first smiles

Annika started to smile and coo this past weekend and after taking about 50 pictures (thank goodness for digital cameras!), I finally caught a few smiles!

all in the family

We went to the 7th Leafblad family reunion last weekend which only happens every 5 years. I think there were close to 350 family members there and based on the number of pregnant women we will be a much, much larger group come 5 more years. They held the reunion at a new spot this year because we outgrow the old, more rustic one and I have to say I liked this one much better (sorry Leafs!) I am not much of a rustic girl and the air conditioning was very much appreciated in this hot, humid August weather.

Bergen had a BLAST! There were about 60 kids under the age of 5 so he was never short of a playmate. Plus, he was surrounded by many family members he loves to play with but doesn't get to see often enough. And other then losing him once by the lake which pretty much stopped my heart until he was found(THANK YOU STEVEN!), he did great considering all the excitement and stimulus around him. Annika was the star of the reunion being the youngest member. She slept most of the time (either on Grandma Barbara, Aunt Pam's or Aunt Deb's shoulder!) and at 3 weeks old she was at the perfect age to just go with the flow.

Below are a bunch of pics from the weekend and like usual we took our fair share. For those that don't know - there were 11 siblings in the Leafblad family and we are from the Paul branch of the Leafblad tree who was the 9th sibling. On picture day each branch of the tree wears a different color t-shirt so we can can spot who is with which branch of the tree. It is a very awesome sight to see the all the colors of the branches together. . . so amazing to be just one Leaf on this awesome, growing tree.

Pictures:
Row 1: Megan, Bergen and Gma Leaf on Gma's 80th Birthday - - The 3 Annikas at the reunion
Row 2: Crazy Leafblad Boys - Team Queen of Sweden
Row 3: Doug bringing back the 80's - - Bergen with his coach

and in the blink of an eye. . .

our little princess turned one month old! she is 28 days today and is doing fantastic!

sleeping beauty

proud papa

a night of friends, fun and flying candy

On Friday night we met up with some friends to watch our community parade. Lars and I expected about 15-minutes of fire trucks, police cars and perhaps the mayor riding in some sort of convertible, but much to our surprise the parade was filled with so much more and lasted for an hour and a half. The kids had a BLAST together waving to all the floats and picking up the candy (well, age inappropriate candy that can only be described as flying chocking hazards!) that was so gently thrown our way. MissA slept almost the entire time - even through all the loud sirens and horns that were constantly being blown. And the parade ended with cop cars rushing to the start of the parade where a non-law abiding citizen decided that he didn't want to be inconvenienced by the parade and drove through the barriers onto the parade route. Quite a finish to a very impressive community parade!

back to life. . . back to reality

It is amazing how fast two weeks fly by, but I guess having a newborn can make the time seem to go even faster when days and nights run into each other. Lars returned back to work yesterday August 1st after having two wonderful weeks at home thanks to his U of M paternity leave. So, I guess that technically means I also returned back to my job yesterday as well. . . but with a promotion. My first day home "alone" went great, but between going to mom's group at church and grandma Peg coming to visit the day went by pretty fast. Lars only called once to make sure I was keeping sane and he kept fairly sane himself after being out of the office for such a long time.

The Vreeman family stopped over last night to meet MissA and to bring us dinner (NUMMY!) I was hoping to lose a little of this pregnancy weight, but with all the wonderful food we have been receiving I don't see that happening anytime in the near future! It was great to see the Vreemans as it had been way too long since we saw them last and they gave us great advice about life with two kids. I have to say that we have a gorgeous bunch of children, but I might be just a tad biased.

Today was my second day on my own and unlike yesterday we didn't have anything going on - which in the wake of yesterday's tragedy, I have to say it was nice to slow down and enjoy being with my two kids. While MissA slept, I actually got to play with MrB which was great because I have been missing my one-on-one time with him. It is a little difficult for me to not have a routine anymore, but I have a feeling we will find our way to a new one in the next few weeks or so. . .

So, as En Vogue so perfectly put it, we are "back to life. . . back to reality" and loving every minute of it.