Made in Reykjavik: 2012

Apologies for the longest blog hiatus to date. It turns out that having a job and two toddlers can tire a person out. Who knew!? Time has flown by since my last post in the summer. All the leaves have turned and fallen off the trees. The days are quickly disappearing. We had snow flurries for the first time just yesterday. I do love this time of year...it makes me feel like curling up with a blanket and a book and a cup of tea and watching the weather. It makes me feel like making soup and pies.

Elsa and Finnur Atli grow like crazy, but I don't notice it until I look back at old photos and videos from a few months back. When I see Finn do a puzzle or stacking blocks or playing with his sister, it is hard to imagine that he took his first steps just a few months ago. Elsa is wonderful. Her Icelandic vocabulary has exploded, so we are at the point where she is teaching me new words all the time (Actually, she yells them at me, SSSLLOOWWLLLY so my stupid head will hear them!)

Good thing about waiting to long to blog is that there a loads of good pictures :)

Elsa and Gunnhildur putting together a puzzle. (Elsa is wearing Langamma Vilborg's earings, since it was a special occasion; Langafi Halldor's 100th birthday celebration with his descendants!)

Finn eating pancake like a champ

Oh yea. We went to Barcelona!

And ate a bunch of ham...

And even saw Lady Gaga in a meat grinder

And the big beautiful Gaudi chruch

And the Gaudi park

I like the lizard!

Sunshine!

Tumi was a 10 on the excitement scale outside the Barcelona/Real Madrid game!

On a touristy tour with a bike

Then we found this spot. That was really nice :)

And Sessa watched these two beautiful children while we were away!

Now they have matching sweaters

We bought a pumpkin and carved it!

Tasting didn't end well....

My new desktop!

Fall at the zoo!

We all like the pigs the best, I think

And some old ones form this summer.

Finn fell down and got a nasty scrape!

And Elsa put underwear on her head and said, 'That's silly!'

My boy can eat!

Elsa's new favorite game: play with the kitchen sink bubbles!

It has been a heck of a spring and summer for this little family. It has been nearly three (count em...THREE!) months since my last blog post, which is the longest hiatus since starting the blog just before Elsa was born. I won't go through the nitty gritty details of all that has happened since then, but here's a quick run-down (and a bunch of adorable pictures).

Finnur Atli has turned one and learned how to walk. Today I caught him climbing for the first time, so I guess we can officially call him a 'toddler' now!

I went to St. Lucia for a week and a half long trip to work. I found it hard to leave the kids, but once I was on a plane and realized that they were well taken care of, it was easier for me to focus on work and appreciating how fricking cool my job is. Pretty damned cool.

My parents came to Iceland and then joined us on a trip to Scotland. It was wet and fun. The weather was kinder in Reykjavik, but Scotland has cooler castles.

It was very hard to say goodbye to the grandparents when they left (with suitcases full of caviar and lysi) but I hope that we will see them again soon.

And now for the pictures!!!

Hey Finn, who is following you?

Áfram Ísland!

Reading with 'Gwamma Chooley'

Buying some fish for dinner with the babes and their Grandpa

Mamma and Finnur Atli

Sometimes Elsa María gets to choose the fish

Grandma let Elsa borrow her reading glasses

It's a full house! Amma, Grandpa, Finn, Elsa, Gunnhildur, Afi, and Grandma. What a party!

Grandma herding cats at the Keflavik airport at the beginning of our Scottish adventure

And on the airplane. So hard to sit still!

You can't tell in this picture how much Finn cried, but I promise it was a lot. Our neighbors must have hated us!

Elsa lined up these chairs at the Falkirk Wheel and sat like she was riding on the bus. Having a two year old can teach a person a thing or two about how to handle boredom...Elsa is a pro :)