Moa, David, Ava and Linus

Little Miss 5!

2012-01-22T21:50:00.001+01:00

Ava’s birthday started just as she had ordered, that is her sleeping and the rest of us dragging our tired bums out of bed to sing to her and bring her presents and grapes in bed. She did say that if we didn’t have grapes Cheerios were accepted as a substitute as well. Linus and I got up at 7am to wrap her gift that I had forgotten to wrap until then, but that worked out well since then Linus got to help with the task. I lit a candle on a tray together with some grapes and a cup of fruit and berry smoothie and in we went singing “Happy Birthday”. She bounded up and quickly opened her gifts. She received a Julia Donaldson book “Monkey Puzzle” which Linus wanted me to add a disclaimer on “t-t-tell Ava it is my book too” (Yes, Linus has a stutter, sometimes really badly so, we are hoping it will go away with time). She also received a Bindeeze pack which she enjoyed using later in the day.

We finished the cake in the morning after having breakfast. Ava and Linus mostly licked the frosting off the beater.

Then Ava and I, Linus wanted to help but he has the sneezes and forgets to cover his mouth so I banned him from decorating the cake, frosted the cake with white buttercream icing, then into the freezer it went for the icing to set before next layer. Ava took some time to try out her new crafty art studio. A Bindeeze that has pearls that you lay in a pattern to form images, and then to bind the pearls you just have to spray the pearly constellation with some plain water. She finished the bird below. It was quite tricky with picking up and placing the pearls, but I guess she has smaller fingers than I do. Then we finished decorating the cake by placing a white layer of marzipan over the butterfly and then using a fresh paint brush and some food colouring to paint the butterfly and then decorated further with some fancy sprinkles/100s & 1000’s. After that we had some carb free egg pancakes that Dave whipped up in the pan together with some shaved ham. It was really nice to have just like that.

Ava thoroughly enjoyed her birthday party and birthday in all I believe, even though you could clearly see the day had taken it’s toll on both kids, and their blood sugar together with their patience and mood plummeted just before dinner time. We ended the day with heading over to my parent’s place for dinner. Blood palt (or regular potato palt for those who couldn’t quite stommach the blood variety) served with fried bacon, butter and home made lingonberry jam.

Our Christmas Tree 2011

2011-12-25T21:09:00.001+01:00

This is what our christmas tree looked like this year. An array of different ornaments, many of them with special memories attached, both new and old.

We have sparkling reindeers bought in Finland, soft baubles made by our very dear friend Sally for Christmas 2009, our last one in Australia.

Gingerbread hearts with each of our names on, new, yet carry memories of Christmas pasts when we have baked gingerbread with dear friends.

We have a butterflies in gold and silver, as well as a tiny Winnie the Pooh snow globe which was once upon a time bought at the Disney Store in Perth, which has long since closed down.

We have glass angels sparkling bright, handmade ornaments by the kids, all the way from Australia, and we did, for a while, have presents under the tree.

And here are the most sparkling ornaments around!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T23:16:00.001+01:00

Here in Sweden, as most of you know by now, we celebrate Christmas on Christmas eve. This is the day when we get together with loved ones, eat, exchange gifts, eat some more and have a jolly time together. This year was no different really. Well except that Linus has pneumonia, Ava still hasn't completely recovered from her bout of the illness and Agnes also had a fever and a bit under the weather.

Luckily enough, Linus fever that hadn't been budging for 4 days finally let go of its hold last night and delivered us a much improved boy this morning. By much improved I mean he now wanted to eat, even though he couldn't eat very much at a time, and he used his voice, the past few days all I've heard him say has been "water", "I'm very sick" and "need toilet". Not to mention the fact that today he has been awake all day, unlike yesterday when he slept for all but 2 hrs the whole day.

Another big thing leading up to today is that Linus has given all his dummies to Santa. We have been talking about it regularly ever since he agreed that he would, which was around the time that he had a dentist appointment, and the dentist said that it is better for his teeth to not use a dummy. Since we started talking about it he has been extra attached to them. At daycare he would disappear only to be found hiding on his own shoe shelf, behind his clothes, snuggled up with his moose and dummy. He took any opportunity he could to use the dummy and I was really dreading this first week after Christmas, thinking it would be hellish. To my big surprise it has not been, already this past Monday I asked Linus if we should go dummy hunting and wrap them all up ready for Christmas eve, he thought it was a great idea and both Linus and Ava helped to wrangle up all the dummies, which were only really about 4 of them. Then I gave them all to Linus, we found some wrapping paper fit for Santa and then Linus wrapped the dummies up all by himself and did a very fine job I must say. So since Monday night he has been without a dummy and the best of all, he has not asked for them once even! At one point I thought he might as he started with "my dummy..." and I was gearing up to remind him that he had wrapped them up to give away, but he continued... "my dummy, I'm giving to santa's babies, I don't need dummies cos I'm a big boy like Daniel" (Daniel is my sister's partner and a hero to Linus as he is very tall).

Tonight at my sister's place Santa arrived just before 4pm, yes here in Sweden Santa actually comes to your house in person and hands out presents and talk to the children. The first thing Linus did when Santa came was to hand him his beautifully wrapped gift. He was very chuffed and Santa gave him a Lightning McQueen RC car for being such a clever and thoughtful boy for thinking of Santa's children who needed the dummies more than him.

Other than the remote controlled car, Ava and Linus both received lots of nice presents. Linus received Humongasaurus giant hands, a toy truck, mini skateboards as well as bakugans and big toy airplane. Ava received a hairdressing doll, perfect for her as she has been saying for the past months that when she grows up she's going to be a hairdresser, she also received a little Ariel princess, a snow white dress up gown as well as a pair of plastic heels that she had been wishing for since even last Christmas. What she didn't get that she has been wishing for since living in Australia is one of those battery driven microphones that plays a tune and that you can sing along with, but then again her birthday is not even a month away.

The best gift of the day however, it wasn't a gadget, a much wished for toy or something really expensive... It was a gift that Ava had made just for me, an awsome gift at that. She made me a very detailed and beautiful princess out of Hama beads (iron beads). Such an amazing creation.

Christmas Eve in pictures

2011-12-24T21:20:00.000+01:00

Merry sickness

2011-12-23T15:03:00.001+01:00

The kids have been sick this week. A cold... Sounds terrible right, or not. Unfortunately our kids get this horrid cough as soon as they get a sniffle. Ava got a fever on Monday and daycare called us and went to pick them up. Tuesday she was chirpier during the day but high fever towards the evening, accompanied by a fever friend for Linus. Wednesday Ava's fever lifted but Linus got worse. Wednesday and Thursday Linus spent most of those days sleeping, his body hurt, he was coughing, not eating and had a high fever... So today I rang the drs after the Panadol wasn't biting. We rushed in to the city to the drs, getting two sick and tired kids out the door was not easy, although we finally made it, although a bit late. The dr listened to his lungs and quickly named the problem... Pneumonia! No wonder he he is so out of it. 10 days on antibiotics, 3x a day for 10 days. A medicine that tastes horrid, poor boy does not like it.

Christmas is coming

2011-12-12T21:04:00.001+01:00

The kids and I (well mostly I as they tend to not have a very long attention span most of the time) baked gingerbread cookies on Sunday. We made some unusual shaped ones, dinosaurs, camels, elephants and horses as well as some hearts that we decorated and hung in the Christmas tree that we decorated today.

Tomorrow is dec 13, st Lucia day and my 30th birthday. Early start and late to bed as usual for this day. Nothing big planned, coffee and cake at our place for anyone who feels so inclined. So much happening this time of the year so I'm keeping it low key. I did however already receive some fabulous gifts as we on Saturday went out for dinner with the extended family. From Anna, Daniel and the kids, Maja, Mattias and their kids, mum and dad and my godparents Birgitta and Melker I received downhill skis and ski boots. My very first set actually, I've always had hand me downs or borrowed my sisters for all these years. Didn't really plan on ever buying any as it is a big chunk of money to get set up. They are very flash I must say.

From David and the kids I got both of Melinda's photo books on NYC. She takes such gorgeous photos and I do miss her and her lovely family heaps so it was a great present to get. In addition I received a voucher for a full body massage, something I desperately need and have booked in for Thursday this week! Can't wait.

Linus wrote his name

2011-12-09T19:22:00.001+01:00

This is Linus first somewhat distinguishable attempt at writing his own name. Pretty good i reckon.

Oh how me missed thee

2011-12-09T08:39:00.001+01:00

It started snowing yesterday, thousands of big, soft flakes whirling down from the sky, caught in the winds and finding their way in under your collar where it lay to rest and melt away... it continues today, and from the looks of it all week. The snow that we have been missing the past month and a half looks like it has finally found it’s way home. Christmas doesn’t feel so far away anymore.

Dance Show

2011-12-05T08:51:00.000+01:00

This past semester the kids have been going to dance classes. It is mostly fun and games in the form of dancing. Ava was the one who has since last year been insisting on that she wanted to go, so when time came around to signing up, we signed up Ava to the 4-6yo group and Linus to the 2-4 yo group. Ava and Linus cousins, Irma and Helge, also signed up to the same classes. In Linus class a parent accompanied the kids, so Linus has being dancing with David this semester. They have been jumping and skipping and spinning and walking on all fours together with Helge and my sister Maja, and Linus and Helge loved it! The girls class there were no parents allowed, except for those kids who really needed it… like Ava. Ava freaked out the first lesson when she was left alone, and wouldn’t dance at all. For the next 7/8 weeks I had to sit in the class with her. The first 6 weeks she refused to dance at all, she just wanted to watch. Then when we got home she knew all the songs and dances and did them at home, loved it and showed anyone who would listen. Then the next week she still refused to join in. Week 7 she decided it was time to dance, and dance she did… on the side, next to me in a corner of the room. then Week 8 –10 she finally decided to join the other kids on the floor and the last week I didn’t have to be in there with her at all. It took some time, but she warmed up to it. And then when the final show came around she was the one in the front, the one laughing the loudest, dancing the craziest and sparkling the most. We were very proud of her, and she was very proud herself, we could tell.

