Happy Halloween!

If you want to see any of the pictures better, just double-click on them. I need to explain one of them before I forget. The one in the middle set on the bottom left of Kaija and her shiny face had a story behind it. So Friday morning, I put a little blush and shimmery eye shadow on Kaija to enhance her princess look. That evening when we were getting ready for bed I asked her to go get her and Luukas' toothbrushes ready. We were busy chatting with family and I realized 10 minutes or so had passed by and still no Kaija. Shortly after she came out quietly with a look like, "I know, don't I look fabulous." I wasn't sure how to react. Should I be upset? Should I laugh? It took all I had to not show any emotion and I told Teem to grab the camera. The shiny eyeshadow what ALL OVER her face. The picture doesn't do it justice, but at least you get the idea. She put it on her cheeks, lips, all the way around her eyes and even her forehead. It was a little clumpy and a bit much, so we had a little make-up lesson about where exactly eye shadow is supposed to go. That's my little princess. So back to my original post.
I just love Coeur d'Alene in the fall. I only wish it would last longer before winter comes. We had a great weekend. Most of Teem's family (there were 16 of us at our house) came to stay with us for Halloween and Miia's baby blessing. Friday started with Kaija's preschool party. She was one of the last ones in the classroom and she walked in as if the party could now begin since she had graced everyone with her presence (princess mode). One of the parents even said, "wow, I guess the Queen has arrived." Then that afternoon we went with Teem's family to trick-or-treat downtown at the shops. It was crazy busy, but lots of fun . Luukas was a bit overwhelmed so he just shadowed kaija and mumbled a quiet thank you every now and then. We came back to the house to eat dinner then some of the group went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood which was lots of fun with all the old homes around here.
For anyone that knows Teem, you will not be surprised by his enthusiasm for this holiday. He and his staff dressed up for work. (That was the Orkin man costume). I couldn't even give him a goodbye kiss...he just looked like one of those guys you would never let into your home. But it was a good disguise. Then when he came home he changed into the other costume (bloody scary guy with two missing fingers). I don't remember what he called himself. The kids didn't seem to mind, but when we got back and he took his makeup off, Kaija said, "Daddy, your back."
On Saturday we went to a nice brunch at the Old European (yummmmmmy) then went for a walk to the park. We truly enjoyed our time with the fam, so thanks to all of you for coming. We spent both nights playing games and got a little wild with Pit. I forgot how much fun that game is. The kids had a blast with their cousins and Miia even let me sleep a little. My sister-in-law, Sanni, and I were pretty much just milk machines all weekend (she had a baby girl three weeks before me). Overall, things are going well and I'm truly enjoying this three child thing, so far. It's amazing what you can cope with when you get 5 hours or more of sleep.

Miia Kate has finally arrived

First of all, there were a lot of questions about how to say the name (since it is a Finnish spelling). It's pronounce like Mia, not Maya. I'm sure she'll get all variations of her name, but it goes with the Finnish heritage. Speaking of names, we were in the hospital two hours more than necessary because we didn't want to leave without a name. We were down to two again, both of which we liked, so we finally had our nurse take a poll of about 20 nurses and staff and that was our decision. It suites her, though. She looks like a Miia. Actually, she looks like a Kaija, but that one is already taken. :) Seriously, everything about her, except the nose, is 100% Kaija, which is a good thing in my book.
The labor and delivery went really well. I was induced on Monday morning and Miia was on her own timeline. I was only dilated to a three until 4pm, then everything happened within 2 hours. I literally pushed twice and she was out. (No tears, no pain...thank you epidural, and not a single stitch needed, yay) It was almost a pleasant experience, relatively speaking, of course.
Besides the sleep thing, everything is going well, thanks to my mom being in town. She's my lifesaver. I'm sure reality will sink in the day she leaves, but for now I am enjoying my precious little angel. I probably won't be very diligent in posting pictures regularly, but I'll do my best.

The things people say...

So I had to post this, because I know someone out there will appreciate it. First of all, what is it with people around really pregnant women that makes them think it's okay to say whatever they want about them?! So, I was getting gas at Costco yesterday and the guy behind me moved a little closer and said, "I know I don't need to point this out, put it looks like you've got some junk in your trunk." Then he chuckled and went back to his car. So, for my own self confidence, I'm going to assume he doesn't understand the meaning of the phrase, but if he did, why in the world would you tell an extremely pregnant woman she has a big booty on top of the enormous belly hanging out. I'm well aware my bum gets bigger when I'm pregnant. (I like to think of it as nature's way of keeping me from tipping forward). Anywho, I'm sort of laughing about the whole thing, but still, come on people, have a little courtesy.

