Monday, January 19, 2009

The Big Three-Zero!

"Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday to You!
Happy Birthday, Dear Torey! Happy Birthday to You!"
Special birthday wishes from the kids
(with a little help from Grandma Beth):


I hope that your thirtieth birthday was all that you hoped it would be. See, it's not that horrible, is it?! For all who read this blog post, please be sure to wish Torey a very happy year! Thanks much!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

At which point he said, "No, YOU change my diaper!"

On the last day of 2008 we had a fun time at the Mall of America. For the first time, Julia got to go on some of the rides at the park in the mall - Nickelodeon Universe. Julia was very excited and admittedly a little nervous. Amanda and I were a little surprised at how well Julia did and she ended up going on a few rides by herself too. This was the first one she went on:


Finn was a little miffed that he was missing out on all the action. I gave him a cracker to keep him in line and then I thought he would like it if I took his picture. He showed me how he felt by showing me the cracker.

But he never gave up hope and he got to go on a few rides too. He was really excited to go on the carousel and he chose to ride a lion.

The last ride that Julia went on was called Swiper's Wild Ride, and it was a little wild! The ride consisted of cars that went around in circles around a little track, but on the turns, it went really fast. Julia thought it was a lot of fun. Here's the evidence:


Finn shows his talent for the culinary arts by helping Amanda whip up some quesadillas.

He's also pretty creative in combining toys in unique ways. Here he apparently thought he needed a helmet while riding his horse.

This was attempt to be artsy. I was blown away, but wasn't surprised, at how wonderfully amazing it turned out. (That was an attempt to sound pretentious.)