Helping mormor

Mormor founds some dead branches in our back yard and together with the great helpers Jakob and Moa she got rid of most of it. Now it is up to me and Adam to remove it from the ground... could take months...

Dinner inside

It was almost warm enough to sit outside and eat dinner but we decided to have it inside instead. Morfar wasn't feeling very well so he had a rest upstairs while we were eating, but the kids woke him up when it was time for dessert!

After finishing their own dinners Moa and Jakob went crazy on my plate. They shared my chair and shared the left overs on my plate. That's what happens when I get up to take photos...

After a long fun day of playing in the sun Jakob and Moa were exhausted. They had a very very short rest in Jakobs bed before it was time for Moa and the rest of the family to head home.

Summer!

The last few days have been really sunny and warm here in the north of Sweden. I have had to buy Jakob some new sneakers and sandals and yesterday mormor helped us to find some new summer pants. We started with a hot dog and after that Jakob had so much energy that he went crazy inside the clothes shop. He ran around like a freak laughing and was almost impossible to stop. Mormor is starting to understand why we normally get them to babysit when we go out shopping... We managed to buy a couple of pants, shorts and a t-shirt before heading back to the car to drive the freak to sleep.

Motorbikes!

Jakob is not only obsessed with ice cream. He is also obsessed with motorbikes. He loves looking at them, touching them or just talking about them. Outside mormor and morfars place there are always a few scooters and Jakob gets so excited every time he sees them.

Bath with mummy

The only negative with our house is that we don't have a bath. Jakob (and I) love having baths so at least once a week he has a bath at mormor and morfars place. Normally mormor gives him a bath and they have all sorts of funny games they play in the bath. The other day Jakob wanted me to do it and it was quite fun even though I don't think I am as good as mormor at playing games.

After a bath Jakob sits on the couch and relax for a few seconds and eat grapes.

Sunday

After a nice morning and lunch at mormor and morfars we went to visit Alice. The kids were really excited to see each other, it must have been a couple of weeks since last time. Andreas was as always great serving the kids with fruit and playing with them.

After a while Adam came over as well and the boys and Alice went to the playground since the weather started to get a really nice. It has been raining a lot on the weekend but this afternoon was really nice.

Playing with morfar

This morning Jakob slept until 8.15!! I couldn't believe it, but I liked it. Because of his late sleep in we didn't let him have a day sleep today and he went to bed easily just after 7pm. I think he day sleeps are nearly over now, it has been so hard to put him to bed in the evening the last week or so, he just doesn't seem to be tired before about 9pm.

Saturday night!

Saturday night Adam had a boys dinner at our house so I decided to stay at my parents place with Jakob. We had a really nice dinner together and my friend Carina came too. It felt like in the old days when I lived at home and Carina used come and hang out with all of us. After the dinner Carina and I went out and mormor and morfar put Jakob to bed a bit later.

Of course Jakob had a bath with mormor before bedtime.

"Loppis"

Saturday morning Jakob and I went to a loppis with mormor, morfar and Maggi. A loppis is a place where people try to sell all kinds of second hand stuff. Not sure what you would call that in English? It was held in a big indoor sporting arean and it was packed with people! Jakob sat in the pram for the first half an hour but after that the peace was over when he wanted to walk by himself. We had a fun time though and over all it went really well.

After the "loppis" experience Jakob was exhausted and could hardly not wake him up. Poor thing. Could have something to do with that he went to bed late Friday night, but still woke up 6.15 this morning.

Ice cream with Elvin

Friday night Adam had a dinner with work so Jakob and I went to visit Sigrid, Niklas, Elvin and their newborn Vina. Jakob never really wants to leave child care at the end of the day, but it is much easier when we tell him that we are going somewhere, especially if we are going to see Elvin. Jakob had a really good time but got a bit tired at the end of the night. I left quite early to be able to put him to bed early, but it actually took me nearlly 2 hours to get him to sleep. Grrrr, I was not happy. Jakob kept getting out of his bed, running and laughing to the door. He probably wasn't as tired as I thought he was...

