December 3rd: Gingerbread house

Today was our day to decorate a gingerbread house. 

Saku had seen the gingerbread house kit in our trunk after I bought it from JoAnn's.  While I am all about promoting the magic of Christmas and keep telling them about Joulupukki and tontut, I figured I should also acknowledge the reality that Saku had seen the kit. So I talk about how other people can help Joulupukki and tonttu to surprise people and make them happy. 

We also talked about how we should try to surprise and make other people happy. I liked that the gingerbread house kit prompted me to talk about this because as much I would love to forever have them believe in Joulupukki, it won't happen and this way we can relate the spirit of Christmas to be more than just Joulupukki bringing presents. 

I was in charge of the icing, for obvious reasons, but the kids took care of rest of the decorating. Saku was very excited about candy canes on it and Eerika licked the frosting off her fingers A LOT. But we had a fun experience together. 

Saku even worked with the frosting. His mantra was  "a little bit is good, more is better". Well he didnt say it but his work reflected it. 

December 5th: Letter to Joulupukki

Today was our letter writing day. I am not quite sure if we really should do this because Saku thinks that whatever he asks he will get. Last year he was quite upset when he didn't get a spiderman costume on Christmas morning. It arrived the next day...

This has nothing to do with the letter writing but it shows what we accomplished today. While Saku was at Joy School and Eerika and I worked on this big 48 piece puzzle. She did about 50% on her own. She has found a new love in puzzles and I love it. 

I tried to have the kids talk about themselves in the letter and tell Joulupukki what they like instead of telling him what they want. However, Saku said it with 4 year old's honesty "I just want to tell him what I want". 

So we will see how Christmas will work out since he won't get anything on his list. Look below. This could be last year we are writing letters. 

Earlier he had written a letter that said "Saku is an awesome kid". I do agree with that and I think joulupukki would do.

The letter was dropped in the mail box and off it goes.

Eerika followed Saku's example of wanting an upgrade version of  a toy she already has. 

Saku's illustration on the house he wants where he can do his homework. 

The Little People Nativity serenaded them while they danced.  One of those moments were having kids is awesome. Happy siblings playing together=happy feeling.

We also delivered our cookies today after Saku's Joy School. It was so fun to surprise these older couples. Since it is little early in the month, I dont think anyone really expects to get Christmas surprises yet. Both of them invited us inside for a bit. We didn't stay for too long because the kids had a lot of energy and I don't know these people very well so it wasn't the best way to get to know them as I was making sure that my kids wouldn't break anything. 

After each visit, I emphasized how happy it made these people and how we are being like Jesus by giving away cookies that we could eat and trying to be selfless by making other people instead. Since they are still so young, I feel like I am bit brain washing them, but I truly want this Christmas time to be about serving other people rather than wondering what we can get.

There was a sweet selection of cookies. My favorite one was a cheesecake cookie rolled in oreos.

Cute girl with crazy hair. Sums up Eerika. How can you keep a little girl's hair looking good when she still naps? And I dont want to be doing her hair multiple times. Yes I am lazy like that. 

December 4th: Sharing Cookies

Tonight I attended my very first Christmas Cookie Exchange. I should have taken a picture of the ridiculous amount of cookies. I 

So this morning our elf instructed us to make cookies and take them to someone to cheer them up.

Beofre you bake, you gotta get your hair done. We took care of Eerika's while my hair stayed in a pony tail until my afternoon run. Then I got cute. 

Saku wanted to take a picture of Eerika's elf apron and the bell.

Eerika was great about measuring the brown and white sugar. Saku cracked the eggs. And they were very willing to taste test them for me.

Happy bakers posing for our photographer. 

She loves to help. "Can I help?" is a frequent questions in our kitchen from her. 

Saku is great at cracking eggs. 

Measuring sugar really is more fun with my girl. 

We made one batch of chocolate chip, white chocolate chip cookies and one batch of peppermint meltaway cookies. Both turned out great. 

Also we had friends come to bake with us. Corrye and I baked, well she made no-bake cookies, while the kids played and I have to say that I had a great time chatting with her. It was easy going and fun and I have missed having one of those play dates with someone. 

As we were getting ready to leave for our cookie party, we stopped by our neighbor's house and gave them a plate of cookies. She seemed very surprised and happy and it got me in such a happy mood. As the kids and I got in the car, I talked about how it made our neighbor happy to get a surprise and Saku said "maybe when we make something, we should take it someone as a surprise".

We came home with many cookies and made two beautiful assortments to give away tomorrow. This might be the biggest  evidence of the magic of Christmas: I really did not feel much of a desire to eat those cookies at all. 

It should also be noted that I have a photographer in making at my house. Saku snapped about 200 pictures. No joke. But some of them turned out pretty cool. It is fun to see what he thinks is cool.  They are so random but I like it see our house from his perspective. 

