Energetic Teenager

What a blast we had at the gymnastics center with energetic teenagers (and those soon to be).  It was a warm place to be on a very snowy day:)  While we were there, it snowed about 5 more inches of new white fluff outside.  Here are some pictures of the fun birthday party.

Jumping into the mosh pit and safely landing:)

Launching up and over the mats and the beams,  and going through the tunnels . . .

Then racing the other team in jumping rope 

and backward crab walking with a balloon between your legs. 

Her brothers said the gift bags we gave were too "girly":)  I spent some time in the kitchen surprising her with Finnish Meat Pies and Apple Cranberry Oatmeal pie instead of birthday cake.

click here for recipes of Finnish meat pies and Apple Cranberry Pie. 

Making her wishes come true!

We sing Happy Birthday with the last line . . .

May your wishes come true. 

Popping confetti pops to celebrate

and the crown her friends made for her from it. 

The gift giving was so much fun.  She was so pleased with the gifts her friends gave her.  

When we returned home her brothers each gave her an article of new clothing and each gave her-- unbeknownst to the others -- a copy of the book "Tales of Beedle the Bard".  Boy did they have a good laugh over that!

What do Cyborgs, a Flash, a Glowstation, Lipstick & a Coat Have in Common?

They are some of our Christmas presents!

What?  Santa surprised us with night vision eye goggles?  And an airhogs helicopter and a/h car that climbs up most surfaces! 

When they weren't flying or driving their airhogs, they were wearing their eye goggles.  

They had just one question.

They asked, "What is a cyborg"?  

These handy devices were even strapped on during Christmas dinner!   This became necessary since the dining room was dimly lit with Christmas candles and they needed to better see the fat versus the meat in their prime rib:)

It's just what I wanted -- a glow station.   Thanks Santa!  

He had seen this advertised while watching television at his grandparents, but none of us even knew what he was referring to, but thankfully Santa did.  He can draw in the dark and it will glow.  And they are also excited for the family's marble run, wii fit, etc. 

Dear Santa, I would like a pink ripstick please! Have you ever seen a  pink ripstick? Well Santa had!  Because it's a ripstick and it's the color of pink lipstick and since she was Sarah Palin for Halloween, Dad nicknamed  this "lipstick".  Did the snow stop her from learning to ride it?  No, the dining room and kitchen made the perfect oval and figure 8 to learn.  She was willing to fetch anything as long as she could ride it to get it.  She rode it so much that she got "sea legs". 

No name tags allowed!  With no gift name tags on this year, when it was your turn, you had to guess which gift was for you and who it was from.  It was fun to capture excited expressions on their faces.  It was scary when I discovered that the first 10 minutes we'd shot photos with no memory card in.  Yikes!  We missed the first moments, but still have fun ones to remember this day!  At first "the four" said we take too many, but if we didn't take one, would ask us to and they even grab it themselves as well, so you'll see more of us. 

We are wii crazy, as long as it's one that gets us moving!  Here the children excitedly open their combined Christmas/birthday gifts from the Austin-King's in California -- Outdoor Challenge.  

Thanks for my new camera flash that equals 1000 candles! 

This allows me to shoot rapid fire shots with the flash on. Amazing!  And I appreciate the new complete camera equipment carrying slingpack too.

And thanks for this new dress coat to keep me warm while walking out in this wind and snow!  

We stayed inside all day and played in our "boys -- blue wii and girls -- pink snowflake jammies". We never once stepped outside!  The good news is none of us shoveled on Christmas Day.  The bad news is all of us needs to help shovel again today -- especially after the Christmas Day blizzard and the snow plow filling the end of our driveway this morning! 

Merry Christmas! Hyvaa Joulua!

We have posted a few of our family Christmas photos (work in progress) here. Leave us a note here in the comments section.

We are busy in the kitchen making
Joulu torttuja, piparkakkuja, pulla, kisseli, karjalan piirakka, porkkana laattikko, and so on. If you want some of the recipes visit us at http://maijaliisa.blogspot.com and search for those names as we have them every year on Christmas Eve.

Family Friends Fondue Fun

We seem to be doing little more than shoveling each day! Here the boys are having a go at it again.  We also had help each day from our neighbor Bro. Forsnes with his snow blower. Hallelujah!  

Actually we've made lots of preparations for family, friends, and the celebrations and parties of Christmastime.  Here we are joined for first fondue Click here to see what we dipped and into what? 

And then we enjoyed fun through games.  Each child's room, the living room and dining room table (once the fondue dishes were cleared, washed and put away -- Jann gave me the best present by washing up the dishes!) was a spot you could play a game fun.  The Johnson's brought Wise and Know Wise -- I think it's called.  It's a great game! Kevin have you tried this one?  One person reads to the group the beginning of a saying and each of the players writes the ending of the saying.  Next you pass your version in and then vote on which ending is most likely the real ending to a wise or sometimes bizarre quote.  I highly recommend this game.  I came from behind when I got everyone to vote for my ending in the final round.  

The Snowed Out Guests Adventure

Monday's Shovelers and Windshield Wiper and the guest who couldn't get here . . .



We've had so much snow!! Matthew is wiping off the van (notice his concentration as he becomes a human windshield wiper and I'm able to capture this moment without being noticed).   Katriina and Brad shovel -- again! Each time we left to run an errand or visit a neighbor, we'd shovel.

Our friends from MN, visiting a grandmother an hour from us, were going to spend last night with us, after skiing and leave from our house for an 8 am flight 30 minutes away. They had quite the adventure along the way!

