The week before Christmas

Since I'm still playing catch up I thought I would share a few fun things that went on before Christmas!

The Thursday before Christmas the lovely Sarah hosted her annual girls Christmas party. A room full of girls, yummy foods, baby snuggles with baby Edith and fun presents! It was a fantastic night, and I walked away with the cutest scarf! 

Also on Thursday was Jasper's kindergarten holiday concert. We have officially reached the age of school concerts, and I've gotta say. I am loving it. I was one proud mamma watching and listening to Jasper up on the stage! They did AMAZING! This just shows again how awesome his school is. They put together a fantastic choir concert with 120 5-6 year olds. Everyone did Such a great job and sang along. I was expecting like 2-3 songs, but they sang probably 10 songs and had some readings. It lasted 45 minutes! Impressive!

Please excuse Jasper's wrinkly shirt. He dressed himself (like always) and had a nice sweater over this shirt when he came out of his room that morning and then took the sweater off right before the show. 

Can you spot Jasper in the second row? He was pretty animated with his songs!!

One thing I didn't quite get, they sang Kwanzaa songs, Hanukkah songs (which were ridiculously adorable) but then they changed "We wish you a Merry Christmas" to "We wish you a happy Holiday". They didn't say the word Christmas once. And of course I get that not everyone celebrates Christmas, and it is a public school and all, but why sing about certain religions if you aren't going to include one that I'm sure the majority at his school celebrates? I would be surprised if anyone in his school celebrates Kwanzaa yet they sang two songs about it, but no Christmas songs? Seems strange to me. I think if they are going to include other religious songs, they can at least say the word Christmas once in their 45 min program 5 days before Christmas. 

Oh well. 

On Christmas eve, eve, eve ( go that?) we delivered some baked goodies to some of our neighbors then headed to Starbucks for some hot chocolate and drove around the neighborhoods around us looking at lights. Jasper loved picking out his favorite house on every block, but that ended up being about half of them.

 The Saturday before Christmas we went to Golden for their Christmas parade. It was adorable! AND perfect weather! If I were to live in a small town again, I think I could do Golden, Colorado.

The following day we got the chance to spend some time with friends who recently moved to Arizona. It was SO good to see them! M was one of Jasper's first buddies in little gym when they were only 1!! And little M was Tindra's first friend!

I never think Tindra is very little till she's around another baby her age! Mack is two weeks YOUNGER than T, and quite a bit bigger. Guess we have a little peanut on our hands!

So close to finally being caught up on the blog!

Make sure you check back friday- I'm going to have an Amazing giveaway going on! If you want to get your entries done early, make sure you are a follower of the blog via GFC! Also extra entries can be earned by following me on twitter and instagram (darlenelynn86)

Dressing for winter, featuring Polarn o Pyret!

I've talked numerous times about how important I think daily outdoor play time is. Maybe blame it on growing up in Sweden where they live by their popular saying 'There is no bad weather, only bad clothes"and spent my entire childhood outside. And when you live in Northern Sweden, that means playing outside in the cold snow many months out of the year. 

Living in Colorado hasn't stopped us from implementing daily outdoor time. We try to get at least two hrs of outdoor time a day, but usually more than that. When Jasper was in daycare in Sweden two mornings a week while we were studying abroad (January-July of 2009) they spent 80% of their time outdoors. There were days that we dropped him off at 8:30, the kids were all getting geared up in their snow gear to head out to play and were all still outside playing when we picked him up at noon. How awesome is that? Snack and lunch were even outside on their picnic tables. And guess what, in the 6 months he was in part time day care their he didn't get ONE single cold. Not a sniffle, runny nose or cough. How common is that in the US for kids in daycare in the winter? I'm guessing that's incredibly rare. I give all the fresh outdoor time credit for all the healthy kiddos there. 

There are SO many reasons why children, especially NEED daily outdoor play time. Fresh air helps with vitamin D, stress, depression, eye site (seriously, it does!) helps rid their lungs of impurities and so much more!

Okay now that you are convinced that you need to have your children playing outside daily, you are probably saying "Yeah yeah I know all that, BUT I live in a cold climate, we can't play outside for 4 months out of the year, they will freeze" WRONG. They just need great outdoor gear!

