While they were over dad and I built a new desk for our office. Now that Carl is online we need more space for our computers. Sadly we were too busy working ot take too many pictures.
I need to buy a drill bit for the cable hole sso I hope to finish this off tomorrow. It looks ace so far and is solid as a rock! Thanks dad and Tommy who helped so much.
Mum and dad were over from N Ireland to visit Carl for the first time. Since we also had Theodor for the weekend and Carl is still settling in, they have been staying with Åsa’s mum but we’ve seen them lots and did lots of fun things…
They arrived on Friday evening so we just hung out at our house and had dinner before taking them over to Kicki and Tommy’s to get some much needed sleep.
On Saturday morning Kicki and Tommy dropped mum, dad and Lilly off. While dad and I did some shopping for supplies the rest of them played in the garden to tire out the dogs and the kids.
We spent a large part of Sunday at Kicki and Tommy’s. It had snowed overnight so we bought a sledge and had some fun.
Then in the evening Theodor went home and everyone came to our place for dinner.
Carl has settled in nicely but sleeping in our bed is just not working anymore. Luckily IKEA is not far away so we went and bought him his own bed that he helped dad build.
Fingers crossed he will actually sleep in it too!
After we came home from China with Carl, Scout has felt a bit left out and neglected so we decided to give her a special treat. A visit to the doggie islands at Drottningholm Palace. Both dog and humans had a great time!
The car was due for a service so I took it in today. It was pretty cool because I could wait while they did it and they offered free lunch, coffee and web access. Well I had just eaten lunch before I came and I don’t drink coffee but I brought my laptop and played Star Wars: The Old Republic for two hours while the car was worked on right beside me…
We got a bit tired of our dull old IKEA TV unit shelf so we decided to replace it. It turned out great!
All that remains now is to get a new screen. The one we have now is a freebie we got from Åsa’s uncle. It’s an old slide screen that does the job but is getting old. I hope to buy a new one at the end of the month.
Today started off crappy. Carl didn’t sleep well during the night so was very grumpy. The horrid weather didn’t help at all. Obviously what you do on a cold rainy day is go to an open farm so that’s just what we did and it was great fun…
The day then got bad again when I was contacted about my mobile phone. My new and rather expensive Samsung Galaxy S2 died in China and The Phone House refuse to replace it under the guarantee because it has been damaged by moisture. Quite how that happened when it hasn’t been anywhere near moisture is anyone’s guess!
Luckily our insurance company know a lot more about customer service and are replacing it for me. Now I just need to go and buy one. Well done Folksam!
Then we went for another walk to post some more paperwork about the adoption. On the way back Åsa and Carl stopped to play in the playground but we had Scout and she’s not allowed in so I couldn’t go too 
All in all it has ended up as a good day with some minor upsets thanks mostly to the idiots at The Phone House.
We took it fairly easy for New Year’s Eve as we didn’t want to get Carl all hyped up or panicked. Thomas, Anna, Jimmy, Louise and David came round for a meal, some drinks and catching up on all the gossip. We were worried that Carl wouldn’t sleep or would be woken by the fireworks. He was an angel and went straight to bed after his bath, was asleep inside six minutes and then didn’t wake for the rest of the night even when there were really loud bangs outside.
Since getting back from China we, like most people, have been busy organising what we’d be doing for Christmas. In the end it was pretty much as normal. Christmas at Kicki and Tommy’s followed by Christmas Day at our place. The first job was to decorate our Christmas tree.
Then it was time for Christmas Day. More presents and much more food!
While Åsa sorted out lunch the men took Scout for a walk. The lake was partially frozen with totally clear ice. It looked very strange to see ducks seeming to walk on the water.
Then it was back inside to get the dinner ready. We didn’t have time to order a turkey and even less to cook it so we decided to keep it simple this year. Lentil soup followed by a yummy Jamie Oliver beef stew then a Christmas bomb for pudding. It was delicious!
Carl is already planning a career as a footballer. He’s decided he’ll play for Barcelona at club level and Northern Ireland at international level…
