emandteem

Kaija's Princess Party and Girls' Weekend

2009-09-07T21:28:00.000-07:00

So last weekend all of my sisters, my mom and I got together in Texas for an extended girls weekend. I had a blast and it was a much needed break, thanks to my friends and Teem for taking care of the kids. We started with some shopping, then dinner followed by an evening at a dueling piano bar. It was amazing to watch those guys play and I couldn't believe they knew the words to the songs they played. Anyway, if anyone hasn't been to one, I highly recommend it. My poor sister, Holly got picked on a lot and she had to go up on the stage to do the hokey-pokey.
The second day was jam-packed with a whole lot of nothing (which was planned that way). We actually played a little tennis (some of us) and spent a good part of the day at the pool. I can't remember the last time I laid at the pool without any kids to constantly watch. That night we went to see Mama Mia. Overall, it was a perfect day. The last day we did a lot more shopping, yay. And we ended it at The Cheesecake Factory, yum. Thanks mom and sisters for the good memories.
The day before I had to leave for the girls' weekend, Kaija had a princess party and I even baked her cake. The girls were so fun and cute. It all went pretty smoothly. She wanted to be a mermaid-fairy princess, so she wore an Ariel costume and added wings and a crown and Voila! Instant mermaid-fairy princess. I'll attach some pictures of the pretty, pretty princesses.
This past weekend we went camping at Lake Roosevelt with some friends and had a marvelous time. Camping is fun when you have running water and flushing toilets (we had both).

A long overdue update

2009-08-03T23:03:00.000-07:00

Once again, I've been a major slacker with my blog. The last few months have been crazy busy and summer is just nuts. Most recently we just went to Portland for a couple weeks to spend time with Teem's family. We spent 4th of July weekend camping with the fam. I had a great time with his sisters and the kids. Our days were spent berry picking (mmmm, so yummy), going to free movies, playing in a fountain downtown Vancouver and just hanging out.
Life with three kids, for me, is so much fun, but I've had a really hard time taking pictures, journaling and all that. My kids constantly make me laugh and I've failed to write down all of the funny things they say. Luukas' favorite phrase when he's excited about something is, "Holy, moly smokes!" And he always says it with gusto. Also, when he talks he pronounces his f''s as w's (super fast becomes 'super wast'). Kaija is still very much a princess, usually in her own world. She was coloring in church last week and humming to herself and singing her own made up songs, albeit a little loud. A few months ago she approached me looking very sad, almost teary. Here's the conversation:

Me: What's the matter?
Kaija: Mommy, I don't want to die.
Me: Sweetheart, you aren't going to die anytime soon. (and we had a short conversation about heaven and all that)
Kaija: (still on the verge of tears) But mom, I don't want to die because there are no dress-ups in heaven.
Me: (trying very hard not to laugh, since the comment caught me very off guard) Well, I'm sure Heavenly Father would have things in heaven that make us happy.
Kaija: Oh, okay. And off she went to play.

So that sums up Kaija pretty well. As far as Miia, she's a beast. At her 9-month appointment, she weighed 21 pounds. Her favorite thing is bath time, but it doesn't last very long because it's kind of like trying to keep hold of a slippery, squirmy fish. She literally flops all over the bath tub. She's crawling and eating EVERYTHING, especially sand, when she can sneak a handful. I know, gross, huh. Well, I'm going to do my best to stay more updated with my blog so some of you can get off my back. :)

Happy Birthday Luukas!

2009-03-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we celebrated Luukas' 3rd birthday and I have yet to post anything. (Pictures will be coming). Teem's parents came in town and we went to our favorite breakfast place (Old European Breakfast House) for a birthday brunch, then that evening went bowling. Sunday night we celebrated with a nice Sunday dinner (flank steak terryaki...yumm...thanks Teem) with friends. Teem gave Luukas a slot car race track and he also got a spider-man bike. So the big man is three and is so proud to be a year older. Now he likes to eat things in threes (like grapes or crackers) to match his new age. Funny boy!
On a side note, I have to share a couple new recipes I found online that I love. One is a copycat recipe of Panera's Cream Cheese potato soup and the other one, a Glazed Salmon recipe, we tried tonight. Teem went to Seattle a couple weekends ago and brought back a bunch of yummy seafood that we froze and tonight we had a smorgasbord. Just thought I'd share these good finds.

