SKYNI

Barely 2 hours after we touched down at Stockholm, we were on the way to Farmor’s house in Köping. Farmor in her usual christmas tradition prepared a very special christmas feast. It was a great welcome home after a long trip. God Jul.

Our family just got back from a week trip in beautiful Bali. Everything was perfect. Thanks to the Queks for organising such a successful trip. It wasn’t easy planning a trip for all 18 of us.

The kids had a great time. We ate far too much and drank at least 30 bottles of wine and champagne. The food was great and most importantly, the company was fantastic. The kids love the villa so much that they don’t really want to go anywhere. More photos to come.

It will be really difficult to top this trip. Definitely one unforgettable trip.

Hello from rainy and humid Singapore. It is nice to be back. We arrived last evening and were lucky that the kids were really well behaved on the flights. But they were a complete nightmare last night when they could not sleep at all. They only fell asleep in the early morning at 6 am. So I guess you cannot get everything!

We had a wonderful welcome from the family with all our favourite food, popiah, roast duck, chicken, pork and bbq pork and all the traditional kweh that we missed. Thank you so much.

Will get in touch with all friends once we get over this jet lag! Won’t torture our friends when we are so crabby from the jet lag.

Hej Tomten

Jag har varit snäll till Jonathan och jag tror att jag ska få många presenter från dig.

Den här är min önskelista. Det är lite billigare för att jag önskar inte så många Legosaker. Du kan handla de flesta av dem i ToysRUs.

1. Fashion Girl Salongset (Varunr: 143255) Sidan 68. (Min mamma gillar inte för att hon tycker att jag är för ung för att måla mina naglar)

2. Disney Princess Cinderalla Glass Slipper Spel (Varunr: 026816) Sidan 10.

3. Barbie Fashion City (Varunr 026846) Sidan 10.

4. Belville Lego. Solskenshuset 7586 (Varunr 153948) Sidan 42.

5. Binden Djurtstudio (143369) Sidan 50 BR Önskeboken

Snälla…..jag kommer att blir glad om jag kan ha presenter.

Vi ses snart.

God Jul.

Kram och puss,
Linn

Hej Tomten,

Hur mår du? Du måste vara så upptagen nu.

Jag har varit en snäll pojka och den här önskelista är vad jag önskar för Jul. Jag vet att många STAR WARS leksaker inte billiga. Men du behöver inte oröa sig. Lego gubbar kommer att blir bra.

Jag önskar mig

1. Mace Windu’s Jedi Starfighter (7868)

2. Sith Nightspeeder(7957)

3. T-6 Jedi Shuttle (7931)

4. Lego Creator : Bergshu (5771)

5. Hoth Echo Base (7879)

Det finns ingen snö ännu. Kan vi fa lite snö till Jul också? Det finns inte Jul utan snö.

Tack så mycket! Vi ses snart!

God Jul!

Kram och Puss,
Jonathan

But Mummy…Why you forget that it is photo taking day in school? I really don’t like this Hello Kitty shirt because the Hello Kitty is not pretty and I don’t like black.

But don’t worry mummy…I will still smile for the camera.

Hey Singapore,

I will be coming back soon! See you.

XOXO
Linn

Every year, there will be professional photographers who will go around the schools to takes photos of the students. They will send a package to the parents and ask the parents if they would like to have these pictures. This picture came in different sizes and the package can cost up to Kr 721 (SGD 110). I think it is quite a nice service tho’.

I love this picture of Jonathan. His smile in the picture just warms my heart.

The temperature is dropping very quickly. It has been averaging between 4 to 10 degrees during the day time. At night time, it can drop even lower. But still no snow.

This year, it is a little tougher getting used to the early sunset and the days are surely a lot shorter now. We need to get used to the darkness and the Swedes make really good use of cosy lighting in their houses.

Nichlas thinks that November is the most difficult month of the year. The early darkness, the wetness, naked trees and the drop in temperature makes it quite depressing at times.

However, the children are just looking forward to the snow and their favourite holiday, Christmas!

Just a couple of weeks to our visit back to Singapore. Our first since moving here last July 2010. We are really looking forward to it.

