Lucia and Advent

This week on Tuesday it was December 13, the day of Lucia! Lucia is celebrated in Sweden. She is the queen of light that comes with gingerbread cookies and "lussebullar" to everyone, and she sings beautifully. My aunt Sara had sent me the Lucia crown and outfit and I was so excited that I had tried it on every night for about a week before the day of Lucia. 

Once I was dressed up, mom and I went over to Iris' house and sang the Lucia song for her and her parents. I also sang "Staffan var en stalledräng" all by myself. We also brought gingerbread cookies and lussebullar with us. 

In my room I have a little Christmas city that is placed on top of my bookshelf. It's just the right height for me. 

It's advent now, and every day I get to take a present from the advent calendar. Today I got an ornament kit. Mom and I made Santa ornaments in the afternoon. 

Cookie-making and Zach's birthday party

Last weekend I was invited to our neighbors' house to decorate cookies. My friend Iris (to the right) and her cousin Ella (left) and I got 3 little bowls with icing in green, white and pink. We were all good at decorating. I think I did at least 6 cookies. 

Iris mom, Stacey, was giving us tools and new cookies all the time. She is so nice. 

Here are some of the cookies we decorated with icing and sprinkles (lots and lots of sprinkles!!).

Then it was time to go to Zach's birthday party. Mom says I'm starting to have a busier social calendar than her and dad.

The party was really fun! Here I'm jumping in the bouncy tent that Zach's parents had rented for the party.

Zach's dad also showed us a few games. In this game we were passing the bag from one person to another.

My birthday party

On December 3rd I had my birthday party. It was a couple of weeks after my actual birthday but I wanted to have it at a gym (Gymco) and it wasn't available on my birthday. All my friends loved playing with me and the teacher in the gym! Here I am balancing. I'm very good at that!

Balancing again, this time with pom-poms. Following right behind me is my friend Charlotte. She is good at balancing too.

After the gym it was time for some snacks and then cake. I got a paper princess crown from the gym teacher and I felt very special.

All my friends also enjoyed the meal.

Then it was time for presents. I got so many gifts! Games, small Disney Princess Dolls, puzzles, and much more! It was a very memorable day.

Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. I had to tell mom and dad all the things we HAD to have on the table. I had learnt exactly what you should eat at Thanksgiving at my daycare, but since mom and dad are not originally from the States they seemed to keep on forgetting some of the stuff! We had to go back to the store an extra time to pick up the cornbread. Now, what Thanksgiving would it be without cornbread? Dad made a really nice turkey for us. And mom made mashed potatoes. We didn't have sweet potatoes though. I know that's sort of a requirement, but hey, since mom's Swedish mash tastes better I made an exception here.

Now, what would you two do without me, mom and dad? 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Visit to the John Ball Zoo

Last weekend we went to the Zoo! I told mom I was so excited to go to the Zoo for the very first time, but then she told me I had already been to a Zoo when we lived in Minneapolis. I was only 2 years old then though. Who remember what happened that long ago?! Here on the picture mom and I are looking at the lions from a high outpost. They were deliciously scary!

Ha, ha, bet you didn't think I would dare to go up to a lion by myself, but here is the proof! You don't think so? Well, well, I guess you are right. There was a glass between me and the lion but it still felt like she was right by my side. She even came up and touched my hand with her nose - with the glass between us of course. 

Mom and dad had to lift me up sometimes because some of the fences around the animal yards were quite high and I wanted to look closely at all the animals. 

The spider monkeys were so funny! They kept on pooping! I told my friends at daycare about them on Monday. I would like to go and see them again!

There was also an indoor section with an aquarium. In a special section there was an eel, all by himself. 

He looked a bit scary. There was another little girl who was also taking a look and we marveled and got scared together watching it.

Lastly we went to the gift shop. Mom and I tried on the animal face masks and we were being quite silly. I said "Wrrrawr!" and mommy said "hoo-ha hoo-ha".

My 4th birthday

Mom and dad celebrated me in the morning with cheesecake, fruit, hot chocolate, candy and lots of presents. 

I got so many fun things! My grandmas and aunt Sara, uncle Steven and my cousins Ebba, Inez and Vidar had also sent me presents. I loved the Pippi Longstocking figurines and books I got from my cousins! The dress from my grandma Ingela is my favorite now and I was so surprised and happy for the  Woody doll I got from my grandma Grace!

For my 4th birthday party Mom made cards that I could hand out to my friends at daycare. I invited a lot of friends! My party is going to be at Gymco but unfortunately they were all booked on the weekend right after my birthday so my party will be on Dec. 3 instead. Well oh well, at least I have something more to look forward to. Kind of an extended birthday. 

Rapunzel with a special headband

This week I created a beautiful headband in daycare, and I have been wearing it ever since. This morning I was Rapunzel, and I was looking out the window, waiting for my prince.

Oh, where can that prince be?

Hello big fish. If I kiss you will you turn into a prince?

Halloween!

For this Halloween I choose to be Snow White. Here I am looking out the window for my prince.

But oh, instead of the price came an old lady and gave me an apple. Something doesn't feel quite right, but I guess I will have a bite....

Oh no, I'm starting to feel very, very bad!

Help, I fell down. Where oh where is my price who will save me with loves first kiss?

Hmm, no prince and king daddy seems to be way too busy carving pumpkins to notice my despair!

Well, finally it got too boring to lay there on the floor. I think I will go out and play instead. Just look at how beautiful the weather is today!

On Halloween eve my neighbor friend Iris and I went trick-or-treating in the neighborhood where we live. Iris was dressed up as a penguin and she was so adorable. 

There were so many houses to get candy from!

And there were lots of other kids too! Fortunately all the houses had big bowls of candy so there was enough for us all!

Gradma Grace visiting

In September my Grandma Grace for a visit. She stayed for 3 weeks so we had the time to a lot of things together.

Here she is teaching me how to do riceballs. They turned out really well. 

Here we are in Saugatuck. We had dinner there on our way to Chicago. 

Chicago was a lot of fun. Finally we could have some decent Chinese food. In China town I got this really cute Chinese umbrella. Do you like it?

Chicago was great. In Millennium Park there is this really fun water display called the Crown Fountain. I had a lot of fun there.

In September and October I also took a class in ballet. I learnt the basic ballet steps such as sauté and relévé. I love my ballet dress and shoes! 

Summer in Sweden, recap 2

July 2011. Summer in Sweden was wonderful. We went to the beach almost every day!

I love playing with my cousins Ebba and Inez!

My almost new cousin, Vidar, who is going to turn 1 in Dec, was baptised this summer while we were visiting. My dad is Vidar's Godfather. I think he is quite proud of that.

Look how cute Vidar is in his baptism dress, with my aunt Sara and Inez holding him.

My grandmother Ingela was also visiting and Vidar got to sit with her too. My grandma came with us to the beach too. We had a lot of fun.

Then, after a few days we went out to Hans and Barbro's house in the Stockholm Archipelago.

It was so much fun going in their boat. I loved it! Barbro and Hans are both so nice!

Inez and I also got to go out with Hans in a little boat all by ourselves. So great!

We got to sleep over at their little house on the island. We all fitted around their kitchen table and had great Swedish food. 

We had a lot of fun at Sara's and Steven's place too. 

More icecream of course!

And lots of fun play outdoors! 

What a nice summer memory!