So I Won't Forget

After Eerika woke up from her nap, I brought her to the bathroom where Saku was taking a bath at 4 pm. And I said "what do you say to Eerika?". I just wanted him to say hi to her. Saku proceeded "hello my beautiful sister"

This morning Saku announced that Eerika could next to him during breakfast because "she is my best friend".

Troy is out of town for few days. Last night Saku was heart broken over isi's absence. He kept asking me "how can we get him home?" between sad sobs. He finally decided that we should get a jet and bring him home. Yes isi, you are much love by your son. 

Randomly at the park, Saku happily says to me "I'm so glad to see you".


This one is from Alia while Saku was playing with Cameron. Saku informs Cameron "the game of life is to run away from Eerika"

Social or Not

I think I am a social person. I have been blessed with a great friends throughout my life. On most days of the week, we have some sort of social interaction-whether it is planned as a play date or we happen to make new friends at the park. Just yesterday at the park, we met a new family and we exchanged phone numbers. And I really think that we will hang out and I am excited to get to know more people in the neighborhood that aren't connected to us through church. 

Yet, as I attended my ACLS (advanced care life support) recertification last saturday, I brought my Runner's World and a novel with me.  I wanted to eat my lunch by myself while flipping through the magazine. Could I have made some small talk and chatted with people? Yes I could have.

BUT I do not enjoy that. If I am almost certain that we will never meet again, I am not that interested of talking to you. Does that make me a bad person? Do you know how often I get to spend a 30 minute period of just eating and reading something? Not very often.  In the same way, I don't really care about starting a conversation with a stranger on the plane. 

So I feel like I am social but not. I am not an introvert, yet I don't think I am a super extrovert either. How do you feel about these sort of forced social interactions?

First camping trip of the summer

We had a fun of camping in Madera Canyon. The surroundings weren't that beautiful, but we had a great time. Especially after the sun went down and it cooled down.  The kids loved playing in the dirt and eating outside. 

Troy and I were freezing during the night. We did not bring enough blankets and while the kids were warm enough, I was up a lot to try to warm up or put more blankets on the kids as they would wiggle and push their blankets away. We probably slept only few hours. We happened to go camping after I had run my first 15 miler and I have to say that sleeping on the ground didn't make me feel any worse. Plus it was nice to enjoy smores without feeling any guilt. 

Saku enjoying a rock as a chair. 

Enjoying delicious burgers for dinner. 

This was part of my breakfast on Saturday morning. 

Boys were happy as they ate their breakfast burritos. 

Eerika was happy with marshmallows

Yes, very happy. 

Saku laughs when you make silly faces and gestures and Eerika just looks at you with a "what are you doing" expression

We went a very short hike in the morning. Is there anything more precious than a dad holding his daughters hand? I think not. 

I think we will be doing a lot more camping this summer. In fact, Troy and Saku are on a father-son camp out with Brian and Cameron as we speak. Eerika and I are spending the night alone-well with the good company of Alia and Jackson while the boys are enjoying some male bonding.

Yesterday Saku was cheering "we are going camping-no girls" with a loud, cheerful voice and today he told me that "it was too dangerous for me" to go with them. 

Oh Saku-your words are priceless

As we were driving on Houghton which is lined up with beautiful cacti forest. 

I hear the following exchange from Saku.

"Eerika, you can absolutely not go there"

"It is way too dangerous"

"Äiti, Eerika wants to go through the cactus by herself"

äiti: "we are going to the store and then to old McDonalds"

Saku: "why the store?"

äiti: "we need food for dinner"

Saku: "I have a great idea. We can go to old McDonalds and take food home with us"

As we approach Frys in Sahuarita, which we have visited twice.

"I don't like Frys"

After Easter and talking about Jesus and his death and resurrection, Saku and Eerika are playing and Saku comes up to me and says "Eerika die on the cross". And when we ask "what happened on Easter", Saku says "Jesus got celebrated". 

Often, when Saku has done something that he shouldn't have, but I am able to cope like an adult (read: not lose my temper), I tell him that he is not in trouble and he without a fail answers "oh, I am not?" with such a surprised tone. 

When Saku is in time out, he often cries "I am not very happy" or "äiti is not being nice to me".

I went for a run while the kids and Troy played a play ground, as I was coming close to the play ground, Saku looks at me running and says "Impressive".

James was pushing Saku in a stroller at the zoo. I told James how strong he was.

Saku: "do you eat lot of protein?" "I do, too"

Not a baby girl anymore

I was on the phone with Amanda, enjoying Facetime with baby Connor, when she made a comment about how Eerika is not a baby anymore. 

And she really isn't. It is bittersweet. Life with her is so fun and fulfilling and let's be honest, it is easier than a newborn, but I do miss that little baby stage every once in a while. 

Just to prove to Amanda that she isn't a baby anymore, she pulled the following stunt. I heard some coughing sounds in the kitchen, so I ran there to make sure Eerika wasn't choking on anything. I found miss E sitting on the dining table, drinking from a regular cup and making those "choking sounds" because she had taken too big of a drink. She had climbed on the chair and then on the table. 

She will also climb into her highchair when I ask her to do it and get a plate when it is time to eat. 

She can also climb on our bed, which is pretty high. She is a little monkey. 

She can reach door handles and open them. It is not very consistent, but the other day, she opened our front door as we were playing outside and walked inside. 

