Sunday, March 21, 2010

Nickis - Still Fun!


Desperate weather calls for desperate measures - and today was just one of those days. So I loaded up the car with a foursome - A, B & C plus a friend of Annika's (Malla). The kids had a great time running around, and burned off a lot of extra energy. Of course, the boys got wilder than they used to, and I had to stop them from jumping off the bouncy slide... but it was good!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Wock and Woll

Christopher has a new hobby - air guitar, to Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'n Roll". Of course, the only words he knows to the song are just those, forget about "putting another dime in the juke box, baby"... but the song is stuck in his head. Mine, too, after hearing him racing around the house, singing, "I love wock n woll" about a thousand times. I have tried to make it a speech exercise - "Rrrrock and Rrrroll" says Mamma, "Wwwwock and Wwwoll" replies Christopher. No use.

Anyway, he and his friend Marcus performed today for the parents at a special open house. (Actually, the whole class performed - very cute.) He's been practicing - at least as much as one can practice with an air guitar. And he has made his own guitar out of paper and string, complete with skulls and flames. Here he is -

A Man with a Mission

I married a wonderful man - sometimes I get reminded of just how wonderful. Like getting things done. Give David a list, and he is a man with a mission. No obstacles can deter him from checking off the boxes on his list until everything is done and complete. My list is more of a guideline - a nice-to-do but full of things that don't always get done. But if a task makes it to his list, then it will be checked. Period.

A couple of weeks ago, it was haircuts for the boys and football shoes for Benjamin. Check and check, complete with green and blue hairspray. And yes, it meant that he had to brave the mall on Sunday afternoon, but it was done (plus about 5 other things on his list).

The other night, I had a meeting so I left him to cook dinner. We have a new service - Middagsfrid - that delivers groceries and recipies for four dinners on Monday afternoon. Of course, the recipes are in Swedish, but he enlisted Annika and his favorite service - Google translate - and I came home to find him chopping veggies next to his laptop, the rest of dinner simmering happily away on the stove.

Of course, not speaking Swedish (after 10 years) is a bit of a hardship, especially if you're not that observant. Last week he went grocery shopping (check) and came home with chick peas. "Are you in the mood for hummus?" I asked. Nope. He just thought it was corn. And then he bought pasta stuffed with goat cheese and carmelized onions... which was not a big hit with the masses. But he's not shy, and if something unusual is on the list (cornstarch, for example), he will have every woman in the grocery store helping him to translate and find just what he needs. (cornstarch, check).

He's away this week for a whole week... fortunately an unusual occurrence. We will all be happy to see him again next week!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

When He Grows Up...

I asked Benjamin what he wanted to be when he grows up. I was hoping, of course, for a future doctor, teacher, rocket scientist, inventor... but instead... he wants to be a taster for a candy company. Creative idea - I guess somebody has to taste all those batches of sweets as they roll off the production line...

Friday, March 12, 2010

Highlight of the Trip


The Womens' World Cup Downhill was in Crans Montana when we were there for sportlov. Of course, Mother Nature didn't cooperate, and the first day was delayed, then cancelled, due to high winds. Christopher was with his ski teacher in the building at the top of the mountain when he saw someone in Swedish colors. He walked right up to her, "Är du Anja Pärson?" and it was. He said, "I hope you win" and she said "Me, too" - and he got his picture with her (thanks to the ski teacher's phone and MMS technology).