is it worth it?

For the past six days, I have used my fitness pal as a calorie counter. I wanted to get in a little bit better shape before our cruise in three weeks.

I have never counted calories because I was afraid that I would get obsessive about it. I get little obsessive over numbers; whether it was my GPA, how much money we are spending, how many miles i'm running or how much I weight. I just get little too focused on numbers.

It has been an eye opening experience. And for the most part, it has been a good experience. I will never look at Chick-Fil-A's lemonade or dinner rolls the same way and it has made me think twice before I eat certain things. It has made me think "why am I eating?" and most of the time when I want to go and snack on something, I really am not hungry.

To lose three pounds by our cruise in three weeks, I would have to only eat 1200 calories each day according to my fitness pal. And man, those calories seem to add up fast. And because I get so focused on numbers, when I go over the 1200 calories, it leaves me with a sense of failure. And of course, when I eat less than that, I feel very proud. But I am not sure if I should put so much focus on what I eat.

So I do not think that it is for me. I don't really want to be aware of every single calorie that goes into my body. I don't know if I want the "perfect" body bad enough to keep saying "no" to things that I enjoy.

I think I will get up tomorrow morning and go and run 7 miles and thanks to my fitness pal, I will be more aware of what goes into my body, but I don't think I will be logging in tomorrow.

What is your take on calorie counting and exercise?

Amazing Miss E

Dear Miss E,

You are 18 months today. How do I tell you how much I love you? 

You are the easiest little napper in the world. I ask if you are tired, you sign "milk" and I take you to your bed with a bottle, though we are weaning off from this habit, and you go to sleep happily.

You are little more resistant at bed time. Last few weeks, you tend to cry for a bit. I think you are just realizing that you could be playing and not sleeping. Once or twice, I have let you come out and play with isi and I and you were silly with joy. There are only few moments that you get all the attention from us. 

You have also started to wake up earlier than usual. We usually hear you around 6 am, so you get to spend time with us for an hour or so before Saku wakes up. 

You still take two naps on most days and you are happy to do so.

You love swimming. You love jumping into the water, going under the water and having me scoop you up. You also love the hot tub. 

Your only verbal word is still "no". While you learned it about a month ago or so, you stopped saying it for few weeks, but you "found it" again and you use it very frequently now. Saku thinks that it is very exciting that you are talking. He also likes to interpret your incomprehensible talking. "Eerika is telling me..." and usually he thinks that you are bullying him.

You sign more now and we have been trying to teach you more. Sorry, we were slackers about teaching you signs earlier. 

You are a biter. We have not found a discipline that has gotten rid of this habit.

You still have your tutti when you sleep but you are great about throwing it into your crib when you want to get out of bed. There are no signs that you will be climbing out of your crib anytime soon.

You like to snuggle more than ever before. You are also very good about saying sorry and giving lots of kisses. You often go to Saku and gently rub his back when he is waking up or sad.

You love pretty things. You like to show off your pretty dresses, your painted nails or hairdos. Yet you really are a rough little girl who loves to climb on things, play with balls and run and be loud. 

You like reading books. And you have mastered simple wood puzzles. You eat crayons when we try to color.

You are very independent and play by yourself very well. 

We have been in nursery together for two weeks. I don't know how you would do if I wasn't one of the teachers, but it is nice to be surrounded by toys rather than walking in the hallways for two hours each Sunday.

You love to play "duck, duck, goose". It is the most adorable thing. I really mean it.

You have really become very fond of Isi. There are times when you choose to go to him instead of me, which is a huge change.  I wonder how long it will take before he becomes the favorite. Maybe you can stay as äiti's girl forever. 

I am so glad you are my girl. I can only imagine how much fun we will have in the years to come. I love you!

äiti

Life lessons in the Park

We found an owl baby on a table at our park. The kids were obviously fascinated by it. Sadly, it was somehow injured and I think it was dying.

So Saku said a prayer asking that the owl could find its nest and wouldnt be in pain. We also sank "twinkle, twinkle little star" and "I am a Child of God" in hopes of comforting the baby owl. Saku was disappointed that the owl didnt look happier after our prayer and songs, but we decided that the owl might just always look like that.












Darling Eerika's piggy tails. And then she would put on her baseball cap, or should I say Saku's old baseball hat. However, I think it just proves her beauty and charm that she can wear Saku's old stuff and look adorable.





