FINALLY =)

Finally, Isabella's hair is long enough to put in pigtails!

Gingerbread House

Alex had been begging to make a pepparkakshus (gingerbread house) so Monday morning while Isabella was sleeping we finally made one. He was so proud of it and now he shows it to everyone. (Except he keeps asking when he can eat it!) We have it sitting on our china cabinet and it smells so good!

Isabella playing with her food!

Princess party!

Alex went to a birthday party on Sunday for a friend from dagis. He dressed up as a knight and had a great time!

Happy Holidays!

Well, Thanksgiving has now passed and Christmas is right around the corner. I guess everyone has begun their Christmas shopping. I guess we will pretty much do all of our shopping once we get to the States. With the krona at 6.2 to the dollar everything will be pretty cheap when we come over. We will get more for our money!

We had a very low key Thanksgiving dinner. Last year we celebrated with Erik's family and our friends that moved to Göteborg. This year Erik's parents and sister were in Spain and of course our friends were in Göteborg. So it was just the four of us, and I found an article on the internet that gave instructions and recipes for a Thanksgiving dinner in an hour. It was actually very tasty, but the recipe only called for turkey breasts. Alex and I had been reading a Thanksgiving book and it talked about turkey drumsticks so he felt that he needed one for Thanksgiving dinner. Luckily a local grocery here sells smoked turkey legs so I bought one for him and for Erik. He thought it was wonderful! As you can see in the picture it is as big as he is! We had a fun and laid back dinner.


On Sat., Nov. 24, it was my 31st birthday. Wow, how life is flying by! It was a great day for me. Erik and the children brought me breakfast in bed. I opened my gifts from my parents (one was for a full body massage when I go over to the States in Dec.!), Helena and Jonas gave me a gift certificate to Efva Attling jewelry store, and Erik and the children gave me money to take to Stockholm with me. We went to Stockholm, shopped a little, looked at the Christmas deco, and ate a late lunch at TGI Fridays. I had a great time!

Snowy Days!

Well, the first snow for the winter 2007-08 has arrived :( We received well over a foot Monday night through Tuesday night. Alex has loved it, but it has been a struggle pushing the stroller through the snow to take him to dagis (daycare) and back. Yesterday I pushed Isabella in the single stroller and pulled Alex in the sled. Boy, have I been getting my workouts! It also takes A LOT LONGER getting everyone ready in the morning with all of the extra winter clothes! It is very pretty and storybook-looking, but after a couple of weeks I will have had enough. I am not sure if it will stay or go away and start again in Dec. Well, we'll see!

We are still practicing with Isabella and her walking. She still is a little scared to go very far distances without help, but it is coming. Everytime she falls she says, "Aww". It is so cute. She also says "Wow!" if she sees something that she likes. She is becoming more stubborn at mealtime. She wants to do everything herself. She wants the spoon, plate, cup, etc. and she will scream if she doesn't get her way. This is new for Erik and I, because we never had that problem with Alex. He wasn't much of a temper-screamer. She doesn't get mad and scream often, but when she does, she means business. She is also a telephone person. If she sees you on the phone she gets upset if she can't have it! And of course, she always wants everything that Alex has! But I must say that she may be moody, but I wake up every morning with her leaning over me (Yes, she is in the bed with us along with Alex!) and giving me a good morning kiss. That is the best way to start the day. There is nothing like the love between a parent and a child, and especially the love that I feel for my children. Moments like those make the tantrums, disagreements, stress, messiness, nerve-wearing episodes all worthwhile!

Now, a little update on Alex. He does well with Isabella. He has to be the best big brother. He is very patient with her (Although at times he just can't take her anymore when she is constantly tearing apart his train tracks and getting in the middle everytime that he is playing with something.) and they play very well together. I love hearing him talking to her and to secretly watch as he may give her a piece of his cracker, cookie, etc. He loves her so much and he will definitely tell you! It is so funny to hear Alex talk because his vocabulary and phrases increase everyday. Just today while we were eating lunch he had falukorv (similar to bologna) on his plate and he said, "I don't like that. It makes me sick!" Also, we have been trying to get him to say, "No, thank you" instead of "No" or "Nope". Well, today I said, "Nope" and he corrected me immediately! "Mommy, we don't say 'Nope'. We say, 'No, thank you." I felt like a little child again getting in trouble! They grow up so quickly!

