"talking" in the car

Here's a short video of Finn talking to us in the car the other day. This is my first post via email. I'm trying to access all possible posting avenues. Maybe my new year's resolution will be "post more." Hmm.

Where did November go? Wait, what month is it?

I'm not sure where the month of November went... or most of December, for that matter. The end of my semester was just a blur of activity, what with a trip to Tulsa for Thanksgiving, three final projects to turn in and twenty or so final papers to grade. I haven't slept for a month.

However, I am LOVING being with Finn during the day. We have so much fun reading his books
(over and over and over), chasing the dogs, dancing to Christmas music, and stacking blocks. He babbles all the time, and he seems pretty sure about what he is saying (even if we can't quite make it out). So far, he says "whoa!" and "this" and "mama" and "dada." He gives kisses and high fives. He understands a lot of words, including "breakfast," "juice," "be gentle" and "let's go!" He has also learned that when we sing the happy birthday song over his wooden birthday cake puzzle, he can blow on the candle at the end of the song. That one cracks me up.

I can't believe it's almost Christmas. These pictures are from our "snowstorm" here in Texas.
Snowstorm. Ha.
Not much snow, as you can see, but it was exciting for Finn.

This picture just slays me. Runny nose and cracked lip and all.

look! a snowflake!

Finn provides us with hours of entertainment. He has the biggest belly laugh ever, and J will do just about anything to make him laugh. Each day when J's car pulls in the driveway, Finn runs to the back door and starts banging on the glass and yelling. He gets so excited and smiles SO big through the glass... and then hides behind me when J walks in the door. That only lasts for a few minutes, thankfully. We are able to have some nice family time every evening.

This year, I'm so thankful for our jobs, which allow us to spend time together. I'm thankful for our health, and for our home, and for two cars that run. But most of all I'm thankful for our little family.

shave and a haircut - two bits

Finn's first haircut

I am gonna get so much flak for this; I can already tell.

I would just like to say: It was all Gianni's idea.

OK, that's not true. I agreed that his hair was getting entirely too long.
So here we are, in John Mark's chair, getting Finn's first big-boy haircut.

Finn read a book in my lap while John Mark cut very quickly.

He's not so sure about all this.

Hooray for Finn! He made it!

And then, while I was having my hair cut, Gianni took him to get his first pair of big-boy shoes from Stride-Right.

Then Gianni almost had a heart attack when he realized how much big-boy shoes cost.
It was a great day.

Shark Finn

well, I know you've been waiting to see what Finn would be for halloween.
Taa-daah!
He's a shark. Get it? Shark? Finn?

Here's our life group kiddos, all dressed up. That's Queen Vashti holding Finn, accompanied by Batman, a dragon ninja, iCarly, Snow White, Mary Ingalls, Hannah Montana, a ghost, a unicycle-riding-clown, and a hippie.

I didn't get pictures of Charlie Brown, the vampire-skeleton, Darth Vader, the butterfly, Frankenstein, or the solar system.

I love Halloween.

I'm not sure why I look so irritated at the octopus in this picture. I wasn't!
But check out that SHARK costume!

Under the Sea family. All we are missing is some Sea Monkeys.

Finn ate chili, some popcorn AND a three musketeers (fun size) candy bar.
He was in shark heaven.

Hope all of you had a happy halloween!

Fall has... Fell?

I took Finn to the Arboretum last week, and since it was rainy, hot, and humid, there was almost no-one else there. Great for pictures, but man, it was hot! Thankfully, it's much cooler this week.

Check out the grass all over his pants. SUCH a boy.

Finn and the cool playhouse exhibit.

This is my big boy walking!!

I just wanna pinch him he's so cute.

Fountains are Finn's favorite thing ever. He wanted to get right in the middle of this one.

Pumpkins? What pumpkins? Look at all these awesome wood chips!

He had so much fun crawling around on the hay, and playing with the wood chips.
He didn't care one bit about the pumpkins.

Walking!

Here's video of our little man walking. He is so proud of himself. :)

Belly laugh

One of our friends commented that Finn has "such a jolly little laugh!"
I have to agree.

Finn's first birthday

Finn's first birthday was quite a time.
Jonathan's mom and my parents came into town, and we had a small family party.
That's my mom laughing at Finn.

For Finn's big day, I turned an apple Bundt cake into a very hungry caterpillar.

I think it turned out pretty well! And tasted good, too.

He's really not sure what to do with it.
And he's wondering, 'why are we eating outside? and why is my food on fire?'

Hmm... seems ok.

He liked it fine but wasn't really into the whole 'smash cake' thing.

I put this one in because look! we match!

My dad usually avoids the camera but here's a shot with him in it. :)

This is one of Finn's new toys. It's a truck with a crane loader on it.
What a boy thing! You know Daddy picked it out.

Here's Finn and Gram playing.

Look at the expression on Gram's face!
She's clearly planning some new way to spoil Finn.

Here's Finn playing on his new "splash pad" sprinkler/pool thing.
He loooooves it. (Thanks, PawPaw & Susu!)

He had so much fun with this thing! I was trying to figure out how to put it in the bathtub, but any plan that starts with running the garden hose into the house is probably a bad plan.

So Finn had a really wonderful birthday, and we were all totally worn out afterward.
I guess it's a good thing that birthdays only come once a year.

Still reading? Here's a bonus pic:

I put this one in because this sums up most of my day.
Reading to my sweet boy, with dirty laundry waiting in the wings.
I wouldn't trade it.

Good Excuses: Why I haven't posted in so long

1. There was a tsunami.

2. Attack by killer bees.

3. Outbreak of shingles.

4. Avalanche.

5. Lingering malaise.

These would all be really good excuses, but none of them apply to me. I'm just generally behind on stuff.

For those of you who haven't heard, I got a part-time TA position teaching rhetoric at UTD. Teaching 3 hours a week isn't too tough, but being a full-time student (required for TA's) is a schedule-killer. And Finn has dropped his morning nap, which takes another chunk out of my day. All that to say, it's not that my life is hard-- it's not-- but it IS busy.

But, as I told some friends, my biggest problem right now is that I got exactly what I wanted (a part-time teaching job with great experience + free tuition). That's a pretty good problem to have. I'll take it.

Back to the reason you're here: pictures of Finn! I'll post birthday pics later; this random assortment was all I could handle today. All our love!

With Cousin Alex and Uncle David at Alex's birthday party

reading with Susu

Finn and his great-great-grandma Ellen (Maw Maw)

Bathtime: The Scallop

Finn loves taking a bath now. He used to scream like the water was boiling acid.
Now he LOVES it.


He also loves to splash. When he does this, J hums the score to DisneyWorld's Fantasmic show. One day, Finn will go to DisneyWorld and see that show and think, "Hey! That's my bath music!"


He has two cups that he likes to fill up with water and dump out. And bang together. He likes to bang things together. He's very much a boy.


Did I mention that he likes to blow raspberries? But that's all the time, and not just in the bathtub.


He's gotten wise to the flash on the camera now, which means that as soon as he sees it, he starts squinting. Then he opens his eyes and HA! I take the picture.


Here's Finn doing what J calls the "scallop". He sort of scoots along the ocean floor (aka the tub) by wiggling his legs. It's pretty funny.