taming the thorens

zoe´s circus!

2012-01-14T22:27:00.015+05:30

so yesterday was zoe´s long awaited circus with her school. it was great. they had clowns, acrobats, and even wild tigers and lions(they dressed up the little kids from the nusery school, too cute!). here is zoe all dressed up and ready to perform at the start of the show!

the opening parade with all the other kids in her group. she wanted to have circus hair, so she had me braid beads and bangles into her hair. classic zoe.

zoe was in the balance group. here is she is doing her walk on the balance beam, at one point she even balanced on one leg, but i was kinda stuck behind a coconut tree, so could not get a good shot. but she did great.

and they even did a small human pyramid, the kids were great. it was a super fun show, and we are so glad zoe had the opportunity to be a part of it.

last night after the show we went to the beach for a fish dinner to celebrate. one of zoe´s friends from school was at the next table, so they wanted to play, but playing with bigger stronger boys, you take your chances. zoe came back from one of their flower searches with her face all scratched up! he had been carrying her around on his back, and when he leaned forward, she did not let go and slid face first on some rocks, stubborn zoe!

life in goa..

2012-01-12T22:20:00.008+05:30

we are still enjoying the nice relaxing pace of life in goa. zoe has been in school, so we have had a lot more one on one time with eijla. thomas has been taking her to the beach while i have been working on the computer, and she usually comes back looking like this! happy and full of chocolate ice cream.

eijla is such a little character, she loves shoes. i think it is because she hardly ever wore any her first year of life, and not she is trying to make up for it. such a little grown up girl with her purse of legos and her shoes, she prances around like a little princess!

yeah, needs no words...

ah, the beach...

2012-01-08T21:50:00.002+05:30

yep, still at the beach. today we drove out to a little beach which we had almost to ourselves. i am still trying to figure out how to get decent pics out of zoe´s camera, hope i can fix my lens soon! but it was a fun day at the beach...

grattis på födelsedagen farmor!

2012-01-07T18:41:00.001+05:30

farmor fyller år idag. vi skall skype senare idag! hipp hipp hurra! men först var vi ute och körde. och hittade många fina blommor!

happy birthday farmor!

baby´s got a new do!

2012-01-05T22:30:00.000+05:30

so today we finally cut eijla´s hair for the first time! it was a tough moment for me. but it wasn´t so hard for eijla! our "wild child" sat still as long as she could play with the itouch! what did we ever do before we got that thing?!?!

my little girl looking so grown up!

then i had to share this one from yesterday we had ice cream on the beach at sunset and the girls we just so sweet together. moments like this i really really miss my lens, but i am doing my best with zoe´s little camera.

pappa fyller år!

2012-01-02T23:58:00.001+05:30

happy birthday pappa! hipp hipp hurra! it is pappa's day! we woke him up with singing and breakfast in bed. after food and snuggles we headed to the nearest wildlife sanctuary for a little more adventure. we rode through the jungle on our little bike, and then hiked up to a treetop lookout. zoe was so brave and climbed all the way up and down by herself. a guy promised that if she could do it, than he would. he made up about 3 meters and chickened out. zoe thought he was a bit silly.

we saw lizards, butterflies, frogs, and some pretty cool trees.

we stopped for lunch at a cozy little place where zoe got to climb a coconut tree, and then we walked down to a little stream afterwards to cool down.

on the way out of the sanctuary we stopped to see the rescue animals, zoe really hit if off with shinky the giant squirrel.

then it was off to dinner on the beach again. happy birthday my dear swedish meatball, i hope you know your girls are all crazy about you! puss.

new year's eve

2012-01-01T11:53:00.012+05:30

we rented a bike for new years eve, and drove to the market in chaudi to buy supplies. zoe bought much of her own food, including tomatoes, cucumbers, and these crazy colored pastas. she is quite the little market shopper.

after offloading the supplies at the house we went exploring, all four of us on our little blue speedy bike. eijla was either waving her arms in the wind or sleeping the whole ride. we found more beaches and even made it all the way to agonda.

then after a beautiful sunset and dinner on the beach...it was time for fun. we bought zoe and eijla sparklers which they played with while waiting for dinner.

it was time for fun. we bought zoe and eijla sparklers which they played with while waiting for dinner.

sadly they fell asleep by about 2200, and we were unable to wake them despite the insanely loud and fireworks and us pinching and poking them all over. nope they were out, and proceeded to sleep through the large firework explosions at midnight. but we enjoyed it laying on the beach. not a bad way to welcome the new year.

happy birthday to me!

2011-12-26T23:14:00.003+05:30

i was spoiled rotten today. thomas and the girls woke me up with breakfast in bed, fresh avocados and tomatoes on toast, yum! then it was a snuggle day! blanka and her family came over to join us for cake at the german bakery. but not before blanka and zoe decorated themselves with shiny wrapping paper. very stylish young ladies.

most of us "carpooled" to the bakery where we had super yummy cake.

zoe chose to have "happy birthday mommy" on the cake, too cute. then a delicious dinner on the beach with kingfish vindaloo and good company. a fantastic birthday. now i just hope i can make thomas´ just as special next week.

happy christmas! india style

2011-12-25T21:59:00.005+05:30

santa claus came to goa! we woke up this morning with eijla bouncing a ball on our heads. our ikea shopping bags worked great as stockings, and old saint nick did not miss a beat. there were pens and stamps, and stickers, and of course the balls. oooh!

the booty!

then it was another fun afternoon at the beach.

with ice cream of course, cuz as zoe says it is christmas and that means an extra special day with extra special belöningar!

and then a tasty dinner on the beach and flowers in our hair. merry christmas and happy holidays to all!

JULAFTON!

2011-12-24T16:24:00.001+05:30

christmas eve! the girls are super excited! here they are with their pretty christmas fancy updos, enjoying a little bit of morning entertainment on the itouch.

we have met another swedish family here, so we will go out tonight with them and celebrate the swedish julafton, though santa is not going to make it here until tonight! we even got ourselves a sparkly little purple tree! here are my christmas girls...

the beach continued...

2011-12-23T21:18:00.001+05:30

what´s that? another day or two at the beach, really? yup. and loving it. we walked all the way to palolems main street yesterday. seems like everyday we explore just a little bit further, but never get very far at all! nothing to complain about there.

but all the fun and playing and sand castle building does wear one out. eijla enjoys her daily naps on the beach, and looks adorable doing it.

ah, still enjoying the beach...

2011-12-21T19:09:00.001+05:30

ah, life on the beach is good. really good. the girls love the sand and the creatures and shells they find there. today was a big crab hunting day. we even found starfish and watched while they buried themselves in the sand again.

being in the land of amazingly good food, zoe has of course been begging to have boring noodles like the ones that she eats back home. so we finally found some and the girls enjoyed their "not so gourmet" noodles on the porch. hmmm, think i will stick to my palak paneer!

and off to paradise we go..

2011-12-19T17:25:00.000+05:30

after a month in rajastan, we are ready for some laid back beach time. but the beaches are far away, so this time we took an airplane (or two). here are the girls on our lay over in mumbai airport, on our way to goa.

we arrived in the middle of the night, but the girls awoke to the sound of the waves outside our bungalow. white sand beaches and the prefect temperature in the water, this is really paradise.

we spent our first couple of nights in a hut on the beach...

but then we found a house a little bit off the beach, i would say it is a quieter location except for all the dogs barking, roosters crowing, and the other odd animal fight, but we do have a small kitchen and tiled floors. we tried to go into town to buy all the necessities, but then realized it was sunday, so managed to get some of the stuff we needed, but not all, though we did manage to do the christmas shopping for the girls. even bought a tiny bit of christmas decorations. this morning thomas and zoe drank their breakfast on our front porch, yes zoe is very happy we live in a very pink house! looking forward to a month of relaxing here.

horseback riding and traditional dance

2011-12-13T22:25:00.002+05:30

this morning we woke up bright and early to go horse backriding. both zoe and eijla were super excited. we went just 10 or 20 kms outside of udaipur and were in beautiful natural surroundings.

eijla rode with me for awhile, but my horse preferred to trot rather than walk, and it was just too bumpy for her once she started getting tired. so she slept with pappa on his calmer horse.

we had a great time, but both zoe and i were pretty sore on our bottoms after riding on my bumpy horse! good things we only booked a morning ride and not a day ride! then this evening we went to a traditional dance and puppet show. there were lots of sparkles and bells, the girls really enjoyed it. since my favorite lens died on me, i have been bad about bringing my camera anywhere so i have no pictures. but the girls got early christmas presents as we bought a puppet from the puppeteer at the show, and he gave eijla a little camel puppet.

our last stop in rajastan

2011-12-12T21:39:00.004+05:30

we started our trip to udaipur with a bit of adventure. managed to hitch a ride on a jeep since waiting for the bus seemed to be taking forever, about 3 km into the trip the jeep blew a tire on a bridge, and a swerve away from crashing the driver managed to keep us on the road, however it meant back to the bus stop. though luckily the bus arrived very shortly and we were on our way. the road is narrow, mountainous, curvy, and well, pretty darn scary, but we made it without any further mishap. the girls had been so great for the trip that we enjoyed an ice cream break! yum!