I wrote THIS post over two years ago, talking about how to properly dress your kiddo for outdoor play in a cold climate. And figured now was a good time to revisit!

When dressing for cold climate, you just have to remember it's all about the layers. 

Polarn o Pyret, a company started in Sweden 35 years ago has got the layering system down.

Layer 1. Base layer, you want this layer to comfortable and keep moisture away from the body.

On Jasper:

Bottoms: Polarn o Pyret long johns like  THESE (NOT C/O, bought over 2 yrs ago)

Top: similar to THIS C/O Polarn o Pyret

Layer 2. Middle Layer, Needs to release moisture while retaining body heat, like fleece or wool.

On Jasper:

Top: Fleece, Old Navy

Bottom: Sweat Pants with fleece liner

Layer 3, Outer Layer, Should be warm and protect against all elements (wind, rain, snow)

On Jasper:

Gloves: Polarn o pyret like theseTHESE (Not C/O bought over 2 years ago*) These gloves go all the way up their arms and NEVER fall off! 

Jacket: C/O Polarn o Pyret similar to THIS

Hat: C/O Polarn o Pyret found HERE

Balaclava: Polarn o Pyret found HERE (Not C/O, bought last year) perfect for keeping neck warm and dry when your child insists on diving head first into snow piles and making snow angels! 

So there you have it! Very possible and even easy to dress for the cold weather. These pictures were taken Christmas day when it was about 28 degrees out and Jasper played outside for almost 2 hrs before coming in to warm up. And it was Drew and I that needed warming up not Jasper! I think we need some polarn o pyret gear ourselves! 

Even Tindra stayed nice and toasty in her snowsuit and hat Polarn o Pyret sent us!

I can't say enough great things about Polarn o Pyret gear. We have been loyal costumers ever since we discovered them in 2009, even having our friends from Sweden order and send us items before they finally opened up their U.S website. The quality is the best I've ever come across, and since most of their gear/clothes is unisex, items can be passed from one child to the next. PLUS, they, like me, have a love of stripes! We recently received a few Polarn o Pyret onesies and socks from a Swedish friend with two daughters for Tindra, and even though they were used by both of her daughters, they are in Perfect condition for Tindra to use! 

Some more pictures of the kiddos enjoying their out door P.oP gear!

 The reflectors on the jacket and snowsuit are one of my favorite qualities of their gear! 

*Funny/sad story about these gloves. We had little flimsy gloves for Jasper from Target I think when we went to Sweden and sent them with Jasper to to daycare because they said to make sure he had warm clothes. These poor gloves failed him, they said his hands were red within 20 minutes because they kept falling off so they found a pair of extra gloves for him to borrow. On our walk back home we went into a small, children's clothing store we had been eyeing for a few days just a block from our apartment and found some amazing looking gloves like all the other day care kids had on. We thought, that's kind of a lot of money to spend on a pair of gloves but we got them anyway. He wore those every day that winter and the following winter as well. Then we upgraded to the next size and he is now on his third winter in that size. That little store we went into in Karlstad, Sweden was Polarn o Pyret. And those 'expensive' gloves served Jasper very well for two winters, and are waiting for Tindra to wear next year and I'm sure the following year as well. So 4 years of use for a pair of gloves? That price seems quite cheap now! *

*Some of these items were sent to us free of charge, but my review and opinions are 100% my own. 

Christmas

Yes I know that was almost two weeks ago, but since we left the day after Christmas for 8 days in Iowa, and I didn't touch a computer for like 10 days (AMAZING FEELING!) I'm just now playing catch up. 

We decided a couple of months ago to stay here in CO for Christmas for the first time in the 6 years we have been living here. Drew had just started a new job, and while its' a great job, he won't get as much time off as he had worked up to at his previous job, and we want to go somewhere amazing somewhere this year, so Christmas it CO it was!

Even thought it was my suggestion, I thought I would feel bummed that we weren't going to be back. First Christmas in my 26 yrs away from my family. But you know what? It was such a fantastic day! No schedules, no rushing from my moms, to Drews parents, none of the back and forth with not a second to ourselves like all of our past Christmas's. And while I loved that, this was a different sort of amazing. 

