Christmas and more!

We had a wonderful Christmas and hope all of you did as well. It actually was cold about 2 days before Christmas, so it felt more real to me. But then it got all Texasy again and went up to 80 degrees-what a rip off! The whole country is covered in snow and we can't even get a cold 50 degrees or anything! Here are some of our cold photos:

This is how they look when we went for a run! (Before the blanket went over them)

And this is the final product! Imagine if we still lived in Alaska!

But despite un-Christmas like weather, we had a truly wonderful day... But first we had to celebrate by getting a tree:

Our tree is from a Christmas tree farm in North Carolina!

Then we had a great Christmas brunch at my parents' clubhouse in Boerne. It was a fabulous brunch, balloon animals were made, and Santa was there. Markku would NOT sit on Santa's lap, but Suvi sure did! She loved him and all the attention she got. Markku barely held still for me to hold him on MY lap with me sitting next to Santa! Markku's balloon animal was a pink and purple butterfly-he picked it out (sorry Isa. He loves pink and butterflies, what can I say?!) Here are some photos of that beautiful day:

Look at that smile on her!

She loves her mummo (and the camera too! Is she a model or what?!)

Then we went to another town to visit a virtual winter wonderland (a water park in Texas-it is fake snow!) and all the Christmas lights-Markku loves the lights still!

Family photo and notice the fake snow on Suvi's head (soap bubbles!)

There were trains (Markku was hysterical leaving the red choo-choo. He had to be bribed with ice cream!) and here is an example of the light shows.

Now for Christmas morning:
Markku and Suvi actually slept late-until 8:15 am! We were at my mom's in Boerne and Santa found us there thankfully! Markku was sooo tired Christmas eve he went to bed when Suvi did and we didn't even have time to set out the cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer-or as Markku would say: "Ho Ho. Neigh, high in the sky." Which for those who do not understand, of course translates into: Ho Ho (Santa) is coming on a sleigh led by reindeer that flies high in the sky". You just can't beat the excitement of young children at Christmas! Suvi of course is too young to understand, but she sure got excited about all the wrapping paper, boxes and even some of the gifts.

Wow! A new loader! It even has real rubber tires and parts that move-virtually indestructible as well!

A new wagon that even Suvi is in love with! It has cup holders!

Suvi is eating a potato (play food). It proves she is Finnish. We had some doubts about Markku as he does not share her affinity toward the potato. This should make Mummo Laukkanen proud!

Suvi opening her presents with the help of Ukki

And the BEST present of all-Markku's new kitchen! (And an apron to match. He is shirtless as he had been getting dressed into his new PJ's that Kiri gave him-but he had previously opened the shirt way before Christmas, so it was in his suitcase, not the package. But he insisted on wearing the pants.

Suvi enjoys the presents so much!

And this is from before Christmas. His new favorite game is "Where did Markku go?" He hid under his crib for a good 5 minutes. A long time for a 2 year old!

And this adorable photo is the two kids in a bath for the first time together. They love taking baths!

So we have been busy, as I am sure many of you have been. Suvi is now 8 months old. She can army crawl all over-she is REALLY fast. She is trying to stand up on things-but is really shaky at this point. I am off to put Suvi back to bed-she is sick again and STILL not sleeping!