then we wandered around checking out the local highlights, including the lake.

we even got our first glimpse of christmas with a tree outside one of the shops.

and how could i leave out a picture of a tinfoil deity. they have small shrines all over here, but this is the first tinfoil one i have seen!

then one day we even headed to the zoo, though the playground was more of a highlight than the few sad looking animals.

zoe and eijla checking out two big crocodiles...

thomas snapped this one, didn´t think it needed any explanation...

the jain temples of ranakpur

2011-12-10T15:16:00.001+05:30

so after our train ride, we arrived late in jodhpur, where we just spent the night before hopping on a bus to ranakpur. we had decided on a cute place out in the jungle which was supposed to have a swimming pool. but as it turned out it was all but shut down. the manager was getting married and the entire staff was there. so we ended up having a very quiet stay, the temporary staff was friendly but the swimming pool and the jungle treks were not an option. oh well. we made our own safari on the way to the temples, a 2 km walk. we saw peacocks, preying mantis, monkeys, cows, and more, not too bad for on our own.

eijla trying to blend into the carvings at the temples...

our cozy, but not quite staffed hotel. it had a lot of potential, but was pretty run down.

the view from the patio and pool area. not bad at all. it was a great place to see birds and monkeys.

thomas and zoe pinky swear to not tease one another. yeah, that did not last long!

the place had a little puppy as well, sadly all of its siblings had been eaten by the crocodiles in the lake, but the girls had a great time playing with reiki. and then it was off to udaipur.

saying good bye to jaislamer

2011-12-07T15:06:00.001+05:30

we spent our last day enjoying the fort and the views. zoe is really looking forward to our train ride back to to jodhpur this evening...

just had to include this pic, the girls are not always the angels they appear to be in this blog, escpecially when they do not get what they want!

our little camel safari in the rajastani desert

2011-12-06T23:29:00.032+05:30

after our practice run, we were ready to head to the desert. zoe was very excited...

but the sun was strong, so pappa and eijla covered up...

zoe had a bit fun playing musical camels, she rode, in turn, with thomas, me and even the camel guide.

eijla wanted to ride on the camel all by herself, and could not understand why we wouldn´t let her!

then we rode out to the sand dunes, definitely the highlight of the safari.

where we had fun in the sun and played in the sunset...

then the stars came out and the temperature cooled down...

and a stick on fire was ever so fun. are we bad parents we let our five year old play with fire?

then after a yummy dinner cooked by the fire, it was time for nighty nighty under the starry sky!

sunrise over my cute little family. mys.

then it was up for a yummy breakfast, and a couple more hours of fun in the sand, there were sand angels....

buried angels...

and then we were off again before the sun was too hot...

on our lunch break zoe even managed to pick flowers in the desert. that kid can find flowers anywhere!

then it was time to say good bye to our camel and guides, it was a great adventure!

the desert city of jaislamer...

2011-12-04T23:40:00.015+05:30

after a some uneventful (aside from eijla vomiting all over herself and me) trip out in the desert, we arrived in jaislamer, where the thing is to take a camel safari. we were not sure how the girls, or we for that matter, would survive an overnight camel safari, so we took a mini one on the outskirts of town as a trial run. as you can see, zoe loves camels, and it went well, so there is going to be sore butts and sleeping under the stars in our near futures...

we checked out the water reserve on the edge of town where you can rent boats and cruise around. the girls loved it, but even on the water, there were indians chasing us in their boats. the girls have their own paparazzi wherever we go!

then we explored the fort, stopping for some nice views now and again.

and a cozy dinner on a rooftop restaurant watching the sun go down and the girls entertain themselves with their coloring. mysigt.

more fort exploration

2011-12-02T23:20:00.001+05:30

today it was the tourist trail, as we headed up to Mehrangarh Fort, and Jaswant Thada (where the cremate the royals). the fort had a pretty interesting audio guide, zoe and i shared one and listened to the history of the fort. there was a lot to hear about. the fort had never been captured, pretty impressive.

after the tour, we walked out to the fort walls and a had a great view of the city, but the girls were getting pretty tired, so eijla crashed and zoe rested on a canon.

zoe, the scavenger that she is managed to find a piece of coconut shell and some flowers, most likely the highlights of the fort for her.

was impossible to try and get fotos of us in front of the fort, every time we stopped people surrounded the girls trying to touch them or take photos, so we had to settle for a family pic in a quiet corner.

after the fort it was off to the centophs, the girls had fun chasing birds and jumping off of stairs.

then it was time to head back to the hotel with two tired girls, and 2 worn out parents. good thing we had a auto rickshaw and did not have to walk back.

and what?!?! is it december? it is time to pull out the advent calendar zoe got from mormor before we left. surprised it has made it so far! zoe was pretty happy. christmas is just around the corner, though it does not feel like it at all. next we are off to jaislamer, way out in western rajastan close to the pakistan border, a wild west adventure!

the blue city...

2011-11-30T22:50:00.014+05:30

upon our arrival in jodhpur, often called the blue city, we found a cozy little guesthouse ran by a super friendly family, tucked down an alley just below the fort. we even had a real "princess sang"!

eijla and papa checking out the guide book to see what kind of adventures we can have here.

then it was out the door and off for a bit of exploring...

we walked by these little shops were these guys sit by little charcoal fires and make bracelets out of tree gum. zoe found it facinating so we ended up spending quite a while watching. they even made zoe her own little pink and gold bracelet, but sadly broke while she was playing. they are apparently not meant to withstand five year old buse.

the blue city is well, very blue, caught this pic of zoe leaning against one of the many blue facades, and thought it was cute.

and you can even get fast food here. apparently the food is so fast here, it has its own wheels! ha ha.

there are a lot of cows wandering the streets here. we find them very useful for garbage, the love the girls banana peels...

thomas got a shave with this funny character, " are you pleased with my work?" was his little catch phrase, but he let eijla help out.

then while wandering the streets we were invited in to one of the houses, there were certainly a lot of people living there. they had a new little baby that they let me hold. eijla absolutely loved the baby, and of course the girls were very popular with the members of the family. it was a fun little visit. away from the traffic, this city sure has some charm.

how do you get around pushkar?

2011-11-28T22:32:00.000+05:30

in style that's how! with our sparkly new shoes, and uber cool sunglasses...

being carried by the world's strongest pappa!

or... the world's tuffest big sis!

and after a hard day being carried, or carrying others around, we like to unwind by the pool with spectators and all! good bye pushkar it has been fun...

to shop or to swim, that is the question...

2011-11-27T21:22:00.000+05:30

we have changed hotels to one with a pool so that the girls could have a little extra fun. i has certainly helped with the gnäll factor. only it is winter here, so after 15 minutes in the pool, both girls are shivering like crazy.

the days here are pretty laid back, but it is time to start thinking about our next destination, and so we are of course shopping! no, pushkar seemed like as good as place as any to buy a few things and mail it back home nice and slow. rajastan is known for their shoes apparently. and zoe found a pair of glittery ones that suited her just fine, eijla was a more difficult customer. we even managed to get some lovely extra pink slippers for auntie zita!

and who would have thought this would be the place to buy handpainted doorknobs? why not send a few home. tomorrow it is packing, shipping, swimming, and figuring out how we are getting to the next destination.

mys i pushkar

2011-11-25T22:09:00.000+05:30

being the mellow town that it is, we are really enjoying chillin out in pushkar. the rooftop restaurants give great views of the village and lake, as well as tasty eats. i think the girls are really enjoying the mellower pace of life here.

every chance she gets zoe gets out here book and pens and creates all kinds of beautiful artwork.

there was some kind of political figure in town today, and there was all kinds of flower throwing and drums, a bit of a parade really. zoe collected some of the flowers and made a love coca flower bottle...

then i think we found our favorite restaurant. super cozy, with amazing tibetan food, and super friendly staff.

but the girl´s favorite part was the restaurant´s super yummy chocolate balls. they were a real hit! they even showed us how to make them, so we will have to give it a go when we get back to sweden.

made it to pushkar

2011-11-24T23:23:00.019+05:30

we survived a bus trip with no vomit and arrived in pushkar. it is a very religious town. they do not serve eggs, meat, or alcohol in the whole town (some sneaky restaurant do serve eggs on the sly). the town is built up on a lake, that supposedly was formed when brahma dropped a lotus flower. and thus claims to have the one brahma temple in india. an interesting village with a lot of charm. there is definitely more tourists here though mostly of the backpacking hippie genre. zoe is happy because it means non spicy food like spaghetti!

there are tons of textiles and handicrafts on sale here. thinking about sending some stuff home. there was a man hand carving out all these blockprint stamps by hand on the side of the road. was pretty cool, zoe fell in love with the butterflies!

we found a place where they gave dance lessons, so we let zoe try, but surprisingly she was not all into it. (she claimed because she wanted a girl teacher). but the teacher was understanding and switched it to a drum lesson, though i think eijla was more involved in the lesson than zoe!

9 years ago today...

