apple orchard ... 2 weeks ago

highlights: kettle-corn, honey-crisps, (red)tractor ride, watching the tractor's big wheels leaving tracks in the mud, the hay-bale maze, sticking my finger in my nose in the only picture of me and my parents, running through the orchard with eeli, falling asleep in the car on the way to stillwater for lunch, sleeping in my papa's arms even after he took me out of the car and carried me all around town and sat with me limp as a bisquit in his arms until the food came, driving through jackson meadow, driving home on winding country roads with my window open.

eloise butler

3 year portrait

20 days - unacceptable

it has been 20 days since the last post. i realize how lame that is. but, times are busy in our shared household. my uncle muet cut my hair and did a smashing job! my mom took this picture one morning of my fresh bed head -- that is NOT what my hair cut looks like!

my friendship with eeli grows richer everyday. as i was leaving ma-tu's house on friday i told my mom that i was excited to go home to see eeli - my big brother. we get along just like brothers... playing together in a multitude of ways: the early morning side by side play while focused on our own versions of things, the late morning fully engaged play which usually involves a lot of lauging or running around or both and the late night (one or both of us are tired) (we don't speak the same language) (i want that) frustrated play that can at any time errupt in tears or silly laughter depending on the dynamics of the situation. these all sound like sibling-interactions, right? yeah, that is what my mom says.

the other cool thing is that we've been picking up eachother's language. (eeli more than me) my normal vocabulary now includes 'kiitos' (thank you) "hyva" (good) "hyva huomentaa" (good morning) "syomaan" (come and eat) "hyva yotaa" (good night) "aiti" (mom) "heippa/hei hei" (good bye) "anteeksi" (excuse me/sorry) "kato" (look) ---- today i have been obsessed with the phrase "ei hauska" (not funny) an have been repeating it again and again.

yesterday eeli and i were playing hide and go seek and we each took turns couting in the living room (where our mothers were knitting and observing our play) they chuckled when i was counting to ten " .... seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, eight, nine, ten..." and then chuckled again when eeli was counting (he can count in english by the way!) ... he opted to count nearly to twenty "...sevunteen, eighteen, nineteen, elevunteen!"

happy birthday uncle rikk!

my mom found this picture from back in february of me and my uncle rikk. he was trying to teach me how to make a funny face with the orange peel....

minnesota state fair

my dirp-bay

i am three. i have been for over 2 weeks. things have been so busy it has taken me a while to find the time to tell you about it.

i received my first birthday gift before i even woke-up ... maeva dropped a birthday basket on my doorstep early friday morning and i found it when i woke-up. it was a pretty cool way to start my 3rd birthday! i ate a maeva-banana while my mom made me pancakes for my birthday breakfast.

then we went to the como zoo for a mid-morning adventure. we saw a whole lot of monkeys, some zebras, giraffes, a tiger, lions, buffalo, ram and a seal.

the next day my parents threw a birthday party for me. marin, lussi, breanna, brecken and eeli were there....my aunts and uncles, grandma, grandpa, pa-tu and ma-tu .....and my great grandpa. (he gave me this super-cool truck.) i got so many fun presents, had so much fun with everyone at my house and had an all-around awesome birthday!

first week with eeli

eeli {and tiina & teemu} have been here for exactly 1 week. i've been so excited for eeli to come and share my room. i was also pretty excited to see the selection of cars that he brought with him from finland {you can see some of them in the picture.}

we have all been adjusting to the new routines and new living arrangments. there are still things that need to be ironed-out, but we play extremely well for not being able to fully communicate with eachother, haven't kept eachother up too much at bedtime, and actually inspire eachother to eat foods that perhaps we wouldn't normally eat. i could tell you about a whole bunch of fun stuff that we've been doing, but my momma is tired and needs to go to bed instead of blogging.. ;)

farmer's market with auntie brit

photos courtesy of BRIT - thank you!!

my mom says i look so old....

sunday lay-arounds...