Playing Catch-up...again

Here's some pictures from Kaija's birthday party (from about 3 weeks ago) and also Teem and the kids' trip to California. I figured, when baby comes, I'll have enough other stuff to blog about that I needed to get caught up quickly. Also, Kaija started pre-school last week and is loving it.

A week by myself

Only three weeks until D-day and I am all alone in my own house. My niece is getting baptized tomorrow, so Teem took Kaija and Luukas to LA to visit his sister. Since I cannot travel this far into my pregnancy, I had to stay home, which really hasn't been a bad thing. I've been nesting and taking care of all of my unfinished projects. It's a little weird and definitely quiet around here, but how often does an opportunity like this come along. I've been pampering myself with a massage, a haircut, a pedicure (tomorrow) and LOTS of shopping. Not that I am buying much, but I forgot how much fun it is to browse. Browsing is not a usual activity when you have kids. Tomorrow I've organized a girls night out to dinner and a movie. Overall it's been a good week, but I'll be glad to have my kids and hubby back. Hopefully tomorrow or Sunday I'll post pictures from the last couple of weeks. Kaija even had her birthday party that I haven't posted yet, but it's on my to-do list.

Another month flies by

I'm not proud of it, but I've come to the conclusion that I am not a summer blogger. Since my last post, we've done quite a bit, so I'll try to recap it briefly. We spend about 5 weeks with my parents in Texas and had a great time. I'm amazed how quickly the time went. At the end of our trip there, my dad planned a surprise party for my mom's 6oth bday so all the kids/grandkids came down and we stayed in a nice home on Lake Travis (in Austin) for a weekend. For various reasons, it ended up not being a surprise (except my mom didn't know my grandma was coming) but we still enjoyed our time together on the lake and the weather was nice and hot. Luukas even went tubing with Teem (if you could call coasting at 5 mph tubing). And the kids had a blast with their cousins. Unfortunately my mom and dad weren't out on the boats because my mom had carpal tunnel surgery and my dad had some skin cancer removed from his face. There's a classic picture to illustrate the pair of invalids (as they called themselves). On a more serious note, after my mom's heart attack (back in march) and my dad's recent skin cancer, I am just thankful to have them around and that both of them seem to be on the upswing of things. It really puts things in perspective when you think you might loose somebody, especially family. So we have counted and recounted our MANY blessings and took advantage of our time together, even if it wasn't as originally planned.
A couple days after returning from Texas, we had Teem's sister, Tarja and her family come stay with us. Then, the rest of his family joined us the next weekend back at Loon lake (again at his office manager's house). I'll post pictures of that when I get around to uploading the pics. We had a blast and Teem even learned to wakeboard. Go TEEM! We still have a few plans for these last couple weeks of summer, but I'm sad it's almost over. Where did the time go? At least that means this pregnancy is coming to an end soon...by the way, still no name there.

Pool Time...or something like that

So we are still in Texas at my parents house, and I'm pretty much melting in the heat. We've pretty much either find indoor activities or do something outside involving water. I was too lazy the other day to take my kids to the neighborhood pool, so we were just going to do sprinklers and squirt guns, but then my mom had a fabulous idea. She got out buckets for them to play with and Kaija decided it was her own private 'swimming pool'. Then we found some storage bins so they could at least sit down if they wanted to. I know, totally white trash, but they had fun and I couldn't miss the photo-op with that one. As a side note, Teem comes down in less than a week and we are soooo excited to see him. Yipppeee!

