IT'S BECAUSE I WILL HEAR YOU BETTER...

" Upside down, boy you're turning inside out and round and round....." maybe this is the song Doris is being protected from, cause it sticks to your mind.... like glue.....

Found this really cute picture on my sister's facebook page (again.....) of Doris trying out her most exciting christmas gift. I have to better posting pics on facebook or here... but it is that damn computer at home. It refuses to get the internet connection working and the helpdesk is not helping. Anyone who knows of a computer wiz kid out there who wants to make a few bucks to get the crap working???? If so let me know.... I'm probably very good to negotiate price with at the moment - I just want the stuff to work!

COUSIN LOVE

V is soooo happy to hold her little cousin Doris - not quite sure Doris agrees....

Puss på dig!

Day by day I'm catching up and we have now reached the Christmas Holidays....

We celebrated Christmas in two rounds this year. Christmas Eve was spent toghether with M's parents in Gothenburg and Christmas Day we packed the car and headed up to Bengtsfors, which is about a good 2 hrs drive from Gothenburg, to continue the celebrations togheter with my parents and my sister's family.

Vendela loves her baby cousin Doris, and talks about her constantly. But talking is one thing... lending her toys - that's a completely different story:-)

BACK IN TIME.....

One, two, three..... make a wish!

Vendela, M and myself doing what we can to make it come true!

I know I'm totally messing up the chronological order on this blog, but found this great picture(on my sister's facebook page) and if you hadn't already figured it out, it is V's 2nd Birthday which we celebrated @ M's parents place on Lilla Askerön, Orust on July 15 last summer.

How to better do it than with Grandpa Nils' strawberry cake? Well, I don't know......

JULBORD @ Sjömagasinet - Great stuff

V and I in front of on of the many Christmas trees at Sjömagasinet.

Some happy - and completely stuffed girls :-)!

I'm getting complaints I'm not updating as often as I should.... true... sorry..... I just don't seem to be able to make it happen as frequent as I would like. That bloody computer is still not working from home so I'm kind of depending on the pictures I get sent to me from friends and relatives and that I can find on facebook. But one day maybe we'll get it working and I can get back to some serious blogging!

Anyway what I was meaning to talk about was the julbord (Christmas smoergasbord) we had with Magnus' parents, Nils and Tomoko, at Sjömagasinet. Fantastic environment and food. I love the once a year julbord thing, but somehow I never seem to get pass the cold cut and fish section - then I'm completely full! Vendela enjoyed meatballs and sausages and some salmon - but mostly she dug into the chocolate and the other candy available at the dessert table. Heaven for any 2 ½ years old!

DORIS

A lot of stuff has happened during the year of absence and my little sister and Linus got a baby girl. She was born in beginning of May, 2008 and is a true little cutie pie. V is very proud and constantly talks about Doris, Carro and Linus.

So without any further notice, let me introduce Doris, or Dorran to you....

THE BLOG WAS DYING....

To celebrate the return of Capilma's choice, please enjoy the picture of Vendela -

2 years 4 months and 11 days old - here with her buddy Nils.

Friends of Capilmas choice.... if there still are any out there ?!:-) I got inspired getting started again when reading my friend, Charlotte's blog, which she recently started. She has moved to Hanoi, and tells everyday things about hers and her hubbie's life in Vitenam.
Sounds interesting? read more on: http://www.charlieinasia.blogspot.com/





Anyway, my life is totally back into normal routines, it's almost like the 2 years in Canada never happened, but one thing is constant and I guess the focus on this blog still will be Vendela:- ).
The internet connection home still suck, but this might be the carrot I need to get someone to fix it - Man, I feel inspired to write!..... which is surprising as the season and month of November is anything but inspiring!

LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGTHER

Wonderful feature - this makes it even more fun!

Unfortunately the sequence is filmed from the wrong angle so it might be hard to see, but just tilt your head. If anyone know how to get it in the right position, let me know!

BACK IN JULY...

GWB rules! Hope I can make it for Canada Cup, and hope GWB will participate! From left, Linda, Marie, Alie, Jo, myself and Lourdes. Great food, great company!

Miss you lots!

PAIN! My golden high heel shoes are gorgeous looking at, not to walk in....

As it has been so long since I posted stuff on the blog, and I wanted to share some photos with you from my going away party with the girls back in July. We had dinner at this great restaurant, which I unfortunately forgot the name of (if anyone reads this and remembers, please let me know) and after we joined Jo's friend at a private club for some drinks (awful ones, by the way) before heading out to Brant House for some clubbing. There of the look of my feet on the picture above:-)

OK..LET'S GO!

We really miss not having a bath tub, but V has adapted just fine to the shower, and it is possible to splash around in this one too...

