HaBee Halloween - The Whole Family

For our regular blog followers, you may recall what Jane dress up as for Halloween last year.   And if you don't remember, or didn't catch the post, here it is.

So this year I thought and thought what we should do for Halloween as a family.  A lot of time passed and since mail takes several weeks, I worried that I would run out of time to order something online (costume or materials).

Then it occurred to me and Nils that we could dress up around the theme of a costume Jane already had - her bee costume!  I found some materials to make various things for the rest of us.  I made a sleeper out of a black T-shirt for Harry and added stripes and wings.  Nils and I just found things in our closets and added accents (I made my belt).   The one thing I struggled with was how to do antennae for everyone.  In the end, as you can see, I simplified my life and just drew them on.  Harry has a mustache as a result of playing around the night before and realizing how much he resembles the baby on The Addams Family Values.

So here we are, at a friend's house, all dressed up as the Bee Family!  We were the only ones that dressed up except for a 2-year-old Batman, a 5-year-old witch, and a 5-year-old creatively thrown together "bat lady".

The Bee Family for Halloween 2012

Autumn Stroll

I'm getting so excited for Autumn!  The crisp cool air, the changing colors, and evening strolls at the park across the street.  

A picture of the mosque from the park.

Jane posing in front of the pyramid.



Emily and Jane in front of the presidential palace.



Nils and Harry on the canal walk.

 

From the Mountains to the ... Ocean

This summer we also got to visit our families, who are now conveniently located within 15 minutes of each other.  Here are some pictures of our time with them.

Emily's family - up in the beautiful mountains of Utah.

Emily's dad, Jane and Scout playing fetch.  Guess who actually ran to get the stick?  Okay, it was just the dog.

With Nils' family in South Carolina for a family reunion. What a fun bunch!

Jane and Emily playing in the sand.

Harry enjoying his first beach experience.  His Aunt Maren screen-printed the shirt!

Summer Road Trip

During our home leave this summer, Nils and I decided to take the kids on a road trip to various State and National parks.  So how was it with a toddler, an infant, and a minivan? Wait and see.

First stop, Crater Lake. We drove around the upper rim of the lake down to our campsite within the park.  We could kinda see the Lake from the road as we drove, whenever the haze and fog shifted.  Here is Nils sitting in the van, where we decided to sleep for the night since it was rather cold and raining. 

The rain turned to snow, but I was just happy to be out camping.  

We had planned to stay in Crater Lake for two nights, but because of all the snow, most of the roads into and around the lake were closed the day after we arrived.  That meant we didn't get to see the Lake.  Disappointed but undaunted, we decided to head further West to Bullards Beach State Park and spend the night there.  

For more pictures of Bullards Beach and Crater Lake, click here.

After a good night's sleep in a tent, we proceeded to our next destination, Redwoods National Park.  Here we are in front of the Big Tree.  Click here for more photos. 

On our way to the Sacramento area, we decided to stop and picnic at Lassen Volcanic National Park.  We were so impressed by what we saw, we're already making plans to return in a few years and spend more time there.  More photos here.

Next we visited some of my family in the Sacramento/Folsom area.  My aunt has a beautiful home where we spent some lovely time on the lake. 

For more fun family pictures, click here!

Here we are in King's Canyon

And Yosemite

And of course, having recently watched Star Trek V, we had to take a picture of El Capitan.

For more King's Canyon and Yosemite pictures, click here.

I love camping, so this trip was really fun.  I will say that staying in a hotel in the middle gave us a chance to shower and rest.  And when I say rest, I'm talking about the kind without kids' little feet in your face.  

My CraBts

It's been fun doing little crafts - Jane calls them "Crabs" - now that Jane is old enough to participate and enjoy them.  Since we still don't have the bulk of our household items we've had to get more creative, which is the point of crafts I guess.

 

Coloring... one of the easiest crafts I have her do.  Her favorite has been to take the markers and paint her fingernails.  Sometimes we have to suspend her marker privileges when she gets too color crazy.

Her cardboard house was a really fun project.  Thanks to the idea of my school teacher sister Ellen, we fit white craft paint and food coloring in the suitcase.  It's a really great and affordable way to paint with multiple colors, and it saved us a lot of weight on the airplane!

Here's her construction paper and glue project.  She loves cutting things with the scissors, so I try to direct her to her crafts whenever she gets the itch.  The problem is when she starts looking for other things to cut.  So far, nothing serious, but this privilege gets revoked sometimes too.  Sorry, my little toddler.

I just couldn't resist posting this picture.  Jane normally lets me do her hair, but it doesn't stay very long.  This style lasted most of the day.  I guess it helps that we were at church most of the time.

