Grattis Anna!

It's hard to believe that 2 years ago today, we were cradling our new born little girl in our arms. At this very minute, she was 37 minutes old. I remember looking at her wrinkled little feet, and her chubby little face and just being awestruck that she was ours. And I remember the feeling of how fragile she seemed. 2 years later and she's a super cute and tough little girl with a strong will and a sense of humour. And I am still awestruck that she is ours.

We started the day with breakfast in bed and some gifts from Patrik and I.


One of her presents was this little purse filled with little animals and other small toys. With every one that she pulled out, we got this face...


and imagine her joy when out of the bag she pulls Caillou! He is the main character in some her favourite books.


Later, she had a birthday party with all of her Canadian cousins, some of her daycare buddies, and a few other friends.






There were two birthday cakes, a rich chocolatey one for the kids, and a Swedish kalas tårta for the parents. Anna quite enjoyed hers...



Anna was spoiled with lots of presents, including a tea set which Uncle Tim can confirm makes very very good tea.



The hit of the party was the bouncy castle that we borrowed from some friends. With 5 boys over 3, I don't know what we would have done with all of their energy without it! Of course, the girls enjoyed it too...


This was the scene at the end of the party.



A great day had by all, Anna most of all. She fell into a deep and very happy sleep at the end of the party. When she woke up, she had herself another little party on the couch with her friends apa, baby, Woody, Zoey,Bert and Elmo.


There was just one thing missing, and that was farmor, farfar, faster Malin, Daniel, Hugo, Viggo, and Frans. We missed you all very much today.

Happy Birthday Marcus!

Yes, that's right - another birthday! September is a busy month for birthdays in our family, and this past weekend was a prime example. And although Marcus gave up most of the limelight on Sunday to his son, in the evening we were able to celebrate him a little bit.


Mom and dad took care of all 5 grandkids for a couple of hours (brave of them!), and we three siblings and our loves headed out to dinner at the Dinghy Dock Pub.


As usual, the goofiest two of our sibling set of three couldn't resist getting up to some of their old tricks...


It was such a nice night, and a rare occasion to get to meet without the kids. We probably crammed about a years worth of conversation into a couple of hours in the absence of little voices demanding our attention.

On the way home to Nanaimo, Isabelle was entranced by the wake of the boat, and it was hard to see where her big brown eyes ended and the sea began.

Happy Birthday Lukas!

On Sunday morning, we hopped onto the ferry (the big boat, to Anna) and then onto dad's boat (Momo's boat, to Anna), and ended up at Lukas' birthday party on Protection Island.

There was a birthday cake...


and birthday wishes.


And there was a candy hunt for the kids, who patiently waited for Marcus' instructions before heading out across the field to hunt for all the candy they could find.



But, to even out the odds for the little ones, they all had to wait patiently at the end while the candy was dealt out equally.


And then it was down to the beach to enjoy their bounty!


There were water fights,


and cuddles with the littlest among us.



And there were plenty of presents for the kids to play with, including this policeman's uniform which allowed Lukas to keep the peace.




Happy birthday Lukas! So glad we could spend it with you...

Appy Bertay Do Mamma

What a fantastic day I had on Saturday. I was gifted a small sleep-in, which was followed by breakfast in bed, the appy bertay song, and hugs and kisses from my two main peops. Then we headed out for a bike ride and picnic lunch in the park on what was probably one of the last warm summer days of the season.



We spent the afternoon puttering around the yard, with Anna spending some quality time with her new friend that we talked about in an earlier post.


In the evening, we hosted a barbecue for a few friends. A lovely way to end a great birthday. Thanks everyone!