Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

March 28th

March 29th

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

Expressing My Excitement

The future is here, people! Or, actually, the future has probably been here for awhile and I'm just now finding out about it. Regardless, I was super pumped today when my colleague and I walked into a fast food restaurant to get lunch and I ordered and payed from a touch-screen booth. It. Was. The coolest.

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

March 20th

March 21st

March 22nd

March 23rd

Not Yet

It was totally spring... until it was actually spring. The weather here had been gorgeous for the past couple of weeks. We'd been spending more time outside riding bikes, cleaning up the yard, and kicking balls around. Everybody was saying it: spring is here, you guys! I had let out my annual sigh of relief when I realized that we'd made it through another winter. And then, on the first day of spring, it snowed, kind of a lot, and it stuck. And despite the glorious sunshine all day on Saturday, it's still in my front yard making my shoulders feel a little bit heavy and forcing me to suck in that breath I had just dared to let out.

Daily Jamie

March 18th

March 19th

Fringe

Sooooooo, have I mentioned my sister-in-law is awesome? On Monday she emailed me and asked if I was interested in semi-permanent mascara, which, duh, who isn't, amiright? I was like, "Duh, who isn't?" And she was all, "Sweet, 'cause I totally won 'em on some blog contest and I can't make it up to Stockholm to get 'em so they're yours if you wanna pretend to be me." I'm paraphrasing. Pretending to be Sarianne is something I do quite often anyway so I may as well get something out of it besides more effective parenting and the appearance of infinite poise. They didn't even question my Sarianneness when I walked into the place, so very poised was I and I lay there, relaxing, getting semi-permanent mascara painted onto my each and every lash while they played the most dreamy version of the Godfather theme you could imagine. Now I don't have to apply mascara for four to six weeks, which I hope I don't love otherwise Sarianne will have to win a contest a month to fund the obsession.

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

March 13th

March 14th

March 16th

Melodifestivalen 2015

Another Melodifestivalen down! This one was a little different than usual because Anne and Matt weren't able to come from London, but Jody joined us anyhow and Jambo also got in the the fun at the live show. Every year I'm blown away by how much fun the show is. Jamie really enjoyed it too, despite the neutral look he's sporting below. The annual viewing of the actual final on Saturday night was held at Mama and Papa Swede's per the usual and was a lot of fun, thanks, in large part, to the fact that Mama Swede's favorite song won. It was a lot of action and a couple of late nights for this crew and Jamie is home with a cold, but that's the price you pay for the schlager lifestyle.

Daily Jamie

March 11th

March 12th

Mello Prep

Tonight we're going to the Melodifestivalen dress rehearsal and it's Jamie's first time coming along to the live show. I'm very excited for him (for all of us, actually. The Swede is downright giddy.) and though he obviously has no idea what to expect, he was very into the preparations last night. We made him a sign to hold when his favorite artist sings (Jamie is a little bit rock'n'roll) and even experimented with glittery press-on nails. I'll probably be the only one wearing the nails tonight, but every last one of us is bound to have loads of fun.

Daily Jamie

Hell On Djurgården

When Axel's mom asked me at Friday's preschool drop off if Jamie and I would like to join them at Junibacken, a playland based on popular Swedish children's stories, I thought it sounded super fun. And indeed it was fun, just not for me. In fact, it was one-hundred-percent stress and the scene of my more horrible moment so far as a parent. Junibacken is in the city, on the island of Djurgården, which is also home to the Vasa Museum, the Nordic Museum, the ABBA Museum, the amusement park Gröna Lund, and Skansen outdoor cultural museum. Needless to say, it draws a lot of tourists, and Junibacken, being itself a tourist destination, was totally packed with people from all over the world. I cannot overstate the packed part. And a lot of these people were adult people, TALL adult people who made it impossible to keep an eye on your small, fast-moving person. So I lost Jambo, for, like, three minutes but it felt like the three most horrible hours of my life. I know these moments will happen (I will never forget when I was about nine, walking home with a friend after school one day without telling my folks, watching TV at her place for a bit, then finally strolling home to find my hysterical parents on the phone with the police reporting my disappearance) but obviously I want them to be few and far between. Leaving Junibacken behind me on Saturday was the only part I liked about it and while I'm sure there are times when it isn't as crowded and is lovely, I'm never going back to see. Oh, but on the upside, how cute are these kids?

Daily Jamie

Daily Jamie

April 4th

April 6th

April 7th

April 8th

A Question

Whoahoahoa, looks who's slackin'! I didn't even realize it'd been so long since I'd updated the 'ol blog until last night when The Swede was like, "Um… we have a problem. The last time you posted was TUESDAY."

My apologies, but now I am back. And it's spring! Or, well, it was yesterday and is today, anyway. We were outside playing in the yard and the park on Sunday, introducing ourselves to ladybugs and spiders who were also out enjoying the weather. The Swede even treated Jambo to a new bike, one that he fell off of within minutes, scraping up his hands and giving his mother a heart attack. I am no good with blood, you guys, and this season holds a promise of many scrapes and cuts based on the way this kiddo/superhero plays. How can this creature be so gentle with that little ladybug and so rough with himself?  

Daily Jamie

Hooked

It was the big ice fishing championship for The Swede's fishing club the weekend. The ice on the lake was just strong enough to hold all of these Vikings despite the balmy air temperature. Jambo and I went out to watch the end of the competition and the medal ceremony but got there a little bit early so we took a walk in the woods and fished for a couple of minutes in a hole The Swede had drilled for us right next to the dock. Jamie was less successful than his papa, whose team won and who also caught the biggest fish by a long shot. The least successful of all, though, was yours truly who got a fish hook stuck on her jeans, attracting attention in the least glamorous way. That's what I get for trying to be the cool wife.

Daily Jamie

February 28th

March 1st

March 2nd

In Which My Three-Year-Old Appreciates My Dorkiness

Last Friday night I had a date with the girls in the city. We planned on going to Jamie's Italian so I told Jamie that we were going to a restaurant named after him. Bad move since obviously he insisted I take him along, which I clearly had no plans to do. He was, however, semi-satisfied with the picture Erin took of me outside the restaurant.