaten...

Shakin' up a toy bin....

Shake, shake, shake...

An Olympian in the making...

And our very own little dare devil! He is now able to climb onto the rocker all by himself, rock a bit, do some heart-stopping tricks and then jump off.

Audriana got a hold of my phone this morning. She loves trying to figure things out on it...and has even managed to unlock my phone! But the more entertaining part of this and the next four photos is Haakon. Watch what he manages to do....

While Haakon is figuring out the bin, Audriana is screaming "Heyyyoooo!!" into my phone.

Lights out at last...

I have noticed that it has been a while since I've busted out the camera during playtime at our house. So here are some new pictures that I took at yesterday's afternoon playtime and then again this morning. Little do they know that we will be needing to cull through their toys so that Dash-3 can also enjoy some of them when it comes time!