More fall fun

Oblivion

James just said something about this blog fading into oblivion, and he's pretty much right about that. I'm putting all my energy into Dear Sabrina and hardly have the energy for this anymore. But I get a lot of great shots of the boys that don't find over there, so I'll keep putting them up here.

You've probably noticed that I have way more pictures of Leif--he's just so much easier to photograph right now. August often doesn't want his picture taken, and he's so much faster, so it's quite difficult to get shots of him. But it's not for lack of trying!

Leif, the roaring lion

Today is Leif's second birthday. I put a post up on Dear Sabrina about it -- check it out. But here's a little something special for you:

Sailing and Gröna Lund

In lieu of an actual post here, I'm putting two links to Dear Sabrina so you can see all the cool pics from our wonderful weekend. This weekend we have friends from our time in New Jersey visiting, so it should be another great one!

Sailing in the archipelago
Gröna Lund

And a couple other fun photos:

Sorry

I know, it's been ages. I'm working so hard at Dear Sabrina that I barely get over here. But I have one little photo I want to share with you, because today it's making me so happy.

Michigan

A couple quick photos from our time in Michigan and our flight back. More to come soon (I hope!). 

Photos from our sailing weekend

I've been working my butt off over at Dear Sabrina to get it launched and haven't had a chance to post here. Finally, a few photos from sailing on Sweden's west coast. (I did a more comprehensive post about it on DS, so check it out).

An end-of-summer catch-up

It might not be the end of summer where you are, but it certainly is here. The kids are back to dagis and the temperature has dropped about ten degrees; our neighbors are walking around in their fall jackets today!

The boys are fantastic. They've had so much fun together this summer and we've loved watching their relationship grow. They show a lot of care and concern for each other -- but they also still fight, about toys, words, everything. We went camping twice and spent about a week in England, as well as some other local trips to the city to see friends. And we just got back from a long weekend on Sweden's west coast, where we spent a few days with our wonderful neighbors on their boat. It was a fantastic trip, and I hope to get pictures up soon.

I suppose I owe you an explanation for why I haven't posted in so long. There have been a couple major developments here that I'd like to share.

First: I'm pregnant! It's still a bit early - 10 weeks - so we're in the cautiously optimistic phase. We haven't told the kids yet, and we're going to wait another few weeks before we do. If all goes well, the baby arrive in the first week of March next year.

This pregnancy, so far, has been much more difficult than my previous two, and I've had a very hard time this summer with the kids being home and me feeling so poorly. James did essentially all of the cooking and cleaning over the summer while I moaned on the couch. I'm still feeling quite exhausted but my nausea doesn't seem to be as bad as it was. I'm hoping to get a huge boost of energy in the next few weeks, which will set me up for...

....launching a real lifestyle blog! NOT just a blog about the kids, but something more thoughtful and comprehensive about my/our life. It's called Dear Sabrina. I've been working quite hard on it the last few months, setting up the design, figuring out how to run a website and add all the plugins and widgets and the hundreds of other things there are to do when setting up a real website. Please check it out and comment on the posts that interest you!

At the same time, however, I'm preparing to start grad school. I was accepted into a master's program on Media and Creative Studies -- I still don't even know what that means! The program is supposed to be full-time and it's distance-based, meaning I can do all of my coursework at home. The program is at Malmö University in the south of Sweden, and I hope we use this as an opportunity to go visit.

I honestly have no idea how all of this will play out -- it's going to be incredibly demanding to write the new blog (which I am treating like a real, official job, even though there isn't yet any money coming from it) and go to grad school while being pregnant. I'll have to see how I can manage and handle the competing priorities.

I don't know what that means for this blog. I'll try to keep posting pictures when I can, as I put more personal photos here than I will on Dear Sabrina; but I don't know if I can manage two blogs, two kids, grad school, and growing a baby all at the same time.

Back home from England

We returned yesterday afternoon from our week-long trip to England. The boys had so much fun running around and riding on the tractor with Grandad, and eating lots of yummy food. Here are a couple pics from our week, with more to come:

Our first summer camping trip in 2016

We just did a quick overnight camping trip about an hour's drive from our house and we had a GREAT time. The boys loved every minute of it and found all sorts of games to play in the tent and with a big rock. I can't wait to go again.

Our spot was right by a little beach, all set up with a fire ring and makeshift benches.

This little boy is such a heartbreaker (breaking my heart, that is).

He really wanted the camera, and he really wasn't going to get it.

James, relaxing (he doesn't do that very much).

Blueberry picking, of course.

(I know, his hair needs a trim.)

Dancing in my lap!