Photos I didn't know where else to put

Okay, so I've done a TON of blogging over the last couple of days. I intend to be better at this in 2009 (I promise), but I just wanted to say how much fun we had with Helmut and Teresa visiting. I know Izzy had a great time getting to know her farmor and farfar, and hopefully she won't take long to warm up the next time we see them (summer in Sweden????) Anyway, there are still a few more photos left that I wanted to show, but didn't exactly know where to put them, so here they are:

Ok, so you can't see this very well, but this is a steaming pot of the most wonderful soup I have ever tasted. I call it "Teresa's Christmas Soup" because she makes it every Christmas, and thankfully, she made it for us while they were here (and I was even able to freeze some until I figure out how to make it myself!)

Here's farmor being silly by putting a coffee filter on her head!


Love how blue her eyes look here


Here we are enjoying a nice evening by the fire....


And here's farmor trying to get Izzy to start crawling. I tell you what, as much time as she spent being held over Christmas, she seems to have decided that even rolling over is too much of an effor for her, and it's MUCH more effective for her to scream for one of us :) I don't see this girl crawling anytime soon....:)


Here she is in the cutest jammies I've seen!!!


And here she is eating an apple with farmor...she loves the Granny Smith kind You could actually see little teeth marks in it from her 2 incoming bottom teeth!!!


Alright, so that should just about catch me up. I've got a few photos from the last week, but my fingers (and brain) are tired, so I'm going to call it a night. Hope you all enjoy the posts, and please, leave comments. Makes me feel like someone's reading this!!!! Take care...love to all!

Traders Point Creamery visit

We weren't really sure what to do the day before Helmut and Teresa went, but I remembered that we had always wanted to go to Traders Point Creamery, so off we went. I'm not going to go into detail about these photos...they kinda speak for themselves..

Joacim's parents visit - Christmas

So now...on to Christmas. We celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve (in keeping with Swedish tradition), and I made a big turkey dinner (in keeping with my tradition). We ALL (except Izzy, thankfully) came down with a nasty cold, so that put a little damper on the festivities, but not entirely.

Here we are sitting down to Christmas dinner


Izzy needed a little extra attention


Here she is opening her first present. She took to this immediately (I assume she got this from me :))


and another present...


She got this adorable food set from Sweden, and it became a favorite toy...the elephant in the background is from pappa


Here we are playing with more presents


Here's farmor enjoying one of her presents!


And here's a video of Izzy and her present.


Here's a video of Izzy chatting. I think this was taken on Christmas morning She's starting the "babababa" phase...melts my heart...


And here's Izzy and Joacim dancing...


After all that excitement...SOME decided to "rest"...here's how it started...


And here's how it ended...


Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Joacim's parents visit - Zoolights and State Museum

Hi all! I was awful about updating the blog over the holidays, but I had a good reason...Joacim's parents were visiting from Sweden!!! This was their first time here, and their first time seeing Izzy, so I've got lots of photos to share!

Helmut and Teresa were due to arrive on Friday, December 19, but problems in Chicago/weather delayed them until Saturday morning. They were put up in a hotel Friday night by the airline, so they were at least able to get some sleep. Once they arrived, they went straight to Izzy. I had just finished feeding her, so she was super happy. I wouldn't say she took to farmore (grandma) and farfar (grandpa) right away with loads of smiles (mostly curious looks), but it didn't take long for them to win her over.

Since the weather was due to turn pretty crappy and cold on that Sunday, we decided to go visit the Zoolights at the Indianapolis Zoo that Saturday night. For those of you that have never been, I highly recommend it. They do a great job of creating a festive holiday atmosphere! And the hot chocolate isn't bad, either :)

Here's Helmut, Teresa, Joacim and Izzy, braving the cold...


We snuck this one with Izzy while his parents went through the desert dome...wayyy too hot for us that night!


And like I said, it didn't take her long to warm up! This is the first night they were here. Izzy loves to be read to, and farfar did a great job!


Here's Izzy, all smiles the next morning. I had gotten her this onesie in Sweden last Christmas, but she had never worn it because it was always too big.


And here she is lauging with farmor...


That Sunday, we just hung out around the home, as a lovely little ice storm had settled in. It was too dangerous to be out driving. However, the next day..guess that would make it Monday, I wanted to go to the Indiana State Museum to get Izzy's picture taken with Santa. I had waited until Helmut and Teresa were here so they could share in this tradition, and I was not to be deterred :) Unfortunately for me, it was a free day at the museum (free day + 1st day of school break = MADHOUSE!!!). After we got upstairs and saw the line, I decided to wait with Izzy in the line and have everyone else tour the museum. It only took us about an hour to get through, and Izzy had a good time checking out everything and everyone, so it was no biggie, and the photo was TOTALLY worth it for me! What do you all think?



This, to us, captures Izzy perfectly. She's so curious about everything!

Here she is with farfar in the dinosaur area.


After the museum, we wanted to take Helmut and Teresa to the Rathskellar. Joacim and I had never been there, and since Helmut is German, we thought it would be fun. However, here's a little tip: ask the person making reservations if it's a show night at the Murat. We didn't realize this, and when we got there, they tried to seat us right in front of the door. Not super with an infant and a negative wind chill. So I asked them to re-seat us, and they ended up taking us upstairs to this bizarre little room. We were going to the Rathskellar for the German atmosphere...not some strange English tea room vibe!!! We weren't happy..and it was cold up there too..food cold also. All in all, not a great experience. But we'll definitely know next time!

Here's Izzyboo with her pappa at the restaurant.


more to come...