Äitienpäivä

Amy, thanks for keeping the Friday routine rolling while I had my hands full of children with runny noses! When they are sick they don't sleep, and when they don't sleep I get nothing done.

Since life is such hard work and almost nothing but work right now, I was really in need of a Mother's Day and these lovely gestures of appreciation! My husband knows that I love hotel breakfasts (which in Finland are abundant), but this was even better. The essentials were fruit salad and eggs, something I would like to have every weekend but never seem to have the time for. There was also organic whipped cream (there really is a difference between organic and ordinary), French Chartreuse liquor (it was supposed to be mixed into the whipped cream but that never happened because of the children), savory pastries and chocolate bébés (if you're not familiar with bébé pastries, you can check out what they look like on Finland's most popular food blog, Kinuskikissa).

My eight-year-old daughter had made the best Mother's Day card ever! We speak only Finnish at home, but she learns English from relatives and at school. And yay! The card - which was made in school - says Mom, not Mum! (I still remember my frustration when my elementary school English teacher thought I was making a mistake when I pronounced balloon in perfect American English!)

I was going to add another set of pictures from our visit to the in-laws later on in the afternoon, but those are going to have to wait... Someone is again waking up too soon!