Bildkavalkad

Har missat att uppdatera på länge men här är lite bilder på en del vi har gjort den senaste månaden iallafall.

Jag, Dequan och Javari besökte ett nytt ställe med inomhuslek för barn 6 år och under. Roligt hade de barnen. Det är lite dyrt tycker jag men vi gick med lekgruppen så då fick vi lite rabatt iallafall. Kinderland heter det.

Dequan provade nästan allt.

Javari hade spring i bena.

Dequan i bollhavet.

Förrförra helgen var vi ner på Strippen (jag och barnen), vilket jag inte är så förtjust i. Det blir så mycket att gå och ibland är det seg trafik på Las Vegas Blvd. Normalt tar det 15-20 minuter till Bellagio Casino, den här dan tog det 1,5 timma pga trafikolyckor, seg trafik och omdirigering till helvetet typ. Man kan bli galen för mindre. Vi parkerade på Bellagio och sen gick vi till Caesar's Palace som ligger "bredvid." Målet var H&M där jag skulle leta kläder till Dequan som skulle fotograferas dagen efter. Vi var hemifrån i hela sex timmar (jag hade räknat med tre så det var rätt så jobbigt).

Mina fina pojkar i Bellagios sommarträdgård.

Ett växthus med stora vackra fjärilar i.

Javari och Hakeem på Caesars.

Världens största H&M, och ja vi hittade kläder.

Dequan och jag tittar på fiskar i stora akvariet.

Stackars Dequan fick en överraskningsdusch i parken i fredags, hahaha.

Han ville ABSOLUT inte göra om det.

Barnen har tagit nya skolbilder och bild hos fotografen i maj så jag ska lägga upp dem snart bara jag får scannern att fungera. Jag har även varit duktig och scrappat lite på sistone så jag kanske scannar in det med.

Hej svejs,

Liza

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.

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.



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

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.

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. :)