Isak's 10th birthday party

Because last year's party was such a success (the boys had a great time and mom had such minimal preparations) we did a pool party this year again. An hour and half of pool time, "pigs in a blanket" and cake. Then presents. At the very end there were water balloons and bubble wands in the back yard.

 Ryan, Ethan, Jacob, Isak, Sam, Will and Nathan.

 Nathan, Ryan, Sam, Luke, Ethan, Isak, Jacob and Will.

Eating pigs in blankets.

 Someone said something very funny just as he went to blow out the candles.

Midsommarhelgen

Vi åkte traditionsenligt ner till Dallas i lördags för att medverka i SWEAs midsommarfirande. Förr har det varit om morgonen för att undvika den värsta hettan, men i år var det om eftermiddagen och tur var det, för vi blev rejält försenade på vägen ner:

 Däcket var mindre än ett år gammalt! :(

 Som tur är har vi MÄN i vår familj som fixar. 

De fick på reservhjulet så vi kunde åka till närmsta Walmart och få på ett nytt.

 I Plano var det nästan som i Sverige, fast typ 10 grader varmare...

Se, där är Isak och Elina mellan spelmännen.

("Och får vi lov! Och får vi lov...")

 Små grodorna.

 Nöjda och glada efter dansen.

 Kollar igenom låtarna innan kören sjunger.

 SWEA kören sjöng midsommar sånger.
Vi avslutade med allsång av "Du gamla, du fria" och fler än en person grät en skvätt när de sista stroferna av "Ja, jag vill leva jag vill dö i norden" dundrades ut av de  cirka 70 personerna som var där.

 Familje bilden. 

Jag kan inte RÄKNA hur många annars fina familjebilder Anja har gjort så här med.
"Det är därför att jag pussade Isak," förklarar hon. Suck.

 Efter IKEA besök sov vi hos Craig och Cecilia, som väntar barn i December!!
 Isak och Elina gillade sitt rum...

Så här hittade jag dem om morgonen, tittandes på 3D film.

Hemresan! 


Jämförelsematerial från tidigare år finns här:
2010, 2008 och en bild från 2009.

My Book Has Gone To Press!

For the handful of readers of this blog I can make the formal announcement that I am officially about to become an author. The book will be available on August 14th. It can be pre-ordered on Amazon and a few other online places (Google Books, Books-A-Million, Good Reads, Deseret Book among them). But the most exciting thing to me is that the book will be at my favorite store in the universe (after IKEA) namely, Barnes & Noble! Okay, so perhaps only a few Barnes & Noble stores will actually carry hard copies, and the initial print run of my book is very small, and I never expected it to be widely circulated, but in some Barnes and Noble stores there will be copies available! 


Here is a little information about it:

“Growing up in the 21st century is not exactly the Calvin and Hobbes childhood I so adore. The boy in the tree house wearing the newspaper hat and on the nature trail pondering life’s mysteries, where is he? Have his parents sedated him with hours and hours of screen time instead of making him shovel snow off the drive-way ‘to build his character’ as his dad used to put it? Is he no longer making duplicators and transmogrifiers out of card board boxes? Has his imagination atrophied and his cognitive development been arrested? Say it is not so!”

Raising Children in the 11th Hour provides an eye-opening look at aspects of life facing this generation of children in America, providing the kinds of illuminating facts and statistics that are sure to affect choices parents make for their children, for the better. Timely topics covered include kids, money and advertising, the prevalence and effects of video games, facebook and young users, the current state of children’s nutrition, the decline in children’s reading levels and what we can do about it, the importance of sleep, the need for outdoor play, the sexualization and objectification of women and girls in media, and many others."


If you click on any of the above links you may notice that not all of them display the same cover, and many have the wrong blurb ("In our modern nonstop world..." is a blurb someone at the publishing house wrote before the book was completed and it does not represent well what the book is actually about. Amazon has a blurb that describes the actual book). The publisher is supposedly in the process of updating all of that so by the time August 14th rolls around everything will be uniform and correct on the web. 