Picture Perfect

2009-02-21T21:48:00.000-08:00

Here's pictures as promised. I love the first one of Miia. Fat and Happy. That pretty much sums her up. The bottom ones are Vegas pictures. I was able to go to my college friend, Larissa's reception (and her new hubby Ignacio) while we were there. It was so nice to see her and to meet her man. Teem and Andy (Holly's husband) took the kids on a hike one afternoon and also to the hoover dam. And the adorable girl under the umbrella is Tessa, my niece. She has the cutest little voice I've ever heard.

Success (sort of)

2009-02-19T13:47:00.000-08:00

We had the opportunity to spend a week with my sister, Holly, and her family in Las Vegas. They moved there in the summer, and finally finished building a house in November. It was nice to see her new place (totally jealous) and spend time with them. Kaija and her daughter Natalie even played without any major drama. (That's a miracle with any two girls being around each other for a week). We had a great adult evening out at the Cheesecake Factory (YUMMM) and Teem and I did an early anniversary celebration and saw Phantom at the venetian. We were hoping to get away from our freezing winter, but unfortunately it was pretty cold there, too. Despite that, we still enjoyed ourselves. So thanks Holly, for the good times.
The day after we got back, I decided to tackle the dreaded potty training for Luukas, who is approaching his 3rd birthday next month. He did great the first day but went about 15 times. So the next day I told him he could try holding it in a little longer so he didn't have to go so often. He took that advise to heart because he held it ALL DAY LONG. It was around 5 or 6 pm and he was in pain he had to go so bad, but he didn't want to get his underwear wet. I tried eveything, then finally I had him try to 'shoot' cheerios standing up. He went immediately and had a blast doing it. Now he thinks it' s a game every time. I'll have to work on weaning him from the cheerios. As a mom, I feel like I've accomplished something getting this far with potty training. It's all about the little things, right? At this point we are still having #2 issues. (He just won't go at all). So I'll take any pointers and tips that any of you may have. HELP ME PLEASE!
Miia has just started rice cereal and just smiles and kind of spits it right back out. But she sure is cute with her messy face. I'll get some pictures up soon. She really is a chunky monkey. You can't help but squish her and kiss her chubby cheeks. Luukas cheers up right away when she is around. He is quite fond of Miia and is always looking our for her.

It's been a while

2009-01-12T08:30:00.000-08:00

I'll have to add pictures from the last 2 months sometime, but if I don't start small, I won't start at all. It has been a wonderful couple of months. We spent Thanksgiving in Utah with friends and family and we had a great time. We even drove and it wasn't too bad. (Thank you DVD player). Miia was an angel baby...slept most of the drive except to eat. We stayed with some friends from dental school, spent Thanksgiving at my Grandma Lowder's house, got to see some good Michigan friends, the Quinns, and I was fortunate to have a lunch date with some college friends (aka Divas) so thank you Cafe Rio. I love Utah because we get to see so many people when we go. Everyone seems to have a connection to that place.
December came and went so fast. We took a quick trip to Portland to see Teem's family a couple weeks before Christmas. When we got back, I decided to host an Ugly Sweater Party and we had a great time. There were definitely some uglies there. (Sweaters, not people) :) The monday before Christmas, we flew to Dallas to spend the holidays with my family. We survived the trip and my kids even got to sit first class on one of the legs. Long story short, Teem flys a lot so he and the kids got upgraded (there were only three seats left). Teem offered his seat and I gave him the choice to take all the kids to first class or be in coach alone. So, I got to sit in coach all alone. Wow, so much better than first class. I even slept for part of the flight.
Christmas was great! The kids enjoyed opening all the gifts, although Luukas was a little overwhelmed and Kaija asked at the end of the madness, "when do we get more presents?" I just looked at her and laughed. We were also blessed with a few fabulous warm park days. Kaija is already wondering when the snow is going to melt here so she can go to the park.
Speaking of snow, before we left Coeur d'Alene, we got record snowfall (I think around 3 1/2 feet). Then we came home to even more snow. My friends told me that even Walmart was closed for a couple days. Walmart? They never close. Teem had to dig his car out of mounds of snow so he could get to work the next day.
For New Year's Eve, we tagged along with my sister, Shelley to her friend's party. Thanks Mimi and Poppy for watching the kiddos. It was pretty fun because we did a white elephant exchange with a twist. All the wives brought something of great sentimental worth that belonged to her husband (without the husband knowing). The looks on the guys faces was priceless. It wasn't until about halfway through that they realized the joke was on them. (They were a little slow to catch on). One of the gifts was a box of very valuable baseball cards. My sister brought a picture of her husband with Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders that was on his "wall of fame". Another had a signed BYU helmet and seriously I think I saw tears in the guys eyes. I brought Teem's collectible star wars light saber (it was actually Luukas' that Teem gave him for Christmas, but Teem was rather attached to it). The funny thing was that the light saber was the first to be stolen and all these grown men looking at it with envy gave me a good chuckle. I decided they are all just oversized kids in disguise. Oh man, it was a hoot, so I'd highly recommend playing this version of a white elephant game.
Overall, it was a wonderful Christmas and holiday season for us. It's nice to be home but we are already planning another trip to Dallas to get to good weather.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-04T07:02:00.001-08:00

