The "Finnster, et al."

It's no secret that Sam has had a hard time at school during nap time.  Faced with an insurmountable problem, I made the tough decision to send "Bunny" to school with Sam.  I have avoided this because in the event "Bunny" accidentally gets left at school we are in a for a rather unpleasant night.  If you ever see a news report about a crazy person breaking into the preschool at HCA after dark, you know it will be me retrieving Sam's "Bunny." Well, "Bunny" has worked like a charm.  Yesterday when I picked Sam up from school his teacher said, "that must be a magic bunny."  Since introducing the bunny at nap time, Sam had done great. This got me to thinking . . . I really need a back-up bunny.  I was able to find the exact bunny  - he is called bashful beige bunny (12 inches) from Jellycat.  So without hesitation I ordered him. He arrived last night.  This is Sam seeing "New Bunny" for the first time.  He was so exc

On Saturday we had a baby shower for James and Chelsea and Cade.  The theme was "travel" since Cade's middle name is Atlas.  After the shower James, Chelsea, Michael and I went on a paintball, zombie hey-ride.  

On Saturday night Gran took us to Boo at the Zoo.  The boys were very happy to get all dressed up.  We invited Jack and John-Matthew to go with us.    We ran into Cameron too. It almost like an HCA Gallatin reunion.  Dancing at the "Monster Mash."  Sam and John-Matthew jumped in the pumpkin bouncy.  This is us putting their shoes back on.  Look how cute Henry is!!

On Friday we drove down to Tullahoma to spend the night with Grandad and Gigi in celebration of Dad's 60th birthday. His party was on Saturday.  Dad and I got up early and went for a run.  When we got home we ate breakfast and then started preparing for lunch. Elaine came for lunch!

Yesterday Finn asked me to play school with him. We went through everything he does during a typical day at school.  We spent quite a long time playing "my favorite."  He explained that Mrs. Raymer asks them what their favorite [insert category] is, asks them to write it out and then to draw it (she helps them spell the words).  Finn explained to me how important it is to play this game because it helps him with his printing skills. This first picture is of Finn's "favorite food."   Do you see the top line?  This is Finn's illustration of his favorite food.  He was gravely hurt that I couldn't recognize that this is mashed potatoes, broccoli and pizza. Oh, and when did Finn start liking broccoli???? Next was Finn's "favorite song."  On this day he chose the song "Alexander Hamilton."  Below is a picture of our Founding Father's jamming out with a guitar, a trumpet and drums.  This is Finn's "favorite sh

I really enjoyed hanging out with the boys yesterday.  Sam had a really good day at school earning a blue sticker - which means that we was "the best" that day. I was so proud of him.  After school we came directly home and did homework. Finn hung close to me the whole afternoon.  After about an hour, I learned why.  He explained that no one wanted to play with him at school.  I knew that the issue would work itself out quickly, but broke my heart all the same. To make him feel better I started to tell Finn silly stories about things he did and said when he was a baby. Being very narcissistic, Finn loves nothing more than to hear interesting things about himself.  Next, Finn asked me to read "According Finn," a book Nana made for him.  To make this book, mom took some of my funniest blog posts, put them in categories and labeled each page according to it subject matter.  Finn and I snuggled on the couch and read the whole book. Finn thought it was so funny! At fir

On Saturday were scheduled for family pictures in Murfreesboro with Nana and Pa.  So on Friday I took the boys shopping to pick out their outfits. I really don't like taking Finn and Sam shopping - they aren't good little shoppers.  I told them that if they could be good in the store I would take them to Clovers for ice cream.  They were so excited!  A little too excited maybe, because they were just about as rotten as one could possibly be.  They couldn't manage to be even "decent" for a measly 20 minutes.   When we got back into the car I dropped the bomb - I told them "no ice cream."  Finn immediately started bawling and begging for another chance.  Sam gave me a dirty look and then proceeded to tell me how mean I was being to Finn.  Leave it to Sam to ignore is own feelings of disappointment and advocate for Finn.  Finn really had no idea how fortunate he is to have Sam.  As we were leaving the parking lot Finn looked at me and said, "mom