After leaving at 7 p.m., by 8 p.m. the highway was still closed and they were waiting for a snowplow with FedEx and others trying to get out of town. The snowplow ran off the road, so they waited for another one. It was too low of visibility to turn back now. Then they came upon a jackknifed semi and had to wait and wait for that to be cleared. Finally on their way, they remembered it was impossible to get to us w/o 4wheel drive.  I'd driven the car in the afternoon and was grateful for my excellent winter driving skills to get home safely.  Later when I went out, I took the 4wheel drive and was glad I had. The wind just kept moving snow into the roads!  We'd told them to call and we'd come get them from a parking lot. Brad drove around looking for a clear one and coudn't find one!! Instead, our guests never came, but just kept on driving to the airport once they got out! They arrived at the airport at 3:30 a.m. after attempting to leave at 7:00 p.m. for what should have been an 1.5 hour total trip. The good news? They are safe and they made their flight home for Christmas after experiencing what high winds and snow can do here. 

4th Advent Sunday

As you can see here, "Father Christmas" -- he still likes to "be" someone and that's who he was right then --  poses in front of the lit advent candle holder.  It's the 4th Sunday before Christmas so all 4 candles can be lit.  The basket was made with love by Mr. Bengts arthritic hands years ago.  We look forward to this tradition each year.  Even Elder Uchtdorf mentioned it in his Christmas Devotional address this year. 

Our boys are making their pulla boys for Christmas morning.  They're also making ones to take to Mummo and Papa, since they started the tradition. 

We'll eat them with "Polar Express" hot chocolate, the orange from the toe of our stocking, some quiche and leftover ham for protein and stocking candy:)

Andrew is burning one of the two candles he made in 5th grade

 for Christmas. He had to make his own candle holder too as all of ours were too big. David also made a set for Mom and Dad.

Katriina stirs the pretend "riisi puuro" rice porridge looking for the lone almond with the Finnish elves. At Mummo and Papa's tonight we had our traditional rice porridge instead of waiting until Christmas. First Andrew and then Matthew got that lucky almond -- oops pecan -- since I couldn't find an almond to put in. First Andrew scooped it up in the first scoop, but put it back since he'd scooped so deeply. Then it came up in Matthew's scoop. So it's extra good luck for both of them all year!

Matthew played some Christmas songs he taught himself (plays by ear like his Dad)  for Mummo and Papa.

David shovels the driveway upon our return.  Notice the figure 8 he is making?  

We all helped shovel at different times today -- before church, after church, on the way to Mummo and Papa's, when we got back, when we left for caroling, when we came back from caroling -- it just kept snowing and snowing!

We joined the  Thomas's and Johnson's caroling again this year going from house to house in the neighborhood.  It was snowing the whole time! 

Maria treated us to several varieties of her Swedish Christmas cookies with hot chocolate to warm us up. Yummy!

Violin Recital

Mrs. Packer had her Christmas concert and "The four" got to practice their "Jolly Old Saint Nicolas" piece for the parents.  They played this with Dad on the guitar and Mom on the piano at the Ward Christmas party. 

David is taking lessons from Mr. Hansen and is in his school orchestra.  David would rather practice violin than do most anything else.

Andrew is also in lessons and the school orchestra since September.  He says it's fun.

Katriina started violin 2 years ago in the school's orchestra.  Now she takes lessons too and is in the school's as well.  She played the violin the the temple cultural celebration with many other high school through middle school violinists. 

 

When his brothers started orchestra, he wanted to too, so he is taking lessons and hopes to play the viola one day as well.  He also likes to figure out how to play his pieces on the piano. 

Full Moon

It's almost magical when there is a full moon in winter.  It would be nice to capture a shot of the moonlight on the snow at night, but here is a shot at night and again the next morning. 

Sleeping under the Christmas Tree

Katriina loves looking up at the lights from under the tree. I started this with her her first Christmas when she was almost one. I'd get underneath with her and still like doing so.

Notice the Christmas pillow cases Mummo made for us all about 5 years ago?  Our kids still use theirs every year!

Will the elves visit tonight?

At first Matthew was hesitant to sleep under the tree this year since last year's tree fell over on him the night we put it up!  It was our first year getting a real tree from the forest and it wasn't in straight.  This one is great, but also I bought a better stand for it:)

Choosing his new set of Scriptures

We have a tradition of giving our kids a new set of scriptures when they are baptized.  The LDS church uses the King James Version. When I was still single, they released a copy with extensive cross referencing throughout the Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon--another testament of Jesus Christ, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price and the Articles of Faith.  We took Matthew to the Distribution Center to pick out the style and color he wanted.  

We thought he'd go for the less expensive ones and wait until 12 for the leather ones, but no we ended up with a leather quad. Katriina didn't receive her leather quad until last year at 12, when she entered the Young Women's program.  The twins have another year before they are 12 and Andrew insists we wait until he's 12 to get his. David's fine if we give him his a year early.  I only started it that way so that we had more of a chance of being careful with them, but it looks like we're jumping everyone ahead. 

Decorating the Tree - Take 1

Matthew hurried to get in on putting his first ornament on the tree.  He was the last in the shower on Sunday morning. 

Notice the light blue LED lights?  Take 2 -- We had to take them off and put plain white lights on.  Our tree is actually gold and red now.  Take 3 -- should be when I replace the bottom strand that burned out, but since it's the bottom and we've had a hectic schedule, I have yet to do that and may not:)

And the angel this year is named Moroni.