On another note, Saku dressed himself that day and picked a long sleeve shirt and pants to wear, so he was quite hot as the morning started to heat up.

last double jogger run

Since my marathon, I have had very little motivation to go out and run or any sort of exercise. I have felt very tired, which could be due to the lack of exercise, but the lack of energy has not inspired me to exercise.

However, one morning few weeks ago, I surprised myself and loaded the kids into the double stroller and we ran to the park. I had not run with the double jogger for few months and it gave me a challenge.

The kids were great about sitting there and I think they even thought it was fun since they hadn't done it for a while.









Once we got to the park, I did some sit ups, push ups and squats while the kids played at the play ground and music played from my iPhone. It really wasn't much, but it got me out of the exercise funk that day and we enjoyed an early morning at the park.

We returned the double jogger to Camille and now I am looking for one for ourselves. Thanks again to Camille for being amazingly supportive and letting me use her stroller for months while I trained for my marathon.

Cutie Pie

Eerika tends to have a crazy hair on most days. It is not that I dont care, but she still takes two naps and gets the bed head three times each day, so we dont put tons of energy into her hair.

However, I did try to do something fun for her hair the other day and it stayed semi-controlled for few hours. She actually has quite a bit of hair as a 18 month old, but it is all on top of her head.

We love books

We went to a kids' book club at a friend's house today. The mom read a book about camping, the kids made a camp fire craft and enjoyed s'mores as a snack. Saku was too busy playing with toys to come and eat the s'mores, but Eerika is never too busy to eat some chocolate.

It is a fun way to get to hang out with moms and kids that we don't usually spend time with.



Before the book club, we went to the Sahuarita library for a story time and after the story time, we treated ourselves for a lunch at McDonald's. I asked Saku to make a happy face for eating yummy food and this is what he gave me.





Each week, we go to the library to check out new books and listen to the story, sing few songs and do the weekly craft. Eerika obviously doesn't sing any of the songs, but she sits for all the stories and loves to do the actions for the bean bag song. Plus she loves to get a stamp after the story time is over.
Saku pays attention well, but for a guy who loves to sing, he surprisingly doesn't sing along with the songs.





I love that such a simple activity as going to the library makes the three of us so happy.

Sickness is no fun

Just last week, Troy and I made some kind of comments how our kids barely ever get sick. You know something always comes up when you say something like that.

Friday night, Eerika kept waking up and crying but she would only cry for 10 seconds so we just let her be. I went to bed and was sound asleep when Troy woke me up and said that miss E had thrown up. I really hope she threw up closer to midnight when Troy checked on her and not around 8 pm when she first cried. She got to cuddle next to Troy and I for the rest of the night and while I did not get much sleep, it was sort of sweet to have our girl next to us.

On Sunday morning, Saku woke up with a snotty nose and a cough. We carried on as usual, but when I got home from work on Monday morning, he was hot, coughing and kept telling Eerika "the nap didnt take away my cough".

I also happened to feel nauseous for two days, which didn't help things around the house. Even the delicious thai food that Troy brought home on Monday night didn't appeal to me. It also made me dread the time when I will be pregnant again and experience continuous nausea for weeks.

We spent three days cooped up inside. He took long naps and mostly laid on the couch.

Whatever Saku does, Eerika wants to do, too. 

Grandma bought a nerf gun for Saku last weekend and the sick boy loved cuddling and shooting with it from the couch

He still has a cough, but he is recovering and back to his crazy self.

The Final Birthday Party

Saku's 3rd birthday party, which also happened to be his first real birthday party, took place on Fourth of July. Saku was in charge of his guest list. He wanted to have Cameron, Trevor and Haley, Lyla, Kirk and Lucas, Vella and James over. Kirk and Lucas as well as Vella were out of town, but everyone else plus their younger siblings were able to come.

We had 12 kids ages 5 and under and 9 adults here. While our house is a good size house, it was little chaotic. However, I think it was a success. And the most important thing was that Saku had a great time. 

We did a rocket theme party, while we didn't do too much with the theme. It was enough that it made Saku happy. 

We started off my playing "put a star on the poster".  Some of the older kids wanted to be blindfolded and some just put their stars on the poster. Saku opted for no blind fold. 

We also made rockets out of construction paper that the kids could decorate and play with. It was mostly the parents who got crafty, but the kids liked playing with them. Well, the boys at least. 