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

2008-10-03T09:06:00.001-07:00

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...

2008-09-18T08:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-15T20:57:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-05T19:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-19T09:15:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-20T04:34:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-11T06:35:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-19T16:22:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-02T18:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-20T20:13:00.000-07:00

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 .....

2008-05-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-21T13:36:00.001-07:00

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?

2008-04-06T15:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-04T13:37:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-24T15:48:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-03-17T14:26:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-09T22:01:00.000-07:00

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

2008-02-23T20:31:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-18T14:30:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-05T14:47:00.001-08:00

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

2008-01-31T13:06:00.000-08:00

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

Winter Wonderland

2008-01-29T16:51:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-17T14:39:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-07T11:07:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-07T10:37:00.001-08:00

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.

The things we do for kids

2007-12-18T20:25:00.000-08:00

So just the other day I asked Kaija what she wanted from Santa. (she's seen him twice now, so I'm afraid the 'list' keeps changing). As a side note, it's a good thing she's not old enough to piece things together because she calls the Santa at the mall, the 'one that's a little scary with darker hair' and the one at our church Christmas party is the 'nice Santa'. Her list started out as barbie stuff and a crocodile. (She has this toy crocodile that's kind of squishy feeling and she wanted another one from Santa). So I was a little unprepared when she told me she asked Santa for a Princess crocodile with a green crown (yes, it's still her favorite color) and a skirt. Luckily, I had nothing better to do last night since Teem was out of town, so I quickly worked on this little project that had presented itself. I guess we sometimes go to extreme measures so that our kids will believe in Santa. I actually was quite impressed with my creativity (since I am seriously lacking in that department). I'd start selling them on ebay, but I have an inkling that these 'crocodile princesses' are not in high demand...maybe next year :)

Clark Griswald at the Pink House

2007-12-13T21:46:00.000-08:00

FYI: Clark Griswald is Chevy Chase on Christmas Vacation. So if any of you know Teem, you know that when he does something out of his own desire, it is done with 110% effort. This year's Christmas lights have been no exception. He has spent the last two saturdays perfecting his work and adding to it. What made me laugh (not to his face, of course, but in my head) was when he said, "well, I need to go back a get a couple more boxes of lights". This was after he had already gone through at least 20 boxes. And those 'couple of' boxes turned out to be about 8. Now, it may not look as impressive as it sounds, but I do not exaggerate the # of lights. And there are probably about 8 extension cords strewn throughout our yard so that the circuit doesn't trip (or whatever it's called). Give me a break, I'm not an electrician.
A couple weekends ago we did end up going to the 'north pole' to see santa. It turns out it's a boat ride to the north pole and that's it. You don't even get out, but santa is sitting in his little house on the shore and reads off all the kids names. Kaija loved that part. It was an experience we may never have again (for better or worse). I'd post pictures of that, but they didn't turn out so well due to the darkness and movement of the boat.

