Pepparkakor with Agneta

Yesterday afternoon we went to Agneta and Henrik's home to bake pepparkakor (and drink glögg!). It's a Christmas tradition here to bake them before Lucia. August had fun using the cookie cutters to press shapes out of the dough, Leif had fun grabbing handfulls of dough and shoving them in his mouth, and Koster the dog had fun licking Leif's face and hands! (James and I particularly like the glögg).

Leif's first birthday (early)

Today we had a very small celebration for Leif's first birthday - just the four of us and our neighbors. We ate, drank champagne, opened presents, chased bubbles, and played outside - I think it was perfect for Leif.

Agneta made the (ice cream) cake, a hedgehog in a forest scene with (marzipan) mushrooms, berries, snails, slugs, and green frogs. It was beautiful, and I'm afraid Leif is going to be disappointed for the rest of his life when he sees what I make.

An egg shaker! A perfect gift:

August looking at his new book with Hanna:

The birthday king, wearing the crown his brother wore on his first birthday (here too, and see James donning the crown here):

Playing outside:

Dinner with the neighbors

We are so, so lucky to have amazing neighbors, Henrik and Agneta. We share a balcony with them and their two-year old Chesapeake Bay retriever. They invited us over for a traditional midsommar lunch back in June, and since then we've been sharing (almost) weekly dinners. We host one week, they host the next. It's been great on so many levels: James and I get other adults to talk to on a regular basis; we get informal lessons on Swedish society, history and language; the boys get spoiled with ice cream (see below!), and at least one night every other week, neither of us has to cook or do dishes. We're always saying that we won the neighbor lottery--we're so lucky to have them.

August's first sail

Our neighbor, Henrik, took us out on Sunday for a quick sail. Agnetta, his wife, took care of Leif while the rest of us enjoyed a beautiful, calm morning on the water. I was worried August wouldn't like it - he hasn't enjoyed his previous boating experiences - but he really enjoyed himself. I was surprised that he was so comfortable. James had a primer in Swedish sailing terminology and signage, and I hoisted the jib. Now I'm working on ways to get us more invitations out onto the water...

He fell asleep sitting on my lap on the way out, so we laid him down below; he promptly woke up, of course.

Fishing for banana peels:

The way home:

Doggy tricks

Sorry for the silence. We had a weird experience that we thought might have been related to the blog but it turns out it wasn't, so I took a hiatus for a while. In the meantime, the weather turned beautiful, we've almost finished setting up the study/guest room, and we're preparing for the Swedish summer - four weeks of family holiday. We'll mostly be hanging out here, going on day trips and easy overnights and enjoying all the beaches within walking distance, though we're also going to Devon for ten days to be with James's parents.

We're becoming close with our neighbors, with whom we share a balcony. They're a bit older than us, eagerly awaiting grandchildren of their own, so they're borrowing our littles every now and then.

They have a dog whom Leif loves (August is warming to him). He's a young, large, fierce dog, so we're all always paying close attention when he and the kids are out. He's very gentle with Leif (and very frisky with August!), and it's sweet to see.

And here's Leif playing fetch with himself (email subscribers, click here):