A very special BIRTHDAY

Matthias Carl Bengtson turned ONE year old on March 31, 2015. We were privileged to be surrounded by family members. Here are some pictures from his big day.

Ede has made this yummy chocolate
cake for lots of kids: Scott, Todd, Bjorn, and Matthias. Lars's birthday was different - we lost power the moment I put his cake into the oven. So I left the batter in the oven for two hours while I packed up the children and stuff to head to Clifton Park where there was heat in December!

OUR ONE YEAR OLD!!!!!!

Ede and Alyssa decorated the cake.

Mmmmmmm. Yum.

Bjorn helps to open gifts.

All cousins and siblings help open!

 Baseball game in the front yard.

Some Special Visitors

Ede, Todd's mom, feeds Matthias his bottle on the front porch - in March! Both Ede and Carl came quite a bit in March to help us settle and we completed a huge project - recovering our dining room chairs and the piano bench. Wow and Thank You!!!

Carl holds our Matthias Carl on his big first birthday. We are so grateful to be only 40 minutes away from Carl and Ede. They could not wait to see our kids and especially to hold Matthias.

March: Carl's brother Paul walking up from the garden with Todd and Lars. Cheryl and I in front yard.Paul and Cheryl live in Illinois and what a fun (too brief)
visit we had. I (Margit) had just
been diagnosed with the flu the
day before. Yuck.

Scott (Todd's brother) and Nancy seated at our dining room table for Matthias's birthday. My mom cut the cherry blooms for the centerpiece. Nancy enjoys educating us about gardens and plantings. Here, Lars and I learn about what are weeds and what are flowers to be kept. Shocking to see irises up a foot already in March.

Never in all my days have I seen this!!! My mom and dad on our ATV!?! Jimmy, slow down, Jimmy, Jimmy!

My dad really enjoys shooting and with some instruction from Todd did very well.





My dad on our ATV alone. He drove way too fast. The children were stunned.

ALL FOUR GRANDS! We love you and honor ALL of you. What a fun time we all had! Our thanks.

Home, Dogs, Pond, Fish - March 2015

Our new home. On right is a screened porch. On front porch is two rocking chairs - a gift from my beloved. 

Snow and ice in MS? Yes.

The view of our pond with snow on ground.

Our new dogs. They came with the house, courtesy of the former owners. They guard the property like pros and are outside 24/7. Black is Bo - an Australian cattle dog. White is Titus - a Great Pyrenees/Shepherd mix. Coyotes, snakes, turkey vultures, squirrels...beware!

Lars catches lots of catfish from our pond for us to eat. This one was shot by a bow and arrow.

Pictures from first days on Chapman Road March 2015

Moving truck arrives 8:15 on March 2.

Our new empty living room.

Going blue crazy on my favorite bookshelf.

Going blue crazy in my kitchen.

Matthias is thrilled about our new home. He will never remember his first days in NY.

Our new living room with lots of boxes.

Crazy kitchen.

Den full of boxes. Also blue.

Pictures from Goode Road Feb 2015

We want to say a BIG thank you to all of you for your patience in waiting for us to post pictures. We have learned A LOT about computers and blogs and the internet and our abilities. SO...here goes:

The Allied moving truck framed in our front window. February. It was a whopping 3 degrees that morning...wow.

The trucks leaving in the afternoon. They brought two trucks but only filled one. We slept like logs that night!

Some pictures of chaos that was left after the movers went home the first day. I had to move the rocking chair up close to the wood stove for warmth during the night of feeding and caring for Matthias. More pictures to come.