Bubbling with Swedish

Hello,
It's the end of another week and today is Saturday. Hanna has her 5th birthday tomorrow and we got home later this afternoon after her kiddie party at a local play place-- the kind with climbing structures and special room for the party food etc. She had 5 of her friends from school invited plus an older cousin and Liv for a total of 8. We enjoyed the afternoon and while it can be pricey to do these things, it sure makes it nice when we don't have to cook, clean and plan and then clean up after it all! Considering our living situation now, there weren't many party options for a small group of wild ones....
Mattias cooked salmon and baked potatoes tonight. We ate the fruit salad and chocolate cupcakes leftover from the party for dessert. He is getting the girls ready for bed as they are wired and tired from the day. Tonight is the finale of the Melodifestivalan--a kind of European contest that will decide who is the most entertaining singer/performer in Europe. Tonight Sweden is deciding their candidate. I haven't watched before but might consider it entertaining to check it out.
Both Mattias and I had a busy week. He was in Uppsala for two nights. He enjoyed a corporate team building event with an evening of go-karting. Little did his team know that he was a former go-kart racer while growing up so this event was just up his alley! Back home to settle more things on our pending new house. We got in there this week to remove some more items from the house and garage, vacuum, and absorb the atmosphere. We discovered new things about the house and took some more look/see's to get the work ideas in place. We are doing some verbal problem solving and hope to get it in place quickly once we settle the financials of owning the place.
I had a great week at school and as they say in Swedish, "Min huvud är bubblar med Svenska"!-- or my head is bubbling with Swedish! The program is really fantastic for three reasons-the method they use at the Kungsbacka Komvux called Suggestopedi; our teacher who is a bundle of energy; and lastly, the classmates. We are all gelling now and have a fun time while learning Swedish. I have been lunching with the Americans/Australians and Romanians, but lately enjoyed a girl's lunch with Yvonne, from East Germany and Farida from Russia. We tease Farida as the "Swedish police" as she enforces that we must speak Swedish while in class and out on breaks. She calls herself "Little Stalin". Another day I broke away from the American and Australian group to have lunch with the Asian ladies from China and Thailand. It is very interesting to hear people's background stories and learn why and how they got to Sweden.
Tomorrow we have a family meal as both Hanna and cousin Linus share the same birthday. He is turning 7 years. It was suggested that I bring calico baked beans and coleslaw to share with the bbq chix and spareribs. There was rumour of some sort of Princess Torta for dessert. Yummy!
More later,
Carrie