Maida Gets Her Ears Pierced

Maida Gets Her Ears Pierced from Kara Scharrer on Vimeo.

It is so amazing to me how fast our kids change.

One of the reasons we started the blog was so that long-distance family members could watch our kids grow (I only wish I was better at keeping up the blog and that our long-distance family members would utilize the blog more.  Maybe they go hand-in-hand... :)

I came across some pictures from last March on an old SD card from Erik's phone.  Erik took Maida and Skogen to a nearby state park with some of his resident friends for some rock climbing, hiking, and swimming.  When looking at the pictures I was reminded of two things.  One, how beautiful Minnesota is, and, two, how much the kids change in just a few months!

Those shoes Skogen is wearing in this picture are now two sizes too small and Maida's hair is three inches longer!

snacking on pretzels with Dr. Dustin

Erik sporting his March mustache (thank goodness that has changed, too!)

Dr. Derrick, Dr. Mike, and Dr. Dustin swimming with the kids - the only ones crazy enough to get in MN March waters...brrrrrrrr!

Skogen has GOT to be a few inches taller than this now! And his hair is a few inches shorter...sigh. :(

Lately

Life has been so busy lately...

Maida went ice skating with her friend, Edra.

Brian and Sarahjane from Chicago stopped by to visit!  Brian and Sarahjane are cloth diaper experts and showed me how to fold our cloth diapers a couple different ways so that they would fit Torsten a little better.

We had a few more warm days where the kids could get outside and play.

We had to pick the pumpkins out of the garden early because our puppy got to them and ripped several of them off the vines.

Torsten started smiling!

 Torsten went to church for the first time!

We had Hailey and her family over a few times.  Maida and Hailey love to entertain us!

Erik and Torsten watching football with Chris and Nolan

We started cloth diapers with Torsten - love our new system!

Maida had Ladybug Girl Day at school.  The students dressed in ladybug colors and the whole school read, Ladybug Girl.  Maida's Aunt Lola gave her Ladybug Girl, so she brought her to school that day, too!

We bundled everyone up and headed to the pumpkin patch!

 It was so cold that it snowed!  And our camera died, so I only got one picture.

I survived a week alone with the four kids while Erik thoroughly enjoyed a conference in Denver with some of his colleagues.  This picture is of the sushi they ate one night.

Torsten has been working on giving us some more big big smiles and has found some new places to hang out and sleep.  :)

My Side by Side group has been bringing us meals every other night for the past two weeks.  One night I not only came home to a warm dinner, but some flowers, too!  I thought they looked good by our scarecrow.

Both of the boys fell on the edge of the same table on the same day and busted their top lips.  Skogen also pushed one of his top baby teeth back, too.  :(

We decorated for Halloween!  The kids thought the skeleton was so cool because it is probably the same size as Skogen's real skeleton!

 We made a spider web out of glue and silver paint and some spiders out of the kids' hands!

Torsten has been spending more and more time awake and with his playmates!

I have been spending most of my free time indulging in these precious moments.  I can't get enough.

Torsten has had a couple playdates with his friend Nolan.  We are still waiting for them to acknowledge each other!  Most of the time they are totally oblivious that there is another baby beside them.  Ha, so funny!

We dressed the kids in warm fleece sweatshirts and ventured up to the Minnesota Zoo with some friends!

 We rode the zoo's tram for the first time.  The kids loved the ride and seeing all the big outdoor animals from the sky.  My favorite part of the tram ride was seeing the big grizzly bears playing!

Skogen had Grandparents Day at school. None of his grandparents live close enough to make it, so he brought pictures of them.  He said he had to stand on a tall stool in front of the class and introduce his grandparents!  Luckily he didn't seem too sad that he was one of the only ones without grandparents there.

Maida had "Dress like your favorite story book character" day.  Maida dressed like Ladybug Girl since she already had a ladybug costume.

We went to Chuck E Cheese with some friends (thanks to Nana for sending us the money to do something fun for Halloween!).

My baby started busting out of his swaddle at night!  Ah!  He's getting so big!

Life with four is more busy that I ever imagined, but not nearly as hard as I ever imagined.  I feel so blessed and am having the time of my life with these four kiddos!

 A friend of ours snapped some pictures of the kids the other day...

Daddy and Me Sports Night

The week after Erik's surgery, Erik was up and going enough to take Skogen to "Daddy and Me Sports Night" at preschool!

 Not only did Erik take Skogen, but he also took Skogen's classmate and good friend, Grant. Grant's Daddy is a resident, too, and was working the overnight shift, so couldn't take him. (I regretfully didn't get any pictures of Grant and Skogen together.)

 Skogen was so excited to have a special night with Daddy and it was all he could talk about all day.

 Maida was very excited about it, too, and I think she was secretly hoping that she would be able to go since she went the year before.

 She was very disappointed when Daddy and Skogen left without her.

I was told that Skogen and Daddy had a great time, but we have no pictures to prove it because Daddy forgot his phone at home.

Here are some pictures from last year's Daddy and Me Sports Night when both Skogen and Maida were in the same preschool and were able to go. As I was looking at these pictures from a year ago, I couldn't believe how much has happened and how much life has changed in just a year!