2011-11-22T23:13:00.018+05:30

we walked into the forest in tyringe and got hitched. been an interesting ride, and still going. zoe and thomas surprised me with flowers this morning. sadly they will not travel well, as tomorrow we are off to pushkar, but i have enjoyed them today.

we stopped by the gem side of town and watched how they cut and polished stones, before we bought a couple semi precious ones ourselves. even got myself an amethyst to put in my ring for eijla.

then it was off to the city palace in the old city. we did a bit of exploring before heading on.

zoe helped a guy feed the birds over 50 kgs of seeds, apparently his family members always feed the birds their weight in seeds every year on their birthdays. those are going to be some pretty fat birds!

then we made it to the hawa mahal, before it closed! yeah! it was a pretty cool building. they built them so that the ladies could still look out onto the happenings of the world without being seen themselves. lots and lots of windows. but once again, the girls were maybe photographed more than the site itself!

then we found a yummy little restaurant for our anniversary dinner, the girls even had very chocolatey ice cream! excited to see pushkar tomorrow!

a more convenient way to see jaipur!

2011-11-21T22:45:00.044+05:30

so today we were a little smarter and hired an autorickshaw for the day to take us around. we headed off to the further out sites so we were really grateful for the convenience. the girls love riding in the autorickshaws. though of course they would never fly in sweden, which we have to explain to zoe multiple times a day, though the last few times she asked, i just blamed it on the swedish weather!

first we stopped at royal gaitor, basically a cemtary for the big guys, lucky for us it is not big the tourist trail (both indian and westerner). so the girls could run around and explore and have fun without being harassed. they had a great time, and i found the carvings to amazing.

then we headed up to amber fort, up on the hills overlooking jaipur. eijla managed to throw up on me and her just as we got there, so after we cleaned ourselves up, thomas and eijla took it easy out in the courtyard while zoe and i went in and explored the fort...

the fort was an amazing maze of all kinds of interesting rooms and buildings, but luckily we found our way out in the end and back to thomas and eijla. eijla was of course charming all the indians.

she even made friends with one of the cleaning ladies. everyone finds her doll so interesting and asks where we got it. funny the things different cultures find interesting.

then zoe stopped to feed the pigeons outside the fort. she could not get them to eat out of her hand no matter how much she tried, maybe it is because five year olds are very wiggly!

on the way back to town we stopped for some food and then at the jal mahal, well, okay near the jal mahal. a "floating" palace, a damn they have built here has drowned out the first few floors of the palace. all in all a great day. even met a magician boy who wowed us with his magic.

we walked and we walked and we walked....

2011-11-20T22:28:00.000+05:30

jaipur looked so much smaller on the map. thought it was only a short walk to the old city, but i was wrong. we walked, a lot today. the poor girls are almost constantly harassed by indians wanting to touch them or take a picture, but we found this little rooftop temple where we could relax for a minute and get our breath back.

we walked around most of the old city. and stopped off at the jantar mantar, an observatory type complex built some hundreds of years ago. quite interesting all kinds of things to calculate the time, or the position of the stars. here we are by what they say is the worlds largest sundial. by the end of the day we were exhausted from walking, so it was a autorickshaw back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.

a little cuteness in delhi

2011-11-19T23:18:00.004+05:30

Yesterday was our last day in delhi. looking forward to getting to a slightly smaller big city. we walked around. checked out random things and stopped for chai and a lassi when the mood took us. managed to get a cellphone and sim card. but apparently getting a sim card is similar to getting a visa, so it was a hassle to get passport fotos and everything, but in the end somebody finally sold us one.

then today it was our first indian train ride. the girls loved it. zoe build a fort up on the over bunk, and they crawled up and down and all around. so tomorrow jaipur awaits!

the wilder side of delhi

2011-11-18T12:32:00.000+05:30

as per zoe wishes we headed off to the zoo yesterday, after spending a couple hours getting our train tickets for saturday. it was a warm afternoon, so i think a lot of the animals were feeling it. but zoe took lots of pics, and you can see some of them on her new blog.

we saw deer, crocodiles, jaguars, lions, and even this super balancing monkey (okay, so it is a gibbon).

zoe found her own wild animal in the zoo, after seeing the bengali tiger, eijla decided she was a cat too.

we even saw a white tiger, my first. pretty amazing looking animal.

it was a fun day at the zoo, but if was off to dinner and a bit of market wandering...

after a long day, and we wound down with some delicious indian chai and coffee. and of course some snuggles from a very tired little girl.

the red fort, old delhi

2011-11-17T01:55:00.000+05:30

we decided to see something touristy today. the red fort. though it turned out that the girls seemed to be a bigger tourist attraction than the fort. everyone had their cellphones out and were shooting away. here i got a pic of pappa and the girls after running away and finding some peace and quiet.

though we are in a land of incredible sights, 5 year old zoe seems to think photographing chipmunks is the highlight of the trip so far. everytime she has spotted one she is off chasing them. but she is starting to realize that if she approaches them slowly they do not run away...

among the hundreds of people wishing to take photos with the girls were many school girls, zoe decided that it was okay to take photos with other kids, but not the grown ups, so these girls were pretty happy to get a pic with this strange looking little blond monkey!

took a break and let the girls blow off steam running around on the grounds. as long as they kept moving people kept their space, as soon as they stopped they were surrounded.

zoe gave me a lovely hairdo made out of a wet wipe. very stylish. do not know whether it is a good or bad thing that she has learned to tie real knots.

eijla entertaining yet another crowd...

after all the running around and flirting she crashed pretty hard...

but zoe was still good to go, climbing and hopping and running about. i honestly think somewhere in there she actually likes all the attention...

pappa and the girls outside the fort where india´s flag of independence was first raised in 1947. thomas has been getting a good work out carrying the girls so much.

and after he worked so hard he got to end the day with a shave and a facial. hee hee.

more than a decade later, india, finally.

2011-11-15T23:39:00.001+05:30

nearly 12 years ago when i met thomas, my plan was to head to india on my next trip. BUT sometimes love is stronger than the travel bug. however, finally he came around and we are off to india! yippeeeee! eijla prepared herself well for the trip..

after a night of flights we are arrived in delhi. the hotel sign was so sweet i could not help but take a pic. thomas will now be known as sincerely thomas the rest of the trip...

since we were all exhausted we headed back to the hotel for a bit of a rest, then it was off for a bit of exploring. for some unknown reason the hotel owner gave us a taxi free of charge for the afternoon. he drove us around to tons of places that we were not interested in, and a very overpriced restaurant, but we got to see a little of delhi. by the time we got back to the hotel everyone was wiped.... but tomorrow is another day full of possibilities.

last minute stuff before we are off!

2011-11-13T02:44:00.003+05:30

so zoe and eijla have been really great at entertaining themselves while we have been trying to get everything ready at home. zoe has been giving eijla ballerina lessons. it was so cute!

and then of course we have been bad parents and let them watch movies now and again (okay at least once a day! but are very glad we do not have tv!). you can see how trance like they get while watching. yeah, our kids are addicts.

then after months and months of having a half torn up bathroom, we are tearing it all out. we finally got an offer, and so hopefully we will have a real bathroom again when we come back. so thomas has spent the last week ripping it down to the framing...

and here we have it, a nearly empty room... just waiting to be molded!

so this is it. we are off next week. excited for a new country and lots of new adventures!

the carpet cleaner, the ballerina, and the one and a half year old teenager

2011-11-09T02:36:00.000+05:30

yep, as i have mentioned the cold is here, which means that it is time to take out the carpets! but ours have been on our back porch since last winter, so they were due for a good washing. good thing thomas built us a nice big back deck for him to wash them on! ha ha!

auntie zita and fredrik brought the girls adorable tutus on their last visit. and zoe just realized how much she loves hers, now we cannot hardly get it off her! she has been dancing all over the house. gotto find some dance classes for that kid!

yeah, need i say more? we are in trouble!

just an ordinary autumn

2011-11-05T02:34:00.027+05:30

yesterday we finally made it back to the swimhall, and the österströms joined us. it was so much fun. i love being able to visit with such a dear friend, and all the girls love the water. little anya thinks she can swim by herself already, no fear whatsoever. love it. anyway, as an added bonus we grabbed maya and stole her for the night. the girls had a slumber party. they even slept in a little tent in zoe`s room. they were so good. we are really going to miss maya and her family so much while we are away.

we rarely have candy in our house, but thomas had bought some the other day, and turns out eijla loves salt licorice suckers. salt licorice i said, crazy kid.

the laundry basket is an amazing toy. the girls can play with them for hours, the problem is they keep destroying them!

then there is baby. eijla`s favorite doll. she is crazy about it. and insists that it is naked most of the time. but nothing is cuter then her racing around the house screaming "baby!?! baby!?!" and then "dar är hon ju!" when she finds it.

enjoying the autumn weather with a long walk i the forest

2011-11-03T02:47:00.018+05:30

today was brisk, but beautiful so the girls and i decided to take bonita for a walk in the forest. however not the normal walk on the path, but we went exploring. it was fun, but i can say i would not do it again with the stroller! what a a workout! bonita thought it was great.

zoe somehow managed to find flowers despite the summer being long over!

