Baking

We baked again the other day. In the boys opinion the more raisins and flour you add, the better the result. I agree on the raisin part.

Tuomas concentrating on what part of the dough he'll eat.

Risto thinking......

Oooops, I hope whatever he picked from his nose/mouth didn't end up in the pulla!

The result before baking. Risto was quite upset that the raisins popped out during baking.

Jaakko 2 years!

Our baby turned 2 on Sunday! He's such a big boy! Just a couple of days before his birthday he said his first 3 word sentence "Ei juosta autotielle" i.e. don't run to the street (OK, all you wise guys.... 3 words in Finnish). And he looks very serious when he says it.

Jaakko was slightly confused of the attention he got first thing in the morning and he was quite grumpy. But big brothers were eager to help him open the gifts.Still grumpy.....

"Hey, I'm two!"

Jaakko on his christening day, January 15, 2006.

Art

Risto loves to draw. He informed me a week ago that he no longer does war drawings. Now it's mostly animals. The door to his room is covered with drawings of dinosaurs, quite good ones IMHO. Here's what he drew for me last week: As you can see, there are two bats, two birds (the grey coala bear looking creatures), a Russian flying squirrel above the cottage (note, it is NOT a house but a cottage), a bear climbing up the tree, me between the tree trunk and the hedgehog, a snake and a rabbit next to the cottage, three mushrooms and a fallen leaf and a fallen branch. And the green is not the grass but an underwater cave. He put a lot of effort into drawing all those leaves on the tree!

What else has happened?

1) Risto has now his own room, and he's very proud of it. And we've had the "this is my room and I'm the king here and nobody can come in if I don't want them to!" arguments. Before, the boys slept in one room and the spare bedroom was the play-room (now Tuomas' and Jaakko's room). Quite a few times Risto crept in the Jaakko's crib when they still slept in the same room.

2) Despite the hectic life, I managed to be creative. Our white walls scream for colour, but DH isn't interested in having orange walls and "real" art is pricey. So.... DIY! I bought canvases, mixed some acrylics, used child labour and ta-dah

Hand prints from left to right: Tuomas, Jaakko and Risto. I deliberately made them different shades, quite daring for an engineering mind that loves symmetry and harmony, but I knew I'd be ripping my hair off trying to get them the same colour. I'm happy with the result, my first acrylic paintings!

3) Jaakko still eats like a pig. How could he get yoghurt on his eyelashes...

4) DH backed into a car in the traffic lights just two hours ago. I had run to the grocery shop and the boys decided to drive around the block instead of waiting at the parking place. When I came outside, I didn't see the car, walked around and then saw our green Land Rover waiting in the traffic lights. DH saw me, switched into reverse so he could turn to the parking place, but didn't see the teeny-tiny little white car behind him. I couldn't wave my arms to tell him to stop, since my arms were full of groceries. "I looked, but I didn't see the car and I heard the parking radar beep and I took my foot off the gas pedal....." BUMP and I saw the hood of the teeny-tiny-little white car bend. Nobody was hurt, nobody was angry, I guess it was my fault since I didn't drop the groceries on the ground and wave DH to stop and I guess I shouldn't be blogging about this... but now I can quote DH "I didn't see it!" if I ever in a million-zillion years should do something sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo stupid. Sorry, DH!

October was a busy month...

Yes, we're alive. DH survived my business trip to Belgium, my weekend in Barcelona and I survived his golf trip to Scotland. It was a busy October, no time nor energy to blog. I finally planted the last tulip bulbs yesterday. It was high time since it was snowing while I was doing my gardening! It's getting colder and darker and almost impossibly difficult to get up in the mornings, despite the help of 3 boys. It helps me to think about the clear, Catalan sky of Barcelona (see above), the warmth, a dear friend with me there. Oh, will it carry me through this winter?

Hopefully the coming week I'll be able to post "Before-and-After" pictures about our utility room. Things aren't running as smoothly as expected (does it ever with renovating), but we're able to wash our laundry now.

Jaakko a month ago at the computer. He'll turn 2 in just a couple of weeks, but has already turned into a little devil! The bites and throws things, rips his big brothers' hair and screams if things don't go his way! And gives the cutest hugs!
Jaakko with his huge lollipop from Barcelona.
Tuomas got one, too.

Risto could almost fit his in his mouth. He does have a BIG mouth..... in all respects....