Riding club

 After skiing we went home to drop Adam and Isak off and have some fruit and then took off again to the riding club. Jakob is a bit like me. He likes doing stuff and pretty much never says no to going out doing something. Hope it will stay like that!

There were 3 ponies available today and he had one ride on each of them. After that he stood in the indoor arena and watched other kids riding for a long time and did not want to leave. 

Ormberget

 -8 and sunny, a really nice midwinter day! Jakob was very excited to see the sun and talked a lot about it. We spent the morning at Ormberget. Jakob and I did some skiing and Isak and Adam spent some time getting a fire going so we could grill some sausage. Jakob did really well and after trying some jumps in the slope, that was all he wanted to do. I guess this is just the start. The jumps will get bigger and he will go faster. I remember exactly what it was like when I was a child.

Picnic by the slope. Bumped in to an Aussie guy with his wife and daughter, they joined us for a while. 

Daytrip

Today we went to a ski resort about an hour drive from Luleå called Storklinten. Anders and his family has their caravan there all winter so the plan was to meet up with them, but both Moa and Lucas woke up with a fever so they stayed inside and went back to Luleå in the afternoon.

On the way there we saw lots of raindeers next to the road!

 

 Nearly there. Jakob asked "when are we there?" every 5 minutes on the way there. He also suggested that we could drop him off so he could walk because he didn't like sitting in the car for so long. On the way home he slept most of the way and woke up saying how nice it was with a long car ride...

The skiing went really well! The biggest improvement was that Jakob could move forward even when the surface was flat. Last year we had to pull him everywhere, from the car to the slope, from the bottom of the slope to the start of the lift etc. Now he did it really well by himself without complaining! The skiing went well, he fell quite a few times but it didn't stop him from wanting to keep going. We skiied from just after 10 in the morning until about 3 in the afternoon with only a short fika break. Not a bad effort! Adam and I are stuffed and our legs are aching but Jakob the little freak seems fine.

Isak spent the day with mormor today, much appreciated by us since both Adam and I got to ski a lot. We took turns going with Jakob and going up the bigger hill by ourselves. A great day out and I think I will sleep well tonight!! after a week with early mornings I am looking forward to a sleep in tomorrow morning!!

All over the place!

When Jakob was younger I used to take pics of him sleeping in different positons but haven't done it for a while. He used to fall out of bed once every couple of weeks but hasn't done it for a long time now. The last few mornings he has been turning on the tv by himself without coming in to wake us up first. He is getting older.

Cuter then ever...

 Isak is just cuter than ever. He is such a nice, stubborn, gentle, cuddly little person. I can't wait for him to start talking, I want to know what's going on inside his little head.

Even when he is angry he is sort of cute. The other night I was about to change his nappy and put his pyjamas on, I normally do it on the couch in the evening. He was already upset with me and Jakob for not getting to play with something, can't remember what. When I wanted to change him he got crazy and started screaming and threw himself on the floor crying. He didn't want to know either of me and Jakob so we just left him alone. After a couple of minutes he walked off crying, in to Jakob's room and we could hear him hitting something  in there and crying on and off. After another 5 mintues, he comes back to the living room looking serious but not upset, picked up the nappy and gave it to me, climbed up on the couch and put his legs up in the air ready to be changed. Probably normal behaviour from a soon to be 2 but I just can't wait for him to talk and tell me what he is thinking! Come on Isak, there must be other words than Ama!

Boxing Day Ice Hockey

Jakob and I got tickets to watch Luleå Hockey on Boxing Day. Luleå won the match and we both had a great time!

Aussie Christmas

 The day after Swedish Christmas we celebrated Australian christmas. Jakob spent the morning playing with his favourite Christmas present from the day before, while waiting for the sleeping freak Isak to wake up.

 When Isak got up we opened all the presents from Australia and granma, poppa, Jason and his family got to watch it all via Skype. Jakob was over the moon when he finally got Buzz lightyear!