My new center piece. Thanks Barb!

I cannot remember where this came from but I like it. 

Kind of cute and kind of creepy

Saku's letter to Ukki for Finnish Father's Day in November. I am so bad at procrastinating. 

Our sweet wall panels. I love them. I mean, I really love them. 

All of our stockings. I love the fact that mine has a Santa skiing. Maybe it is supposed to brain wash me into thinking that I really want to ski.

Sweet fuzzy socks!

December 2nd: Decorating the house

Monday was our decorating day. 

Saku was the happiest to wrap Eerika's pink tiny tikes coupe with the silver garland meant for the tree. We do not have a tree yet. 

I did realize that the decorating wasn't quite as fun for the kids since many of the decorations are breakable or too heavy for the kids.

The fun part was picking out a "kids' tree" from Target. We are all about a real Christmas tree, but I thought it would be a fun to have a tree for the kids which they could decorate.  So now we have a four foot fake Christmas tree upstairs and I love it. It is lit and brings such a feeling of joy to me each time I walk up the stairs and see those lights glowing.

Somehow I dont have any pictures of Saku. 

December 1st: Nativity

December is here. This means that each night tonttu (an elf) visit hour house and leaves a note for an activity in our Santa advent calendar. 

On December 1st, the kids were told to check behind the front door. There was a wrapped present for them to open. It was the little people nativity. However as they opened the box, there was only an empty stable. The kids got hints were to find the characters. We are still missing the shepards as they didn't come with the set. I guess their visit isn't significant enough for Fisher Price...

The kids do not receive a present each day. However, I wanted to start the month with excitement and focusing on the reason of Christmas. So as they played with the figures, I tried to explain how elfs and joulupukki  (Santa) are fun, but the real reason for Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus. 

Troy's mom made this advent calendar for us last year. It is so fun. 

Eerika chopped off some hair on her right side. When I do her hair, it isn't noticeable; however, this picture shows it more. 

Just trying to picture the cuteness of this child. Also in need of hair cut...

For once, I wanted a picture of  myself. 

Fun Christmas decor and the two wise men before they were found. 

This is the best picture of the kids. 

We continued to play with it after church. 

A Seriously Wet Day

Once upon a rainy Friday, a boy named Saku put on his rain boots, his warm jackets and ran around in the huge puddle in the backyard. 

His äiti watched from her bedroom window and thoughts "that is the life for a little boy",

When the pants got wet, the boy came in and warmed up by the heater.

It rained the whole day.

The boy's isi was a scout leader and ended up taking his scouts for a camp out. It showed his commitment to the boys and the willingness to teach the boys to learn life skills and survive. Some people weren't happy, but his family was proud of him.

Isi was greeted with cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate when he came home wet and smelly. 

Thanksgiving 2013

This Thanksgiving was nice. It was relaxed. The kids enjoyed playing outside. I enjoyed eating. The kids were affectionate and cuddly with Grandma and Grandpa. Troy enjoyed being with his parents and have his mom take care of him (give him a hair cut, hem his scout pants, and talk to him about anything and everything that was bothering him). I am blessed with great in-laws. 

Some of our highlights were:

-Saku asked Grandma to make a shirt for him. And she did. She is amazing with her sewing machine. Our kids are so blessed to have clothes made just for them with such love and care. 

-the kids got to play with their cousins. Hayden and McKenna was several years older than our kids but they still play with Eerika and Saku and it is such a blessing. As always, I really enjoyed talking to Regina. 

-Saku golfed for the first time. Isi, grandpa and Saku went to the driving range together. Saku wanted to see who could hit the balls the fastest. He might not be completely aware of the nature of the sport but I love that three generations of boys were together. Troy bought a club for a dollar and sawed it to be Saku's size.  

-black Friday shopping is not worth it. Of course, we didn't get to the store until around noon but I will not even do that again.  There wasn't much of a crowd but the good stuff was gone so I will be perfectly happy to miss out on the good deals so I can stay home and eat more pie!

Saku found a sweet ride and was happy to play with it while I shopped. Troy was supervising the playing while Eerika hung out with Grandma.

-running outside in the Arizona winter weather is awesome. It is even better when Troy comes with me. We ran/skyked for 3 miles. It was fun to chat and be together while getting in shape. The following day I went by myself and listened to my favorite podcast and I am just so grateful for running. 

I had the luxury of going on a run while the kids were with grandma and grandpa. Eerika wanted to run with me so we posed as strong girls and then ran about 200 meters together. 

-Our kids are in a great age to many things. We enjoyed a fun outing to see the new Disney movie. It was even more fun that the main characters names were Anna and Elsa. There were few dark scenes but the kids didnt get too scared.  

-I ate about a half apple pie. I love the crust on a good pie. Grandma made some whipping cream before we headed home on Saturday and Eerika and Saku enjoyed pumpkin bread with whipping cream. Why not?