Santa Lucia

There are many benefits to marrying a real Swedish citizen, one of them happened this morning. Yesterday was a day in Sweden to remember Santa Lucia, who I won't pretend to actually know anything about, except that her name means "bringer of light" because it's the same as Lukas'. But the tradition is that some people in the house (I think traditionally it should have been me...) get up early and bake Advent Wreath (ask Daniel to pronounce this in Swedish). When the delicious marzipan sweet yeast bread is done, early risers put on all white clothes, carry candles, sing a lovely tune about the day and carry the wreath to the ones still in bed. 

I did notice Daniel was up extra early, and I did notice a strange combination of white clothes stacked on the kitchen counter before Daniel shoed me back upstairs and I did smell something delicious, but never did I imagine it would involve the short Swede pictured below carrying a candle with a church robe on (which Papa sneakily made out of a curtain the day before, which I also noticed and searched for in the pantry but didn't know what to look for exactly...) followed by my personal Swede singing a lovely tune carrying a beautiful gluten-free Advent Wreath with my morning coffee. 

If you're not already married, wait for a Swede.

Since We Returned to MN...

Here is the comprehensive account of all we've done since returning here:

We enjoyed a very long fall, full of warm weather and beautiful leaves for an extra long time.

 We adjusted to being harnessed in all the time. Bunny has helped.

We've spent lots of time at various playgrounds.

We've cut our hair. Mama tried to grow it out to see if those beautiful baby locks would come back, but they did not. So we watched a youtube about firetrucks and ate chocolate while Mama did the deed. Then got to bathe in the kitchen sink to immediately remove the itchiness of freshly cut hair all over that ever so tender skin.

Our big cousins, Isaiah, Elias and Micah passed on their train table to us. We are delighted. All forms of cars (train cars, firetruck cars, pickup truck cars) are our favorite, and "khar" is our favorite thing to say, awake and in our sleep. 

November ended and it is now cold. We are adjusting with big cozy blankets wrapped around us and Bunny tucked into the warm jacket. Our newest accurately used word is "cold".

We have had beautiful snow. Last Sunday and today Sunday we went sledding at two different parks. Cries of "weee!" have been heard. We have also discovered frozen fingers and had the other kind of crying. 

Dinner Time (and Clean Up)

Bath Time

Around the House

Getting ready to go to the roof to enjoy the cool monsoon air before bed:

Sometimes cool kids ride their bikes backwards:

Another new trick: pulling wheeled toys by their strings:

A New Trick

Our House

We are very pleased with our house. 2/3 sides of the house have green-facing windows. The house is new so it's clean and fairy bugless - we tamper with the idea of sleeping without mosquito nets! And it is a place of peace, something we asked God to do.

Living Room
(We don't own couches, but Charity gave this nice tent to Lukas -
a nice diversion for lots of indoor hours!)

Dining Area
(built in cabinets on left are real nice,
that's the living room on the right)

Lukas' room
(I love those curtains. Flag banner from Kari H, floor quilt from Lorina)

Our Bedroom
(I also love these curtains, and the veranda and window to it's right,
not pictured, let in lots of sun and green)

Office / Laundry
(Each bedroom has its own bathroom, this one is for washing clothes!
We hang dry inside now - monsoon!)

Kitchen
(Even our kitchen has a full length window looking out to green!
A unique thing about this kitchen is how high the counters are -
they come almost to our hips!)