Truth of the day:

Ethan versus the volcano!

The future of pop-rock!

5 year wedding anniversary!

Today marks our five year 'wood' wedding anniversary. Five years ago we stood in the Orange County Courthouse in Florida and tied the knot, wearing Mickey and Minnie ears(!) It’s been five absolutely amazing years for countless reasons and I could not have met a more beautiful person, best friend, confidant and partner in crime than I have. Along the way we’ve done so much, experienced so much, and we’ve added two extraordinary members to our little family. I must be the luckiest man in the world.

The future holds good things and I can’t wait to see what the next 5, 25, and 50 years will be like!

I love you Shaena!

Shaena's anniversary gift: a framed collage with a photo of
our wedding rings surrounded by maps in the shape of hearts.
Each map represents an important location in our lives
together. Love it!

My anniversary gift to Shaena: A laser engraved photo on an
oak board. This photo was one of the first photos I took of
Shaena when we started dating in Dublin and is one of my
favorite photos from that time

A Very Merry Christmas from Pirate Cap'n Ethan and his mateys!

-31 degrees Celsius but in good company - our Christmas in a nutshell

The 12 hour car ride up did not seem to bother Ethan
too much - snacks and Peter Pan-movies made sure of that!

Ethan, farfar, and the boys' new awesome snow racer!

Another Helin four generations photo
Ethan got a new LEGO helicopter from Great Grandma,
so he was mostly interested in showing that off

Ethan: "Yellow tractor, yellow tractor!"

Ethan driving the yellow tractor

Christmas lunch brewing - 'Risgrynsgröt' and 'Dopp i grytan'

Pirate Cap'n Ethan waiting for food

A log fire, a Christmas tree with presents
and a traditional Christmas dinner - Perfect!

Christmas Eve dinner

Ethan pretty excited about his new toys

Santa is watching all the pressies

Mother and daughter

-31 degrees Celsius!

Crisp

Mommy, Ethan and Ida petting Shaun the sheep

Grandma petting an iguana

Huddy and Ida also took a closer look at the iguana,
but he wasn't too impressed

Huddy definitely prefered to pet a guinea pig over a close
encounter with the iguana

Highlight of the visit to the farm - the new red tractor!

Taking The Millennium Falcon to Christmasville

Last day of work today, which means that Christmas is seriously, literally and totally around the corner! I guess we haven't mentioned this before but this bunch is going up north for Christmas! We are mighty excited to take the new car (which by the way has been tentatively named 'The Millennium Falcon', you know, Harrison Ford's silver colored spaceship from Star wars) out for it's first long drive.

Other than that,it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Ethan is bringing home handcrafted Christmas ornaments from dagis, secret parcels are coming in thick and fast, and we are getting pretty excited about Grandma's Christmas dinner, Santa coming to visit, to hang out with family and to just have a nice Christmas break.

Also around the corner: Our 5 year wedding anniversary! 5 years!

December bits and bobs

Hudson having a hoot!

Professor Hudson

Ethan and mommy decorating the gingerbread house

...and here it is!

Merry Pulka!

Lucia celebrations at dagis

Yesterday's Lucia performance at dagis was Ethan's second and Hudson's first one. All the kids were dressed up as little Lucias, Santas, Star boys, or Gingerbread men. 100% adorable and our little boys did their best to fight the cold and entertain the crowd. Needless to say though; Hudson and all the other smaller kids looked dazed and confused when they were marched out in front of all the parents and relatives! They had no idea what was going on, but went along with it nevertheless.

It was a cold afternoon but the kids did their best to
sing all the Christmas carols they had practised

Yes, it's a woman dressed up as a chubby baker accompanied
by 175 little Santas

Cheese!

Cold outside, warm inside = foggy glasses for Grandma

Happy Lucia to one and all!

Here's how it's done:

Is it ever not busy?

With a full time job (soon to be two!), full time school, a business on the side and two supercharged monkeys, the answer is ‘no’. It’s always busy.

Over the past few weeks, besides everything else that is usually going on; Shaena has successfully secured a fulltime job at an international daycare (yay!), I have started my new job as a marketing dude at my current company, we’ve finally registered our ‘H2 E-marketing’ business and I am working on an exciting website project for e-learning in China, you know, stuff like that…

Today Grandma Michelle also arrived in Sweden for her second stint in the ‘HH Institution For The Wild And Crazy’ and we are very excited to have her here of course!

Also, 500 extra suburban bonus points scored: minivan purchased today! We are pretty excited and look forward to some awesome road trips with the kids in the next few years!

Airport love! Grandma is here!

New wheels - a Peugeot 807 7-seater, complete with
electronic sliding doors, front seats that turn around
for road trip coffee breaks, a built in beverage cooler,
and all the cup holders you can ever dream of!

Christmas decorations are up, Gnomeo style!

Ethan and Hudson dressed up to their little milk teeth
at Miguel's 40th birthday party

First snow = Toboggan time!