Busy Sunday

After an early morning for Jakob he kept going strong all day. Adam took him skating and he loved it and didn't want to stop. Normally he only lasts for a 20 min or something but this time he skated for nearly 2 hours.

 Later in the afternoon I took the kids (and mormor) to the yearly Christmas party in Ale. It is always relly nice and starts with Christmas porridge and sandwhiches.

  

                   Åsa and Mikaels little Vilmer is not so small anymore and I have a feeling that he will love running after Isak and Jakob when he gets a bit older.

                         In the old school building where the party was they have a room with some gym machines. Isak and Jakob did some heavy work out and Isak didn't want to stop even though he fell backwards hitting his head a few times.                          

                                                    

Lucia train with all the other children. This was the first year Jakob was really in to it and did well singing and participating in the train. Even Iska did pretty well trying to be a part of it all.

                                             

                                                          

Lucas, Jakob, Moa and Isak, the four cousins all in the same photo. Doesn't happen very often.  

                                                               

Isak getting a present from Santa...

                             And Jakob getting one too...                            

Isak relaxing after a long day. They both fell asleep in the car on the way home.



Ginger bread

                            

Sunday morning Jakob woke up at 3.15 and didn't go back to sleep. Adam was also awake so they hung out in the middle of the night, not really sure what they did. At 6.30 I got up and took over so Adam could have some sleep. Jakob was of course not interested in sleeping at all so when Isak woke up we started baking ginger bread.

                                      

Jakob did a great job baking and Isak did a great job eating the cookies. I ate the dough when nobody (Jakob and Isak) could see what I was doing...



Snow

Second day back and more snow! hard to believe we had green grass only a few days before these photos were taken. Jakob was so excited about the snow and wanted to go outside as soon as he woke up. Even Isak, who didn't really know what to do, seemed to enjoy it.

                                              

Jakob didn't even mind getting snow all over his face and body !



Finally, after nearly 5 weeks in Australia, Adam, Jakob and Isak are back home again. I have missed them like crazy and especially the last couple of weeks have been tough. I have kept myself very busy and taken the opportunity to do things I normally don't do (like the trip to London) and over all I have had fun, but 5 weeks is a long time.

They have had a great time with grandma and poppa in Australia and during the first weeks away they didn't miss me for a second. Jakob's English has improved a lot and it feels like he is a lot bigger and older since I last saw him. When I met them at the airport today Jakob was really excited but Isak started crying when I first took him and wanted to go back to Adam. It didn't take him long to warm to me again though and on the way to the car he was happy again.

This afternoon we have played and played and put up the Christmas tree, had tacos for dinner, had a bath etc. The kids were coping extremly well, Isak looked very tired a couple of times but pushed through and seemed very relieved when I put him in his bed just before 7pm. It didn't take Jakob many minutes to go to sleep either. Adam crashed around 6pm after an impressive effort to travel by himself with the two freaks all the way from Australia, on 4 flights. Jakob who is an experienced traveller nowdays had been great the whole way but Isak on the other hand was up for adoption a couple of times...

Finally we have some snow here and last night and this morning I had to shovel snow for the first time. Today when we were having dinner the neighours kids came over and did some more shoveling for us! Those children are amazing, such a nice thing to do for us!

Better go and check on the angels in their beds. So happy to have everyone home again :-)

London

 A few weeks ago I spent a long weekend in London staying with my dear friend Isabel. We met each other when working in Israel over 15 years ago and after that we have travelled in Africa together and visit each other many times over the years. Isabel now lives in Camden in a really nice place.

 The first day in London we walked and walked and walked through parks and other really nice suburbs in the less touristy areas. At the end of a long day of walking we stopped at Camden market for a foot massage from a Vietnames man that told us lots about Asian astrology. Isabel looked after me and cooked me a nice English dinner that we ate in bed watching a movie.

 Day 2 was another big day of walking, I just love London! today we treated ourselves to a Maroccoan Hammam, something I have never tried before, it was great! After that we went to the cinema and saw The Help. I read the book (Niceville) at home and loved it, the movie was also really good but as always not quite as great as the book.

 Day 3 we took the train down to Brighton to have lunch with Isabel's parents. I haven't seen them for many years so it was nice to meet them again. Last time I saw them they lived in London but a few years ago they moved down to Brighton. After a delicious lunch cooked by Isabel's dad we went for a walk along the water.

Isabel and her mum...

Girls weekend

 When Adam booked the trip to Australia about 6 months ago I quickly started to book in fun things to do during the weeks they would be away for. One thing I booked was a girls weekend in Luleå with my wonderful girl friends that I met in Australia when living there. We now all live in Sweden but have decided to get together for a weekend somewhere in Sweden at least once a year. Last year we had a weekend in Stockholm and this year Luleå!

 Marie and Karin

 Emma and me

 Hägnan

We had a really great weekend with lots of fikas, a visit to the museum, some shopping, one dinner home and one dinner out and lots of chatting and catching up on each others lives. 

Getting ready to go

 The two most beautiful children in the world getting ready to get on the first of four flights to Australia.

 Isak has started posing for the camera!

 The 3 boys at the airport. And teddy.

 Jakob promised he would take good care of Isak during the trip!

Before leaving...

 The day when Adam and the kids were leaving for Australia I took Jakob and Isak out in the morning so Adam could have some rest before the long flight. First we went to the riding club to watch some dressage competitions.

 After the riding club we met up with mormor and Anders, Moa and Lucas at the grave yard to put a candle on morfars grave.



 Morfar doesn't have his own grave but we know he is buried somewhere in this beautiful spot.

Last night with the boys

 The last night with the boys before they left to Australia involved a lot of cuddling...



Adam's birthday!

 Adam's birthday was a few weeks ago and here are some photos from his birthday dinner. My brother and his family came over and also Jens and the rest of his family.

 Jakob and Moa preparede a show for us!

 They worked so hard to get the seeting right but when the show was about to start nothing happened, don't think they really knew what they were supposed to do.

 When we put some music on and asked them to dance they started entertaining and didn't want to stop.