Random summer post....

This post isn't about anything at all....they're just a collection of photos taken at random and different times that I want to remember :)

Could she be ANY cuter?

A trip to the zoo, visiting the cows (my favorite part of the zoo)

Doesn't this just scream summer?

Clearly, Izzy loves the boat as much as Joacim does (she's watching an iPad under the towel...the sun was getting in her way that particular day :)

Photos from Sweden

I talked to Joacim and Izzy about an hour ago, and they were getting ready to head to the airport in Copenhagen.  I can't believe these 2 weeks are gone.  Like the blink of an eye....gone.  And I got absolutely NOTHING done, except A LOT of quiet TV watching and snuggling with the dogs.  Izzy, however, looks like she had an AMAZING trip.  She was really sad this morning when she realized she was leaving farmor and farfar, and decided she wanted to stay.  Clearly, I'm lower on the totem pole than I'd like to be, but I LOVE the fact that our live allows us to provide her with these opportunities.  Okay, enough words...on to the photos

after bath

This is a dress she got for Christmas that's a wee bit too big, but she can still pull it off :)

Visiting with Janne and Marie and her daughters.  They're coming to visit us this June :)

Kalle.....sweet Kalle

Facetiming with Izzy

Izzy trying to peer into my brain

Izzy at some reptile zoo...no idea where this was, but Joacim loves stuff like this so, naturally, she does too.

Izzy with Farmor

Gwen

This is Izzy eating.  I'm thinking that Gwen was a good influence :)

How great is it to have a playmate that's nearly your exact same age (they're 5 days apart) that you're related to!

Apparently these tattoos are not strictly an American thing.

We gave Farfar this picture of Izzy for his birthday

Exploring the loft

I just think this is a funny look on her face....

They went to Disney on Ice while visiting.  I actually haven't heard too many stories about this yet, but I'm sure I will when she gets home.

Self-portrait

Visiting Martin, Kali and Ia.  She was just a BABY when I saw them last....look at how BIG she's gotten!

I'll take a flag like this over one of those blinky-wand things they sell

And a little snuggle with both before bed.

i'm glad I had this time to myself, but I'll be glad to have my family home too.  I know that Joacim took a bunch of videos, and I'll post those later....these photos all came across Photostream via IOS, but it doesn't pull over videos, so I'll have to wait.

Her first big adventure

Izzy and Joacim left for Sweden on Monday.  He's finishing up the 2nd part of a training class, and she's visiting Farmor and Farfar.

I'm sitting here watching the rest of a movie that I started last October.  On a Wednesday night.  By myself.  And it's just weird.

Packing up her stuff was the easy part.

It was leaving her at the airport that wrecked me.

Thank goodness Joacim is trying his best to make sure I'm on the journey with her as much as possible.  On the train between terminals at O'Hare...

Zoned out on the TV

I think if I walked by her on the plane looking like this, I might kidnap her :)

 

And off the plane in Copenhagen

And completely passed out on Farmor and Farfar's sofa

I'm happiest because she's happy.  And we're actually having conversations on the phone.  I can hear her smile whenever we talk, and this is a great experience for her.

What we've been up to while Joacim's been away

Well crap....I totally forgot about some of these draft posts I had.  Guess it's time to catch up again!

As I posted earlier, Joacim went to Sweden a couple of weeks ago, and this is a little post to remember all of the fun things that Izzy and I did.

we were painting our little rock family that Izzy's collected

and then she got a little silly

okay, a LOT silly

here's my little Rock Star before I took her to daycare one day

just something pretty I happened to see

Joacim's trip left the dog-walking up to us

dog coma and iPad face

we decided to construct a little Santa House from a kit (sadly purchased last year)

ugh...so freaking CUTE when sleeping...

bed head

this is TOTALLY something I'd wear

I had to do a little "surgery" on Alfie, our Elf on the Shelf (FINALLY, a Pinterest WIN!)

cat in the box

another dog walk

apparently she and Joacim go to this tractor quite frequently on their walks, so Izzy decided that we had to too.

Whew...we did SO many things while he was gone.  I was on vacation, so that was nice.  We had originally planned on driving back to Indiana, but I was a little nervous making the drive by myself.  I hadn't been feeling all that great, and I just didn't think it was smart, so we stayed home.  I got the house decorated for Christmas, had a cleaning service come, had a window-washing service come (outside only, folks), hung the lights OUTSIDE ALL BY MYSELF (with a paralyzing fear of heights), and took care of Izzy.  It was hectic, yet relaxing at the same time.  I'm so thankful that my body seemed to know that Joacim was gone and behave ;)