Annandagen

Idag är det min födelsedag och så är jag sjuk. Det började igår eftermiddag med frossningar och ömhet i kroppen. Jag vaknade vid 5-tiden imorse och bara skakade och skallrade tänder, brrr. Har haft mer frossningar idag och tog en lång tupplur på eftermiddan, vaknade sen alldeles svettig för jag hade två tröjor och tre täcken på mig. Jag har inte fått några presenter idag, inte ens en tårta. Men Javari hade ritat en teckning till mig iallafall. I teckningen så ger han mig en tårta. Sött, men en riktig tårta hade också varit trevligt. Både Hakeem och Javari hade ritat teckningar till mig igår också och så fick jag en fin julgransprydnad med ett kort på Hakeem som han hade gjort på skolan. Förresten så fick vi pengar av mina föraldrar för nån vecka sen så jag köpte faktiskt ett par grejer till mig själv då. En mysdräkt (jacka och byxor), örhangen och en bok (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo av Stieg Larsson).

Juldagen igår var jättetrevlig. Barnen fick öppna julklappar på förmiddan för en gångs skull. Dom fick en Wii så jag visste att dom skulle vilja spela hela dagen. Det är tur jag har snälla foraldrar som betalade för det. Bästa julklappen någonsin! Ja, det var till mig också såklart. Jag har önskat ett Mario-spel sen jag var liten. Vi hade ingen Nintendo på den tiden men jag brukade spela hos grannen och hos en klasskompis ganska ofta. Med Wii:n kom även Wii Sports och så köpte jag Wii Play eftersom det kom med en extra remote. Jag önskar jag kunde visa barnens reaktion när de öppnade paketet med Wii:n. Det var verkligen oslagbart. Dom skrek och tjoade. :) Som tur var filmade vi med videokameran sa vi kan se det igen. Sen spenderade de resten av dagen med att spela, och alldeles för många timmar idag också. Imorgon sa jag att det blir max tva timmars spelande. Man får motion när man spelar Wii Sports så det är ganska tröttsamt. Hakeem fick ont i armen idag, säkert musklerna.

Huset ser ut som ett bombnedslag ungefär sa imorrn blir det städning ifall jag mår bättre.

Julaftonsfika - lussebullar, pepparkakor och glögg.

Juldagen.

Javari pussar Wii:n. :)

Lillälsklingen.

Ny pyjamas.

Dequan med sin nya leksak.

God Jul!

Nu ar julafton snart over och i Sverige var den over for flera timmar sen. Vi kommer att oppna julklappar imorgon den 25:e pa amerikanskt vis. Pa formiddan for en gangs skull. Har kommer ett litet julkort fran oss:

Tyvarr sa har jag ingen scanner just nu sa jag fick ta kort pa kortet. Darfor ser det lite lustigt ut. Vi fick kortet gratis pa Bass Pro Shop som ar en jattestor "friluftsliv -och sportaffar", eller vad man nu kallar det for, inne pa Silverton Casino (for ca tre veckor sen). Det var Dequans forsta mote med en tomte och han vart inte lite radd stackarn.

Det har fina handavtrycket gjorde Javari pa forskolan.

Toppen pa varan julgran. Jag gillar de svenska halmdekorationerna och hemmagjorda pappershjartan.

Jag bakade saffranskaka ikvall (barnen hjalpte till med kusarna) och vi ska strax ata den. Med lite pepparkakor och glogg forstas. Go'fika! :)

Photo update

Here are some pictures from the past week.

Christmas Party with the playgroup Dec 11

Hakeem

Dequan

A craft I brought - Swedish "smällkaramell."

Javari

Christmas Party with the Swedish playgroup Dec 12

My contribution: "kladdkaka" and "chokladbollar."

Hakeem is quite the playa.

Hug party!

Cookie Decorating Party at Javari's preschool Dec 16

Hubby, Dequan and I visited Javari's preschool for the last day of school before the winter break. They had a cookie decorating party and all the kids looked like reindeers, so cute. The party started with a visit from Santa. Then the kids sang Christmas songs to the parents, followed by cookie decorating.

The kids singing "Jingle Bells." You can barely see Javari until the end.

Dequan is so scared of Santa. :/

Javari decorating cookies.