First of Advent

2011-11-26T20:21:00.001+01:00

Tomorrow is the first of advent which is the first day for count down until Christmas. Here in Sweden it is usually a time for putting up Christmas decorations, baking for the festive season to come and a day to spend some time with family to enjoy the baked goods as well as some mulled wine, or glögg as we call it. Today I have spent much of the day cleaning, tidying, cooking and as we speak, also baking. For lunch I whipped together some Swedish mini pancakes in the special mini pancake frypan that my god mum Birgitta so kindly donated to us. For dinner I made a very nice fried rice, as well as put some moose meat on the boil for tomorrow's soup, and now the kids and I are baking saffron buns. I usually like cooking with my kids, but today Linus is particularly whiny and non cooperative. I noticed he has some spots on his back, so he could have a reaction to something.

Care package from Australia

2011-11-09T17:36:00.001+01:00

Today we had a big box in our letter box. It was clearly sent from Australia. Ava and Linus got very excited and immediately started to speculate what it could be! The package was from uncle Ray and Jim and was a season's greetings that we now opened in advance. It was a fabulous gift with lots of different things... There was vegemite, fruit roll-ups and mini m&m's, paint brushes, craft scissors, felt and stickers, to just name some of it. Ava and Linus wanted to open everything immediately!

Thank you so much uncle Ray, Jim, Yuri and Che. Maybe your next holiday will take you to the colder regions of the world.

Craft bug

2011-10-22T11:20:00.001+02:00

After way too long I have finally whipped out the crochet needles and yarn again. It has almost been a year since I crocheted last. What's it to be then... we just have to wait and see as I might unravel it seeing as it turned out a lot larger than I had hoped.

Budding artists

2011-10-20T17:57:00.001+02:00

Ava and her cousin Irma at the kitchen table drawing.

Last day of sunshine

2011-10-16T23:07:00.001+02:00

The last day in Turkey was spent getting up and heading down to the restaurant buffet for breakfast. The kids had pancakes today, and as a special treat as it was the last breakfast of the holiday, the had it with some nutella looking chocolate paste that we hadn't even showed to them previously as it looked super sweet and unhealthy.

Linus has this week been having foods with milk in it, or so we can only assume, as pancakes, pastries and ice cream usually contain milk. The first few mornings he hardly ate any breakfast as the only thing he wanted to eat was cereal with milk. However, in turkey there is apparently no such thing as oat or soy milk, so after two days we decided to let him try to eat some of the things that contain milk. So far it has worked ok, no rash as of yet, however he has said that he has had a bit of tummy aches, and his stools hasn't been the greatest. But right now we're thinking we'll try with milk in cooked foods and see how he goes for another week or so.

After breakfast we were planning on swimming in the pool at the hotel, but then decided to head back down to the beach instead. The pool was really quite cold, and the only up it had on the beach was really the water slide, and that it was close to the restaurant of course. But since our hotel had all inclusive down at the beach as well, we never missed out on our already paid for lunches. So the last day was another one spent bobbing around in the big turquoise ocean. The kids loved it and had a blast. Dave however, decided to take a day off from the sun after developing a sun rash, so he took advantage of the full all inclusive buffet and bar at the hotel instead, while at the same time doing his homework.

After the beach we headed back up to the hotel where we arrived back in time for the last bit of the snack bar by the pool, the afternoon coffee and cake time, as well as one last chance to swim in the pool and do a few laps up and down the water slides before they closed for the day. When the kids finally had enough swimming we headed up to our room for a bath in the bath tub instead! The kids bathed while the adults started packing up all the gear. Departure from Turkey was scheduled at 5 am in the morning, but to get to the airport we first had to travel by bus for 2 hours, as well as check in 2 hours before departure. Taking all that into account the transfer bus was coming to pick us up at 00:15 am in the morning.

After packing we hit the showers before heading for our last dinner buffet, followed by one last dash out to the shops for some last minute spending. Dave and Ava soon aborted due to toileting requests and Linus and I tagged along with my sister and her gang. The cousins had been given their weekly allowance and wanted to find something to buy before going home. They ended up at a shop where Dave and I had been previously with the kids in the hunt for one pieces. There Samuel and Agnes chose what they wanted and Daniel and Anna did the bargaining. Linus on the other hand, who had been to that shop before and recognized all the guys working there, had no intentions of shopping. The guys in the shop recognized Linus as well as he charmed the socks off them the day before, and Linus and a teenage boy from the shop had a dance off inside the shop instead. When the deal was closed and it was time to go Linus held on tight and insisted on adopting the poor kid. He was nice enough to walk with Linus a bit down the road until he finally let go of the kid's hand and released him back to the wild.

One last spend of 4kr, 1TRL to buy the kids an icy pole before heading back to the hotel for a couple of hours sleep before the bus arrived to take us away.

When we were finally at the airport, gone through all the checks, boarded the plane and taken our seats, that was the final drop for Ava, she had been such a trooper the whole trip, but over a seating issue she wailed and cried. Linus, who was sitting in the window seat that she wanted, eventually said "mummy, Ava have my seat, we swap", "that is very generous of you sweetie, but you don't have to do that, it is your turn to sit at the window", "no we swap, Ava sit here, I am nice, Ava cry so much my ears hurt!" and so, the only meltdown during the holiday was solved by the 3year old.

A few minutes later, after take-off, I looked over at Ava who was looking up at me with tears welling up in her eyes. Asking her what was wrong she replied: "I didn't want to leave Turkey, I wanted to stay longer". So all in all we had a good holiday and Ava is already planning the next one. But apparently we are only allowed to either go back to Turkey or go to Australia.

Dinner time

2011-10-14T18:57:00.001+02:00

These are some of the foods on offer at the dinner buffet. Not pictured are all the breads, hot food, such as kebab casseroles, rice, meatballs in all different shapes, grilled chicken, coffee, juices, soft drinks, wines etc.

Another time out

2011-10-14T17:42:00.001+02:00

Mum is reading and the kids are watching tv after another day at the beach. Cartoon network in english! All the ads are in turkish though, something Linus commented on, "Pratar konstigt" (speak funny). Soon it is dinner time.

Relaxing after a hard day in the sun

2011-10-13T16:54:00.001+02:00

Afternoon tea at the hotel terrace after returning back from a full day at the beach. Glorious weather today, super warm water in the ocean, we swam heaps. Even David braved the huge waves, Linus did not however, he said he was too scared, instead he played all day in the sand, building moats, pits, hills and other constructions.

All scrubbed out

2011-10-12T17:26:00.001+02:00

After having lunch we were all at a bit of a loss as to what to do for the rest if the day. The weather looked a bit unstable still so the initial plan to head to the beach was scrapped. David, Ava, Linus and I went to get our pram to head out for a walk and scout for a hairdresser so David could get a head shave. While we were up getting our stuff Daniel, the deal master himself, headed into the lion's cave, the hamam bath at the bottom of the hotel, to strike a deal for Turkish bath and massage for the Wilhelmsson ladies. David wanted a grooming too, so then with 4 ppl Daniel managed to push the price down a bit further still. With that booked we headed out for our walk. Just around the corner from our hotel was a kauför that wanted 15 lira to shave Dave's hair, nope said we and got it for 10. And with that he got his nose hairs and ear hairs trimmed too. We then walked around a bit more looking for a place to cut Ava's hair later on, she also wants braids with pearls done, so we'll see about that.

When we got back to the hotel we got changed and headed for hamam. A Turkish bath which is a first for me, a bit of a funny experience with steam sauna, followed by a swim in a cold pool followed by a Turkish man scrubbing you down with a sandpaper like scrub mit and chucking hot and cold water at you. All dead skin is now gone I can tell you.

Linus also had a hair cut the other day while in the city, he was really chuffed about his new hair, and at the same place I had a trim and was also talked into my first threading, be proud Nooshin ;)

Another day another shower

2011-10-12T11:13:00.001+02:00

Every night since we arrived the storms have raged during the nights and then in the morning it is calm again with sun shining but with clouds in the sky. Same today, except the clouds got darker and darker during the morning, and at lunch time, just as we said, maybe it is time to head in, looks like rain is coming, the showers started. And just as quickly as it started it stopped again.

The sun came out

2011-10-11T17:25:00.001+02:00

After 130mm of rain over the past day today didn't turn out too bad. We arrived at 7am in the morning and after checking in we went straight to the breakfast buffet where we all managed to put something in our tummies even though the exhaustion levels had a crippling effect on us all. After breakfast we all headed up for some well deserved sleep! We slept until the lunch buffet had opened and then as it happened the sun was shining!
We ended up spending the afternoon by the pool, where I was dragged into a water gym class with this Turkish girl, or we could call her the water gym nazi!

