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!

Hard workers

A few days of sun and warmth has allowed us to get a few outside chores done - mowing, sweeping, planting, but never fear, the rain is supposed to return tomorrow.  And it will be back in the 50s by Sunday.  But who am I to complain about the weather?  I am so lucky to be somewhere that is not under water or blown away right now.  I am safe and cozy, watching my little guy plant "trees" just like mama.

Huumassa

Sprung as is spring sprang sprung or as in tipsy? I came to the conclusion that you meant the latter, to be intoxicated by spring, which could perhaps be translated keväthuumassa (kevät = spring, huuma = ecstacy, ssa = suffix, inessive case).

Besides kevät, spring can be translated into Finnish as liikkeelle paneva voima, motiivi, hypätä, loikata, juosta, lehahtaa lentoon, ilmaantua, nousta (maasta), or putkahtaa. To mention a few. Which in return could be translated back into English as mobilizing force, motive, to jump, leap, run, fly away, appear, arise (from the ground), emerge, or pop up. What a dazzling word! I'd call this an ahaa-elämys - the experience of aha! Doesn't that sum up the spirit of this time of year pretty well?

I wasn't able to easily find the etymology of the word kevät, but I did learn that it's at least 2000 years old. Those of you who know Finnish may find it interesting that it, however, isn't the original name for spring in Finnish language. That would be touko. A name best known from the word toukokuu (the month of May and also a boy's name).

But if I ever have a third daughter (oh, help!), I would like her to be called Vuokko, the ultimate natural spring flower in Finland.

Happy happy happy sprung! Amy, I wish I could stop by for some salsa and beer! (Hmm... I wish I could have a beer in the first place. Oh well!)

Sprung

Maybe that's what they should call it.  Kind of what it feels like right now!  It's finally happening, after we have all managed to survive yet another cold, drizzly, gray winter.  Whew!!  Farewell, hot soup and red wine!  Hello salsa and beer!  And happy Cinco de Mayo, while we're at it!

This first picture is of our little trillium patch, which is my favorite treasure of this yard.  This native flower likes to be left alone - picking them prevents growth in future years, and they require deep shade.  They are in a part of the yard that never gets walked on, and was protected (and probably hidden) for years under a thick layer of ivy before we moved here.  Plants that need to be ignored do really well in this yard!

Tänä aamuna

This morning, like most of my mornings, I felt I was so tired that getting up anytime soon was impossible. Then I got up. My husband had already left, even though he is even tireder. My second-grader needed breakfast. She was in an unusually good mood and I even managed to capture a few moments. It was around 8 am. Amy, I wonder what you were doing on Thursday evening around 10 pm?

Pastry therapy

Even though bunnies don't lay eggs...

This week was all about homemade Easter fun.  I bought a strange tie-die egg-dying kit that looked like a science experiment, and was pleasantly surprised.  I also found a bunny mold I'd forgotten about and made some salt-dough bunnies for decorating.  Unfortunately, kiddo found the stash of chocolate, so he keeps wanting to know when Easter is so he can get his hands on it!  So much for giving credit to the Easter bunny!