When mom was 2 years old

My mom is 2 years old on the picture to the left. She thought I looked like her on the picture to the right. I tend to agree. What do you think?

Busy as a bee weekend

Hi, everyone. I really like to dress up nowadays. Here I have borrowed mom's necklaces and bracelets and I'm getting ready to go to my evening dinner. I quite like the stacking of the bracelets if I may say so myself.

Saturday we had lunch at the Chinese store. Noodles, fried vegetables, beef and tofu. Yum!

Saturday evening we had our neighbors Joanna, Ross and Bella over. We had potato gratin, salmon and pork loin steak. Joanna brought an amazing desert. Cake with pineapple cream topping.

I ate three portions of the cake!

We had such a good time!

Bella and I love to play together. We played all night and I didn't want it to end, but I did fall asleep in a minute that night so I guess I was tired after all.

Sunday morning; welcome to Gallery Elsie! I have put up my artwork for your viewing.

Let the master give you a guided tour...

....I call this one "Lots of Color no 5."

This one is my personal favorite: "Blue, red and orange swirl"

This one is called "Lots of color no 2"

I needed a nap after all the painting and then we took off for Mall of America. Mom needed some skin products and mom and dad were also going to see if they had any great things on sale. On the way we stopped at IKEA and I had an ice-cream. Love it!

Waiting for dad at MOA.

The shopping was NOT fun, but once it was done I got to go on a couple of rides as the reward for being a good sport. I went on the rabbit on the merry-go-round....

...and then mom and I went on a fun roller coaster.

Look at my fun dinner! Mom made a snowman with meatball and tofu ground and green beans and cucumber trees for my evening meal.

That's it, I'm digging into the snowman!

Eva's visit and Bella's birthday

Saturday morning my friend Eva and her mom, Quynh, and dad, Nick, came for a visit. We had Swedish pancakes (wow, many pancake breakfasts this winter!), and then we played a lot. At 11am we went to the library for storytime. It was fun, but I think both Eva and I liked to run around and play more than listening to the stories.

Storytime is over and now Eva and I get to play with the big blocks at the library. How fun!

This one looks quite big, but I can lift it!

Hmmm, dad wanted to take a picture of all of us, but Eva and I were not really cooperating. Finally Nick took Eva in his lap but I refused to sit still so only my arm and leg got to be in the picture. Well, your loss!

Uhhh, what is this rat doing???!!, you wonder. Not to worry, this is Chuck E Cheese! We went to his restaurant to celebrate Bella's birthday. He performed for all the kids and wished the birthday kids HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Bella, her mom Joanna, and I were a bit stunned and surprised looking at Chuck E...

...but once the birthday cake arrived we were really excited!

Look at that! What a nice cake!

There were so many fun rides at Chuck E. Cheese. We all got many gold coins to use for the different rides. I loved this ladybug ride. I think I went on it at least 10 times, if not more!

This Chuck E. Cheese school bus was also fun to ride.

Look out! Here comes the big go-cart driver!

Sunday afternoon we went to Calhoun lake. It was so pretty out.

I played in the playhouse....

....and I made snowballs and played in the snow.

I had a new friend for dinner in the evening, a little turtle that I got from Bella. My dinner table is getting busier and busier.

I washed my hair and since I felt cold I wore a hat to the table. Sushi, noodles and spring roll for dinner. Bon appétit!

Valentines Day!

What could be more perfect than a gorgeous pink sky on the morning of Valentines Day?

Well, perhaps some perfect heart cookies, made by me and mom. Yummy!

Here is my Valentines Day card. I know it's a bit late, but "Happy Valentines Day" to all of you!

Here are mom's cards. We hope that you had a beautiful Valentines Day.

Such pretty flowers. Off to greet the neighbors and wish them Happy Valentines Day!

I'm invited to Princess Bella's Valentines party table. What an honor! I'm very excited. Bella is my neighbor friend. She lives on the fourth floor in our building.

Mom and dad were also invited to Bella's house. Bella's mom and dad, Joanna and Ross, served us pizza, olives and a tasty salad. What a great day!

More cookie frosting at Bella's place. Joanna gave us big t-shirts to wear so we didn't soil our clothes. We had sooo much fun!

Look at that, lots and lots of sprinkles!!

Well, well, I think I deserve some rest now. I just heard about my "teenage" cousin Inez in Stockholm. Perhaps I'm becoming one too, dad wonders?

Frost, frosting, and little "fru Elsie"

It was Saturday the 13th of February. The trees were covered in frost this morning. It was so pretty and unusual that we decided to take a little detour with the car to the river to really enjoy the beautiful surroundings.

Just look at the red sign in all the white. Wow!

I had been talking about IKEA all morning so I was very excited when mom finally gave in and let daddy drive there. But, mom said, we don't really need anything from there. What on earth did she mean? There is always something you need at IKEA and on top of that they have the best free in-door playground I have ever experienced! I played "fru Elsie" (=home maker Elsie), and cooked and baked all sorts of things....

Then, when we got home, we started baking for real. It was so fun to stir the flour and other ingredients together.

What? There is flour and dough on the floor? Well, what else do you expect from someone who has put her whole heart and soul into the baking? It's intense, I tell you.

After all the stirring and cookie making I got a bit tired so mom had to finish by herself. The heart cookie in the right hand corner is made by me though. Perhaps not a flawless execution, but it's made with LOVE!