A 4 hour trip of eternity

2011-10-11T17:20:00.001+02:00

A flight that was supposed to take 4.5hrs to Antalya, Turkey yesterday, ended in the worst trip in my life so far. There were storms in Antalya and as we were going in for landing the winds were ferocious. The captain pulled up again and announced that he would try again from a different angle. The 2nd time it looked like we almost made it, we were so close to the ground, but again he pulled us up and up above the storm we went. Talking to other passengers afterwards the 2nd time had been a lucky miss. Apparently there were huge side winds that pushed us to the side and off the runway, one passenger had thought we were done for when she saw us being shoved sideways and heading into a fleet of parked aircrafts! Luckily the pilot had gotten us up quickly. We were at this point all very air sick, there were people vomiting left right and centre and not many happy faces. The kids were fine though. The captain continued to fly above the storm and soon announced that they were re-routing to another airport as we were running low on fuel and from there we would continue in about 2 hrs. By this time we were already running 1hr behind as we should already have landed. The airport we were re-routed to was a domestic airport and we were directed into a departure gate that was nothing but a big hall with seating, toilets and a little kiosk. This kiosk became our sustenance over the next 10 hrs while we were stranded there. As the hours piled up and the kids hadn't eaten properly since breakfast time we were just waiting for the wheels to start coming off. When around 9pm when we finally got some food assistance from the domestic airport, and the refreshments provided were nothing but a small slice of sponge cake and a glass of juice the irritation levels started to rise among the stranded. We were many aircrafts stranded there that night from all over the globe, but all things considered people kept calm in a bad situation. The communication and information was very poor and we had to chase people to get any kind of answer. Our charter company did nothing for us either and the whole thing could have been handled so much better. We all understand that no one can do anything about the weather, but I question wether we should have taken off from Luleå at all. Also the fact that no one from detur had any communication with the airport we were stranded and we were without information and most importantly FOOD! The last meal provided to us was a light lunch on the plane around 11:30am, the next available meal was at 7am the following morning when we finally arrived at our hotel. The time in-between was purely surviving on water and crackers and chips from the kiosk. I felt so bad for the kids. After a grueling 13 hrs of being late, no food and hardly any sleep we finally arrived at our destination.

Feels like Perth winter

2011-10-06T20:13:00.001+02:00

The apartment feels chilly tonight, we're curled up in the sofa, drinking hot tea and watching TAYG, laughing at Micallef's completely not funny jokes and watching a bunch of Aussies playing a game that in the end, really has no meaning, all the while the rain falls outside in the darkness. If I close my eyes for a bit I feel as though we're back home in Perth.

Spreading some light

2011-10-05T00:13:00.001+02:00

To brighten up the dark autumn night a good amount of indirect light is an essential in any Swedish home. I recently ordered three lights to spread a soft glow through our home, one for the hallway on top of the cupboard and two for the living room windows. Once I have acquired another multiple power board I can also plug in some lights from my mum's in the kitchen windows.

Linus' birthday party

2011-10-02T00:51:00.001+02:00

Tomorrow, or I should say today as it is 00:45, is Linus birthday party. He turned 3 years old on Monday and tomorrow is the big party day. Linus first asked for a dinosaur cake, which I eventually found a solution to, but then he decided it was a motorboat he wanted! So after a lot of time in the kitchen, and after a lot of 'duh' moments and cursing the boat's very existence, here it finally is! Nothing like I had imagined it at all. In fact it turned into a police boat. Now I just have a mountain of dishes to do, strange how that happens isn't it.

Car wash

2011-09-14T23:51:00.001+02:00

Last week David drove the car south of Lulea to the next city called Pitea. He went there to do the compulsory slid course before he can get his Swedish drivers license. The slid course in Pitea uses oil and other grease and grime to alter the road so that you can practise on different surfaces. Needless to say the car was quite dirty afterwards. So during the weekend while I nursed my stiff neck, David and the kids washed the car.

Riding bikes

2011-09-14T23:39:00.001+02:00

Linus turns three in a couple of weeks and just the other day he rode a two wheeled bicycle without training wheels. He has been riding a balance bike all summer and it really has paid off. He had no problems at all getting the hang of a bike with pedals either. Most kids when they try a two wheeler without training wheels the first time have to learn to adjust their weight and get a hang of the whole wobbly bike situation. Linus on the other hand who has never been on a bike with trainers, but instead has learnt to balance on a pedal free bike, already knows exactly what to do. It was so cool seeing him getting on and just drive off. The only thing he needs help with is getting up and away as the bike is still quite high for his short legs, but he can ride, turn and even stop by himself. All these things took Ava a few weeks to learn at the beginning of summer. Balance bikes are the bomb I tell you.

Linus still regards the blue 12” bike as Ava’s as it used to be hers. I think I might ask Ava if she would like to give it to Linus for his birthday though.

Linus rides a two wheeler at 2 years and 11 months.

Turning a house into a home

2011-09-04T18:43:00.001+02:00

Today I dud a huge raid. I managed to hang all remaining pictures, hang the picture rails, our never before hung diplomas, bed light for Ava as well as a nice new moon night light. Not to mention the make over in the hallway where I hung the hat shelf, shoe dryer, clothes baskets for the kids and the train station clock! I'm exhausted. Thanks to my lovely sister for helping me out and vacuuming after me when I had finished hacking away in the walls with the drills, and to David for cooking us lunch and dinner!

DIY finally finished

2011-08-13T23:03:00.001+02:00

Here is finally the finished result of what feels like weeks of painting. Some much needed extra cupboard space and bench space for the kitchen. Cost, around 120 dollars all up.

Mr daredevil

2011-08-13T20:29:00.001+02:00

Mr soon to be three has discovered his passion in life! He has been fascinated with skateboards for quite some time now, pointing and insisting he is buying the ones in the shop. I haven't even considered one for him, figured it is not for a 2year old. Well tonight he proved me wrong. He found his 7yo cousin's skateboard, asked to borrow it and has amazed us all with his balance and tricks. The skateboard is a bit big, the guards are huge and the helmet is falling off his head though. He says he wants guards that fit him and a skateboard for his birthday.

Mamma

2011-08-05T11:30:00.001+02:00

Ava loves drawing, and she is really good at it too, she's very creative and draws lots of detail in her works of art. This picture she drew was of me. She always draws the body, and then on top she draws the clothes. She has drawn nail polish and lipstick and even a tongue in my mouth. I have green eyes and glasses and even ear rings as well as my red hair and my outfit for the day which is a red dress. To top it off she has written my name. She asked how to write it and I told her: "mmmm..." and she said, oh like this and wrote a perfect M. Then i said "oooh", "like a ring" says Ava and writes an O. "And then an A" i start saying. "yes yes yes i know that" says Ava and finishes my name with a perfect A.

I'm a big boy now

2011-07-27T00:31:00.001+02:00

Last week, when Ava and Linus slept over at my parents in their holiday house, It was two beautiful sunny and warm days and Linus spent almost all the time there running around naked, or possibly in a t-shirt and undies. After weeing a number of times on the deck and him finally getting that that was probably not the best place for it, he started running off to wee in the bushes or the grass, and sometimes the potty and even the dunny! The days after that he has had a few accidents, and some occasions when I have still put a nappy on him, but overall he has been really good with going to the loo. Especially today, today he only had one accident, while playing with water, and he has even asked a few times to go to the loo without anyone asking him. Even doing his poos in the loo, hmm, well except for one, but let's forget about that one, yeah as I said, all his poos in the loo!My little cheeky baby boy is growing up so quickly.

DIY part 2

2011-07-26T22:33:00.001+02:00

Time to get started on the top part of the cabinet. Question is, should I paint the back panel a slightly different nuance?

Bottom unit finished

2011-07-26T22:30:00.001+02:00

The bottom part of the cabinet is pretty much finished.

Muffin Time

2011-07-26T11:18:00.001+02:00

Baking

2011-07-26T11:06:00.001+02:00

Today is another grey day and we had problems coming up with something to do. So we decided to bake some muffins! Raspberry muffins are baking in the oven as we speak.

DIY Progress Report

2011-07-23T11:33:00.001+02:00

First coat of paint has been applied and it is looking good. It will need one more coat until I can leave it to dry and then reassemble it. Then i only have the other piece of the furniture left to do!

DIY continues

2011-07-22T23:33:00.001+02:00

I bought the paint today, managed to forget to buy the masking tape though, luckily I didn't really need it for this part of the cupboard. I got home from my parents holiday house closer to 9pm, and thought that maybe I could just get started doing the base coat on the drawers and then do the rest tomorrow. 2.5 hrs later and everything except the feet have the base coat finished. Piano white going on tomorrow then.

Holiday in the woods

2011-07-22T12:44:00.002+02:00

Today's activity involved going to mormor and morfar's cabin. Swimming in the hot tub, splashing at the beach and running around the rest of the day stark naked, the kids that is, and in Linus case weeing everywhere. I thought he had no idea about when he is about to wee, but after he weed on the deck for the third time in a row and I then took him to the side and told him that there is no more weeing on the deck, if he wants to wee he needs to go on the potty, wee into the bushes or he would need to put a nappy on. Then all of a sudden the bushes got weed on for the rest of the day! Every 5 minutes he'd yell, "kiss kommer!" (wee coming) and run off to the side of the deck and weed into the forest.

DIY Victim

2011-07-21T17:03:00.001+02:00

The bottom half of a cupboard to put in the dining area, stripped and ready for a coat of paint. Just need to buy the paint!

Strawberries

2011-07-21T17:01:00.001+02:00

Today the kids and I headed out on one of our daily excursions. Destination for the day was one of the many little villages around. In mockträsk they a have self-pick strawberry farm, so that's where we headed. Big fields of strawberries and a very hot day. Linus ate most of what he, or should I say what I picked and put in his bucket. In the end we got two big salad bowls full plus three small buckets, all that for 20 dollars worth. Now what to do with these goodies?

Sister planning her holiday

2011-07-15T10:26:00.001+02:00

Maja is over and in full swing with planning her holiday trip to Turkey in August. Sun screen, UV swim clothes, hats and sun dresses, I'm the consultant.

Wallpapering

2011-07-12T17:16:00.001+02:00

Finally it was a cloudy day and I decided to get some wallpapering done. I started with the hallway which has been waiting to get done. Then when that was done i figured I might as well do the wall in the kitchen as well. So Ava and I started wripping the old wallpaper down. And a few hours later, voila!

Worn out

2011-07-08T09:49:00.001+02:00

After our fourth day of holiday it is 9:42am and the kids are still sound asleep. Tired much? Yesterday we went to an outdoor pool for lots of swimming in the sun, after that a quick shopping trip before heading out to Anna and Markus for a bbqed dinner with good company. My dear old friend Jenny is up north a few days so we all got together for a catch-up.

