Too much time

What do you do when you have too much time to spend after work when the boys have gone to bed and the house is spotless, the laundry done, freshly baked bread in the kitchen, up-dated your blog, finished all the UFO's and pigs are flying outside? You make syrup out of spruce shoots :-)

It's really easy to make. Well, this is the first time for me and so far it looks easy. You just need to find a spruce in the spring with lovely spring green shoots, pick a liter of them (ask for permission of the land owner if you don't own the tree; luckily we have two in our yard), give them a rinse, layer them with sugar in a glass jar, give it a gentle shake (I shook it quite much, just for the fun of it), and put it on the window sill for a month (north or east facing). Not remembering the recipe I put my jar on a south facing sill, but I guess the end result is just the same. Some recipes talk about boiling, but IMHO it would boil away all the goodies (vitamins etc.). So I won't boil it after sieving it. Lovely before-after pictures IMHO!

Sugar and spruce shoot in the jar May 31.

Honestly, this should be very healthy!!! The jar the next day, June 1.

Looking better on June 12.

Flowers and food

You should've seen Risto's face when he handed me this cute little bouquet of wood anemones. "Happy Mothers' Day!" (I didn't correct him that Mothers' Day is on May 13th). He was so happy, so proud and he knew that he'd make me happy.
A beautiful bouquet on our beautiful dinner table. Looks wonderful when you zoom in. But more interesting is what you see when you zoom out. Ha-haa, reality!!! This is what you're supposed to show on your blog. See the wood anemones middle of table.
The comments of the Finnish jury at the dinner didn't make me happy. Tuomas quite bluntly informed me that he didn't like it, he only ate his cucumber pieces, cherry tomatoes and broccoli. But Jaakko, being just 17 months, is a man of action, not of words, as you can see.
Comments of the Finnish jury: zero points!!!

Food and sleep

That's what small boys need inorder to grow. And these boys like their food. If Risto and Tuomas are given the choice between hamburgers and sushi, they'll go for the Japanese delicacy. But definately without wasabi. One sushi dinner was ruined since I forgot to order it without wasabi and the boys refused to eat even though I scraped everything off. But it is hot stuff! And the boys don't just eat 3-4 pieces. More like 10 and then they start looking at our plates! Jaakko isn't into sushi, yet, but he can easily have 2 bananas, huge portion of porridge, 4 dl of milk and some bread for breakfast. I'm not looking forward to those 3 being teenagers. I'll have orangutang arms from carrying groceries.


Jaakko back in July 2006. I'm not sure if his eating habits have improved. Porridge is great paint and glue.... If Jaakko isnt' served food quickly enough, he gets it himself. This time I caught him with his pants down.
Chocolate cake dough is food, too. Risto and Tuomas in January 2007.

Risto eating seafood soup in February 2007 in Curacao. I think he took 2-3 helpings.

This boy can eat, believe me. Tuomas at Schiphol Airport in February 2007 on our way to Curacao. Well, he has to eat: his estimate height is well over 190 cm.

But sometimes he's too tired to eat. Tuomas back in July 2006. And why do I grab the camera instead of carrying the poor boy to bed?

And it happened to Jaakko in January 2007, too. And mommy grabs the camera.

Risto and Tuomas sleeping in Curacao, February 2007. With Risto's blue bunny and Tuomas' turtle keeping guard.