Dec. 26th, Happy Birthday Finn!

Finn's 1st birthday was today. I can hardly believe it has been a year since he was born. He is growing so fast and each day brings many new 'firsts.' This week he began clapping his hands, actually clapping with open hands and making the noise. I have been so eager for him to do that and now he claps at everything, and it's really cute!! He stood up on his own, from a seated position, for the first time yesterday. He is so proud of himself that he wants to do it all the time now. He is really enjoying this newfound freedom, and of course, learning all about falling too! His vocab is increasing and we swear he is saying "Elmo." He points at what he wants now and says "Mo" (more) and as clear as day says Mama when he wants me. We are really working on "Dada" now as we can't let him say Elmo before he says Dada!!

Today he ate a smidgen of cake, opened his presents and we took him downtown S.A. We ate dinner on the Riverwalk (did I mention it's 81 degrees here today?), took some pics with the river and Christmas lights as background and enjoyed all the signts. He had a wonderful first birthday and we look forward to tomorrow's 'firsts' and all those to follow!! Happy Birthday Bud (as Ainslie says). We love you Finn!!

More...

More Christmas

I can only post 5 pics per post, so here's another so I can post some more...

Fa la la la la.....

Christmas Day; what a blast!! Seeing this day through the eyes of my children was incredible. We woke at 6:30 am and the girls, Craig and I headed downstairs (Finn was still sleeping after eating at 5:30 and heading back for some zzzz's). The girls got downstairs and instantly went to their stockings. They were so excited to see that Santa had come. They went and checked out the plate of cookies and milk and saw the leftover crumbs and empty cup. "Mama, Santa ate the cookies!" What wonder!!

Christmas Eve night we went to church together and the kids got to sit in 'big kids' church' with us. It was great. After we got home, we decided to gather around our advent wreaths and light the last, Christmas Eve candle. We did, said our prayer and then the girls' got to blow out the candles. Well,,,,,Maisie leaned over to blow hers out and she leaned too far. Her hair touched the flame and lit on fire. She got so scared (and I screamed) that she flipped her head back and her hair flew over across her face and lit the other side on fire. I put it out with my fingers and I almost burst out laughing. She was fine, of course, but a little scared. Craig and I almost couldn't contain our laughter, because we could NOT believe that had just happended. Maybe you're thinking, that's not funny. But it was, poor thing. Anyway, we relit the candles and showed her how to blow them out without standing directly over them. Christmas Eve was almost a disaster:)

Back to Christmas: we opened presents for hours. It was great. The kids would open a present and then want us to open it so they could play with it. They couldn't understand why, at some point, we said let's just finish opening and then you can play. I hope our kids never lose that desire to enjoy each gift as they receive it.

Anyway, it was a long, lazy, relaxing day spent in our pj's. The girls' and I baked a birthday cake for Jesus and Daddy spent many hours taking items out of boxes, putting things together and taking the girls' out for a spin on their new scooter (Maisie) and big girl bike (Ainslie). Finn loved crawling all over the place and playing with toys, boxes, ribbons, wrapping paper, etc. The kids' fell into bed that night; happy and tired!!

(The pictures are: Christmas Eve family photo taken at church, Girls and I outside sprinkling 'reindeer food' & glitter for the reindeer to see our home, all 5 stockings, Maisie/Ainslie holding milk and cookies for Santa, Maisie as she first sees her stocking on Christmas morning)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Pageant 2008

The kids (and I) had the Mother's Day Out Christmas Pageant this past Thursday. It was a beautiful program telling the story of Jesus. All of the classes (age 6 weeks to age 5) participated, but the 4 & 5 year olds had actual speaking parts in the program. Maisie was Narrator #1 and she kicked off the program with "God made the world and everything that God made was very good." She practiced and practiced that line and she pulled it off wonderfully. Her class also sang "Silent Night." Finn's class were dressed in black shirts with silver stars painted on the front. They rang bells and marched in the sanctuary (Finn was carried) to the song "Jingle Bells." Ainslie's class were dressed in yellow shirts with stars painted on them and they went on stage and sang "Behold That Star." She absolutely cracked me up. All classes had practiced in the sanctuary prior to the program, but the stage props weren't present during practice. So, when Ainslie got on stage, she turned her back to the audience, and checked out each and every prop. It was hilarious. She kept singing but literally had her back to the crowd the whole song. After the song was over, she turned around and her best friend, Harper, said (rather loudly) "Ainslie, do you see your mommy over there?" Everyone laughed. It was precious.