Trip to Finland

So it's taken me quite a while to get our trip posted with pictures and all. In case you didn't know the story, we were supposed to go to Finland last summer, but unfortunately, our passports arrived the day after we were supposed to leave, so we postponed until this summer. Teem was a missionary in Finland and has relatives there and he hasn't been back for 10 years. We really had a great time, despite the cool weather (for part of the trip). Here are some of the things we did (the map above shows where we went):

• Visited sights in Helsinki (churches and such, and some shopping)
• Silja cruise to Stockholm, Sweden (we'd like to go back again, since we only had 1/2 a day there)
• In Stockholm we saw the palace and spent most of our time in Old Town (pretty neat)
• We spent a day at the Helsinki Temple doing Teem's grandpa's work
• Took a short detour to Turku, kind of a tourist town on a river...probably my favorite city
• got to meet friends (Sinnika & Taru, Teem's companion - Jori Vuori, and Loretta)
• In Kajaani, saw some cool Castle ruins, an old church (see picture) and a historical home
  
• Spent a few days in Lappennranta with his Grandma (Isoaitti) and aunt, Marjatta (I hadn't met them before). We rode bikes, saw the annual sandcastle display, played at the lake, where they had the coolest wooden and metal slide that you rode into the water on a sled, and I even went to Sauna since they had one in their basement.
  
• Teem's cousin, Simo took us fishing, or I should say took Teem fishing while I sat and read my book, and I think Teem was using the world's longest fishing pole (see picture in slide show)
  
• We ate ice cream in almost every city we stopped in. It's delicious and super creamy and they have little ice cream stands all over in every city.
  

It was a whirlwind of a trip because we were constantly going to different places. It wasn't as hard as I thought getting used to the light. The sun is down for about 4 hours. I think in Kajaani (way up north) we were outside around 2am and it wasn't totally dark yet. Very bizarre but pretty cool. The food was really tasty, especially the yogurt, icecream, chocolate, strawberries, bread and pastries. Teem's aunt, Marjatta cooked some delicious food while we stayed with them and kept us well-fed all day long. I managed to learn about 5 finnish words while I was there. It's such a difficult language, but luckily a lot of people can speak English. I think Teem's highlight of the trip was the grocery cart when we went to the store in Lappennranta. Most of the carts in Finland have rotating wheels on all four wheels so you can spin them around. Then at the exit there was a declining 'moving sidewalk' (one of those escalator type things that's just a ramp) and the cart stayed in place without rolling down. I don't think I described that right, but Teem was so impressed he had to take a picture...it's in the slide show. Oh and we sat by an interesting fellow at church in Helsinki (I think he was a bum that just wanted something to do...there are lots of bums in Finland, but they all have apartments and everything, but they don't work because their government takes pretty good care of them). Anyway, after sacrament, he pulls out his alcoholic beverage and fills his sacrament cup to have 'seconds' then he pulls out some pictures to show Teem. It kept me entertained anyway, since I didn't know what was being said in the talk.
After the long flight home (I wouldn't recommend flying 6 months pregnant to anyone), it was so good to see the kids. I missed them a lot while we were gone, but my Mom (bless her heart...thank you) took good care of them. Good to be home, but it was a wonderful trip.

Let the summer vacations begin

We are leaving town tomorrow, first to Portland for my brother-in-law, Paul's graduation from Chiropractic School. Then Monday we fly out to Dallas to stay with my parents for a few weeks. While I'm there, Teem and I are flying to Finland for 10 days while my mom watches the kiddos. I'm pretty excited. So I might be missing in action from my blog, but somehow I know you will all get along just fine without me. Happy summer.

Going above and beyond

So for anyone that knows my husband, Teem, knows that when he does something (i.e. the igloo this past winter) he does it with passion. (or something like that). Needless to say, it keeps our lives interesting. For memorial weekend, we went down to Portland to be with his family. He told me ahead of time he already planned a Sunday dinner, so nobody had to worry it. Well, little did I know, he planned the largest Cajun-style feast north of Louisiana. It was quite the occasion, or should I say, "O-Cajun". (Sorry, I couldn't help myself). I didn't realize the extent of the planning until a fed-ex box arrived at his mom's house on Saturday afternoon. There was about 20 pounds of shrimp, crawdads and alligator meat. I tried one of everything and I must say, the alligator was actually tasty. I'm not a shrimp-lover, but all those who like shrimp said it was the best they'd had. (there's pictures of the dinner in the slide show above).
We had a great time over the weekend. We spent a day at a small lake that had a nice park. We also hiked Multnomah Falls (very pretty), and thanks to my brother-in-law Paul who carried Kaija about half way after her legs were 'so very tired'. We even had a thunderstorm one night which hardly ever happens in that area. It's almost always the annoying drizzle that lasts all day long, so that was fun. After noticing that the street around the corner had flooded, Teem and his two brothers-in-law decided to jump in his dad's canoe (a metal canoe) shortly after the thunderstorm. Not the brightest bunch, but they are still around to talk about their adventure.
For my birthday, again Teem went above and beyond. He came home with a giant box and I knew the minute I held it (it was quite light) what he had done. Eight boxes later I got my present which was a stunning pair of earrings. Thanks Teem, you're the best. Kaija and Luukas really enjoyed the opening process and the aftermath. Overall, the last couple of weeks have been wonderful. We are still working on a name for our little baby, but stay tuned b/c I might post a poll to get people's opinions.

