Linnea's Birthday - Blowing bubbles, Hello Kitty and Scootering

What a great 4th birthday for Linnea! In the morning, we had pink pancakes made by our expert Swedish pancake chef, Matthew. Then after breakfast she received her first gift and most wanted gift, a pink Hello Kitty scooter and she's been scooting ever since! She also got a great Hello Kitty t-shirt from dad. Linnea is very much into Hello Kitty, it's really big here and Matthew thinks it's kind of like an evil empire, hence the t-shirt below. It was designed by one of his classmates from Swedish class.



Before our guests arrived the girls took a pre-party bath and Linnea taught Sonja how to put her face in the water blow bubbles in the tub. It is very cute and we've got it on video, but I think it is too big to post here.

Here's Linnea taking a much needed nap in the back yard before guests arrived.



Sonja was very helpful with the decorating and cleaning. This is a room separate from our house that is just perfect for parties in the summer. We lucked out again and had great weather for her birthday.




Scootering



Opening gifts from friends, which included a Hello Kitty cell phone, camera, t-shirt, hair accessories and purse along with a bubble making kit.



The pink strawberry cake specially decorated by Linnea.



Celebrating



Sonja dissatisfied with her birthday hat.



Pin the bow on Hello Kitty.



When it was the adults turn, Linnea was in charge of spinning. And the game got increasingly more difficult as the poster was moved to different locations as the poor person was being spun about 20 times. Of course for everyone else, it was wildly funny.



All the friends have left and it's time for PJs. Notice the tattoo on the tummy!



Linnea showing off her gifts.



She requested a picture of herself in this pose. Don't ask me why.



Well, in less than 2 days now we are off to Germany where we are bound to have some adventures. Wish us luck!

Rape Flowers in Bloom

After dinner last night I took a walk in the countryside that surrounds us. I really wanted to get some pictures of the flowering rape flowers. They are absolutely amazing, it looks like an ocean of yellow. The pictures came out pretty good, but they really don't do it justice. The rape flower is a very popular crop in the region so we see the "yellow seas" everywhere. I guess the flower is very easy to grow and grows so fast that they actually harvest it twice a season. The seed is then made into rapeseed oil that I've noticed a lot of in the grocery stores.

So here are the pictures. Enjoy!

How Time Flies!

Linnea's birthday is on Friday, the 15th of May (in the Jungle of Nool and the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool...). We can't believe she is going to be 4. She has been acting older and more mature these days. She likes to "mother" Sonja and really likes all of our baby friends. Many people have commented on how good she is with younger children and I have to agree, she is a great "big sister". We are having a BBQ birthday party for her on Friday that she is very excited about. We'll definitely have photos to post of the party.

I've been having so much fun being home with the girls. We've got a good numbers of friends that we get together with regularly and I often take the girls to the park/shopping/etc. We have been very active lately, something going on most days of the week!

It is hard to write about the relationship Matthew and I see developing between the girls. They get along so well and love each others company. One afternoon Matthew took Linnea out to run errands and I was home with Sonja. Well, Sonja just crabbed and crabbed until Linnea came home for her to play with. As I mentioned before, Linnea acts as a little mother to her sister and often offers to watch her and take care of her. All very sweet. They are still a couple of goof-balls though. The following pictures are proof!

Playing at the park




It's never to early to learn how to help out around the house





GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling) girls in training


Enjoying the sunshine



The Wednesday after Linnea's birthday we leave for Germany for 6 days. When we return Linnea begins school (Dagies) and my mom comes into town for 2 weeks. Then after that we only have a few days until we are off touring Sweden for the summer. I can't believe it's that time already. How exciting!

Beautiful Weather

The weather here is Southern Sweden has been absolutely beautiful. We've had day after day of sunshine and warm temperatures. Today is the first day in a least two weeks that it looks like to could rain. With all the nice weather and the increasingly longer days we've been making the most out of it and spending many hours outside. I've taken the girls on several outings to the city park and we've done some more exploring around Skåne, the region of Sweden in which we live.










Sonja is 14 months today. She seems like a little girl now, but it still very much my baby. She is also quite the little comedian, always trying to get a laugh out of her sister. She loves to dance and mimic whatever Linnea might be up to. Linnea will be 4 in just 12 days and it's hard to believe. She is a lot older acting and it using more advanced words in English as well as learning quite a bit of Swedish. She has 3 little friends that we have over for play dates.






Matthew and the girls have started a garden and Matthew has hung up a swing that has been very popular with Linnea.






We've also visited the beach that is just a 20 minute bike ride from our house. Surprisingly to us, the water was warm!




Currently, we are attending 2 churches. Most often we go to Swedish church and that is where we've made several friendships with other families. Once or twice a month we also go to the International Church of Lund, which is in English. This church is fairly informal and short. It is nice to have the change of pace and to meet other foreigners.

Some really exciting news is that we are getting some visitors! My mom is coming to visit for 2 weeks at the end of this month and I couldn't be more excited. And then Wayne and Ellyn are coming to visit in July for 3 weeks and will be doing some exploring with us of northern Norway and Sweden. We can't wait for that either. It is going to be a very exciting summer! Yay!