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Blogger Boss needs to decide what this is going to say about how crazy her life is & how she loves coffee & walks with her hubby.


Tuesday, October 30, 2012

11 years ago...

11 years ago today we welcomed our 3rd daughter.
Our little Pumpkin.
I remember putting a tiny orange jacket on her and a pumpkin hat on her peach-fyzzy head.
A small bundle for us to love and care for.

Today she's a happy, smily, athletic and smart girl.
She can be Miss Moody, but usually we figure out our differences quite fast.
She does NOT want to "ever" become a teenager, like her two older sisters!
Yukk!!
I asked what she wanted the most for her birthday, and after lots of thinking she came down with the answer.
A toolbox.  With tools in it.
:)
She loves helping her dad in the garage, and a few weeks ago she helped hang and assemble a bunch of shelves in there with him.  He gave her his old cordless drill for birthday.  She smiled BIG time!
In school she takes woodwork instead of textile.
She actually thinks doing construction when she grows up would be fun!
Or maybe become a diabetes nurse...
To help kids like her!

She sure doesn't look like a construction worker, she's very petite, but she is fast and loves to be active.
Besides woodwork she loves math.  Music is BOOO-ring!
Not your typical girl?
Well, at home with her sisters she still enjoys Barbie's and horses and "girl" stuff.
She and her younger sisters are pros at setting up "stuffed animal school".
The aftermath is a room covered in animals, papers, books, scissors, glue or tape or both and coloring stuff...
Sigh.
"I will miss it one day!" (I try to tell myself)

If she has the chance she also loves helping me in the kitchen.
"Can I make the gravy?"
"Can I please peel the potatoes?" (strangely enough, but some of our kids actually FIGHT about this chore!)
Making place-cards with our names written, in the worst case of chicken scratches, on them.
(her hand writing make my eyes bleed... it's getting better thou, maybe)

Over all she's a good kid.
A bit shy and careful at times, I try to help and guide her along the way.
She's making great progress in her new school, and for that I am very thankful.
Her finnish is getting better and better, and she dares to use it more.
She has found many new friends and she comes home smiling!
On Friday she's having a sleepover with a few friends to celebrate her birthday.
She's very excited!!  Plans are being made and I'm sure it won't be a quiet event :)

When her older sisters are away, she steps up and is a great helper.
She's patient and kind (mostly...) with her younger siblings.
One passion she shares with her two-year older sister is READING!
If I let her she escapes to her room and reads, and reads, and reads...
For hours!
Well... I sure am a very fortunate mom to this kiddo!
Keep it up girl, and maybe one day you'll build us a nice cottage :)
Love you forever.



A true cat lover!


Tuesday, October 23, 2012

He's 100% boy!

Happy early birthday to our little guy who turns 3 tomorrow!!
Wow.
I don't have a baby anymore!
I just can't get over the fact that he's so big already, and I don't have a baby that's newbornish, or at least pregnant!  Has never happened before after having our oldest daughter 14 1/2 years ago...
I have been pregnant twice after having him, but after 2 miscarriages, he'll remain our "baby" for the time being.  I can not imagine NOT having any more babies, but of course that COULD happen.
Makes me sad to think about.
I know we are incredibly blessed with our 7 healthy children, and it almost sounds greedy to wish for more, knowing so many who have no kids at all.
But it's just wierd to think that I MIGHT never have a small baby again.
That makes me wish I would have held them all a bit more.
Been a bit more patient, listened more.... well, I can still do those things with the kids we have, of course, but those first few years are so precious and short.

Sure they make you go nuts here and there, and often my life feels like a zoo.
But those babies...
No, I don't miss the night feedings and teething or colicky babies for hours on end.
I don't miss the endless diaper changes or spit-up clothes.
(our little guy is still in diapers, but doesn't need changes so often)
I do miss their "smallness".  All the "1st's".
Their baby smiles and giggles and snugs.
I am so thankful our little guy LOVES to hug and cuddle.
I just need to ask him for a hug and it gets delivered.
He's veeery weak for his mom ;)
If I ask for another one, he sometimes says
"You already got one!"
And I say
"Yeah....but I need another one..."
He can't resist.
So I enjoy those chubby arms around my neck.
The impish smile that reaches his sparkly eyes.
I love to listen to him talk.  He talks A LOT!
The other day I was explaining something for him (to help his father out), when he looks at me and says
"Mamma, I wasn't talking to you!"
Ooops!!

