Mother's Day, part two

Today, we went to Stefan's grandma's house for coffee in honor of Mother's Day in Sweden. She is 95. We brought the cookies since we have so much left from the baptism. Alice had her first shy moment and started crying when all the grandmas wanted to talk to her. When she saw me she calmed down again, though.

This is a four generation shot, with Grandma Anita, Stefan, Haylie, Alice, and Great-Grandma Kally.

Here is Alice with her Great-Grandma.

Saturday - Mother's Day part one.

On Saturday, we celebrated Mother's Day a day early by going on a little outing. We went out for lunch to Leva Kungslador.
I love ears on baby clothes.

After lunch, we drove just north of Visby to Åhsbergska hagen and Gustavsvik's beach. We went for a little walk at the beach and in the meadow area. Haylie could not resist kidly urges, and walked right into the water after some minnows, getting her pants all wet from the knee down.

We may look happy, but it was the outing of much annoyance with a six-year-old that does not hear a thing you say, and if she does, often chooses to disregard it.

Friday picnic

On Friday, Alice needed to take a nap and I wanted to take a walk. It was only an hour before it was time to pick up Haylie from school, so I drove to school and parked, and took a walk in the school woods.

I heard sheep through the woods, so I kept walking a little bit and the path opened up to sheep pastures.
This one looked like she had her head stuck in the fence, until I walked up to her. Then she pulled it out in a hurry. I guess she was just eating stuff on the other side. Her lamb was hiding behind her.

The sun was shining and it was a lovely day, other than being really windy.

When I picked Haylie up, we stopped home to pick up cookies and feed Alice, then went on a picnic. We drove to Kuse änge, a little closer to the coast from where we live. Meadows like this were traditionally used so the livestock could eat leaves and branches and people kept them trimmed and harvested the grass and stuff for feed. There are tons of flowers and lots of Hazel trees. The parish society for Västerhejde takes care of this one, and had a little cabin with information about the area.

Alice was in a great mood and was all laughs.

Hysterical laughter

Haylie was not feeling photogenic, but I was able to take this picture of her eating her favorite cookies, Russian Tea Cakes.

Alice was the stroller tire inspector. I think she is telling me that they need some air.

She likes being on her tummy now, and doesn't complain like she used to. She complains when you try and turn her back over, even if she is grunting and straining to keep her head up.

First soccer game

On Thursday, Haylie had her first soccer game. Stefan was out of town, so I took the girls.
She was really reluctant, but once she got started, she was all business.

Alice did a good job cheering from the sidelines.

Haylie may not have much where ball skills are concerned, but she ran and ran. She had the ball twice.

She was suddenly really hungry during the middle of the game, so she had to go AWOL and eat the rest of her dinner.

Shaking hands post-game.

The team.

Elmo loves you?

When your babysitter is a six year old:

I had to go out and water the apple tree and grass seed after dinner, so Haylie decided in the meantime that Alice needed to watch Elmo, since it "is for babies". She got the movie, started it, and moved her sister into position, complete with toys and all.

We've had the so-called 4 month sleep regression the past couple of weeks, with lots of nighttime feedings and waking up. Last night was back to every 3 hours again and then closer together at the end of the night, so that was a relief. I needed that to recharge. Sleeping through the night would be nice, but I can settle for 3 hours at a time. I'm not expecting miracles. It is nice to have the big kid at school in the mornings so I can nap with Alice for nap #1. I even got to take an afternoon nap one day this week. That is the benefit of having a 6 year age difference.

We have been sleep training and working on getting both kids to fall asleep on their own in their beds while we are elsewhere. It is going great. Alice is a piece of cake, and sometimes needs her pacifier put in again once, but otherwise falls asleep easily and quickly. Haylie has been spoiled rotten all these years, so we are taking advantage of the fact that Alice is putting herself to bed to get Haylie to do it too. She is also earning points on her reward chart towards fun stuff she wants to do. She complained a little yesterday, but I told her that Alice was going to sleep on her own, so she could too. She has done it all week, and has been using the opportunity to read books to herself and stay up a little later than we usually allow. She has gotten to be a really good reader in the past 6 months.

Two cute sisters. Tonight they listened to a bedtime story together in Haylie's bed. Alice was just as busy looking at Haylie as she was looking at the book.

Getting good at holding herself up.

This is Alice, saying "What is that thing in front of me?"

Valborgsmässoafton

The last day of April is Valborgsmässoafton, sort of a celebration of spring. It is traditional to pile up a bunch of brush after all the spring pruning, and start a big bonfire. It has its roots in a German pagan tradition, but later during Christian times, the fire was supposed to scare off witches and demons that were out and about that night. There is often a choir that performs or a speaker to mark the occasion as well. We usually go to Warfsholm in Klintehamn, but this year opted for Fridhem, which is closer to home. I ended up staying home with Alice, who had just gone down for a much-needed nap since we were out and about all afternoon, and Stefan and Haylie went to look at the fire. There were lots of kids from her school there.

Sisters

Here was bubble blower #1 at the age Alice is now.

And bubble blower #2. Other than the hair, they are pretty similar.

Ice cream and sunshine

Haylie's grade went on a field trip to a dairy farm today. She was a bit disappointed that they only had cows there, no other animals. I picked her up at the playground at Almedalen in Visby when they were done. We walked over to the harbor and bought ice cream, then walked back to by where I had parked and stopped by the beach so she could throw rocks.

Pepparmint and Mint chocolate chip. I had Coconut and Brownie.

Alice was enjoying sitting up a little in her stroller.

Sunny and 70 today, so Alice and I were outside all afternoon. We took 2 walks at home prior to picking Haylie up.

The leaves aren't out yet, but if this weather keeps up they will be in no time.

Påskmarsch

Today was a nice and sunny day, over 17 C/64 F. Here is Västerhejde kyrka, one of the two churches near our house. Alice is getting baptized here in a month.

Haylie, Alice and I went to Visby this afternoon for the Easter parade. We parked close to the end of the parade and walked uphill to Östercentrum where it starts. Stefan met us there when he got off of work.

This is a girl that would just love to chase those ducks, but at the mature age of 6 was able to restrain herself from giving in to the impulse.

On Maundy Thursday, or Skärtorsdagen, kids dress up like witches and go door to door for candy. The witches supposedly fly to Blåkullen, and the kids dress like witches so they are disguised and the real witches don't get them. In Visby, there is an Easter parade, where all the kids dressed up for Easter get an egg filled with candy, and the adults can get actual eggs.

My two little witches

Here I am with Alice.

Alice, Haylie, and their cousins Cornelia and Tindra

My brother-in-law Håkan and Stefan. What good sports. Stefan is normally dead-set against all forms of costumes, but actually wanted to do this. I was surprised, but I was quick with the eyebrow pencil freckles and the scarf as soon as he said it, before he could change his mind.

It took forever to get through the East gate into the Old town. That worked for me, since Alice decided she was hungry so I had to find a bench and nurse her and catch up with my family before they disappeared.

Aren't they cute?

Haylie got her candy egg and I got to eat the ones she didn't like.

What a sweet girl. You would never know her tongue had just been out.