 In the afternoon Zara, Micke (and Mickes parents), Finn, Lykke and Jens and Ann-Helene and her children came over for drinks and dinner. Zara brought some play dough for the children and the four of them sat still playing for almost 5 minutes, not bad!

 In the end Isak was left by himself turning the play dough in to millions of tiny little things that he spread all over the house :-)

Tired mummy and tired Jakob after two days of really nice Christmas celebrations. Thanks to everyone for all the presents!!

Christmas in Ale

 Christmas Eve was celebrated in Ale with mum, Maggi, Åke. Åke's parents and my brother with family were also there for a big part of the day but missed Father Christmas.



 These "kicks" are handy to have in the snow and the kids loved going for a ride down to see the sheep.

 Getting the four cousins to pose for a photo was nearly impossible.

 Waiting for Santa...

 When Santa finally came Jakob was so happy and excited and gave him lots of hugs.

 Isak on the other hand was not sure about the whole Santa thing. He took his present but walked back to mormor very quickly.

Christmas morning

At 8 am Christmas Eve in the morning Jakob and I went to dad's grave to light two candles. It was still dark and we were the only people at the cemetary. Jakob likes going there. He thinks it looks so nice with candles everywhere and it brings back happy memories of morfar.

 In the car on the way to the grave Jakob said: Mummy I don't want to live until I am 100 years old. I don't want it to be that long before I get to see morfar again.

Home again after a nice morning trip together Jakob got to light all four candles. 

Merry Christmas

The night before Swedish Christmas and all the boys (including the big one) are asleep. Tomorrow morning Jakob and I will go to dad's grave to light a candle and after that we will go to Ale to spend Christmas with mum, Maggi and Åke. Anders and his family will also be there for a few hours.

On Christmas Day we will celebrate Australian Christmas where we open the present from Australia in the morning. In the afternoon some friends are coming over for drinks and dinner. We are all very excited about.

Hope all of you will have a wonderful Christmas and we send some extra special Christmas wishes to grandma, poppa, Jason, Karen, Hugo and Arabella over in Adelaide!

Christmas

 The past couple of weeks have been fun and busy with trips to the riding club, seeing friends, dagis, work and lots of birthday parties. This week we have had 3 birthdays, mum on Wednesday, Sigrid yesterday and Anders today. The only negative is trying to get Jakob to leave the parties. He has been very upset with me the last few nights...

Both Isak and Jakob are really well at the moment apart from Isak having a light cold. Isak is still not talking but he understands a lot and he communicates in his own way using just one word and pointing and grunting to get what he wants. He is extremly cute (I know I am his mum...) and very cuddly. He loves holding hands and he still loves sleeping. He wants to do everything Jakob does which I guess is pretty normal but can be annoying when he is determined to pour milk by himself from a full milk container just because Jakob does it. Very small problems though and because he is so cute it is hard to get upset with him when he for example stands on the kitchen table with a big smile.

Jakob is a great big brother and the other night he was so proud of himself when he managed to undress Isak and take his nappy off to get ready for bed. Isak loved it and did everything Jakob told him to do: Isak, sit down. Isak, stand up. Isak turn around. When I do it he runs away laughing :-)

Christmas fika

 Jakob helping Carina baking some "lussebullar"

Families together again

Last weekend we were invited to Micke and Zara, it was nice to get together with all the children again. Jakob was very happy to see Finn again. Micke cooked a delicious lamb dish and Zara made a yummy dessert so that on top of nice company made the evening a success.

 Isak is a sweet tooth like me... he was the only one who couldn't take his eyes off the ice cream for a photo...

 Isak wants to be were Jakob is and wants to do what Jakob does...

Lucia at dagis

                                                          

The Lucia day is on 13th December and dagis had celebrations in the morning with a Lucia train outside at 8am for parents to come and watch, and after that fika inside.  

Jakob loved it all and was especially happy to see his friends again!                                             

                                                        

Isak was a bit scared at first and didn't want to be a part of it. After only a couple of minutes he pushed off me and started walking towards the other kids. He looked so cute in all his thick winter clothes with the santa dress on top.