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.