i love this jacket, we bought it for zoe years ago at a second hand store in new york, and i was so happy when i realized it fit eijla now. it is so nostalgic, and she looks absolutely adorable in it.

after about an hour, we found our way back to the path, but then we needed to take a bit of a break, or rather i did. so the girls discussed the walk so far, i love how serious eijla looks about this conversation.

and of course we stopped to enjoy the pretty colors of the fall leaves. on the way back home we stumbled on the bookmobil! finally learned their schedule, so looking forward to taking advantage of it next year when we get back from india. the girls got a few books to read. zoe managed to find a fable about elephants from india. glad that she also is getting so excited for the trip. just hope we get our visas back in time!

greenhouse fotoshoot and trick or treaters

2011-11-01T03:37:00.000+05:30

we had a super yummy thomas soup out in the greenhouse for lunch yesterday. probably our last meal out there for the year. we have not used the "dining section" of the greenhouse so much this year. but hopefully we will next year. it is so cozy.

after lunch, zoe insisted on a photoshoot. my little photo model. she is just so darn cute.

she took some lovely photos of me as well.

my little pink and purple ballerina...

then today was halloween, so we had a scary little ghost and a sweet little princess come trick or treating. we had them knock on the doors upstairs as thomas and i ran from room to room trying to get there before they finished knocking on the last door. not sure that eijla understood what was going on, but she was super happy every time she got candy for knocking on a door. booo!

pyssla and pumpkins

2011-10-30T03:28:00.018+05:30

i have been talking about making a mirror for eijla for months. mormor found one at a loppis and we designed the vinyls signs for it. luckily there was a lot of space left over on the sheets, so zoe and eijla ended up with lots and lots of vinyl stickers, a real hit.

thought that the mirror turned out really cute. zoe took a picture of it for us.

then we finally had the österströms over for dinner. seems like forever since last time. good food and good company makes for a perfect evening. since halloween is just around the corner, we got a pumpkin for the girls to carve. they designed half the face each.

turned out pretty cute, eyelashes and all. and the princesses were very proud of their artwork.

the leaves are falling

2011-10-24T02:50:00.004+05:30

fall is here. the cold weather has set in, time for us to leave. but before we do, best to have a bit of fun! we raked all the leaves in a bit pile at the bottom of the slide and let the girls go crazy...

it was so much fun. fall is also a great time of year, even if i am sad to say good bye to all my green things....

Happy birthday farfar!

2011-10-23T14:41:00.000+05:30

so it was time to head south again, this time to celebrate farfars birthday. eijla was a of a wild buse with moa..

but luckily after awhile they found their groove and had a great time...

and not sure if it was farfar snuggles or farfar wrestling. but zoe gave farfar lots of lovin'. delicious food and great company. happy birthday farfar. thanks for sharing with us. the girls are lucky to have the world's greatest farfar.

fall harvest, birthday party, and missing teeth

2011-10-22T02:29:00.002+05:30

yep, the summer is over. there are freezing temperatures at night. so we harvested all we could from the greenhouse. here is eijla proudly showing off our last pickings this year...

then we headed south for the weekend again. for a lovely evening with the annermalms, though we all we so tired we crashed way too early. but the next morning was a birthday party for mathilda. eijla and zoe joined in the festivities. apparently rebecka and eijla won the popcorn game!

then there were goodies and ice cream cake, you know eijla and her little sweet tooth loved that!

then today we lost tooth number two. zoe had let it hang so long, that when she finally let me pull it out today, it barely touched it and it fell out. pretty cute smile she has now.

chicken little and ceramics

2011-10-10T02:20:00.008+05:30

we headed south for the weekend to see farmor and farfar. farfar showed off his spetzkaka.

then of course we had to stop by and say hi to the sheeps and chickens. zoe even got to hold the baby, even though it is not so small anymore.

eijla was so sweet and gentle with it. so cute.

then we headed down to stångby massan, where anita had a table full of her beautiful ceramics. zoe bought her little clay tomte, and i found some wonderful hotpads with cute little ladybugs. then there were herbs and korvs for the girls. another nice weekend.

enjoying the end of summer

2011-10-05T01:58:00.004+05:30

mormor is getting better, so it was time for a crayfish party with her! zoe took her through all the steps to get the most out of a crayfish. yum!

then it is time to get ready for india! so the we had a little photoshoot to get everyones photos for the visas. afterwards zoe wanted to have a little of her own self-directed shoot...

and here was her masterpiece...

back to reality...

2011-09-28T01:46:00.002+05:30

yeah, so after a wonderful vacation it was back to the horror that is our bathroom. thomas had to pull of the entire floor before someone would give us an offer to fix all the hidden faults. the former owners had screwed and glued the floor so much it was an insane job to pull it all up. good thing my husband is strong as an ox!

then a pleasant surprise! zoe lost her first tooth. we managed to knock it loose while going down a slide together at lalandia, and then today she just pulled it out. hard to believe how quick she is growing up!

last day of vacation

2011-09-27T01:37:00.001+05:30

our last day of fun. we stopped off at monkey tonkey land and the girls built themselves a bit lego fort. which they then destroyed.

then we just had a few hours of waterslides and splashing about.

eijla even insisted on going on some of the slides all by herself! "kan själv!"

this mini vacation was a blast, it was so much fun and the annermalms were great companions. but then it was time to head home again. definitely going to have to try and do this again sometime. glad we have such water babies!

LEGOLAND!

2011-09-25T01:09:00.034+05:30

an off another couple days of adventure. this time to legoland, which luckily was literally just across the street from lalandia. and legoland is definitely full of legos. everything was made of legos. zoe posed in front of the lego zebras...

then thomas and eijla blew me kisses from a lego boat.

the first ride of the day was great fun for the girls with frogs sits that went up and down and up and down, and they laughed the whole time.

then there was wild roller coasters, made of, yeah, you guessed it... legos.

i finally made it to mount rushmore, but not sure it counts cause yeah, it was made of legos!

however the merry go round was NOT made of legos, might have been the only thing in the park that wasn't. eijla had a great time going on a ride all by herself.

then there was a 4D movie. it was pretty fun. though it feels a bit strange to have the characters in a film spray saliva at you!

had to get a pic of the girls with lego scubaman!

there was even an amazing aquarium with huge amounts of fish, sharks, rays, and lego scuba divers...

the crabs however were not made of legos...

there was even time for an ice cream break. eijla and thomas shared what is one of the biggest ice cream cones i have even seen in my life!

in the lego wild west there was fun canoe rides, here are thomas and zoe about to get splashed!

zoe even went panning for gold! look how much she got. she even got it "melted" into a medallion.

more rides...

and even a picnic lunch and a concert...

zoe and thomas danced to brian rice...

there were pirate water fights. poor jessica against these four crazies. hmmm, i wonder who got soaked!

then there were tons of mini lego lands. they had huge villages, copenhagen, los angeles, and much more. they even had a star wars exhibit. the details are amazing. little wedding groups in front of the churches, tiny cows on the hills. it was incredible.

time for some fun for the little ones at the lekland. zoe and eijla were beginning to run out of steam at this point. it was a lot to do in two days.

had to get "our" pic with the statue of liberty! (made of legos, of course!).

legoland was much better than i expected. we had a great time, and there was so much to do. the kids had a blast.

splish splash with the annermalms in denmark

2011-09-23T00:45:00.045+05:30

so away on a little vacation with the annermalms to lalandia in denmark. two days in a row we splashed and slid down all kinds waterslides. and oh, were we pretty even under the water...

or were we????

we had a great time. the water was warm, the kids were happy and the parents were relaxed. here we have crazy christer and his gorgeous mermaids...

zoe and rebecka had to share eijla, but they managed to find a balance...

mathilda played in the waves...

and we somehow managed to get all of us in a photo together. check out the crazys slides it the background. they were a blast.

and of course we had to stop and snuggle with the goats on the way back to the cabin. which was great. plenty of room for the eight of us. tomorrow awaits legoland!

crafts and parties, it's what zoes live for...

2011-09-18T02:44:00.004+05:30

my crafty little ladies have been really into painting lately. zoe is the pyssla master. she loves to create. she gets so excited i tried to capture a shot of her excitement while getting ready to paint the other day.

then this summer, zoe and all her friends have turned 5, here she was super excited to go to cornelia's brithday party. she has become such a big, independent girl. i love it, (though i sometimes miss my little baby).

fall is in the air...

2011-09-11T02:30:00.000+05:30

been more and more inside the house due the colder temperatures. summer is really coming to an end. but i am loving being able to spend so much time with my girls. zoe, my little photographer, loves using my camera, even though she can barely lift it. she got a cute shot of eijla and i the other day. still impressed with how well she frames shots and manages to get them in focus!

thought this was a cute moment. eijla eating her yoghurt, but apparently was not quite tall enough, so bonita's bowl was the perfect little thing to balance on...

yep, fall is in the air. zoe was super excited when she saw on the way to dagis that our uterum windows were all fogged up. she quickly put the new development to good use and practiced writing her name...

my baking buddies

2011-09-05T16:23:00.004+05:30

the other day zoe and eijla helped me make molasses cookies, or maybe i should say i helped them. as they took over the show...

but it seems like the final result was definitely approved. had to fight them off with a bat so they did not eat all the cookies in one sitting. they sure do have a sweet tooth these kids.

yum, crayfish..

