Hot air balloon capital of the world!

Yes i knew that but as we were leaving our house for our nightly walk. This is what we stumbled upon!

Emma thought it was pretty cool. She said; mom, now i have seen a hot air balloon fly, crash-landed, and now take off! Awesome!

First week of school

I think this week has been the most emotional week so far. We were so nervous all three! Em was starting second grade in a new school, but that wasn't it. She had to do so in another country and language. 

So far we love her school. Everyone has been fantastic! Her teachers are great! They are very caring and understanding. They are gentle and very patient with her, and us too. They make sure we are on board and knows whats going on at all times. I definitely feel as we made the right choice in school. And there is Oscar. Oscar is a boy in her class that moved to Sweden when he was four. His dad is Swedish and Oscar speaks both swedish and english fluently! So he has been appointed Emma's translator. Makes sense, the boy speaks well and so much, he speaks for two! 

Emma has made some new friends as well. Right now she is looking forward to see Vera everyday. Vera seems to be Emma's opposite. She is very calm and shy, but maybe thats only when we are around.... Today they got to walk to school together and they were totally in a world of their own. 

We also got to meet Vera's dad, and he, as well as all the other parents we have met so far are all so very nice. What a great relief! 

Today will be another big day as Em is staying at fritids (VIK) after school for the first time. We are taking it slow, so only one hour today. We'll find see how that goes.....

Feeling like we have settled in

I must say; i finally feel like we have gotten settled in to our new lives. Sure, there is still plenty of wants left to check off our/my list but the must do's are almost gone. Yay! 

Dave is now a proud owner of a green card! Funny to think i was the one carrying around that magical card for so long, and now the tables are turned. Just hope he will not get as hassled as i did, the few times i left home without it. Somehow authorities can almost smell that you left it behind..... Now we are just waiting to get Em's and Dave's person numbers (social security numbers) but that process is our of my hands and all we can do is to wait for the swedish tax agency to finish it up. 

Emma got accepted into the school we choose for her. She is super stoked. I felt kind of lost in the whole school process  we narrowed it down to three candidates and from there we mostly went on gut feeling and which school had the most kid-friendly walking path. We had a winner in mind and went down to enroll her. Nope. You have to apply. Ok, we did that. The wait to find out if the had "space" for her was nerve wrecking. Emma had her mind made up and her heart set for this one school. I don't want to be the one to break that little heart. We tried to explain the situation to her. Try to make her understand, so in case she was not accepted the let down wouldn't be as big. It was great seeing her big smile when telling her that she got in to the school she wanted. School starts on the 20th.

Only thing left on our list is jobs. I started applying for jobs this week and its a process and situation that makes me very uncomfortable. I hate selling myself, i much rather just show and prove what i can do. I know it will take time but wish i could just snap my fingers and Poof! 

Well, i guess we will just keep trucking through and see what tomorrow might bring!

❤

A few pictures from the last few weeks.

We have been here in Stockholm now for almost three weeks. We have done all the must do's and a few wants but it has sure been wonderful spending so much time together as a family. We have explored, lots of "fika" with our friends, dinners, biking, playing, movie nights, and more. We really enjoy it here! 

A few pictures of the last weeks;

Emma's room

The view from Fjällgatan

Em on her new bike that mormor and morfar got her. 

A day at the park. 

Evening walk.