The "Finnster, et al."

Finn spent much of last week at Nana and Papa's house.  He had a great time mowing, swinging and lounging. One really neat thing that Finn did was to sleep outside, all night, in Nana and Papa's treehouse/swingset platform.  I think that Mom is talking to me on the phone in this picture.  Specifically she is telling me, "Well . . . I need to tell you about Finn's foot."  Just what you want to hear.  Apparently Finn dropped an ax on his toe.  It was bleeding pretty badly so Papa took him to the ER.  Mom wasn't home at the time and decided to meet them at the hospital. Always the pragmatist, Nana cleaned the toe up and saw that the cut wasn't that bad.  Or as Monty Python would say, "tis but a flesh wound."  They took him back home, cleaned it up good and bandaged him up.  Finn was good as new by the time he got home on Wednesday.  Watching TV with Papa.  Isn't Papa a good sport!

For the last couple of weeks, we have been tracking down the elusive ice cream truck.  We can hear its music blaring all over the neighborhood - but no matter how hard we looked (we got in the car and tracked it around the neighborhood) we couldn't seem to find that truck.  For a four year old, this is heartbreaking.  On Sunday, while I was napping with Finn, Michael came into the bedroom and got Finn out of bed and asked him if he wanted to get something from the ice cream truck.  They bolted out the front door and started out on foot.  A few minutes later, they emerged victorious with a  Spiderman popsicle. On Monday we took the boys to the Sumner County Fair. We thought it would be a good idea to let Finn ride a few of the bigger rides to get him ready for Disney World.  First they rode the train.  Sam cried his eyes out on the first lap, and loved the next three.  Finn was bored.  Next, Finn and I rode a tall, swirly, fast ride.  Finn was so excited.  He kept yelling,

Most of this week, Finn has been at Nana and Papa's house so we had a few days to enjoy Sam.   I was a little worried about dropping Sam off at school without Finn being there.  He did better than expected, but his teachers told me that he really missed Finn.  He asked them all week, "where is my Finn?"  On the day we got Finn back, I took him to go pick Sam up from school.  The second Sam saw Finn, he ran over to him, yelled FINN! and gave him the biggest hug. On Friday night I went to a wrap party.  The boys had popcorn and watched "Dinosaur." On Saturday, I bought Finn some new play clothes.  He was really pumped about this basketball shorts.  Now he really does look just like daddy. On Saturday night, Finn asked me if he could sleep in his tent.  Since it is a Saturday night, we told him yes. Well, Sam decided that he wanted to try too. We knew this wouldn't work, but decided to let them do it anyway.  The boys watched an entire mo

Sunday was Father's Day.  We decided to take the boys to see a movie - "How To Train Your Dragon 2" Both boys were really good at the theater.  Sam sat in my lap and ate popcorn from the minute we sat down until the minute we left.  Finn sat next to Michael and ate his own little box of popcorn. When we got home Sam took a long nap and Finn gave Michael the Father's Day gift that he made for Michael.  It was homemade frame and card.  It was quite sweet. Next I took Finn to meet Nana at 109.  Finn spent the next couple of days with Nana. Sam also gave Michael the card he made.

Tonight as Finn and Sam were preparing to wind down for bed, Finn asked to watch the "Godzilla" cartoon. During one scene Godzilla picks up two humans and holds them tight in his hands so that they will be safe. Finn then asks, "is that how God holds us in his hands?"  I said, "yes."  Finn responds, "see mom, this is why it is good to watch Godzilla - it teaches us about God." He is such a stinker. Earlier in the evening I took a page out of Michael's book and took the boys to Chik-Fil-A for dinner.  I can't remember the last time I actually took the boys to dinner on my own.   When we got there Finn cut line and ordered his meal in the middle of another family's order.  I pretended he wasn't mine.  Finn was overly excited about his chicken nuggets.  After every bite he would proclaim how much he was enjoying his food.  For example, BITE - "mom, these are soooo good."  BITE, "mom, I am soooo glad that I picked thi

On Thursday night Nana spent the night with us.  We had signed up to take the carrying permit class the next morning so she came the night before to save travel time in the morning. When she got there she found the boys playing with their new ooze at the kitchen table.  Earlier in the week Finn had asked if we could make different colored ooze.  Since ooze is so much neater than Play-Doh, I decided that it would be a great idea.  Finn made purple, orange, and more green.  Sam made teal.  Next they sat on the couch and snuggled with Nana and read books. The next morning, mom and I got up early and headed out to "Guns and Leather" in Greenbrier.  The class was broken into two parts:  classroom instruction and the gun range.  The class was really interesting.  After they had gone over all the applicable laws and the different parts of a pistol, we were tested.   I am proud to report that I made a 100 on my test.  I was so nervous that I would fail. I wasn't quite as pr

On Saturday we took the boys over to Chase and Lindsay's house for a cookout.  We didn't get there until 6:30 and we assumed that we would have cram our burgers down and leave before the boys tore the place up.  Much to our surprise, Finn and Sam were wonderful.  They ate their supper without a fuss and then willing laid down upstairs on Chase and Lindsay's sectional and watched Ninja Turtles.  I turned off the lights and gave them each a blanket and told them to go to sleep.  They were so excited at the idea of camping out on the couch.  For the most part they stayed put.  Finn did come downstairs one time and let me know that Sam was playing with a blank piece of paper - but otherwise, we were able to sit and talk to our friends until 11:30.  When we went upstairs to the get the boys they were both wide awake.  I didn't expect that. The boys at church on Sunday. Monday was a good day - the boys both slept until 8:00.  Michael took the boys to school while

This past Sunday we decided to pull out the little pool.  The boys wanted to play in the water, but I had no desire to chase Sam around the freezing cold pool in a bathing suit for two hours while he whined incessantly. As a compromise we filled up the kiddie pool with warm sink water and let them play - somewhat unsupervised.  What I really mean is, I sat next to them in a lawn chair and zoned out. It was so wonderful to zone out. Sam on the way to church Sunday night. Monday was the boys' first day of Crusader Camp. I am so excited about camp - they have a different activity everyday.  On Mondays they do crafts/gardening, etc.  On Tuesdays they play water games. On Wednesdays they have someone come in that teaches them tumbling and and exercises.  I can't remember Thursday and Friday.  As excited I am about camp, I feel a little sad for Finn because all of his friends have moved on.  He is now the oldest and only boy outside of the babies. First day picture