This little boy sure has a lot of energy. Here he is playing soccer, kicking the ball with his head and crawling FULL speed ahead. It sure is funny!!!

Laughter and fun!

We miss you!!!

This is just a shout out to our South African family to say that we miss you lots and lots and lots!!!
You're very special to us and wish we could pop around for a visit!!!

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

And some more...

A big basketball I won at a food festival in Skövde!

Rocky's birthday!

A field of gold....mushrooms!

And some more pics...

Yummy home-made sushi!

Our little Jew ;-)

Can you believe there was actually people under there?

Elias decided to take a nose dive out of his tub...so he eneded up with a swollen lip...but still with a big smile

Elias's first night in a tent!!! he loved it!

We went to Smulan's 30th birthday party...was so much fun!!!

Snapshots from August

Yummy blueberry and white chocolate pie!!

Happy Birthday ;-))

All smiles!

Hanging out with gammal mormor

An afternoon tea party

Hello's and goodbye's!

Visiting my morfar in Skillingaryd

Posing with wally

Digging out the mushroom infected outhouse!!!

Trying to feed himself!!!

The summer has flown by here in sweden. We've been having a great time though, living our little community lifestyle. It's been so much fun hanging out with Mickie, Rocky & Elisabeth, Mormor, Tomas, the Peter Jansson clan, Helena from Aussie...the list goes on... It's kind of been like 2 months in the Shire, despite the slightly cold summer weather. We've been trying to "live off the land"---so we've been out picking strawberries, blueberries, mushrooms...Manne and I have found our new favourite past-time....picking chantarell( Kantarell) mushrooms...some weeks we were even out 5 times! But the kantarell toast and pies have definately been worth it. And Elias has loved being outside going on different adventures! He sure is like his dad...keep him at home and inside too long and he can get really grumpy! ;-))

But now those two months have gone...slowly people have started going back to work and back to reality. Excitingly though, Manne has gotten a job at the agrigultural department where he works with EU grants. He's been there a week and so far so good!

And today it's just me and Elias hanging out again...Mickie has headed off back to the US of A! We're gonna miss her, but know that she's in good hands over there!

We have found an apartment...very nice, which I'm excited about! We should be moving in sometime in October...I'm looking forward to having a home again and being able to pack up all our stuff. But we have had a great time here though. we'll miss having farmor and farfar so close, but at least they'll only be an hour away!!

Elias is doing so well! He loves standing up and walking along the furniture...but his FAVOURITE thing is climbing the stairs...which he does SO well...gets all the way up by himself, we're just trying to teach him how to come down!

Life is good...we're grateful for all our blessings! And grateful to have you in our lives!!

Back in Sweden!

Well, our journey's have taken us back to sweden to enjoy the summer. We came about 2 weeks ago and it feels great to be back in the land of the ice bears ;-) The journey was long but Elias was a real "super-trouper" and flew really well. On the flight from England to Stockholm, however, he nearly got his dad into trouble because he kept kicking the seat in front of him and the lady thought it was Manne. Eventually she realised there was a little baby down there ;-)

Otherwise, what is news? Well, Emanuel is now "färdig bakad"(fully-baked) as he usually says...in other words he has his degree and is now enjoying paternity leave and looking for a job down in Jönköping. I will be continuing my studies, probably through correspondence...and I guess we'll take life from here and see what happens and where we end up.

Our time in South Africa has been a fantastic time...we've made some really wonderful friends and had an especially wonderful time with my family. We were in a really great church as well...we learnt a lot!

Elias hanging out with some ladies at POR Hanging out with Aunty SonsThis is my gorgeous wonderful husband...and he's such a great dad! I'm truly blessed!
Enjoying a picnic on Father's Day
Elias loved chewing on biltong...South Africa's version of beef jerky. perfect for a itchy mouth;-)

Eating out on our last night in SA

Otherwise, back in Sweden we've been on the normal adventures...swimming, picnicing, picking strawberries in the rain, going on walks and just enjoying life!

Elias is busy getting his 3rd and 4th teeth...the two top one's. It's cute. He's also started crawling, or should I say leopard crawling, himself forward, which makes him very happy that he can actually get to where he wants to go.Catching a ride with cousin Aaron

Visitng Peter and Helen with family down at their lovely summer cottage.

Anyway, we think of all of you often. It was wonderful seeing Bella and Gittan in Sweden, so we especially miss Tristan and Jono! You guys are great!

A blueberry good-bye for now! ;-)