Fish Jello; aka Lutefisk

I remember going to my Oma's house when I was a little kid and watching the "grown-ups" eat lutefisk. I remember watching them eat, and I also remember the smell. It was strong, it was definitely lutefisk. The odor was kind of fishy, but also kind of something else; somehow it reminded me of the smell of play-doh mixed with maybe a cleaning detergent of some sort. I tried it a couple of times and wondered: What are these people thinking?? Maybe its one of those adult things that you grow into like coffee or beer? As I grew into liking coffee, and beer, unfortunately (or fortunately) it never happened with lutefisk.

Lutefisk is a traditional Scandinavian dish that is essentially dried whitefish that is soaked in lye. It is soaked in water first and then lye. It causes the fish to swell and I learned actually decreases the protein content by 50% with creates a lovely jello-like consistency (mmmm... MN sarcasm at play here). After its soaked in lye, it is basically poisonous and will corrode substances that it comes into contact with (once again, yum). Therefore, before it can be ingested by us mammals, it must be soaked in water again for several days to make sure it doesn't give us lucky eaters severe stomach pain, vomiting, and chemical burns. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lutefisk)

So it's hard not to wonder,  why do people eat lutefisk?? I still ponder this every holiday. I understand that centuries ago Scandinavians ate the stuff because it was cheap and they could save it through the winter using readily available lye, but why continue? Every year my parents attend the lutefisk dinner at a large Lutheran church in Minneapolis; there are actually police directing traffic. We attended a family luncheon this year that served lutefisk as a special (and three out of 6 adults at our table ordered it, and Stella even ate some!). While I usually take a mere bite to satiate my family's expectations, this delicacy continues to be hard to swallow.

Dave's lutefisk entree at Jax Cafe in Northeast Mpls; at least the Lefse looks tasty! :)

There is a lot of prose and mockery out there about this stuff. Maybe that's what makes it attractive. But it's also a symbol of strength, it's a tradition that marks our heritage, a symbol of respect for how far our ancestors have come... Or if you ask my dad, he eats it because he genuinely likes the stuff!

So while I still shudder and nostrils cringe at a looming plate of this Scandinavian delight, I have respect for this bloated little piece of our history. Does that mean I will eventually grow into liking it? Probably not, but I will continue to take my bite every holiday, and relish in this finny tradition that is so easy to love.. to hate.

 Post-meal at Jax Cafe with Mom and Dad Thron!

 So in parting, I quote a fellow Minnesotan, Garrison Keillor, in saying "It can be tasty, but the statistics aren’t on your side. It is the hereditary delicacy of Swedes and Norwegians who serve it around the holidays, in memory of their ancestors, who ate it because they were poor. Most lutefisk is not edible by normal people. It is reminiscent of the afterbirth of a dog or the world's largest chunk of phlegm."  Maybe that's a little harsh, but we Minnesotan's love the dry humor don't you know?? And maybe it's not edible by normal people, but who said we were normal up here (in MN) anyway??

Ah, the Memories

When we were driving from the airport on the way to my parents house we passed the playground a couple blocks from their house. As we went by- the girls started proclaiming- "Nico?? Luna??" I couldn't believe it. The last time we saw Nico and Luna was over 5 months ago. And they all went to that specific park maybe twice. And, to top it off, it's not like the neighborhood looked the same- I mean, we were there in July and now there are no leaves and a blanket of white!

It was just a reminder that my kids are truly kids now- no longer my little babies. And they remember stuff!! Uh oh. I mean, of course that's great, but it makes one think... "Have I done anything lately that I just assumed they wouldn't notice (or remember)?" Like, not wash my hands before I eat? Or say something mean to the car in front of me on the road? Or not eat all my vegetables????

On that note, it's no myth that our children are little mirrors of us(especially at this age). And I have seen them do goofy things and wonder... "where did they learn to do that?" such as Lucy saying "Alright!!! OK!!!" or Stella giving a huge "fake" smile with her eyes all squinted. Then I find myself a few days later making a joke to Stella and I can feel my own face making that same smile with squinty eyes. And I notice that after I strapped the girls in their car seats and plop my self down in the driver's seat that I say "Alright! OK!" So once again- "where did they learn to do that?", hmmm, I wonder:)

As far as memory goes...Is there an age that you can safely say memories begin? I don't think so. I remember random events or "pictures" in my past, I don't exactly know how old I was in my earliest memory, but that's hard to say for sure (is it really a memory? Or just a memory of a picture or story I was told?). Needless to say, the girls definitely remember their cousins now (along with Grandma and Grandpa Treiber, Grandma and Opa Thron, Aunt Becky, Uncle Paul etc.) even though there are months between visits. And every day since we have been here (in MN) they ask me where their cousins are and when we can play!!