A weekend with Karin

Karin was here to visit us from Thursday to Sunday and it was great to see her again and spend so much time together. We haven't met since she left Australia a couple of months before us last year. On Saturday we walked in to the city and had some lunch at a cafe next to the library. Played for a while in the library until mormor and morfar came to pick Jakob up. They took him shopping so that we could do the same thing, but without Jakob. In the evening Karin and I went out for a girls night with dinner at All stars and LOTS of drinks.

Karin left yesterday and tonight when we put Jakob to bed in the evening we could hear him talking about her and also about Elvin. He talks a lot now and learns so many new words every day.

Ice cream

Jakob is obsessed with ice cream and talks about it all the time. When he wakes up in the morning. When he is about to have breakfast, and then throughout the day until he goes to bed in the evening. We have been trying to keep him away from sweets for as long as possible but it is getting harder and harder. He is still not eating lollies or drinking soft drinks, but he has tried chips, and he has tried cakes. And ice cream.

Friday morning in Ale

For many years there has been a tradition in Ale to gather on the small hill in the village and make waffles over open fires. I haven't been there to do it for probably 20 years but I think it will be a tradition that we have to put in our calender for the future because it was really nice.

My auntie Maggi was the number one waffle maker and she did an amazing job.

Karin, Jakob and me.

Fun with friends

Jakob wasn't so interested in the waffles at first, but when he saw Moa and everyone else eating them he tried and just loved them!

He couldn't get enough (like his mum...) and just kept eating and eating waffles with lots of cream and jam on. Yummy!

The weather was beautiful and the sun felt really warm.

Lucas was actually awake for a short time.

Not long ago this area was covered with snow and ice. Now nearly all of it is gone. Adam took Jakob for a walk to have a look at the water.

Moa and Jakob laughing at each other...

Karin and Jakob looking at a little ladybird.

Lambs and sheep!

A must when we go to Ale is to visit the sheep and all the cute little lambs.

Jakob and Moa were standing next to each other when he just softly put his arm around her shoulders.

Jakob kept shouting "come lambs, come lambs" but that just made them go further away from him.

At Maggi's and Åke's place

After a morning of playing outside in the sun we went inside to have a drink and a "rest". Lucas was asleep as always.

Jakob calls this four wheeler a tractor and he talks about it (and other tractors) ALL the time. When he gets close to them he is really scared and doesn't ever go closer than this.

Moa on the other hand, doesn't talk so much about them but she is not afraid of them at all.

Valborgsmässoafton...

is the name of a Swedish tradition that we celebrate the last of April every year. Not sure exactly why we do it (can anyone help me?) but I think it something about welcoming the spring. The main event is that you light a big bonfire and you also have small fires around the big one where you cook typical Swedish sausages. This is what it looked like when we first got there. We were the only ones there and it was hard to convince Adam that it is actually a really nice tradition.

My friend Karin that I got to know in Australia, and who has now moved back to Sweden came up to visit for the weekend. In the photo you can also see Jakob's cousing Moa and uncle Anders.

Jakob loooooves sausages. That's lucky because that's what we eat for dinner pretty much every night...

The big moment!

Jakob and Moa had a great time jumping in puddles, throwing sand at each other and trying to run away from their parents.

Walking home...

A family photo of the three of us. It was impossible to get Jakob to look in to the camera.

The days are getting so much longer now. As you can see in this photo it is still really light at about 8pm. I love this time of the year when it is fresh in the air, and the days are really long.

New season!

These two photos from our backyard were taken only a few days apart. In the beginning of last week we still had quite a lot of snow but at the end almost all of it had melted. Jakob still talks a lot about shoveling snow but he quite likes his new hobby - picking up leaves and putting it in bags (or just kicking the piles of leaves that we have raked...).