Tindra woke up early as usual, about 6 AM, I nursed her in the dark in front of our lit Christmas tree overflowing with presents. After she was done eating I got Drew up and we went and woke Jasper. Tindra is ready for her morning nap within 2 hrs of waking up, and I didn't want J waking up as it was time to put her down for a nap.

The look on Jasper's face when he saw that santa had been here, completely priceless. 

After presents, naps (for T) and more presents we had brunch followed by a long walk and sledding in the neighborhood. This needs to become a Christmas tradition! And it snowed on Christmas eve! How magical is that?

Our sledding adventure Really wore the kids out because we had plans to go see a late afternoon movie, but Jasper took over a 3 hr nap. So we ended the evening with a delicious ham and mashed potato candle lit dinner and playing around on Jaspers new wii. It really couldn't have been a more perfect day! Oh and I stayed in yoga pants and no make up the entire day, like I said, perfect day!

And these three really spoiled me this year, I got the new lens I have been eyeing for months, a gift card to go to a running store and have them help me pick out a pair of running shoes so I can start (restart) training for that 5K, some running gear and socks, VS gift card, and some something else I can't think or right this second. Like I said, spoiled!! 

What was your favorite gift? And how do you guys do santa? I'm always curious how others do it- are most gifts from santa? Or you guys with a gift from santa? Are santa's presents wrapped or unwrapped? Everyone seems to do it So differently and it's fun to see everyone else's traditions!

 Christmas eve! 

 Out of ALL of his dozens of presents, his face showed the most excitement when he pulled his new angry bird underwear out of his stocking. Which, he had a last minute (like 27 hr notice type of last minute) request for and since he had only asked for an easel and dinosaur mountain thing I had the joy of joining all the crazy last minute shoppers are target. It was a freakin MAD HOUSE.

But that look up pure shock and excitement made it 100% worth it!

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Our week in Iowa is soon coming to an end an I'm psyching myself out trying to mentally prepare for another 12 hr train ride w a rambunctious 5 year old and a sleep fighting 8 month old. This week here has gone by Way to fast an I have so much to share about the last few weeks. For now here are some cousin pictures! So fun getting all five grand kids together!

Arent aunt snuggles the best?

This little cutie is my soon to be 6 months old nephew Owen. He is so stinking snuggly!

We made it!

12 hr train ride solo w both littles and we are here for our week in Iowa! Hope you all had as wonderful Christmas as we did!

Lucia

I wrote this last Thursday, was going to finish and post on Friday. But then it seemed so trivial. Still kind of does, but here it is anyway. 


Some of my favorite memories growing up in Sweden was celebrating Lucia day. It's a BIG deal over there, and I'm not even sure why since Saint Lucia was Italian? Regardless, it's a big deal. Everywhere on December 13th it is celebrated with a Lucia train, lusse bullar (safran buns) girls in white dresses and candles in their hair. Daycares, schools, offices, churches, they all have the Lucia train. 

Girls dress in long white gowns, boys either in long white gowns with a star hat, or as santa's or little gingerbread men. 

This year we got to be a part of TWO Lucia celebrations thanks to the Swedish Christmas market and Jasper Swedish class. 

On top of the Lucia train there's also singing, dancing around the christmas tree (so much fun!) and of course a swedish 'julbord' Christmas table- filled with amazing things to eat. Swedish meatballs, ham, different potato dishes, like 20 different kinds of cheese and bread, heaven I tell ya. 

I was going through an old photo album and found this gem

That's me in a Lucia train in elementary school in Sweden. The boy to my right is Robin, my good friend in Sweden's,( Sofie) twin brother!

And here we are all grown up at his sister's wedding last summer in Sweden

This morning, to celebrate Lucia day we ate saffron rolls by candlelight. Not quite the same as doing it in Sweden since in Sweden it would still be black and night outside till 8:30-9 AM and if we wanted to do it in the dark here we would have had to be eating by 6:15. Not gonna happen, no matter how cozy it is.