Tillie Talks

Today, we were strolling around Excelsior by the lake and came across this event called the "Memorial Day Murph" and it was INSANE. 1 mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups and 300 squats, and then another 1 mile run. We parked the stroller and the girls were both enthralled watched the athletes do their thing. As we were walking away, Matilda asked why they were doing that and we launched into the exercise..get stronger...healthy bodies spiel.

Fast forward 10 minutes when we get her into the swing (which we are pushing) and Matilda says:
"Now, I get my exercise in the swing."

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At the dinner table, after a small scolding from Nate--Nate starts winking at her trying to lighten her sour mood, and she says (with all of the disdain of a 13-year old girl): "Quit blinking at me, Daddy."

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While watching two ducks that had landed in our front yard, Matilda really wanted to go pet them, but was nervous. So naturally she said: "You go pet them, Bea-lo". Already sending in the little sister to do her dirty work.....

(Bea-lo--Matilda's unique nickname for Bea--springing from nowhere but her little imaginative mind).

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Tonight, while playing outside, we saw a guy without a shirt, and pretty wild, long gray hair drive buy on a bike and Matilda looks at me and says: "Why a wolf riding a bike?"

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Ya Sure, Ya Betcha!

We were overdue for a weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's, so what better time to go than when the 'big' Syttende Mai festival, where we can celebrate all things Norwegian heritage.

In my mind, it was going to be SO fun to take Matilda to the Kiddie Parade.

In reality, this is what it looked like:

The band wasn't even that big or loud. But Matilda still wasn't super jazzed by it.

UNTIL the suckers came out.....

and she got her second-ever taste of a lollipop.

Then, THEN came the real norwegian food.

Lefse, some nasty ham spread sandwich and rommegrot--which is basically flour, cream, butter and cinnamon.

I'll give you one guess which one was Matilda's favorite.

Ms. Carb Lover, on the other hand, was all about the lefse.

And Matilda's lefse.

In fact, anyone's lefse. If she could see it, it was technically hers.

It was so fun to get to see Randy and Marna. 

I was so impressed that Marna didn't have to hide her face watching Matilda go down the giant inflatable slide... :)

Emily and Meghan--I'm breaking her in for when her grandkids come around!

And back at the Ekern ranch, we taught the girls how to play bags.

Although the game looked a little different with these two making the rules...

Bea methodically, and persistently pulled each bag out of the hole.

Matilda on the other hand liked to run from box to box and chuck a bean bag at Bea.

Go figure.

Grandma had lots of flowers to plant, so of course Bea was willing to pitch in and lend a hand.

Or at least grab a handful of dirt and shove it in her mouth.

Show Ready

Our life the past two weeks has revolved around keeping our house 'show ready' so that if someone decides on a whim at 10AM on a Tuesday to want to walk through our house at the chance of considering purchasing it, they don't walk into naked baby-dolls strewn about the floor, cheerios underfoot, or a diaper that missed the garbage.

Don't get me wrong. I know that all of this is feeding the bigger vision of selling this house to move to the big house.

But I can tell you that I have about had it with un-installing, re-installing and un-installing both of the girls chairs on our table. With covering, uncovering and recovering Bea's windows each and every day. With trying to entertain our children with absolutely zero toys upstairs.

This isn't so much a problem for Matilda since playing for her is bossing us around and running 'morning meetings', having us do broadway-like renditions of her favorite songs or simply sitting and reading books for large, glorious chunks of time. But Bea? No. She is a mover. And explorer. She wants things to touch, to move, to feed her curiousity.

So needless to say she has been a bit of a terrorist the past few weeks. All she does is sit at the door with her coat draped around her neck, attempting to put her shoes one, and crying. Pointing outside, waving bye-bye, blowing kisses and signing all-done. As if to say: "I am literally doing EVERYTHING I can to tell you what I want. Because sitting in this boring ass house isn't cutting it".

We have had a good amoung of showings but no bites. So for now, we continue to keep the house show-ready. And pray for more nice weather so we can get the beastly little one outside.

Mother's Day Takeover

OK, as per tradition, I (Nate) feel an incredible urge to takeover the blog on this, the eve before mother's day.  As you may or may not have noticed, life gets pretty crazy around the Hanson household these days and tomorrow will make no exception for a young mother to truly be recognized for how amazing she is.

I mean I could probably bribe Tillie with toast and peanut butter to get her to say "I love you mama" or if I am extra ambitious I could rip Bea from her crib in the morning and rush her to her mama's side for that extra special early morning snuggle, which by the way, is ahhhmazing.  But doing these things would be fleeting and while they would feel special in the moment, I just want to take a minute to tell everyone why Greta is such an amazing mother!

When Daddy sings

When Mommy Sings

1) Family Dance Parties - Greta can boogey, there is no doubt about that.  But Tillie (thanks Disney!) has elevated our random family dance parties into all out Broadway show renditions of the likes of "Frozen", "Three Little Pigs", and "Hakuna Matata".  Mind you our children haven't seen the Lion King, but Greta does such an amazing job jazz dancing and singing Hakuna Matata it is now performed 2x a day at 7:00a and 7:00p - Free admission of course.





2) She is THE Teacher - Ok, so Tillie is clearly her mother's child.  There is order and organization in our life because of both of them.  Namely, each morning we have morning meetings to learn our ABCs, Days of the Week and Weather - this is all Tillie, but Mama is mostly nominated to be the teacher.  The girls love to learn from her, they love to read books with her and most of all they just plain love her.  It's because Greta dedicates each spare of moment of her life in between drying her hair and packing their daycare bags to giving them love and attention.

3) Her Creativity Kills it! - If you haven't been privy to the creative side of Greta, you are missing out.  My versions of playing with girls generally involves building, breaking or jumping on things.  I am constantly amazed at the random games Greta makes up to play with the girls. I seriously can't even describe any of them because they are so random but magically turn freak out time into play time in no time flat.

Greta, you make everyday in our nest better than the previous.  I know if the girls could, they would tell you how much you mean to them, how you care for them, how you teach them, how you're silly with them and how you help them thrive.  You really are the best mother, I love you!

Happy Mother's Day!

love Nate

Family Photos!

As Bea's 1st Birthday came and went, it really starting gnawing on me that we hadn't booked pictures. Because of course, "we did it for Matilda" and I am my Mother's daughter so the "fairness" devil appeared on my shoulder and told me what a terrible Mom I would be if we didn't.

And so, as luck would have it, one of the teachers at the girls school takes photos. I knew she was good, but honestly I didn't know how good. And let me tell you---she is good. But the best part was that she was actually able to get Ms. Serious to smile because Matilda knows her. It was the perfect situation!

We may not have nailed the family photo in terms of it being the perfect smiling family shot, but I think we did actually nail it in terms of how life is normally like for us....check it out on the side bar.

So enjoy my photo frenzy of these two amazing little girls, who certainly know their way right into the center of my heart, and Chelsea (the photographer) managed to capture them perfectly!!