i was supposed to be taking a nap with my mom (after her sunday long run) but as you can tell, i was a little stir-crazy. by the time maeva stopped by i still hadn't taken a nap!

my own language

"ree-kuer" from keo boun pheng on Vimeo.


despite the fact that my parents have been able to get me to physically say certain things correctly (via alternative sound-out methods) ... i still have an equation in my brain that tells me that "thank you" is "ree-kuer" {???} and birthday is "dir-bay" for example --- however, i have been calling my cousin "suki" for the past year and i just started calling her "lus-si" so, there is hope. that someday i'll adapt my own language to full-blown english. {although i think my mom will probably cry when that day comes!}

all my self

canoing the lakes

late friday morning, we rented a canoe at lake calhoun and paddled to Lake of the Isle, to Cedar Lake and Brownie Lake and back. we stopped for a little snack {and potty break} on a lovely little beach and had lunch afterwards at the Tin Fish. it was a great day!

another crazy get-up for watering the garden

you may recall that i am in the "dress-myself" phase. you might also wonder what exactly it is that i am wearing... well, my green crocs, my big-kid underpants, a tank top, the mouth-piece to one of those steam-machines at the doctor's office {they let you take the mouth-piece home incase you need to use it again, because they would otherwise throw it away -- who knew it would make such a good 'fish-costume' ?!?} and my mama's sunglasses. one of my favorite things to do in the yard is help water the grasses and the veggies. i could spend hours in charge of the hose.

holding baby maggie

despite all of the babies that have been born recently, i do declare that this was the first time i have actually held a baby! it hadn't even occured to me that i could until eliza was holding her baby sister on a recent visit to our house ... it was pretty cool and i was so careful. i really liked having them over to our house!

last sunday at the weizels

we shared a very REAL family-evening with the weizels last sunday. i had a lot of fun helping jeremy fill the bird bath and generally had fun being a curious boy. i was obsessed with this bird feeder {that maeva's grandpa lowel made for baltimore oriel birds} and even stuck my finger in the grape jelly ... it was like i was every other bird ... besides the oriel.

it was a hot evening, maeva was fussy from not taking her normal nap, and i hadn't pooped in 3 days {because i was potty training and back then, i was still afraid to go number 2} ... let's just say we kids made for a very eventful night and the grown-ups relationship has grown to a whole 'notha level of reality.

{oh, and i did make it into the potty that night, once we got home!}

potty training update: 100% peepee-trained, 99% poopy-trained.

the zoo & the 4th of july

2 sunday's ago, we met marin and her parents at the minnesota zoo. we had soooo much fun there! i really liked holding marin's hand as we walked through the zoo, but after a while she got tired of it and wouldn't let me anymore. {my mom told me i need to get used to girls} ;) you can also see that i was wearing my sunglasses and my winter hat with "ropes" on it. my mom kept telling me it was too hot to wear this hat, but i insisted. she thinks it is because i wanted to be more like maeva...?

and here you see me and marin at wayne's house on forest lake for the 4th of july. i had a lot of fun with my cousins. i even told wayne a knock-knock joke from one of my books. "knock-knock" "who's there?" "wayne" "wayne-who?" "wayne wayne go away ... come again another day. -- ha ha ha ha!" {yes, i laughed everytime i was done telling the joke. you'd think i take after my mom, or something!?!?}

oh, yeah.....i was caught in the action. i need to work on this, but i hear that a lot of kids have this problem, too.

i've become a singer

yes, singing is my new past time. i sing at the table, on the potty, in my kiddy-pool, while mom is on the phone, in the car and when it is time to go to sleep. my mom is proud that i'm finally catching up to the girls. ;) i put on this little concert one night while i was eating my toast before bed.


up-a up-a _so high from keo boun pheng on Vimeo.

old mcdonald had a farm

Old McDonald from keo boun pheng on Vimeo.

it's raining...

It's raining ..... from keo boun pheng on Vimeo.

hush little baby

Hush little baby part01 from keo boun pheng on Vimeo.





Hush little baby part02 from keo boun pheng on Vimeo.