An April view outside the house

This is what our yard looks like at the end of April. Can't wait to fill up the herb beds with vegetables and herbs and flowers!

Latest treasure in the garden

We have lots and lots of Lillies of the Valley - they suddenly sprouted up everywhere! They're soooo beautiful and bring back memories of 'secret' growing places we knew of back home when growing up...

Fun in the sun...

...after days and days of rain it was time to enjoy the warm sun last Sunday. Grandma was still visiting, and mamma tried to get a tan on her white white legs...

Grandma's puppet theater

Grandma Kathleen, with excellent help from Mehri, performed the Rumpelstiltskin story with her home-made puppets to Anika's birthday party friends! The puppets must be 25-30 years old, and they still capture any audience...

Anika 2 years!!

Hurray, Anika turned two on the 22nd!
She had six friends visiting; Ella, Ciara, Christopher, Ansel, Tadeusz (not in picture) and Abby (not in picture, came later). They had delicious chocolate cake and muffins.

Pappa's garden helper

Anika loves helping pappa when he does yard work, and it is great fun to explore the worms that come out when he digs in the dirt! Even more fun is it to run into the house and show the baby worm or mama worm or papa worm to mamma, who's trying to take a nap on the sofa (but opens her eyes and sees a worm dangling over her face...)

Our cutiepie having fun

Anika had lots of fun the last few weekends. First at Christopher's birthday party jumping in the moon bounce and eating delicious muffins with icing. The following weekend it was time for the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt, and more muffins with icing...

Christopher 2 YEARS OLD

Finally, here are some pics of Christopher, Anika's first 'boyfriend'. They have had a fall-out lately because Anika has been pushing Christopher when he has visited, but it seemed to be all forgotten at his b-day party :)

Bushes/trees in bloom

I have no idea what the names of these bushes and trees are... but they sure are beautiful!

More flowery surprises!

After a week of nice daytime temperatures (mid 70s Fahrenheit or lower 20s degrees Celcius) and some overnight rain, more and more bushes are flowering and plants are coming up from the ground. Here is a comparison of two items - the pics are taken 10 days apart.

Pregnant lady... now passed 6 months

My belly is really starting to pop out, and a lot of my coworkers don't think I will last until late July with the size belly I already have... I guess there is truth in the sayings that pregnant women are bigger than last time they were pregnant because skin and muscles are more flexible next time around. I just hope I won't have to give birth to a super big baby!

The picture is taken at approx. 25 weeks (my due date is approx. July 21). Sorry I look a little tired on this picture, I think it was the day after I had been up 1-3am the night before, woke up hungry and then I couldn't get back to sleep...

Wheel barrow fun

Ansel + parents visited us a Sunday afternoon the other weekend and the kids enjoyed a ride in the wheel barrow!