The "Finnster, et al."

On Thursday Finn and I cooked dinner together.  Finn loves to cook.  He either pull a chair or his little stood up to the counter and ask how he can help.  I love to cook with Finn.  No matter what I am making I can find a way to include him.  On this night we decided to make spaghetti.  Finn salted the meat, poured the sauce into the pan and then stirred the peas.  He get so excited when we cook.  He stands there so politely and waits for me to give him a task.  He completes his task so carefully.  He thanked me after every thing I let him do. After making the spaghetti we started on the homemade ice cream.  This was so exciting for Finn; first because he loves to crack eggs and second because he loves ice cream.  I let Finn pour in the sugar and cream and then I let him stir everything together.  He is actually a pretty good helper.  I hope this is a preview of what Finn will be like as a teenager.  Sam h...

I can't express how happy it makes me when both of my children are occupied, quiet and behaving.  While they look enthralled, this really only lasted about five (5) minutes.  Short lived as it was, I thought it was so sweet.  Thank you "George" for this serene moment. This is a picture of Michael attempting to get his lunch packed for work.  Finn is more than likely asking for a piece of cheese (he does this quite often) and Sam is doing what he does best - looking for food. Sam somehow knows where all the food in the house is stored.  He loves the pantry and he is completely mesmerized by the fridge.   Sam will eat almost anything.  One day this week Finn dropped a big pile of oatmeal on the floor.  I didn't notice that he had dropped it until I found Sam sitting under the kitchen table eating fistfuls of oatmeal.  Wednesday after we all got home from work we decided to go to Firehouse for dinner (busy week for me).  After ...

 Starting to pull up. Tuesday after work we decided to take the boys to the Streets of Indian Lake for a little ice cream.    We had a plan to get ice cream and sit in the grass or play in the fountain.  But as you can see we didn't take into account that it is getting dark earlier.   Instead of sitting in the grass we sat outside the movie theater.  Finn and I shared a "banilla."  Sam had his first bite of ice cream which turned into a serving of ice cream.  Well,  it wasn't exactly a serving, but he fussed and yelled for more. When we were finished we let Finn run over to the trash can and throw away the cups.  On the way back he tripped and scraped up his knee.  Everyone in Hendersonville heard about it too.   Before leaving the Streets we stopped took a quick picture in front of the Nemo sign.   We had a nice night.  I worked late both Monday and Tuesday so it was nice to go have fun w...

This weekend Sam caught a cold.  He has been snotty and moody for the last 48 hours.  I have been using the suction bulb to clean out his nose.  He HATES it.  I LOVE it.  I like to see how much snot I can procure from his tiny nostrils. It is unbelievable.  No joke, I bet I got an entire ounce. Yesterday (Saturday) was mostly a home day.  We really didn't do that much.  We played outside, napped, cleaned and generally tried to keep Sam happy in spite of his cold.  We had a late dinner and then put the boys to bed around 8:30. The next morning Sam wasn't feeling any better so Michael made the executive decision to keep him home from church.  Sam was sound asleep within 10 minutes of Michael and Finn leaving for church. I decided to put him in his crib and then I prepared a GAL report. When Finn got home he was so excited to show him his artwork and tell me what he learned in Sunday School.  He ran in and recited, "Jesus is God'...

 On Wednesday Grandad and Gigi took Finn and Cooper to Dinosaur World in Kentucky.  We first learned about Dinosaur World when I went to law school in Ohio.  We passed right by on the way.  Cooper had an early morning dentist appointment so Hank came over to play with Finn until Coop was finished.  Finn and Hank played well together.    Here are a few pictures of their really fund day!

Today is Finn's Birthday.  I can't believe he is three years old. I had a little moment today while we were playing in the floor when I got a little teary, but I mostly did really good with my emotions.  I didn't want to spend the whole day feeling sad, so I didn't.  I chose to focus on all the great things about Finn - he is musically inclined, loquacious, clever, cautious, loving and kind (most of the time).   The only bad part of my day was dealing with my allergies. I sneezed no fewer that a hundred times. In fact, I sneezed so many times that I started sweating, my throat got sore and I felt nauseous.  But despite feeling badly, I made a decision that I was going to do whatever Finn wanted to do today.  Finn took full advantage.  We played kitchen, Noah's Ark, puzzles, Play-doh, tools and we watched Land Before Time and Dinosaur train.  Finn's diet today consisted of Animal crackers and. ice cream. This picture is of Finn trying NOT to s...