We have already started preparing the kids for the trip, telling them that they get to see their po po, aunts, cousins and for Linn, her best friend Anan. I think it will be really sweet. I wonder how they will react. Linn was asking me if we can physically move our house in Sweden to Singapore as she claims she likes our house alot.

Loo, as per your request.

With the kind courtesy of Estee Lauder.

Definitely too much work to do this regularly.

Happiness is watching my kids playing together.

We had a fantastic weekend with lovely autumn weather. The sun was shining and the colours of autumn are simply breathtaking. I love it specially when the leaves turn yellow and red. The temperature can be quite cold averaging 10 degrees every day But there is quite a lot of sweeping to do in the garden with the fallen leaves piling up high.

Time really flies and in a few weeks, we will take a short Autumn/Winter break in Singapore. It has been a rather busy 3 months and I am really looking forward to going back to Singapore. We will be back 26 Nov to 22 Dec.

Do I miss Singapore? Honestly, I do not think so much about Singapore food, my old life, transport, shopping, warm weather, services etc anymore. But what i really miss are my family and friends. And spending time and catching up with my family and friends will be my number one priority when we get back to Singapore. I am really looking forward to that!

Today we took a leisurely drive because the weather was very nice and we needed to get out It was then we found the open green airstrip with old planes, check out the photos of the kids

Dressing the little diva is getting harder these days. She insists on wearing clothes that are either Pink, Purple and Yellow – today she reminded me and added ‘and a little bit of gold’.

I got her some new Hello Kitty long sleeves T shirts because she likes all things ‘Hello Kitty’ but she says that she does not like them because the clothes on the Hello Kitty are not pretty enough and the Hello Kitty character on the t shirt must also wear pink, purple or yellow.

The picture below shows Linn’s current favourite t shirt – from her cousin Elin. She wants to wear this shirt everyday!!!

On the other hand, Jonathan is a perfect angel when it comes to dressing. He will wear whatever I tell him to wear and will never argue with me.

In my attempt to discipline my daughter, I told her that she cannot negotiate with me as long as she is shorter than me.

Linn gave me a smile, said ‘Ok mummy…let’s do this’ and she stood high on top of a chair.

I asked Jonathan what he wants for his birthday and he showed me a toy magic lamp…yes, like the one in Aladdin.

Yes, how i want a real one too.

Apologies for the silence. I have been extremely busy in the past few weeks and will continue to be until the end of October.

I think I have taken multi tasking to the extreme. At this point of time I am trying to juggle between daily swedish classes, completing the homework (which is quite a lot), learning to drive the swedish way, taking care of the kids and getting them to and from school, preparing meals, and keeping an eye on the bathroom renovation, shopping for food, pink clothes for the diva and looking at bathroom tiles. It doesn’t sound that difficult as I write it all down but it is quite a lot to do somehow.

I hardly have any time to sit down and just daze (which I do alot in my previous life in Singapore). These days, I turn a blind eye to the mess in the house because I really do not have the time to keep the house really tidy. I barely have the time to pick the apples and plums growing in the garden!

And I am usually in bed by 10 pm because I am flat out tired!

I hope I do not sound like I am complaining. I actually enjoy the rush and the challenges at times. Believe it or now, it is only recently that I realised that I have actually moved out of Singapore and now have a new life in Sweden. Yes, it took me a while to really come to terms with it and maybe because I have been too busy adjusting and adapting with the daily activities to really think about it. It’s crazy i know…but sometimes I have to remind myself to also LIVE and ENJOY the moment. (like now!)

Ok…the moment is over…now I have to get back to my swedish homework. There is another test tomorrow.

It has been a relatively quiet week. The kids are settling in school and adjusting to their new routine. I have been good myself, attending Swedish class and doing my homework every day.

Whilst Jonathan is trying to keep up with school, Linn on the other hand is fully enjoying her new school environment and friends.

Linn had her annual mandatory checkup this week. She is now 99 cm tall and 19 kg. She is doing ok but I was told by the nurse that Linn has problems with her ‘r’ and she needs to roll her tongue. If there are no improvements by the time she turns 5, she needs to seek help.

I myself cannot roll my tongue and make the ‘rrrrrr’ sound Maybe I should seek help together with Linn.