pinic!

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.

drama queen hits the swimhall

yeah, that picture says it all. funny enough i asked her what was wrong, and apparently she had forgotten. then there was a bit of sisterly love...
just before we tortured little eijla once again. she actually looks scared in this shot, but when she comes up she doesn't complain at all.
then there was some wild slide time. first a couple times with mamma...
and then she went all by herself. we were completely shocked, as it is a fairly large slide. but nope, she just said she was going to go up and do it by herself and she did. though she always looked terrified during the last bit cause it is pretty steep and she definitely got some speed, but she said it was great fun and did it again and again. way to go zoe!

family summermiddag.

zoe and moa thought that they would start the day out right with a bit of a swim to combat the heat.
all the grown ups after a yummy meal of smoked salmon and ny potatis. no idea what we were talking about, most likely complaining about the heat. ha ha.
the kids loved the puppies. farmor and farfar still had four of them this weekend, so they got to come along as part of the family.
as the oldest cousin, emma is constantly being mobbed by one or more little girls who adore her and always need her for one thing or the other, but i managed to get a shot of her enjoying a little peace and quiet of her own.
here she is hiding out with linea, enjoying the shade.
thomas had the brilliant idea to do a tips runda about the thoren family history. we divided up into families, and even though towa couldn't make it, and kajsa was too busy swimming, rikard and elliot aced the questions, well at least compared to the rest of us (anita and ingvar didn't count as they had a whole generation on us!).
here els-marie and lars are laughing together at how difficult they made the questions.
cilla, "yah, yah, easy as can be, we got these questions, don't you worry!" (i won't mention with place they came in!).
almost all the kids in the puppy cage, well, at least we knew where we had them...
all the girl cousins being silly in the garden...
and a little bit of lar's flan with ice cream and strawberries was a yummy way to end an enjoyable day...
thanks to everyone for coming, we had a great time. and thanks for all the lovely presents and plants! happy summer 2010 to you all.

mysdag in the garden...

yesterday we took a couple of hours off of our normally stress, try and get something done schedule and just enjoyed the girls and the garden..
now that eijla has started with tasting real food, she is enjoying the mess it involves, a little bit of porridge goes a long way on that little face.
thomas mentioned that he was thinking about "klipping" the grass, so zoe thought she would get a head start. cannot imagine how long it would take to do the whole lawn with her little scissors.
but it did not last long until she went from "klipping" mode to monkey climbing mode.
there was plenty of snuggles and laughter...


all in all, a really snuggly, fun day in the garden. nice to take some hours and just forget about reality, stress, and all that.

the two days of christmas...

being as we are a culturally blended family, we celebrated both the swedish and american christmases this year. started off on the 24th. in the morning we made candy and then it was time to begin feasting, the table is set...
after a couple of courses it was time for tomten (santa) to come and and deliver the christmas presents. i think he about overheated in his thick jacket there were soooo many presents to give out. though most of course were zoe´s, and she was a big help to tomten.
i cannot believe how hard it is to fool a three year old, she said it was a farfar tomten directly when he came in, even though farfar had gone to buy a newspaper and wasn´t there. in the end she comprised and agreed, " okay, but that tomten was farfar before!". anyway, he still got a big hug after handing out all the julklapper.
then there was a wild frenzy of paper and toys, and soon it was time to try out all the shiny new things. the fairy wings from bonita and tutus from the jameson jungle were big hits.
but not even pappa could wait for zoe to try out her new four wheeler. they were out in the snow as soon as he had it assembled. i think they both had a blast.
and then it was time for yet another feast. i think we were on about the fifth or sixth course of the day in this photo.
then on the second day of christmas, we had a visit from the cousins, and even more christmas presents...
emma looked lovely with a tutu on her head.
and the big hit of the day were sparkling wands for the little girls. they ran around with them until zoe started trying to poke a dog´s eye out with it.
and since mormor was not here to get a big thank you hug, zoe just wanted to say thanks for the easel, she loves it, though at the moment it is more interesting to write on the wood than the white or black boards!
hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season, and those friends and family that live so far away, we miss you and wish you the best in the new year!

american thanksgiving comes to tyringe

sweden celebrates alot of holidays, many that we do not really recognize in the states. however, we just didn´t think there were enough so, we decided it was time to bring an american thanksgiving home. mormor invited us, farmor, and farfar over for a big thanksgiving spread.

here thomas is carving zoe´s turkey. we discovered that zoe loves turkey.

as you can see there was no lack of food, we had it all, turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing (three different kinds to suit all us picky eaters!), sweet potatoes, corn, fresh made rolls, salad, and even home made cranberry sauce. yum.

after dinner, we decided to add to the feastivities even more and decorate the christmas tree, as we are not going to be here for christmas, and we thought zoe would enjoy it, and enjoy it she did. she put nearly all of the ornaments on herself, and there were alot.

she was so good, you would have thought she was a professional tree decorated, she even got the angel to stick right on top on her first try.

and here we are for the family shot, all very full in our tummies, and ready for christmas.

it was a great thanksgiving, delicious food, delightful entertainment (zoe), and warm company. thanks for a wonderful evening mormor.

zoe goes sledding

we usually seem to manage to get away every winter before the snow hits, but we didn´t this year. so zoe finally got to use the sled our neighbor dorthea gave us (it was full of mushrooms she picked in the forest, yum) last year. here she is going down the hill with pappa for the first time...
it was quite the day for photographs, even bonita was in the mood for posing, when thomas got a shot. i love having such a huge beatiful forest as a neighbor.

and the obligitory family shot...finally getting my fair share of them.