Firsts

Hudson's first airplane ride, Ethan has his own seat and we are blogging in the sky!!! How cool is that!?

Here we are at...

Ethan & Hudson's airplane to see the grand parents.

Christmas comes early for some

As we are flying up north to celebrate Christmas this year; we figured we’d avoid the hassle of dragging any heavy Christmas gifts for the kids up there and back home again and instead give those gifts early at home. Therefore we let our little train-lovin’ buddy Ethan open his first Christmas pressie yesterday morning and surprise, surprise: It was a Thomas the tank engine train set! Since then he’s either been playing with his train or been carrying the engine and carts around non stop. Guess we have a winner!

We are also getting reports from up north on 10 inches of snow and sightings of a Santa with an eye for cool toys so I believe we are in for a treat!

No junk mail... or else!

Ever since we lost our last ’No junk mail please’, or ‘Ingen Reklam Tack!’ as it’s written on Swedish mailboxes; we’ve been getting heaps of junk mail every day and week and especially now when it’s building up to Christmas, the amount of advertising and leaflets that’s dropped off in our mailbox is just insane. So, Shaena figured we’d try a different approach on our new note in order to deter the mailman and crafted this ransom note inspired sign! You like?

Merry Christmas from us to you!

Working hard or hardly working

Yesterday and today I've been out on the island of Sandhamn in Stockholm's outer archipelago with work on a conference/Christmas party thing. Just thought I'd share a few photos with ya'll from this very scenic place. No doubt we'll be coming here in the summer time for a day out with the kids!

Party times 2 on a Sunday afternoon

It’s not often we are invited to two shindigs in one afternoon but this past Sunday we were. We were invited both to little Jack’s 2 year birthday party as well as our friends Kelly & Göran’s winter open house party.

We started off at Olle and Linda’s, Jack’s parents, where Jack was in full form and gladly entertained his guests whilst opening gifts. He was turning 2 but man can that boy talk! A vocabulary like you’ve never heard! Ethan enjoyed himself with Jack’s toys; he had honed in completely on Thomas the tank engine and Jack’s various trucks.

Thomas seems to be the toy of choice at the moment as Ethan insisted on bringing home not one but two identical Thomas trains (which in the end, we talked him out of) and later on at Kelly & Göran's, he again insisted on bringing home Aia's two Thomas trains (which we managed to talk him out of once again).

Later in the afternoon we headed over to the winter open house where we were treated to hot Glögg (mulled wine), freshly made saffron buns and other Christmas delicacies. Shaena and I had a great time mingling with the other guests whilst Ethan found a partner in crime in Aia and the boys chased each round and round the apartment.

Jack's 2 year birthday party:

Jack the birthday boy, a handsome fella!

Ethan had a blast at the party and looked very sharp in his Christmas cardigan

...and Hudson seemed to enjoy himself as well!

Winter open house at Kelly & Göran's:

Daddy & Hudson

Race! Ethan and Aia ran around the apartment racing each other until they were both zonked!

Ethan helped himself to the delicious saffron buns

Little Nora hid behind the couch and mostly just minded her own business

Ethan's first Lucia performance at dagis

December 13th is 'Lucia' or 'St Lucy's Day' here in Sweden and Ethan's dagis had invited parents and family to a Lucia performance this afternoon. This was Ethan's first school performance so a huge milestone for us of course.

Getting all these kids for follow directions, walk in a line and sing on cue can't be easy and I am sure Ethan and his group had no clue why they were dressed up in funny looking outfits and marched out to stand in front of a crowd but everyone did great and Ethan seemed to have a good time; even though he did break away from the group and came running a few times when he spotted us! ;)

Love how all the kids look like they just got fired or yelled at during prep for the Lucia performance

Our little Santa boy!

Ethan was mostly excited because he saw us, and definitely not because he had to wear a silly hat

"Mommy! Daddy!"

The Lucia parade

If you are trying to find Ethan in the line-up, don't. He ain't there anymore! ;)

Ethan much prefers operating vehicles over singing in a choir

Ethan and mommy doing their crazy-faces

Ethan & Hudson

Grandpapa Stefan's got the hook-ups!

Look what just arrived at the post office! Grandpapa Stefan had found a very nice pair of Merrell Gore-tex winter boots up in Haparanda and went out and got them for me and shipped them down here so I wouldn't have to freeze this winter.

Unfortunately I may not get the luxury of warm and dry feet anyway since Shaena immediately locked on to the boots and subtly suggested that they fit perfectly on her as well! ;)

The 'Next'-button – your next Christian family-blog is just around the corner

Sometimes when I am working away with updates to the blog I’ll take a moment to click on the ’Next’ button on the menu bar at the top of the page. ‘Next’ is a feature that’ll present you with another random blog that has similar content as the one you just read, i.e. ours.

Anyway, for some odd reason; 9 times out of 10 when I click Next I’ll get a Christian family blog with loads and loads of references to God, Him and the Lord. Nothing wrong with that at all of course; I am just curious if it is more common for Christian families to blog about their lives or if for some reason the content on our blog is written in a very ‘Christian way’? Or are we, as non-believers, maybe a minority in the family blogging segment?

Just as a social experiment, dear reader; go ahead and click ‘Next’ once or twice and see if you land on a blog with Christian references and report back with a comment. Would be cool to compare notes and see what the Christian/non-Christian blog ratio is! ;)

These are my latest hits:
http://scottandjessicamoody.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-year.html
http://brysonandjamie.blogspot.com/?expref=next-blog

Sneak-peek from Santa's workshop

Daddy & Hudson's day out

"We started the day by dropping Ethan off at daycare and then we went for a nice long morning walk. I laughed. A lot."

"After picking up my shiny new passport at the police station, we had a nice lunch with uncle John. I entertained. A lot."

"After lunch we went to the grocery store. Daddy shopped. A lot."

First snow

The snow has made it to Kallhäll and winter is officially here!

Oh, and guess what: We are now going even more mobile as we've figured out how to email text and photos from our phones and straight onto the blog. How cool is that!?

Inside El Flaterino - Part III

Thought we'd share another few photos from this place we call home:

There's no denying it now, Hudson has definitely moved in!

A rare piece of Shaena-art

Shaena 7 years old. See any resemblance?

One out of many, many teddybears and stuffed animals in this household

Nini's quilts on display in the kids room

The kids love it, we love it and Ethan is now even using to learn about colors and numbers!

Ethan made his first Christmas ornament at daycare today. Pretty!

A lego-tower. A common sight/obstacle/death trap on our floors these days