Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

We got invited a neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt and Brunch. The kids enjoyed way too much sugar and so did I. I made some pulla and they were a hit.  

Eerika wore her cute Easter dress courtesy of Grandma, of course. And Saku wore his Easter outfit of Lighting McQueen and shorts made by Grandma.

The kids were excited about finding the eggs and opening their eggs. But again, I am reminded that the kids would be just as happy with five eggs as they were with their 10.

Watermelon, fruit roll and cup cake for lunch.

Jacob and Eerika have not really learned to play well together, but they are cute!

Saku was excited!

I always look like "a good mom" when Eerika is sporting her theme dressers. I always do give the credit back to Grandma.

Can you just say "go" already?

Playing duck-duck-goose while waiting for moms to hide the eggs. 

Leprechaun and Marshmallows

Thanks to grandma our kids showed their green pride on St. Patrick's Day. 

The kids woke up to a fun surprise of green water in the toilet bowl. We couldn't believe that the leprechaun had peed in our toilet and forgot to flush! Thanks Hilary for the easy and fun idea. Saku especially appreciated it since we are constantly reminding him that he needs to flush the toilet. 

Our leprechaun was original and left marshmallows instead of gold coins. And the kids were just fine with it. A treasure is a treasure. And since we are in the middle of a big backyard project, there were easy spots to hide the treasure.

Saku's treasure was under a big rock.

 Marshmallows before breakfast? Yes please!

Eerika found her treasure on a big pile of dirt.

Classy lady with a PJ shirt, diaper and her aviators.

He stuffed his mouth full of little marshmallows.

I think she has a celebrity look with her aviators and messy head.

I love these skirts that Grandma makes for her for different holidays. She chose this pose herself. 

I love the fact that with few very small things I was able to make our St. Patrick's Day a fun event for the kids. Colored milk, toilet water and a treasure of marshmallows made the kids happy. 

BMX baby

Few weeks ago we got invited to the a birthday party at BMX bike track. We had never done anything like this. We brought the kids' bikes with us and helped them go through the course. Saku was able to go up and down all the big hills while Eerika and I had to skip one of the big ones.  Saku was even able to do few of the small ones on his own without any help from Troy.

Ironically, it was Saku's friend's party, but I only have pictures of Eerika and myself. 

Cute little biker girl. 

We got a good work out as we pushed through the course.

Eerika would make  "vroom vroom" sound as I pushed her. It was awesome.

My favorite girl!

Quotes

Saku throwing dirt in the trench that we had been digging. Isi asks Saku to stop. Saku's response " I can't resist". 

Isi asks Saku to go and get him a shovel after isi had jack hammered and needed to get rid off the loose dirt. Saku's response "you have two feet you can go and get it". 

We often tell Saku to go and get his own plate or a cup or a spoon at dinner time and I often tell him "Heavenly Father gave you two feet so you can walk and get (blank) on your own". Well he decided to use our own line on Troy.

Eerika and I were being silly about something and I told her "no way". She quickly told me "yes way".

After a double stroller run I lifted Eerika out of the stroller and she kindly told me "stinky" and laughed. 

Little bit of pouty lip

The girl mastered her pouty look at a young age and still continues to show it as often as she feels the need. 

Tonight

Tonight I am sitting in the dark. It is 7:35 pm and Saku is asleep. Eerika is still awake in her bed, but I am hoping that she is quickly fading into the dream land.

As every Tuesday, Troy went straight from work to mutual. We shoveled rock. We ate dinner. Thekids showered to remove all the dirt and dust. We had PJs on at 6 pm and we played hard for an hour. There was  hide and seek. Reading tons of books and wrestling with your sibling while äiti takes pictures. 

These pictures capture our moments better than any words. 

I think she is pretty happy with her life.

I think this picture could be in a Baby Vogue if such a magazine existed. Look at that messy hair and beautiful eyes.

Saku pretend sleeping. His poor cheeks need some lotion!

Saku's favorite thing to do. OK, maybe not favorite but he sure likes to make this face.

"I am so funny" laugh after making the face above. 

Best of friends. Worst enemies. Couldn't love them more. 

"äiti help me" she said

She is finally talking.

I think I can finally say that Eerika is talking. She can say full on sentences such as  "where did isi go?" or "come hide äiti".  And I hear ""äiti help me" a lot:)

I do not believe in comparing your children, but I have to say that Saku was always a very clear speaker. It was easy to understand him. 

Eerika, on the other hand, has her own language. She says words but there is much translation that I have to do for other people. 

However, it doesnt mean that I am not very proud of her and the progress that she has made in the last few weeks. Her language development has truly been an example of how sometimes learning things slowly can be very rewarding. 

Saku loves to play "Eerika say bumble", "say bee", "say chair" and he can keep naming objects for good five minutes and she repeats them. Some of the words can be understood and some are definitely not any way near of real words:)

And her primary language is English when it comes to full on sentences. Yeah, it kind of breaks my heart but we are just too much surrounded by English and I just speak way too much English to them. So our five week trip to Finland can not come soon enough for their Finnish language development. Ukki better speak 100% Finnish when he comes in a week and a half so all of us can get a better handle on our Finnish!