Wednesday, August 31
Saturday, August 27
As you do...
Ethan taking a self-photo of himself with Fruitloops stuck to his forehead
...as you do!
Ethan is a human bridge between the couch and the coffee table
...as you do!
Crisco N' Boots!
As you know, our nightly ritual once we've put the kidlets to bed is "Movie Club". Well we watched "The Help" recently and what a good movie, I'd recommend it to anyone at the moment. There is a part in the movie though where one of the characters discusses Crisco and how she uses it to make fried chicken. So I thought, hmmm, let's take a stab at this! Last night I got all the ingredients together in a paper bag, a bowl of egg & milk and chicken fillets. Mixed it all together and fried it in an inch full of crisco. Sweet mamma pie, the chicken was delicious! Almost a version of Kentucky Fried Chicken. This was definitely a one off in our house as this has to be the most unhealthy, fattiest dinner that I have ever cooked!
This character also mentioned using crisco on door hinges to get rid of a creak...so I did! Ha, and it worked too! No more creeping out of Ethan's room at night and having him wake to a noisy door! Now its smooth sneaking!
This week has been chalk full of lots to do too. Ethan is now officially inskoled at dagis so he is going 3 days a week for 6 hours a day. He's already made some friends and so have I! There is at least a handful of us families that have 2 kids, 2 years apart and all within a month or two of each other! So those days where we don't have the older kids at dagis, we can take turns and get together for a fika and let the little ones play! Hallelujah!
Part of the dagis requirements is that they have proper rain gear. This has been a battle and half for Ethan as he seems to be scared of the rubber boots! I went out and bought him a cute pair of black boots but low and behold, he was to have none of it! Even after a screaming fit he refused to put them on! Decision complete; return the boots. But what to do now? This kid is drawn to puddles and he loves to jump in them with his sneakers on...
So this is where I had the bright idea to buy him boots with McQueen on them! Ah ha! With a less of a fight, he finally decided to put them on!!! YIPPEEEEEEE! Now just to convince him to wear pants and we're sorted.
Wednesday, August 24
“Back to life, back to reality…”
Remember that old tune by ‘Soul II Soul’? Hardly, eh. Well, that’s what we’ve been up to over the past couple of weeks, hence the radio silence. Sorry about that, Great Grandma! We’ve just been plain busy every day of the week since Nini and Em, the last of our summer crew, left for home. Busy trying to get back to work, busy figuring out a daily routine for the four of us and busy with… more visitors!
Yep, your eyes are not failing you. After 2.5 months of non-stop visitors we just could not resist another visit this past weekend. Our friend Marcus from up north and his lovely girlfriend Emma came down for a blitz visit to see the kids and hang out. We had a great time but now we are definitely done with visitors… until September… and then again in October. Phew!
Oh and here’s a funny story, completely off topic, that we thought we'd share with you all. The story was just posted in the local newspaper in Piteå (up north in Sweden, where I come from) today!
A while back, the local government in Piteå decided to build a viewpoint tower for the public on one of the islands in Piteå. Now the tower has been build and is open for visitors. The only problem with this tower is that it is not tall enough to reach over the trees and give the visitor any view what so ever!
When asked, a spokesperson for the local government simply stated that: “We did not have enough budget to build a taller tower and we also wanted to build a roof over the tower but did not have enough budget for that either.”
Smart cookies!
Tuesday, August 23
Sunday, August 14
Friday, August 12
A whirlwind week!
Well the summer of guests has come to an end...well almost...the last of our crew leave tomorrow early morning! (sniff sniff) It has been a blast this summer with all the newbies visiting the land of the blondes and also having another blondie join our little family!
This week has been a first of milestones again. Ethan started Dagis! Here in Sweden they have a process calling inskolning whereby the parents come every day for the first week or so and each day they add an extra hour and a new activity. The first day they just let the kids play and do not intervene so they can find their footing and whatnot. The second day a little more playing. The third day an extra hour and a new activity...a snack!