Trevor was the first one to show how to play the game. 

Haley plus three dolls and princesses did a find job with the blind fold. 

The boys had a great time flying their rockets around the yard. 

We kept the food simple. We had hamburgers and hot dogs, fruit screwers and chips.  Plus soda. And I think the simplicity of the menu worked well. 

When it was time to open presents, Saku had many eager helpers. I loved how each kid was so excited to show Saku what they were giving him.

Saku had a tight circle around him as he would open each present. 

The Batman toy was a sure big boy present. 

For dessert, we had Saku's birthday cake and the same astronaut cookies that I made for his birthday party play date. I had also bought some rocket popsicles, but I forgot about them until the next day. The parents might have preferred that since popsicles can get very messy very fast.  

The boys are so capture by the cake and candles. 

We made a brownie cake that was the earth and another one that was the moon. 

The bubbles were a major hit until it started to rain. 

The boys had a blast in the rain. Saku was yelling with a sheer joy and happiness in this picture. 

Eerika enjoying her astronaut cookie. The food dye made all the kids mouths and faces nicely and black and blue. 

We started the party early at 3 pm and the last people left after 7 pm. Can you tell that everyone has young kids? Eerika was ready for bed, but Saku got to stay up and watch few fire works with us until 9 pm or so. 

Honestly, I felt somewhat anti-social that day, but I hope our guests still enjoyed themselves. Sometimes you work so hard for the party that you are tired by the time it starts. 

Saku is a very blessed boy to have such great friends and we love the fact that we got to celebrate his birthday and Fourth of July with our best friends. 

Girl's Camp

Girls camp finally happened in the end of June. I was excited for it and I was even more excited for it to be over. I really had a good experience and had fun preparing for it, but I was glad that the months of planning and doing would come to an end, at least for this year's camp.

Because of the forest fires warnings and water shortage, the camp got shortened by one day and we left on Wednesday morning.

The kids were both fine as I left. They got the rare treat of spending the whole day with isi. Troy stayed home on Wednesday and they had a great time.  Our friends Kayla and Sarah watched the kids on Thursday and Friday since Troy didn't have enough vacation time to take all three days off. 

Man I missed this boy while I was gone. 

I love my crazy hair girl! This was the first time I left her for such a long time.

 The theme of the camp was Olympics and our country was England. Troy was kind to draw a flag for us, which I painted and it looked awesome. 

Once we got to camp, I didn't have to do too much. Obviously we, as leaders, had to make sure that the girls were participating in activities and staying out of trouble, but our job was easy. 

We also had a lot of free time, which the girls loved but it made the days little long for the leaders as we would just sit around for hours and chat. However, I got to know the other leaders a lot better and really enjoyed our friendships.  The food was delicious, which was great and terrible at the same time since it seemed like I was eating all the time.

The experience of planning, organizing and executing the camp was good for me. Troy said that he felt that I had really grown up during those months.

The girls seemed to have a great time and most of them said that their favorite thing was the testimony meeting. I also enjoyed the hike, paint balling and a little dance party that we had.

I am happy to get a break from this calling, but if I am still doing this calling next year, I know it will be so much easier as I will have experienced it once.

It really was great to feel Heavenly Father's love for the girls and for myself and the special spirit that you have when you are gathered in a righteous purpose. I am glad that I am not a teenager anymore, but I am impressed by the strength of many of the girls and their testimonies.

But I was so thrilled to come home, which was an awesome feeling as well.

First day of camp with Shannon, Nicole and Kayla.

Nicole and I showing our Corona pride with lime green T-shirts on Friday. 

I was a surprisingly good-9 out of 16 hit the target.

Kayla and I hanging out during the first day's activities.

Saku's New Bike

We decided that it was time to buy a big boy bike for Saku. So few weeks after his actual birthday and the night before his big birthday party, we found a bike on craig's list and surprised him.

He was so sincerely excited that it was one of the sweetest moments as a parent. He biked about 1/2 mile, with obvious random stops and got off the bike and spontaneously gave me a big hug. And then he did the same thing with Troy. We give hugs, kisses and say "I love you" multiple times a day, but this occasion was so touching and straight from the heart. 

We did not take our camera with us on the first night, so these pictures are from Fourth of July morning as we went on quick bike ride.

Saku fell off two times, but he handled it really well. We are making some progress towards a big boy behavior with less crying. 