The last two weeks

I haven't posted lately, because there hasn't been much to post. Here are a few highlights from the last couple weeks. We went with our friends, the Aspers to an indoor waterpark, since the weather this spring has been anything but warm. (with a couple good weekends here and there). The kids had a blast and Teem and I even got to go on a couple of water slides. Fun stuff!Teem went golfing at the Coeur d'Alene Resort and got a certificate of achievement for getting on the world-famous 'floating green'. Way to go Teem! Kaija and Luukas started swim lessons and have made some progress. By progress I mean now Kaija will blow bubbles and sort of put her face in the water. Luukas, however, seems fearless, which totally frightens me. We went on a preschool fieldtrip to the local firestation. Notice Kaija is the only one NOT wearing the fireman hat. That day she was a princess, and princesses don't wear hats of any sort. Last weekend our church had a father-son campout and Teem and Luukas had a great time. Kaija and I had a little girls night out, too. She called it our 'pretty night' and the boys had their 'handsome night'. The boys came back filthy and tired, but I think they had a great time. Oh yes, and Kaija had her first cavity. How in the heck does a dentist's kid get a cavity? She did fine until the drill came on. She really HATES loud noises. We survived, but I sure hope we can keep her cavity-free from now on.

It's a .....

GIRL! We had our ultrasound on Friday and are happy to say we are having a baby girl. As the ultrasound technician so eloquently put it: she had a hamburger bun, not a turtle between the legs. (she was quite the character) We are due on September 27th (not soon enough, but I'm sure it will come faster than we think). We are thrilled for the upcoming addition and I'm especially glad we don't have to try to agree on another boy name. I t was not easy with Luukas. So I guess Kaija was right all along. She was convinced she was getting a baby sister and Teem and I thought for sure it was a boy. We'll keep you posted and hope you all are doing well.

Another digital photobook

So I just finished Luukas' 2nd year photo album and thought I'd share it with anyone who wants to take a peek. GO HERE. I'm still learning a lot about the techniques and such, but compared to my first one, I've come a long way. To clear up any misunderstanding, I designed it online (and with photoshop) then printed it through a photobook company (this one is 'My Publisher') and you get an actual hard copy to put on your book shelf. I really recommend it to anyone who either doesn't paper scrapbook or like me, can't keep up with all the pictures. It's my newest hobby and I just can't say enough good about it. I know it's not as cute as a real scrapbook, but I'm all about practical these days. ENJOY!

What do Angelina and I have in common?

No, it's not our 120 pound beautiful bodies (I wish) or the hunky man by our sides (mine is a different hunky man), but yes....we are pregnant. I would have made the announcement sooner, but someone told me it would make the pregnancy go by faster if you waited to tell people. Not true, so I didn't want to wait any longer because we are really excited (and nervous) about this. We find out in about 3 weeks what we are having. I'm due in September, so I'm not quite half-way. Other than about a week of feeling yucky at the beginning, it has been an uneventful and almost pleasant pregnancy. I say almost, because I think that would be a contradiction-in-terms. Anyway, I had to share a couple funny Kaija stories related to this upcoming baby. First of all, she is totally convinced that it's a girl and she wants to name it 'sweetie heart'. A few weeks ago she said she would name it 'special' if it was a boy, but just yesterday I asked her again what we would name it if it was a boy and she just said, "it's not a boy, it's a girl." So either she knows something we don't know or she is going to be a disappointed little girl. Also, a couple weeks ago I was showing enthusiasm about something she did and I said, "Oh Baby!" Kaija looked at me a little perplexed and asked, "Mom, is that what you say when the baby comes out of your belly?" Well, she keeps us smiling around here. We'll keep you posted when we learn anything more about our little "Sweetie Heart Scarborough."

