December 26th, 2011
Just a picture and movie update. Nothing to see here. Move along (to the picture and movie page).
December 23rd, 2011
It was the night before Christmas and the house was quiet. Well. Almost quiet. At least the kids are asleep! Andreas is (as you probably realize) updating this page and Christina is doing the last prepping for tomorrow. We are having a Danish Christmas Eve and a Swedish Christmas Day. The Danes are coming over tomorrow around 2pm and will bring traditional Danish Christmas food (duck and pork roast, potatoes, caramelized potatoes, and red cabbage). Christmas Day we will first head over to Joern and Deanna for a brunch and then do a Swedish Christmas dinner at our house.
The week has been busy, but we did find time to go to Leavenworth Tuesday. We did a sleigh ride, which the kids REALLY enjoyed and then a German feast at Andreas Keller. Driving home was kind of an adventure, since the snow was coming down very heavy in Steven's Pass. We ended up driving behind two snow plows for about 45 minutes, which was nice because there was almost zero visibility.
Tilde and Andreas put out cookies and milk for Santa earlier in the evening. If all goes to plan, Santa will eat the cookies, drink the milk and then leave a present in return. Tilde is keeping her fingers crossed!
December 18th, 2011
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
As you can see, life is now truly screwed.
November 27th, 2011
Fall has been very busy for different reasons so we haven't really had time to update the page. Jojo has been sick and required surgery, but he seems to be doing quite well now. On top of that, Andreas has traveled for work for the last month or so, leaving Christina alone with kids and dogs. He is leaving for another week on the road tomorrow morning. We've still managed to squeeze in Thanksgiving and a night at the Stender's new "cabin" (their version of a cabin is what we would call a very nice house :) ).
Both Tilde and Sophie are doing very well. Tilde's language and counting skills are getting better day by day and Sophie started crawling about two evenings ago. She is now "chasing" Tilde's toys and the poor dogs around on the carpet... :)
New pictures and movies can be found on their respective pages. Over and out.
November 24th, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving! Remember to stay well hydrated... ;)
August 24th, 2011
Man, we are seriously bad at updating this page. Seems like every time we have an intention to update it, something else takes precedence. If it's not taking care of Tilde and Sophie, it's doing something on the house or being social. Damn those friends who wants us to spend time with them! :)
As a token of how bad we feel about the slow updates, there are nine (yes, nine) new movies on the movie page. :)
July 17th, 2011
Rain. Nothing but rain. If feels like we went from winter directly to fall without passing spring or summer. Sure, we've had a few days with good weather (25C and sun) but they've been very few and far in between. Very depressing.
Both Tilde and Sophie are doing very well. Tilde is being a fairly typical two year old right now and we definitely understand why it is called the "terrible two's". She is being quite obstinate and testing every limit. Sophie on the other hand is sleeping full nights and is more and more content with just hanging out. Who would have thought the not-yet-3-month-old baby would be easier than her 2 years older sister? How's that for irony...
We've found a breakfast place we really like called The Grange Cafe. It's over in Duvall (which is about 15 minutes from here) and they specialize in local, sustainable foods. On top of that, they have a play area with toys which Tilde really like. Eating is so much more enjoyable when restless kids can go and play for a while.. :) We've also recently been (on Andreas' birthday to be precise) to The Stone House in Redmond for dinner. Deanna took care of Tilde and Sophie for a few hours so we could have a nice and relaxed dinner date... :)
There is a new, small batch of pictures on the picture page.
June 19th, 2011
It feels like Sophie turned a corner the other night. Up until now, she has been a bit fussy in the evening. We reckon she is having some light tummy ache combined with just general evening fussiness. However, Thursday evening it started to become better and it has steadily improved since then. Last evening she combined sleeping, eating and smiling into the best evening so far for us. Hopefully she keeps it up, just like her sister did! :)
Christina's parents were here for about 10 days and left June 7th. They really enjoyed spending time with their grandkids and generally just hanging out. Funny enough, they also found time to oil 300+ feet of fence and other yard work together with Andreas. Happy times! Pictures and movies from their stay here can be found on the picture and movie pages.
