The Groovy Life of the Grossarths

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Aleksi's First Cake

Aleksi got is 1st birthday brownie five days after his actual birthday. Troy was out of town on Aleksi's birthday evening so we waited to have the cake with isi. Aleksi wasn't very impressed. Maybe I should have baked a fancy cake for him. Aleksi can be very stoic and solemn at times, so these pictures are a good representation of that.

Of course, as always, I ended up eating most of the brownies in the following days.

Eerika by the Numbers

I obviously scheduled Saku and Eerika's doctor's appointments together.

Eerika was not very happy about the visit. Her biggest problem was the fact that Saku kept telling "no you cannot have any marshmallows" and it made her so mad. Actually, her biggest problem was the three shots that the nurse gave her. I am not huge fan of the nurses at the office and the fact that they do shots on her little arms.

She was not a huge fan of the doctor checking her out, but the doctor was able to examine her and declare that she was very healthy.

She was 32.4 inches (74%) and 22 lb 14oz (29 %). She jumped down on all the growth curves since 12 months.

The only "issue" is her lack of talking. I am not concerned about it since she understands everything and follows commands and communicates in her way.

Since our signing time enforcement has started, she has picked up multiple new signs. You can tell that she is excited about her progress and the fact that we can understand her.

She can sign drink, inside, bird, excited, grumpy, sleep, mom, dad, outside, tree, please and more.

I was asked to do a questionnaire on her at 21 months to see if there is any need for speech consult.

Note: I believe this was after Eerika's 15 month appointment

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Halloween 2015

Eerika and Saku requested costumes from Grandma and she did an amazing job. Eerika wanted to be Elsa, which was an interesting choice since I thought we had passed the Frozen phase. Saku wanted to a Jedi. He was a Jedi few years ago with a thrift store costume, but this year's Jedi was amazing. Grandma made so many little details that just amazed Troy and I.

I emailed our ward's relief society and asked for a costume for Aleksi and someone had a Yoda. He was so adorable. So we had sort a matching costumes with the Jedi and Yoda.

Troy and I were again lame and didn't dress up. I have big aspirations each year but in the end, I don't quite care enough to spend the time and money on our costumes. I did wear kitty ears for our ward Trunk or Treat.

We actually had adult stake conference session on Halloween night, so the youth from our ward took Saku and Eerika trick or treating while we wrestled Aleksi at the church. The kids had such a good time and came home with a load of candy.

The following day, Troy and I received a strong impression, during stake conference, that we should be in this ward and have our kids grow up in this area and be surrounded by such strong, good families. I believe that this strong impression was a result of our obedience to attend the adult session the night before.

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Aleksi's first taste of chocolate milk. He is a fan!

Olympic Training Center Visit

We toured the olympic training center in Colorado Springs. Our tour guide was pretty pathetic with his enthusiasm and information, but just the video of the olympics was enough to make you feel inspired to do something with your fitness life.

Pikes Peak with Ukki

When Ukki and Mummi came to visit, we had to take him to Pikes Peak. Mummi was not excluded from this outing, but she chose to say on the lower altitude level as she is afraid of heights. It had snowed just two days before so we brought our snow suits with us. We couldn't make it all the way to the top because there was ice on the roads, but I think Ukki was still happy with the views.

Saku and Eerika loved the snow. Aleksi liked it as well, but it was a bit trickier as he didn't have the proper gloves to keep him warm plus a snowsuit and one year old baby aren't the most stable combination for walking.

I had run my 10K race that morning and I got seriously sick with a headache and overall feeling of uneasiness as we went up the mountain. I had to take a nap and take some medication to start feeling better.

Ironically we do not have pictures with Ukki up on the mountain...

Zooma 10K

Back in August I signed up for a 10K in hopes that it would motivate me to run and train consistently. Well, I learned that 10K is not a motivating distance for me. If you really race it, it can be brutal but I know that I can finish it on most days, so I did not train seriously enough.

The race day came. We got up at 5:30 and fortunately, mummi and ukki were visiting so we were able to leave the kids home. It was pretty cold outside so we were wearing our winter jackets at the start line. It was nice to go with just Troy and it was nice that I wasn't running a marathon that I had poured my heart and soul into. It made for a much more relaxing morning.

The race started and as usual, I made the mistake of being too far in the back so it took a minute or so to get started with a comfortable pace and rhythm of the run. About half a mile into the run, I was in the front pack and I stayed there until the end. There was some serious hills that made me wish that I had trained better and more, but those hills were also so nice to run down. I was seriously running a seven minute mile coming down the canyon. I ended up being 4th overall and 2nd in my age group. The field wasn't very competitive as I think more of the serious runners did the half marathon, BUT I do get a sense of enjoyment seeing my name on the "leader" board. I did truly work hard during the race. I also loved cheering for the other runners. There was such a wide variety of runners since it was a mostly women's race.

I learned another thing that I should really learn the course maps so I know how much running I have left with the course so I know when to start doing the last minute sprints. Overall it was a great race!