WELCOME MR SNOWMAN

... And this is how excited V was when she saw "her" snowman:-)

Mr Snowman in our backyard.

Magnus got creative and did this beautiful Snowman to Vendela today. It wasn't the prefect "kramsnö" but he did a pretty good job anyway!

IN THE SWING!

V screaming of Joy!

The winter is here and today we had a great day outdoors at the Play ground not very far from where we live. V got to test the swings and after a little hestiation she got the hang of it and laughed out loud!

Today we had about -11 degrees and some flurries, but over-all, a pretty nice day! We all dressed up for the occasion with warm clothes, so no harm done:-)

WET N' WILD

This has been a really relaxing weekend with lot of family activities. On Saturday we went to North Toronto Memorial Community Centre to take a dip in the waves. The temperature was great and this was V's first ever swim in a pool. She really enjoyed it and I think this will be one regular weekend activity!

The Community Centre is driven by the City of Toronto and all the activities available (walking/running track, ice skating, gym, badminton etc) seems to be free (or close to free) for Torontonians..... it didn't cost us a cent to go swimming, and even the parking seemed to be partly sponsored by the City, only $0,50/hour- Amazing!

CUTIE

No comments - just a really cute picture!

DO IT IN STYLE

If you have to shuffle snow, you better do it with style; i.e. in your suit and nice leather shoes... and then multitasking talking in your cell!

I'm not quite sure though it's the most efficient way of getting rid of the snow:-)

GROWTH SPURT

Keeping update with the scores and what's happening in the NHL is good knowledge living in Canada as EVERYBODY's talking and discussing hockey.... and then being a Canadian - it's a must!

The little mermaid!

Yesterday V had her 6-months check-up appointment with the Doctor and that meant lenght-/weightcontrol and shots.... the good thing is that now there'll be no shots until she's a year old!

She's following her curve perfectly and now she weighs 6,85 kg and is 68 cm tall. She is still skinny and tall, compared to other babies her age. 75 % are heavier and only 10% are taller! I must admit I thought she'd be heavier now as she has started to eat solids as well....at least it feels like she weighs more:-)

28- WHAT A LOVELY AGE!

Carro 28 years

- Happy Birthday to the best Sister in the world!

In my part of the world is it still January 22nd :-)

V sends big hugs to her favourite Aunt and says that she misses you!

Hope you have had a great day, even if I know most of the celebrating was done yesterday! Your gift will be received upon arrival in Toronto in April!

BLUE MOUNTAIN WEEKEND

GO LEAFS, GO!!!

In the pic is Magnus, V and Chris. V seems more interested in the Hockey game on the TV behind than being a part of the picture.

On Saturday night we were invited to Chris & Ellen Budd for a drink. They own a "cottage" up in Blue Mountain... well to be honest it isn't exactly a cottage.... more like a castle:-) - a georgeous, giant house! Chris and Magnus know each other from work as Chris owns a Saab/Saturn dealership in Oakville.

The Staurday Night Hockey game this time showed Toronto vs. Pittsburgh. The Leafs lost with 1-7..... Hockey is BIG over here. People are fanatics when it comes to hockey and every Saturday night you can watch a regular NHL-game on prime time - don't think that would happen back home, unless it is the Olympics or World championship .

View over a part of the Blue Montain Village, seen from our hotel room.

The night between Saturday and Sunday we were up in the Cottage area, Collingwood/Blue Monutain. Saab/Salomon had an event up there and I finally got to do some snow boarding, I felt like Bambi on ice:-). Blue Montain is a really neat place and apparantley it's owned by the same company that runs Whistler Ski Resort.... too bad though that the slopes aren't at all like Whistler - more like Branäs or Sunne!

SAME OLD SONG....

We 're trying to keep the same routine every night before bedtime which includes a bath, a bottle of Oat "välling" (think the english word for it is cereal) and soon we will introduce a bed time story.... V got a huge pile of books when she was Christened.

She's also trying to learn how to drink from this cup... it will still take a lot a practice to get her to actually understand that it is not something to use to soothe the gums from itching.

Yummie!

V has climbed upwards in the food chain and now she's eating solids for breakfast, lunch, dinner and "välling" right before bedtime. In between she's still snacking on me :-)!

For dinner the other day she had Potato, Broccoli and Cheese Casserole and as dessert Strained Apples/Mango....which is what you see all around her mouth! If V could choose she would eat fruit all the time!

Four generations of beautiful girls!

From the left, my mother, Anne-Christine, in the middle my grandmother, Elly, in her lap; Vendela and on the right, myself.