California Fun

So I didn't get online even once while we were away and it was actually kind of nice, though I've had to do some catching up on everyone's lives. We had a wonderful time in Cali and are kind of sad to be back. The weather was wonderful (not so much here...in the 40's and a little dreary). We spent the majority of our time at Teem's sister's house and my kids had a blast playing with cousins. Teem also assembled a play structure for them, so it kept him and the kids busy, which was nice. We spent an afternoon at the beach playing in the sand and flying kites...a little too cold for the water, but we enjoyed every minute of sunshine. I feel like my body had been craving sunshine and I didn't even care when I got a sunburn, because it felt good, in a twisted sort of way. Anyone who lives in cold country can probably relate, I'm sure. We also spent two days at Disneyland and California Adventure. It was CRAZY busy but we still managed to enjoy ourselves. I'm pretty sure Luukas was in shock of overstimulation or something, because he pretty much sat quietly in his stroller for the entire two days. Poor guy. Kaija loved every minute of it...especially the fireworks and seeing the princesses. She also went on thunder mountain railroad with us and said she enjoyed it, but I'm not sure by the look of terror on her face. We took the kids on the Haunted Mansion ride. Kaija was pretty scared at the beginning (I didn't remember that part when I was a kid) but as soon as she saw the ghosts dancing in the ballroom, she got all excited and said, "look mommy, princesses." Never mind they were dead princesses...small detail that I didn't feel I needed to explain at the time. She thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the ride after that. The second day we spent with my parents and sister, Holly with her family. It's always nice to see family. The only bad part about our trip was the night we got home, Teem was sick with the stomach flu, which isn't my favorite way to return from vacation, but so far the rest of us have stayed healthy. (Hopefully I didn't just jinx us). Oh yeah, for all you Office fans, Teem had a Dunder Mifflin t-shirt on and Chip (as in Chip-n-Dale) came up to Teem to get a picture with him 'cause he liked his shirt. We thought it was funny.

Happy Easter

Just wanted to say, "Happy Easter." We had a nice Easter Sunday yesterday and I'm pretty sure the kids will be on a sugar high for about a week. Especially Luukas, since he thought he had to eat the candy as he opened the eggs. We are off to southern Cali to visit Teem's sister and also to meet my parents and sister at Disneyland for a couple days. Wish me luck!

Luukas turns 2!

Happy 2nd birthday Luukas! We started the celebrations last Sunday with his birthday dinner and some friends came over. He opened a couple presents: a basketball hoop, a buzz light year and Harold the helicopter. I'm hoping these toys will encourage him to be a little more manly since he still prefers necklaces and purses. (thanks to Kaija) Then, we took a weekend trip to Seattle to join Teem, who had to go for a dental conference. We didn't get to see him during the days, but we spent the evenings together. The kids and I spent Friday morning (which was Luukas' actual birthday) at the Seattle Aquarium and Saturday at Woodland Park Zoo. The aquarium was nice and not crowded at all. They even got to see "Nemo" and "Dory". There was a big dome fish tank and Kaija kept looking for Ariel since she saw the eels (who she thought were Fletsum and Jetsum). She was convinced that Ariel was hiding behind something and at any moment she would show herself. We had Luukas' birthday with some of Teem's friends at the Old Spaghetti Factory, which was a perfect place to take kids. As a side note, the first night we were there (we got there before Teem...long story...so it was just the kids and me) I didn't feel like searching for a restaurant so we just went to the one at the hotel and it was FANCY-SCHMANCY! They didn't even have ketchup for the hamburger, but luckily they were able to get the kids some noodles. I felt a little out of place with the kids, so we just ate really quick and went swimming. The day at the zoo was great, but a little chillier than I would prefer. They had all the usual animals and even an indoor play place to take a break from the wind. We got lucky with no rain and even a little sunshine, which I hear is rare for Seattle in March. The kids liked the monkeys and giraffes. The scariest animal for me was the peacock because I thought it was going to attack us when we walked by. It was just roaming the sidewalks and shook it's feathers when we got a little close. For sure the highlight of our trip for Kaija was swimming at the hotel pool in the evenings (because that's when she turned into a mermaid). For Luukas, it was pushing the buttons for the elevator. His enthusiasm for the buttons never diminished. Ahhh, if only we could be so easy to please. We stayed at the Marriott on the waterfront and let me tell you, they bend over backwards to accommodate their guests. We brought Luukas' present that my parents gave him so that he had something to open on his birthday. It required a screw driver and one phone call later, we had a screw driver. The last night were were there, Teem really wanted some popcorn, so he asked the front desk if there was a microwave that he could use. They didn't hesitate and said, "oh sure, we'll send one right up." We are usually not such high maintenance guests, but it was nice to be treated well. Sorry for my lengthy travel log, but it's the only record I'm keeping of our lives right now.