GOOD MORNING COEUR D'ALENE

2007-11-28T13:45:00.000-08:00

This morning Coeur d'Alene was spotlighted on Good Morning America, and I didn't even know it until 4 am this morning, when our house was shaking from the fireworks downtown, since we are not very far from the main street. Other than the terror (thinking we were under attack, or worse...that our kids would wake up :), I thought it was pretty cool to have our town on national TV. Who would've thought?! Here are a few reasons why they picked CDA:

Home to the world's largest holiday tree at 161 feet, which is more than twice the size of the tree in New York City's Rockefeller Center

Over 30,000 lights trim the tree

1.5 million lights transformed the tiny town into a winter wonderland tour

A special North Pole village has been set up by the resort that can only be reached by crossing the lake

Viva Las Vegas

2007-11-21T18:49:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, Teem and I got to go to Vegas with his office staff and their spouses. Technically, it was for a dental conference, but we also had some good times together. We did a lot of walking (thank goodness, because we also did a lot of eating)...there seems to be a theme to my vacations: Food. I'm just training for Thanksgiving. :) We also did the dinner show at Excalibur and got to see a cirque du soleil show (la reve...AMAZING!) I definitely had Kaija and Luukkas withdrawls, especially since I was gone two weekends in a row, and I don't miss the smoke and the nastiness that can be found there, but is was definitely worth the time with Teem. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

New York Trip

2007-11-13T18:28:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, I was able to leave my kids with my mom (thanks Mimi) and spend a few days with three great friends from Michigan (Jana, Lisa and Debbie and a little time with Emily D.) in NY shopping, eating, and all the other NY stuff...did I mention eating. I swear I gained 10 pounds, but most of it was worth it. I haven't been able to upload my pictures, so go to Lisa's blog for pics and more details. Thanks for the memories, girls. I'm off to Vegas with Teem and his office staff for an extended weekend.

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-01T17:59:00.001-07:00

This year it seems as though we've had a week long halloween celebration. It started with our church halloween party...as you can see, my date was a 70's rock star (or something like that). We then carved pumpkins on Sunday. Then on Tuesday was Kaija's preschool halloween party. Wednesday we went to our library storytime and they got to do a halloween parade for the staff and recite a pumpkin poem that they learned. That afternoon we went downtown Coeur d'Alene for the trick-or-treating at the shops. Kaija and Luukas had it made...I pushed them around in the stroller and they sat there and looked cute and held their buckets. We went to the mall (they do trick-or-treating and games and such) then got a few housed of the traditional trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Kaija kept saying, "one more house, okay?" She was totally into it. She also politely corrected anyone who said, "what a cute dinosaur" or "what a cute crocodile." She said, "I'm a green dragon." It was her choice actually, since her favorite color is GREEN these days, she didn't care much what the costume was except the color. I hope you all had a wonderful halloween.

My big bum and refried beans

2007-10-29T20:06:00.000-07:00

Actually, the two are unrelated but I have two short funny stories to share and I didn't want to do two separate posts. Plus, I thought it might be an attention grabber. :) So as mentioned in previous posts, Kaija has a cheerleader-type personality ... cheering on Luukas, the bath water, and now me. She was my audience a couple days ago when I was using the toilet and she started by saying, "you can do it mommy, I'm so proud of you." I was touched that she cared :) until she added, "don't worry mommy, you won't fall in. You have a big bum, you'll be okay." If she wasn't so dang cute about how she said it, I might be offended. We've had a lot of talks about how she won't fall in the potty because her bum is big enough to keep her up, so I'm guessing she made a similar conclusion about my bum.
The second story is just a brief example of Luukas' temper and how he manages (or mismanages) it. We went to the store Saturday night to pick out some pumpkins for our Sunday activity and we made the mistake of letting the kids roam free (actually, we had no choice because Teem's huge pumpkin took up most the room). So I made a second mistake of letting Kaija and Luukas pick out a couple apples and carry their own bags around. We were in the canned food isle and Luukas wanted to put some beans in his bag with the apples. Well, needless to say he wasn't too thrilled when I took it out of the bag and told him, "No". So after screaming for a few seconds, he chose to release his anger on the innocent cans of beans on the shelf in front of him (seriously out of control...like when you see an adult do it in the movies). I had to call Teem over to help me. Luckily, no one was injured :) and I don't even think we dented a can. The good part about this temper of his is that he lets it all out and then he's fine. I'm sure there will be more temper tales to come, so stay tuned.