2011-08-29T02:20:00.001+05:30

so august is coming to a close and so crayfish season is in high swing here in sweden. not a bit fan myself, but love to watch zoe enjoy those crayfish. she is crazy about them.

seriously? more from the camping trip...

2011-08-27T02:03:00.001+05:30

after spending the night in a massive thunder and lightning storm with massive downpours, we learned our tent is quite watertight, nice. but we awoke to fairly dryer conditions and after breakfast packed up and headed to ystad's animal park. they even allowed dogs, so bonita was able to come along. one of the first things we saw were zebras. seemed very odd to see zebras in sweden.

then there were barns with animals from closer to home, and even a big hay hopping area, zoe had a blast. she is a little daredevil that kid.

even bonita was interested in the wild life. here she is having a staring contest with a meerkat.

eijla kept trying to share her crackers with the cute little tamarins. but neither of them seemed to understand it was bit hard to do with the window in the way.

we had bit of fun in the goat petting area...

then after a visiting the baby pigs that were only a few days old and having a picnic lunch, eijla was wiped!

thomas and zoe found the energy to even go up and check out the swimming pool. we were the only ones there...

cause face it, it was way too cold to be swimming. but you know those crazy thorens!

then we managed to squeeze everything, including zoe, back into the car for the drive home.

it was a great, albeit, short trip this year, but it was fun to discover things so close to home that you usually just skip over. looking forward to another great camping trip next year.

what? more camping?

2011-08-27T01:49:00.001+05:30

the morning brought all kinds of new fun. puppy snuggles and breakfast.

then zoe found a frog..

and then more frogs.. before she accidentally released them into the car, where i fear they will dry up and die and cause horrid smells.

we then drove up to Stenshuvud National Park where we went a hike to the top of the head for some great views. the girls were real troopers.

at one point we thought it would be fun to hike down to the beach, until we discovered what we hoped was a hiking trail, was a mountain goat trail, and nearly impossible to hike, so we had to climb back up, we never did make it to the beach, guess we have a reason for going back someday.

eijla thought she was the boss of bonita, and was trying to get her to gå fin. she really tells one off when she doesn't like what you are doing. good thing bonita is so patient with her.

then we stopped in kivik for food and play...

and topped it off with some ice cream of course. before going off to find a new place to set up our tent.

more of our camping trip.

2011-08-27T01:41:00.016+05:30

you do not have to go far to have a great adventure. we headed over to simrishamn, for a bit of fun. we had fish in the harbor.

chased butterflies in town

snacked on fresh raspberries and blueberries. (yum).

and managed a family foto in between a bunch of buse och lek.

we drove to lake thomas found on the map, and managed to find a pretty good place to camp for the night. we got out to check it out and thomas chased zoe down with the car. never seen that girl run so fast!

then it was super mysig with a campfire, snuggles, and of course...

roasted marshmellows!

time for our annual camping trip.

2011-08-27T01:01:00.018+05:30

well, since thomas always knows i am running way behind schedule, and that we will never, ever get out the door in time, we decided to not stress. and take it as it comes. so we ended up camping our first night in farmor and farfar's yard!

but it was still a great start for the trip. we had to pick up some extra camping stuff at farmor and farfar anyway. but who can stop in bjärred on a summery afternoon and not go down and get a a mjölkglass? it had been a couple of years since the last time we did, so it was a must.

then, after the ice cream, we walked down to the little park by the water. the girls had a go at the slide. zoe takes such great care of little eijla. we are pretty proud of how great they are together.

even bonita got to give the park toys a go. though not too sure how excited she really was about it!

then down to the beach to play in the wet and slime. yeah!

on the walk back to the car, i believe zoe hopped off of every stone, there must have been more than 30! she is like a little bunny rabbit.

then of course no visit to bjärred is complete without stopping and saying hi to the sheep.

so then it was a night of luxury camping in farfars and farmors back yard! with lots of snuggles. camping snuggles somehow seem so much more snuggly than regular snuggles!

daddy gets a haircut

2011-08-21T02:03:00.002+05:30

by his very talented hairdresser zoe! as you can see, it ended up being a pretty interesting haircut, but pappa is happy with it and that is what counts. thanks zoe!

next week we are off on our family camping trip! yeah, really looking forward to it!

back to "school"

2011-08-18T02:39:00.004+05:30

summer break is over, and so zoe is back to dagis (preschool/daycare). but this time she gets to bring her little sister with. so yesterday was eijla's first day of dagis. you can see in their eyes, that they were not used to getting up so early. but they were both so excited...

eijla went almost directly to the dolls. she loves her dagis, and it is great for me to try and get a bit of work done while they are there for a couple of hours.

she even took a nap at dagis today. so cute that she had to take a dolly with. that kids loves dolls!

a little bit of eijla...

2011-08-16T02:30:00.010+05:30

our little charmtroll hamming it up..

and she loves papa's carrot soup! but insists and eating it by herself. "kan själv!" it would be more adorable if i did not have to clean it up!

and we had a big painting day the other day. eijla created all kinds of pretty pictures. she is much more art interested than zoe was at this age. who knows. maybe we have a painter on our hands!

and the results... both zoe and eijla love their pinks and purples!

2011-08-13T15:16:00.000+05:30

zoe is on a new kick (that we are loving) where she actually likes to clean her room! she even vacuumed it the other day. go zoe!

then thomas and i have been away working in växsjö for a few days. so the girls have been with farmor and farfar. but check out the hot lorry ride i got back home with!

and we came home to lots and lots of cucumbers in the garden! time to start making pickles yeah!

happy birthday maya

2011-08-05T02:04:00.003+05:30

hipp hipp hurray for maya, who turned 5 today! so we headed to andy's lekland for the day. great fun was had by all...

even us moms!

two cuties swinging...

then it was back to maya's house for food and cake and fun. snapped this shot of anya and eijla playing, we have a similiar pic of maya and zoe on the same three wheeler, funny how life repeats itself. same, same, but different!

jenny and johan's visit

2011-08-04T00:37:00.020+05:30

finally it happened! farbror johan brought a girl home! so you know she is special! jenny and johan came down for a couple days of fun and food. it was great getting to meet jenny, and seeing our dear old friend johan, who by the way refused to look decent in a foto. buse farbror!

we decided to have a little adventure out to hovdala slott. the garden there is beautiful, and the girls loved checking out the flowers and the bees!

pappa was a lazy butt and found every park bench he could!

then we headed off to the haunts, tyringe forest to try and find some chanterelles. we managed to find a few. even eijla helped.

and then home for the first crayfish of the year! yum!

the next day it was finally nice enough weather for us to try and set up zoe's tent, johan and thomas did a great job, and it did not even blow away when the winds came.

johan, never far from a golf klub and ball.

the mushrooms we picked yesterday were just enough to make a sauce. "my daddy makes the yummiest sauces"-zoe.

and the weather was even kind enough to allow for a bit of bathing. we headed over to humle sjön for some fun. zoe and jenny really hit it off.

zoe managed to catch a frog, which she grudgingly let go when it was time to leave.

and eijla was on sunbathing watch. making sure that thomas and johan did not burn themselves. somebody has to be responsible!

it is always a great treat when johan comes down, and bringing jenny made it all the better. it always bring a smile to my face when i think about how lucky we are to have such great times with such wonderful friends. miss you guys until next time!

roses and dishwashers, that kind of combo works for us!

2011-08-01T01:38:00.012+05:30

so yesterday, my dear husband bought me beautiful red roses. he better be careful or people are going to think he likes me or something.

after a great family day yesterday, thomas was working today, but the girls managed to have a lovely picnic lunch, while i tried to install the dishwasher we bought yesterday. love that zoe is eating a bit piece of asparagus. we are pretty lucky our girls love their vegies!

and install i did, though thomas had to help me with the last little bit of mounting when he got home from work. here is the girls starting our brand new, very quiet dishwasher for the first time ever.

luckily i had installed it right, and there were no leaks. it is amazing we can now talk in the kitchen while the dishwasher is running, in fact we have to check the little window with the the time to see if it is running it is so quiet. the old one sounded like it was going to explode. not to mention while i installed it i fixed the plumbing under the sink, so the sink no longer drains into the dishwasher! yeah! yeah! yeah! only lived with that problem for a year and a half. the things we put with up with due to our own procrastination!

chillaxin with the österstöm girls...

2011-07-30T02:35:00.009+05:30

we enjoyed the company of the young österström girls today. zoe and maya basically ran off to play in the garden all day. so anya and eilja ruled the indoors. they were super cute, and played pretty well together. it is so fun to see them reach the age where they play together instead of side by side. they shared their spaghetti for lunch, not sure what it is with these two, but they sure like to share food. they do not eat nearly as well if forced to eat their own food off of their own plate. such crazy little silly monkeys.

then anya was serenading eijla and her doll. it was pretty cute. anya played. eijla hummed along, and rocked her little baby. such sweetie these two little blondes are.

then zoe managed to find a huge cucumber out in the greenhouse and decided to make a phone call with it. i believe she was calling babyland (the imaginary place where babies come from, and a million stories that she has from there.)

the semi calm after the storm...

