Astalavista

Well, I decided I can’t update both blogs at the same time, as you can see.  I thought I would put only pictures and such on this one but so far it just worked to put whatever is happening on my new blog.  It is a lot more reading but you can just scroll down to the pictures if there are any.  We haven’t been taking too many pictures lately either so there is not a lot to see.  Thank you for reading, whoever you are and if you have this page set to a browsing destination, you can just switch it to http://lifeisbeautiful-esse.blogspot.com/

Later!

My blog

Well, I started a new blog.  Mainly for myself, to keep me in check with what really matters, to see the many blessings in my life, and to just get some thoughts out instead of a journal.  It might be too long and boring for most people to read and I will continue to post pictures from our family events mainly here but if you want to check it out, go ahead.

lifeisbeautiful-esse.blogspot.com

 

 

 

 

Christmas

Well, it’s been a while and I thought I at least need to put up a post about our Christmas.  I don’t think any of us will forget this year’s Christmas very soon.  The week before Christmas we’ve been hit with the flu, one by one all of us had it for a day.  At least it was short and done with, but it was hard when both Ehren and I felt like crap at the same time because neither of us felt well enough to take care of Kason and Ani but we tag-teamed while the other one slept and the next day we were getting better.  After that it was preparations for Christmas, cleaning and sanitising the house so Brent and Ingrid could stay with us, and trying to finish all my baking.  On top of that I was working on painting stripes in the boys’ room which took me a few days to finish but I had to get it done so Ehren can put in the bunk beds he’s half way done building.

Our kids were so excited about the presents, well Kason didn’t know much about it but Kade and Anika couldn’t wait for Christmas Eve to open the presents.  Every time while we’re at church for the Christmas Eve service, the angels deliver all the presents under our tree and it is so fun to watch the kids’ reactions when we come back and they see all the gifts there.  We had a very nice and relaxing family time that evening and enjoyed it fully.  Anika has been wanting a camera for months now so she was very excited to get one.  She keeps walking around with it and taking pictures of everything in sight.  It is a kids’ digital camera and the pictures are very low quality, but she doesn’t care.  Kade got the biggest gift this year so we wrapped it in a huge box even those it’s pretty small – a nintendo dsi.  He’s been wanting one for over 2 years but we were not going to get one for him just because all of his friends have one.  So we kind of made a deal at the beginning of the summer, that if he saved half of the cost of a ds he can get one for Christmas.  So he did a great job doing his chores, saving his birthday money and putting it towards the dsi.  He was thinking he was getting a ds, a cheaper version, because that’s how much money he saved up so he was shocked to get a dsi.  And really, he earned it with paying for more than half of it.  He’s really enjoying it on his school break this week, but we will have to have big restrictions on it once the school starts again. :)

On Saturday morning we went to Ehren’s mom and dad’s for a brunch with the family.  It was a nice time with all the cousins playing together and enjoying more gifts and stockings.  We went home for Kason’s nap and came back for dinner and it was nice to visit with each other longer.  On Sunday we had planned to have everyone come over to our house for dinner but that plan went out the window after my episode.  Saturday evening I felt just fine, we were visiting with Brent and Ingrid before going to bed.  When we went to bed I felt a small stomach ache but nothing bad and just went to sleep.  I woke up around midnight-1am for a really bad chest pain, kind of like heart burn but bad and nothing was helping it go away.  We got Brent up since he’s a doctor and he too didn’t think it’s anything too bad, probably just heart burn or something.  So I tried going to bed and it got a little better but at 4am I woke up to even worse pain.  I tried to wait it out so I didn’t wake Ehren up so early but finally I told him we gotta go in.  At the hospital they gave me this worst drink I’ve ever had in my life which made me throw up everything that was left in me and then they gave me some morphine for the pain.  That took most of the pain away but I could still feel it and just got really groggy.  They also took blood tests to see if some levels were elevated to see if my body was fighting something but it didn’t seem like it so they didn’t do a cat scan.  The doctor told me to go home and if the pain is still there to go to my doctor and get an ultrasound.  So Sunday all day I  was out, just lay in bed all day and tried to sleep.  The family just got together at Mark and Audrey’s and had our dinner there.  On Monday Ehren stayed home with me and helped taking care of all the kids.  It was a huge help because I was still pretty weak and I was gone for a while at the doctor.  Ingrid stopped at our house on Monday morning and told us her little girl Sage was throwing up all night and Audrey was getting sick too.  So it was definitely not a happy ending to our Christmas weekend, but at least nothing serious happened.  Now I need to go in for an ultrasound today to see if they see anything wrong with my gallblader or anything.  I just hope it never happens again because besides giving birth that was the worst pain I’ve ever had. :)