Christmas parties

My neighbor took a look at my car this morning and it turns out that it was nothing wrong with the brakes. Just the lamp playing a trick on me. Boy, am I happy about that! This afternoon I took the kids to a Christmas party. The turnout was very low but we still had a good time. One of my big pet peeves is when people cancel the same day for a big event, especially a Christmas party, and especially when they don't give you a reason or they give you a dumb excuse, or don't say anything at all. Oh well, I won't be thinking about that anymore. I brought some Swedish chocolate balls (chokladbollar) and eggs with Swedish caviar to the party. It makes me happy when people try caviar from a tube for the first time and like it. We made some crafts too. I'm too tired to upload pictures right now, maybe tomorrow. Tomorrow we're actually going to another Christmas party. This one is for the Swedish playgroup, meaning lots of yummy things to eat. I'm trying to think of what to bake, maybe chocolate balls again.

It's only 9pm but I'm seriously thinking about sleep already. Maybe I'll cuddle up on the couch and watch TV. Night night.

My day

I started the day with a shower and some cleaning. Dequan helped me vacuum clean the kitchen and it was amazing because he did it just like me, the corners and everything (he's 1!!). It actually wasn't much to clean, I've been good at keeping it neat lately. Got a whole lot of organizing to do though. We're drowning in clothes so I gotta purge, purge, purge. It's time to start giving away baby clothes since we're not gonna have any more kids. I should get rid of my fatty clothes too. Apparently you're motivated to get fat again if you keep them? Or something like that. Ok, I wasn't that fat but I have clothes that are 2-3 sizes too big and hopefully they will never fit again! Anyhow, after some cleaning a friend came over with her little son to play with Javari for a while. Dequan missed out because he was napping the whole time. Now it's almost time to eat. Hubby bought some dinners from Fresh & Easy, I hope they taste good.

This weekend we have two Christmas parties to go to. That is if the brakes on my car get fixed in the morning. I hope the neighbor works fast. Does anything beat having a handy man for neighbor? He can't fix anything but a lot...love it. My dad is a "fixer" too. He can fix almost anything. He also loves to tinker with his "toys."

Here are some of his "toys" covered in snow (taken in Sweden).

With that much snow you need two tractors and a truck.

Hahahaha.

Tips for math websites

I feel a whole lot better today but Dequan still has a runny nose. I think Dequan really likes the Christmas tree because he won't leave it alone. I hung most of the ornaments out of his reach but he has been pulling on the glitter and light string and the tree is leaning. Not so pretty anymore. Have I mentioned Dequan's crazy? He even beats the other two in craziness. He's hilarious with his little antics. He doesn't talk yet but he communicates with his whole body and seems to understand everything we say. He does everyhting we tell him to do, so funny. He's got the cutest laugh too. I was tickling him a few minutes ago just to see him laugh.

I have to say Hakeem is doing good in school (2nd grade). He brought home his first trimester progress report today and a diploma that says he's on the A-B honor roll. It makes me so proud. Last year he was on the A roll so let's see if we can't get him back on that for next trimester. I will have him practice math and reading over the winter break. Javari too so he's well prepared for Kindergarten next year. I printed some math sheets last week that we can use. Hakeem has been learning multiplication at home so I printed a multiplication times table worksheet up to number 12 for him. You can find it here if you would like one too. I printed some other worksheets from there as well for learning money, subtraction and more. They don't have to learn everything at school right?



Worksheet from math-aids.com


Here are some more math websites for kids that I like:

• AplusMath
• Math Fact Cafe 
• Coolmath4kids.com

You wish!

It didn't go like I hoped last night. Hakeem woke up crying before I even finished the last post. I ended up laying down in his bed with him and Javari and fell asleep there. Later on Dequan joined us and it got a little crowded in their full size bed. I didn't sleep very good as their bed is a little too firm for me and gives me a back ache. Hakeem was able to go to school today though and he had no pain all day. I'm relieved and I will probably get some good sleep tonight. I think I'm starting to get over my cold too, hooray for that. I took Javari to prechool today and earlier this evening I found a little bit of energy so I vacuum cleaned and then put up the tree, which the kids helped me decorate. Ah, finally that's over with. Putting together a plastic tree with a million unmarked pieces is not my idea of fun.