Nico, Luna, Lucy, Stella, Opa

Nico showing all the little ladies his iPad

Christmas cookies!!

Minnesota greets Baltimorons with lots of the White Stuff!

The eve prior to our MSP arrival (1 week ago now) we hear the news- it's snowing. It's no surprise as it is Minnesota; and it is December. But going from the coast inland and upward, it was quite dramatic to see the snow pancake on my parent's patio when we arrived! Lucy and Stella have never seen snow (or at least do not remember if they did). We slid open the patio door so they could touch some and they both started to cry (before they even touched it). It took 2 more days before they finally realized that this fluffy white freezing cottony stuff was pretty cool (no pun intended).

We have yet to hit the slopes with the plastic saucers and Frosty has not yet come alive- but we have done a fair amount of stomping through the slush and sliding (mostly unintentionally) on ice. Hopefully we will get another layer soon to cover up the now graying of the snow banks.

 We are renting our own apartment this visit. It's right on the Mississippi and we are on the 20th floor, so needless to say, we have quite the view. It takes some of the stress off the family. It can't be fun to put up with two 2-year-olds for 24 hours a day (especially if you are not used to it!)

I took a chance and posted a "housing wanted" ad on Craigslist with the price we were willing to pay to rent someone's space. A woman contacted us the next day and said she goes abroad every year over this time and wanted to rent out her place but didn't want to deal with the hassle of finding someone- so it was really win-win! We have two bedrooms and two baths which is a bit more than we would have staying with fam; there is a workout room on the 24th floor overlooking the Mpls skyline and there is actually a continental breakfast every weekday morning (and no this is not a hotel).

Even though we will be here for a total of one month, time always flies when we are here. So hopefully we won't get too comfy in our digs and just stare out the window all day!

BEWARE:If your kids aren't sleeping during naptime

The image and content in this post may not be suitable for all audiences.

It was a lovely Monday, with blue skies and temps in the mid-60s (not bad for December eh?). I had a fairly productive morning despite a few squabbles between the ladies over some plastic monkeys. So, you know those activities that we all dread, like balancing your checkbook, cleaning the toilet, and, of course, finding, copying, printing, and sending out flex spending account substantiation forms along with the necessary receipts so you can get your own money back??  Well, I did complete the latter.

Next, we took a trip outside for a bit to absorb the warmth and sunshine. We hit the road to do some errands and the girls were very well behaved, even when they had to share one of those cars that are attached to the carts in the grocery store. We did have a sippy cup go overboard; I didn't realize it until we got back to the car; it's probably nestled in with the bottom row of (let's tempt your kids) candy in the check out line. But other than that, nothing extraordinary.

We get back home and it's nap time.
This is where it begins.
The jumping. The laughing. Mom going upstairs, opening the door and saying "nap". This goes on for about an hour, and then I decide to stop going into their room. I hear them awake- talking, giggling- but I still let them be. After 45 minutes, I figure I might as well just get them up.

As I approach their room, there is an odor wafting from under the door... I enter, and before I turn on the light I know someone has done their deed. This is fine, they are in diapers, and *!@$ happens right? Well, I turn on the light and I was frozen. The girls wore huge grins and were saying "good morning, good morning!" (which they say whenever they wake up regardless of the time of day). Both of my children were wearing no pants, no diapers. One of my children was also wearing an exorbitant amount of....feces. It was in her hair, all over her face, on her hands, and almost completely covering both her legs from thigh down to her toes. It didn't end there. There was #2 all over her sheets and blankets, and virtually every single slat on the front of the crib (both sides of the slats mind you). There was crap on the curtains, the cushioned rocker, the carpet, and all over the books and babies that were once in the crib but were thrown on the floor prior to my arrival. There was excrement on crib #2, on the carpet, and on the cribs dust ruffle. There was POOP everywhere.

