What You've Missed

So here are a ton of photos from Jan, Feb, and March. I know I am a million blogs behind, but we had a rough transition coming home from a month long vacation. Abby and Ollie needed my full-time attention. We are nearly as high as Alaska on the map and we don't get much sun during the long January/February days. The sun doesn't go up until I drop Abby off from school and it starts to set when I pick her up. It's about two months of only being able to play inside, which can make any parent crazy. It's enough to drive the happiest person into a dim, dark, world of bitterness. That's overly dramatic, but you get the picture. January = a lot of comfort eating.

This is what happened when I ran inside to get the phone yesterday. I came back to Ollie asleep in the swing. I was gone for less than a minute. The swing was still swinging when I got back. I literally ran to the phone, picked it up, and went back outside to start the conversation. Sleeping is his talent.

Susanne was kind enough to invite us to her house the day after we returned from Budapest. She is the cupcake and cake queen, so she's trying to teach us all she knows before she moves away and deprives us of her baking goodness. As you can see, Jill pretty much has it down.

Ollie got to lick the beaters. He was thrilled.

Here is Ollie in nursery. He has the best nursery leaders. He literally loves it there, even though he screams for the first minute or so. They always take photos of him and send them to me Sunday evening. It's fun to see what he's up to when I'm down in primary.

Abby was pretty heartbroken that we didn't get a chance to go ice skating while in Canada. She cried about it for WEEKS. Finally I found an ice rink in Berlin and off we went.

I foolishly decided to take a few of her friends with us, which meant that I had four children and two hands to teach everyone how to skate. We made it about 10 meters in one hour. I actually had to leave some of the sweet babies on the side of the rink while I picked them up one at a time and skated with them in my arms to the door to get off the ice. It brought me back to my high school days.

The primary had a carnival activity day and it was awesome. I had a guess-how-many-candies-are-in-the-jar station and the kids were hilarious. Abby guessed there was one M&M in the mason jar. There were actually over 400. Her guess wasn't even the worst one. We had an all-you-can-eat ice cream buffet. I love being the primary president and working with such wonderful children. Sariah was in charge of this event and she blow it up. My counselors rock.

So Abby had a HUGE meltdown when we got home because she wanted to fly back and see her grandmas. We tried to explain that they were both coming soon, but she isn't a time expert yet and couldn't quite figure out what we were saying. I ended up making a wall calendar from January to August. We put in all the fun activities we have planned, including pictures of the grandmas when they will be here. Abby loves to cross off the days as they pass. She was kind enough to write a backwards no on the day that is my birthday. I guess she's not a fan.

My friend's grandma made these awesome knit headbands for Abby and I. I am in love with them. 

We made it about 18 months before Ollie decided to start throwing tantrums. You can now find him, quite regularly, in front of closed doors, huddled in a ball, crying his eyes out. Everything I do is mean, apparently. Life is so hard when your mom will do nearly anything in the world to make you happy. The sadness is palpable.

Here he is throwing a tantrum because I tried to take Abby's toothbrush away from him. He wanted to spend all day in his snowsuit chewing on it. Sounds fun to me.

One of my goals this year is to actually read the Ensign and not just collect it. I'm a few issues behind.

We only had enough snow to go sledding once, but Abby and Ollie got my money worth playing with it in the sun room. Abby's kita encourages the children to wear leggings and undershirts during the day since the room is insufferably hot. Abby loves to dress like this at home, but our house is drafty and much too cold. I find myself telling her all the time, "put some clothes on; you're not at school!" 

We had a Chinese New Year party and invited some German friends (and our old American favs) that we were dying to know better. Over 30 people showed up. We immediately put them to work making dumplings.

My friend, Susanne, made this wicked dragon cake. Mad skills.

After the dinner we played a variety of games. One was a trivia contest about China. Another involved them moving raw eggs with chopsticks from one side of the room to the other. I laughed until I cried. 

Abby forces Ollie to sit at the table with her but won't let him play with her toys or color on her paper. Surprisingly, he's content just watching them have fun.

Both Abby and Ollie were pretty sick when we got home from America. Abby took turns lounging with both her dogs and Ollie. Dora can work wonders on any fever.

Here's Ollie having some strawberries and PB&J. He quickly reverted back to only baby food at the next meal.

The tulips here are beautiful and super cheap. I get 50 of them for about $14.00 every week. 

Abby is always a princess, even without the costume.