It starts early

Noah is one of the four boys in the class, the rest of them are all girls. Everyone plays well together and Noah likes all his friends at school. However, the last months Noah has been talking a lot about one specific girl; Caitlin. One day I asked Noah if he was in love with her where upon he replied yes. Of course I was curious to know why and he explained that it is because "she puts leaves in my hoodie". So cute... I love hearing about his friends and the relationships with each other but I was surprised to hear that he was already fond of a girl in "that way". I spoke to the manager at the preschool about it and she said it is very common around the age 4-5 to develop a more love like relationship with a girl/boy. And I must say, Noah has great taste in girls; Caitlin certainly is the prettiest girl at school and more so, she is a lovely character and suits him perfectly ;-).

...and the traditional strawberry shortcake!

...and the dancing...

Dancing around the midsummer pole

Midsummer traditions...

Picking strawberries for jams, cordial and of course the strawberry shortcake :-)

Midsummer 2012

A morning of love...

If you want to hear the truth, ask the children...

Noah, Vera and I are getting into the elevator at home and the old man coming out of it is nice enough to hold the door for us as I drive the pram in. Noah walks into the elevator and says: "Mummy, that man smells like a old sandwich". .............

Rolling over

Today Noah spotted Vera's first rolling over move. After the first one this morning, she has already done plenty more. Yet waiting to catch it on camera!

Aiming high

Yesterday we helped our dear friends to move house. Don't know if I should even call it a house since it is a chateau...beautiful place truly. On arrival, after passing through the gates and driving up the path to the mansion we get out of the car and Noah says: "Ett sånt här hus vill jag bo i mamma" ("I want to live in a house like this mummy"). Oh yes, this boy is aiming high in life! And so is Vera - she really enjoyed lazing around in the living room looking out over the lake from on top of the grand piano ;-)...

Lots of activities

Lots of activities in Lundsbrunn on Sweden Day such as horse riding, jumping castle and waffle eating.. 

Sweden Day

Noah June 6th 2008

Vera June 6th 2012

Size and scale

The globe that Noah got for his birthday is often lit and we look at it together. The other day he asked me "why are there no houses...or trees or flowers?". Ehhh...ok...let me think how to put this in a simple way.....

Story time for the grandkids...

 

Hiiii!!!

It's being hot, hot, hot

The house is a mess! And I like it! This week we've scrapped all household duties - they are officially on hold due to the fantastic weather that we've finally received. BBQing everyday, planting veggies, walking around in thin summer clothing until midnight...doing all sorts of things you should be doing when the sun is out. When there is a lovely day here, everyone is outside and then I mean everyone! Only a fool would be inside a week like this as you never know, this might be all that you'll be getting for the whooole summer.

Relaxing in the sun tent

Cooling off with watermelon nam nam

It is hot...

...so hot that we sleep naked at night!

As Mr Noah doesn't like being caught on camera when cuddling, these pics will have to do...

 

 

Darling Vera

Vera in her first summer outfit

"Soon I can sit up by myself"

Having a play indoors - too hot outside at the moment!

Scooooot

We have the best little pathway for downhill scooting behind our house.

Two BBQ's in one day...

makes you tired and even more hungry...

BBQ time

It's a bit weird here in the North as the temperature can both drop and increase heaps just over a few hours. Funnily, each season we always seem to be caught off guard! The last days it's been cold and rainy and not at all "May weather". Then suddenly, bam, the heats hit us and now it's even too hot to cook dinner inside!

Trying out our new portable BBQ

We brought our Aussie sun tent - V is loving it!

"Pass me another snag from the barbie daddy"

Catch me if you can!

Love is in the air

Noah steals another kiss

Mmmm...pappa....

All smiles

Popeye?