Today, I asked her to go and get a diaper when it was time to do a diaper change. She walked promptly to the downstairs bathroom and brought me three diapers, which she knew were underneath the sink. Then I asked her to find the wipes, she walked to the kitchen and opened the the cupboard where the wipes usually are.

Isi comes home and Eerika is wearing a pretty dress. Isi says "what a beautiful dress" and she promptly lifts it up to show it off.

Eerika and I have matching colored toes. She absolutely loves it. 

Most of the time, after Eerika is done with her 15 second time out. She wants to do a second one and a third one. Yeah, another discipline method would be more effective with her. 

Eerika loved jumping on the trampoline at the open gym. Bigger kids would jump close to her and bounce her around and she didn't mind a bit. 

She has really fallen in love with isi. She gets so excited when he gets home and likes to cuddle and give hugs. She also cries, which she learned from Saku, when he leaves in the morning. Many times, we have to do five hugs before isi can leave in the morning.

Yes, and no words. The girl does not talk. She uses "ma ma ma" with different pitches and volumes when she really wants your attention.  I am sure once she starts talking, it will never stop:)

Green Eggs and Ham

Beginning of April was fun as we had some Easter themed activities.

We might, or might not have, colored Easter eggs if it hadn't been for a little play group at our house.  Only Cameron, Jackson and Alia ended up coming, the boys had a blast and Alia and I enjoyed each other so it was a win-win situation.

 The boys painted their Easter eggs for about 5 minutes and then they were ready to go and play outside. 

I had boiled eggs and Saku ended up taking a bite out of one of his eggs before we ever started the painting. 

Most eggs ended up some type of a brownish color as Saku mixed all the paints together

These two blondies are such good buddies.

Our community had a Easter egg hunt. And tons of people showed them. Again, another reason why we are so happy with our new location. They had it in different age categories to ensure that each kid would get some eggs. Our kids were in the first age group of 0-3 years where the eggs were just all over the lawn. 

We showed up to the egg hunt without a basket. I know I am awesome like that. Fortunately, a friend let Saku borrow her baby's basket who wasn't walking yet.

Saku was very particular about the eggs he wanted to pick up. He wanted blue eggs. So he would walk right by an egg if it wasn't a blue one. 

Most of the eggs were filled with tootsie rolls and fruit snacks for the little kids.

The highlight of the day was the bouncy castle. Saku is very much into doing tricks lately. So he got practice his headstands and summersaults in the bouncy castle. He got bounced around quite a bit as some bigger kids were jumping around, but he was a good sport about it and just enjoyed the craziness. 

Saku sporting an awesome headstand. 

We ended up going to Phoenix for Easter.  Troy's mom does a great job with Easter so I knew the kids would have a good time and we would enjoy some delicious food. 

This picture has nothing to do with Easter except that it was taken in the car on the way to Phoenix, BUT look how darling she is with her doll. And look at those eye lashes. She won some kind of genetic competition with those eyes. 

Eerika cuddling her doll. 

 Sunday morning, the kids enjoyed some bunny pancakes. 

 Before church, the kids went to look for the real eggs that had been dyed and would be used for deviled eggs.

Saku and grandma looking for the eggs.

Darling Eerika in her Easter dress. 

We took so many pictures and this is the best one! Oh the glory of trying to get two kids to look and maybe even smile at the camera. 

Eerika's classy "crunch my nose" face. 

Saku finding another egg.  And yes he ended up going to church with a dirty shirt. Again, I am awesome like that. 

After church, we ate delicious Easter dinner with ham, potato salad, fruit and deviled eggs. 

And then the real Easter egg hunt took place. Grandma hides eggs with money and candy. Two special eggs had 50 bucks in them. I cant wait until my kids are old enough to try to score these treasure eggs. 

Saku's excited face about going to hunt for eggs with candy

We took 30 pictures and there was no way to get the babies to smile!

15 miles

One Friday morning, after a terrible night of sleep, I woke up at 5:30, got dressed, put on my Garmin, my iphone and headphones, grabbed a water bottle and a cliff bar and kissed Troy good bye as I headed out for my longest run ever. 

I feel so incredible blessed to be out there running. It is still quiet as I start my run and the sun is up, but it isn't hot yet. I listen to my audiotape; this run was powered by Steve Job's biography, and I feel this amazing peace. At times, I whisper a silent prayer of gratitude to Heavenly Father for allowing me to do this; to have a healthy body. At times, I get slightly choked up as I look at the mountains that are colored with the rising sun. 

As the miles go by, I get more and more tired. I talk to myself and keep telling myself that I am strong and I can do it. I take a drink of water. I get excited when I am about to run downhill, even though I know I will have to run up that hill eventually.  I am no super woman. I am not training at any incredible pace, yet, but I am out there. I am doing something that brings me so much joy. I am taking care of myself physically and mentally. 

I am so used to thinking "I wish I was stronger/in better shape/skinnier". Because of my hard work, I am in the best shape of my life. It is an empowering thing. No, I don't look like I did in high school after a track season, but I am OK with it because I am running harder and longer than ever before. Saku said that he wants to eat peanut butter because it has protein and then he can run fast like äiti. It is the best compliment. 

And I have a man who sleepily whispers "I am so proud of you" as I kiss him good bye and he excitedly opens the door for me after 2 hours and 18 minutes of running and says "you are awesome".

And I get totally emotional by just watching this video and the excitement of being one of these runners in seven weeks.