Now we have had a few instances where the diapers have come off and we are not happy when we enter the room. But there has never been anything quite like this. All I could do was laugh. I did get my camera. The girls thought this whole thing was hilarious, and apparently there had been a significant amount of playing with the poop. They were saying "cheese" while I was documenting the aftermath. And then I called Dave so find out his ETA as this was going to be a long, long cleanup. Fortunately Dave was on his way. What a way to come home after a long day at work eh? He took his soiled offspring straight into the shower as I began the cleanup.

Dinner was not made; take-out was ordered. I cleaned just the crib for almost 3 hours, slat by slat, first one side, then the other. I tried to do a wipe down right away while it was still "wet" but that didn't do much good as it dried very quickly. It takes A LOT of scrubbing to get this stuff off a wooden crib apparently! The windows were opened, the curtains were washed, the sheets were shaken in the tub and washed, the babies were sterilized, the books wiped down, the floors swept and swiffered, the carpet scrubbed etc. etc.

Four hours from discovery, the cleanup was complete. There is still a bit of a stench (have no idea from where) but hopefully it will fade with a day of windows open tomorrow. I did take several pictures of the destruction, but I figure I will spare future humiliation and keep those in a private folder for now anyway. Let's hope a disaster of this magnitude never strikes again:)

Trek to the Tundra

As we are gearing up to make the trek back in December, I have come to terms with the obvious... that we will be leaving the mild temps of the mid-Atlantic, to join our family in the cold tundra of Minnesota.

Naturally one might think, "wait a minute Mrs. T, you did grow up in MN, you can deal with it!"; well, it's not that simple. It took approximately two holidays away from MN for me to lose my arctic tolerance. The first time back in 2006 was relatively harmless. But by the time the December festivities drew me back in 2007, I had lost something that most native Minnesotans would not expect to lose in such a short time. I had lost something that I would boast about (and still do without people suspecting the truth) how easy it is for me to handle the cold here because of my origins. When people complain that it might get into the 30s, or (oh no!!) the 20s, I just chuckle and say, "that's nothing compared to where I'm from!" But it happened, I lost my tolerance to the cold.

Maybe I will blame it on getting older. I mean, it is no coincidence that Florida and Arizona have strong senior populations. Maybe every few years you gain, you lose a few degrees in temperature tolerance. But, I think that's probably bogus. The truth as I see it, is that those folks that made the move from the North to the South were drawn by the idea, and then it didn't take long for them to lose the tolerance as well.

However, while my thick skin for the cold has declined, I know I can get it back again. It's pretty simple really. A person takes a mere 21 days to form a habit, so why was it so surprising to me to lose my tolerance to cold, which is a habit in some form? If you are used to something, if you are around it frequently, its no problem, When you are separated from it, you realize, wow, it takes a certain kind of person to not notice this doesn't it?

So where does that leave me? First, it leaves me with an appreciation for my fellow Minnesotan. And second, it makes me think about that fact that while I shiver a little more when I go back, I still don't hate it. It's really the opposite.

What does the cold in my home state mean to me? It means another season is coming. It means winter wonderland parties, ice skating, and sledding. It means the winter stew will taste that much better, the hot cocoa (or spiked eggnog) will warm the soul that much more. It means the holiday season is near. It means trees will be trimmed and fires will be built. It means thick wool sweaters will be worn and hot baths will be savored. It means communities will join together in shoveling, taking snow days, and building snowmen.

So while wet boots and frozen fingers are no fun, there is a lot of warmth in the cold winter season in Minnesota. And from a gal that happens to live in a slightly warmer place at the moment, there's nothing like warmth from my MN family and friends- naturally, there's no place like home. We will see you soon!

They're Creepy and they're Crawly

Happy Halloween!
So even though its been less than 24 hours from all the windy craziness, we still celebrated Halloween- moooo wahhahahaha!

I have been on a new nickname for the girls in the last several months. BUGS. In the love-bug sort of way of course:) I have no idea how I started saying it, but it took. Hey Bug! How are my bugs? Are you two my little love bugs? I love my bugs! One might think that we chose these costumes based on this nickname. We did not. It just happened. And then I had an AH HA moment several days later.

Stella= Bumblebee; Lucy= Ladybug; Mom= ???

We hit a whopping 4 houses during our outing, but, it was all neighbors we know and hang out with so it was fun!

They were all about knocking at the door. They said trick or treat (really more just like "treat"). And they held out their mini pails. Lucy was all about taking the candy. Stella was all about giving her candy to the person that opened the door- love it!

