Done!

Yay, I actually finished the assignment on time...even with time to spare! :)

The weather's just been sooo lovely, proper summer warmth, and I'd sooo much rather do something else but study!

But, I did, and I'm done! Yay for me! *lol*

Yesterday our kiddies got to plant some peas and wild strawberries at the back of our garden. What a mess they made but they loved it! Hopefully it'll start shooting soon so that the little ones can see the progress. Stephen's very much looking forward to getting fresh peas! ;)

Time to pick up our messy pups from dagis!

E.

Human Rights

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."
—Article 1 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Final assignment of this course ( - Development, "Conditions for Life" and Socialisation) is "Human Rights", very interesting! :) Of course Children's Rights are also of great importance but the main "goal" is to learn about the UN Declaration of Human Rights.

Next week we're moving on the "Pedagogical Leadership" (please forgive my botched up straight translations!).

The assignment is due on Thursday afternoon and today I've done...nothing!?!
*shame on me!*
Well...I did colour my hair (chocolate brown!) and do laundry AND apply for my summer courses (Swedish, Religious studies, Psychology)! :) ...but...study...? No, I'm afraid not...! I WILL tomorrow though! Promise! ;)

Now I'm going to get my kiddies ready for bed!

Cooool phone! :)

Still finding new features on the new mobile phone and latest "discovery" is that I can take panorama photos with it... and they turn out quite good too! :) Kinda cool, or at least I think so! ;)

Here's a few I took of the house:

Front of the house,

A & E playing at the apple tree on right.

Front garden

(previous pic was taken from bushes in the middle of pic)

Back garden,

please ignore horrible rusty table in the middle of pic. ;P To the very left in the photo you can see roof of our garage.

E.

Erin's party etc.

On Sunday we had a small get-together for out little missE.
"Erin, how old are you?" "SO!" (or possibly two?) is her reply and the show of 5 little fingers! :) SO cute! :D
The sun was shining but the wind was cold, it didn't stop the kids though who enjoyed themselves outside for a good while. Erin got loads of great presents, the Barbapapa jigsaw was her favourite, I loved the cute (and very wearable!) outfit she got. ;) Thanks everyone! Always very very nice to have family over! :D

Don't know if I've mentioned it but after the whole summertime in and doodies out the kiddies have been sooo difficult to get to sleep! Fussing and fighting almost every night and I've been not the most patient mom either which of course doesn't help things...
BUT after getting Erin back into her own bed the other night she again falls asleep within minutes of putting her head on her pillow, Anton still mutters and talks gibberish for what feels like ages before falling asleep but at least he does it in his own bed! :) Erin's only been out of her bed for less than a week and she was fussing a good while before the cats had their "accident" but whatever...as long as I don't have to fight with them every night anymore. :) MAYBE, hopefully! we can start getting back to "normal" sleeping routines again!! *fingers crossed*

Also! :) Things seem to be improving some with Jaspurr and "the others" as well... Not yet as well as I would like things to be but now things are well enough for him to be able to stay.
Ossie's finally coming out of his shell some AND letting J know when he's gone to far... Charlie's happy to see Oss about a bit more and just seems slightly more settled about J's presence too...even if there never really was that much of a problem between those two.
We still have the issue of the down stairs "territory" to resolve but...we'll see...
Jaspurr really isn't that territorial (is that a word?) of a cat, the other two has just let him have it so...perhaps he can...? Even if having a cat toilet up stairs too is a bit of a pest...it's not the end of the world by any means! :)

E.

"When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight."

