Our Christmas Tree

Finn's Eye View

Finn loves to grab the camera. This weekend he actually took some pretty cool pics! It's neat to see things from his point of view.

Thanksgiving in Pictures

Scott cooked, I cleaned, and we all had a great time! This Thanksgiving has made me think more than I've probably ever thought about how grateful I am. I am so glad I started taking active steps to being more postive and optimistic a few months ago. I now know I am truly blessed and how lucky I am!

A long time overdue...

A haircut! (This picture is so classic Finn)

It's also a long time overdue for me to up the security on here. You now have to have

an invite to view my blog. I hope it's not too much of a pain for everyone to set up a Google ID, but at least now you can post comments! (seriously--post comments!)

Green Options

I found a new website today that I thought some people might find interesting:
www.greenoptions.com

What a Week!

This week has been so full! Lots of ups and downs and new things! It was Scott's birthday on Friday. He is 28! It reminded me of the first birthday he had after we got together. We had started dating about a week before that, and he felt awkward telling me it was his birthday since we just started dating and he didn't want me to feel obligated to go buy him a gift or anything. I was so embarrassed that everyone knew except me! Anyway, I think he had a pretty good b-day this year.

Kinley started sleeping in her own room this week. We've had her in a bassinet next to the bed at night, but she is SUCH a noisy sleeper. I finally decided it was time. The best part is, I've only had to feed her once each night! She has gotten so much bigger just over the course of a week! She is holding her head up so well! I think she is nearly ready for her Bumbo chair! She loves to sit up on your lap now. Where did the time go with that one? How is she already getting so much more mature? Here she is having "tummy time."

Also, Scott got a really cute video of her laughing. She first did it for me on Monday, then he got her to do it some more:

Finally, the really big news this week is about Finn. He used his potty twice this weekend! I am so excited! My friend Becca let us borrow her potty doll, so we started by showing him how that works. Then we've basically just been letting him run around pantless through the house so that he can use his potty easily. I'm going to have to make a few less outings this week in order to keep him near his potty and really drive it home:

New Survivor Series

My mom sent me this, and it was just too funny:



The Next SURVIVOR SERIES
Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids each for six weeks. Each kid will play two sports and either take music or dance classes .
There is no fast food.
Each man must take care of his 3 kids ; keep his assign ed house clean , correct all homework , and complete science projects , cook , do laundry , and pay a list of 'pretend' bills with not enough money.
In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week.
Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives , and send cards out on time--no emailing .
Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment , a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment .
He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care.
He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.
Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house , planting flowers ou tside and keeping it presentable at all times.
The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done .
The men must shave their legs , wear makeup daily , adorn themselves with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes , keep fingernails polished and eyebrows groomed .
During one of the six weeks , the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, and have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties.
They must attend weekly school meetings , church , and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.
They will need to read a book to the kids each night and in the morning, feed them , dress them , brush their teeth and comb their hair by 7:00 am.
A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information: each child's birth day, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size and doctor's name. Also the child's weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child's favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.
The kids vote them off the island based on performance.
The last man wins only if... he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice.
If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years eventually earning the right To be called Mother!

Finn-tastic!

Finn has been doing all sorts of cool things lately. I really like playing with him right now because he's doing some really fun stuff, like building "castles":

He gets a little OCD with the blocks sometimes though. I'll look at what he's making and sometimes all the red blocks will be put together, all the blue ones will be in another structure, and so on.

He's been a little obsessive about his stuffed animals too. He loves to find a hat for each one, and then put them to "sleep" in our bed. It's really adorable. He'll tuck each one in (and usually Scott too--he likes to play this game with Daddy) and then he'll make the pretend snoring sound. Very adorable!:

He's been rolling with quite a large entourage lately (and all their hats). I think Stitch is his favorite, but he's also got a baby doll, a few teddy bears and a lion. You know he's related to me because he tries to grab ALL of them when he moves rooms. No second trips!

Another thing he's been doing lately is singing a bunch of new songs. I think 2-year-olds must get songs stuck in their heads just like adults, because he'll randomly start singing some song that I haven't heard in a week.

Family Day! (part 2)

We went out to tiny Wheeler, Texas this Saturday to have a family reunion of sorts. My grandfather and his wife came out to visit and it gave some of the cousins an excuse to meet up! We all have little ones and it was great to see how much they all have grown! Finn had a good time playing with his cousins. I'm not sure if my family wants pics of their kids on the internet, so I won't post any pictures of them, but they were all pretty stinkin' cute!