 

We ordered little craft totes to organize and contain craft projects whenever we do them.  Jane gets so excited she yells, "My Crabs! Do you want to do some crabs too??"

What's Up With Harry?

Some might wonder what's up with little Harry since we moved to Astana.  Here are some "Harry Updates".

We started Harry on "solid" foods, which is mostly just rice cereal.  The last few times I've fed it to him, he's been gagging, so I'm moving on to more exciting foods - like an eggplant/carrot/pepper medley.  We'll see how he likes that.  Above is a picture of Harry's first time eating "food".

Jane sure likes Harry!  She likes to hold him, tickle him, and make him laugh.  Sometimes she tries to feed him like Mommy, but for some reason it doesn't work.  

A better alternative to feeding Harry is to read to him.  He likes that a lot!  Here she is reading him one of her favorites - Dear Zoo.

Harry loves rolling around the living room, seeing how far he can get.  All that movement can be exhausting though.  Not to worry!  Harry can sleep just about anywhere!  And he does.

 Harry started breaking in his first tooth.  Since you can't really see it, I've included this very handsome picture I captured while giving him an air bath.  Harry is turning into quite the charmer.

Our Neighborhood

For Labor Day we decided to get out and get a closer look at the buildings right in our neighborhood.

Emily and Jane in front of the Khazret Sultan mosque, one of the largest mosques in Central Asia.

Nils and Harry in front of the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation.

 

Family photo inside the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation

Nils with the kids in the upper room of the Palace of Peace.  Every three years they hold a Conference of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. 

A view up into the pyramid. Cool, huh?

Astana Apartment Tour

We're in Astana! Here's the apartment tour video you've all been waiting for!

Highvill Apartment tour - 2012

Some notes:

• I tried to copy Nils' "baby voice" featured in the Bogota apartment tour, but it didn't last.  (I think that was for the best.)
• Jane is saying "Come see my house? Okay.  Come on. I tee you. Come on. Come in Daddy.  You knock ont' door, an come in, okay?" This is a result of me playing House with Jane and coming to visit her.
• Although we had a request, we didn't film the exterior of the building.  If anyone is interested, here's a link with a summary and picture of the complex exterior.

 We're loving our new home!  And we have the guest room ready for visitors! ;)

Bogota

Traducción al español está por debajo.

We have enjoyed our time in Bogota, Colombia and are very sad to leave.  We would like to thank our many friends who will always have a special place in our hearts.  Below are some pictures of the many friends (but not all of our friends) that we love and will miss.

Hemos disfrutado de nuestra estancia en Bogotá, Colombia y estámos muy tristes de partir. Nos gustaría agradecer a nuestros muchos amigos que siempre tendrán un lugar especial en nuestros corazones. A continuación se muestra un enlace a algunas fotos de los muchos amigos (pero no son de todos de nuestros amigos) que los amamos y que los vamos a extrañar.

Bogota Friends - haga clic aquí 

Five Good Years

We celebrated our 5-year anniversary this last week and as a surprise, I made Nils this book.  I'm usually not very good at surprising him because I either get too excited or I want to ask his opinion.  This time, I did it!  A special thanks to Elizabeth for allowing me to send it to her in the mail.  Nils picks up all of our mail at work, so depending on when it arrived, he might have guessed I was up to something.  I also need to thank her for the last minute delivery since it arrived ON our anniversary!  Whew!  That was close.

So, here's the book - a summary of the last 5 years.  Sorry I couldn't fit everything into it, or all of you.  But we appreciate everyone's friendships through the years and look forward to more memories in the years to come! 

Two kids - What fun!

We are back in Bogota and are getting settled.  I managed to unpack in one day, but since we will be moving again in a month or two, there is still much to sort.  But that doesn't mean we can't have fun!

For Easter Ceci gave me a facepainting set which I put to use today after Jane's nap. Here is my first creation - a cupcake. 

Jane was such a great model!

As for Harry, he certainly is low-maintenance!  It hasn't been too hard satisfying the needs of two children.  Fortunately their needs are different.

Just look at that cute little guy!

On a different note, we've been changing our diet to reduce our meat and increase our veggies.  Today I noticed that by reducing my portions and increasing variety I had more energy.  We will see if this trend continues or if today was just a fluke.

Baby #2

We had our second baby!  Harry was born February 22 at 5:23pm.  He weighed 7 lbs 1 oz and was a little over 19 inches long.  

Jane saying HI to baby Harry!

Here I am just a week before Harry was born. 

The first time Jane meets Harry 

Baby Harry - 1 day old.