First day of annual holidays

2011-07-04T16:30:00.007+02:00

First day of my official annual holiday turned into a sunny but not super hot day. It was around 20-22 degrees today I think, with a bit if a chilly wind. We didn’t really feel like going swimming due to the wind, so we decided to go and have a picnic instead. We decided to go to Hägnan which is an open-air museum in Gammelstad. It has lots of old buildings from the olden days, barns, work sheds, stables and bakers cabins. They have paddocks with horses, sheep and cows as well as pigs bunnies and chickens. Today they also had a craft table where the kids could build themselves a troll with pieces of wooden blocks, glue guns, nails, sheeps wool and paints. The kids loved it! They also found the hay barn where they have a high opening from which you could jump. They were all a bit scared to start off with, even Linus, mr daredevil himself normally. Ava and Irma jumped after a bit of hesitation, Helge wanted some help but eventually he jumped by himself too, Linus however said his jacket will get dirty if he jumps by himself, but apparently not if I held his hand. All in all it was a good day and the kids conked out in the car on the drive home.

A day at Anna and Markus

2011-06-23T21:58:00.002+02:00

The Swedes live for their annual holidays and many of them, if not most, have a holiday house, and if they don´t have their own they have access to one due to one or several family members have one. The other week we were invited over to Anna and Markus at their holiday house on Örnnabben. It is a gorgeous spot close to water. The kids played with Markus´ old toy cars and Anna´s old ponies and dolls. We ate fresh and summery food, David and Markus went out for a kayak trip, the kids, Anna and I went down to the tiny little beach.

Nordic Air Show and cheesy pop music festival

2011-06-22T22:08:00.005+02:00

Last weekend we attended the Nordic Air Show. It was the Swedish defence force who staged the event where they had a huge air show with every historical fighter jet you can think of… almost at least. They had the spitfire, the barrel, the hercules and many many more. Linus was dead set on seeing airplanes and Ava was dead set on seeing her favourite pop star, Eric Saade, who would be performing at the Rix FM music festival after the air show. Linus really likes Eric Saade too, but airplanes went first!

Eric Saade, for you Australians playing at home, was Swedens entry into this years Eurovision Song Contest and 1st runner up after Azerbajan who won (It was Azerbajan who won this year wasn´t it?).

The public transport authority had set up a continuous bus shuttle service from the city straight to the airport for free, which was great. Free bus there, and free bus back. We did however decide to leave the pram at home and carry the kids in a sling each just to avoid getting stuck with the pram in the crowds. The organisers were expecting up towards 40 000 visitors on the day, and even though a lot of people did have prams, I am glad we didn´t, especially since we took the shuttle bus to get there and back.

The night before the show I realised that we didn´t have earmuffs for the kids, and remembering from the air show at the Red Bull Air Race in Perth it gets pretty loud, especially for the little ones. So our plan for the day was to try to source a store that sold ear muffs in kids size, a store that had open on a Sunday and a store that opened early enough on the Sunday for us to go there to buy them and then get to the city to catch the shuttle bus out to the air field in time for the main air show. It was a bit of a rush, but we did manage to find some, one pair of turquoise for Linus and a pair of hot pink for Ava. They even matched their clothes for the day and they looked very snazzy indeed.

Both the kids found the air show good, but Linus was, as expected, super excited. Every time an airplane came past he shouted “FLYPLANE!!! Look!” and he pointed at it in excitement. It didn´t take long before he noticed that there were helicopters around the airfield too and he swiftly demanded that we go look for a helicopter. So off we headed, Linus in the front with the three of us in tow. And we did find a helicopter. They had a military helicopter on display that you could climb into, sit in the cockpit and you even got to try out their super cool military fly helmets!

There were other displays scattered around the airfield too and in the hangars. There were stationary fighter jets, that to Linus dismay, you weren´t allowed to fly, they gave out posters and pins with jets on, there were free popcorn and a craft station for folding airplanes and decorating them, free beach balls and lollies and many other things. You were also allowed to use the huge tankers as climbing frames with little kids as well as big kids (ie. dads and granddads) scurrying all over the massive beasts of green camouflaged steel, poking their heads down the hatches. Personally I think I would get claustrophobic getting into one of those, especially while lots of other people were trying to get in at the same time, eek!

As the air show finally drew to its end the music started up and Ava and Agnes, we randomly bumped into sister Anna with family in the crowd, were probably the most excited about this part of the day. Unfortunately their favourites, Danny, as well as Eric Saade were on at the very last, so they had to wait some time. But the music kept their spirits up. Linus on the other hand conked out in the sling on my back, and woke up just as the music was finished.

It was a very good day, with the only negative being the food service. They were expecting up to 40 000 ppl and 37 000 came through the gates, and yet they only had 3 canteens set up around the show area selling drinks, hot dogs and hamburgers. The cues were enormous! Just after 2pm I headed to try to locate some late lunch for us all and ended up spending an hour in the cue and only then having gotten half way. I ended up giving up and trying again while the bigger acts came on stage around 5pm, and even then I spent 20 minutes in line for hot dogs, had I bought hamburgers I would have been there well over 30 minutes as after getting to the cashier you had to line up again to collect your burger. Luckily we had bought hot dogs as we arrived when there weren´t any cues and had brought snacks for the kids which kept them happy enough.

But other than the food mishap we all had a great day that we ended at Maccas!!! Can you imagine, us at maccas, with the kids? What can we say, we were all pooped!

Day of the preschool

2011-06-22T21:34:00.001+02:00

A few weeks ago it was the day of the preschool. It is almost like the hat parades at aussie schools. The kids in all the prechools around the country make hats and music instruments etc. and then on the day they wear fancy costumes and head out and meet up with other preschools and sing songs and do a bit of a parade, over here it is also called a carnival. It is usually great fun for the kids and I remember doing these parades with my preschool as a child. I remember one year I wanted to be an angel, so I wore a yellow summer dress and for wings my mum found a small piece of mattress foam which she strapped a belt around to make it into wing shapes. Budget dress ups back in those days.

This year Ava and Linus made maraccas at daycare in preparation. The teachers and kids were going to take the bus into the city and there they would meet up with other preschools, walk down the main street while singing and playing their instruments down towards the main city park where they would have a picnic. Sounds fantastic right!

Ava was going to be a fairy of course. She had decided weeks in advance that she was going to wear the dress and wings that Sue and Warren got her for her 3rd birthday. The weather was very unstable that week so I had prepared Ava for the fact that she might not be able to wear the wings at least due to rain. She was cool with that. Linus was going to be a crocodile, even though he wasn´t going to be going into the city as it would be around his nap time.

Ava asked me to do a face painting for her, so we got up really early so that we would have time to dress and paint both Ava and Linus, I took flex time in the morning from work to be able to come along and look. Unfortunately it was a wet day, the rain was pouring down! At preschool the kids were all excited about the event and they all got dressed for the wet weather. There were witches, flowers, fairies, dogs, ghosts and superheros wearing gumboots and raincaps. We all got into the city where it was also quite windy. It didn´t take long before Ava started to get cold. She looked miserable, a lot of the kids did as they got colder and colder. The parade did take place, however as Ava was frozen to the bone we veered to the side to try to remedy this. I had a thin shell rain jacket and underneath I had a fleeced lines hood jacket with a short sleeve T under. I dressed Ava in my fleecy jacket with her raincoat on top to keep her warm, and god was I cold! I cannot remember ever being that cold!!

Needless to say, as soon as the parade reached the city park it didn´t take long before we decided to skip the picnic and walk back to the bus station to take all the frozen kids back to the preschool.

Hearing loss

2011-06-22T08:57:00.000+02:00

Over here they go do a health and development check at 4 years old. Ava did hers too. One of the things they do is a simple hearing exam with headphones with beeps on different frequencies and the child indicates that they heard the beep by placing a block on a construction. The first time we went Ava wasn´t too keen on the headphones on her head and even though she nodded that she heard the beeps she didn´t want to place any blocks anywhere. So we were asked to come back another time to try again and try to prepare her for the headphones and the instructions. We made it into a game and played it with Linus too, she thought it was fun and the next time she went she had no problems with he headphones. She did however have a problem with one of the frequencies. So the health nurse sent a referral on to the hearing clinic at the hospital to which we were later called. Ava and David went the first time and it showed that she had moderate hearing loss on her right ear for one frequency in particular. It is not on a level that she would require a hearing aid and it shouldn´t cause any problems for her with speaking and hearing everyday conversation, all which is a relieve. She was called for a repeat test a month or two after the first one and for a specialist to have a look as well. She did great with all the testing and followed the instructions to the dot. The results showed the same as last, so nothing temporary. After those tests we met the specialist and she informed me that Ava´s eardrums look perfect, so do all the little bones in her ear, so this isn´t caused by earinfections or fluid in the ear. Her problem is situated in the choclear itself, so most likely some of the little tiny hairs in there that are missing or not transmitting perfectly. A condition like this is usually genetic and something you are born with, and when I said that her hearing test at birth was all clear she was a little bit surprised. She also said that in most cases it doesn´t change or get worse, but that they will send her to an appointment once a year to keep an eye on it.

So our little girl has a hearing defect. What does this mean? Should we start treating her differently, should we be worried she will go deaf? Well Ava has no idea, she knows nothing else, and to be honest I don´t think it affects her very much at all. At a meeting at the educational hearing institute yesterday they said that it could be very hard to notice that they have a hearing loss, particularly if it is only on one ear like she has, and only for one frecuency. What we might notice though is that direction of sound might be harder for her, that is, for her to know which direction a sound came from. But for the most part her other ear compensate really well. It is good to know that it is there though so that if we notice something later on we have that in mind and can better deal with it. In the mean time the preschool will get a visit from the special hearing teacher who will talk about the situation with the teachers, give them tips and trick on dealing and teaching children with a hearing problem.