Vendela is wearing one of my old dresses and it is my Grandmother who made it. The fun thing is that she actually recognized it as she nowdays is suffering from senile dementia and only remembers certain things that happend decades ago. She still recognizes her loved ones, but she can ask me 15 times in 10 minutes: -" And where do you live nowdays... is it still in Trollhättan?"....

We finally also got the chance to visit Cilla, Markus and their "busfrö" Oscar in their gorgeous newbuilt house out in Björlanda. They have the kind of house I hope to get one day....

We also met with Kimmo and Camilla and their son Alexander. He's only 9 months and he can already walk! They call him Mini-Karelin:-).

He really liked V and tried his best to hit on her...literally:-)...even if the picture seems to indicate something else:-)

We had dinner at Adam's and Magdalena´s new house. A beatuiful newly built "funkis" house in Askim. In the picture Adam and their son Hugo (9 months)...

Being home for Christmas = BUSY! Between Christmas and New Year we tried to catch up with as many of our friends as possible and we had some activity every night for a week's time....still I feel there are many we didn't have the chance to meet this time. Well.... this summer I plan on being home for at least 6 weeks so hopefully I can see ALL then!

Of course we had to wear Party hats, and this is how cute V looked in hers.

Sofia and Maria ready to dig into the lobster....

Happy New Year!

There is nothing like newly cooked Swedish Lobster. New Year's Eve is the peak for Lobster sales and you will have to pay quite a lot for this delicate shell fish....but it is totally worth it!

We spent New Year's on Käringön, a small island in the west coast archipelago, with our good friends Henrik & Maria and Andreas & Sofia. This has become a tradition since 2 years now and as always we had a blast!

On Käringön they have a really neat New Year's tradition - just before midnight everybody gathers with torches on the docks and then walk together to the peak overlooking a nearby light house. There one welcomes the New Year with Champange and enjoy the fire works. This year though it was raining cats and dogs, so Palm-Hansson's skipped the torch walk and instead celebrated with Champange in front of the TV, hearing "Ring klocka ring..." with Jan Malmsjö.

-OK, here we go.... get my head wet... please don't mess my hairdo up too bad:-)

V is listening carefully to what Pastor Anders tells her.

Dec 26 - Boxing Day

VENDELA ELLY TOMOMI PALM

Vendela wich will be her given name, Elly after my Grandmother who has been very important to me all throughout my upbringing, Tomomi (which means "Ordinary and Beautiful girl") to remind her of her Japanese genes.

V was Christened in Ärtemarks Church (north of Bengtsfors) on Dec 26. Pastor Anders Evert held this very beautiful ceremony. We were so pleased that so many of our relatives and friends came to attend even if many of them had a good 2,5 hours car ride.

V was so nice and didn't cry once, except for towards the end when she got a bit bored! My sister, Carolina, and her boyfriend, Linus, are now V's God Parents. After the ceremony everybody headed back to my parents house in Bengtsfors for food and drinks. My parents house isn't big, but still we managed to have 40 sitting dinner guests!

Magnus and I would hereby like to take the opportunity to once again thank our Parents: Nils & Tomoko and Anne-Christine & Bengt for the support and all the help with the preparations. Without you we would've never made it!

Thank you!

My sweet cat Jansson, who nowdays is living with my parents in Bengtsfors, inside his Christmas gift. Such a simple idea yet so funny for the cat.....

V unwrapping a gift on her mountain of Christmas presents.

Aunt Carro and V opening one of the MANY Christmas gifts V got this very first Christmas. Funny - the smallest person got the most gifts - and she didn't even understand it was Christmas! The paper and string was just as fun as the content of the gifts:-)

This time Santa wasn't that frightning - but then it was Grandma Anne-Christine:-)....

It's funny but I really thought V would be more reserved to her Grandparents as she's been a bit fuzzy around "strangers" lately, but she totally took on to them. It was almost as she felt they are family!

Dec 24 - Christmas Eve

Magnus' parents also celebrated Christmas Eve in Bengtsfors. In the picture is V and her grandmother Tomoko. It was so nice to have all the loved ones at one place and also it took the bad conscious away for not being in one place or the other

Dec 22 - going home for the Holiday's.

Got lucky and got upgraded from Economy to Business between Toronto and Frankfurt! All thanks to M's SAS's Gold Membership. Welcome drink, better food, personal TV and LOTS of leg space. V even had her own bassinette to sleep in.

Wish every flight was like this one:-)!

V is now a bit spoiled as every flight she's been on she's been travelling Business....

SHAME ON ME!

It's been too long since anything was posted on my blog and I can only blame myself..... and the Holidays (always feel better to have an excuse:-)). Been to Sweden for about three weeks and got back to T.O. last Friday. What you will see on the blog are the best from Christmas, V's Christening, New Year's and Sweden in general!