Long time no see...

Hi.. it´s been a long time... and a great summer. I have been....

Reliving some of mamma´s memories in Täby.
Relishing time with gravel (These are a few of my favorite things..)...
Working in the sand mines...
Getting cuter every day..
Sitting in a me-sized chair on our patio (although I sit only to eat and pose for fotos). I have also been...

Playing Thelma and Louise (with Bella, Jeanette´s daughter). Wow! Look at the speedometer!....
Saying good bye to my first dagis preschool teachers...
Doing Buddha imitations but forgetting to smile...
Dancing with Morfar at the summerhouse near Jörlanda...

Reading religious texts (Bible pictured here) with questionable attire...

And seeing what it´s like to walk in other people´s shoes, I do it all the time.

More to follow soon, I hope.

Summer in Fond du Lac, WI

We are spending our vacation in Derek's hometown in Fond du Lac, WI. Yesterday we went to the pool and enjoyed the pool. Noelle was intimidated at first, and sat on my lap for about 30 minutes, but then saw how much fun the other kids were having. Once adjusted to the pool. It was hard to get her to come out!
Little minifountains were fun to touch!

So refreshing in the hot sun!

Lean in a little closer...

Safe up high... and Melanie (Derek's youngest cousin) showing how it's done!

Not sure what we're pointing at???

Summer house season!

Spring time is here and the summerhouse has opened for the season! We did a little daytrip to one of the farmers to see the cows and their calves and the sheep with their lambs. Noelle mooed like a cow, though she was a little intimidated by the cows when we went into the barn. In about a week the cows will be let out to graze in the field, so we wanted to see how they had it in the barn... there were a total of six little calves who were free to roam around, however the mothers were all tied up.
Mother and child * two :)

Ok, this is not a picture of Noelle, but I thought they were so cute!

Bähhh bähhhh

Feeding the little lamb.

Family of Sheep, family of Diener

Derek is thinking "mmmmm, meat"

Rerun favorite, little older, more entertaining!

Snoozing with morfar! One funny thing about Noelle and Morfar - she has so much respect for him it is amazing. If morfar tells Noelle to eat her food, she stops fooling around and eats, if morfar tells her he needs to put her socks on, she picks up her socks and walks to him and he puts her socks on. If morfar tells her to take a snooze, she closes her eyes and goes to sleep. We find this pretty funny. Derek, my mother (mormor) and I can say the exact things to her, and she sometimes obeys us, but ignores us just the same, but if morfar says anything, she does it right away. I try not to laugh at this, but it is pretty hard to keep a straight face :)

Walking around without a big wintersuit feels pretty awesome!

And eating skorpa is pretty awesome too! (Skorpa is a hard cardamom bread)

Updates!

What has happened...

Well, Noelle is now almost 19 months and weighs 10,17 kg and is 82,5 cm long (tall)... She remains tall and skinny, but has gained over a kg since the last time we went to the doctor in January. Her talents are above average, though we knew that from the very start... she understands both English and Swedish which is remarkable. She can imitate a dog, a cow, and does the peep peep sound for a bird and a mouse. The words in her vocabulary are the following; mamma, pappa, titta (look), tittut (peekaboo), baby, hot and öra or öja (ear). At the 18 months checkup they should know about 8 to 10 words, less if they are dual languages, apparently animal sounds count as well, so you may understand how talented she is. They are also supposed to stack blocks. Derek and I were a little concerned about this one, as Noelle showed more interest in knocking the blocks down instead of stacking them. So we put her in training a few weeks before the visit, and now she is a perfect stacker (smile).

Her wrist has healed very well, we have taken her to the specialist twice and they are pleased with the healing. The scar from the accident is still there and will probably be there for a while. She moves her hand like normal, so no indication of nerve damage, which we are very happy about.

She is a happy, little mischievous girl, that makes Derek and myself smile a lot. She started doing an angry face, not because she is angry, but because it causes a reaction from us. She always laughs after she does her angry face. Hopefully we will be able to capture it in a picture one of these days.

Attached are some pictures over the past couple of months.

Summer house time again. Noelle and I at the beach!
Easter eggs. We had easter lunch at the summer house with my parents and painted some eggs. Mormor won the competition, she had the best painted egg.
Morfar tried, but mormor still beat him... Noelle painted a paper instead...
Tractor time!
They had easter celebration at preschool too! In Sweden you dress as a little easter witch, and you walk around and hand out home made easter greeting cards in exchange for candy. Kind of the US halloween trick or treat. P.S. the witches dress differently from the way most of you know witches as, just so you know.
We dressed Noelle as a Easter bunny instead. Her pigtails served as ears.
Our little cutesy!
Checking out the bathroom cupboard.
Noelle and Derek in the rainforest (Universeum).
Noelle found a giant frog that she liked!

Talking on the phone - this is what we look like...

Past month updates! Warning lots of pictures...

We'll start in December and work our way through mid January. I don't have any pictures from Christmas unfortunately as we used my parents camera, and not our own...

Noelle was one of the Lucia during a Lucia train celebration in our homevillage, Benareby. She sang so hard she lost control over her drooling...
Our cute little Lucia! You see some gingerbread men and little santas in the background :)
Noelle with her second cousins at my aunt Birgitta's house. One of the many "glöggfikas" we went to in December. Glögg is warm spiced wine, Christmas drink and oh so good!
Birgitta's stairs are awesome, at least for Noelle. My back got sore after a while.
First snow. A bit confusing.
Model look? Note the tip of her lip - is that daddy Derek's or what?
Pretty curls, another trait from her dad :)
In Teramo, Italy visiting Drake and Gini.
Beautiful day at the Adriatic sea. So beautiful and lovely weather!
Playing in the sand.
Running around like always.
Derek and Noelle, enjoying not having to wear winter coats!
A little girl kept walking with us and talking Italian. Her father owned a seafood restaurant by the shore.
One of many cappuccinos - and yes, we did consume them after 10.00 am, which is a no no in Italy...
Noelle a little thirsty.
Close up picture just for Grandma Sara :)
A little sightseeing up at Gran Sasso National Forest. Amazing views!
Look at the view (not me).
Noelle at the Birreria.
Big bell!
Noelle's new friend Lydia, Drake and Gini's neighbor.
Lots of new exciting toys at Lydia's house!
Our favorite village was called Sirolo, we loved it!
Noelle and Derek checking out the basketball court where Drake had just played his game.
Win, lose, who cares?
Drake is now Noelle's favorite uncle. Sorry Drew and Christoffer. But that is the truth :)
At the doctor for a check-up. They made a balloon for her of a hospital glove.
Kiss!
Drake, Gini, and Noelle at a castle.
Our family at the stairway to heaven :)
In Rome by the Colosseum. We were only there for a few hours and it started pouring rain, so we have to come back one day to visit!
On the lake riding the "kick."