free play – Catching Caterpillars

a chilly day at the park…

Kollene — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 14:03:00 +0000

a few weeks ago a nice chilly cold front came to visit us on a long weekend… such a nice change of things for us to pretend we have winter in this tropical land… It’s fun for a few days… cold temperatures with bright blue skies… you can even puff your breath and see it in the air… SO FUN! Cold air makes Florida families frisky and needing to be outside in the freshness! …especially if one’s home is under construction… you start to climb the walls… so what a nice day for a neighborhood walk to our favorite park…

It was a while ago that we have been here… maybe when baby Julien was a fresh newborn.. maybe… but it was fantastic taking the girls there again… felt like old times. They showed their baby brother all of their old favorite things and told him when he got bigger they could do more and more with him… patience girls…

sweet pancake tea party…

Kollene — Tue, 21 Jun 2016 07:22:00 +0000

oh my goodness what a sweet adorable little morning this was…

Oh to be a little girl again… well… I kinda get to play too… I love these girls so much! This is sweet Josie… she lives on the next street over and our girls love her and so do we! She’s so sweet! The girls love playing dolls together and play house and all things that I remember from my own childhood…

We had to have a fun Sunday morning pancake breakfast… complete with tea cups and three American Girl Dolls in high chairs of course. We had berries and powdered sugar and maple syrup, oh oh and some ice cream! So fun!

Friends are special, friends are sweet! They’re part of childhood and making memories… My husband and I are still friends with our childhood friends… Whenever together you just pick up from where you were last…..

some fun from the Springtime…

Kollene — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 16:45:00 +0000

Cecilia has lately really been interested in art… she has and art teacher at school Miss. Sami who Cecilia totally adores! So now Cecilia wants to be an artist as well… she is an artist actually already… she keeps telling us…

I did a fun little egg hunt at both of our girl’s schools this spring… it was so cute!

and look who can ride a two wheeler bike… Thank you Umpa for teaching this little brave girl how to ride without training wheels! she’s so excited! that bike used to be mine!

They did a really sweet May Day celebration at Isabelle’s Montessori school! Her sweet teacher tied strips of fabric and taught the children how to weave the strips in and out… then after we celebrated by making smoothies with fruit from the children’s homes… such a sweet day!

learning how to skateboard is serious business!

Bubbles!

Kollene — Tue, 13 May 2014 17:23:00 +0000

Remember when you were little and had no cares… no cares but maybe if the bubbles would ever run out… watching children could possibly be one of the most lightest things… just beautiful!.. when they are your own and you feel that lightness for them it’s just the best…

that joy when you finally blew a really big bubble… how happy your heart feels… yep… I felt it.

when you finally catch one… then it burst! then you keep trying… and trying…

and the bubbles follow you all over… again and again…

some days it’s ok to just forget to brush your hair… go through an entire bottle of bubble juice… wear clothes that you found in the laundry basket… because you really wanted to wear that dirty shirt… it’s not too dirty… sometimes it’s ok to just be little…

a day with our littlest…

Kollene — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 17:32:00 +0000

a day with my littlest… is so so sweet!
now that our oldest girl is off at kindergarten some days we like to take our littlest for little special days…
even though maybe every hour she asks if it’s time to get Isabelle from “kindagaaden” … we have a lot of one-on-one time
and when it’s time to get Isabelle we can hardly wait!

this day Cecilia and I spend the morning at the park…
feeding the ducks and turtles… playground.. picnic!

and…
a very special day…
the first day I braided her hair in “pippi braids”

sidewalk chalk and some pies!

Kollene — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 18:11:00 +0000

sometimes an afternoon of sidewalk chalk and a surprise stop by from Grandparents are enough to make us smile…
I could sit out on our drive way covered knees with chalk…
listening to our girls imaginations run wild
telling stories of different lands
arguing with each other on which drawing really is a bird… not a cat!
laying on tummies coloring and shading dolphins until our chins are blue… I love sidewalk chalk afternoons…
I love chalk afternoons that include a really cold beer for mamma and pappa and ice pops for the kiddies!

my birthday was really nice… even got two nice pies from my sweeties!
the first pie was blueberry… please notice the little squirrel cut out which I didn’t at first and am still hearing about it… and the second one down was fig pie! both were equally amazing and really good for breakfast too!

slooooowwwww down!

Kollene — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:06:00 +0000

these are some of my favorite parts… my favorite days!
just being at home… biking on our sidewalk.. bar-b-qing fish in our garden… these are the little things that to me are BIG!

sometimes life gets going … someone presses fast forward and all of a sudden two weeks have flown by and I find myself a little bit upset at where the time went! sometimes I feel rushed and feel that I haven’t had a deep breath… a really really deep breath!

with elementary school starting trying to find our new rhythm has been almost impossible… I feel it’s a constant scurry to be on time.. to get to bed… to pack a lunch… go go go!

but then once those days, weeks, months even have passed… and you actually realize that someone pushed fast forward…
then you get reminded to SLOW DOWN! QUICKLY SLOW DOWN!!!

I was reminded that maybe last night… as we again didn’t get home until close to 9pm on a school night!
why… because we spent the day at IKEA!!! of course!
why does that store take your watch and any knowledge of time at the door… pipe in through the ac that feeling to need everything… why not it’s only $5.. why not it’s only 29cents… they suck your brain and you leave the parking lot with that stare and wonder… what the hell did we get! -that kind of feeling!
I felt that flutter in my heart that panic feeling that my kids will be tired…non bathed… cranky!
then I vow again to S L O W down fast before it passes!

so here I am again… slowing down a little this week… keeping things tidy… keeping the rhythm…

best part when you feel the need to slow down you can always get a chance to do so… there is always tomorrow!
my tomorrow is today…
on the schedule
swings and gardening
dinner
puzzles
bath
stories…

seems nice!

playsilk fun!

Kollene — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 07:41:00 +0000

playsilks
a must!

We love our Playsilks! One of the best things I have ever bought our children! It’s instant magic! Instant make believe! Once they place them on their shoulders, tie them on their heads, twirl them about… they begin to giggle, run, play!
They’re easy to pack… easy to play! So FUN!

and as for the smoked salmon… mmmmmmm!

picnic…..

Kollene — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 07:22:00 +0000

what a beautiful night this was! just a little bike ride away was an outside concert in the park… so we loaded our picnic baskets and packed the big blanket and away we went!
could be one of my most favorite ways to spend the afternoon/evening…
I love a picnic… good food spread all about… laying in the grass… being together.
when there is music to listen to it just makes it even better!
Our girls just ran about meeting other children…
playing house under their tree… the branches hung all the way to the ground which felt like a real house to them.

Do you ever get down low with your children and actually see what they are seeing? Try it… it’s a beautiful magical world down there…
Things look so different.
I thought about this, this evening as they were opening and closing their branchy door… it was so fun!
They climbed up the trunk to their bed… they cooked dinner with their sticks and leaves… they laughed just like little girls do.
They were children being children!

So the night went on and our girl’s feet got blacker and blacker… well used feet… toes that do not touch each other with so much grass and sand in between… knees with scars… legs with scratches… finger nails needing a trim with so much dirt underneath and palms of hands green from the grass… this is childhood…

it was a beautiful evening…

just horsing around…

Kollene — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 22:10:00 +0000

just horsing around…
found these fun horses that Pappa Mattias and his sister Auntie Malin made when they were kids… now our girls are enjoying them….
SO Fun!