Crashing in style

2011-06-22T08:35:00.000+02:00

The Wilhelmsson household is slowly coming together. Although we are still missing some pieces of furniture that would greatly aide in organising our apartment. Luckily we have some wonderful friends and family who have helped us out in this very long process. My godparents were over just the other day and Melker screwed our cupboard to the wall so that we could now actually start using them. Soon we can get rid of a lot of the boxes that are still unpacked I hope. He also rerouted the hose from the dishwasher that had been dragged in through the cupboard door so that it has been ajar since installing the dishwasher. Now we can close the cupboard again, that is great!

David and I are both working full time at the moment. David finished his Swedish for the summer a couple of weeks ago and will pick it up again this autumn, around August. I have annual holidays planned from work starting July 4 and the kids and I will then have 6 weeks roaming the streets of Luleå. I had counted on being able to take out maternity leave instead of annual holiday as I used a lot of it when I went away to get my license, unfortunately it turnes out that the "Family assistance office" had misinformed me and I wouldn´t get maternity paid out based on my pay after all, i get the base rate which is 180SEK per day, roughly $35/day. It is better than nothing I suppose. The kids aren´t really clued in on the fact that soon they won´t be going to preschool for a long time preschool will after all be closed all of July. They really need a break though, they struggle so much in the mornings getting up. We have to wake them every morning and it takes them ages to drag themselves out of bed. They are already like teenagers.

Ava has recently learnt to ride her bike without training wheels and she is very excited about that. She still needs to work on her taking off and landing routine, but otherwise she is doing really well. She´s had a few crashes in spectacular fashion, but that is the only way to do it I guess. One straight down into a deep ditch at the side of the road, one head on collision with a light pole, one crash straight into Linus who was parked in the middle of the road and one sverve straight into a big boulder. She came out of all of them unscaved, a bit upset but ready to try again after a short rest. Trooper I tell you. She also got a new bike recently, 2nd hand, but lovely metallic mint green with fairies. Mormor got it for Ava and she was over the moon when she got it, even though it wasn´t pink, can you imagine.

Our Home

2011-05-30T00:03:00.002+02:00

I’d love to tell you more about our little apartment living. We are basically living on 104 sqm, on the first floor, with a balcony that stretches the width of the apartment in the front. Summer is not here yet, although we do have a bbq built and out there waiting for the warmer weather, we just need to organise for somewhere to sit to lap up the rays.

The apartment itself has 4 bedrooms. The first bedroom as you walk into the hallway, on the right is the study, as well as currently the store room. We have been moving wardrobes around and they left over ones have ended up in this room, yet to be fastened to the wall so that we can safely use them.

If we continue down the hallway we have the main bathroom on the left with laundry and bathtub, opposite the bathroom door on the other side of the long hallway is a walk in closet that also has a door leading into our main bedroom, circuit no 1. The hallway we were coming down before takes us through some glass doors into the living room. It is nice and spacious, although it does have 4 doors opening up to it. The first door on the right in the living room (next to the walk in) is our main bedroom. Across, on the other side of the living room there is the door to the childrens’ playroom and on the same wall as the door to the hallway, but on the other side, is the door to the galley kitchen, that leads into the dining area, that in itself leads back into the hallway… That is circuit no 2. If we head back to the playroom, we can take the door on our left, that will take us to the little hallway before the little bathroom, toilet, basin and shower, and walking past the bathroom through the little hallway we have the kids’ bedroom. They now sleep in a bunk and it is working really well. They love it. The kids’ bedroom in turn has another door, and this door takes us our into the dining area again, that is circuit no 3!

So yes, we have lots of doors the kids just love running around in circles, sometimes it gets a bit insane!

The best part of our apartment though is the back of it, inspired by my dear friend Sal on how our garden grows… Wild! Behind us, all our windows open up onto the natural forest that grows in the middle of the residential area. It is quite amazing and really fascinating having a natural zoo right outside our living room windows. Ava and Linus loves sitting in the sofa looking out the windows looking at all the birds and little forest critters just outside. A few of the spottings they frequently make are woodpeckers, sparrows, magpies, and of course all the little squirrels that roam around up and down the trees, eating bird seeds and running around. To Linus delight, this week when he was home sick, we spotted some ducks too, they were big ducks too, with green metallic feathers all over their heads. Linus wanted to sit there and stare at it all day and when I told him he had to go have a nap he said the duck wasn’t allowed to go home while he slept, and was very disappointed to see it gone upon waking.

Linus undies collection

2011-05-24T20:22:00.001+02:00

Linus has decided that he wants to wear undies, green undies to be exact. So we've said that if he goes to the toilet he gets to wear undies, if he has an accident, which i am sure he will as he has no sense of needing to go, we'll put a nappy on.

Linus sings Yo Gabba Gabba

2011-05-24T10:12:00.002+02:00

Sick little man

2011-05-23T07:35:00.001+02:00

Linus is not well today. He started coughing yesterday and woke up with a fever. He is very tired, so much so that he decided the floor was a good place to sleep for a bit before climbing up in mummys lap.

Platypus in sweden?

2011-05-14T10:13:00.001+02:00

We are in Pajala to celebrate my gran who has turned 80 years old. Today we came over to my other gran and i saw this thing on the ground and thought "what the... It looks like a platypus paddle", i asked my dad what on earth was that. Oh, must be the tail from a beaver, very matter of fact. Apparently my cousin had shot a beaver and boiled the head. Why the tail was laying on the grass was never explained.

At the horse races

2011-05-05T20:20:00.001+02:00

Today we had a work function at the horse races, one of my colleagues is retiring and this was her night. My one and only gamble for the night, will I win?

Ava and Linus

2011-04-22T20:17:00.001+02:00

Ava and Linus has grown so much, I was just going through photos of them from this winter and in just this short time span you can already see how much they have grow.

Here are some of my favourites.

Portraits with Mormor

2011-04-22T19:48:00.001+02:00

Good Friday during spring

2011-04-22T18:51:00.001+02:00

Easter came late this year. Easter in Sweden is usually a busy skiing season, however due to the lateness of easter this year there is actually not much snow left to ski on. If you have the good fortune to go to the mountains this week you would be able to do some great skiing and other snow activities, but for us mere mortals down in the city it is all bare streets with tulips spurting out of the ground.

Today on Good Friday my sister Anna and her family and us went to visit mum and dad in their cottage where they are spending their Easter. Mum treated us so a fantastic lunch which consisted of half a salmon covered in a feta cheese, dried tomato, fresh herb paste and then baked in the BBQ wrapped in foil, together with roasted potatoes, a yummo roast capsicum cream sauce and salad and egg halves topped with caviar.

The kids ate until they were full and then they hopped into their shoes and ran outside without jackets, Ava and Linus loved to be able to run outside without having to put so much clothes on. They did however come back inside with wet pants and socks as they had managed to find the few piles of snow still around and managed to pack their shoes full of snow.

After lunch the adults also discovered that it was really quite nice and warm outside in the sun, so we took our coffee and cake out on the porch and enjoyed some lovely rays. It was a glorious day, a bit like a nice, dry, sunny Perth winters day.

Samuel decided it was so warm that he stripped off and ran around in pants and socks, striking a pose along the way. As you can see there is still some snow in the background, but mostly it is bare and it has gone really quickly as well. It feels like it has gone from 30 degrees minus to all of a sudden 10 plus in a matter of 2-3 weeks. And due to there being quite windy weather it snow has melted extra fast.

This here below is my dad in one of his birthday presents. Dad turned 60 on 23 March and from us, my sisters and their families and mum he got a Weber BBQ, and from his siblings and his mum he got what he is wearing in the pictures. It is a camouflaged sleepingbag/poncho/rain coat that super mega expensive and handles extreme colds and works great when out hunting apparently. As you can see it is also a great entertainer for the grandkids! It fits at least 1 large and 2 smaller people in it.

Oh yes, and since I now have a drivers license I have done all the driving lately, one wonders how I ever lived without one

Passed

2011-04-06T22:55:00.001+02:00

I am home and tomorrow I need to go to the licensing centre to take a photo for my new drivers license!!!

Last round

2011-04-03T20:09:00.001+02:00

I'm back on the bus to arjeplog after another weekend at home. It was terrible leaving today, worse than last and I am so glad that it is the last round trip. If i don't pass the tests then I will not go back to do them there again but aim to get in in Luleå. But lets cross our fingers that we won't have to do any of that. Lets put the pedal to the metal for the last lap, no eco-driving, full speed ahead... Three more days.

Back in Arjeplog

2011-03-28T15:41:00.001+02:00

Friday afternoon I left Arjeplog to go home to the munchkins. They hadn’t missed me all that much, although Ava did say that she had. We had a nice weekend, managed to make it out of the house both Saturday and Sunday when we went to the nearby ski slope. This slope is very small, many call it a toboggan hill. But it is a great place to go with the kids. Sister Anna and family had their ski gear and Samuel and Agnes whizzed up and down the hill on their skis. Ava and Linus watched in awe and really really wanted to ski too. I had brought their cross country skis and they enjoyed that, but wanted to go up the big hill too. They got hungry quickly and chomped down the warm hiprose drink that I had brought and the sandwiches. In the evening we went over to my parents for dinner and celebrated my dad who turned 60 on Wednesday.

Sunday we rang sister Maja and borrowed Irma and Helges slalom gear and headed back to the slope. Both Ava and Linus had a great time being pulled up the hill in the harness, and then going down the hill with us hanging on to them. Ava is one of those people who wants to be able to do everything immediately, and if she can’t she almost gives up. This day she didn’t want to brake, she wanted to go down the hill, but after a little explaining and convincing that to be able to go by herself she needs to learn how to brake, she agreed that “okej I will try”.

