Spring pictures.

Gratitude

The other day, I came across this short clip of a talk by Elder Henry B. Eyring, one of the apostles of our church. It really touched me. If I look carefully at my life, I don't think one single day has gone by where I can't see the hand of God reaching out to me or to one of my loved ones. Not just in the big things in life, but in the little things as well. Often I can see the hand of God reaching out through a friend or family member. Someone who knows me and my needs or simply feels inspired to reach out a helping hand. I have learnt that when I stop and think about ways in which I have seen God's hand in my life, I am able to more fully appreciate His presence and His love for me. If there is one thing I want my children to learn, it is this.

Maundy Thursday

In Sweden, Maundy Thursday is a fun day for the kids. They dress up as witches, chimney sweeps, or easter men and go around knocking on doors. At every door they hand over an easter card that they themselves have drawn, and in return they get candy for their easter eggs. Although I can't remember my candy ever getting as far as the actual egg...

This year, in lack of better outfits, the boys dressed up as cowboy easter men. It's all about being flexible, right?



Here's a picture of the gang, before they went knocking on doors.

They looked so cute!

The first door. They were all very excited.



This is the candy they collected. They even got a carrot. What amazed me the most was not the fact that they got a carrot instead of candy, but that they were excited about it!

A few days later, Egon walked up to a house in our neighbourhood and rang the doorbell. He kept saying "jinga dodis", "ring candy"... The poor child! How was he supposed to know that you can't do it every day?

Sunny saturday

I have gotten a little bit behind in my blogging. This is from the first saturday of April, when my mom and Folke came for a visit. Jens was away in Salt Lake City for a mission reunion and General Conference, so it was just me and the kids. It was one of the warmest days of spring so far so we decided to go to Tyresta village for ice-cream!

It was the first out-door ice-cream of the year, so it was a big deal for the kids. They savoured every bite.


After having finished the ice-creams we went and looked at some animals on the farm.

Egon kept calling everything "doggy" or "vovve" in Swedish. This little "doggy" was a hen...


This poor rabbit was fed by my charitable children. The sign that said: "Do not feed the animals" did not receive very much attention, I'm afraid. I think it was ok though. It didn't really eat much. Dry sticks didn't seem to be its' favourite dish.


I like this picture of Lovisa. She looks so determined and confident - Lovisa in a nutshell!

Before we headed home, the older kids just had to climb the big "mountain". Here they are, all three of them, after reaching the summit..!

In the meantime, Egon sat in his stroller. Not too excited about it. I guess he wanted to climb the mountain too. Here's my mom and Folke. We really had a great day!

Playing house

Today Lovisa wanted me to play house with her and Egon. I got to be the mom, Lovisa the daughter and Egon the little brother... I asked her what she wanted me to do as the mom and she said: "Well... clean, cook, wash the clothes... You know what to do!" What an exciting life I must be leading in the eyes of my little girl!

Birthday tulips

Tulips are my favourite flowers. Especially red ones. These were from Jens on my birthday.

Dressing up

Egon loves to dress up. If nothing else he always walks around the house in someone else's shoes, rubber boots or - his favourite - Lovisa's black shiny Sunday shoes. When he's wearing those, he walks with tiny steps and puts his feet down really hard - almost as if he is tap dancing. He loves the noise they make...


He wanted to wear Lovisa's princess dress one day. I could hardly get him to take it off when it was time to go to school to pick up the rest of the kids! He kept saying: "tool tlännin", "cool dress" in his baby Swedish.


A couple of days ago he walked into the kitchen looking like this! He had found one of the old play wigs. About ten seconds after this picture was taken, Lovisa pulled it off, and he started to cry!

Baking Buddies

Just thought I'd post a few pictures of Lovisa and Egon baking raisin rolls. I have no picture of the end result. But the fun part is making them, right?

Lovisa's cute toothless grin! She loves her lady bug-apron.

She is such a good baker. She even knows how to make the rolls round.

Egon is having a moment here. He is so happy to help!

He loves to bake and he really gets into it.

Egon made this one. One day his rolls will be round too...

The national Semla-day

Tuesday, February 23, we celebrated Fat-Tuesday here in Sweden. It is our word for Shrove Tuesday, the day preceding the first day of lent. The only reason Swedes remember Fat-Tuesday nowadays, however, is because this is the day when we eat "Semlas". A Semla is a sweet bun spiced with cardamom and filled with almond paste and whipped cream. Of course, some people start eating Semlas after Christmas and eat them well into March.

We decided to have them for Lovisas family birthday party last monday. We thought it would be easy enough for her to eat, and it was after all the day before Semla-Day!


Lovisa couldn't wait until her princess party to dress up as a princess...


Egon is enjoying his Semla!

In loving memory of two front teeth

The day after Lovisa's 4th birthday, she went to playschool. She usually doesn't go Fridays, but she really wanted to bring a cake to playschool to celebrate her birthday. At about 9.30, one of her teachers called and told me that Lovisa had had an accident and hit her mouth. They said that she had a fat lip and that they couldn't really tell whether or not she had hit her teeth. I called the dentist and they said that we could come, but that we didn't need to get there right away. So after talking to Lovisa, who by that time was happy again and really wanted to stay and have her cake, I decided to take her to the dentist and have her teeth checked out in the afternoon instead.

When I came to pick her up, I immediately noticed that her two front teeth were pushed in. I hurried to the dentist, crying, feeling so guilty for not having taken her immediately. The poor thing! The dentist tried to comfort me, saying that they see these things all the time, and that they usually don't have to do anything about it. She told me that they were going to do an x-ray of her teeth and that we would probably be able to go home and wait for a few days, to see how the teeth would react. But as they tried to get her to bite down on the exray thing, they realized that she couldn't get her bottom jaw behind the front teeth. That's how far they were pushed in. The dentist then consulted a collegue who determined that there was nothing they could do. The teeth had to go.

I had to go behind the chair so that Lovisa couldn't see me cry. I asked if it would have made any difference if I had brought her in sooner, but she told me that it absolutely wouldn't. That comforted me a little bit.

Lovisa got some kind of medicin that made her really tired. They said that it would help her forget the pain and discomfort of having the teeth pulled out. After that they numbed her gums and then pulled the teeth out. Just like that. I had to sit and hold her hand and smile and tell her what a brave girl she was being while all along I was having to try really hard not to burst into tears again. It was so awful to see her scream and cry like that.

She got to keep the teeth in a red little container. She was so proud of them. Then she got to pick out a toy from the box. She picked out three rings. I told her how proud I was of her and how big she looked now that she had lost her front teeth.

As it turns out, Lovisa has handled the whole thing extremely well. The only thing that upset her was that we had to postpone her princess party two weeks, until she can eat normal food again. But this Saturday the two weeks are up and she is finally having the party!

I, on the other hand, was pretty traumatized by it and have really been grieving those pretty front teeth. It may seem silly, since they were baby teeth but the thing is that Lovisa got her teeth really late, at 18 months, so she only got to have them for 2½ years and will probably be without for a few years. Good thing she looks just as cute without them! Like a lion cub, is what we tell her.

Before...

...and after.