- Kahlil Gibran

My new phone! :)

After having the same old mobile phone for years and years and being perfectly happy with it I finally started craving a new "fancy" phone...with a camera! :) I'd like to be able to send and receive MMS and possibly even go online...wooow...! ;) Perhaps it would also be about time that I got a contract rather than just topping the card up with money like a teenager...?? ;) :P

So, a week ago Stephen had organised one for me! xx He knows what I want and what I "need". I'd be lost if I had to pick one myself! He was initially just going to top up my card, again - as per usual, when he too thought that it'd be about time for me to "grow up" in the mobile phone sense of the word... ;)

There was a really good offer on the phone too, so it really doesn't cost us any more than the old but instead I get a new lovely girly phone, with all the desired nicknack's, AND I don't have to worry about if and how much money I've got on my phone whenever I'm making a call. :D

Here "she" is, Sony Ericsson W595 - Peachy Pink:

E.

Pics from Easter weekend

Easter weekend at the "cabin" (more like huge house in the forest!). Project of the weekend is to put up the green house my aunt got for her 50th birthday.

Brilliant weather, good company, good food, beer and sauna... what more can you ask for? :)

Good times!

On the road, stopping for an ice cream break and a leg stretch.

2 more hours to go.

Stephen xxx

The cabin is his haven away from everything,

I even get to take a photo without him making a face! ;)

My beautiful nieces on a fruit break.

My little ones and J.

Green house is already well on its way,
didn't think to take any pics earlier.

The "glass" (plastic) going in + S sealing it all with silicone.

Tadaaa! :) All done! Now we're eagerly awaiting auntie M's home grown vegetables.

E.

Jaspurr

We're having some trouble with Jaspurr... :/

I think we didn't really think things through properly when moving him into our house and introducing our other cats to him. He's huge in comparison with the other two, my sister wondered if we were sure he wasn't half tiger! *lol*

When he first came to us we gave him shelter in the building-site that is to be the kids room, our bedroom (down stairs) and the small hallway in between the rooms. After he'd been checked out by the vet we let him out into the rest of the house and to meet the other cats...in hindsight we should have kept him where he was initially and brought our cats into his space.

Neither one of the Ossie or Charlie have fought overly hard for the down stairs which Jaspurr now is "claiming" as his....problem is...the cats toilet is downstairs! :/ And the fact that the other two don't put their paws down about it means that Jass is turning into a bit of a bully about his "territory"...

I knew Ossie was going to be a bit difficult to begin with, Charlie seems fine with Jaspurr most of the time, will share his food bowl etc. BUT he'll not use the toilet down stairs... He'll go outside or...in the bathroom cupboard! Oss on the other hand has used Erin's bed!! :[ So, little miss is now sharing her bed with her mum and dad because we haven't yet decided if it's worth getting another mattress for the crib she's in or if we should just go ahead and get her a big-girl bed.

The "final" straw was last Thursday, just before we were off to the "cabin" for the weekend...when we had a wet mattress AND a wet patch in the bathroom...AGAIN! We put a toilet for the cats upstairs and put J back into his first "area" in the basement...even when J's not out bullying the others they didn't use the down stairs toilet.

After the weekend, we've kept the cat loo upstairs (in the bath tub, out of kiddies reach) and we've not had any more "accidents"...but...I'm not sure we can keep this up... :/

What can we do to "un-territorise" Jaspurr? What's he going to be like when we all move down stairs into "his" space?? I've been twisting and turning this in my head and I'm not sure we can keep him...but we must find him another home, putting him down is out of the question! He's not to blame...and it's such a shame...'cus he's lovely really...

E.

Work placement.

Things happened so fast last week I just didn't have any time or energy left to blog...

I was out on a 4 day "work placement" at a nursery nearby (not my kiddies one!) with the purpose of observing how the children play and what type of play they use and why and so on and so forth and I'll stop now so you don't fall asleep! ;)

Interesting stuff anyways and the group of kids that were "mine" were excellent at playing. :)Good fun and a good experience for me since I haven't "worked" in a nursery before...having two kids at nursery I sort of know how things are done but it feels good getting a bit of "inside information" on how they work. The staff seemed happy with me and I felt very well taken care of and maybe I'll be back there for the 4 week work placement we have in the autumn...we'll see...not my decision.

