Weekend happenings

I'm sitting in bed typing this blog and planning to hit the hay early tonight. A friend and I took the train in to Göteborg last night to meet up with 22 other English speaking moms and Mattias drove into the city to pick us up late. We met at a Thai restauarant on Vasagatan and enjoyed a delicious build your own meal buffet. There were four of us whose kids go to the same school and another gal I had previously met for coffee so I knew a few people, but the rest I met for the first time. We are all English speakers and for the most part, married to Swedes, although there were a couple of Swedish natives who lived in the U.S. It was another cultural affair with ladies from England, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Canada and the U.S.

Last night, Liv went to a pajama birthday party for a school friend and had a nice time. Hanna stayed home with Mattias and had an evening with cousins while their folks were also out on the town. It was a gorgeous sunny day today. The cousins slept overnight and Mattias cooked an American pancake breakfast with bacon and real maple syrup. Afterwards, the kids played outside on a newly discovered area around the house. Hanna had a play date with a friend and Liv went home with Linus and Johan for more playing. I met the parents of Hanna's friend and had a coffee at their house before leaving Hanna, and then joined Mattias at our potential new home. Mattias and his friends were at Rolf's house divvying up more of his household belongings. It is getting emptier and now we can see better the work we will need to do to get it to our liking, get an idea of furniture placement etc. We are still sooooo excited about moving in and can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I have asked the neighbor to help me with the garden. Rolf was a master gardener so I have big shoes to fill and don't think I can do it on my own. If I understood her correctly, Ulla told me that when the birch trees begin to form buds is when I can prune the rose bushes...oh, so much to think about and the work will follow!

We have another busy week ahead but Mattias and I will take some days together in Stockholm at the end of the week. I will share more about that later.

Off to sleep,

Carrie