We had a little issue once we got home and actually let them eat some candy (before dinner- my fault) and of course they (really just Lucy) wanted more, more, more:) They forgot about it after a while and just continued buzzing around.

Hurricane Sandy

I only started hearing about the hurricane late last week (apparently I have been a bit of a news-a-phobe lately, especially when it comes to the weather). However, when I started reading, watching, and listening to reports of the imminent destruction that Sandy WOULD cause, I couldn't stop reading, watching and listening.

Last year, for Hurricane Irene, we were out of town for the hustling preparations and waiting, and then the aftermath that included a fair amount of destruction, but also relief (as it wasn't as bad as anticipated). So while the storm was supposed to hit our neck of the woods (Baltimore), we should have felt safe (which we did), hundreds of miles away in the Catskills. Of course the irony was that our home in Charm City was fine with no damage and not even a power outage; and the cabin where we were staying way up North flooded and we had to evacuate.

This year, all the radar maps illustrated this mega (and perfect) storm Sandy to be coming straight for us. Then they showed a side by side comparison of Irene and Sandy; Sandy was twice the size. We received automated calls from our electric company telling us that our power WILL most likely disappear. The water aisle at our grocery store was COMPLETELY empty. The ATMs were out of money. The lines for gas were LONG. Work was cancelled (which is very rare for the hubs' co.) Washington DC, Philly, and New York City all shut down their subway systems. All flights were cancelled. The President addressed citizens with the obvious inflection of: this is a HUGE storm and if you don't take it seriously, you will be sorry.

So Saturday and Sunday were spent prepping. We got the flashlights, kept our cell phones (and some old phones) plugged in- (we don't have a land line), got the flashlights out and extra batteries, found our emergency radio contraption (btw thanks Mom and Dad!), found water, turned the fridge up, packed up the patio, filled the bathtub etc. Then I took a hot bath. We waited. Water started coming through our window frames. We got towels; the towels got soaked. Dave weatherstripped the windows. Power was still on. We waited. The winds that were howling through the window panes gave a very seasonal haunt to our house. Every now and then you would feel a draft as if it was coming straight through the glass. Police, fire, and rescue sirens were consistent. Power was still on. We waited. It was a challenge to bring Penny outside to do her doggy thing with the pools of water and 60+ MPH winds. We heard that the high tide mixed with the full moon was the next big question mark. High tide in Baltimore City was 7:45 AM Tuesday. Lying in bed trying to sleep with the howling was not very successful. At least the "wind" noise was calming to the mini Tribes. The power was still on. We were still waiting.

All of a sudden Tuesday arrived and it was over. It was still raining a bit, but the winds virtually gone, and only small branches lay strewn across our lawn.Our car (which has been leaking during rainstorms) had no evidence of water, the power stayed on, and the puddles receded.There was minimal flooding in Baltimore City. The suburbs weren't so lucky, but they were very fortunate compared to other cities on the eastern seaboard.

We were prepared and nothing happened (to us). Thank God and thank those of you who prayed for Sandy to keep her distance from our family. While we were fortunate, I can now understand the fear that one goes through when trying to protect their family and home; many people out there were not so lucky.

Thank goodness the injured/ death toll is not higher, but is there really any number that is OK?
Some photos of the destruction.

Tartine Bread

I finally spent the time to go through all the steps to make my first loaf of bread from my Tartine Bread book! The book was created by the owners of the Tartine Bakery in San Francisco that bake the well-renowned (what seems like should be simple) crusty-on-the-outside-soft-on-the-inside bread.

Now, I am not new to bread-making as you can read from my post on bread last year (well, I guess I am pretty new to it, last summer is when I started). But I am very new to this particular- very time consuming- process.

The first step was to make the starter, which turned out to be a little more than a week-long process. It consists of merely water and flour and it draws in natural bacteria from your hands and the air to create a wild yeast. It sounds sort of gross, but that's how all great bread is made apparently!

Left: Starter after week of acquiring bacteria; Right: after first "feeding"

You are supposed to learn the texture and smell of your starter to know when its ready- I just guessed. Smells like over-ripe fruit? Check. A little bubbly and yellowish? Check.

Then you start to "feed" it by throwing out 80% of your starter and replacing it with equal amounts flour and water. You do this every day until you notice it rising and falling predictably- then you can make bread.