On...lets see...was it Tuesday evening...(?) I was KNACKERED...not because of the work placement (that was super easy stuff!) just SO knackered! Kids were fussing and fighting over going to sleep and I was losing my patience... at about 8.20 the kids were still up and I got myself ready for bed and fell asleep, with kiddies on top and beside me about 5 minutes later. Kids fell asleep 2 minutes before me! *lol*

Not having a "plug" to shush them with is proving to be trying on all of us. Anton keeps making these mad noises right up 'til he falls asleep and if he was only to be quiet he'd fall asleep a good half an hour earlier! Erin, poor thing, keeps herself up with crying... :/ Last night she didn't cry but I had to rock her in my arm like a little baby and that's not the easiest thing to do with a two-year-old...

I guess we'll find our routines again soon enough (it's only been a week!) but it's a bit frustrating when we've had ones that worked fine and having to start "all over" again. It WAS our decision to remove the doodies and I'm STILL sure that it was the right time! :) I just have to rant a little! ;)

On Thursday (Maundy Thursday) our kids had their "Easter" party at nursery and they were, as per tradition, dressed up as witches. :) Yes, you read it correctly... witches! *lol* How do I explain this one then to my non-Swedish friends...?

In old Swedish folklore the Thursday before Good Friday is known as the day of the witches. It was believed that the witches would fly to Blåkulla and party with the Devil the night between Thursday and Friday.

Young children often dress up as witches and when I was young we used to go around knocking on doors getting coins or candy...this still happens "nowadays" but I think Halloween is taking over as the main door-knocking-sweets-begging-tradition... A bit of a shame I think...

Here's my two little witches... :) Cute!

Not the greatest pics, taken with my new mobile.

E.

Erin's 2!

Wow...my baby's 2 today!?! I just can't believe it...2?

She's just the curliest, cutest little person I know! :) 98% of the time she's got a smile on her face... She still has the same temperament as when she was a baby - Happy or Furious! Nothing in between will do! ;) *lol*

Giving birth to her was the coolest thing I've ever done! Might sound weird to word birth giving as cool but it was! SO different from the painful, stressful birth I went through with Anton (and I still thought Anton's delivery was OK, still do!).

Erin, 1 day "old".

She is turning into a little chatterbox, just like her brother. :) She's testing her boundaries and will give us a good terrible-two tantrum when she doesn't get her way...

Erin easily feels empathy with others - when watching "Shrek 2" when Fiona sobs after her "fight" with Shrek our little sweet heart burst into tears too...and when hearing about her cousin Elsa falling (on Monday) and loosing her two front teeth E's lip started trembling again... Bless! :)

We're not making a big fuss over her today, she's gotten loads of birthday kisses and her birthday song sung for her but we'll celebrate "properly" next weekend with the rest of the family.

Happy Birthday Erin!

I love you! ♥

Doodie update!

The day has gone really well! :) Warm, beautiful day today too. *loving it!*

After a slightly shorter nap than usual (to be sure they'd be tired enough at night) we woke them up with and "Look! What's that hanging in the tree?!" Ooh:s and Aah:s over the Easter Bunny's visit and hurrying outside to see what she (he?) had left them in the gift bag. Both were very happy about their Easter egg and the small bunny-soft-toy (as a slightly longer lasting reminder than the chocolate ;) )!

Kids have had loads of out door play with their cousins and after they'd gone back home we got some branches and stuff cleared in the garden (they can be such good little helpers!) and also had our dinner outside too. :) We finally wrapped up the day with a looong bath and little ones were very tired and happy to go to bed...
Anton kept muttering and singing, so obviously missing his "plug". No tears tough! :) Erin didn't want to fall asleep in her bed, not that unusual, and asked for her doodie a few times but was more crying after me who was stuck with sing-song Anton... She knew that the doodies were "Borta!" (= gone!) and finally fell asleep in Stephens arms.
*doing a small and for S embarrassing ;) victory dance!*
I was SO worried about them being panicky and sad over not having the doodies any more and it being much more difficult at bed time. Even if I can't help feeling slightly horrible for taking the doodies away I too feel that it was a good decision and the right time!
AND...! I'm very well aware that we still have some time ahead that might be rough but the good start we've had to a doodie-free life makes me feel positive, we can do this! :) Yay!