2011-07-27T01:34:00.013+05:30

after a crazy last week and weekend with our zoe celebrations it is nice to slow things down a bit and just enjoy the everyday life out here in the almost countryside. when we planted zoe's flower garden we put in all kinds of seeds. many of which we had no idea what they would be. however, there has appeared this amazing looking poppy. thought it looked so interesting that it warranted a picture here. we are definitely going to try and save some seeds from this one. i just have convince zoe to stop picking them before the seeds dry out.

this was a cute moment, zoe got a pair of roller skates from mormor for her birthday and little eijla just had to give them a go. she did pretty well with a bit of help from pappa, maybe would have been better with a video. she was pretty happy, though zoe threw a fit cause she wanted to use them, but only because eijla was using them of course. oh has the sibling rivalry begun already?

thomas snapped this shot of the girls and i playing on the trampoline. those two are wild, but insanely fun, though my bruises prove they are not the calmest, most mild mannered, gentle little girls in the world. but we love them just the wild way they are.

zoe turns 5 part 2

2011-07-25T01:32:00.015+05:30

so zoe got two birthday parties this year, lucky monkey that she is. farmor, farfar, and mormor came over for a sunday afternoon feed, bringing presents and snuggles. zoe cornered mormor right away for a book reading...

while eijla entertained farmor and farfar with her extensive vocabulary of rolling r's and funny fish sounds.

and what does a 5 year old pick for her meal of choice? why artichokes of course! one of her all time favorite foods, just wish i could get them to grow faster out in the greenhouse!

and then there was chocolate barbarpapa cake with lots of rainbow sprinkles.

you could say we had one satisfied 5 year old on our hands. seems like she is growing up faster than i can keep up with. but i love sharing these milestones with her. i am afraid i am going to blink and she will be off to college!

zoe is 5 years old today!

2011-07-23T03:28:00.018+05:30

we woke the birthday girl up with singing and presents and of course ribbons and pink balloons.

an extra big birthday kiss for my amazing and oh so grown up 5 year old. i even wore purple today in her honor.

then she had her favorite girlfriends over for a bit of cake and celebration. they were so cute. but i think there was almost always one that was grumpy and avoiding the others. but luckily they switched it up, so i think they had some fun in the end.

zoe and her big creamy, chocolate, my little pony, with pink butterfly candles cake. yeah, we got ourselves a real girly girl princess! congratulations zoe! we love you and are so proud of you and all the amazing things you do. you are our little ray of sunshine. happy birthday.

bracing for the big 5 year old day...

2011-07-19T02:26:00.020+05:30

we have been getting ready for zoe`s birthday here. she has all kinds of ideas and plans. today we went out to the garden to see if there were not enough ripe strawberries to pick that we could maybe use for her cake, but well, we ate them all.

but we decided to make chocolate cupcakes instead as a trial run for her cake. the girls waited with great anticipation while they were in the oven. you could feel the tension in the air...

then out came the cupcakes and we put on creamy chocolate topping and sprinkles (thanks auntie zita!) and they were a real hit. she is looking forward to her yummy cake in less than a week!

a garden day with my little ladies

2011-07-17T02:23:00.016+05:30

what a great day to spend with my little girls in the garden. they helped me water the greenhouse...

zoe helped to find as many cucumbers a possible in all the big cucumber leaves...

it is nice to see there is so much more green than there was a month ago. the tomato plants are turning into a tomato jungle.

yum! cherry tomatoes! now they just need to turn red, i have not been able find any red ones yet because zoe always beats me out to the greenhouse and eats them all, buse unga.

then we had a picnic lunch out in the yard. finger food, the only safe bet with crazy eijla`s crazy eating habits.

then our neighbor came over and told me i should make a bush fort for the girls. our neighbor is great when she comes with ideas, she says them as commands almost. always makes me laugh. but it was a good idea and they had bushes that needed to be trimmed so it worked out for both of us. the girls seemed to like it, now we will just wait and see if they grow roots and survive. this has been one of these days when i cannot thank my lucky stars enough about how lucky i am to be a mom to these two amazing little munchkins.

summer days are flying by...

2011-07-15T03:20:00.018+05:30

the other day we had a lovely visit with the österström girls. anya and eijla have an amusing way of eating. eijla usually puts her food on anya's plate and then anya feeds eijla. eijla will eat anything, so i think she ends up eating both hers and anya's food in the end. pretty entertaining for the rest of us.

then the garden has been producing, yeah! here is zoe with two of our first cucumbers. they are canning cucumbers but she loves to eat them anyway.

then one rainy afternoon we headed over to mormor's house for a visit with her friend ellie and her daughter kimberly. zoe and kimberly really hit it off. boy how those girls can pyssla!

getting crafty with farmor

2011-07-13T11:17:00.019+05:30

yesterday we had a crafty date set with farmor. but pappa found out that he could get off of work early so we waited for him before heading south. so we had a bit of fun with mormor while we waited. eijla and puppy got a swing assist...

while zoe flew through the air all on her own.

then we said bye bye to mormor and headed south. where farmor was waiting with her clay all rolled out ready for us to play! zoe and eijla helped to cut out the shapes. there were not so surprisingly lots of hearts, butterflies, and seahorses. and it seems as though eijla has an affinity for hedgehogs.

zoe took this pic of farmor and i working on the clay shapes, with my camera, the thing is heavy so it amazes me she can lift it and focus it and manage to get her subjects in the shot. go zoe!

and here we have some of them after the first painting, but we will see what colors they actually turn out after being burned. exciting!

home with the girly girls

2011-07-12T03:12:00.003+05:30

always nice to be home with the girls in the summer. they are so entertaining. zoe rode her four wheeler around the yard, amazing how much more comfortable she is with it now. love the expression on her face in this shot, one determined little monkey.

the other day we got up super early and drove thomas to work. we loaded the girls in the car half asleep, and i was not much more awake myself. all went well until we came home again. that is when we realized that thomas had locked the doors, and i had left my keys in the house. so i had two half naked girls and no cellphone locked outside in the way too early morning hours. they were great sports, they cuddled up on the back porch while i tried to figure it out. luckily we had left zoe's window open one the second floor and we had ladders, so i ended up breaking into our own house. however it has made me realize how easy it is to get in. so now i close all the windows whenever we leave!

i have been shooting a lot in black in white lately. the other day the girls and i had a little fun, and i got a few cute shots. really love this one of eijla clapping.

we finally moved the slide to the back yard, and now the landing is a bit softer on the grass instead of the stones out front, so zoe helped eijla slide down it, again, and again, and again, and again...
they had lot of fun. it was a real treat to watch them playing so well together. so glad they have each other.

so after months of having huge dirt piles in our front lawn, we finally leveled them off and made a new flower bed. the poor lilacs and magnolia have been standing in pots for months waiting to be planted. hope everything survives. i think i will head to a nursery soon and pick up a few more plants though. just so much nicer to look into our front yard and have it look like a yard, well almost. still waiting for the grass to come in.

back on swedish soil.

2011-07-07T01:57:00.022+05:30

none of us are morning people, but we all managed to make it up and out the door to the airport on time. thanks to tony our wonderful chauffeur. so we flew back to göteborg...

and do not tell tony, but on the way home we stopped by for a visit withe franz and anna and their two adorable little ones. they had this great outdoor farm/play area nearby. had a fika, did a bit of playing and enjoying the company...

little inez was just so cute and so little. not sure i remember that eijla was ever that small. now she is jsut a bit ball of buse!

they even had some animals there that the girls could pet, including this huge rabbit.

great seeing franz, anna, esikil and meeting inez. zoe and eijla though inez was just the greatest.

and the two good looking gentlemen of the house...

still a bit of drive ahead of us, we stopped an hour or so from home and bought picnic supplies at ica, and headed to the nearest beach we could find.

some moments in life are just too perfect for words...

believe it or not. zoe took this picture, she is really turning into a little photographer. i might have some serious competition soon!

what a great trip. i tell ya, traveling with my family is just one of those things i am so grateful for.

what?!?! last day already!

2011-07-05T01:51:00.015+05:30

our last day was spent just enjoying the time with our wonderful hosts before we had to head back to the airport. tony serenaded the girls and zoe danced for everyone's entertainment.

then we headed out to a local nature reserve for a bit of a wandering and some fresh air. great way to for the girls to get rid of some energy before being belted into a airplane chair. though at one point both both girls were fighting over the stroller eijla was using. good thing they have a super strong pappa!

ellia and tony were all kinds of cute playing in the grass.

she was such a riot. when tony took her shoes off, she did not want to put her feet on the ground until he put them back on. she literally sat with her feet up in the air so that they would not touch the ground. silly girl, but oh so adorable.

zoe wore herself out running around like the crazy monkey she is.

and eilja decided it was more fun to ride standing up backwards than sitting down forwards. go figure.

and it is off to the airport bright and early tomorrow morning. thank you tony, sep, and ellia for a really great weekend, we had a blast and hope next time we can return the favor. you guys are gold.

another day in paradise, uh i mean england.

