Saturday, December 31, 2011

Christmas Morning with the Dornfelds (Dec. 26th)

 When we got to Wisconsin at 9:30 pm Christmas Day night we thought Svea might be a little crabby since she'd only been sleeping an hour in the car, but she woke up happy and so excited to see Grandma and Grandpa.  She almost immediately went to Grandma and was very comfortable with Grandpa too all week. 
 She loves her little car.  It won't be long before she can propel herself, but she's already mastered getting on and off by herself, oh and of course making car noises!
 She's getting really good at opening presents and had to be "watched" when her cousins presents were laid out amongst the tree.
 I know these two pictures are backwards...did you even notice?  Maybe I didn't even need to bring it up:)
Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the blocks, books, and wonderful outfits that she will look so cute in!  We had a great week and we'll be sure to add more posts soon.  For now I am off to bed:)  Yes, this post is being published at real time.  You read that right, it really is New Year's Eve and 9:00 pm.  I am SO crazy!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Checking In


I have a ton to catch up on, but we've been enjoying a slower pace this week.  I promise to update on our whole holiday break in Wisconsin when we get home.  For now here's an example of what we've been up to this week, besides chasing around little girl when she wasn't doing this:)

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas

 Who doesn't wear their Santa Bear hat and onesie for Christmas:)
 Svea with one of her Christmas Presents.
 We made it through twenty minutes of church before she started competing with Daddy!
I didn't get a picture of her in her dress and boots.  Too chaotic last night.  Whew! Merry Christmas! 

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Videos for Great-Grandma and Grandpa

My Mom got herself her own personal iPad with 3G capabilities.  Now she'll be able to show my Great-Grandparents some videos of Svea over Christmas.  My Great-Grandparents are also getting wireless internet and a laptop for Christmas so they can see updated pictures of all of us anytime they would like. For the past year we've been sending them photos through snail mail and I always want to show her more than I can send.  Anyway,  I'm so proud of them:)  I know once they figure out a few things they'll love it! So here are a few more videos to share with them....and everyone else too:)

Svea's Room

Pushing Her Baby Around the House

Signing For Her Bath

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Sneak Peak (Christmas Dress)

It's a little big, but I think we might make it work since we don't have anything else that even remotely is dressy enough for Christmas.  I LOVE this light blue winter dress from my Mom.  I wish it fit her a bit better, but she still looks adorable in it anyway:)
 She loved this little Norwegian doll.
 She got it from my distant cousin Mary who I'm sure is so very proud of her Scandinavian name.
 I think she looks like Dan here when he was younger!
She kept wanting to kiss the doll!
I think she looks like me here (my baby pictures anyway)!
I think she looks like one of the fairies from Sleeping Beauty!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

These Boots Are Made For Walking!

 and that's just what they'll do!
I love these boots! 

Monday, December 19, 2011

Tormenting Kitty

Poor Meeko!  Somebody thinks he's the cat's meow!  He's getting smart about hiding, but this little girl has quite a few tricks up her sleeve as well.  For the most part she is gentle and good around him, but we do have to watch her closely.  Meeko is super mellow around her as well.  He just walks away or tries to ignore her when she screams and giggles at him.
 "Meeko, look at meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Early Christmas

We had Christmas this weekend with my Mom and Ron because we are leaving for Wisconsin next week. What a difference two months made as far as opening presents.  Svea "got it" this time and enjoyed slowly and thoroughly unwrapping each one.  She was very patient and it was fun to see her interact with each new toy, book, or gift that she received.  Thank you Grandma "Gaga" and Grandpa for coming to be with us and celebrate Christmas early this year!  Svea loves all of her new toys, but most importantly just loves seeing you guys! We loved it even through the mild flu that both Grandma and I shared:(  It was very short lived and we thank our flu shots this year that we only suffered hours instead of days! We loved having you here and were sad to see you go.
Svea started calling Grandma Beth "Gaga" this weekend.  We'd ask her where Gaga was and she'd look right at my Mom.  Then she'd start saying Gaga and walk over to her.  Grandma is very happy to have a name now:) Here are the videos from this weekend of Svea opening her gifts!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Merry Christmas From The Dornfelds!


Sorry for my lack of blog posts!  It's just a crazy time of the year! Merry Christmas to our house from yours!  I know the quality of this picture is horrendous, but I'm just far too lazy to walk downstairs and scan it in:) Most people have already seen both of these pictures before, but oh well:)  We feel so richly blessed this Christmas and hope everyone enjoys time with your families and enjoys celebrating Jesus this year!  