An extract of the day at the residence of the Swaussies...
Noah stayed at home from daycare today and Shawn was home in the morning so there was Lego building going on whilst a friend of mine popped in for a morning coffee. Later Vera and I picked up a portable BBQ that I've ordered online - perfect for the bright summer evenings. Then it was the daily loads of laundry, today it was to wash and put away the winter clothes. After that, I threw together a loaf of bread with chia and hemp seeds so that Noah has fresh bread for his weekly picnic with daycare tomorrow. Then I continued working on my latest Lego construction; an addition to the city that we're currently building (see previous post). Noah jumped into the bath and Vera ate some mashed banana for dinner and soon it was bedtime, again. A day flies so fast and sometimes it feels like reruns with the daily routines but there are moments that we'll stay with you for a life time. And to help the memories to stay fresh and vivid is this blog - it is the main reason for it. For us to read, look back and relive the moments in our mind. For our children to read about their early childhood and hopefully remember some glimts of it. One moment that neither of Noah and Vera will remember is tonights conversation when Noah asks if I think that Vera would like to taste his milk in his boobs. "I have spinach in my milk" he stated. What a classic haha! I wonder how the spinach got in to his milk..I just wish he ate some instead ;-). 

When mums build Lego...

Open plan living of course...

...lets keep the garden tidy guys! 

Still look alike

Noah at 3 months and Vera today at 4 months old

Road trip

This week the kids, my parents and I went for a little road trip with the camper whilst Shawn was working. The hopes for warm and sunny weather were quickly put down by the weekly prognosis and for once they were spot on; it absolutely poured down with rain! Very unlucky for Noah who was planning to go golfing and being outdoors and enjoying the camping experience. "Luckily", our destination was Ullared! Ullared is a locality, situated just 1,5 hours drive from Gothenburg, with about 800 inhabitants. You may wonder what this little place has to offer...well, the village hosts a large department store, Gekås. It is one of the largest stores in Sweden and the growth of the store and surrounding shops have made Ullared more or less synonymous with low prices among Swedes :-).

Noah checking out "mini Gekås" all made of LEGO

Since we moved here, we try to visit Ullared twice a year to stock up on pretty much everything. Simply because in Ullared you find most things you need, all from brand clothing, toys and electronics to cheap freezer bags and laundry liquid. The toys section at Gekås is massive and Noah got to run around and have a play and then get his favorite pick of the day. In the end, all the things he choose to buy to keep him occupied in the rain was of course; LEGO. I spent hours and hours in the shops and after 2 days (!) I was all sorted and had ticked off almost everything on the list of things to get. Sounds a little crazy I know but really, why buy things for the double the price in the city when you live around the corner from Ullared...?

In the camper, I slept...in the middle... :-)

Tummy time :-)

A Saturday with mummy

...Mamma and Noah on the way golfing this morning...

...Mamma och Vera having a cuddle.

Always up for a play & a cuddle

Pizza night!!!

Daddy is away tonight so the kids and I had the night for ourselves. Noah and I decided to make our own pizzas - yum yum - and was all smiles from Noah as they turned out delicious. Even Miss Mc Drooly wanted in...

Morning glory

Watching morning TV together... 

On the way to daycare...

...have to look good when picking up big brother at dagis...

Spring cleaning

Spring is always a busy season. When the days get longer and the weather gets better everyone comes out from their the winter caves and suddenly the social calendar is fully booked within a blink of an eye. Somehow spring also means cleaning and storing away winter clothes and shoes, a general clean out of cupboards and wardrobes, washing windows, tidying the balcony and planting flowers and herbs etc. etc. And at work it's also very busy at this time of the year and plenty of deadlines to meet. Luckily, this spring I don't have to worry about the latter since I'm not working! Instead - before taking onboard the project of scrubbing down the balcony - I spent this morning with our beautiful daughter and a cup of coffee in the sun on the balcony.

May 1st

May 1st is a public holiday in Sweden so today we had an outing to Slottskogen in the city. It was warm and sunny and Vera got to wear a sunhat for the first time, much better than the heavy winter hats :-). We checked out the seals and the penguins and had a good play in the park before heading home in the late arvo. 

Walpurgis Eve

Walpurgis Eve is celebrated in Sweden by burning bonfires and this evening it is for some reason always really cold. So guess our surprise when the warm temperature stayed into the late evening - it was so warm so that people were wearing T-shirts and shorts. And there we were all prepped with a thermos of hot chocolate, blankets gloves and hats haha.