Now however I am back in Arjeplog for my driving. I left Luleå Sunday night and arrived in Arjeplog at midnight. My driving lesson was scheduled at 1.30PM so I knew I was going to get a sleep in. When I got to the driving school however I had just done a 20 min power walk in the brisk fresh air and wasn’t very tired. So I did some theory tests on the computer before I went to bed. At 7 am there was a knock at the door “Are you here? Can you drive now at 7am as J isn’t back to do it?”. So up I hopped at 6.50am, drove 80 minutes, came back, had breakfast, did some theory, drove another 40 min session at 11, came back again ate some lunch, did some more theory and then had another 80min session which I just came back from. I am so so tired.

Tomorrow I have one session, then we have a long theory class session, Thursday we are leaving at 6am to drive to Arvidsjaur to do the slid course and my driving instructor said that I could possibly go home Thursday after we’ve done that, to return Monday again.

Intensive is the key word

2011-03-25T09:31:00.001+01:00

This is an intensive driving course, with emphasis on INTENSIVE. It is day three and so far we have done 8 driving sessions, 40min each session. I have another double session today at 2pm so by the end of these three days I will have done 10 sessions, that is 4 hours of practical work of just driving. How many hours I have spent studying theory I cannot tell you, it feels like days! It takes so much concentration that when you do sit down you feel so exhausted and your head is so full of information that you could probably fall asleep standing up. But when you sleep your thoughts are still on the driving, you dream about road signs, speed bumps, crossing cars, gear sticks and clutches, so you don’t exactly wake up refreshed, especially not when you have a driving lesson at 7am in the morning like I had this morning.

Off I go, back to the books.

2nd day of driving boot camp

2011-03-24T10:45:00.001+01:00

It is my 2nd day here and I just finished my 2nd 80 min driving lesson. Yesterdays lesson occurred within an hour of my arrival to Arjeplog. I was assigned to Samuel as my driving instructor and after hearing that I was close to finished 10 years ago we hopped into the car and he asked me set up the seat, windows and steering and then head off. “gaah!” was my first thought, “head off, just like that?”. But I did, I started the car, I remembered how to use the pedals and how to put it into gear… closely followed by my first attempt at indicating and ending up turning on the windscreen wipers! Bloody backwards country. Even though I’ve never driven in Australia, my instincts are still those of an Australian driver. I look the wrong way, I turn on windscreen wipers and I catch myself planning a turn and thinking of the roads as I would for driving on the left. A few lmore days here should beat it out of me though.

Yesterday I passed the shifting gears lesson and got to practice the right hand rule lots (Unless on a marked major road, you always give way to cars coming from the right) as we circled around the residential areas. We talked about eco-driving which is something they mark you on in the driving test as well. Such as setting everything up in the car before you start it for heading out, accelerate up to your required speed so that when you see that there is a road or intersection coming up you just let go of the gas pedal, shift down and let the engine do the breaking, using the break a little if needed otherwise just using the cars momentum and rolling into place and as such having time to scope out the traffic conditions, and by doing this petrol consumption is 0.00 as you’re not accelerating up to the point of having to break.

Today’s lesson was starting on a slope, which he basically told me to stop and then asked me to head off again to see if I remembered this lesson from 10 years ago. Guess what, I did! I remember spending a whole lesson on just starting in a slope and I remember the fear I had then. I still had it in there somewhere. I also did a hill start with the hand break which went well too. Question is can I do it in city traffic with cars behind me.

2nd lesson for today (4th lesson in total) we did some reversing around corners which I passed and later today we’re going to do some U-turns amongst other things.

Other than that we are all buried with our heads in the books and in the practice question folders. From the sound of it we are doing the theory test April 5 and the practical April 7.

I am aiming to make it home for the weekends, but apparently because we started mid-week and depending on how our driving goes we might need to do some weekend driving lessons to be ready for the practical test, if it is for this weekend or next I am yet to find out.

But basically, all time is spent either driving with the instructors or reading and testing ourselves on the theory.

Leaving home

2011-03-23T20:06:00.001+01:00

I’m sitting here in Arjeplog, in a room on the 2nd floor of an old building. The room has three beds in it, two computers in the middle of the room and a little fireplace in one corner. This is the room where I am to spend the next few nights, to start with.

This morning at 5:00am I left the comfort of our new apartment, the kids and David still sleeping soundly in their beds, to catch a bus from the city centre leaving at 5:40am heading to Skelleftea, where I changed bus with my final destination being Arjeplog.

Here in Arjeplog I am to do what I have been dreading for over a decade, what I have been avoiding, what I have an irrational fear of and what I have regular nightmares of… driving a car! I bit the bullet and decided it was time. Time for my own independence and to relieve David of his chauffeur duties. Although I do this with a heavy heart as I am here all by myself, surrounded with others like me, but still by myself. It feels very lonely and I miss my loved ones immensely and I would love nothing more than to catch the next bus back home. But at the same time I know that if I don’t do this now I will never do it. 2 1/2 weeks in Arjeplog, studying, driving, studying, driving and being away from my little ones and David is going to be hard, but failing this is not an option.

I just need to find the strength to do this. I wish you were here though.

Sneak peek

2011-03-14T22:56:00.001+01:00

Our latest furniture purchase that David has set up with lots of memorabilia from Perth with photos of all you guys in the photo frame.

Cuddles

2011-02-22T19:35:00.001+01:00

Sweet as sugar

2011-02-22T19:34:00.001+01:00

Ava at 4 years old and Linus at almost 2,5 years old. Linus is forever making us laugh with his silly jokes and sense of humour, he loves racing cars and is a real boys boy yet is a wonderfully sensitive and gentle soul.Ava is the wise older sister who loves to make up and sing songs all day long. She paints nail-polish on her nails with texters and calls lip balm lipstick. She likes to call the shots and decide everything. I love you my dear children.

Clogs

2011-02-22T19:17:00.001+01:00

These are my old clogs that i had when i was Ava's age. They fit her perfectly. When we were kids the ultimate was to have your own pair of clogs, then you felt grown up.

Elephant tactics

2011-02-22T19:12:00.001+01:00

Linus likes to watch moraträsk. Ava at this age really liked them as well, however they had almost been forgotten until Linus rediscovered them. They are there two middle aged guys that sing silly songs, a bit like the wiggles, although they've been doing it a lot longer, i used to listen to them back in the day. The photo then you wonder... He's being an elephant and sayings good-day like one.

Ava the mule

2011-02-13T13:55:00.003+01:00

This is Ava pulling Linus in the pulka.

Linus snug as a bug

2011-02-13T13:55:00.001+01:00

It was nap time and beautilful weather outside, so we packed Linus into the pulka and headed out for a walk. Ava decided that she would pull, she did a good job but Linus didn't end up sleeping anyway.

Ava turns 4!

2011-01-22T20:31:00.001+01:00

Our little baby girl is now 4 years old. How did that happen?

She has had a day full of fun, friends and food! We started the morning with Linus and I getting up at 7.15am. I asked Linus to come down with me to get Ava’s present. Linus heard the word “present” and then when we got to the kitchen where one of the presents were he was going to open it, saying “my present”. He was inconsolable when I told him that it was Ava’s birthday, we were going to give it Ava. Finally when I said that he could share the present with her did he calm down and we got on with the job. I had bought a little princess crown tealight candle holder that I lit and put on a tray. Then I washed grapes and made one bowl for Ava and one for Linus, then the present from Linus and also a present that she received all the way from Australia from Liss, Poppy, Ella and Jack from our (not so)Secret Santa/Secret birthday gifter which we had with my online mothers group.

As we were preparing Ava woke up and came down the stairs. I went and told her to go back up to bed and we would come with something special for her. She asked if she could lie in my bed and with a short yes she scurried back upstairs all excited.

Linus and I went up with the tray and David woke up and together we sang happy birthday to Ava and she got to blow out the princess candle before she got to open the presents. She was very very excited and so was Linus. He hurried to help her open her present that I had said he could share. It was two books, The Gruffalo and a Mr Maker book, they were both very excited! Afterwards she opened the card from Liss and family first and loved the card. it had sparkly balloons on it and she asked me to read the card to her. It was very special to get a present from Australia she thought. She was so amazed by the card that she almost forgot to open the present. She opened it and it was a beautiful tutu skirt in red tuille with red polkadots. It was so cute, Liss is such a clever lady! Ava thought it was beautiful, even though she at first didn’t realise it was a skirt, she said “wooow, something to hang up”, isn’t it a skirt I asked her, “aaaah YES! a skirt, look daddy a skirt! I can wear it for my party!”. After that David popped out the door to get her another present. A Disney princess castle that she has wanted for her little princesses that she got for christmas. Linus was very sweet this morning, and he said “appi buushdaa Ava” and then he gave her a big hug. It was so sweet.

The morning continued with the kids eating breakfast, Ava opening her present from Mormor and Morfar, having another dress change, me building her new castle, which came in a thousand pieces! We prepared for the party at 1pm and even managed to skype with Enitan, Manali, Sally and Dave before they headed to bed. Enitan’s birthday is tomorrow so they sang happy birthday to Ava, and Ava was soooo happy, and then we sang happy birthday to Enitan.

Irma and Helge came over a bit earlier so that Maja could go shopping for their party tomorrow, so Ava, Linus, Irma and Helge played very well together before the rest of the party guests arrived. Ava was so excited the whole day and everytime someone arrived at the door she ran up to greet them and informed them that it was her birthday and asked if they had a present for her. She was especially thrilled about a Hello Kitty lollipop (she didn’t even realise it was a lollipop until Linus opened the cap and crushed the lollipop) which was also a wand with a electric fan on it. All the kids were amazed by this fan. She received so many lovely toys and she loved them all! Very princessy things for the super princess that she is.