Random Date Night

So I must be the worst person about keeping an updated blog, but I would much rather read about everyone else's lives than write about my own. But I'll try harder to keep up. Anywho, our friends Megan and Chad have so generously included us in a tradition of theirs recently. This tradition started before they even got married and they are fun and random people. Every month they roll two dice and count that many restaurants down in the phonebook to pick what restaurant they are going to. I don't know if that made any sense, but hopefully you get the idea. So in January, they landed on Subway, which we didn't go to. But February was a restaurant on Houser Lake, picture above (just a nice small lake about 20 minutes from us). We went and were the only customers there. (The funny part is that we even made reservations beforehand). Apparently it's a happenin' place in the summer, but not many people venture out that way in the winter. So we had a lovely time. While at the restaurant, they whipped out the phone book to find out the location of the next month's random date night. It was also on a lake (Lake Pend Oreille...pronounced Ponderay...french I think) in Bayview. The restaurant was called JD's resort. So we get there and I think they cheated with the naming a little, because it was really JD's saloon and smokehouse. (As in cigarettes, not good meat). We walked in and quickly walked out and drove up the rode to a much nicer place with great food. So it was a great experience and we hope to continue the tradition with them. We are off to Seattle this weekend to be with Teem since he has a conference there. I should have something a little more interesting to blog about after that. And it's Luukas' birthday this Friday so I'll take lots of good pictures.

4 week itch

I've decided it's about every 4 weeks or so that I don't like looking at my blog anymore, so I decided to try a more cheerful look hoping to lift my winter blues. I'm sooooo ready for spring.

6 years and counting

Happy late Valentine's Day everybody! Luckily, Teem and I don't really have to celebrate Valentine's day, because our anniversary is two days later (which is a much more meaningful reason to express love for somebody. I don't hate Valentine's day by any means, but it just isn't my favorite holiday. So, with that schpiel (I think it's spiel, but I like my spelling better) out of the way, last weekend we celebrated our 6th year anniversary in style. Well, maybe not in style, but we did more than the usual dinner and a movie thing. I actually surprised Teem and planned a mini-weekend getaway at Silver Mountain Resort. We spent about half the day skiing. It was great snow, but a little foggy. I was done as soon as I slid half way down a run on my back, head first. (At that moment, I was really glad it was foggy or else it would have been really embarrassing). Teem went on a few more runs (he's really good) and I enjoyed some hot chocolate and french fries while I waited for him. After we checked into our room and got ready, we each got a professional massage and then had a great dinner. The nicest part about it was not worrying about my kids. Teem's office manager, Sue, who is like a grandma to the kids, was kind enough to stay with them so I knew they were in good hands.

Survivor...eskimo style

If we had to survive in the bitter cold, I think we could if Teem was with us. On Saturday, while the kids were napping, my big kid spend 2 hours making an igloo for Kaija and Luukas. I have to laugh at my husband a little because most people would think of snow angels or snowmen, but I bet not many people would think, "hey, I really feel like building an igloo today." It's been nice, though because the kids have thoroughly enjoyed playing in their 'house' as Kaija calls it. We haven't had any more snow storms since last week, but the snow hasn't melted at all, and I don't think it's going anywhere. So thanks, Teem, for your hard work and ingenuity.

It's finally here

I'm so excited...the season premiere of LOST is on tonight. I just had to let out some of my happiness.

