Mosquito bites

This time of the year there are lots and lots of mosquitos up in the north of Sweden. Jakob had around 20 bites after Midsummer but they didn't seem to bother him too much.

Midsummer night!

After spending the day with family we went to some friends (Micke and Zara) in the afternoon on Midsummer Eve. Adam, Jakob and I came in time for dessert after lunch (we had already had lunch) and being our first day of eating sweets in three weeks, I was quite happy. There were four boys at the party ranging between 2 and 4 and they had a lot of fun together.

All the boys playing outside...

And the girls relaxing on the couch... Zara and Camilla are both pregnant, and Sara had a little baby girl only about 10 days ago. And me? I needed to relax after eating heaps of chocolate, ice cream and lollies...

Jakob and Finn relaxing on the floor before bedtime.

The plan was to put the kids to bed before the adults had dinner. Jakob got to borrow Finn's bed and he did really well going to sleep without any problems. When we left around midnight he was half asleep but did not complain and went straight to sleep when we got home. The only problem was that he woke up at 2.30 crying. I think he had nightmares because he kept saying Not fall down, not fall down. Maybe he dreamt about sleeping in Finn's bed and that he had to be careful to not fall down. Jakob still sleeps on a mattress on the floor at home, and Finn had a proper bed. I tried to leave the room a few times but i ended up staying until 9 am the next morning when he woke up. Luckliy he was fine the night after and slept nicley in his bed until 7 in the morning.

Midsummer!

Today was a public holiday so we all had the day off. We celebrated Midsummer and almost the longest day of the year. Around this time the sun only goes down for about an hour around midnight so it is light 24 hours a day. During the day we celebrated with mormor and morfar, Anders and family, and his wife Helena's family. It was a great day with traditional celebrations. Jakob's ring of flowers was too big for his head...

Moa's fit her head much better.

Finally!

Jakob had a go at horse riding when he was about 4 months but when he got a bit older he started to get a bit scared of the horses. He is find patting them and being around them, but as soon as I start talking about riding he says NO. At Hägnan they had pony riding and also horses with carriages. Jakob didn't want to go in the carriage, but when he saw Moa having a go he wanted to try too. After that he got his confidence up and wanted to ride on one. I didn't think he would do it, but he did!! and he didn't want Adam to hold him.

After his ride he didn't want to get off and kept saying more, more!

Karin's birthday!

Today we celebrated Karin who is turning 30 tomorrow. She had organised a great party in the afternoon with food and cakes. Adam and I are still not allowed any sweets until Midsummer (Friday) and it was very very very hard to resist the beautiful cake.

Jakob loved the cake but managed to get blueberries all over his clothes...

Jakob saw Moa holding Lucas and wanted to try himself. He looked so proud when he held him!

Today it has been raining the whole day! Adam worked in the morning and had to coach in the rain. Jakob and I stayed inside all morning and had a nice time together. It is pretty nice with rain, as long as there will be some sunny days coming soon...

Trotting in Boden!

After the big bbq Friday night Jakob was exhausted and slept until 8.15 Saturday morning. When he got up we had a quick breakfast and went to visit Helena and Jessica. Jessica Alainentalo used to live in Luleå many years ago but now lives in the very south of Sweden. She was just here on holidays and stayed with Helena Forsgren. I both know them from the riding club. Helena has to boys and the youngest one, Jesper is the same age as Jakob. I forgot to take photos unfortunatley. After a quick lunch at home mormor and morfar picked us up to go to a big trotting show in Boden, about 30min drive from Luleå. We had a great afternoon (didn't win any money though).

Jakob and Moa were very interested in watching how the horses ran over the poo on the ground.

BBQ at Moa's

As always nowdays I had Friday off. Nice. Stayed home in the morning and dropped Jakob off at mum and dad's around lunch time to go and have a hair cut! haven't had one for 8 months. In the afternoon when Adam came home we took a walk over to Moa's place for a bbq. Mormor and morfar and Moa's farmor and farfar came as well. The weather was beautiful and the kids played outside for a big part of the night.

Moa's farmor and farfar gave Jakob and Moa a present each, a water pistol!! they loved it, and so did Adam...

Jakob entertained with some guitar playing...

Lucas was awake for an hour or so but had to be proteced from the older kids running around like crazy.