My dad (he's probably the biggest Red Green fan in America):

A classic Finn photo. He loved his candy cane (and everyone else's):

My mother and her dad (my Papa):

Me and my sis:

Papa and Glenda opening gifts:

Yummy and Low-Fat!

I bought a smaller crock-pot last week, thinking I would use it more since it's, well, smaller. This is the first recipe I tried out:

2 lb. Turkey Kielbasa
1 c. applesauce (I was out, so I just pureed a couple of apples)
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 cloves of garlic, minced

Mix applesauce, brown sugar and garlic in crockpot. Slice kielbasa and add to pot. Cook on low for 3-4 hours.
We served it over brown rice and it was pretty yummy! I know Scott had his doubts when he heard it had apples AND garlic, but he liked it. Finn wouldn't eat it, but he doesn't eat anything unless it starts with "chicken" and ends with "nuggets."

Bummer

Scott and I were supposed to go see Celine Dion in concert tonight in Tulsa. It was to be our little 9 year anniversary (of dating) celebration. But, it was a good thing I checked her website or else I wouldn't have known it was postponed until February! I'm dissapointed, but it's a little bit of a relief. I was kinda nervous about driving 2 hours away and leaving my baby so soon. Her and Finn both go to bed at 8:00 now and it's really difficult to put them both down at once, so my mom is probably a little relieved too. Both of them get really fussy (Kinley espiecially) when they are tired! It will probably be a lot easier in February!

Finn and I made some more turkeys yesterday. These ones are really cute, although some turned out a little "special." I don't know what I'm going to do with a bunch of pom-pom turkeys, but at least it was something to do!

Kids are Weird

Need I say more?

This Little Baby Wears Cotton...

We figured out yesterday that Kinley has rather sensitive skin! She fussed and cried ALL day long and when I finally took her out of the cute dress she was wearing, she had a rash all over! I felt so bad for the poor thing! She's doing a lot better, but I've purged her clothes and blankets of all things polyester-blend! Hopefully this will help her be a lot less fussy. But she DID look so cute!:

We're looking ahead to Thanksgiving now. It's such a fun holiday, espiecially since I'm so hungry all the time now! Finn and I made "turkeys" the other day:

I can't wait until Christmas! I want to do it up so much that Finn's head explodes! Of course not really, but I want him to have a good time!

Here's another cute one of Kinley:

Stupid Baby Products

See stupid baby products here.

What's New

I haven't posted much this week due to a lack of things to talk about! It's been pretty quiet around here actually. But here's what's new:
--Scott and I are thrilled Obama won! I think he's a great leader and I'm so excited for the next 4 years!
--We had a pretty good Halloween. We've been infested with wasps so we didn't hand out Halloween candy (I didn't want to open and close the door and have them flying in and out). We didn't go trick-or-treating either. I think we will next year. We DID go to the Storybook Forest here in town. It was awesome! Finn got to trick-or-treat from storybook characters and then play some games for prizes. They also had a hayride and campfires that you could roast hot dogs and marshmellows at. It is definitly going to be a new fall tradition! (I, of course, forgot to bring my camera!)
--Kinley has been a doll lately. She's been smiling a lot and cooing so much! She just loves to "talk" to us! She's also been gracious enough to let me dress her in numerous bows and outfits!
--Kinley was 11 lbs. 8 oz. at her 2 month check up yesterday. The doctor was very impressed with her head control and said she might start rolling over soon.
--The poor girl had to have 3 shots yesterday! She was very upset about it and I think her poor leg hurt for the rest of the night.
--Finn has been playing out back with his doggie a lot lately. Usually after about a half hour he takes off his pants and shoes (and occasionally his diaper!). I'm not really sure why he does this, but at least he likes to keep things interesting!
--I think I'm going to start preliminary potty training this week. The first stage is to have your toddler "teach" a doll to use the potty. And I have a DVD we're going to watch about it.
--Next week we are going to see Celine Dion! I am so excited! Also, we are going to visit family next weekend! A lot of them I haven't seen in over a year. It will be fun!

Vote Today!

We waited about 50 mins to vote and it wasn't so bad! I'm so excited to see the news tonight! And don't forget to go by Starbucks and get your free coffee, and by Chick-Fil-A for your free chicken and finally by Krispy Kreme for your free donut for dessert!

Bows!

I

LOVE

HAVING

A

GIRL!!!!!!!!