our little lamb

(As usual, I am a little late with this post. . . for all of you other moms out there that are able to update your blog on a regular basis - I am amazed!) On Thanksgiving weekend our little lamb Annika was baptised!! We had this wondrous occasion on the already busy holiday weekend because her Godparents are her Aunt Kate and Uncle Chris and we had to plan it around for when they would be home.

The church service was truly wonderful (although a bit long) and the baptism was very personal. After church we had about 40 people over for a pizza and cake reception. . . our house was full of family and friends. We are extremely lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives who love not only us, but our children. Thank you to all who were able to be there to celebrate with us and we know there were many others that were there celebrating with us in spirit!

so thankful

We had a great Thanksgiving up in D-town. Chris and Kate were able to be "home" and I know how thankful my parents were to have all their children under the same roof - which just doesn't happen as often as we wish it could. We had a fun visit together. . . talked lots, ate lots, and even got to play quite a bit of cribbage. Papa took Bergen to the duck pond twice which he absolutely loves and other then Annika deciding that she didn't want to sleep while we were there - we had a wonderful weekend.

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My parents put in a beautiful new kitchen this fall and we put it to the test as we had 17 people over for the traditional Thanksgiving feast. Chris was the head chef and everything passed with flying colors. The food was great and we had a wonderful time all being together.

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We were also able to have a baby shower on Saturday morning to honor Kate and celebrate Baby M. Chris and Kate were very thankful to get a great start to their nursery and all the many things they will be putting to good use in a few months time when Baby M joins the world - which we can't wait for!

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And in this season of thanks, I want to thank all of those that mean so much to us - our family and friends. We are truly lucky and feel very blessed for all the love and support that you have each given us. We have much to be thankful for. . . children. . . health. . . Lars' new job. . . and the list keeps going. And if I may take a line written by my husband who is much better at words then I am, we "prepare for 2008 with a heart, head, and soul full of hope, gratitude, and intense curiosity about what comes next thanks to the gifts of self you've all shared with [us]. "

Here are a few shots from the weekend. . .

the joys of fall

Remember how much fun it was jumping in leaf piles when you were little? One of the (many) great things about having a little one is that you get to experience that joy all over again. Instead of looking at the vast amounts of leaves we have to rake up in our back yard with frustration that our neighbors wait until a windy day blows their leaves into our yard instead of just raking them up themselves (sorry, enough about that!), raking instead has become a fun afternoon activity for us to be together and enjoy some fresh air. Now I understand why my dad after hours of raking would look at Chris and me with joy as we destroyed the nice piles he had worked so hard on . . . it is the small joys in life like jumping in leaves that makes life so completely wonderful.

spelling is the name of the game

Bergen LOVES to spell. He would love nothing more (well, other then playing with cars) then to sit down for hours and spell all the different names, animals, or things he can think of. When he is looking at books he will point to a word and ask me "what does that spell?" And he has a short list of words he knows (like baby or cat or book) that he will point out to me when we are reading.


He now wants to take the next step and write out the words he knows how to spell. Writing is quite challenging for him and he keeps working on it, but he does have one word he can write: mom.

I am so proud.