He's an army guy.  He builds gun after gun out of his lego.  When dad had to get going one day I asked if I could take his spot as army guy, and son tells me
"No mamma, you are nice!" (nice moms can't be army guys and shoot "bad guys")
Cuddling with mom is high on his priority list, but playing with dad is the best.
Wrestling, "beat boxing" (=boxing, he gets his words mixed up, and it's so cute we don't bother correcting him), cars, trains, trucks, fishing, building, legos, blocks, hockey....
That's what they do.
I never tire watching the two of them together.
I remember some years ago when Hubby was playing with the wooden trainset with one of our girls, and she liked it but wasn't "into it".  My Hubby got something dreamy in his eyes, and said
"What if we one day have a little boy..."
I almost felt guilty (not like I had any control!!), and felt tears burning in my eyes.
I prayed so hard for a boy... And God heard.
Of course all of our daughters are just as important and special, but there's something special for Hubby to have a "mini me" following him everywhere.

Little Guy has told me to go and build houses so pappa can stay home and play!
"Mamma, you go with uncle T and uncle T to work and pappa can stay at home and play with me!"
Weeeeell.  I think the uncles would be quite disappointed with the trade...

My guys have planned the birthday cake. 
A tank.
I'm curious to see how it turns out!!
So, to my not so little guy, Happy Birthday.
You don't even realize how special you are.
I love how you blend in with your sisters and make them a bit tougher.
They love to wrestle with you, build with you and help you out in your "boy stuff".
You sometimes take part in their games too.
Tea-parties and animal games with your best friend, and somewhat bigger, 5-year old sister.
I love how you love each other.  Often I catch you hugging each other with huge smiles on your faces.
Grow up now little man.  You have a good heart and a stong will.  I'll try to be brave on the sidelines as my baby grows into a big guy!
Smooches.

He's our Super-Spiderman

"Beat"-boxing with dad
Wearing mitts is a must!!
He goes and gets them and says, "let's beat-box!"

"Scoooore!"
He always wins...

Busy at work....  His big sisters built him a sand city!


BFF's 
They were laying like this holding hands...
I had to capture the moment!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Hello October!!

Wow!  We are past half way, and things are just going on!
We have temperatures that drop close to freezing at night (no frost yet!).
The trees are looking bare.
It rains a lot...
I am (ALMOST) looking forward to *s*n*o*w*!
I got my first "Ladies Christmas" invite!! (for American and Canadian ladies residing in Finland)
Our house has been worked on (YAY!!)
Kids are falling in to the school routine, and I stress about things I have no control over...
Like, getting the homework done, or "are they outside enough?", or "do they spend too much time on the computer?", "should they help out more...or less??", "do they get enough sleep?" and the big one: "Who invented candy anyway?"
But then I catch my breath, and take a few deep ones, and realize...
"They are fine"

Their grades are good, their Finnish is improving all the time, they get candy on Saturdays (and sometimes on other days, but NOT every day).  They get most of the homework done.  They are actually outside a lot, and they usually stick to their alotted time on the computer.
We have a routine in place and they seem healthy and happy.
But as a mom... I guess it's hard to not stress here and there.

I had some real fun btw!
Our oldest girl (14) and I went on a trip.
Just the 2 of us.
We flew up to Rovaniemi, (located right at the arctic cirlcle) where one of my sisters picked us up, and together we traveled by car to another sister who lives waaaaaaaaaay up north in Norway!
We stayed there for 4 nights.  Gabbing, laughing, eating yummy foods, snacks and sweets.
Lots of old memories, "mom" talk, future plans etc
What a great time and lots of fun!
Thanks "Sis" for having us :)
And thanks Hubby for taking such good care of the kids and house!

Before the trip my in-laws were in Finland for a few weeks.
Always nice to see them again.
We had time to have a sauna at their house. They have an old woodburning sauna outside, with no running water, so you "scoop and pour" to wash yourself! (there's a woodburning water heater as well, and you mix some of the boiling water with ice-cold in a big bowl).  LOVELY!!  The best is when the 3 youngest kids come with us and they sit in a row on the top bench, cheeks red from the heat, hair sweaty and huge smiles!
It's really dark in there too, so everything seem more intense.  The fire in the stove, the heat from the rocks, the steam when you toss water on them.  The smell and sounds.... I love it.  Little guy really loves it too, and kept splashing cold water on himself, saying "Aaah! It feels gooood!"
Yes, it does!

There you go.  A few tidbits of the latest here in Finland.