People have asked how this came about. I was approached by a relatively small publisher (publishes some 100 books per year) to write a book back in October 2011. They were looking for someone to write a parenting book for them, as they usually have a parenting book in their line-up of books every year, and my name came up through a friend of mine (I guess it is true that it is who you know, just as much as what you know). I did not like their idea, and did a counter proposal of a parenting book I could see myself writing. (I could never write a "how to" book advising parents on day-to-day discipline, for example, and let's face it - who would ever read such a book, written by me?).

I submitted four sample chapters late October and they liked what they read because the book was contracted on my birthday, November 9th. My deadline was January 11th!! And I had the most intense month of school left. I took my last final and turned in my final projects for school on December 14th. I slept very little in December between the book, hosting Christmas and Christmas in general, but I did make by deadline. Lucky for me, these were all topics I have thought a lot about since becoming a mom, and I have researched it some in the past and therefore it was a less daunting task than had I not been so familiar with the subject matter. The book has been updated and edited since the initial draft was turned in and this week it went to press. I know I will not make very much money (authors hardly ever do, and with the non-existent marketing budget my book has I am under no illusion about its prospects). And compared to the time I have put into this, my hourly wage will be pitiful. But despite all of that, I am just happy for the accomplishment! :)

Isak Scout Day Camp

Jag åkte med Isak till scout läger i år. Det pågår i en hel vecka, men bara på dagtid, från 8:30 till 16:00. Här är lite bilder på vad de göra under dagarna. De har ett schema där de går till en massa olika stationer. I år är temat en tidsline, så varje dag på lägret representerar en ny tidsålder och de lär sig något specifikt från den tiden. I går, när jag var med, var det 1860-talet och det pratades om Amerikanska inbördeskriget, "cattle drives" och cowboys, bland annat.

 Gruppbild om morgonen.

Den djupa änden av poolen. 

Det är riktigt mysigt på scout ranchen, faktiskt. 

Lyssnar på luftgevärsinstruktioner. 

Medhavd matsäck! 

Lyssnar på historier och fakta om 1860 talet. 

 Pil och båge.

Efter bågskjutning. 

Isak syr i hop en kompasshållare i läder som man kan sätta på bältet. 

Han stygn var fantastiskt fina, speciellt om man jämför med medel-standarden bland scouterna. 

Så han kan tydligen sy både med och utan maskin! 

De gör båtar av festispaket som de ska segla i ett "hängränne-race" sista dagen. 

Luftgevär. Han skjuter med vänstern!?

Isaks båt. 

Scout hunden Reagan som springer fritt omkring. 

Alla pojkarnas favorit.

Isak Sooner Flight Academy 2012

Isak finished his 2nd year at Sooner Flight Academy today. Here are pictures from his flight and graduation.

 Jared (teacher/intern), Isak, Ian and Pilot Nick.

Getting ready to fly. 

 And off they go.

 Isak's plane was number 11 - you can see it on the tail in this picture.

Isak and Julia after the flight. 

 At "graduation."

 Isak gets his certificate.

 And his star pin.

Isak and Sam - SFA graduates 2012.

Elina Riding Camp 2012

Elina attended her 3rd year of horse camp. She looks forward to this all year. Here are pictures from one of her lessons.

 Elina on the horse "Tug"

Julia turned 3!!

Julia turned 3 years old without too much fanfare, on June 4th. Just a few presents in the morning - she was ecstatic about everything! And then we had dinner and birthday cake according to Julia's demand. (Pink cake, of course - she also wanted pink ice cream.)

 Not a baby anymore!

 Mmm!

I am also happy to report that she is completely potty trained. Julia really could have been potty trained at 19 months old if it had not been for the "language barrier."  She has willingly gone on the potty and toilet since she was a year and half and done so on a daily basis, but her language was not sophisticated enough for me to bring her out and about and say, "Just hold it 5 more minutes!" Anyway, it is only my fault that she did not become completely diaper free until now. I blame school and my book and other demands. And then I had to make the decision of whether to brave the Sweden trip with or without diapers. (Nine hours on on an airplane can make adults wish they wore diapers...). And because of final exams etc., after seemed better. But like I always knew she would, she was trained over night. She just had to be told.

Horses

We've fed some horses as we have been out and about.

We had no food for this one, but she was so friendly, still. 

Julia is not afraid. 

 Jag tycker detta är fint, även om taggtråden är med!

Marsvinsmat gillar dom!