Eerika inherited Saku's little tricycle. She doesn't have that much interest in it. She would rather walk or sit in our cheap umbrella stroller. I love how different our kids are. 

Happy to be posing with his big boy bike. 

True to the nature of a 3 year old, we got distracted and wanted to play with seed pods from a random tree. 

Eerika taking advantage of Saku's big boy bike as well. 

Whenever I take a picture outside, Eerika is crunching her face to protect her eyes from the sun but it makes it look as if she was mad.

We are so Glad when isi Comes Home

Troy is a fabulous isi. He is most definitely Saku's favorite thing in the world, so it was very fitting that we celebrated Father's Day and Saku's birthday on the same day this year.

We had waffles with strawberries and whipped cream for lunch after church. Troy got to take a nap and we ate his requested smoked salmon.

I had bought the shirt as a gag gift, but it ended up looking pretty cool on him. I guess a handsome man can make anything look good!

Troy is a great isi. He plays with his kids, he kisses and hugs them, he reads to them and teaches them all sorts of things. I am finding that not every kid is as blessed to have a dad like Troy and I am grateful that my sweet kids get to be raised by him.  He also truly recognizes the work that I do at home and offers to recognition and breaks as needed.

Our new favorite thing is to "race" isi as he leaves to work. Saku rides his bike and Eerika and I walk down the street and then we give him kisses. Troy is also blessed to return to a home where on most days he gets a cheerful, loud "isi is home" from us and hugs and kisses and Saku's "I missed you so much" that is so sincere and heart felt.

Birthday Party Take 2

Saku's birthday celebration II took place during a low key play group. 

Once a week, I get together with five other moms plus their kids and we play.  Though rarely is everyone there since life is so busy. We hosted this week's play group and made it into a little birthday celebration. 

Our party people were Steph, Maddy and Caleb, Kendra plus her boys, Cristy with Tyce and Leyla and Alia with her boys. 

I didn't do any games or activities: the kids just played, ate and had fun. The moms chatted, ate and had fun. 

We sang "Happy Birthday" as I handed everyone their astronaut cookies.

I have no pictures of Saku opening presents as he snuck out of the room with present from Tyce and Leyla and opened it while hiding. The other presents were handed over and opened at random times. However, he enjoyed his stickers, matching game and new sandbox toys. 

This was our "cake".

Simplicity of the food seemed to appeal to our party guests.

He was clearly happy as we were prepping for the play group.

Oh silly

Gotta love when they realize how many faces they can make.

Not a great picture, but the post wouldn't be complete without a picture of these two buddies.

After the party, I asked what Saku's favorite part was and he answered "Leyla". 

Tyce enjoying his PB and jelly sandwich.

Can I have Three Birthdays?

Saku's 3rd birthday happened to be on the same Sunday as Father's Day this year. I find very fitting since Saku's favorite thing in the world is his isi. 

Since we have an eight o'clock church, we didn't do our tradition of waking the birthday person up with a breakfast and presents in bed; instead, we gave Saku a sippy cup full of chocolate milk. Chocolate milk is also one of his very favorite things. 

Unfortunately, I was not able to capture his smile as we sang "Happy Birthday" and "Paljon Onnea" to wake him up. He looked so happy. 

He snuck into our bed around 6 am that morning. 

Miss Eerika was wearing her pretty dress as she wished Saku happy birthday.

Saku's answer to the question "how old are you?" while enjoying his chocolate milk.

Church wasn't much of a celebration for him as he struggled in nursery and cried most of the time.  It was sort of heart breaking to have him be so sad on his birthday.

Saku was happy with his presents. He got pool toys, a matching game and bubbles from us and an awesome shark camping chair from grandma.

We also got to facetime with Ukki and Mummi and Aino-täti.

We also had to have a time out in his room and Saku, being the clever kid that he is, was crying "It's my birthday. Äiti is not being nice to me on my birthday."


Our celebration dinner was smoked salmon and herbed potatoes. Saku loves salmon.

Saku got to blow off his celebratory candles off a volcano cake. Since we aren't huge fans of cake, we made a brownie cake and used whipped cream instead of frosting. Saku loved it and didn't mind that the lava was pink.

Saku is contemplating the life of a three year old. 

Troy was the master artist for the volcano cake. 

We love our big three year old!


I could say that I can't believe that I have a three year old, but as I am around him and listen to him,  he is without a doubt a big boy!