Tis the Season

I  love Christmasy time, don't you? We got all the decorations up the 2nd last weekend of November and have been enjoying bright lights and relaxing by the glow of the fake tree ever since. We've been to and had our share of parties and though I swore we were "done" until 2012, I managed to invite the neighbours over for some holiday cheer this Wednesday night. Well the families of the three little kiddies the little man enjoys playing with.

We will not be "home" for Christmas this year but I'm ok with it. After a month spent in Canada this summer, I'm still running on family steam and am just as happy to relax cozily here in our home away from home, Sweden. We'll spend Christmas Eve (which is the day they really celebrate here) with our Swedish "family" and then feast on our turkey Christmas Day.

Temps have been unseasonably mild the past few months with only two baby snowfalls. A request to Santa via Facebook status to please send us some snow for Christmas was met with snowfall #2, thanks Santa. And with sticky snow, my uber creative husband gets his hands wet. And voila! Most people build snowmen, hubby creates snowangels :-).

Hope you're all enjoying the very best of the season: family, friends and food!

xo

Two weeks with Mary Poppins!

I've been silent over the past 2 weeks and for good reason:

On October 23rd, a special reunion took place between these two:

For two weeks, we all enjoyed her company, her love. She was Joseph's Nanny for the first two and a half years of his life in Montenegro. We were blessed. We are blessed. She celebrated my 35th with us.

She saw and experienced Sweden for the first time, and some Canadian traditions too!

We hosted a Halloween party here for little man's class..16 kids! Couldn't have done it without her.

There's a lot I couldn't have done without her.

Or my darling husband for that matter: Master Pumpkin Carver and Costume Maker.

From Uppsala to Stockholm to parties and The Butterfly House, we couldn't have asked for a more fun-filled 2 weeks with our dear Tanja.

Whether on-the-go or relaxing, she was what we all needed...a good dose of family.

And today we didn't say Goodbye, we said, "See you soon." Thank you Tanja for two wonderful weeks. xo

Joy Pockets in October

Glad to be participating in Joy Pockets this week. Want to share your joy pockets? Head on over to Mon at Holistic Mama and join in the fun. We all need to find the joy in our lives, no matter how cleverly hidden at times.

Here are mine this week:

A little boy learning to read by sounding out the sounds

A diminishing cough (taken directly from Mon's pockets but also my Joy Pocket)

Montessori

2 more sleeps until this:

Grateful to have the power and desire to give someone the warmth and love they deserve.

Red leaves and crisp air

Share with me your Joy Pockets
Jenn xo

Snuffle...Sniffle...Hi!

MIA due to combo of insanely busy with work and nastily ill with a dreaded head, chest cold. In between, been planning a Halloween party for the little guy's class (that kind of crazy must the result of this nasty cold), the arrival in 1 week of our dearest Tanja from Serbia and my 35th Birthday Party! Plus decorating for Halloween and wishing my niece Audrey a Happy 1st Birthday. She's awesome. Suck a beautiful little girl. Bro's stingy with the pics but generous lately with video. So here's one of Baby Girl eating peas for Thanksgiving Dinner (Canadian Thanksgiving, was last week). And a few pics of us enjoying our meal for 3 here at the house. Did I mention that our turkey kicked some serious butt this year? Hubby said it was the best he's ever had and he never enjoyed white meat until this meal. SCORE!

So there's a little recap of what's been goin' on here. Now excuse me now while I go blow my nose and collect my kid from the neighbours. Have a fab week readers (all 5 of you!) xo

And the little Birthday Girl!

Joy Pockets again

Glad to be participating in Joy Pockets this week. Want to share your joy pockets? Head on over to Mon at Holistic Mama and join in the fun. We all need to find the joy in our lives, no matter how cleverly hidden at times.

Belly laughs shared over creme brulee with two special ladies.

Having my cappuccino unknowingly spiked with salt.

Enjoying the travels of friends.

Some long overdue Daddy & Little Man time involving a waterslide, with no Mommy in sight.

Working so hard my eyes close in sweet defeat, mere moments after my head hits the pillow.

Canadian Thanksgiving!

Finding the box of Halloween decorations.

Have a great week! xo

Baby Blues

So we're sitting in McDonald's the other day...yes, we do go to the Evil Empire on occasion and make up for it during the week by my recent, step-by-step transition to organic and local foods (more on that in another post). Had to at least attempt to justify McDonald's ;-).

And Little Man, with his Happy Meal, is sitting directly across from a whispy blonde-haired baby boy, about 5 months old I'd say. And a cutie.

Little Man, assuming a very serious tone, states, loud enough for the parents of said cherub to hear: "Mommy, David (little boy the same age in his class) HATES babies."

Aghast and immediately on damage control, "Why does David hate babies?"

And to kick me when I'm down, the loud confession follows, "Actually, David AND I hate babies."

Snickering ensues from Mommy of the baby victim.

And words start pouring from my mouth simultaneously trying to figure out and quell the Baby Hate.

Mortified I am.

Turns out the "babies" (about 2 years old) at his school "chase us and we don't like it."

It was embarrassing and funny at the same time. But the other Mommy got it and so did I. He's newly five, at the age where he's questioning almost everything and sorting out his feelings on nearly everything. Hubby and I tried to explain that Little Man was once a baby and that babies don't know how to play with big boys but they want to and that's why they're chasing you around the park. etc. etc.

The next night at a party for a friend's older son, two babies (2 and 2.5) were present. And Little Man had a ball with them. About halfway through the evening, I found our Little Man in a corner crying. "The big kids are angry at me." My little baby was interrupting a video game session.

Sometimes you're the baby and sometimes you're the big boy.

Back to McDonald's. I was sitting directly across from Little Man (and right beside the Baby). "Mommy, why are you sitting THERE?"
"So I can see your gorgeous face."
Quite matter-of-factly he replies, "But you can see my gorgeous face if you sit beside me too."
You win.
I smiled, supressed a belly laugh and moved my hamburger and baby carrots to the empty seat next to my Baby/Boy.

Yay for small parenting victories

Today we went to gympa. One of the local gyms has a Parent/Child class that we used to frequent last year. 1/2 hour of "exercises" with the kid and then the parents leave for half an hour or so to exercise themselves. The latter part is newish as before, you could stay and watch the kids. We started going on the recommendation of a few parents at the little man's school.

Today, none of his classmates were in attendance and Little Man was pretty upset about it. I proceeded to hop around by myself with a sullen faced son looking on, complaining and saying he wanted to go home. My initial reaction would have been to storm out of there, child in town, stewing and slightly angered. I stayed calm long enough to assess that a little distraction, some joking around and a huge smile could be enough turn him around. Ten minutes later and victory. He even asked me to leave once the parent part was over. I obliged, grabbed some fruit and spied from above.

The whole scenario may not seem like a big deal, but for me, it was. See this post for background. If I had truly believed we would have been better off leaving, I have faith that I would have been able to do it in a constructive way. In taking a step back and taking a few deep breaths, I was able to resist my knee-jerk reaction and try something new.

I'm proud of myself. One day at a time.

My little monkey swingin' on the rings