Candy Cane Tootsie Pop

There are many yummy treats that I look forward to when it is the Christmas season. But there is one in particular that is really hard to find. The Candy Cane Tootsie Pop! I am not much of a sucker fan, but when you combine the taste of a peppermint candy cane and the chocolatey taste of a tootsie pop...YUM!!! Many of my friends from high school will probably remember me always supplying these for the basketball games and such. My mom was the first to discover these and every year she looks for them, but they are getting harder to find. But this year, she found them and bought a bag just for me! Thanks mom! So if you happen to find these amongst all the yummy Christmas candy, grab a bag and try them or you just might not get the chance again!

Silly Girl!!!

Today while I was getting lunch ready for Kajsa, she was keeping herself entertained with a big apple juice bottle. I looked up for a second and she was hugging the bottle and so I asked her if she could give it a big kiss too! Then I had to get the camera and have her do it all over again. Which she didn't seem to mind at all!

Winter is Here!!!

Gosh, I have been quite a slacker in blogging lately. I finished up working on Tuesday! Hallelujah! These past two months have been busy busy and now I am glad to be home again to my favorite job, being a stay at home mom. I think Kajsa has enjoyed it too, but I am sure soon enough mamma will just not be as fun as her cousin Björn, Aunt Jenny & Farmor Christel. (Thanks Jenny and Christel for babysitting her!) We had a great Thanksgiving and got to enjoy it in our own home with most of my family coming to our house. We sure did miss David and Sherrie and the kids, but can't wait to see them at Christmas time! Now I have two months before baby #2 comes and I hope I can accomplish all of my goals for getting more organized around here. I included some pictures from the past couple weeks.

Björn & Rik & Kajsa & Simon at Temple Square

Kajsa & Björn looking at the snow and lights at Temple Square!

The first big snowstorm of Winter 2007!

Uncle Scott always has a way with the girls!
Ashlynn, Scott, & Kajsa

Cute Little Friends!!!

Last week, Kajsa's friend, Ariana, came to play. They were so cute. Here are my favorite pics of them together.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Well, I know we have not been too exciting in the blogging world lately, but there is a good reason. I have been working at my old job filling in for the girl, who took my position, who is on maternity leave. It came about 3 weeks earlier than anticipated and it has been busy since. I am only working around 20 hours a week, but with taking care of a toddler, being busy with Young Women's calling, and trying to keep up the house (not to mention maybe cook a meal or two), I sure have been exhausted by the days end. (I am sure that being 6 months pregnant isn't helping either) I give props to those working moms out there! Kajsa has been loving to spend more time with her Farmor and Aunt Jenny and Björn. Sometimes she doesn't want to go home. We have done some fun things this month such as going to a Real Salt Lake Soccer game, going to a BYU football game, going to Idaho, and just hanging out at home. So I thought I would post some random pictures from the last month or so.

Trying to get a picture with her and her nursery coloring picture, but instead got a "cheese" smile.

Fell asleep during the 2nd half of the football game.

Enjoying some BYU Creamery ice cream at halftime of the BYU/Colorado State game.

Kajsa and Simon with one of Kajsa's favorite friends in Idaho, Sandy, Grandma and Grandpa's dog.

Kajsa and Simon on Grandma's new toy!

Kajsa's favorite place to sit and color.

Kajsa and her neighborhood "boyfriend" Zack.

Can you see Brogan hiding in the toy chest?

It looks like Brogan is telling Kajsa a story and she is writing it down!

Cousin Brogan came during conference weekend and they had a blast entertaining each other. I just love their pajamas!

I have no idea where she got this idea of storing toys in her shirt!

Halloween Pictures!!!

The cute Östhed cousins dressed up for Halloween!!

I know, I know, Halloween was two weeks ago. I am a little slow! Oh well! I have been busy and I just want to sit and relax when I have the time to do so. Kajsa had so much fun being in her lion costume. She loved saying "rrrrrrar", to everyone around her and kept doing so if the person would act scared! She thought it was so funny. We got together with all the Östhed cousins for some dinner and then we went to our house and went to about 5 houses in our neighborhood to do some trick or treating. Kajsa caught on to the trick or treating by the time we hit the 2nd house. Then we came home and she just sat on the kitchen floor looking at all her candy and eating it too!!!!

Kajsa and Björn

Checking out all her candy loot!!!

Signing Time

So we've been using a little ASL with Kajsa and she loves the Signing Time videos. At the beginning of each video, they sing and sign the intro song and its fun to watch Kajsa try to keep up.

If you notice that Kajsa's eyes are swollen, it's because she'd had an allergic reaction to something. We still don't know what caused the reaction. One of Kajsa's eyes was almost swollen shut and she had a rash all over, but she was still happy like nothing was wrong. It must be her Swedish/Idahoan blood. :)

Kajsa & Animals

The other day we went over to a lady's house, who works with Simon, whose dog had a litter of puppies a month ago. Kajsa was a little timid at first, but it didn't take long for her to warm up. They were just her size and really cute! There were ten in all. They were licking her in the face and she thought it was funny. She also tried to pick them up like the big kids were and ending up making one yelp. She also got to see a horse that was very friendly. So if anyone is interested in a cute black lab-golden retriever mix puppy, let us know! Seriously.