Well, we are looking forward to seeing our U.S. family and friends in December during our trip to the U.S. For those of you that don't know already or have forgotten, we will be in the U.S. from Dec. 13-Jan.2. See you soon! and Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween:)

Here were our little trick-or-treaters! Alex was Bob the Builder and Isabella was a bunny.

Cruise

We just returned from a three day cruise to Helsinki, Finland. We went along with our friends, Taubermans. We left Thursday afternoon and returned on Saturday. We had a lot of fun and everyone was pretty exhausted after we returned home.
The cruise was very kid-friendly so Alex had a blast playing in the children's play area along with Fabian. He also enjoyed the all-you-can-eat children's buffet. Especially the ice cream bar!
About an hour after we boarded the boat we noticed that Isabella had the start of pink eye. (Alex had it the week before.) Thank goodness I had brought along medicine! So her trip was mostly seen through one eye since the other was matted and swollen most of the time.
It was nice to see Hesinki since we had never been there before, but we only had about 4-5 hours to go around and eat lunch. So we didn't have a lot of time to actually see much of the city. On our way back to Stockholm the following morning we looked out the window and it had snowed some the night before!

Alex's REAL Birthday!

Alex's BIG party was on Sunday, 7th of October, but his REAL birthday was on Monday, 8th of October. So on his REAL birthday we had a small dinner with Mamma, Pappa, Isabell-i (that is what Alex calls her sometimes!), Farmor, and Farfar. Here are some pics from his smaller party.

Also, on another note that I forgot to mention, 1 day before Isabella turned one she took four steps. That is the exciting news. The not so exciting news: she hasn't taken anymore since! But I know that it will come. I remember when Alex just took off one day and after that he discovered a whole new world to explore and I discovered a whole new realm of safety hazards and CLEANING!

Alex's 3rd Birthday!

Alex had a big celebration for his third birthday party. He had 12 friends to come and help him celebrate. His theme was "Mickey Mouse and Friends". We had rented a bouncing castle and he and his friends had a blast!!! Instead of a cake he had cupcakes with Mickey Mouse and friends as toppers and of course, ice cream. One big gift that even Pappa was excited about was that he received a set of junior golf clubs from Ulrika, Stefan, and Jakob! After his party he wanted to go riding in Stefan's sports car (Porsche) so he, Stefan, and Pappa went for a cruise. Halfway through he was so exhausted that he fell fast asleep! He had a big day!

Isabella's First Birthday!

Isabella is already 1! I can't believe it. I think that her first year passed much faster than Alex's. Maybe I was always so anxious for Alex to reach his milestones that I didn't take the time and really relax and enjoy him just being a baby. I am not sure, but Erik felt that it took longer for Isabella to reach her first birthday. Anyway, she is now a year old! We started her day taking Alex to dagis (daycare) then Isabella and I went to Kyrkansbarntimmar (children's church hours). While there we sang songs, played, fika'd (took coffee and snacks), and she made a moose using her foot and hands on paper. She was really tired afterwards and fell asleep in the stroller while we were on our way to pick up Alex from dagis. After lunch she had her 1-year check up and received her vaccination. She is quite the drama queen. She would cry then she would laugh then she would cry, etc. After the drama of receiving a shot we prepared for her small party that night. Her guests were: Mommy, Pappa, Alex, Farmor, and Farfar. We ate lasagne (Bella's favorite after spaghetti). Afterwards we had apple cobbler (she can't have cake because she is allergic to eggs). I think she had a really fun day, but by the end she was exhausted!

Spain Trip

Sorry for all of the late postings! I guess we have just been so busy! The first of September we went to Spain for ten days with Erik's parents and we had sooo much fun! Alex loved playing in the pool and in the sand! Isabella really liked the sand!!! By the end of everyday she had sand from head to toe. We all had a lot of fun taking it easy and relaxing! Every night though, Alex wanted to go home to sleep. He wanted to go home and then come back to Spain the following day! That was a lot of fun trying to explain to him every night that it wasn't possible. He had trouble falling asleep, but eventually the tiredness would take over. Now we wish that we were back in Spain because of the cold weather that we have here in Sweden!