Louise, Sandra & Simon playdate :-)

Most of Friday was spent with Louise and her two kids Sandra & Simon. Louise and I went to school together from Grad 1-9, and have the same great grandma hence related :)
I usually see Louise when back in Skärhamn but last time the kids saw eachother was at Matilde's baptism, and quite a lot has happened with her since then... :-)

Hannah simply adored Sandra (7 yrs old) and did everything she did. She was next to crying when we were to go home, and nice Louise saved a meltdown by coming with us and the kids got to play for another hour, and more coffee for the mummies!

If asking my kids re highlights of the day: definitely Sandra's make-up kit!! Matilde covered her face in lipgloss and her eyes were shining while doing it :-)

Helena, Agnes & Elise playdate :-)

My dear friend Helena came all the way from Stockholm with her two girls Agnes (21 mo) & Elise (6 wks) to Gothenburg this week - what a great timing for us to see eachother!! The girls and I went on a small road trip to Älvängen to spend a day with them. Was of course very nice to see Helena again and to get to know her small princesses - and to introduce the four small girls to one another.
Helena's parents lives out on the country side, hence we got to see hourses, rabits, tractors, dogs... wow, were the girls excited :)

Cousins-in-Malmö-weekend!!!

Visiting the cousins in Malmö over the weekend was definitely an highlight of our Sweden vacation - thanks dad & Agneta for the suggestion and invitation to join you!! It was a very active weekend with 4 girls under the age of 6, but every get-together is getting less and less chaotic, and so also this...

As my dear sister so truely correctly concluded it: "I love when you guys come to visit, and I also love when you leave...!" Might be good we will have a 'cousin-break' until July in the Danish summerhouse ;-)

Dad & Agneta were smart enough staying at a hotel in Malmö, instead of with all the grandkids...hm... Before we let them enjoy the peace and quiet at Hilton Triangeln, we had Mexican food. Plan was to have Chinese but when we all entered the restaurang of choice, they proclaimed it was full...strange as it was 5.30pm... :-)

Efficient night-time bath...

Saturday activity no. 1 - swimming in an indoor pool... would have gone very smooth if it wasn't for the pool being closed to the public and we had to go to another pool further away... The kids were still happy and hence the result was a success!

Activity no. 2 was supposed to be BBQ outside, which was quickly turned into an indoor version as we were starving and had no intention eating with hats and mittens and crying kids due to cold weather around...! A trip to the playground after BBQ was enough of outdoor activities....

Night-time story for the 3-year olds...

After Sunday's waffle morning, we head to Malmö's library playground and park for some fun, before we have to drive back to Gothenburg again... it was a loooooong journey back, felt longer than my flight ex SIN to GOT...

Proud Hannah got to take the bus with Auntie Johanna and big cousin Minja :-)

Good Night :-)

Sharing bedroom with sleeping Matilde at grandma's in Skärhamn calls for headphones but the googles?!? Have no idea where that came from!! :-)

Waffle Day

Today, March 25th, is the Swedish Waffle Day - and indeed, Johanna & I started the day with baking loads of waffles, to our 4 girls excitement :-)

Visiting cousin Vilgot

Linnea, Karin and I grew up together and we always see eachother when I'm back on Tjörn. This time, we met at Linnea's place, and both of the ladies are pregnant!!

Vilgot and my girls played really well together, which of course was nice for us adults as we had a chance to sit and talk without running after screeming kids :-)

Sweden :-)

After booking tickets to Sweden 5 days ago, we finally reached the destination after quite an easy journey. Was almost surprised that we had no real meltdowns, the kids slept when they were supposed to, and no issues getting between the various gates.

Spent Sunday with my dad and stepmom, and we went for a walk/picnic to the kids excitement. We thought they would find it to cold or claustrophobic in all winter clothes but especially Hannah was thrilled running around, and especially when she found some dirty puddles to jump in...!

Happy B-day Mogens...

...and off to the airport for me and the girls :-)

Managed to squeezed in a B-day celebration with good friends in Holland Village before heading off for a 16 days of no-sleep-'vacation' in Sweden... I have promised myself not to complain when fighting with jetlagged kids at 3am in the morning... I wonder if I'll keep that promise... Can't wait to see Skarhamn, family and hopefully some friends! :-)

Rainclothes...

