Building train rails:

Tired Vic just woke up:

She got the big stick I got the small one..totally reasonable!:

Had a good couple of days ending this workweek, pickups at school, playing in the yard, dancing in the kitchen, laundry, cooking falafel, baby group, eating unhealthy (it happens), playing basketball etc.

 

Yesterday was also the 21st birthday of one of the au pairs so we were 13 girls who met at Cheesecake Factory to eat (yummy in my tummy) and then went to a bar that allowed anyone over 18 in so that was nice..is a bit weird   not being able to order a glass of wine in the restaurant again suddenly..makes you feel so young again hahaha!

Today I might meet up with some au pairs as well, nothing planned, we'll see what happens :) 

Kärlek!

Baked for the baby group:

Frozen yoghurt:

First breakfast alone and without kids in 2 weeks, very relaxing:

Yesterday started off with some laundry and grocery shopping. I started making som carrot soup to save for lunch and then went to pick up Vic at school. 

Later we went back to school to pick up Felix and then went to a park 10 minutes drive from here. For dinner I cooked enchiladas which turned out pretty well.

Today I went shopping again with Jen getting some necessities and then picked up Victoria. Managed to bake some bread as well for tomorrow when the baby group is coming over and some scones for the carrot soup we ate for lunch. Rest of todays plan is to go get ice cream with the kids, go to the park and eat sushi..not too bad! :) 

Some pictures:

Then we also played in the backyard with bubbles and ended the day with cooking pasta and stewed salmon with spinach and sauce..pretty good actually! Now we are watching Alvin and the gang 2 and after that it's bedtime. 

Some pictures from today:

Today I slept in until 9, went up and ate breakfast and a little bit later went for my first "run"..more like jogging mixed with walking but what can you expect from a person who hasn't been running since forever really? Pretty proud of myself either way.
After some stretching and such I went outside in the sun with the kids for a while, they boys went on their kickboards whilst I walked and played some ball with Victoria. Then we prepared some lunch and ate out on the front steps of the house, really feeling the spring coming to Atlanta now..considering its mid January it's pretty sweet to say the least.

Now the family is away on different things (there seems to always be some birthday party or playdate) and later some friends of theirs are coming over whilst I will be heading out to Roswell to play some bowling with other au pairs..pretty excited for that!

Wish you all a lovely sunday!

Kärlek!

 

Took some pictures of a couple amazing houses in the neighborhood..I can assure you there are many more and a lot bigger here as well:

My new jogging shoes:

Lunch on the front steps:

 

Today started with an amazing breakfast at egg harbor café together with Jen, Tom and Felix (Kit had to be home with Victoria who has been having a fever). After that it was of to the ice arena where the boys went skating and then back home.
A little bit later I went to Perimeter mall where I met up with two other au pairs, finally managed to get my phone fixed and bought a pair of jogging shoes..now I have no excuse not to try to get some working out done starting tomorrow, we'll see how that goes haha!
Other than that the plan for tomorrow is to go bowling with some au pairs out in the Alpharetta area which should be fun.

Have really enjoyed this first week and some here in Atlanta and feel like I match very well with the family here. Even though I've traveled a lot and never had any problem being away from home I didn't dare to believe  I would feel this at home after such a short period of time which is great. Everything is coming together piece by piece as the everyday patterns are starting to form. I know there will probably be hard days ahead when you miss things at home, or rather people at home etc. but knowing you will see people sooner or later anyhow is pretty comforting. I really want to make the best I can of my time here and enjoy the present, before I know it this adventure will be over and I will be back in Sweden again so there is not much reason to waste time missing things when you can make the most of the time you have right now. Sending some wise words out there for ya haha!

Kärlek!