Winter Wonderland

We just got back last night from a week-long trip to Utah to see some friends and family. Debbie (Arah) Atwood was kind enough to let us stay at her house and even let me use her car a couple times. THANKS A BUNCH DEBBIE!!! The picture is of Kaija, Luukas and Debbie's son Gavin. Kaija is doing an 'Ariel' pose, Luukas is just posing and Gavin wasn't real excited to have his picture taken. They loved playing on the stairs with a mattress. That was definitely their highlight. We even got some kid-free to see 27 Dresses, which was predictable, but I can never see too many chick flicks. I also caught up with a couple high schools friends that live in Salt Lake and a couple college friends. Overall, it was a good trip, even if we had to spend a couple extra hours in the airport. (Love that).
So back to the title of my post, we came home to a couple feet of snow on the ground. They had even canceled church on Sunday. It's pretty and all, but I was a little annoyed this morning (which is our garbage day) to see a note on on our garbage can saying due to the road conditions and safety of the truck drivers, they will not be able to collect trash until further notice. WHAT?!!!!! We have alleyways in between the main roads that aren't plowed regularly, but still. What about the trash? Anyway, it's pretty to look at and I'm sure the kids and I will try to go play in it tomorrow. Oh, the bottom left picture is my neighbor's car, buried int he snow.

There are no words

I'm not sure what to title this post. Let me update you on some recent changes in our home. Due to the fact that Luukas would cry for an hour strait during naptime, and then he was a mess the entire day, I knew I had to do something different. He's been sleeping in the room in the basement, so I thought it might be a good time to let him join Kaija in her room. So about a week ago, I made the switch. He really was a different child...happy and pleasant most of the time. They were even sleeping during naps. So yesterday it was quiet on the monitor, so naturally I thought they were sleeping. Unfortunately, they were definitely NOT sleeping. I think the pictures say it all. The little things on the carpet are tiny crayon and chalk pieces. (and yes, our pink house has PINK carpet in case anyone was wondering). I asked Kaija why she colored her hands pink and she replied in a very matter-of-fact way, "Because I want them to look pretty." Luukas I think was just the sidekick since I know he wasn't the culprit to retrieve the markers and chalk and crayons. I'm almost laughing about it now. Thank goodness for Crayola washable markers.

Kaija's preschool program

Kaija had a Christmas Program followed by a party at her preschool and I had to share this video. This is the last song they did. The first three were really quite good, but I got a good laugh out of this one. I think all the kids were trying to see who could be the loudest. I'm proud to say that my daughter is in the running even if she's not singing the right words. ENJOY!

Christmas in Portland

We spent a week and a half with Teem's family in Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR. Everyone was there, and the kids enjoyed playing with their cousins. We had a great time and Luukas was the only one to get sick. (He threw up the day after Christmas, but just a couple times. Not to gross you out with details, but he was kind enough one time to hold it in his mouth while I got a bowl. He didn't even cry and if you know Luukas, that's unusual even when he's not throwing up). Anyway, we spent a day at Mt. Hood sledding which was fun but freakin' cold. The kids got a surprise the Sunday before Christmas when Santa took a break from his busy schedule to visit them at Mummi's house (Teem's mom). They loved it. Kaija was the first one up there to make sure he knew what she wanted. Luukas was afraid to sit on his lap, but not too shy about taking the treat he brought for all the kids. Teem's parents are both remarried, so we went back-and-forth between houses a few times. Christmas was at his dad's and Kaija loved her Princess crocodile, but I can't seem to find my pictures of her opening it, so I may have done a video of it. She got a matching skirt that has now become a wig of sorts, so that Kaija can transform into a princess with long, flowing, green hair. To each his own. Luukas got a bunch of lego stuff and trucks and cars. We are trying to subtly encourage him to play with boy toys instead of purses and jewelry, which he just LOVES. Teem got his dad and brothers-in-law each a remote controlled helicoptor, so even the big boys got to play with toys. Teem surprised me with a camera and a ring and I also got my first dust buster. Can I tell you how excited I am about that. (honestly) The day after Christmas we (the adults) went to a shooting range with Will (Teem's stepdad) and let me tell you, I'm good. No actually, I really have horrible aim, but it was fun to try. We also spent a couple days at OMSI (the science museum) and really enjoyed ourselves, although I think we could've gotten away with simply giving them a dollar in pennies and had them play with the penny ramp thing in the lobby. It definitely would've been more cost efficient, but we would've missed out on a lot of fun things. I highly recommend it if you ever visit Portland. Overall it was a fun time, but it's nice to be back home.