To have a New Year

December passed too quickly, as usual, and Christmas too - my favourite time of the year. I think it was really special for M this year especially as we had a Swedish mini-Christmas in Gothenborg with her cousins which meant the celebrations lasted a bit longer.

Today is the last day of 2013 and a new year is waiting for us. I'm looking forward to 2014 - there will be no resolutions but I do have a list of what I'd like to achieve...

Happy New Year!

M and her cousin

Even Santa arrived early!

My version of a nativity set, nordic style...

And we met Rudolph in Covent Garden on Christmas Eve. We decided to do something different this year and went to the Royal Opera House and saw The Nutcracker - beautiful.

It was Christmas for Moo Moo too...a new bed arrived, all the way from Sweden...(love that little wooden bed, bought in a beautiful little toy shop in Gothenburg).

To have Advent

The weeks seem to pass so quickly as they tend to do when having fun (and being busy). And now it's Advent, finally, and time to enjoy Christmas. Less than 3 weeks to go before holidays but we'll also going to fit in 2 days in Gothenburg next weekend, a mini-Christmas celebration with family and hopefully a visit to the Liseberg Christmas market. We're ready for Christmas!

To have autumn

October went fast and tomorrow it's Halloween, or/and All Saints Day already. We didn't really celebrate Halloween when I grew up, it was more of an American tradition. But we did light candles on the graves and I remember it looked beautiful in the dark autumn night. So more than happy to have an extra candles and lanterns even if they're in a shape of a pumpkin...

M is on half-term now and we're making the most of the time off, only two days for me though.

We went to see the film "Cloudy, with a chance of meatballs 2", a favourite!

Already preparing for Christmas!

I took M to Oxford Street (very brave indeed) for the first time and we visited Disney Store, Hamleys and some other shops. Luckily she liked her new Dr Martens as much as I do  (even though I haven't had a pair since the 1990's...). The main reason for going to Oxford Street was to meet up with M's aunt/my sister- in-law who were on a shopping trip from Sweden, together with her sister and children. We had a great time at Hamleys and managed to fit in dinner at Pizza Express but after 7 hours out and about we're both tired when we got home at 22.30 that evening. But M didn't complain one single time, however, she did get spoilt rotten.

Our first Halloween pumpkin ever...Maya decided on the design and drew the eyes and mouth, and I was in charge with the knife. Not bad! A baby pumpkin with one tooth...

To have a birthday party

And today was the day for the actual birthday party! M wanted a smaller party so we only invited the girls from her class. Out of 13, 10 came in the end. 

We had booked a lovely and quite unusual place for the party (called Colour Makes People Happy) where the children could make their own "spin painting" to take home. Mini-pancakes and hot chocolate were on the menu too; and we brought snacks and a cake, of course. 

Everyone seemed to be having a lovely time and M was really pleased. A success!

Preparing of the party bags.

The big spin!

The colourful Simon running the workshop.

There was time for a little bit of film watching.

The red painting was made by the birthday girl and the very colourful one was made by all the girls, a gift for the birthday girl!

To celebrate a six-year-old

Today is the day - M is 6! It was a very happy little girl who woke up this morning. But she decided to not open all the presents in the morning and wanted to wait till she's back from school with some - willpower! At least the stubbornness can bring something good too...

I took a day off work so I should be able to pick her up, and prepare for the pajama party of the year - two of her best friends from her class is coming home with us, and one is going to stay over - the first sleepover ever. Definitely something to remember. Just hope we will make it through the night...

My beautiful (I'm allowed to say) big little girl who still loves princesses and unicorns, may it last.

New single bed who turned into a double bed, all ready for girls, film and popcorn.

Birthday books and DVD.

I used to bake birthday cakes but this year I was a bit lazy....found what she wanted anyway, a cake with roses, cute as a button.

To have a "brother"

As M doesn't have a sister or brother she sees my friends' younger children as her sisters/brothers, especially "baby JJ" and "baby A". On Sunday it was JJ's birthday - not a baby anymore but 3 years. He adores M. Very cute

To have a new adventure

Long time no seen...not sure where the time goes but it goes fast! School started three weeks ago and M as settled in very well with her new teacher. Thankfully she got to keep her class mates which is great as the kids and parents are so great, as it's not unusual for schools here to also change and swap when it comes to the pupils as well, not only the teachers. The amount of homework has increased considerably though and we need to ensure we sit down and do some of it over the weekend. It feels a bit early but it's just the way it is here.

We went to the first birthday party of the season yesterday and on Friday it's time for our M to turn 6. Already, what happened?! We'll have a bigger party this year but not until the weekend after her actual birthday, and we have only invited the girls in her class as M prefers smaller groups. The party we went to yesterday was a joint party with four birthday boys from her class - and ended up with nearly 50 kids including sisters/brothers! A bit too much for me but they had fun.

I start my new assignment next week, full-time sadly but I'm really looking forward to a new challenge and a new experience. This means that M has to go back to the afterschool club for three days/week and the other two days her grandmother and/or other parents will pick her up from school. She also has two "clubs" after school, arts and gymnastics which she really enjoys. I wish of course we could find a way of being able to pick her up from school every day but hopefully in the future. Then again, lots of kids go to afterschool clubs or/and are picked up by child minders, grandparents, friends and nannies so I shouldn't be feeling too guilty (but I always do).

Anyway, I'm really grateful I had the whole summer off and was able to spend a lot of time with our daughter, a true gem to treasure.

Time to get ready for the next birthday party, "sea creature theme" this time so better dig out the mermaid outfit (for M that is...).

Ready to party!