So, the Christmas to remember for sure.  I can’t wait to get back to normal and have more energy.  But despite everything, it was nice to be able to have some great family time.

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Anika’s 4th Birthday

Today our precious Ani is 4 years old.  She has been so excited for her birthday to come and the last week that was all she talked about every day.  Presents never really crossed her mind because all she wanted was a tea party and a barbie cake.  So every day and many times a day she would ask me if it was time for her tea party and if I was going to make the cake soon.  Finally, yesterday we had family over for a little tea party with appetizers, tea, hot chocolate and cake.  I don’t know who was more excited about the barbie cake, me or her. :)   It turned out way better I ever expected.  My main thing though is for the cake to taste good even if it doesn’t look that nice and this one was both so I was really happy.  It was a strawberry cake with an almond pound cake bottom and it was so moist and yummy.  The frosting was also pretty good which I’m always skeptical about because I hate the super sugary and rich frostings.  It had frozen strawberries and whipping cream mixed in it so it was lighter and had the real strawberry taste to it.  I actually bought a can of store bought frosting because I was worried mine would turn out too runny to spread the cake with and I had one taste of it and threw it in the garbage.  How can anyone say those frostings are any good?  Yuck!  Anyway, it turned out beautifully, probably my best cake so far and Anika was really excited about it.  She was pretty excited to open her gifts too.  She got a sturdier jogging stroller for 2 dolls from us.  I thought since she’s going to see me a lot with our jogging stroller these days she would like to play mommy too.  Her and Emily really liked it and were both pushing it around the house together.  The problem was when Kason got the wind of it and then it was fighting over the stroller from then on.  He loves pushing it around so we might get a small stroller from Jessica so they can both have one.  Ani also got a really pretty dress from nana and a toy with little babies, and  a cinderella carriage from Emily and she was really excited about all of them.  She has really grown a lot lately and seems so much taller.  Ani is also getting so much more interested in school stuff.  When I have a chance in the afternoons we do preschool lessons and activities which we call school and some days she’d be just waiting for us to start school already.  She loves to learn new things right now and is pretty good with phonics and letters, just the math part is a bit hard for her but then again she doesn’t need to know everything before she goes to school.  I am glad that she has an extra year before she goes to school since her birthday is past the Sept. 1st cut-off day, because she can slowly learn all the skills other kids have to learn in a year.  I can already tell it will help her confidence a lot too.  Anika also loves her little friends.  It’s too bad there aren’t many girls her age at our church, it’s mostly boys so I’m really thankful Ani has Emily to play with.  They are so cute together and such good friends already.  Somehow their personalities just click or something because they very rarely even argue or fight.  I really hope they stay close as they grow older.  My cousin (whose name – Sarlota is Anika’s middle name) was my best friend growing up and she was so special to me, like a sister I didn’t have so I’d love for Ani to have that.  It’s hard to be the only girl sometimes and other times it’s nice because that girl is so much more treasured. :)

Fall is here

What can be better than walks in the beautiful fall weather with the leaves changing all around?  Our favorite spot for fall hiking is Duluth and the North Shore but this year we didn’t attempt going there.  It is a bit too far and Kason and Ani are both at a hard age for hiking very long.  So we went to Ehren’s parents’ cabin this weekend instead and from there we went to Itasca state park for some hiking.  We underestimated a little how far the 2 little kids can go, especially with Kason missing a nap and so the last mile or so there was a lot of carrying Kason and Anika but we made it.  The weather was beautiful and the colors were so pretty all around.  I just love going to the woods or any kind of hiking, so it was great even though I had a little cold all weekend.  Here are some pictures we took.  The sun was a bit too bright most of the time for our camera so some pictures did not turn out so nice.

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