When Venla was about three, we went through a stage when she used to go out in some very questionable outfits, to the point I felt the need to explain to her pre-school key worker that I had nothing to do with the way she looked. But I do actually think that choosing outfits is just another way for children to express themselves, which is why I’ve always just let her do it.

In the last couple of months, Venla has also started choosing her brothers’ clothes and even tell me what I should wear. This is what she was finally happy with herself today when we were going to the rugby club. If you are like me, you might wonder if she couldn’t find the other glove, but no… apparently it is way cooler just to wear one.

If she turns out to be an accountant or a coder, I will be very surprised!

It’s impossible not to be excited about the Olympics, especially with the Team GB doing so amazingly well. Finland, not so much…

We have tickets to the women’s basketball final for next Saturday. I’m pleased about that, as I used to play and coach for years, although I would have preferred the men’s final… We are taking the two oldest kids to watch the game with us, but my husband suggested we take all the children to have a look around the area near the Olympic Park today.

We ended up spending the day in an outside bar area with a big screen right by Westfield shopping centre. Ten minutes after we arrived, it started raining really heavily. We had waterproofs for the kids, which kept them dry – until they decided to go lay in the puddles when the sun came up!

They had a lovely time and played really nicely with the other kids, so we left them to it. And then I sent my husband to the shops to get them some dry clothes for after!

What did I do on Sunday, you ask? I got up at 6am to get ready for my 5K Spartan obstacle race down in Surrey. As you do! A friend picked me up at seven and off we went. I was dreading it as I had no idea what to expect and being as competitive as I am, was worried I’d be one of the last women to finish.

I will be writing a proper blog post about it as soon as the official pictures and times are in. So now I’ll just leave you with the picture of me and my friends after the race and say that it was a lot of fun (yes, really!) and that I was the fastest woman and 17th overall out of over 2000 people so I’m pleased.

We are already looking for the next one to do so if anyone has any recommendations, share them please! Has to be a minimum of 8K though, preferably more than ten as we all said we could have gone around the course again right after we finished…

So my three little pixies found the new equipment that arrived at the end of the week for the POP Fitness circuit/bootcamp class I teach.

They spent ages boxing, and I am amazed there was no blood and tears as I had to remind them a few times that you must only hit the pads…

I was in stitched last week when my friend who comes to the class told me that her 6-year-old daughter, who has been along to watch a few times, told her: “When I grow up I want to do what Kaisa does. It’s great as she gets to shout at people and they all do what she tells them!”

We spent most of yesterday at a local rugby 7s tournament. It’s a big one and always a great day out with lots of friends and activities for the kids.

The weather was pretty bad, and because of all the rain it was so muddy, I felt like I was in a festival. My white Converse did not survive the chaos. However, I wasn’t as muddy as my middle son, who fell over quite a few times.

Here he is outside the Rugby Club.  His hair is getting pretty wild but he refuses to get it cut. Also, every time I brush it, he tries to get it messy again and says” “I don’t want to look like everybody else.” Fair dos…

Now, back to the tennis final!

We’ve spent the weekend in Burnley where my husband is from, as we went to see The Stone Roses in Manchester on Friday and the kids stayed with grandma.
The gig was great but I find it so funny that Ian Brown really can’t sing! He was well supported by the 70.000 people doing karaoke though…

Here are our three pixies hanging out with their cousins today. They were nice and quiet for about 10minutes before all the mayhem started. It is amazing how much noise five under 5year olds can make. And by amazing I mean nerve wrecking and infuriating!

We were meant to go to one of the nearby villages for Jubilee celebrations as they had organised many great activities for kids. However, the whole event was cancelled because it has been raining all night and morning.

Since I can’t stay indoors with the kids all day as they (and me!) will be climbing the walls, me and my mum took the gang to the park. Miss V was busy collecting snails whilst the boys loved jumping in a massive puddle.

It was no surprise that we were the only people around. I’m used to being out with the kids whatever the weather, as that is what everyone does in Finland and the whole of Scandinavia. Ever since I’ve lived in the UK, I’ve wondered what people do with their kids when it’s not sunny, as they certainly don’t seem to take them out!

Anyone care to tell me if there is some sort of secret activity I’m not aware of, or do people just watch TV all day?

After a lovely day at my husband’s childhood friend’s wedding in the beautiful Salisbury yesterday, we were driving home in the gorgeous sunshine and decided to invite some friends over for a barbecue.

Here are three out of the five kids who were running around and enjoying the sunshine. I managed to get them stand still for the whole of two seconds in between their treasure trail and bug hunting so I could take a picture of them.

The lovely dude in the middle is one of Miss V’s and Mr V’s best friends.

I also must mentioned that when I got home, Miss V was keen to show off a top she had designed. You will have to check back next week to see the finished product, but I can reveal that it involved using my nail varnish to glue various items, like hair clips on one of her T-shirts. There is also a drawing there. A future fashion designer in the making, perhaps?…

Et voila: Two out of three of my cheeky pixies!

Happy Sunday everyone!x

I spent the day in Paris interviewing the Style Accessories Director for Nina Ricci, who is a lovely Finnish guy called Juha Marttila. He has a beautiful house just outside the centre of Paris, where he lives with his boyfriend Laurent who works for Louis Vuitton and their adorable dog Maito. (It means milk in Finnish.)

I had to take a picture of my ‘new friend’ in his bed, which just happens to be a Louis Vuitton suitcase. Maito clearly has expensive taste!

I hope you all enjoyed the sunshine today!