I had to cancel all my plans for this week except Javari's preschool because the brake light in my car came on yesterday and the car also needs a new battery ASAP. I don't want to take any unnecessary risks so I'm staying put until the brakes are fixed, hopefully tomorrow. Two weeks ago I had to fix the signals and the car has other minor problems as well. Man, I hate cars. I just keep throwing money at it that I'd rather spend on something else, like Christmas gifts for my kids. Speaking of Christmas gifts, I have to share the kids' wish lists. How likely do you think it is that they'll get anything on that list?? Pretty much zero.

I tried to talk some sense to Hakeem earlier tonight about getting a monkey. He really seems to think it's realistic to have a monkey even after I told him they're like babies and can be aggressive. Mmm, kay. And poor Javari has his heart set on a chihuahua. That's not gonna happen right now although I'd really like to have one someday. And speaking of chihuahuas, how cute are these ones!

Aww, tiny!

Sweetie pie.

And believe it or not, but I want a sphynx. Preferably a grey one with blue eyes. Look at this sphynx baby. Don't you just wanna kiss it?

Simple versus outrageous

I'm tired of being sick already! I've been sick since Saturday night. Hopefully I'll feel great when I wake up tomorrow, I can at least wish. I'm sad to say I have not put the (plastic) Chrsitmas tree up yet. I was going to do it today but I had no energy to do anything. Nobody got good sleep last night. Hakeem was awake most of the night with a tooth ache and Dequan had a hard time sleeping because of congestion. Still we had to get up early this morning because the landlord was coming by. I was half dead all day. I picked up some children's motrin for Hakeem because the tylenol was not working at all. It seemed to do the trick so he should be able to go to school tomorrow. I have to take Javari to preschool tomorrow and hopefully after that I'll find some energy to decorate the house. Inside only. A few houses on this street are covered in lights and Santas and reindeers and everyhting else. It's pretty but I wonder what their electric bills look like! In Sweden it's plenty if you hang some lights in one tree in the yard but most people don't even do that. On the other hand we put stars and electric candles in the windows. So cozy.

Decorating Swedish style.

Decorating American style.

Saint Lucia..

I'm sick today. Not fun but at least I have time to write a little post and share some pictures. Friday I took Javari and Dequan to the indoor botanical garden at Bellagio. They weren't quite finished with their holiday display so we couldn't go in the middle part, but we got some ok pictures anyway. Yesterday we went to the Scandinavian Christmas party like we've been doing every year for I don't know how many years now, maybe 5. Hakeem and Javari participated in the Lucia train dressed in long white dresses. They did a really good job. It was Javari's first time and Hakeem's second. After that it was time to eat some Scandinavian goodies. If you would like to learn more about Saint Lucia go to Wikipedia.

Lucia.

Botanical gardens at Bellagio.

Javari with no hair gel, haha.

The small version of the Eiffel Tower.

The Lucia singing in church yesterday.

Lined up for pictures afterwards.

"Stjärngossar" Javari and Hakeem.

Dequan eating a yummy sandwich.

Waiting to fish for a goodie bag in the fish pond.

The things in the tree behind Javari are called "smällkarameller" and they contain candy. I think I will make a tutorial for them soon.

Some of the goodies I found at World Market Friday.

German chocolate Santas from World Market, yum! I ate them all in two days with a little help from the kids. So sick but good. :)

Sleep sitter?

Haha, poor Dequan. He went to sleep a little while ago but he keeps half waking up and when I check on him he's sitting up sleeping. I have never seen that before. :)

Here's a cute picture of Dequan from three days ago:

Javari and Dequan wore matching clothes at Javari's preschool Thanksgiving party:

Hihihi

Brothers

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and hubby went all out and bought a turkey and a ham. I was just gonna buy a few slices of turkey so I thought that was pretty ambitious, haha. I helped cook it though and we made a couple of easy sides. Hubby put some jams topped with marshmallows in the oven. He's the only one in our family who eats that. I can't even bring myself to try it. I put more effort into cooking the Christmas meal. For me it's very important that I uphold Swedish Christmas traditions and I buy all the typical Swedish Christmas food that I can find here. It's all about the food! Ok, family too. Last year I got the tree out like a day or two before Christmas Day. Dequan was born in November so that's my excuse! I promise I'll do better this year, although I hate putting the plastic tree together. It has too many pieces! Not to mention we have a 1-year-old now that will take all the decorations off so we can only decorate the top. That will be awfully pretty.