New Year with new life

2011-01-04T14:16:00.000+01:00

Christmas has passed and the New Year has arrived. Life here in the northern hemisphere chugs along in an even pace at the moment. I have started working at the local university in a Faculty Admin position, and as with any jobs it has it's ups and downs. It is still early days for me so I can't say that I am completely into the full swing of things and it will probably take a fair bit longer for me to be able to discuss the ins and outs of our degrees, rules and regulations, but it's comeing along nicely and I have lots of nice new colleagues.

The kids are enjoying daycare/preschool, and the routine it provides for them has really helped with their night sleeps. If they go to daycare before 8am they have breakfast there, then if weather permits (ie. Not too cold)they go outside to play around 9am and are back inside in time for a sing-along before it is time for Lunch at 11am. After lunch the kids help to clean up and at Linus side they kids one after another head into the nap room and take their place on their assigned mattress with their pillows and blankets and sleep toys, and before 12am they are all asleep. On Ava's side they have some quiet time during this time and the teachers usually take a group each and the kids gets to pick a book each for the teacher to read to the group. Around 2pm the little ones still asleep (ie. Linus) are woken up when they go to clean up the mattresses, they read some books and then have an afternoon snack followed by nappy changes and playtime.

David usually drop the kids off at preschool and he is usually the one to pick them up as well. Now during christmas time my mum has helped out while she has school break. I am up in the morning at 6.15am, on the bus by 7.15, at work at 7.50 and work until 5pm when I take the bus home and arrive home for dinner. Luckily I have been very blessed to have such a loving and caring mother who for the past few weeks have cooked dinner for us all, so there has been a nice warm dinner ready for when I get home. I do not know how I am to survive without her and my dad's help.

Whatever happend to mulitgenerational living anyway? The kids love it and when we get our own place I know that they will be very lost not having mormor and morfar there in the house with us. Linus wakes up every morning and goes down the stairs while at the same time calling for mormor, then he toddles into their bedroom and goes to have a morning rest in their bed... Closely followed by the demand for "Bicca" (milk), "hot". Not long after this Ava usually wakes up and followes Linus cue and hops into bed with mormor for a snooze. Whatever are we to do without them there?!

Ever since starting preschool Linus speech has come a long way, he strings lots of words together to make up a meaningful sentence and he is a lot clearer... The drooling however, just as it always has been, no change there. Ava has been speaking more and more Swedish, and just over the past weekend I think she has swapped almost completely to Swedish. I know that is is good for her, but I also miss her speaking English. Her voice and her way of speaking as well as the tone of her voice is completely different when she speaks Swedish, and I am not too fond of it. I have asked her if she can say it in English instead, and I think she has tried, but it still comes out in Swedish, and then when I say that that was Swedish, she says she can't say it in English. In a way I think it is just that she still hasn't completely identified which is which yet, and isn't all that aware of what language she is speaking, I know that is often the case for myself, and the fact that everyone around her always mixes the languages probably doesn't help.

In other news we have singed a lease for a 5 room (4 bedroom) apartment walking distance to the University and walking distance to my sister Maja and her family. We don't get the keys until 1 March though, so still some time until then. 4 bedroom place, 104sqm for around $235 a week. We even get cabel tv, broadband internet and heating included in that price.

New Years Eve 2010

2011-01-02T18:43:00.000+01:00

This was our New Years Eve this year. We ate some yummy food, I made risotto and chilli mussels which was delicious, and afterwards the kids and I found some sparklers so we went outside and had our own early NYE fireworks. At midnight and even hours before here in Sweden there are fireworks going off left right and centre, so we went out early to avoid that, as well as the kids were long asleep at midnight. We also had some nice exotic fruits. The fruit is always sold here during the winter months, but I don’t know how many ppl are actually game enough to try. I on the other hand was thrilled to see Lychees and Rambutans in the store, even though they were expensive.

Thinking of you...

2010-12-25T00:00:00.001+01:00

Nooshin! Christmas in sweden is all about tradition but also, for some reason, about exotic fruits. Today i am making a salad in honor of the Tafti family, as well as the Mavaddats and the Taheris. Bulgur salad with feta cheese, figs, pomme granate and fresh dates. Is there a trick to getting the pomme granate out cleanly easily?

Christmas joy

2010-12-21T18:33:00.001+01:00

Today Ava and Linus decorated the christmas tree all by themselves. It is very, well let's call it... Eclectic!

Budding artiste

2010-12-06T15:28:00.001+01:00

Ava tried out daycare's atelier the other day. She painted with pink and gold, and then she also swapped with Ludvig and painted some blue and green too. Linus has also had a painting session which he loved! He would have continued all day had lunch not gotten in the way.

Walking to daycare in winter

2010-12-06T15:27:00.004+01:00

This is what it looks like when you walk to daycare in sweden in winter. No pram needed, over here we drop off and pick up with sleds, toboggans and pulkor!

Off to daycare we go

2010-12-06T15:27:00.003+01:00

Solo flight

2010-12-06T15:19:00.001+01:00

Kids flew solo at daycare today. Last week I was in with them every day, or I should say with Linus as I have hardly spent any time with Ava, she didn't even want me to come the first day even. It was great spending the week at daycare though, you really get to know the teachers and you get to see how they work, the routine the kids have, the activities and you get to see how well your child does in the group!

Linus has really impressed me this week. Not only with showing everyone how capable he is and how independent he has become in just the last 2 weeks, but also his speech is so good now. My little munchkin who could only say one syllable words starting with B is now speaking in 3 and 4 word sentences! He has also done wees and poos on the toilet three mornings in a row now!

Ava is her usual independent little miss. She has changed in that before she would only play with boys and had a hard time with girls, and now the other day she says she doesn't like to play with boys, only girls. She has made lots of new friends at preschool (daycare is called preschool here as they work with learning through play), one girl in particular called Sol (her name means Sun, as in the big yellow burning ball up in the sky, very unusual name here but really suits her) and another called Alicia. She is loving preschool, although she does find it incredibly hard to comprehend why on earth we get up in the night before it is morning time, and she will not go to preschool before it is morning time, which could cause some issues considering the sun does not come up until 9.30am in the morning nowadays… and sets around 2pm!

First day of independence

2010-11-29T13:31:00.001+01:00

Today was Ava and Linus first day at Daycare! Ava told us that we would take her to daycare and then we would go home and come and pick her up later. She was almost disappointed when I told her that I had to stay the first day so that I could talk to the teachers and to be with Linus. Ava and Linus are at the same daycare but in different rooms, Linus is in a group called “The Ruby” and Ava is in “The Sapphire” group. Both groups have kids their ages.

We started today at 9am, the kids got up at 8am and we have breakfast and got dressed. It went fairly well. Ava did think it was a bit strange to get up and go to daycare in the night though (as it is dark here until after 8am), so we had a little talk about weather and how the sun sleeps a lot more in winter in Sweden. Ava thought it needed to be woken up and that maybe the rooster was sick and couldn’t crow to wake up the sun.

Ava got straight into playing and doing craft, she even sang her diamond castle song at the assembly before lunch. Linus had heaps of fun climbing on all the toys and playing with trucks, he also went over to Ava’s rooms and drew a picture together with the big kids. At one point when I stepped out to see how Ava was going he was fine until he realised that I wasn’t there anymore, then he started crying and I could hear him a mile away, but I was just in the room next door and he was happy again once he saw me and had a little cuddle.

At the ruby they have a nap time box where the kids can put their sleep things, they can bring their own blanket and pillow if they want, as well as their sleep toys and dummies, each child has their own box with their name and picture on, and after their afternoon nap they put their things back in the box ready for the next day. The children in this group are all 1 and 2 years old, and in the morning assembly they all get to put their name tag on a picture of what they would like to do, either go outside in the yard to play, go to the forest for a walk or stay indoors to play. The focus is a lot on giving them the responsibility and opportunity to do things themselves as much as possible. After lunch all the little kids help clear the tables and they have to take their plates to the trolley, scrape off any leftovers and stack the plates, cups and cutlery. I’m really quite impressed at what all these little tiny people are capable of. Linus will definitely learn heaps of useful skills at daycare, and since he is not always with Ava I am hoping he will develop a bit more independence and security in himself, as well as maybe more appreciation of each other and less fighting when they are together.

At the ruby they also had a little assembly before lunch where one of the teachers played the guitar and sang some Christmas songs. Linus really liked the guitar and every time a song finished he said “more sing”, after the assembly when all the kids went to sit down for lunch Linus ran over and gave the guitar playing teacher a hug. As todays’ lunch was dairy rich we said good bye to the ruby room for the day and went over to the sapphire where Linus and I read books while Ava finished her lunch. After lunch we all said good bye to daycare and headed home, but not without a bit of convincing that we needed to go and that we could come back tomorrow! Tomorrow they will both have lunch at daycare and Linus will have his first nap time there as well. All in all a great first day.

Surprise present

2010-11-22T12:57:00.001+01:00

This arrived in the mail today for Ava and Linus. They absolutely love them! They would like to thank the sender so so much.

Painted flowers

2010-11-21T19:12:00.001+01:00

Ava first wanted a tiara, but then decided on these lovely flowers suited to a princess.

Face painting

2010-11-21T19:10:00.001+01:00

Last time we were here Ava was given a face painting kit from mormor and morfar for christmas and for her birthday I painted the kids, Ava was a cat. Today cousin Agnes had a dance show and they had to dress as witches, I painted her. So when we got home Ava was keen to have her face painted too. This was Linus pick, a blue car.

Interview

2010-11-12T10:53:00.001+01:00

Ready for my first work interview in sweden... ever. I decided to go with my pink kmart tee with my newly bought reversible tunic from ellos over and as i have little other choice, jeans with that. I even put some make up on for the occasion.

The hard yard.

