Luca and Maya eat breakfast in the backyard. They usually have cereals+milk or peanut butter bread or the Chinese buns as breakfast. The weather has been very nice and we eat at the garden a lot. 

A new train table + train sets for both kids. It's a big hit.

Mama's birthday. Thank you so much to farfar, farmor, and Malin for the beautiful flowers. They brighten up the room, also our spirits. Mama also receives nice gifts from pappa, Luca and Maya. (maya and pappa did the shopping), which include a card, a small truck, a car magazine, princess crayons, and a pair of earrings mama loves. The strawberry cake is DELICIOUS!

As a gift to herself, Mama finishes editing her new novel on the day of her birthday, 29th, which she started four years ago. She's been working hard on it. On the same day she submits it to her agent in the UK and the US. Hopefully there'll be good news soon. For the rest of the day she takes it easy, working out and watching 24, the TV show, on Netflix. As for dinner, we have Indian food from our favorite Indian restaurant in the neighborhood.

Maya's last day at Agape preschool is July 31. She's making cookies for her school friends as a goodbye gift. We'll take some vacation before her kindergarden starts on 19th.

Luca, can you make your pants even dirtier???

Luca speaks more words

Luca's vocabulary includes:

Swedish: Titta, Lampa, pappa

Chinese: xiexie (thank you) - he loves saying xiexie, jiejie (big sister), gougou (dog), qiu (ball), mama

English: more - he says it a lot because he loves food!, byebye

And of course, gibberish. He understands almost everything we say to him, though.

Friends visiting, Maya's swimming class, fire station tour...

Our dear Swedish friends Johan, Karolina and their two kids, Noa and Vera, stayed with us for ten days. We went to the beaches, Napa, and a fossil park. It was so nice to have them. The kids were in the swimming pool several times a day, a perfect way to cool off.

Luca has been coughing on the off for over a month. I took him to see the doctor last week. Luckily, it's just the cold.

We saw a rattle snake in the fossil park

What got their attention???

Here is the answer.

The second time pappa cut Luca's hair

The result. What do you think?

July 4th party at our house. Fireworks at the neighborhood went on until midnight. Quite a spectacular show.

Making cupcakes on Noa's 10th birthday

Maya no longer wears the floater. She's really swimming!

Sharing a plate of pasta

Maya started her swimming class last Friday. She loves her teacher.

Maybe Luca will become a baseball player.

Fire Station Visit 

Maya drives the firetruck.

 Luca drives the firetruck.

Maya tries on the shoes.

Maya's new painting

Luca loves trains too. This is the set we just bought.

What are you doing, Luca? Arranging flowers?

Maya's second email to Mommy

Hi mommy I love u mommy.  Hi mommy this is my gift to u
From maya

Sent from my (daddy's) Smartphone. 

Her first email to mama was sent two weeks ago. Similar content. :D

Maya graduates from preschool!!!

A big milestone for Maya today. The graduation ceremony is held at her school, attended by all her teachers, classmates and their parents. Teacher Bea kicks off the event with a nice speech about the school and the four kids who're graduating, then Teacher Carole (Maya's favorite teacher. But she left on Monday to start a job as an event organizer at a golf course) presents each of the four kids preschool diploma. Maya receives many gifts from her beloved teachers, including a sculpture of a girl riding a scooter from Kelly, her art teacher. Kelly says that she made it for Maya because Maya loves riding scooters. Thank you, Kelly!

Maya's Kindergarden will start on August 16.  

Maya's ear infection

Maya has an ear infection and has to see the doctor. She seems to be proud of that and says that she's going to tell all her friends about the "infection." She barely slept last night because of her ear pain - she ran back and forth between her room and mama and pappa's room. Hopefully she'll sleep better tonight.

Everyone else is a bit sick too. Mama coughs, Luca coughs, and even Pappa (on a buisness trip in London) coughs. Glad that Pappa will be back tomorrow.

Pappa is traveling

Pappa is in London. Maya and Luca are competing for Mama's attention. If one sits with mama, the other would squeeze himself or herself in between - a fight thus ensues. If Mama gives one food or water, the other would want the same thing. The first night of pappa's absence, Luca sleeps poorly and wakes up often. Mama has to sleep on the mattress next to his crib, letting him grab her hand (a habit of his since waipo and waigon's visit) throughout the night. In the early morning, Maya comes to Luca's room and sleeps next to mama. Since the mattress is small, couple of times she rolls to the floor and then climbs back. When she gets up, she shows me her fingers, which seem to be coated with chocolates. "What's that?" mama asks, thinking that she's stolen some chocolate cake from the kitchen, leftover from a party. "Mama, I pooped on my pants!" she reports. "A lot!" Luca, barely waking up in his crib, hears Maya's voice and stands and smiles and extracts the pacifier from his mouth and throws it with all his might at a wall, something he does whenever he gets excited, and jumps up and down like a little deer.

We don't get to Maya's school until 10:20am...it's just a lot of cleaning to do and there's quite a bit drama at the breakfast table too .