Field trips

2007-10-16T20:45:00.001-07:00

Over the last three weeks, Kaija has had two great field trips with her preschool. The first was Walter's farm where the kids got to play in a pea pit, go on a wagon ride, pick their own apple AND pumpkins as well as sample the apple cider...yummmy! The second was called Carver's farm. The activities included a corn maze, a wagon ride and popcorn picking. They got to take home a couple ears of Indian corn which makes for good popcorn in a few weeks (or so they said). Kaija's favorite part was selecting a gourd from the gourd patch (??) because it is green - her favorite color these days. Speaking of green, stay tuned for Kaija's costume in a couple weeks. I let her pick it out herself. I can only say that she surprised me with her choice, but she wants to wear it everyday.

The Compromise

2007-10-02T16:17:00.000-07:00

I know I've added a lot of posts in a short time, but kids are so funny, I had to share. Luukas has recently become quite fond of Kaija's princess chair. So when we watch movies, he'll often sit in it unless it is already occupied. A couple nights ago, Luukas was sitting in it and the next thing I knew, Kaija was getting in it and Luukas was winding up to strike his sister (he is no long a pushover, but simply a pusher). I tried to work out a compromise, so the picture explains it best. They actually sat like that for 5 or 10 minutes.

Pet Bass

2007-10-02T16:09:00.000-07:00

Saturday during naps, Teem went fishing in Lake Coeur d'Alene and had some luck. He caught two pretty good-size bass. Well, I was gone later that day and Teem didn't want to gut and clean the fish with the kids around, so he just filled the bath tub with cold water (luckily the downstairs one that nobody uses) and decided to put the fish in there until he had time to clean them. Well, the kids, according to Teem, loved playing with the fish like they were their pets. (I'm cringing thinking about it...yuck), but they had a good time. Kaija was a little confused when she woke up and her new 'pets' were gone, but she didn't seem to mind eating them at dinner time. I'm pretty sure she didn't make the connection that the fish swimming in our bathtub were the same fish she was eating the next night. I also spent Saturday night scouring the tub. EEEWWW! I'm still not sure how I feel about it all, but I can't complain because I had away time that afternoon.

Funny Kaija

2007-09-25T14:03:00.000-07:00

I just have to share this, because it made me laugh. So after Kaija and Luukas took their bath the other day Kaija was leaning over the tub saying something, so I got close enough to hear her. Evidently, she was comforting the bath water as it was going down the drain, "go down there, yep, that's it. It's not scary. There you go. It's quiet, not loud. See you next time." She is still getting over the whole loud toilet thing, so maybe she was empathizing with the water. Who knows.

Golf Lessons

2007-09-25T13:55:00.001-07:00

For my birthday (back in May), Teem gave me a gift certificate for private golf lessons. I just barely started last week, but it looks promising. It was a little embarrassing the first time because I had ordered women's clubs from Costco and it turns out they were a little bit purple. I have since exchanged them for some men's clubs (since I found out my fingers are apparently man length). The instructor didn't say much the first time except, "well, you don't have any problems with strength and aggression." I took it as a compliment. :) I think this golf thing might not be so bad after all.

First Day of Preschool

2007-09-09T14:48:00.000-07:00

What an eventful month for Kaija...turning 3, going potty, and now her first day of preschool. She was so excited, I had a hard time convincing her to take off her backpack to get in the car seat. I dropped her off and didn't even get so much as a good-bye or anything. She just ran in and started to play with the other kids. I feel like she's growing up too fast.

Labor day weekend at Loon Lake

2007-09-07T19:36:00.001-07:00

Last weekend for Labor Day, most of Teem's family came up to visit and we stayed up at Loon Lake at Teem's office manager's house, while they were out of town. We went tubing and boating and played in the sand. It was a great time except early Friday morning when Kaija threw up for a few hours. She literally slept the entire day on Saturday, but at least it was a great location and she had some good views while she rested. Luckily nobody else got sick and she was back to herself the next day. We think it was a little lake water that she drank on Friday or something else she ate. Anyway, that didn't ruin the good times we had.