2011-07-04T02:49:00.034+05:30

i swear when you are on vacation there is nothing to do but relax and enjoy. and that is just what we are doing. and there is nothing like waking up the snuggles of two adorable little girls. think this is probably my favorite shot of the whole trip.

zoe and ellia really hit it off. the two had all kinds of fun together.

sep and i got a shopping trip in during the morning, found all kinds of great stuff for zoe's upcoming birthday. then in the afternoon, while tony and i discussed his future website, zoe kept sep busy with crafts. that girl is crafty!

dinner was delicious persian food a la sep served up picnic style in the donovans cozy garden. good food, great company, and...

crazy little monkeys full of wild energy (not to mention some crazy eijla hair), made for another terrific evening at che donovans.

not so dreary england...

2011-07-03T01:43:00.017+05:30

so yesterday we headed to the airport and flew to england to visit our good friends the donovans. we arrived pretty late last night, so we just crashed, but this morning we headed out to cambridge for a bit of fun. love our modern 21st century dads. they know how to push a stroller and look good doing it!

we walked about, the college and cathedral were closed to to graduation ceremonies, but the market was open. tony was a big hit.

eijla tried to make a run for it, but pappa caught her just in time. crazy monkey child.

the donovans are just that cute!

of course there was an ice cream stop.

and we wandered the "back streets" of cambridge. our little gang.

i picked up a new backpack, but found it to be a bit too wiggly!

in the evening we did what we all do best, chilled. tony and sep have a great garden, and it was a terrific place to hang out.

and bubbles were the perfect end to a really enjoyable day...

finally caught up!

2011-07-01T04:24:00.000+05:30

so i have finally made it. the day i publish is the day it happened. unbelievable. this is the first time i have been caught up since we were in thailand. yeah, i am a slacker. but i do get it done eventually. aside from allergies i am really having a great summer. the weather has been mostly amazing. the garden is growing. the girls are growing. and thomas is thomas (he claims that greatness is described as thomas, so i am using his definition here!).
tomorrow we are flying to london for a few days to catch up with the donovans. really looking forward to it. today we made muffins, and we used the yummy sprinkles that auntie zita and uncle fredrik gave zoe. everyone swears they made the muffins ten times yummier!

cheerio!

pinic!

2011-06-28T03:08:00.001+05:30

so i filled the bread maker with all the ingredients, and set the timer, thinking we could have delicious fresh bread for breakfast the next morning. however i neglected one small item. i forgot to push start! so there was no bread for breakfast. instead when it was finally ready later in the day we had a picnic with "momma bread". yum!

these are the times to just enjoy. wish i could remember that more instead of thinking in the back of my head of all the other things i should be doing. honestly there are no other things i should be doing, than soaking up these moments of being a family. who knows how long it is going to be until the girls won't have time for us. so now we need to make the time for them.

midsommars celebrations!

2011-06-26T14:49:00.001+05:30

down to furulund we headed for the festivities. we were late as per usual, but luckily jessica did not mind! the lunch was crazy good with salmon pie and sill, and gravad lax, with much, much more...

so we ate, and then there was swimming...

and the dressing of the middsommars pole...

the guys were of course very helpful...

we were so busy eating all day that we had barely time to sing and dance around the midsommars pole, but the girls made sure it happened...

rebecka and eijla were tied at the hip. the two were almost never seen apart. she even taught eijla to ride a bike!

the four years olds were adorable, and crazy, running around like maniacs and making everyone laugh.

the festivities went one well into the night, i think we finally ate dinner around 2230! there was just so much good food, seemed like we never stopped eating! but we all crashed, and most of us slept in, though there were a few early risers...thank you family annermalm for a wonderful midsommars. though i must say it was certainly much like christmas, cuz christer disabled the alarm on our car, and all i can say now is i feel so very happy and so very free! christer is my hero! and i think rebecka is eijla's.

after the annermalms we headed to farmor and farfars to pick up bonita. they had a bunch of cherries growing on their tree, so zoe and i picked them. zoe claimed she did not like cherries, and then proceeded to eat about a million of them!

eijla was a bit of a grumpy butt, stayed up way too late the night before. but farfar is just a stubborn and managed to get some food in that grumpy mouth.

then there was some farmor snuggles...

which just made someone else jealous so there were even more farmor snuggles...

and then we enjoyed a spectacular sunset for a good portion of the drive home. ah, life IS beautiful.

the randomness of june

2011-06-24T13:34:00.001+05:30

eijla, my little sweet toothed baby. if she knows there is ice cream or candy around she goes crazy until she gets some. a compromise is that i have been freezing yoghurt into little yoghurt pops. a slightly healthier alternative. the other day i gave her one and she went out to the garden and sat down and enjoyed. thought it was so cute.

thomas snapped this shot of zoe last night, she had curled up on a beanbag and fell asleep. so peaceful they are when they are sleeping...

thomas got beer glasses and an umbrella from svb for midsommars. the logos were quite witty. not sure what is more funny/ironic here, the umbrella or thomas' shirt! happy summer everybody!

field of buse

2011-06-23T03:03:00.005+05:30

zoe's favorite thing is to go out in the field behind our house and pick flowers. flowers, flowers, and more flowers. we have piles of dying flowers everywhere! she has started taking eijla with her on her field adventures. so i followed them out one day to see what they got up to. eijla was a grumpy monkey as she needed a nap very badly. so we could not get the binky out of her mouth, but i thought we ended up with some cute shots anyway...

summer painting and gnawing...

2011-06-21T02:45:00.001+05:30

the weather has been fantastic lately. and with our new back deck, we have been enjoying it thoroughly. we pulled out zoe's easel the other day, and she got to painting. here she is with one of her fantabulous works of art!

i often wonder if these meat eating kids are actually mine. man, do they love their meat. the other day eijla was chewing on some bbq ribs, a summer staple here at che thoren, and i had to get a few shots of her animated devouring of them.

yeah, our girls are cute.

2011-06-19T02:55:00.009+05:30

eijla has been such a charmer the last couple of days. been having a lot of fun with her. she has found a new favorite chair, the dolly stroller. she pushes it over to where she would like to chill out and climbs right in. i am not sure how much longer it is going to hold her. but she seems to like it so much, i do not want to make her get out.

then she decided the stroller was not high enough so she climbed up on the pall and started giving me all these adorable poses, so cute.

then today i walked in to see zoe had put eijla down for her nap. what a great big sister. gotto love it.

a visit to baby ella

2011-06-15T02:50:00.009+05:30

today we had the pleasure of heading over to see jocke and sanna's new baby ella. only 9 days old. so very cute. while there i did a photoshoot with her which was interesting as i had planned for all these newborn poses, that the baby needs to be asleep for. but ella was wide eyed and bushy tailed, she wanted to see everything that was going on! we still were able to get some good shots i believe. the girls thought she was adorable.

then as a bonus, there were baby kittens as well. zoe just could not get enough of them.

she even taught eijla how to very gently pet them. it was really cute.

a tyringe day...

2011-06-14T02:36:00.001+05:30

thomas mowed our grass the other day. it has finally come in enough that it looks like we have a yard instead of a mud pit. yeah!

we headed into tyringe for the day today. first we stopped at mormor's house to drop off some plants for her garden. so eijla snuck in a little mormor snuggles.

silly mormor!

then it was off to österströms for playtime! i think i have a pic of zoe and maya about this age on this same swing. these two are so different though. love the different personalities.

zoe and maya hamming it up as per usual.

monica entertaining eijla with her furry, pink elephant.

monica entertaining the rest of us with her, well, general silliness.

lina and elin were there as well. elin was charming the pants off us all.

nice to have a fun, relaxing day with friends. and the weather is nothing to complain about either!

back to ivö and then good times with the Svenssons

2011-06-13T00:00:00.026+05:30

yeah for the weekend and back to the good time that is ivö with the tidholms. we a had a great evening. and even played taboo, like pulling teeth to thomas to play a game, but i think he had fun. i know rita and i did, and not only because we kicked the boys butts! the girls attacked their jasmine bush. the flowers were everywhere, but yeah, that's what little girls are good for!

after saying good-bye to our dear friends, we headed up for more fun. roger, marie, and the girls came up for a bbq. despite the fact that it has been so long, the girls all really hit it off. and the hammocks that christer and thomas put up the weekend before were well used!

really enjoying this summer weather, just hope it lasts. it has been great seeing all these friends recently, but gonna be nice to just relax, well, as much as possible with all our projects, me trying to start my own photo company, thomas working tons, and two wild little monkeys. relax, yeah right. :-)!

auntie zita and uncle fredrik come to sweden!