The Office

I don't know how many of you watch 'The Office'. But I have to say that last nights season premiere was so funny. It was Simon's birthday and his parents came over and about 7:55, he said, "Umm, there is this show I have been wanting to watch and it starts at 8:00." Well, it didn't take them that long to get the hint and they left. We were just so excited for it to finally be back on. I really liked Dwight's shirt for the 5K run. 'Shrute Farms Beets'. It is awesome and I saw that on their website you can buy the shirt! But the best part about that whole show was that Jim and Pam are together at last! YAY!!! Oh and by the way, I was at Target the other day and in the $1.00 section, they have 'The Office' post-it notes, mugs, pens, pencils, notepads and such! How cool is that!?! Well, I just wanted to share my excitement about 'The Office'.

Coloring Time

I got Kajsa a Halloween coloring book and she loves it. It keeps her entertained for a little while and that is nice. She loves to just lay on the floor and color. It is so cute and she looks and acts so grown up. Simon was telling her to color the eyes on the pictures and she would. She would color the eyes on one page and then turn the pages and color the other eyes. So all the eyes in the book are pretty much colored. It is funny. Also, notice in the two pictures that she can't decide whether she wants to be right-handed or left-handed.



At the beginning of the video she is saying "aawch", which means ouch. She seems to say it a lot, but I don't really think she is hurt. I guess she just likes saying it.

The Witches have arrived!!!

Yesterday Kajsa and I went to Gardner Village along with Aunt Jenny and cousin Björn to see the witches. If you have never gone, or have, either way, you should go. It is fun to see the different witches. There are flying witches, baseball witches, shopping witches, a big witch that flew into a building and even one witch in an outhouse that says, "Witchy Poo". They also have pumpkins everywhere. Kajsa was so excited to see those and kept pointing at them. She has some of her own at home and loves them. Here are some of the favorite pictures.

Go BYU!!!

I know BYU didn't have such a great game this past weekend, but we still are rooting for them! We took this picture a couple weeks ago when we were going to a friend's house to watch a game. I just love it and wanted to share it with everyone. Simon thinks it is funny how Kajsa has her serious face on. If he knew she was doing that face he would have been serious too!

The Results Are In...

This morning I went to the doctor to have an ultrasound and find out if we are having a girl or a boy. According to the results of the poll on our blog, 50% of you that voted are right! Hmm...I guess that doesn't give it away! haha! First of all, I knew that I was pregnant and I was definitely feeling the affects of being pregnant, but to me it doesn't really sink in until you see that little baby during an ultrasound and see its little heart beating and arms and legs moving. I have heard some sad stories about miscarriages when they are as far along as I am and it gets me thinking too much. It is also hard for it to be a reality when the baby is still so small and all you feel are the "flutterings". I just had to write those feelings down, more for me than for you to read, so on to the results... When the ultrasound tech first started she said she had done a few ultrasounds before me and they were all boys. Simon and I didn't really care what it was, but of course since Simon already has his little princess, he was kind of hoping for a little "soccer playing" boy! Well, after the tech checked the head, heart, kidneys, etc. this little baby was not shy in letting us know what they were. It's a girl!!! We are so excited! Kajsa will have a sister close to her age and I hope they will be the best of friends! Poor Simon is going to have to deal with 3 girls now and he grew up in a family of 4 boys! He will survive and he is already the best pappa to Kajsa and I know he will be so good to this new little girl too! Even though it isn't a boy, I know for a fact that Simon will teach our little girls how to play soccer! And for my dad's sake, I will make sure they will love to ride the tractors when we visit Grandma and Grandpa Bowen in Idaho. I am so grateful for the chance to be a mother and to bring these sweet spirits into the world.

Take the Poll!!!

I have my ultrasound on September 17th. So we thought it would be fun to use the poll to see what everyone thinks the baby will be. Girl or Boy??? So take your guess now!!! (It is located on the left side.)

Banana Chair

Last week my sister gave us her banana chair that wasn't getting much use. It didn't take Kajsa very long to claim it as her own! We would be sitting in it and she would just grunt and try to pull us off the chair. So we decided this was a good teaching moment and taught her in sign language how to say please. So now when she wants to sit in "her" chair, she shows us please and then we willingly get off and let her sit on her throne!




The last picture shows you how she really likes to sit! Back and Relaxed! Thanks Aunt Lisa for the chair!!!

Happy, Healthy Kajsa

Well, Kajsa is finally feeling better now. It took her a good week to get back to her normal self. The flu, ear infection, and getting new teeth took quite a toll on her. Here are some pictures of her just being herself.

Just like my friend Laura doing Ari's hair, I have been trying out ponytails on Kajsa. She is getting more and more patient with me as I keep trying to fix her hair.


Since we have gotten our piano she loves to play on it with her pappa!


Kajsa has become quite the ice cream lover, just like her dad! I love when she shows me the sign for ice cream. It is so cute! This particular day, Simon was sharing his ice cream with her and when it was all gone she wanted to hold the cup and spoon and get every last bit of ice cream she could. It turned out to make quite a mess on her shirt and on the table, but she sure was happy!






So she found out where I kept the checkbook along with a pen. Good thing she doesn't care to really use the pen, but just keep the lid on and act like she is writing. I found her sitting on the floor "writing a check". Ya, I have now put the checkbook in a higher location! :) Also the other day she found a calculator in that same drawer and she was walking around with it to her ear like a phone. hmmm.. Silly girl!