A trip to the dentist

2007-08-31T13:28:00.001-07:00

So yesterday I had an appointment with my dentist, who happens to be my husband. I'm still not sure that is a healthy relationship for husband and wife (Dentist/patient). In the past, I have been labeled as Teem's worst patient (by Teem). I think it's only because I hate getting shots and I'll tell him every time he's making me uncomfortable. But, I am happy to say that yesterday I had the most pleasant experience ever. I had two crowns done (one replacement and one to cover a cracked tooth) as well as two fillings (it's been a while since I've had a check-up). Anyway, thanks to some nitrous oxide, I had a wonderful time. I think I laughed out loud a couple times, but at least I knew the dentist pretty well, so it wasn't embarrassing. I think that Dr. Scarborough did a fantastic job, so thanks. He loves what he does and it shows and I am so grateful that he enjoys his work. That's it for now.

Last weekend

2007-08-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

We went to the North Idaho Fair on Saturday and the kids had a great time. Of course they had rides and all that good stuff. Kaija and Luukas really liked seeing the animals. There was also a kids play area where they rode bikes through a maze and made necklaces.
Teem also decided to wash the car and of course the kids had to help. Luukas really got into it and was being quite meticulous about his work. :) They both ended up totally soaked, but that's all part of the fun. Sunday we went to a friends house and Kaija got a second birthday cake and loved the attention AGAIN. Kaija hasn't had a single wet accident since she first used the potty last week, but I had her first #2 accident while we were at McDonald's. I took the kids there since it was her actual birthday and Teem was out of town. She hadn't pooped for about 4 days, so I figured I would need to give her a suppository eventually, but I saw her holding her bum while she was in the playplace and I knew we were too late. So I won't go into any gross details, but you can imagine the clean-up. To make things worse, I sat her on the potty to make sure she was done and it was one of those automatic flushers and she was so terrified she was shaking when it flushed randomly. (I don't think she will ever go potty again at "Old McDonald's" as she calls it, for the rest of her life) But, tonight she successfully went #2 at home, so I'm feeling accomplished as a mother today. That was our weekend in short.

Digital Scrapbooking

2007-08-27T23:11:00.000-07:00

So I am kind of into digital scrapbooking. I used to enjoy regular scrapbooking until I realized I couldn't possibly keep up with my kids scrapbooks if I wanted to do them. I just finished Kaija's 3rd year scrapbook and here's a link to it if anyone is interested. I'm a rookie and will probably never be really creative like the ones you see on websites and in magazines, but for me it works great and I don't spend tons of time one them. I'll be adding more links to my blog of the websites I like.
Kaija's scrapbook link
Hawaii Scrapbook

Potty training success

2007-08-26T13:58:00.000-07:00

I just thought I'd share some good news...Kaija used the potty!!! I decided to try again (I think this was round 3). The first two times were awful experiences where Kaija would hold her pee for the ENTIRE day and just wouldn't go. So two days ago, I paused the movie we were watching and said, "As soon as your go on the potty, I'll start the movie again." I know it might sound mean, but I have tried EVERYTHING, so I was desperate. She is starting preschool in a week, so the pressure was on. Although I was going to just cheat the system, since she was pretty good at holding it all day I figured she could hold it for 3 hours in the morning. :) But now I might not have to cheat. She's definitely not totally trained, but any progress is good for me.

Weekend in Vancouver and Portland

2007-08-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

We spent the weekend with Teem's family and celebrated Kaija's 3rd birthday a little early. She got a couple dresses from her grandparents, so she was in heaven. We had so much fun seeing family and Kaija especially enjoyed playing with her cousin Riley. At Grandma and Grandpa Scarborough's house, we picked a bunch of blackberries. Yummmy! Luukas got really good at finding and picking the ripe ones all by himself. Kaija went with Mummi (Teem's mom) and Teem to pick some blueberries, although I think more ended up in her mouth than in the bucket. Oh well. They also got to play with the kids at the day care at Mummi's house, so there was plenty of entertainment. We even drove both ways without turning on the dvd player once and the kids were perfectly happy. (Kaija won't sleep if there is a movie on). That's a first for us.