Forest blueberries

Wild blueberries are ripening in the forests. It's the best time of year!

Midsommar 2016

Just a couple shots from our midsommar celebration with neighbors:

Hanging around

Recent shots of hanging out.

Listening to The Beatles:

Proof!

Finally, some proof that I exist! Taken by a friend, of course, not James.

Fjärilshuset

I had a really fun day with the kids today at Fjärilshuset, or The Butterfly House. It's a smallish space but they have butterflies and sharks (who thought of that combo?). The kids loved looking at fish and turtles and finding tiny frogs. I had a great time watching them explore.

 See that big fish heading toward August's hand? Yeah, neither did he.

"Mama, mama! The silly fish tried to lick my hand!"

Not sure what this strop was about, but at least someone other than me found it mildly entertaining.

I think he was saying, "noise, noise", and pointing to where the sound was coming from.

Not sure what this one was about, either. There were a lot of strops today.

But the day ended like this, and what's sweeter than that little smile?

The little local park

There's a tiny playground just a few minutes' walk from our place. We went there last night for the first time in ages. 

As usual, no pics of me. I'll have to hire a full-time photographer to prove to the kids I was actually a part of their childhood. 

August counting on the train

In English and Swedish. So stinkin' cute! (Email subscribers, click here to view video.)

Evening walks

Now that it's warm and sunny, we've been taking evening walks again.

Getting ready for summer

We've had a flurry of summery days here, and we've been taking advantage of them!

Afternoon at the beach

Last weekend I took the kids for small outdoor adventures both days. On Sunday afternoon we went to one of the local beaches, where they had fun splashing around.

I love the hands-in-pockets look on babies:

Leif carries the crane truck

Remember how I said everything was going surprisingly well with James gone? Yeah, that was until I got sick last Thursday while driving back from Stockholm and threw up - while driving - all over the neighbors' car (we had traded cars so they could pick up the kids from dagis). Thank goodness the kids were already with the neighbors, who were available to help that night. Agneta even put Leif to sleep while I was with August!

When I took the boys to dagis the next day and told the teacher I'd been sick, she closed the gate and told me to take the boys home! I'm embarrassed to say that I just starting crying -- I couldn't imagine how I could look after two wild animals while feeling so awful. She took pity on me and let me drop them off, and I went home and rested. And the neighbors unexpectedly dropped off dinner that night (though other friends had already made us a meal, so we were well looked after!).

I have to admit that it's only gone so well because we have such wonderful friends and neighbors. Though none of them read this blog, I have to thank them for everything they've done (and are continuing to do this week -- we've already had two dinner playdates!).

Totally unrelated, here is Leif's current cuteness: carrying around the crane truck. Just because it has wheels doesn't mean he has to use them: