Saturday

We tore down our living room wall this week. 

 We turned a small, barely used front room and a very used, small t.v. area into one great room.  It isn't finished yet, but I still wanted to show you what it looks like so far.

Saturday, we went to Ikea to get an area rug, (rather than recarpeting the whole area, which is very pricey.) According to our carpet-professional friend, carpet prices are about to rise, because petroleum prices are rising. 

A trip to Ikea, is more than a trip to any old store (OF COURSE!!!) because it's a little slice of Sweden in America.  Yippee! 

 Of course, I had my camera along:

 Yes, Swedes eat caviar out of a toothpaste tube.  Yum, yum!  :)

 Cardamom Bulla.  The ultimate comfort food.

 Marzipan and cream-- Princesstarta.  The best of all possible birthday cakes.

Mazariner.

                              And my favorite:  all the sylt.  (Sylt = jam.)  Hjortronsylt = cloudberry jam.  Fladersylt = elderberry jam.  Krusbarssylt = gooseberry jam.  Blabarssylt = blueberry jam.  Hallonsylt = raspberry jam.

                               

 Baby H. and me at the cafe.

 We were there early enough for breakfast --Swedish pancakes and lingonsylt.

 Baby H. is used to getting mauled by all of us.  Here is a double smoocher by A.J. and me.

 A.J. and C.E. at the Ikea cafe for lunch... yes!  It took us most of the day and two meals to escape the wonderful vats of lingonsaft and so many cute little lamps.

So, Sunday:  as usual, we got together with the entire family-- my brother's whole family, my older sister's whole family, (including her husband's parents), and my whole family.  This is a monthly tradition of birthday celebrations.  We celebrated three of our tribe's birthdays for January, last night.  We have intermarried with Americans and Czechs, so when we are all together, we all speak English.  However, the majority of this tribe is made up of the Swedish-American delegation, so often, there is the sound of Swedish happening among the cousins.  This photo is one of Baby H. and his oldest male Swedish-speaking cousin.