basement

i kinda been dragging it out to do the basement, having the main electricity going through the middle of the room been one thing. and that i never worked with this kinda thing before the other.
we were doing inventory at work and throwing away a lot of stuff. some was the material i needed for the basement. so that gave me a kick in da but(t maybe another time)
this window looked like someone threw a hand granade on it before.
eimis goal is to be able to move in before xmas. guess its good that im sitting in front of a computer at work now. i really miss "real" work so it makes it more fun to do this at home.
here is one thing that i do sorry its in jibberish

tis the season to be baking

well, that´s it, i admit it, i am addicted to baking cookies. zoe is turning into quite the little baker herself. she loves to help. especially stirring, but she has a hard time waiting as the recipe i have for cookies means the dough has to sit in the fridge overnight. poor kid, just does not have the patience.
this time pappa even helped out with the cookie cutting part, they made all kinds of shapes, but they were very mean and kept making mooses, which are the hardest to move from table to pan to cooling rack without breaking off their horn and legs!
and here we have the finished results. i tried a different recipe for the frosting, but i apparently failed as it seperated and was not good at all, so sadly zoe was frustrated for days that she could not "paint" the cookies.

IKEA, a part of swedish culture

a couple of weeks ago, thomas had some work in malmö, so we tagged along and he dropped us off at ikea. sometimes it just amazes me all the stuff you can find there. we took our time, as thomas said it would be a few hours, luckily there are small play areas around the entire store. zoe, of course had to stop at each one and play for a bit. i believe our time in the section where they sell kid´s stuff might have hit an all time record, but at least she had fun. and what trip to ikea would be complete without the old ikea korv (hotdog), at least for the meat eaters. i find it rather amusing that zoe gets wildly upset if i ever call a korv a hotdog. despite the fact that i have explained many times, she still things it means a cooked dog, and cries, no, no, don´t cook my bonita! crazy kid.one of our purchases zoe´s new work table. her and pappa put it together that evening.
she even picked the baby blue color out herself. she is so addicted to drawing and painting, that i figured she needed a proper place to actually work. it ended up being a big hit. and she is allowed to do whatever she wants to it, paint, write on it, you name it. hopefully that will continue to keep the walls in the house zoe drawing free. fingers crossed.

time for some more DE-STRUC-TION

we did the floor in our basement years ago, but never the ceiling or the walls, but the time has come. thomas gave it a start with gusto the other day....
he took down all the cement or plaster ceiling and cleaned it up so very nice...
only to make an even bigger mess when he tore down all the wood ceiling! 90 years ago when they built our house they used sand as insulation between floors, and it makes for very messy renovating now! the entire house is covered in a layer of dust, and i feel like i have been dusting for days! but i think the basement is going to look great when it is finally finished.
pappa enjoys being dirty as much as zoe does...

zoe´s dance class grand finale

so zoe´s dance class has ended for the semester. on the last day, us parents were allowed to come in and watch while they performed a couple of the dances they had been practicing. only, our dear little zoe thought it was better if she just sat down on the floor, because there was another little girl that wasn´t dancing, so neither would she! the whole first song she just sat there and all the other kids had to dance around them. skit unga!
she finally came to her senses and remembered that it was much more fun to dance than to sit on the floor, and joined in on the last two songs.
then it was time time to leave her own review of the class, since she colored the smiley faces blue, i think she approved. she is excited to start again after the new year

lördags morgon

snövit, mamma skyller på bebisen att hon måste sova. så zoe, pappa o bonita gick upp ltie tidigare
efter lite lego och annat lek o bus så tyckte bonita det var dax att ta en morron runda
men tänk om mamma vaknar, bäst att jag skriver en lapp så hon inte blir orolig om hon vaknar o vi inte e hemma...
tydligen var det inte en lapp utan e karta så mamma kan se hur vi gått i skogen.
sista beskirvningarn. nu e det dax att väcka mamma med lite frukost (och bebisen som nog e hungrig)

gomoron från oss

Thanksgivinge came early to Tyringe

we managed to celebrate american thanksgiving for the second year in a row here in tyringe. mormor cooked all day, we had all the fixins, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and even cranberry sauce.
but since mormor was going back to states we had to have it a couple of weeks early. not a problem, as swedes don´t know the difference. the pilgrims and the native americans never came here! zoe was in a great mood and managed to entertain all the grandparents. i think they were all splitting a gut by then end of the evening.
farmor and farfar stayed over so they could play the next day. farmor and zoe got very serious with the play doh, there was a lot of stuff to make!
meanwhile, farfar and pappa put a big hole in the wall! no, seriously they took out an old window and replaced it with a new one, and it is amazing the difference it has made in the heating of our basement. it actually stays room temperature down there now!
and well, this picture is here because they are just so darn cute! happy thanksgiving to everyone!

cookies in all the colors of the rainbow...

something about this pregnancy is turning me into a bake-aholic. but zoe is enjoying it. we make sugar cookies the other day, not quite sure why they are called sugar cookies as the recipe i have is really nice and not all that sweet. i will say they taste more like nutmeg and vanilla. anyway, her favorite part is "painting the cookies". check out the colors....

and there were orange hedghogs, green feet, pink squirrels, purple snails, yellow stars, well, you name it, we made it. not she wants to paint cookies everyday! oops! what have i started?

scotland

så denna gång åkte vi till islay. hade 4 haärliga dagar. med mycket whiskey och kanon väder.

happy halloween!

yes, halloween made it to sweden this year. (okay, so some swedish kids do go out and beg for candy, but it just does not have the same spirit here, so we had our own little halloween). mormor provided the pumpkin and location, and zoe provided the adorable entertainment. first came the scooping out of the pumpkin.
with a few pointers from mormor, zoe was quickly a pro, and spooning out the sloppy goop with gusto!
after a bit of carving and candle lighting, the mood was set. zoe was ready to scare us all!
hope everyone else had a fun halloween too!