2011-06-09T02:40:00.007+05:30

yeah! always a treat when they come over from new jersey. we picked them up at the train station and after a rather crazy big shopping trip to ica, we headed out to their cottage on the island of ivö. ah, relaxation...

we headed down to the water the next day while thomas was at work, and rita managed to get her trousers wet, yeah, sure you did not pee yourself auntie zita! i did a bit of a foto shoot with them, as well as some other friends recently, but as i am putting together my new website for my photography, you will have to wait and see them until it is ready.

zoe was keen on the water, but eijla was a bit hesitant. had a hard time understanding why this water wasn't warm like in asia!

and then had to post this one. my little zoe monster, she sees no evil, hears no evil, and speaks no evil, or does she?

it was a great couple of days relaxing with two of our favorite people. looking forward to heading back on friday for some full on weekend chillin, cuz thomas will not have to work! yeah!

fun with family annermalm!

2011-06-06T03:13:00.000+05:30

the annermalms came by for an afternoon of fun today. it was hot and sunny, so we were really grateful for the deck so we could have the swimming pool. we also dragged out the seahorse slide zoe got for her birthday last year. it was a real hit with the girls. rebecca and mathilda were much braver than zoe and went at full speed.

thomas and christer came up with an idea for hanging hammocks on the new deck. it was not 5 minutes before they had tools in their hands and smiles on their faces.

meanwhile mathilda and zoe snuggled in the garden hammock with the itouch.

and then there was ice cream. lots and lots of ice cream. eijla obviously enjoyed hers!

thanks to the annermalms for another day of great fun.

deck building time

2011-06-05T02:03:00.015+05:30

this weekend thomas went crazy and built a deck in literally a few hours! but first let's say good morning to zoe!

this was after about 2 hours... the man works fast!

then the next day we had to go and get some more wood. but after a few more hours it was really starting to look like a deck!

the girls were lots of help and were even careful of their ears when pappa sawed!

eijla just would not stop helping with the screws! i swear i put them up at least a million times. and if we did not catch them when she handed them to us, she would shove them down in the gaps for revenge. stubborn monkey!

the only way to get her out of our hair and away from the screws was for her and zoe to share a bit of ice cream. that is the best bribe of all, it never fails. i am so excited to have a finished deck for the grill, and finally a flat place to put the inflatable swimming pool!

artichokes! yum!

2011-06-03T01:57:00.001+05:30

zoe bugs me everytime we go to the grocery store to buy artichokes, but they are usually pretty sad looking and way too expensive. but today, they were huge and beautiful. so we picked up a couple. she was so excited. i think she can eat them faster than we can. if we turn away too long the entire artichoke could be gone down her little tummy!

eijla got the hang of it even. she seemed to really like them as well, good thing we have planted some in the greenhouse, just hope that they produce.

i just really thought this was a cute shot of eijla. that little tummy gets so huge when she eats.

zoe was not being nice at all. doesn't she know that is eijla's swing, not zoe's! another nice day in the garden, loving this weather.

happy mother's day!

2011-05-30T01:52:00.010+05:30

woke up to snuggles in bed, and then a delicous breakfast in the greenhouse. the only problem was that it seemed thomas and i now had caught the stomach bug. dangit!

but the grandparents still came over, but ended up having help out quite a bit as thomas and i were really under the weather, but we all survived. but due to feeling crap, the camera did not really come out. that is until mormor started feeding eijla ice cream, i do not know was pulling funnier faces. it was very amusing.

well, we sure do know how to eat ice cream and strawberries. yum. thanks my dear family for a lovely day. love you guys.

healthy girls, sick shower, and a bit of wii

2011-05-29T02:35:00.002+05:30

you would not believe that these were the same sick girls as yesterday! they maybe were not quite 100% but they were out and about and making things happens. so glad they have great immune systems and recover quickly. so we had a great day in the garden.

but then there is the bad news. the "newly renovated" bathroom in our house, was, well not so "well renovated". while thomas was away in umeå, i noticed the shower was leaking through to the kitchen ceiling and then after it failing to function longer after yesterday, we decided to rip it out. i really hated it anyway, and thought it was disgusting. well, sure enough, it was not up to standards by any means, there were cuts in the floor that the shower doors had hid, as well as rusting screws all around the drain. so you can see where the floor was rotting due to this. so now there is another project on the table!

but after such frustrating news, what better way to relax than to bowl a little wii with your eijla beanie boo. she loves wii, she stands there and waves the remote around no matter who is playing, and finds it wildly entertaining.

"wanna play some wii with me?"

little sick ladies...

2011-05-27T19:08:00.001+05:30

poor things. zoe threw up all night, and eijla started this morning. they are both wiped now. so it is a snuggle day with lots of movies. but i am sure they will bounce back soon. i feel bad for them, but am enjoying all the snuggles they normally would not have time to give me.

chillaxin' with the österstöm girls..

2011-05-26T02:01:00.008+05:30

monica and the girls came over for a visit today. always so much fun to see them. we made chocolate chip cookies. eijla made sure she shared her cookie with monica. nice and sticky.

and of course, the big girls had to get their girliness on, so it was fingernail painting all around. i am beginning to think zoe is heading towards a career in beauty. hmmmm.

gotto wonder what eijla is thinking sometimes...

2011-05-24T00:50:00.000+05:30

so we have been really trying to stay off the area of the yard where we are trying to grow some grass, however the other day, eijla thought that it needed sweeping. she literally stood there and swept the yard for at least 10 minutes. the kid is stubborn.

speaking of stubborn, we have a problem with the stubborn monkey not staying put in her highchair. she even wiggles out of the strap, so thomas gave her a taste of her own medicine. yeah, she did not like that. but note, she is still not sitting down. again i say, stubborn.

however she has obviously noticed us often wiping up the floor after her. this time she took the initiative herself, so i have to give the stubborn monkey some credit. now, if i could just get her scrub the floors over the whole house.

good company...

2011-05-22T18:42:00.000+05:30

we had the pleasure of having helene and pekka over last night. tasty food and great company make for a wonderful evening. but they came bearing gifts, including fingernail polish for zoe. let's just say, they secured place in zoe's heart with that! of course it might have even been a magical connection due to it being pink and sparkly! zoe and helene really seemed to bond, she certainly knows they way to our little girl's heart!

tyringe dagarna

2011-05-20T23:35:00.001+05:30

it has become a bit of a tradition to spend tyringe days with monica and the girls, but monica was at school and poor little anya was sick. but luckily maya was healthy, and ready to go! we picked up mormor on the way...

the girls first hopped on the beloved airplane ride, a favorite from last year.

eijla wanted to ride a horsie, but mormor had to hold one, well, cuz she is just one year old.

then there were the trampolines. the girls jumped like monkeys...

then there were the cars. note the jersey plates, i think they thought they were going to see auntie zita!

maya wanted to take eijla for a car ride too, so back on the road they went...

meanwhile zoe reached for great heights...

after we exhausted the rides, there was a walk home, via as many parks as possible...

eijla was in action all the time. that kid never stops moving!

park nr. 2 provided some seriously spinning fun.

as well as high flying swingin'. the girls had a blast, but were pretty beat by the end of the day.

we ended our fun at mormor's house where the girls ate lunch and then produced beautiful pieces of artwork. eijla did her very own drawing as well.

i had a great time with the girls and mormor. somedays are just so amazing when you try to see them through the eyes of a child. looking forward to a girl's night out with lina and monica! yeah.

bring on the wildflowers...

2011-05-19T01:22:00.012+05:30

so finally the frost is gone, there is no more freezing temperatures at night. that means it is time to put in zoe's wildflower garden! both zoe and eijla were great helps. though eijla seemed to think that all the flowers should be in the same square meter!

the girls with more seeds ready to really spread them out, (yeah, that did not happen.).

thomas bought zoe garden gloves at a nursery were were at a few weeks back. she loves them and they look adorable on her. my little flower planting garden princess!

the

the greenhouse is getting more green in it. we had freezing temperatures the other night so i had to have a heating in there for a couple of nights, but it seemed to help and everything survived. yeah!

my girls

2011-05-17T18:59:00.005+05:30

zoe is my little fashionista. she is very particular about both her hair and clothes. basically i have no say, and haven't since she was three. she came down the other morning with a quite a few barrettes in her hair. i asked her if she had done it herself. her response," yeah mom, isn't it beautiful!?!"

sister snuggles. zoe told me i had to take a picture. she was right.

eijla and her friend violet. love that she carries her around all the time. and even dances when violet plays a song. it is pretty darn cute.

avfart fardigt!

2011-05-15T02:18:00.007+05:30

so we finally finished shoveling all the stones and stenmjöl, and i finally laid all the stones, so it was time to pack it all down. thomas brought the sugbil home, and instead of raking the stones out everywhere, we blew them out, which was much easier and faster. yeah! then we packed. and we packed, and we packed it down with the packer. eijla and zoe helped too. zoe thought it was great fun.

the left over stones we used to build a path from the greenhouse towards the back of the house. i love a challenge, but i was pretty brain dead by the time i got all the stones to fit where they needed to. cannot wait until the garden and yard are all done. maybe then we can take it easy! yeah, right!

our own dancing princesses!

2011-05-12T01:07:00.003+05:30

monica and the girls came over to play today. zoe and maya decided to dress up as princesses and they even did a little dance for us. it was pretty darn cute. we love that the girls have become such good friends.

zoe and maya, BFFs.