So I didn't exactly notice it rising and falling predictably when I started. It all happened when I woke up one morning to find my wild yeast had gotten a little too wild and rose all over my make-shift pantry. (I was storing it on the top shelf and it made its way down about 4 shelves). So I thought- OK, it must be ready. So I made bread.

The recipe is all in grams so first I had to convert it to something I could measure in my kitchen (sans scale). The Gourmet Sleuth's conversion calculator was very helpful. So I added my starter, flour (bread flour and whole wheat flour), water, and a little salt. Unlike the bread I have made so far, there is no kneading. There is a very specific folding/ turning method that you do once every 30 minutes for 3-4 hours. After that is complete, there is yet another 3-4 hours of rising time.

Once you are ready to bake. You throw a dutch oven into the stove and preheat at 500 F. I didn't have a dutch oven so I used my large stock pot .Once preheated, you place the dough in the pot, score it, and cover. This is to allow the steam to form. Most home ovens are designed to extract moisture, so this was the way the Tartine guys figured out it could work in a personal kitchen. Bake for 20 min., then take the lid off, turn the oven down to 450 and bake another 20ish minutes until it looks right (and right is obviously subjective, so once again I guessed).

After a week and 9 hours I was overly anxious to see if it worked and if my bread was crusty on the outside and soft and moist on the inside.
IT WAS INDEED!

Dave and I spent a good chunk of time admiring it; and then it was gone in about 24 hours. I made some a couple days later, which was still wonderful, but did not compare to the first loaf. Was there truly any difference? Probably not, but the taste of the first loaf, after so many laborious hours (and a big question mark as to what would happen), had the taste of victory on the first try! Here's to wild yeast!!

Fall Camping!

We finally made it camping this year! It took us till the fall, but at least we made it! We went to Elk Neck State Park which is about an hour northeast of Baltimore. Dave and I went here for our first camping trip in Maryland 4 or so years ago and haven't been back since. This time we had a little larger crew with our newly married friends Tiffany and Ryan along with all of our children (Lucy, Stella, and of course Penny).

We weren't exactly roughin' it considering our tent has two rooms and a porch and the indoor bathroom was right across the way from us. Furthermore our cuisine was definitely camp gourmet. We made sausage, tomato, and spinach over pasta with homemade bread the first night, had breakfast burritos in the morning; Tiff and Ry made turkey sloppy joes the next and had sweet potato hash with apple chicken sausage the following morning. We were missing a part on our propane stove but we were able to do all of the above with heavy duty foil and our fire! We did get to experience some classic camping with the unusual number of daddy-long-legs that we saw however!

It was perfect fall weather (a little chilly the last night) and the girls had a blast exploring & romping around the woods. There was a playground near our loop which was convenient as well.

I got a little break when Ryan, Tiff, and I got to take a hike to the Turkey Point Lighthouse (Dave was nice enough to chill at the campsite while the girls were napping) and we had lunch on the rocks. That area is surrounded by water with two rivers coming into the Chesapeake Bay- very pretty indeed!



Naturally we had a few campfires; the second night we had a very colorful one as we found these sticks you could throw in that added quite the spectrum.

We spent a week packing for only 2 nights in the woods, but it was well worth the trip!

Reading Out Loud

I have been reading out loud ever since the girls were born. When they were itty bitty I would read nursery rhymes mingled in with the latest John Sanford novel, Better Homes & Gardens magazine or the Baltimore Sun.
 Naturally, as they got older, the books became more relevant to their age group; however, I can't count the number of times that I have found them gently paging through one of my novels (sans pictures) or sitting in the living room enjoying the new recipes for the season along with the hot paint color trends for bathrooms. (Back in Minnesota I even caught one of them quietly looking through my mom's old Chemistry textbook).
However, I still have been caught a few times reading out loud (to myself) while waiting for the water to boil or sitting down to relax after the girls go down; Dave comes in and says "who are you talking to?"

I caught these two videos a few weeks apart of Lucy and Stella reading out loud.This is a great example of what goes on in our house.
Notice how Stella says "cheese" in both once she realizes I am there. Oh, and pardon the mess:)

"Where are your Manners??"

I usually think of this phrase being spout out by an adult (usually a parent) when their child burps really loud in public, among other things. While it''s embarrassing, it's not exactly harmful.