My two classes, Red and Peach, performed a song as well and it was fun playing mommy and teacher at the same time. All of us teachers were happy with the program but relieved when it was it was through. That ended the year for MDO and we are off until Jan. 5th.

Merry Christmas to Mommy

Merry Christmas to all. I wanted to let you see my husband's handy work, of which I am very proud!! He put down laminate wood flooring throughout the entire downstairs and it is beautiful. He really listened to what I want and it is perfect! We also purchased new furniture for the downstairs (after selling ours on Craigslist). Again, it is exactly what I wanted and Santa (I mean, Craig!) delivered early!!! I guess all of this wouldn't fit in my stocking. I feel blessed because I get to enjoy my gifts each and every day. Hope your last few days before Christmas are fun and festive. Love, Deb

Santa Came Early....

We had our early Christmas celebration with the Thompsons and the Cahill's tonight after celebrating Finn's birthday. Finn had a wardrobe change. After digging into his cake, we had to change him into something different so Daddy dressed him in some Christmas jammies. He looked so cute! Anyway, we exchanged gifts and our girls were sooooooooooooo excited to be opening gifts early. They loved each and every item they received. We had a very nice time with Gary/Elizabeth, Dave/Michelle, Bailey & Brandee and our family as well. Maisie received a Dora The Explorer Princess Dress Up Trunk, so Maisie and Ainslie quickly put on their costumes. Bailey and Brandee helped them and Gary commented that our girls are like life-size paper dolls for Bailey and Brandee to dress up. Ainslie went to bed reluctantly tonight as she received a Play-Doh set and we told her she could open it and play with all day tomorrow. Tomorrow can't come fast enough for her. Anyway, we all had fun. Enjoy the pics. Merry Christmas!

Finn's 1st Birthday Celebration

We celebrated Finn's 1st Birthday today along with Uncle Gary & Aunt Elizabeth, Dave & Michelle and Bailey and Brandee. They are all heading north for Christmas, so we wanted to get our celebration in with them before they left. We had a great time and Finn had a blast. Our 'theme' for the birthday party was 'Super Heroes.' We felt that with all Finn has been through this past year, he has handled it like a hero. He's our hero anyway :) You'll love the pic of the cake; it was a cupcake cake put together with a Superman "S" on top, it's really cool!! We set Finn in his highchair and let him go to town on the cupcake, it took him a minute but then he attacked it-with his hands. He didn't eat any of it at first. I think he just thought it was arts and crafts time (or as some of you remember, Maisie called it arts and craps!!) and he smashed it down and rubbed it everywhere. I rubbed some in his mouth and he got a taste of it and then ate just a little. The shirt he was wearing is stained red but it was worth it!! He got some really cool toys including a Sesame Street riding toy (which the girls loved and kind of took over for the afternoon), a Kiss Me Elmo, an alphabet drum and a washcloth that expands once it gets in the water. It was so fun watching him play. We also celebrated Christmas after the birthday portion, so check out the next posting as well. We feel so blessed to have spent this year with Finn; even through all the tough times. He is so special to us and is our hero!

Bend It Like....Maisie!

Maisie completed her first season of organized sports on Saturday with her final soccer game. She played well and had lots of fun. She really has a ball (no pun intended) out on the field. The following day was her soccer party. She received her first trophy and fun was had by all. Her coach told us that Maisie kept him laughing throughout the season with some of her comments to him. She is excited to play in the Spring and both her and Ainslie have asked 'Santa' for a soccer net for the backyard. (I have it on good authority that Santa is working on that request ) :)
Love, Deb

Finally sending the blog

Hello. I am finally sending the blog that I started 3 weeks ago. Please scroll all the way down and read it chronologically. Let me know if you don't want to receive the blog and I'll take your email off the list. You will receive an email letting you know when we update the blog. Love, Deb

P.S. I was only able to send this to 10 people initially, so I'll be sure to send it out again to the rest of the family. :)

Finn - 1 month shy of a year

Here's some recent pics of Finn, he turns 11 months next week!! I can't believe we are coming up on his 1st birthday. Today he returned to his 'normal' diet; he can have whatever he wants now. No restrictions. Finn is happy to return to eating Cheerios, bananas and cooked carrots :) Sunday night he crawled for the very first time!! It's actually more of a scoot than a crawl, but he already is moving FAST!!!

More Camping Photos

Here are a few more pics from our weekend! I wanted to post a pic of our friends, Matt and Jana. Also, the last pic of our laundry room serves two purposes - to show how much laundry a family of 5 can generate on a 2 1/2 day camping trip (and how much work ahead of me I had after arriving home) AND to show you my brand new washer and dryer. They are awesome!! Anyway, enjoy!!