Ethan was quite the vulture when the dagisfröken sat in the middle of the room and handed out apples and bananas. Each time she would peel a banana, Ethan would run over to her and ask her for it, take it away and eat it, then run back and say "more!" Meanwhile all the other kids were sitting with their one piece of fruit as Ethan ran up and got more and more! You go Ethan!
They also had us fashion a doll that represents our child (see below). A cute activity and really broke the ice for us parents to chat. Ethan has also made a few new friends too! Hopefully they will get on great once us parents leave!!
Hudson has been wonderful this week for all his babysitters. Olivia (who is three and a half) has had a blast feeding him and is so excited for the next time she can babysit. I've asked her to come by everyday next week which I'm sure she won't mind.
Finally its time to get back to normalcy and get back to our routines...and being an awesome family!
The Ethan-doll
Today in daycare we were required to make a doll that looks like our child.
See the resemblance?
Wednesday, August 10
Sunday, August 7
Girls night out
The other night Aunty Nini treated Shaena and Em to a girls night out at 'Gondolen' which is a fancy restaurant with an awesome elevated view of Stockholm city centre. Sounds like they had a splendid time and this is how the ladies looked just before heading out:
More photos to follow...
Beautiful day out at Skansen
"Skansen is the first open air museum and zoo in Sweden and is located on the island Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden. It was founded in 1891 by Artur Hazelius (1833-1901) to show the way of life in the different parts of Sweden before the industrial era.
After extensive travelling, Hazelius bought around 150 houses from all over the country (as well as one structure from Telemark in Norway) and had them shipped piece by piece to the museum, where they were rebuilt to provide a unique picture of traditional Sweden. Only three of the buildings in the museum are not original, and were painstakingly copied from examples he had found. All of the buildings are open to visitors and show the full range of Swedish life from the Skogaholm Manor house built in 1680, to the 16th century Älvros farmhouses.
There is also an open-air zoo containing a wide range of Scandinavian animals including the bison, brown bear, moose, grey seal, lynx, otter, red fox, reindeer, wolf, and wolverine (as well as some non-Scandinavian animals due to their popularity). There are also farmsteads where rare breeds of farm animals can be seen."
Ethan had a hoot with mommy!
"Think of a cow!"
Swedish farmer's cottage with bicycle
" Mmm...freshly baked sugar buns!"
Charming townhouse in the 'city quarters'
The delivery van of its time
An old post office
Swedish 'Fäbodar' or pasture farms
The attention to details and autenticity at Skansen is just amazing!
Gorgeous view of Stockholm
The Sami camp
Momma Moose and her two young calves
This rooster was running around policing the outdoor coffee shop making sure all patrons behaved in a civil manner
Butterfly
Old mansion house complete with its own courtroom inside
Yimmys getting fed
This old lady's job was to sit and knit all day and watch this open fire and kettle.Pretty sweet if you ask me!
"I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay..."
Milestone
Emily checking out an old 16th century farm house. Notice the low roof!
Funky old bell tower
Aunty Nini and Ethan... and Hudson's toesHuddle Bugs' new quilt
The queen of quilts, Aunty Nini, has outdone herself again and spent countless hours putting together this wonderful Bugs-themed quilt for our very own little Huddle Bugs!
Monday, August 1
A skate down memory lane: Shaena at Hollywood Goes Hockey in 1988
The long awaited for VHS tape (remember those?) from the 1988 Rainbow Society charity event ’Hollywood Goes Hockey’ in Winnipeg has finally been converted to DVD and tonight we had the pleasure of watching this 80’s celebrity extravaganza!
Grandma Michelle was the founder of the Rainbow Society back in the day and organized the event and as if by magic, little Miss Shaena 6 years old got a great seat behind the Hollywood celebrity players box, right behind Mr. MacGyver.
See that girl behind Richard Dean 'MacGyver' Anderson and Matthew Perry from 'Friends'?
Yup, it's Shaena!
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