2010-11-10T13:07:00.001+01:00

As anyone who has ever done it will admit, moving countries is hard work. Not just physically in the sense of having to pack and pack and sell and throw out and pack some more, but also mentally, so much to think about, so much to get done, so much paperwork on the leaving side as well as on the receiving side, not to mention emotionally with leaving so many loved ones behind.

We have so far done most of the administrative things we can do after arriving so now it has instead turned into a bit of a waiting game. If you compare Lulea to Perth it is very small, and in regards to jobs as well as people it is not as abundant. In Perth when you need a job you have a lot of more options than over here, mainly because it is so much bigger. Here it is not matter of picking and choosing the jobs you want to apply for, it is more a matter of a job coming up that has the tiniest resemblance to something you may have done in the past or something that you could consider doing in the future and then fake it till you make it. In my case there might be a couple of jobs a week that come out that I may have a chance of getting, if I am lucky, as all in all there aren’t that many jobs a week in total that come out. There are more IT jobs that come out, but IT is a large field and many jobs doesn’t have anything to do with what David does. Many places also request good Swedish skills, however most doesn’t specify. So in other words the job front is slow and as such income is nil, good thing we are living with my parents in that respect.

The apartment front, well lets not even talk about that. Lets just say there is a housing shortage at the moment.

David has some routine going with attending Swedish classes 5 days a week half days as well as doing work from home and as for the kids and I, well I guess it is like it was back in Perth. Being home with the kids driving me nuts. The kids, Ava mainly, tend to get bored, she always wants to go over to someone’s house and always wants someone to play with her as well as to call someone on the phone to talk to. I understand how she must feel and mainly for her, I am trying to make an effort to socialise with the small network of friends that I have here, as well as the occasional skype call to Australia so that the kids get to see their friends back there, and I have to be honest, if it wasn’t for the kids I might fall off the radar as I am personally really bad at keeping in contact. Time just flies and before you know it a month has gone, and then short thereafter two. In that respect I am glad the kids remind me.

2nd hand bargains

2010-11-09T12:10:00.001+01:00

Sunday night an ad was posted for a sofa on the local 2nd hand online board, David saw it, my sister phoned them and we all went to have a look at 10pm at night. On monday morning my dad and I headed off to pick it up and drop it off for storage in Anna and Daniel's summer cabin. Bargain.

Happy little vegemite

2010-11-09T12:09:00.001+01:00

We may not be in Australia but we did bring the vegemite with us, long live the vegemite smiles in the Wilhelmsson household, or as in this little ones case, on the table, on my pants, on his shirt and all over his hands!

Apples and bananas

2010-11-02T19:16:00.001+01:00

Linus is all into drawing, unfortunately he doesn't get the opportunity all that often due to the need for constant supervision while the textas are out. He often draws apples, and sometimes boats. This one was his first attempt at an apple and a banana.

Zeze and mamma

2010-11-02T19:05:00.001+01:00

Linus can't say his name so when you ask him who he is or who did that he says "zeze". Good stage name I reckon.

Happy Birthday Adam!

2010-11-01T01:35:00.000+01:00

Cats and Dogs

2010-10-21T10:51:00.002+02:00

Moving to sweden is tiring

2010-10-18T18:18:00.001+02:00

Present from Australia

2010-10-18T18:16:00.001+02:00

This was Ava and Linus playing with Linus' new Thomas train set that came with courier from Australia. All the kids love it, especially Linus. Thank you Nooshin, Shahbaz, Dylan and Aaron!

New hat

2010-10-18T18:13:00.001+02:00

Linus got a new hat, as well as other winter gear, sent from the south of sweden from my dad's cousin. Linus really likes his hats.

For the Taftis

2010-10-18T12:12:00.003+02:00

Sorting through my life

2010-10-17T23:49:00.001+02:00

My mum keeps everything, everything from that freebie pen she got from the seminar to those worn towels that could come in handy one day for… something not yet happened. I wouldn’t call her a hoarder, but she definitely has trouble letting go of things thinking they could come in handy some day. I am a bit the same, although I am working on letting go a bit more and moving from Australia back here and having to go through all of our possessions and clearing as much as possible has really gotten me started. Since being in Sweden I have been doing some wall crawling, now this isn’t some new exotic sport that we do over here, instead it is referring to the storage compartments that many houses in Sweden have in the walls on the 2nd floor. The 2nd floor is regarded as a 0.5 floor as the ceilings up there are slanted, and to give the room some walls and not just slanted ceilings there are internal walls erected along the whole upstairs so that you have a 1m wall and then the ceiling starts. Make sense? Anyway, behind these internal walls are storage, lots and lots of storage. This is where we keep all the Christmas ornaments during the rest of the year, this is where all the old electronics go to die, this is where all the bits and bobs and dits and dots are put away when we are tired of them and we want something new. They aren’t thrown away as they are still good to use, we are just tired of them… for now. This is also where my mum has stored ALL of Anna, Maja’s and my school work since DAYCARE days!

My sisters have gone through these wall cavities to sort through their things, but since I have been residing in Australia I had not, and I did not realise that there was so much of it! There were box after box after box with my name on it… and I have gone through it all these last few weeks and I did not keep much. Some of the things that I did find, other than school work, were old letters from pen friends (from when I was around 11 yo), old jewellery, my old collection of porcelain cat figurines, my collection of rubber gums, collection of glass marbles, collection of pretty and scented stationary, collections of stamps, collections of paper bookmarks, collection of kinder surprise figurines, a glass jar full of icy pole sticks and strangest of all… a collection of tiny plastic zip lock bags! Don’t ask me why because I really can’t tell you. But as you can probably tell, I was a collector… of everything.

I am pretty sure I cut 12 boxes down to maybe 3. The three that are left are one with old toys, barbies, My Little Ponies etc. one with ornaments that I would still consider putting in my own house and one box of memorabilia, my old art works, stories I wrote in primary school, diaries I wrote as a teen as well as lots and lots of photos and negatives from the olden days.

This photo below are some of my art work treasures, art work that meant a lot to me when I made them so they get to stay.

I had screen prints, water colour paintings, pastel colour paintings, charcoal paintings, body parts sketches and the best find of all… a drawing in pencil, that I would have probably made in year 10, of my dad when he was in his mid 20s (2nd from the top). That one is now framed and sitting in my parents bookshelf.

Swim school

2010-10-17T21:50:00.001+02:00

Forest picnic

2010-10-17T12:33:00.003+02:00

Ava, Irma, Linus and Helge are having a sandwich break during our forest walk.

Life in Sweden- settling in

2010-10-15T09:42:00.001+02:00

Life in Sweden is currently very much like our previous 3 months stints. This since we are living with my parents, all of us in one room, living out of our suitcases as none of our boxes have arrived. Personally I think it works fine, the biggest issue is getting Linus to stay in his new toddler bed for the night, but not even that is such a big issue as he still loves going to bed… at least as long as the bedroom is pitch black. I wonder how summer will go on that front as it doesn’t matter how good your block-outs are, it will still be light all day around.

These last few weeks we have done the necessary administrative things like registering as residents and registering with the unemployment office. They give you a free job-coach for 3 months which in my eyes is the most useful thing they do now a days. They also offer information sessions on starting your own business and have workshops for improving your CV and interview skills, all good, not that I have used any of it yet.

David has done an initial Swedish test to see what level he is on with his Swedish and they should be getting back to him this week or next regarding course starts. They have A, B and C courses depending on previous knowledge and he will be starting the C course.

He has also enquired about instructing at two of the local gyms, as they send people off for training and then you work for them. A good way to get free gym classes and getting into both work and socialising with new people and learning even more Swedish.

My dad has been off hunting up in Pajala (where he is from, 2.5 hrs drive north of Lulea), hunting for moose as it is moose hunting season. So we have been trying to clear the freezer to make room for more meat. Anna and Maja have been leaving our parents house with BIG bags of frozen blocks of moose meat and mum and dad have been cooking up a storm with moose meat. The other day dad set up the mincer to mince some of the chunks for mum to later make cabbage pudding (with moose), moose burgers and moose meatloaf. The mincer had a life of it’s own and splattered the floor and walls with juicy raw moose meat! Ok, not really as bad as it sounds, it was just some rouge splatters. The kids have so far liked most of the moose dishes, although the cabbage pudding did not go down with Linus so he had some meat loaf instead.

One of the food issues we have with our kids is that Linus does not eat potato. Now living in Sweden, the country of potatoes, having a child who does not eat potato, well that could make things difficult at meal time. However, these past few days he has been eating roast potatoes, potato gratain (creamy potato bake) as well as mashed potato mixed in with fish casserole and lots of sauce. Now you might think “creamy potato, Linus? I thought he was allergic”. Yes he still is… but yes, here we have the option of making creamy foods without any dairy and it is great! Oat cream I tell ya, it is the bomb!

While we are eating our way through autumn we are of course also looking for a home for our little family. It has been quite quiet on the apartment front during autumn as the school year starts in August and as with any University city, there was a huge influx of students at the beginning of the season taking anything and everything they could get a hold of. At the time of writing however we are nr 7 in line for a 3 bed apartment with study nook, two stories, more like a townhouse, although they call it apartment. We’ll know more by mid next week. The layout is very similar to our old Kerr street place, except where we had two bedrooms upstairs this has a wall making two rooms our of one of them.

As for all our boxes, they should be in the UK now, the ship was scheduled to arrive there on the 13th, then they take it all to a warehouse for customs to go through before they ship it on to us here in Sweden. If we have a place by the time they arrive here we can get it delivered to our own home we’re hoping, but at the moment the address they have is my parent’s one.

As for work… still haven’t heard from the two jobs I have applied for at the University and nothing else of interest has come up yet. I’m going to do some cold calling/emailing though, well maybe not completely cold, but just to let them know I’m available in case they would need anyone.