Monday, December 12, 2011

Completely Random

 -Someone is growing some little curls at the back of her head and it's so cute!  My hair was like this and Dan said his was too.  I can't wait for Svea's hair to grow a little bit more and see how curly it gets.
-I had to do the Vaseline and socks trick the other night for my extremely dry hands.  Dan really appreciated and laughed at me when I had the goop on my hands and THEN needed a glass of water.  He was so kind to hold the glass for me:)
-We still don't have another pastor.  Our interim, Pastor Denny, is phenomenal though and we love having him.  Maybe by next summer a new person will be in place.
-We had dinner with some Paynesville friends last weekend.  They have three girls that had a blast playing with Svea.  It's a good combination...sometimes you have those couple friends where only the husbands or only the wives get along really well, but this one works both ways so that was fun. 
 -We're having a hard time videotaping Svea lately.  Here's why:)  She sees the iPad and either wants it or signs "book"!  Dan reads to her Cinderella, The Three Little Pigs, and both of their favorites, A Charlie Brown Christmas.  She thinks the iPad is a "book".
-Dan is working on getting the snow blower ready to go.  Can you believe it's mid-Dec. and we haven't needed to use it yet?  I know it snowed about six inches once already, but we hand shoveled the sidewalk and left the driveway because we knew it was going to melt within the next few days.  Talk about lazy!
-We've got "Elf" and a "It's A Wonderful Life" under our belts this year as far as Christmas movies go. "White Christmas" is on tonight and I'm anxious to see some Grinch and some "Love Actually".  Does anyone want to see the movie "New Year's"?  I know it's a spin off of "Love Actually" and the U.S. version, but I don't care. 
-Speaking of movies, I rented "The Help" last night and watched it on my own as Dan wasn't too interested in it.  I cried like a baby and upon entering the bathroom after it was over realized that yes, I did have mascara on the whole time.  Talk about a goth revival make-over that I didn't ask for!
We taught Svea how to sneeze.  It's too bad she wants to have the iPad all of the time because you have to watch it from the top of her head.
-I give Dan credit for Svea's new sign.  She now signs "milk".  Next I want to work on "help" since this seems to be the proper sign for most of her fussy times when she's trying to do something and can't do it on her own. 
-Dan's fantasy football teams are not doing the best this year.  We won't talk about that though.  It's a little bit of a sore subject.  He's still go the potential in one league so we'll see how that goes:)
-Until next time:)

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Snack Time

Mom, I need a snack!
Cheerios are fine!
I stuff them in my face!
And sometimes have to reach way down to get some more!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Charlie Brown Christmas

Dan is feeling a little bit like the flu. He's not sure if it's the real deal or if it's from eating raw cookie dough.  He felt ok this morning to read Charlie Brown Christmas with Svea this morning on the iPad.  These two share a love of the Peanuts! I'm so glad she has her flu shot!


I think the part that was so funny is you can actually throw your own snowballs on this page!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Does This Bowl Make My Butt Look Big?

Oh man this girl, does she make us laugh.  I don't know how she could see, but she had a ball this past weekend walking around the house like this!

A new cute thing that Svea is doing lately is she kisses almost every page after we get done reading it to her from any book.  She's even gone a little farther and we can request kisses and she'll come over and give us big sloppy kisses.  We can't stand it....if she only does it once a day:)

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Teacher Party

(Ha! Only Krista...she's got a stopwatch, earmuffs, and a fanny pack.  You would never guess that she is my most fashionable friend ever!)
 I love these ladies!!!  We had so much fun the other night in our classic old school teacher attire.  I can safely say that these are some of the best women I've ever worked with and they not only make me a better educator, but a better person.  Back row: Mindi/my boss who rocks and there isn't another one like her, Kelly/an amazing teacher leader, Sue/I can go to her with anything and she gives me the best advice, Me  Front row: Krista/one of my closest friends, Deb/the big sister I never had, Alicia/has the most integrity of anyone I know.  What I like about these women is they know who they are, they're confident and strong, they tell it like it is, they are emotionally mature and drama free, they're hilarious, and they are solid good people.  I respect them all so much! Love these guys! We laughed so hard, but I really can't tell you what we talked about, not here anyway:)
p.s. my earrings and necklace lit up (thanks for letting me borrow them Mom) and I almost had a seizure in the car on the way over...j/k:)

Saturday, December 3, 2011

The Pope Came For A Visit

The other night Svea took off with her towel and I thought she looked like the Pope from the back.  She was hyper and toddling back and forth carrying on some sort of dialogue with herself and it was too cute not to capture!