I have started to pack for our trip to Sweden tomorrow and have borrowed rain pants to the girls. Wow were those a success - as soon as the girls saw them, they have wanted to wear them. It gets rather warm wearing rain clothes in Singapore but as long as you're naked under, it works :-)

Katong Park playdate

Every Thursday afternoon, kids from the neighborhood meet up in Katong Park to play. Mostly, it is with their helpers so they also get a chance to socialize. Nady (our helper) took some pics of today's session, which I guess will continue once I'm back to work....

New JOB :-)

After 11 months on 'sabbatical leave' (love the definition!!) I today signed a contract with Schenker for a position as Director of Fashion Retail - Key Account Management. I'm of course over the moon for the job and can't wait to get back to business again!!

That said, I have had a great time during my time off with loads of quality time with my girls (sometimes a little too much time.. :-) Spent over 2 months of summer holiday in the summer house last summer, which was invaluable. Had plently of time to settle into our new home and country Singapore, meet wonderful new friends, which I hope I can still hang with even though I start working! It has been great to try out the 'expat wife' life for almost a year, which is of course fun if you enjoy beauty treatments / coffee latte dates / play groups / shopping / playdates / you name it. I DO enjoy all of those things, will miss certain things more than others, but need a better balance of work/fun/kids and thereof the decision of going back to work.

I will start working April 16th and will before that take two weeks holiday together with Hannah & Matilde in Skarhamn, Sweden starting this Sun, 18th of March :-) If anyone is around for the two last weeks of March, let me know!

Rice pudding...

My mum and I made old school rice pudding and were all excited about the dessert - and none of the guests (a.k.a. the girls and our hubbies) enjoyed it, what a disappointment!! The whipped cream and jam were a hit though, go figure.....

Grandma is 'reading stories' from Matilde's plate mat with loads of animals, and Hannah drawing a painting to the cousins, while proudly wearing her medal from the past weekend's competition in 40 m sprint.... :-)

Roxette

Roxette has been in Singapore and Morten & I joined the rather Swedish/Scandinavian dominated crowd at Singapore Indoor Stadium. I had won tickets from the Swedish Embassy and the seats were really good. The concert was great, surprised I still remember all those hits :-)

BALI

Bali for a long weekend, sounds like a perfect spot to go to, huh :-)

Well, it could have been if it wasn't for me forgetting my wallet with our Singapore ID cards at home, having to spend an extra 30 min at immigration getting out of the country.... followed by 1 hr at an immigration office getting into Bali and Indonesia, and on top of that with a lighter wallet having to bribe the immigration office to let our girls into the country.... 'jabadabadooo'... Note to myself (and others!) - ensure all passports are valid for at least 6 months upon arrival to Bali... Considering Danish passports for kids are only valid for 2 yrs, you have to renew such quite frequently, and I am hence off to the Swedish Embassy Monday to get them new passports, as such are valid for 5 yrs....!

Thank Godness we were very pleased with our hotel and company once arrived! Didn't even matter we had brought the rain with us from Singapore for 30% of the trip, and that the 'spa' we choose was a complete joke, we had a great trip and enjoyed quality family time together :-)

Full-day with uncle Andreas & Cecilia

Started the day at the Zoo, where I got to participate in the Splash Show, threwing a frisbee to a sea-lion :-)

Instead of the rather dull Zoo food, we went for lunch at the East Coast seafood center, picking Hannah up from school on the way. Might not have been the smartest thing picking up a tired child from school taking her out for lunch but oh well, it was worth a try.... :-) 

Swedish-Norwegian Championship!!!

The Norwegian/Swedish Seamen church have arranged their yearly championship, where we compete in running (10m, 40m, 60m, 3000m) football & long jump. It was a great day with lots of people, excited races/games, hot dogs/cinnamon buns/waffles, SUN (maybe a little too hot for everyone's sanity...) - and all kids got a medal to proudly bring home.

Morten participated in the football game, Matilde & Hannah ran 10m resp 40 m (not too excited about this but very excited about the medals afterwards ;-) and I played fotball, ran 3000 m and was one of two speakers of the day - wow, did I talk a lot :-)

Who won this year....hm....well, Sweden won last year....alright, NORWAY won but next year, we will do everything in our power to beat them badly ;-)

Nail polish....

Nail polish is currently a BIG thing among the Kalle ladies - and today, Morten gave Matilde a mani/pedicure.....

And uncle Andreas one for Hannah :-)

The best baby-sitters :-)

I'm of for an interview and the girls are being watched by uncle Andreas & Cecilia, wonderful!! :-)

Chocolate for dinner....!?!

Girls night out.... Drinks? Dinner? Dancing? Nah - let's go all in for CHOCOLATE!!! :-)

Thanks ladies for an excellent evening!!