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.