Fund Run

Saku had a Field day on the 24th at school. They asked for parent volunteers but volunteering and having Aleksi with me don't really go well along. Fortunately the school is so close to us that it wasn't a big deal for us to go and cheer for Saku when they did their Fund Run. The kids ran laps and hope to find sponsors who will pay for each of the laps they run.  

Saku ended up running six laps. He was a middle of the pack runner, but he never stopped moving. He would walk for a bit and then keep going. And he was happy in the end. 

I would see him walking with Zachary and the boys would have a hand on each other's shoulder. Saku informed me that they were sharing energy. 

I feel much more out of the loop with Saku's teacher and classmates and what is going on than I did at Mesquite. Since we don't do a pick up from the classroom and don't get a daily interaction with Mrs. Parker. Plus I only know three of the parents of Saku's classmates, which is a huge difference from last year.

However, Saku is happy to go there and happy when he comes home so I don't think I have a reason to worry.

We will see what Parent-Teacher conferences will tell us.

10 Years

Our 10 year anniversary happened to land on a Thursday. And since we are in a new city, it was a bit hard to go out and celebrate. 

However, we did do Chipotle take out. No cooking on my anniversary and watched Age of Adaline which ended up being a great movie. We hope to do something more elaborate when isi and Paula come,  but I am just happy to be married to this man and start this new chapter in our lives in the Springs. 

Mt Lemmon Ride

The weekend before we moved to the Springs, Troy biked down Mt. Lemmon. He did do a bit climbing up in the beginning of the ride, but most of the ride was nice cruising down the mountain. I believe he said they were going as fast as 40 mph.

It was a "bucket list" item for him so I am glad we got it off his list.  Now he will tackle riding up Pikes Peak! His words, not mine.

Exploring the world

Aleksi hates getting his nose wiped. His nose is running like a faucet. This means a lot of unhappy moments for him. He also wants to get into everything. He loves to play around the toilets. 

He has been way fussier than usual. Since he is usually so happy, I realize I have been pretty spoiled. Usually he is more of a "do my own thing" kind of kid, but he has wanted me to hold him, yet touch and explore everything which makes it hard.

Our day seems to be 10 minutes of happy baby and then few minutes of fussy baby and repeat that many times. 

Aleksi has also started to throw food. Some foods are not a big deal. Scrambled eggs are not the best when thrown on the linoleum floor of our rental. 

No School Blues Here

Both of the kids love school. It is so nice. Of course there are mornings when Saku would rather sleep in, but after he gets out of bed, he is happy to go to school.

I also love that school doesn't start until 8:15. This means we dont even have to wake up until 7 am. Last year Saku and isi had to leave by 7:10 to get to school on time so this is a big chance for us. 

Saku's school does have a bell, which Mesquite didn't have last year, so it is very clean if you are late. We have started to use the drop off lane in the mornings but in the afternoon, we still bike/walk or at least park the car nearby the school and walk a bit. I refuse to sit through the crazy traffic of pick up lane. I might change my mind once the winter hits;)

Spontaneous Family Pictures

We have tried to be good about going out and exploring the nature around the Springs. On Sunday we checked out Fox Run Regional Park, which was about 20 minutes from our house. I had resurrected our nice camera few days before and took it with us. There were at least four other people doing official baby/maternity/senior pictures. Saku was the photographer for most of our pictures. That is how official we were. 

Sometimes you choose a picture because you like the way you look in it:)

Church clothes and flip flops.

Aleksi fell and hit his head right before this picture. But it also illustrates how he has felt in the past week with a cold and teething.

September Happenings

Happy findings about the Springs (we are local now and have to call it that): 

garbage man is so nice. He will pick up any extra trash that we set next to our garbage can and he will take our garbage can up on our driveway afterwards. Also the mail woman came to personally introduce herself to me the other day.

I was asked to teach in Relief Society last Sunday and to Troy and my surprise, I actually loved it. We still don't have callings. Troy was also asked to teach in Elder's Quorum, so he will be teaching this upcoming Sunday. Our ward is full of fast athletes, both cyclist and runners, so I emailed the RS and asked about running with people. Last Friday my alarm went off at 5:45 and I ran 5 miles with two of the girls in our ward. 

Aleksi has been miserable again with cough and runny nose. He was healthy for a week or two but tonight, I felt a little tooth coming through his upper gums. I don't remember teething being so miserable for the other two, but I am sure I have just forgotten. He can stand on his own and can take one or two shake steps and then he decides to just crawl. Or if he is in between Troy and I, he just falls into our arms (think of a trust fall). 

Eerika started a pre-K program at a local methodist preschool. She LOVES it. We do a carpool with three other families so each time she gets to ride with three of her friends. Four four-year olds make quite an entertaining company for those rides. Eerika is a bit of a one upper. She has learned to ride bike and loves to cruise around the neighborhood. 

Saku continues love to school. He is not a fan of Spanish, which he has each Friday. I think he just isn't used to learning a language in a "learning a second language model" as he has only done immersion with Chinese and obviously Finnish and English. He continues to love biking to school and especially from school as it is all downhill back home. 

Troy has been commuting to Denver. It makes his days long, BUT the upside is that he has every Friday off. So we have been doing fun family outings, or he has been doing longer bike rides. 

We have started to look at houses. Yes we have lived in our rental all 21 days. It is a bit disappointing how small the lots are here and how much they still cost if we want to stay in the neighborhood where we are renting. Troy isn't a fan of the neighborhood because the houses are so close together. But he is a fan of having such a happy wife:) I am loving being so close to everything. We have target 1.5 miles away from us, the school and church are mile away, and the grocery store is 2 miles away AND Costco is 10 minutes away. Plus the local library is amazing. 

I truly feel happy here. Eerika cried once about missing her friends. Saku has mentioned missing Tucson several times. Troy misses our old home, which sold on the day that we moved into our rental. Talk about a serious blessing and seeing God's hand in our life.