Fabulous ultimatums and every day life's glorious events

"If you don't let me go downstairs, I will not let you tell me a story for two weeks"

"If you don't let me sleep in your room, I will not snuggle you. If you let me sleep in your room, I will snuggle you"

Today was a good day. It was full of normal, every day things, but it was very good. 

There were sweet moments of siblings reading a book together.

A boy who came downstairs at 7 am dressed up like this! And this is how he stayed for the rest of the day.

This is how I look like when Saku was in my belly. As illustrated by Saku.

 Eerika was looking darling with her headband.

 Somehow Saku was able to capture the fact that my belly was a quite a bit smaller though pointier with Eerika. These illustrations were done while I was in Boston. I am not sure what inspired them.

The kitchen floor got mopped. The kids did their responsibilities of making their beds, emptying the dishwasher and cleaning sliding glass door (Saku) and cleaning kids' picnic table (Eerika). I visited Rachael and Corrye. Delicious dinner was made. We ventured out for a bike ride. The kids went to bed without problems.

The only downside is that I have not seen Troy all day. He was gone when I woke up and he is still at work. 

This ordinary life is good. And I am grateful for it. 

When Ukki and Mummi are the Bosses

Not only did Troy and I get spoiled by our amazing trip to Boston, but Saku and Eerika were very well taken care of by Ukki and Mummi while we were gone.

Ukki and Mummi took Saku and Eerika to the Pima County Fair. They visited the Children's Museum. Extensive crafts were done. There was swimming. Finding Easter Eggs in the dessert trails. They got wash windows. I am sure this was quite the treat as it involved sponges and water.

Ukki and Mummi made sure that they had FHE and roasted marshmallow afterwards.

My heart is so full of gratitude for dad and Paula. It is hard work to take care of kids. And they didn't just take care of them. They provided Saku and Eerika an amazing weekend with Ukki and Mummi.

Since I wasn't there, I won't try to put captions on the pictures, but I think they show the love and dedication that Ukki and Mummi have for Saku and Eerika as well as the friendship that they all share.

Ukki and Mummi, we wouldn't mind if you started to be snowbirds in Tucson:)

This morning dad and I were Saku's joy school bus as we pushed the double stroller to Hilary's house. 

I love how healthy dad is. He works hard to be in shape and reach his goals. He is a great example to me. 

Easter Egg Hunt 2014

Our neighborhood had their annual Easter Egg hunt. We hustled there as I thought it started at 10 am. Well for the first time, we were about the first ones since it actually didnt start until 10:30 am. 

Eerika wasn't too hyped up about the hunt, but she got hang of it quickly and found her allotted 10 eggs.

 She sported her cute Easter dress from last year. As with every holiday dress, people ask me if I made it and I obviously give all the credit to grandma. But she sure does make me look like I am on top of my game when it comes to being festive!

Saku was much more excited and we came up with the strategy of going up the hill to get the eggs in hopes that the other kids would stop for the eggs down the hill. Of course, it didnt really matter to have a strategy but it was fun to come up with one with Saku.

Their favorites were a yo-yo and egg shaped bouncy balls. There were other festivities after the Easter Egg hunt but we left as we were heading to check out the Air Show at the air force base.

Eerika -Five Months

Eerika is five months! I remember how excited I would get each time Saku was "one month" older and it seems that Eerika's first months have just flown by.

Just in the past week, Eerika has started to sit up while holding onto a box. She doesn't stay up for long, but seems to enjoy the new view and possibility of grabbing toys while sitting on her own. Even if it lasts only for three seconds. She doesn't do the tripod position yet, but sits with her back straight. While it is good for her posture, it doesn't help with her balance.

She rolls all the time. Since she has slept on her belly since she was few weeks old, she gets little upset when she rolls on her back while being swaddled and can't roll back without the help of her arms.

We started sleep training and she cried for few nights. We thought that she "learned" to sleep as she slept until 5 or 6 on few mornings. Then I had some stomach issues and I think she had some as well, so we reversed

Eerika's love is distributed in the following order: I get the most of it, Saku comes in second and then isi.

Last week, we played with Spencer,who is three weeks older than Eerika. In this picture, it seems that Saku and Spencer are more interested in hanging out together and Eerika is the third wheel.

We started feeding Eerika paste-I mean rice cereal. She likes to take charge of the spoon so I have to feed her with two spoons.

And there are times when I wonder how much she actually ate and how much ended up everywhere else.

Paris 2011

When we were planning our trip to Paris, we found out that you can rent apartments in the city for a great price. We ended up getting a little studio on the 7th floor of this apartment. It really was a tiny one, but it had a nice bed, free internet and its location was great. That is all we needed since we didn't come to Paris to hang out at a hotel, but to see the city.

We had a small balcony and this was the view from it.

Troy and Eerika waking up for the first day in Paris. This little girl slept in our bed for those nights since we didnt have enough room for a pack-n-play when traveling.

We decided to walk to our first sightseeing spot-The Notre Dame Cathedral. It was probably a 20 minute walk from our studio.

The stain glass window inside the cathedral.

The first stone of the cathedral was laid in 1163 and it took almost 200 years to complete the project.

A miniature model of the cathedral.

The weather was great on our first day. It was little windy, but otherwise, perfect.

Our second stop was at Sainte Chapelle. We hadn't really planned to see this chapel, but we had some time to kill before attempting to climb the towers of Notre Dame so we went to check it out.

The upper chapel had 1,133 scenes in 15 stained glass windows that told the story of mankind from genesis through Christ's resurrection. Since it was a cloudy day, we weren't too amazed by the stained glass nor were we able to really figure out the different scenes, but it was still pretty.

Lous IX also acquired the Crown of Thorns and it was stored in the chapel. However, we didnt get to see it and I don't know where they store it nowadays. This chapel seemed to be a very popular place for a visit, yet we left unimpressed and were happy to have our museum passes that allowed us to visit many museums without worrying about wasting our money.

The towers had finally opened and we got in line to wait for chance to climb up the 400 steps. About thirty seconds before it was our turn, Eerika completely lost it. She was hungry and tired and probably sick of the wind. So we gracefully exited the line. We didn't want to have her scream while being confined in small place with hundreds of people. I think the other tourists appreciated our judgement call.

This is how Eerika spent most of her days in Paris. It is safe to say that by the fifth day she was sick of being in the baby Bjorn.

After a quick lunch, we headed over to the Louvre. The pyramid on top of the ground. The line was long and it was super windy. Eerika was not happy with the wind, and she was letting us know. Fortunately, some of the staff noticed us and ushered us in front of the line. Thank you Eerika for your sweet cry!

It is needless to say that the Louvre was full of amazing art. And way too many people. The one thing I hate about being a tourist and seeing these amazing places and things is the fact that you have to share it with 1000000 other people. Yes it sounds selfish, but it really takes away from the magic and beauty of things when everything is so crowded.

During my first semester of BYU, I took a humanities 101 with my fabulous girl friends. So when I saw pieces that we had discussed and memorized in class, I just had to take pictures. Of course, I didnt really remember anything about them after 7 1/2 years. I can't believe that it has been that long since I started college.

Winged Victory fo Samothrace- the sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike.

The Nike of Samothrace, discovered in 1863, is estimated to have been created around 190 BC.

The Nike of Samothrace, discovered in 1863, is estimated to have been created around 190 BC. (Wikipedia)

The Louvre also had strollers that we could check out, which was fabulous. Eerika slept for a while we got to look at the art and give our shoulders a chance to rest from carrying her.

We started our first day in Paris by getting some delicious pastries.