jade saying hi

every day my awesome wife sends me movies like this at work.

they bring a big smile to my face, and make me work harder so i can get home to my little girls.

dinner at the wear/holmgren/montgomery's

while nicole and i are eating dinner, jade is eating my hair.

jade is... singing?

not quite sure what this is, but we think it's a good thing.

exhausting (but oh so fun) weekend

sometimes one can become so exhausted they can not muster up the strength to close their eyes when drifting off to sleep...such is the case with jade this evening.

this january weekend, with weather that could easily pass as wonderful on a summer day, consisted of many exciting adventures.

before the sun had risen on saturday morning jade enjoyed a very bumpy ride down a 45 minute stretch of dirt road leading to the horse thief trail head. although for us this dirt road would typically be considered a nuisance standing in the way of our final destination, it actually became an absolute thrill ride for our little muffin. she found this bumpy dirt road to be the most fantastic experience and laughed most of the way. after hiking nearly six hours she found the return ride down this road to be just as entertaining. pure joy.

grandma becky was awaiting our arrival when we returned home saturday evening and jade was thrilled to spend the evening with her while calle and i joined some friends for our first dinner date without jade.

this beautiful sunday morning we took grams to none other than zinc for a delicious breakfast, followed by a stroll to main beach where jade stuck her feet in the sand for the very first time. papa could not resist the urge to build jade a sand bed, which she absolutely loved.

passers by stopped to take photos of jade and to share with us how adorable they thought she was. "a little doll" we heard several times. we could not agree more!

and as i am typing this quick blog, calle is out on the patio bbq'ing mahi mahi.

we hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as we enjoyed ours!

love,

nicole, calle, and jade

jade at the beach

happy birthday grandma duck!

calle & jade singing for grandma duck!

jade singing her own birthday song to her beloved grandma.

nicole's gift was choosing not to sing... praise the lord!

mamma lisa, mojje, il mare, grandma duck, farmor - we love you so very much and wish you a fabulous birthday. we can't wait to see you soon!

1.11.11

we awoke this morning knowing our water heater was still not working.

one week with no hot water can be quite stressful.

after feeding jade i went to our clubhouse to [sneak in and] take a shower. on my way out i filled two cups with their complimentary coffee and made my way home to find calle & jade happily preparing breakfast in the kitchen. not actually preparing breakfast, boiling water & waiting for me to get home.

calle mentioned it was 1.11.11.

i thought something good must happen today then!

the first bit of good news came in the form of an email; we have a potential nanny! a woman recommended by a friend at work. a recommendation brings such a sense of peace compared to a total stranger caring for our baby girl. the news of her interest & availability was most delightful.

the second bit of good news came in the form of a magic code.

i received this magic code after countless phone calls to the technical support line of our water heater manufacturer.

the nintendo style system re-set is literally:

power off. wait one minute. turn the heater back on. hold the hot & cold buttons, wait for the green lights to flash. once the green lights have started to flash press right left right right left right left left. this will re-set the system. the water heater should work "good as new".

you're kidding i say to the technical support rep.

this magic string of demands was NOT included in the installation instructions. plumber #1 would have never known to try this. instead he wasted his entire friday evening here thinking he had done something wrong. he went home feeling as though he had failed at a simple repair.

plumber #2, a certified technician sent by the manufacturer, also did not know this magic code.

plumber #1 returned this evening to try the magic code.

it worked.

the water heater is up & running.

1.11.11 ended up being a pretty good day.

we will celebrate with warm bubble baths for the whole family!

all but ingemar, of course.

premier of the bumbo!

jade has been talking about wanting a bumbo chair just like the one her big brother and idol august has. well, her parents are suckers and bought it for her and today was the premier "sit". great success!

happy christmas & merry new year!

this christmas season was quite festive! we enjoyed many swedish traditions such as preparing ham to eat with hardbread & mustard while wrapping gifts & composing rhymes, we celebrated on christmas eve morning [which is something never done in the US], and we read tomten aloud to darling little jade. before the true christmas holiday arrived, however, we attended an ugly christmas sweater party at the smith's. since calle, jade, and i could not find any ugly christmas sweaters we opted to dress like the preppy nerd family as seen below.

one of the rhymes -

jade in her christmas pajamas [or jamaspim per holmgren tradition].

there were many presents under our tree, nearly all for jade of course! below is the wonderful pile of gifts sent by family & friends. from sweden, the fredrixon's sent a wonderful song book & lucia crown which jade will enjoy for many years to come. they also included calle's favorite christmas program on dvd. from colorado, my brother & his beautiful daughter sent jade an assortment of adorable clothes and friends also contributed to her ever growing wardrobe. thank you all!

on christmas day we joined our lovely group of friends for dinner & games at the smith's where we found ourselves asking the age old question:

what christmas celebration would be complete without wearing stick on souvenir mustaches?

on new year's eve calle & i hosted a simple dinner party for the smith's and the johansson's. despite a few stressful moments in the kitchen, everything turned out great! we prepared mustard-crusted pork roast with shallots & wine sauce served on a bed of shaved sweet corn & a side of garlic mashed potatoes. yum!

after a pretty casual new year's eve celebration we joined the smith's for a short hike in the cleveland national forest, about an hour north east of home. the fresh air was fantastic but a combination of starting too late in the day & the temperature being much lower than we anticipated forced us to give up before reaching our destination.

2010 was a very exciting year; we found out in february we were expecting our first child. our pregnancy was healthy & happy! despite the continued economic stress in the US, Calle and I both maintained our jobs, kept our home, and found time to enjoy a latte here and there. In July we traveled to Sweden and spent 3 incredible weeks with our family. In October we welcomed the most amazing little person into this world & every day since her arrival has been noted as "the best day ever".

we greet 2011 with enthusiasm knowing there are many exciting firsts to come our way; crawling, walking, & talking to name just a few. in a world of negative media I must say we are feeling quite the opposite. a surge of happiness & excitement fills our home - we are content in the most positive sense of the word & hope all our dear family & friends can say the same.

with love from our family to yours,

nicole, calle, jade & ingo