Yesterday, Dave was playing outside with our girls. There were two 3-year old girls in the neighborhood that were outside as well. One of the girls hit the other one and the girl began to cry. She ran back to her mom and her mom said "Don't cry, hit her back!"

I was floored on a couple different levels. First, that the mom actually said this to her child (did she actually think that was the 'right' thing to do?); second, that our kids will be influenced by their peers more and more as they grow.

There has been a lot of literature that argues kids are really influenced more by their peers than their own parents (what???? AAAH!). Judith Harris wrote a popular book in the late 90's called the "Nurture Assumption". She argues that "besides passing on genes, parents' nurturing probably has less impact over the long-term than other aspects of children's environment - such as their peers." (pbs.org) When you think about it, it makes sense. In order for a child to survive socially in their environment they tend to take on their peers accents, attitudes, and gestures. This is why a child raised in the US with foreign parents will talk like their peers (American accent) as opposed to their parents. Hmmm... do I want Lucy and Stella to take on the Baltimore accent? :) Is the Minnesota one any better? :)

This does not mean that we as parents don't still have a tremendous responsibility. We may not have total control over their peer situation, but we have some power to place them in a peer environment where they will hopefully learn the things we want them to. So, our neighbor thinks its OK for her toddler to hit back... we will try to keep the girls at a distance (at least while we can).

So back to "Where are your Manners??" and the non-harmful things our kids may do?

While I am guilty of the burp or two (just ask my mom) sans excusing myself- I am proud to say that our little 2 year olds say"please" and "thank you" (frequently 'thank you' for both) "excuse me" (or scuuuuseeee) when they toot, and I sneezed today, and for the first time I heard Lucy respond "bless you"!

Fawn Doe Rosa

 To end our fun mini- vacay at Ryan and Kristie's family cabin in Osceola, WI... we hit Fawn Doe Rosa Wildlife Educational Park.

We had 3 toddlers under 25 months (it would have sounded more fun to say under 2, but the big #2 just passed). It's a great park that boasts a good amount of wandering room for the animals and many of them are just wanderin' around so you can pet them! We had a great time thanks to our great friends who introduced us to this place!

And even more Minnesota!!

We spent over a month in the great north so of course, more pictures! We were able to spend some time with family, hit some other pools in the area, and get our "play" on in the woods at a friend's cabin too!

Having fun with Grandma Karina (and in Grandma's homemade rompers)!

Me and Lucy at a cabin in Osceola, WI

Enjoying the sun at the new Como Park Pool

Maybe not everyone:)

Having fun with Grandpa!

I can't believe they are TWO!

Everyone says time flies with kids, and I know they are only two, but it feels like it has whizzed by! Of course the weird thing about time is that it also feels like the day they were born was so long ago... how does that work?

We planned a birthday celebration in just a few days and I think we pulled it off. I went park hunting a few days before the big event (on July 22) with the girls in tow. We were looking for a place where we could have a BBQ, that was easy to get to, and had a playground (doesn't sound too hard right?). Well, it was a little more complicated with all the summer festivals and fun-runs going on, translating to neighborhoods and streets blocked off; to top it off I94 was shut down for several miles as well.

Needless to say we made it work. We decided on Minnehaha Falls Park. The Wabun picnic area had everything we wanted and more. There were picnic tables amidst tall trees- not one but two playgrounds right next to each other, and as a bonus, there was a great wading pool with a fountain to boot!

The next challenge we had to conquer was how to make sure we got one of the two picnic areas that I had my heart set on. So... even though the party didn't start until 12, I woke up, got a latte, and headed over to the park at 8:30AM. I got the spot. It's a good thing I did, as about 15 minutes later someone came over and respectfully said she was bummed out because she was aiming for the same place.

I set everything up with table clothes, balloons, flowers, set out the bowls and plastic ware, set up the toy area- then it started to rain. Of course:) I succeeded in getting everything to a dry place and then Dave came to take over the "watching of the table". I went back, got the ladies, and we arrived around 11:30.

Our spot in the park-- I think Luna might be dipping into the cake early!

Stella and Lucy with their birthday boas getting ready to party!

Lucy having her cake and eating it too.

Stella and the huge balloon

The five ladies... kickin' it in the 2 inch deep water at the wading pool

We had a great time! We had a good number of folks that were able to make it- which was great on such short notice:) Thank you to our family and friends, and family friends who came to help us celebrate the big number TWO x2!!