I did it again

Yep, I raised another crazy one.

Bonjour, Hola, Hej, Hello

The title represents all the languages that Hakeem and Javari were speaking/learning today. They had French class with a couple of other families, and when we came home we continued with Spanish videos and games, and Swedish songs and rhymes. After that the boys wanted to make up their own songs and draw pictures to them (like I did on my Swedish song cards, except I didn't make the songs up). Then they played with their Little People toys, which they haven't played with in a long time. I spent the whole day with the kids, only spent maybe an hour on the computer this morning and didn't get back on until after the kids went to bed. I can't remember the last time I spent this much time with the older ones. It was fun to learn something together. I need to focus on math with them someday too. I showed Hakeem how to do single digit multiplication last week and he got it right away. He hasn't had multiplication at school yet and he's in second grade so I was pretty amazed. I gave him several problems and he figured them out so fast. Way impressive! We used this website to generate lots of problems: http://mathfactcafe.com/ You can specify a range of numbers to include as well as how many problems you want on one page. You can print the page too but we didn't do that.

Yesterday we did a service project with the playgroup. We filled three shoe boxes with toys, hygiene items, candy, books and more for Operation Christmas Child. Tomorrow the kids and I will take the boxes to a nearby church for further distribution to various countries. I hope we can do more service projects like this one since it helps kids to get a sense of community and helping others.

The weather is pretty pissy so we'll be staying indoors a lot now. Perfect excuse to be learning something. I try to make learning fun with music, games, coloring, reading, movement, playing, imagination, etc. Formal learning is for school, at home you can make it informal and just plain fun. It is very important for Javari who is 4 that it is fun. If he has to sit still for a long time and do a lot of writing or answering questions he gets bored quick and just whines. It's also important to avoid testing at this age and to not test the kids at home. I like the Montessori teaching and how they avoid testing and too much instruction. They let the kids figure out a lot of things on their own. I would love to take a Montessori class to learn more, and I wonder if I could find some of the materials they use somewhere? It would be nice to have a couple of things at home.

Sorry, no pictures today but next time for sure. It's time for me to get some sleep. Hopefully the kids are worn out after everything today and wake up late tomorrow. I actually got 9 hours of sleep last night! It was much needed. Bonne nuit, Buenas noches, Godnatt, Good night.

Dequan's Birthday Party

I think I mentioned that Dequan's first birthday was last week. We celebrated it with a little party two days ago. We had planned to do it at the park but it was too windy so last minute we decided to do it at our house. It got a little crazy trying to tidy up before the guests came (I got some help from the first guests), and then it was pretty crowded in our little house with 6 adults and 16 kids! And the clean-up afterwards is always fun...play doh on the kids' bed, water on the floor, candy wrappers all over the kids' room, toys everywhere, leftover cake, dishes, etc. Well, at least nothing broke haha.

I took Dequan for his one year check-up yesterday. He didn't gain much since the last check-up, he weighs 23 lbs putting him in the 65th percentile. He got two shots, didn't like that of course. Today I took him to get his blood drawn as we're still trying to figure out what he's allergic to. His allergy levels were really high a few months ago and the doctor said yesterday that it's possible Dequan is allergic to many things, like pollen, milk, etc. I guess we'll see what the tests reveal soon so I try not to worry about it. Think positive thoughts for him.

Cute comment of the day from Javari: "This morning the baby loved me a lot!" Awww.... :)

And here are pics...

Dequan chilling on the floor the morning of the party.

Posing on the table.

Pizza time!

He took a little nap in the middle of his party.

Playing "red light, green light."

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Dequan...."

See the cake? Home made by me, Swedish style of course.

"This is suspicious."

Checking out the new toys.

Crazy kids. :)

Hakeem wanted to cuddle.

Hubby.

At the Dr's office yesterday.

"He he, I might get in trouble for playing with the Dr's chair."

"This is fun!"

Sorry about the million pictures, it's hard to choose only a few. :)