Sunday at the riding club

Adam came home after 3am this morning so Jakob and I went out quite early today to give him some peace and quiet. That's what I normally want when I have been out drinking... First we went to a school in the area to vote for the EU parlament. It was inside a gymnasium and Jakob had great fun running around talking about playing basket ball. After that we went to the riding club and tried to have a look at clinic. My old riding teacher that I haven't seen for years was there. It was fun to watch but Jakob doesn't sit still for more than a few seconds at the time so it wasn't very relaxing :-)

Jakob really likes Eva and he was very happy when she took him out to see Emma and give her some hay.

We also played a bit in the stables moving boxes with horse gear from one place to another...

And another one...

Cleaning the floor is a must every time we visit the horses.

Swedish National Day

Yesterday it was Sweden's national day. It only become a public holiday recently so people are not really used to celebrating this day. We went in to the city in the afternoon but since it started to rain Jakob stayed at mormor and morfar's place when Adam and I had a look in a few shops. I also met up with Stina for a coffee.
The rest of the afternoon I spent at my parents place relaxing on the couch, playing with Jakob and giving him a bath, having dinner. Dad took Adam to a boys dinner in Gammelstad so I had the evening to myself. Went home around 7 and spent the whole evening putting photos in albums.

Friday off!

This week was my first week to have Friday off. From now on I will be working only 4 days a week for the rest of the year, yeah! I think it is great and the best of all, I know I get to keep my job at least for a bit longer. Adam had Friday off too and since the weather wasn't so good we were quite productive and got a lot of cleaning done and I went for a long walk. In the afternoon we took a walk over to Maria, Andreas, Alice and Melvin for a bbq. In this photo Jakob and Alice are trying on dresses and dancing to the music.

Playing with Melvin's toys...

Riding on Adam is great fun!!!

Party at dagis!! (child care centre)

Every spring Jakob's dagis organises a bbq for all the children and their family. We started at 5pm with everyone cooking their own meat. Salad and drinks were supplied by dagis.

After dinner there was some time for the kids to run around and play and there was also some questions for each family to answer.

One of the highlights was when the kids got together to sing a few songs that they had practiced. Jakob had a small accident just before the singing and was not interested in sitting there with the other kids. Most of the time he sat on my lap clapping hands after the songs.

The last few months the kids have been going for walks once a week together with the staff. The older kids have a longer route than the smaller ones. They take it very seriousley and the staff told us that they have all done a great job and never complained even if the weather has been not so good. During the walk they have been looking at the changes in the nature and taken photos of some of the places they have walked past. For example they have looked at trees that not so long ago were covered by snow, and now have beautiful green leaves. Today they all got a small medal for their achievements and they looked very proud!

Who is coming?

At the end of the party the kids had to sit down and wait for a surprise....

A lady came from around the corner with a big basket full of bubbles for them all! Jakob waited nicely for his turn...

Finally he got his present!

I am glad that we were playing outside because Jakob is not so coordinated when it comes to playing with bubbles. Morfar helped a bit which made it easier.

Jakob's child care centre - Dagis in Swedish

Jakob has been going to child care full time 5 days a week up until now. From now until Christmas he will have Friday's off together with me (I will only be working 4 days a week). He loves his dagis and it is almost never a problem to leave him there in the morning and it is always very hard to get him to leave when we come to pick him up. This room is where the kids come in and each of them has a spot for their bags, clothes, shoes etc.

This is one of the play rooms at dagis.

This is another play room where they can paint for example.

Jakob used to love this room when he first started, the water room where they are allowed to play with water.

There are 2 more rooms as well but I don't have any photos of them.

Jakob normally gets there around 7.30-8. At 8.30 all the kids have breakfast before they go out and play for a couple of hours. At 11 they come back inside to have lunch (sometimes they eat outside) and after that the younger kids have a sleep. Most days this time of the year, the spend most of the afternoon outside again and When I pick Jakob up between 4-4.30 he is still outside playing.

More child care photos...

This is the type of change table most child care centres here in Sweden have. You just fold it out and use the remote control to move the table to right height. It starts at floor level so that the kids can jump up on the table and then it works like a lift. It is great, the kids normally love it and it saves the staff's backs.

The outdoor play area is really big with lots of fun things to play with. There are slides, swings and things to climb on and during the days they also get out balls, bikes, spades and buckets and lots of other toys. In winter the toys are different of course...

Potty

Jakob did a wee in his potty this morning with Adam and tonight with me!