 

Adorable Victoria and my awesome pastasalad:

Looking cool as always:

And the weather is finally showing signs of spring:

The past few days have been spent picking up kids from school, playing tag, grocery shopping, ikea shopping, watching karate, cooking, playing fussball game and pingis etc. It's been an intense first week but I'm starting to get a hang of all the routines of the family which feels pretty good.
Am also improving my cooking skills, Tuesday I did pie which was pretty good (could have been better but there's a first time for everything) and yesterday I managed to do an amazing broccoli soup with freshly baked scones..threw that all together within half an hour at lunch so I was pretty proud of myself!

Plans for the weekend are somewhat unclear, I will try to meet some au pairs to get out of the house for a bit..also need to go look for training shoes so I can start getting back into shape again (or at least try), and I still need to fix a number and data for my phone which seems to be harder than I first thought.. and tomorrow night we are meeting some friends of the family as well.

 

Tonight the family is going to be away so I'm going to just have a calm evening by myself, watching some movies and relaxing after this week.. will be nice!

Kärlek!

 

My amazing soup!

Felix at "karate":

Victoria loves watching music on the computer :)

Finished the morning procedures for today and have a little time now before me and Jen are leaving for Ikea, pretty excited for that haha!

Yesterday afternoon was spent ice-skating with the boys, it was a bit shaky to start with for all of us but after almost an hour of skating we all had improved a lot which was really fun to see especially in the boys who only skated once or twice before.

Still getting to know the streets and everything around here, as soon as I get my phone plan and 3G on my phone I will go out exploring further..wouldn't want to risk getting lost without a map out here! It's hard to remember your way when everything around you is so new I've noticed.. my memory is usually very good at remembering streets and places etc. but it's not as easy when you really don't know where anything is.

Felix and Victoria:

My first weekend here has been great, feels like I've been here for a while already to be honest..not just 4 days!
Yesterday me and Jen went for a drive in the big car and went around the area just for me to get to know it a bit better and to get to know the car better. Later that day I took the smaller car to Target and bought some things I needed like shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste etc.

 

Today is my first actual "workday", went up a little after 6am this morning and helped preparing breakfast, get the kids ready for school and then cleaned up and threw in some laundry while Jen drove the kids to school. In a bit we are heading of to the store to get some grocery shopping done for the week!

Already feel a lot like home here, the kids are adorable and I feel like I get along very well with Jen and Kit as well as they are very straight forward people which makes everything so much easier on my behalf. As they moved in to the house where we are living now just 1,5 month ago there is obviously still some things to be done around the house and my room as well but over all I really like my room and the rest of the house. The area where we live is pretty insane as well, most houses are huge and all the gardens look so perfect everywhere as well..I don't understand how they do it haha!

Later today I'm going ice-skating with Tom and Felix.. cant remember the last time I skated and am sure I will fall several times..hopefully I wont hurt myself too bad!

 

Kärlek!

So, I was thinking I was gonna give this blogging thing another chance. It didn't go very well on my trip to South Africa as I wasn't able to connect my computer to the internet but maybe this time around it will go better!

Am currently spending my third day here in Atlanta with my host family. Have made it out of the jet-lag like a pro and am feeling pretty awesome.
Yesterday was my first actual day here, as I arrived Thursday night. It was spent at home with the family, shopping some groceries with Jen and Victoria as well as picking up Tom and Felix at school. I still haven't been driving myself here and am a bit nervous about that part to be honest, the traffic here is a bit different from back home but I am sure that I will be fine after test driving a bit.

Today I went up at 8 and then we left to go eat breakfast at a restaurant close to here, atean omelet and potatoes and English muffin on the side. No wonder it's easy to get fat in this country!
After the breakfast Tom and Felix went ice-skating for the first time in their life in a newly built arena close to where we live. They had a lot of fun and it was fun watching them as well, all though it got a bit cold..

There are so many new things to take in and to learn, it will probably take a little time to get everything into routine and all but that's the way it always is! I will write a entry later about the family I live and stuff like that but not right now.

Kärlek!

 

 

 Getting ready for ice-skating!