Food......hmmmm, yummie!

Taking care of your teeth is important

Ok it's been a while, but here we go again! Let's start you all off with another V bonanza. She has grown and is now a little determined lady, with an increasing vocabulary. Favourite word for the moment beeing is "bajs!" (= poo) and to my great dislike "pappa" (=daddy).

What else - well we are back in normal life, I'm back @work and we are like any other couple with kids, trying balance work & family time. It's hard and we are constantly haunted by a bad consious, spending too little time with V.

....IT'S BEEN A WHILE

.... BUT NOW I'M BACK IN BUSINESS!

Sorry folks for not keeping you posted with what's been happening in Sweden - but the simple explanation is that I've been disconnected from the cyberspace during the last couple of months ( staying at different places, no internet access and no camera (got stolen this summer)....BUT now we've moved back into our apartment, Internet is up & running and we bought a new camera yesterday - so let's BLOG!

HAPPY CANADA DAY

Julia (a friend of Marie's visiting for a couple of days), Marie & Linda.

Funny how the girls always end up in the kitchen and the guys out in the balcony by the BBQ.....

Mr. BBQ in action.

M, V and Brett on the balcony. Brett and V is giving eachother a High Five!

Last Sunday, July 1, it was Canada Day, which is to compare with Swedish National Day or 4th of July. Brett and Linda had invited us over to their place for some BBQ and later on watching the fireworks at Ontario Place from their balcony. A very nice evening which went on til very late. Came home close to 2.30 am! We got started playing our music favouties at YouTube - amazing what you actually can find there.

Tip of the day; if you have not seen the movie Music & Lyrics and Hugh Grant as an 80's Ex-popstar, check out "POP goes my heart". It's on YouTube....

LITTLE MISS JAPANESE

Ordered Japanese Take out from our neighbourhood favourite, SONO, the other day and V is handling the sticks just fine. Well, it takes some practice to be able to eat with them, and one might as well start early.

GARY & DEBBIE VISITING

Börje Salming, the only Swede that has made it into the Hockey Hall of Fame so far....

Gary & Debbie

Splash! V having a great time getting herself and everyone around the CN Tower fontain wet!

V & DAD

A really great picture of V and her father taken outside CN Tower waiting for our visitors Gary & Debbie while they were up in the Tower.

M & V in front of the CN Tower.

During the past weekend we have had our friends Gary & Debbie here visiting. Gary was here only a week and a half ago, but apparently he just can't get enough of Canada:-). They came late Friday night, and on Saturday we did some sightseeing incl. The Beaches and CN Tower. On Sunday we had Brunch downtown before heading to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

BARNSÅNGEN @ RIVERDALE FARM

And another Bääää....at least if you listen to V:-)

A real life Bäääää

V in the front and back on the bench, resting while their kids go wild among the animals, are from left: Christel, Cia, Lena's oldest daughter (who I don't remember the name of.... shame on me) and Lena, who hosted the fika afterwards in their lovely house in Cabbagetown.

Since Barnsången officially ended on June 14, some of the moms generously offered that we all meet at their home instead, and last Thursday we all headed out for Riverdale Farm with following fika at Lena's house.

Riverdale Farm is a beautiful farm downtown Toronto in a park like surrounding. There you'll find pigs, horses, cows, sheeps, rabbits, ginuea pigs, chickens etc etc. Very fun place to take the children to, and it's for free!

HEJA SVERIGE

V in her hot, red & yellow ride:-) - V is not even a Swedish Citizen yet, but she wears the blue and yellow with pride!

...MORE FOR SALE

Armchair

Black panel curtains .... please observe, the little cutie is not for SALE!:-)

European Glass style Computer desk, desk lamp and office chair

FURNITURES & CURTAINS FOR SALE !

The black panel curtains with hanging devices

The book cases ... not so well organized because of a little someone:-)

The European beige panel curtains with hanging devices

The bed and a side table

With only one more week to go here in Toronto before moving back home to Sweden, there's tons of stuff to take care of. One thing is to sell off some furnitures, and fortunately it seems like our landlord might be interested....Sooooo as I, for some reason, kept getting delivery failures of the pictures via e-mail, I decided to post the stuff for sale on my blog and give Joe the link so he can view it online instead.

So unless, you're in the market for some furnitures I suggest you skip this part:-)

VINE & DINE SAAB EVENT

The end of the about 1,5 km long trail where we ate and drank us more than full..... Saabs, Wine and Food - 3 good things in life:-)

M and V taking a break along the trail.

Every year two Saab Dealers in the Niagara-region sponsor this fine event at Vineland Winery. Restaurants and other Winerys in the region attend and present their merchandises. Very good food, lots of wines (all kinds) and really nice weather made this an amazing event!