finn's birthday party.

we're having it on june 4th, partly because my mom will be in town for it! i'm really excited about the theme... "painting party". i'll wait to share details but i've been making the party favors & they're turning out so cute!

so, i've been thinking of what to get finn...

he's still REALLY into books & can now patiently listen while we read books with fairly large paragraphs on each page. we've moved to the world of paper books instead of board books. a few of his favorites are:

anything critters or berenstein bears or golden books: winnie the pooh, jungle book, NEMO!!!!, curious george, etc. he can sit there in the glider or at his desk for more than 45 minutes reading by himself. it's one of my favorite things to watch him quietly, for a few minutes, curiously stare at the details on the page.

he is obsessed with trains, fire trucks, ambulances, garbage trucks, recycling trucks, helicopters etc. we love this brand: green toys

this was on sale awhile ago on zulily & now i'm kicking myself for not buying it. we have the dump truck & he loves it.

i'm also craving this piece of furniture. finn has been bringing a kitchen chair over & standing on it to attempt to help me with cooking or baking. i'd love to involve him in more, but it's not all that safe. this would help though!

at our midwives appt today they just got some new wooden animals that were so awesome!
she bought them at this store: little artika in scottsdale.

he could also really use an outside play.climb.thing. some sort of jungle gym. but i'm not crazy about plastic (as you're probably tired of hearing) & wood has a tough life in this heat & metal is off limits for several months because it would cause some major burns... so, we'll be deciding on that one for awhile. any suggestions?

but honestly overall he has so much stuff that he's good. he doesn't NEED anything.

i already bought him a few new puzzles with fire trucks on them :) so that'll be fun to watch him open up.

oh! a friend dropped off some baby stuff & with it was a baby rocker thing. finn is obsessed with getting in it, wrapping a blanket around himself & cuddling with his monkey. we at first were trying to tell him to get out- but don't want him to resent the baby since it has all these things he can't play with. so we let him climb in and relax. it's really cute, but that made us realize he doesn't have a chair of his own. so now i'm on the hunt for a cool kids sized chair for the living room. i'm thinking the ikea ones are pretty cute.

anyways, hope you have a wonderful weekend, celebrating & remembering our soldiers.

i'm grateful for them. oh so grateful.

a lazy evening...

lately, we've been enjoying some unusual weather. it seems unseasonably cool... i mean, i feel like we should be melting by now- so we are living it up. walking at night, eating dinner outside, having cook outs, water parks, etc.

here is a lazy evening. i absolutely love weekends. most weekends, i barely bother with the computer or my cell phone. i just try to enjoy bryan being home & spending time with my two boys before our world is altered by this new child that is entering our world in almost 2 more months.

finn on his skute bike. no tricycle for him. this is supposed to help him learn to ride with balance so we can skip the training wheels. he's really a great little skuter.



hope you're having a great start to the summer too :)

some more emma & finn for ya.

during spring break the train park was up & running... so we met up with emma & melissa to go for a ride.

we got there before it opened so we went for a walk around the lake. finn waiting for emma.

& then not waiting :)

we use to be obsessed with swings. & then we hated them. now we can tolerate em again.
a train & dog. heaven. he kept giving him kisses & saying hi ky-ky.

hugging while we wait in line.
choo choo.
it's so lovely hanging out with someone (often) that loves your kid as their own. & i feel the same for emma.

duckees.


too cute.
i can easily envision him as a teenager in this picture. it's kinda freaky.
i love me some kisses.
he cracks me up with this pose. he was too afraid to ride any animals so we rode the bench instead. guess he was pretty comfy.
i'm getting there woohooo! almost caught up.

myra's birthday

we've discovered bounce jungle. this wonderful world of blow up jungles. & our friend myra had her birthday party there!

here's a few pictures:
this is right after emma tackled finn... she hadn't seen him for a few days & was overtaken with joy. teehee.
he was so brave about all the slides.
cute butts.
finn & his future father in law... hahahaha. stoli don't kill me.
keith & his daughter sophie!
i wasn't allowed on the bounce houses... there was a stick figure with a belly bump & a line through it :( bryan & finn. joanne & owen. melissa & emma.
i love this one of all the guys...
pizza & cake time!!!!
little buds.
this is where finn started his "happy to you" thing. he saw this picture as i was editing them afterwards & started singing it. he's so smart. or at least has a great memory!
most of the frisbee crew.

finn giving bryan a look. "i know how to eat cake DAD."

our shy, sweet owen.

happy birthday myra!