"Wow not cool" was Eerika's response to something happening in Cars 2 movie. 

She can identify letters "T",  "C", "E" and "S".

Saku can write his name, "isi" and "äiti" without any assistance.

Saku: "Curtis has two sisters"

äiti: "should we have another baby?"

Saku: 69 more

äiti: "where would they sleep?"

Saku: "we can build them beds"

äiti: "what should we name them?"

Saku: "I dont know"

äiti: "do you have any ideas"

Saku: "I told you just name them whatever you want". 

He was clearly frustrated by my inability to come up with 69 names for the future siblings. 

Big brother and Little sister rivalry

One day it wont be so competitive right?

Saku: "äiti, Eerika is bugging me when I play the piano"

äiti: "Eerika come over here and race in our pink car"

Saku: "I want to race. Eerika can you share with me?"

Eerika shares the car for a split second and then changes her mind.

As Eerika is flipping out about the fact that Saku is about to play in her car, I try to distract her and ask her to get the shopping cart and play with it. The moment that I finish the sentence, I see Saku running towards the closet where we keep the shopping cart.

Somehow they ended up playing happily as they took turns crashing various things into our front door. 

It must be a typical first child trait, but it doesn't matter what Eerika has, Saku seems to have a NEED to have it as well. "Well what can I have?" is a common phrase around here.

Maybe I used to say that as the first child when Anna would have things that I liked...

But then again, I have blurry iPhone pictures to prove that they love each other and really can be great friends.

A Rough Night and A Good Day

Rough Night

Saku woke up coughing around 11:30 pm and would not calm down for a long time. No details needed to remember how rough it got, but in the end, he was sleeping on our floor. At least his coughing didn't keep us up. 

Eerika woke up around 2 am and was beyond upset. I went to her room and rocked her for a bit. Then I left her room. She completely lost it. I went back and told her that I would sing her two songs and then I would put her back to bed. After I sang the songs, I asked if she was scared. She said "yes". I asked what she was scared of. She answered "dark". I asked if she wanted her door open. I left it wide open and the girl was just fine. I have a big girl in my hands when the issue of "darkness" comes up. 

Great Day

Breakfast with Miss Eerika. Lucky Charms was on the menu. 

Saku stayed home from Joy School because of utter exhaustion from last night's fair and his cough. He said he was  "way too sicky to go to school".  The kid never fails to use a flair of drama in his speech. 

We still went for a visiting teaching visit  at Rachael's and Saku cuddled me on my lap. I had a fabulous time talking to her.

All of us took a two hour nap. Actually Saku slept for 3.5 hours. He never takes a nap. Poor kid was not feeling very good. But it resulted in a lot of cuddling, lots of books and a nice evening walk. 

Äiti: "As soon as the toys are cleaned up, you guys can watch Super Why"

Saku:"I want to play. I dont want to watch TV"

Äiti:"Ok Saku, what do you want to play?"

Saku: "I want to cuddle you and read the Rescue book"

Apples are a lot more fun to eat when you pretend that they are my fingers and the kids are alligators. 

Both kids went to bed without a peep. Both kids wanted their doors open.

3.5 miles in 30 minutes on the treadmill at 9 pm. 

Troy got home from mutual earlier than usual. 

I am very happy and content. What a blessing to have my family.

Eevi 28.0

Happy Birthday to me!

I am 28 years old. I love it! 

I am waiting for my birthday dinner to finish cooking. Smoked salmon, roasted asparagus, sweet potatoes and a delicious spinach salad are on the menu. Dessert will be Magnum ice cream.

I was woken up by "Paljon Onnea Vaan" as the kids and Troy serenaded me. Each kid had a present for me: Saku had decided that I needed swimming goggles and Eerika "gave" me a jump rope.

Ok that is as far as I got on my actual birthday.  :)

The night before my birthday, while I was a girls' camp meeting, the kids and Troy went to Target to buy gifts and a birthday treat. Because the kids were so excited about the birthday treat, we actually sampled it that night at 10 pm. If someone would have told me few years ago that I would let my kids eat ice cream at 10 pm, I would have not believed them, but here I am doing it. We devoured our delicious Magnum bars and went to bed with a nice sugar rush.

Heather had graciously invited me to her house for a birthday lunch, which is a such a treat for the food, company and for the fact that my kids love to spend time with James, Ella and Julia.  Heather baked a birthday cake and gave me a cake made out of mentos gum and gatorade.

Eerika was actually pretty tired that day and she asked to go home for a nap few times. It was so darling.

The kids are so used to going over to Heather's and eating lunch there, as we usually end up there around lunch time, that Eerika pretty much walks straight into the kitchen and asks for food when we go there.

I had asked for three things for my birthday. A lipstick, a new bra and getting my ears pierced. Troy obviously couldn't really buy any of those for me, so we had talked about going to the mall together. Well, he surprised me with something better. A hotel stay WITHOUT kids for a night in Scottsdale with eating out, shopping and even a spa service. I think I will go and get my first facial. 

That night I had another Magnum ice cream and Troy and I watched one of our favorite tv shows before going to bed. It was not a super exciting birthday; however, I felt so much love from my family and friends. And that is all that matters.

So what are my hopes for Eevi 28.0

-trip to Finland; going to Lapland and showing the kids and Troy the mother country
-hopefully gaining about 25-30 lbs and then losing them before 29.0 comes around
-starting a garden
-running, running and running no matter how few miles or how slowly
-relax more
-enjoy life more
-work with more purpose
-parent with more kindness and patience
-be a wife who judges less, forgives more easily and appreciates little things
-loving the woman I am today while working on becoming better

Miss Eerika and Ukki

As I was putting Eerika to bed I asked her "who loves you more than äiti loves you?" The answer was supposed to be Heavenly Father. She answered "ukki".

For a girl who is sort of particular about who gets her affection, ukki sure gets it.

They were road trip buddies in the back seat on our way to Utah. He woke up with her in the mornings, her usual wake up time is around 6:30sh, and I got to sleep in until 7. That half an hour can make a big difference. Ukki watched the kids so we could enjoy a fun "adult only" game night at Brian and Alia's. 

We went to the zoo today and as I told Eerika about our plans. She asked me "with ukki?". Unfortunately, Ukki wasn't there for today's trip but I am grateful that my girl loves her ukki even when he lives so far away.

New Tricks

Miss Eerika was so excited to tell me that "I did all by myself". 

I am not good at trying to capture the way she says her words, but she was so excited about the fact that she put her shoes on all by herself. 

Now she often declines help very politely "no thank you". Of course, she thinks that if she says "no thank you", it means she doesn't have to do anything. An example "Eerika let's change your diaper" "No Thank You".

A Work in Progress

We are in a middle of a big backyard project.  We are putting pavers in and building a patio that will have a fire pit in the middle of it. 

We have moved literally tons of bricks, shoveled rocks for hours and created so much dust. Our hands were so sore from handling the stones. 

I am pretty relaxed mother and don't mind my kids getting dirty, but the amount of dust and dirt in our yard makes me want to be finished with this project ASAP. 

We chose the timing of our project well. Dad arrived two days after the first shipment of blocks and pavers and he worked for hours each day that he was here. He earned a nice sunburn and took about four showers a day. Troy and dad got up at 5 am to pour concrete and make the foundation of the wall. 

The kids' favorite part was when we soaked the dirt to make it more dense and they could play in the mud. 

It was like a puzzle to put the wall together. Except the puzzle pieces were very heavy!

I was able to impress Troy as I used the jackhammer to soften up the ground.

Yes she loves the dirt.