swedenusa

After three years of blogging. We have completed 352 posts and had 1,618 comments we have decided to discontinue our blog.

However, we are moving it to another site. Please visit our new blog home and change any links you might have to http://swedenusa.wordpress.com where we will continue as usal.

Everyone goes through this stage. Most parents probably hate it since you never know what the child will put in his mouth next. Click on the picture to see a video clip.

We still think it is cute since we are still pretty much in control of what he gets a hold of. Yes, we know, this will soon change, very soon. He is already starting to roll over, he is about halfway there.

I’ll try to get something new posted when I get a free minute. This will have to do for now.

The flight was pretty rough on both Noah and his parents. We were glad to finally get off the plane, however we had a few hour layover in Stockholm as we waited for our train. We had breakfast and a fika at the central station.

Our bags came with us.

On the way into the station, we ran into some Swedish celebraties. Filip and Fredrik are Swedish comedians. They are on the TV all the time over here. 

The train ride went much smoother. We arrived home exactly 6 weeks from the day we left. We had a mountian on mail, and an empty fridge, but we were glad to be able to sleep in our own bed. 

Noah had a bit of jetlag, but he is almost over it now. 

We will try to get some pics and videos on here soon.

Just needed to revisit Christmas eve. Sam’s cousin came over to visit us with their baby Finn. Noah is 1 month older but Finn already eats peaches, tapioca and applesauce. He such a cute little boy.

Jaeg really wanted to be part of the gang!

Here are Jonas and Noah hanging out at the Cheesecake factory. We went there on Saturday to have lunch.

Jonas & Sam taking a picture of themselves.

What did Sam say?

Barbie and Nathaniel (he is the guy that came and visited us in Sweden back in May).

Shie & Esther.

Jonas getting ready to head for church on Sunday morning.

Brandon and his son on the worship team in church.

Sophia loves children and is very good at making Noah smile!

Amanda & Barbie

You might be wondering how we have been able to get around in one car (2 babies and 4 adults). Simon (the name of Jonas & Shie’s car) has a third seat in the front. It is a bit snug but it works great. Here is the view from the back seat.

Don’t you just wonder what babies think about?

That is all from the US for this time. Tomorrow we start our long trek home.

Thank you all for this time, see you again soon!

Goodbyes are never easy. We said goodbye to Malta last Saturday afternoon. My parents drove us to Billings, the roads were finally open, although we drove cautiously. It was fun seeing how much snow fell, and imagining how impossible the roads would have been 24 hours earlier.

When we arrived in Billings, we had a few extra days with Rach, Craig and Jaeger. We had so much fun together! Mir and I played Madgab for the first time. Rach and Craig were VERY good at this game, and by the end Mir and I were starting to get the hang of it.

Another hard goodbye and we were off to Minneapolis to see Jonas, Shie and Esther.

We awoke to the smell of Bacon.

We were treated to an All American breakfast, including eggs, fruit, bacon, french toast and cinnamon rolls.

We have a few more precious days here with them before we head back home.

We borrowed an American-style stroller for our adventure at the mall yesterday. I made sure to use the cup-holder as ours back home dosn’t have one. It worked wonderfully!

This has been the season of BAD weather. You might remember how our flight got turned around just as we were going to land in Billings, and how we spent several hours on the Minneapolis airport. Then it was Sam’s brother Carl and his wife Christian who due to bad weather got stuck in Minneapolis one night on the way to Billings. Then there is Sam’s grandma who had to wait about 12 hours on a delayed Amtrak train. Oh, and then Carl and Christian got stuck in Billings on their way home, again due to bad weather.

Now it was our time again! Of course we got hit with a blizzard in Malta before we had to take the road trip to Billings. The snow totally covered the roads so the highways were closed. We called Northwest to reschedule our flight. Thankfully it didn’t cost us anything extra to change our tickets but it means we are flying out of Billings today (Tuesday) instead of Sunday. It is cutting our time short with Shie, Jonas & Esther but we got to spend some extra time with Rach, Craig & Jaeg.

We will blog more once we come to Minneapolis and throw in a few pics too! Lets just hope we will fly into Minneapolis ok. Never know if it might turn around or maybe we will end up in Denver or something.

We are still in Malta with my parents. The weather has been pretty exciting, it has reached -30 C. Roads and travel have been restricted due to icy-roads but all of my siblings have made it back safe and sound. It was a great Christmas! We all spent time reconnecting and getting better aquainted.

Christmas this year wasn’t about the presents, but one stands out. The book that all of the “kids” made for Mom and Dad. Here they are opening it.

We ate some traditional Swedish Christmas food.

Sunday Carl and Christian play at our church. They are music pastors in Michigan. Click on the picture to see them play.

We wish everyone a Happy New Year. May God bless and keep all of you.

Marie has been part of my life and my family for as long as I can remember. I have always looked up to her. She gave me my first perfumes in tiny little fancy bottles and she let me sleep over at her place when I was a kid, making me feel very special.

I remember wanting to be a florist just because she was. I remember proudly telling her and she thought it was a bad idea since it is hard to stand up all day and probably wouldn’t be a good fit for me. Why not do something else. I know that if she was a garbage man (or woman…) I am sure I would have wanted to become that instead. It wasn’t what she was doing or how talented she really is, but who she is as a person. I wanted to be just like her.

I guess that is still in me today! It is the first time in 1,5 years that the Sam’s whole family is gathered and we don’t know for sure when that will happen again. I tried to copy Marie and take pictures like her. Like so many times before, I can’t really make it to her standard. But it was a whole hearted attempt.

These are the pictures of the family that we took this year.

I tried really hard to think like Marie, but I have to face it… I did not get her talents!

We spent a full week with grandma Nancy and grandpa Jim before the siblings and their families started to arrive. The week was spent relaxing, talking, and working on a puzzle. It’s been super cold, around -20 C. Noah has been fighting a cold the whole time and is still coughing. He is as happy as always though!

A bit tired at times

Noah has finally gotten to meet all of his aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Today is Christmas Eve and we are going to celebrate with lots of food and gifts. This year Sam and I thought we were going to do and eat whatever is tradition at the Fauth’s. I just never thought that I have been part of the family so long that Sam’s younger siblings thinks of Christmas in a Swedish sort of way. So instead of that turkey we will be having meatballs, little sausages, ham, potato casserole, egg halves, and mimosa sallad. Yeah, I never introduced the pickled herring and all the other stuff since I don’t like it. The foods are just my favorites from home.

It is a very difficult wait for cousin Jaeg. He keeps grabbing those enticing gifts under the tree wanting to open them… I remember those days. It seemed like the day dragged on forever.

Christian, Carl’s wife, is adding some of her traditions too. She is going to bake some and make a red hot warm cider for us.

We have uploaded some videoclips on youtube and here are some links. You can click on the pictures or the underlined words below.

The first video is of Noah playing the piano with grandpa Jim

The second video is of Noah hanging out with aunties Rachael & Susan.

To all our friends and family, we wish you a merry Christmas!