BALI!!

So we're finally leaving for Singapore and then Bali tomorrow!! We can't wait - how about this for an itinirary while there:

* Bali Safari & Marine Park
* Waterbom park
* a Day of Reef Cruise to Lembongan Island along the Bali Hai II
* Swimming with the dolphins in the north, close to Lovina Beach
* Ubud shopping
* Monkey forest
* spa day at Bodyworks in Seminyak (any specials you know of there)

and just sit on the terrace of our house at night, eating local food together with a cold glass of white wine....! I just can't wait!!

Merry Christmas to all of you and a Happy New Year 2009!!

People we Love!

This morning we took some Xmas pictures of our amazing "extended family" Ms. Yi and Ms. Wang and our driver Mr. Luo.

I don't know what I would do without these two amazing women who care for us so well over here in China. And Mr. Luo drives us all day long across this sprawling city of 22 million people like it's a piece of cake and never ever complains about anything... There's not a mean bone in these wonderful people and we have everything to thank them for as they make our stay in this foreign country so much easier and comfortable.

We love them very very much and wish them a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Max & Emmy - Lovisa & Magnus

Emmy stacking blocks!

I love these large colorful blocks my friend Lori gave me over 3 years ago for Max's 1st birthday. Max loved them and now Emmy loves stacking them and tearing them all down. For being made of hard paper, they've done exceptionally well knowing Max can be tough on his toys and Emmy likes to play with them A LOT!

Thank you Lori for such a wonderful long-lasting present!

More pics of Emmy here

Cheers!

Max wonderful Xmas event at the Child Academy!

Earlier today we celebrated Christmas at Max's wonderful school; the Child Academy. All the kids did a GREAT job performing their songs and dances for us parents and there were many touching moments throughout the morning event!

Max's class, the Bunny class, performed the chinese new year's song and then Ronger Whittaker's classic "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" hence the jungle themed art on their shirts. Max sang very loud and did an amazing job and we couldn't be more proud of him!!

Magnus, Emmy and I were in the first row to capture these golden moments. What a great morning!

Here are the pictures from the event!

Lucia event in Shanghai!

Yesterday we celebrated Lucia at the Hamilton House in Shanghai's Bund district together with the Swedish Chamber of Commerce & SAS and their 170 guests. We had the pleasure of listening to the Salt choir from Stockholm who performed the traditional Lucia songs and they did a beautiful job!! Lots of fun and Xmas is definitely in the air over here!!

Here are the pics from the fun night

Farmor's dress!!

Thank you Farmor Karin for my adorable "Madicken" dress which dad brought back last night! I couldn't wait to put it on this morning and will not under any circumstances take it off even though it's a tad too big! Just look how cute i am...

Hugs from Emmy!

Fingerpaint fun!!

After a long flight back from Europe, I put Magnus in the tub with the kids and a bag full of fingerpaints - ha! The result was some creative body paintings and fun laughs and a very messy bathroom (which I'll leave for someone else to clean up...is that bad?? :-) Lots of fun and I loved how much Max & Emmy enjoyed smearing all that paint all over themselves, totally carefree!!

Look how cute they are!

Christmas Decorations and "julbak" time!!

We have officially decorated the house in grand Xmas style and this is our first year with a FAKE, yes, plastic Christmas tree! If you saw the poor trees they offer over here you'd understand my decision to go plastic this year and get a true looking Disney tree :-) We love it though and it's looking very pretty in our living room.

Today the kids and I also made saffron buns and they turned out quite good. Max and Emmy didn't like the taste of them too much but I've downed 3 or 4 already, so I make up for their missing share!

Emmy's also so good at peeling her own tangerines - so cute! I'm impressed with her motor skills at only 18 mo of age and when I still have to peel my 4 year old son's tangerines, I know she's ahead of the game...

Here are the pictures from our events!

Bizarr night!

Last night I woke up from a loud crashing noise which sounded like a big bowl of glass was dropped on the floor - I rushed downstairs to see which of my Christmas decorations had fallen to the ground (and remembered in the midst of things that I also forgot to blow out the teacandle, good thing I woke up...!) but couldn't find anything that had broken! After searching around the first floor, I decided it was all a dream and went back to bed with Emmy who had a little bit of a fever and an acing leg from the vaccine shots earlier in the day.

The next morning the Ayi asked me to go into Emmy's room to check her window - which had cracked completely from the very chilly night last night! That's where the loud noise came from and I'm just glad and thankful Emmy wasn't sleeping in her room as the glass had scattered around the room... !