We are planning (hoping) to find time for a little Swedish midsummer party together with the Olsens. If weather permits (it has really improved over the last couple of weeks), it will be a fairly traditional lunch with lax, sill and all the trimmings. Later in day we'll do a barbeque, Andreas is starting to get the grip on the smoker. Ribs that are first smoked and then flashed over high heat are REALLY good.. :)
May 11th, 2011
As you can probably guess, we've been fairly busy over the last week or two. Sophie is doing well and according to her last checkup she has gained weight since her birth. Mom and dad are not surprised: She eats like a horse, much like her sister did at the same age. Tilde seems happy about her little sister, yelling "Baby Sooopieee!" every so often.
A new batch of pictures and new movies are up!
May 1st, 2011
April 30th, 2011
At 1.43pm yesterday, April 29th 2011, Sophie (Soopiie according to Tilde) Maria Junestam was born at Evergreen hospital. She weighed in at 2984 grams and was 50.5 centimeters tall. Both mom and baby are doing VERY well so far. Pictures and more will follow once everything has settled down a bit.
April 21st, 2011
Another six weeks or so have passed since the last update and we are getting close to baby time. Official due date is May 3rd, but it is more likely Sophie will arrive end of April. In other words: we are about one week away from total life takeover.
Andreas is working on getting the backyard in shape, something which will take several years. For this summer, the priorities are raised beds for vegetables, sandbox for Tilde, compost bin, shed, fruit trees, rain water barrels and planting stuff along the new fence line. The beds have already been built and we are moving some landscaping to fit them where we want them. We've also picked up three fruit trees (one combo apple, one combo pear and one combo plum), all which are to be planted during the weekend. All in all, things are moving along well!
Today is Christina's birthday! She started the day with breakfast and presents in bed, all while Tilde was sound asleep. Deanna and Dorde came over around 3pm with Princess cake (yes, apparently it's possible to find good "prinsesstårta" in the US) and kids for a small celebration. Later in the evening, Christina, Andreas and Tilde went to California Pizza Kitchen for a low-key dinner. All in all a very good birthday.
There are new pictures and movies!
March 7th, 2011
Man, did we sleep bad last night. Around midnight we were woken by a dog barking and howling in the neighborhood behind us. Very annoying. Today Andreas spoke to one of the neighbors to track down whose dog it was. Well, there is some good news and some bad news. The good news? No annoying dog. The bad news is that there are annoying coyotes around our neck of the woods... :)
February 20th, 2011
Let us start with this statement: EVERYONE is doing fine, including not-yet-born Sophie. About a month ago we had a little incident here. Christina started bleeding like crazy resulting in her having to spend 3 nights at the hospital. To make a long story short, Christina suffered a slight rupture in the connecting tissue holding the placenta. Once home, she was under Doctor's orders to take it very easy. Where are we going with this story? Well, it is the reason there has been no updates for slightly more than a month; Andreas has been busy taking care of other things.. :)
But, with no further delay, enjoy a few new pictures on the picture page and 7 new movies on the movie page.
January 16th, 2011
Christmas came and went. Andreas is back at work and his parents are back in Sweden after a 4 week stay. What we are trying to say is: Everything is back to the boring, busy normal. :) The house feels quite empty with "farmor" and "farfar" gone. Tilde is actually still looking for them at breakfast.
The work on the house continues with the fence being finished off and John the Painter working on the kitchen. We are still waiting for the roof replacement, the weather has not been on our side the last couple of weeks. Andreas is completing some smaller projects and are starting to make plans for what needs to be done in the backyard during the summer.
Apollo is starting to fit in with the pack; He is slowly understanding what is required when it comes to "house manners" in the Junestam household. He's a very happy and cozy dog, and we see great potential in him. Andreas is planning to start running with him as soon as the monsoon season ends... :)
By the way, there are new pictures on the picture page, enjoy!