March Update

Updating our blog just doesn't seem to happen! 

We tried to focus on skiing this year. Troy has taken the kids to ski 4-5 times and he went with Sam Scheuller for some "real skiing" plus his annual trip with Kyle and Trent. So eight days of skiing is pretty good plus our trip to Keystone next week and our Whistler trip in April. 

Sam is a very good skier and a great athlete so they had a great time together. They even paid 10 bucks to go Cat skiing which ended up not being worth the money as it didn't take them much higher than where they had hiked earlier. They did come home a bit earlier than usual ski days as Troy got tried but of course, he should be more tired skiing with Sam than with our kids. 

Eerika has started to be more accommodating about doing her hair. She still doesn't love it but usually she loves the results. They aren't anything fancy for most people but for my skill level, I am very happy. 

This is Aleksi before or after church on the day when he first went to nursery without a diaper. We are two for two for accident free Sundays. He even told the nursery teacher Sister Hopper that he had to go last Sunday which was a big step. He still gets treats after going to potty but I don't mind doing it as it keeps him from holding it for too long.

Troy has started running with Corban in the mornings. They run each morning except Wednesdays at 6:40. This is so awesome. I am so proud of him. Another crazy thing that I have started going to the gym around 5:30 so I can be home by the time Troy leaves for his run. Since we aren't usually morning work out people, this is pretty huge!

 Saku is really into audiobooks; he will listen to them all the time if we let him. Eerika is also loving them and is on her fourth book of the Grimm Sisters. 

Missie and Kent watched our kids while Troy and I had a fancy dinner at Italian restaurant in Old Colorado Springs. We had bruschetta, house salad, chicken with mozzarella and broccoli over fettucini alfredo and veal/sausage pasta.

Last week, the kids and Troy went to Breckenridge. It was so warm that it got flushy and some flat parts were hard to ski on. So the ski day ended early. I think the kids were also tired from the previous night's Trolls movie night. What a ridiculous movie. 

 For the first time, we filled out the bracket for March Madness. Already two of our teams are out but Troy's favorite Arizona is still in the game. 

One of Aleksi's friends, James, turned two and we were invited to his train birthday party. Natalie is always organized, but I didn't know how creative she was. The party had many fun details and delicious food. We are blessed with good friends. 

Tampere Trip

We made a day trip to Tampere to show the kids where I grew up. It was a cold day and winter really isn't the time to go and just see a city. 

We ended up in Pyynikin Torni. Climbed up the steps to tower, enjoyed some munkki and climbed up one more time. 

Troy said he really enjoyed driving around the city and seeing the different places that were part of my childhood (piano lessons, high school, elementary school etc).

Up in the tower it was cold and windy as our pictures show.

We had dinner with Iina's family and since they live in Rusko, we stopped by our Annala home. It looks way different than it did when we lived there. The little trees were huge, lot was split and there was a second house on our backyard, the huge rock had been removed and the house got painted before dad sold it, but it was fun to see it even if it was dark and you couldn't really see all the details. 

Skiing 2017

We invested in skiing this year. The kids got their own skis. They have goggles and we will buy them their own helmets. Aleksi even tried on some skis and talks about going skiing. We might try it while we stay at Keystone for the week. Both kids have had one one-on-one ski date with Troy and one with all three of them. 

They are already skiing better than they did last year and they are having a blast. It is an expensive hobby but maybe one day we will be all skiing down the hill as a family. 

Eerika is 6

Eerika loves birthdays. She has been looking forward to her birthday for months. She ended up sleeping on our floor for some of the night so that's where she was when she woke her up with the birthday song. She was smiley and gracious and just so happy. She got six presents; one from Anna, one from Aino, one from mummi and ukki, two from grandma and grandpa and one from us. 

She had apple juice and french toast for breakfast. When Saku headed for school, Eerika and isi left to go skiing at Keystone.  Her special lunch treat was lunchable. 

When they got home that night, she was still all smiles. We ate mac-n-cheese and smoothies for dinner and had brownies for the birthday cake. 

She shared her muumi laku with her brothers.  She was just so darling all day. 

Fazer Visit

Aino and Tatu got creative with their Christmas present this year and arranged a visit to the Fazer candy factory. 

Saku was disappointed at first as he wanted a gift that he could do something with, but I think he changed his mind after the visit. They got to sample candy, learn about the factory and even brought home a goody bag. Eerika was excited and graceful about the visit all along and wanted to wear her beautiful Christmas dress for the occasion. I love that while her clothes decisions sometimes clash with fashion, she is herself and wants to show respect for the occasion or use her imagination. 

Aino and Tatu are so wonderful with the kids. 

Finnish Kids

One day in Finland it was -20 C. I went to the temple with dad and Paula and as we were driving home, I saw kids walking around and I made a comment that Finnish kids are resilient and I thought that I should try to teach our kids to be more resilient. When I got home, the house was empty and Troy had taken the kids to the park nearby.

The kids played there over an hour. We have resilient kids:) 

20 weeks

This morning I woke up and could feel Little Moose moving around. Usually I feel him in the evening. At exactly 19 weeks, Troy could feel Little Moose moving around for the first time. 

I feel really blessed about this baby. I know I felt like that about Saku, Eerika and Aleksi, but after an emotionally challenging first trimester and even the weeks before I could feel Little Moose move, I was having some fear that something would go wrong. While I do think that this will be our last baby, and this made me happy during the first trimester as I struggled with exhaustion, nausea and anxiety, I am not 100% convinced that I want this to be our last one. I am not saying that I want more babies or that it is the plan for us, but during this easy part of pregnancy, it is not hard to imagine that this could be done again. I feel blessed that I feel so great and that I can feel the baby move. 

I was really consistent about working out until our trip to Finland and the lack of gym and regular rigorous exercise has left me feeling anxious about weight gain. It is just psychologically hard to know that someone will be weighing me and tracking my weight for the next 20 weeks. However, Troy took a picture of me yesterday and I feel great about the way I look so it gave me some anxiety relief. It is vain but it is hard to have your body change in such a public way. 

We find out the sex of the baby on Tuesday so only four days away. We are thinking that it is a boy. since that was the doctor's prediction at the 15 week appointment but it will be nice to have it confirmed and make sure that everything is going well with the baby.  Eerika and Saku are both hoping for a girl.