E.

Easter Bunny's coming early!

OK, so the time is here...earlier than I'd planned but with kiddies its all about adjusting and adapting. ;)
We've been talking about leaving the "doodies" (pacifiers) to the Easter Bunny, and getting a chocolate Easter-egg as a "thank you", since the beginning of the new year. Anton's almost 3½ and only has a doodie for nap-time at nursery and then at night-time at home. Erin's turning two on Easter Monday and doesn't have one at all at "dagis" and mostly only at night-time at home...
Leaving them to Santa felt too early so the next best option was Easter and Anton's been talking a lot about when does the Easter Bunny come for his doodies? This morning he was very adamant about the fact that TODAY is the day for leaving his doodies...! He's a big boy now and can sleep without! :) Erin was less impressed about the idea but was happy to hang the doodies-on-a-string in the tree in our garden, when realising that we weren't going to take them home again she started protesting but fell asleep after some fussing and fighting... Heartbreaking to hear her cry like that but she really doesn't use it that much and "taking" A's doodies but not hers doesn't feel right either...it's time now.
Anton suddenly felt like not sleeping at all, even though knackered, and little tears rolled down his face... *heart breaks again!* "It's OK to miss your doodies, and I know it's hard to fall asleep without but that's why mummy's here and you've got kissy-teddy to hold on to as well..."

My sister's coming over with her girls so I'm hoping that after lots of fun and play-time outside going to sleep tonight might go reasonably well too...

My big, beautiful babies...! ♥

E.

Sunshine!

Wonderful, beautiful, fantastic SPRING! :)

For the last two days we've been blessed with Mother Natures very best... Birds chirping in the trees when I wake, little budding blossoms in the garden, mild weather and brilliant sunshine!

I LOVE spring! When the wind is no longer painfully cold and the sun finally feels warm rather than just provide daylight...no freezing fingers or toes and scarfs are accessories rather than a must... :D Kiddies no longer need the warm winter overalls and can put trainers on and leave heavy winter boots at home... :)

I've finished early both today and yesterday and been able to pick kiddies up at 2 and then we've had hours in the garden before finally coming inside for dinner... We've gotten quite a bit done in the garden too! All the old leaves have been cleared away (arms, hands and shoulders are sore from walking around with the leaf-blower two days in a row) and S removed some low-hanging branches today. Tomorrow's forecast is looking good too so I'm hoping we can get on with trimming back the raspberry bushes that have spread out of control at the back of our "garage". :)

Love, love, love spring!

School still kinda sucks but next week we're out on work placement for four days, observing how children play, and Easter Monday's a "holiday" over here so no school again until Tuesday! Yay! :) I will however need to find the time to do the essay over, the one I blanked out about, over the Easter weekend...but since I get to do it over as a home assignment I feel much better and should manage it OK.

Good news! :D I've also found out that I might possibly be able to use the "points" from my old grades even if they first were deemed too old to use towards my "diploma"...! Via the student counsellor I've applied for a revaluation of my grades from the headmistress and hopefully she'll give it an OK which would mean a whole year LESS studying than I had originally planned for!?! :D That in turn would mean that I can possibly apply to Uni for the spring term 2010! :) Scary, exiting stuff! :D

I'll find out in about a month how it goes... *fingers crossed!*

Now I'm going to bed! Hoping to sleep very well with this tired, slightly sore body of mine... *yawn*

p.s. Today at the dinner table, noticing the "left over" space, Anton said... "Why is there not more children at our table...?" *lol* "That's a good question...ehm....would you want there to be more children at our table...?" (answering a question with a question can be a life saver! ;) ) "Yes" :) ...and that was the end of that conversation...time to think about more siblings? :/ Or perhaps invite a friend over for dinner! ;P

E.