Flower Girl Preparations!

Jason and Tracie -- look out! Your future flower girl has picked out her outfit for your wedding. Do you love it?! Julia was very proud of the outfit she pulled together. It consisted of a couple dance leotards, tutus, gloves, and a ribbon crown. Later in the evening, she added 3 more leotards/tutus and her ballerina slippers. It was a sight to behold! What a fun spirit she has...if only we all had the confidence to pull off such an ensemble!
As I think back, Julia had a lot of "pink" in her weekend. Let me explain another pink incident... We read her the Dr. Seuss story "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" for a Saturday night bedtime book. While I was making some Christmas candies, I noticed a recipe for oobleck in my Family Cookbook. This got me pretty excited, so I told Julia all about it after we got home from church on Sunday. What a fun (yet messy) experience! Of course, Julia decided her oobleck had to be pink, instead of green like Dr. Seuss.
Check out the oobleck dripping from Julia's fingers! She must have stood on her stepstool playing with this stuff for 30-45 minutes! Overall, I'm awfully proud of myself for coming up with such a fun activity - pretty good, wouldn't you say?! HA!

Crawling? We show the video, you decide.

For at least a month now, Finn has been pushing himself up on all fours. He then starts to rock back and forth like he's getting ready to start crawling. But instead of crawling, he usually just lays flat and pulls himself around on his belly using his arms. He's also gotten quite adept at sitting himself up from various positions. Below is a video where he may be taking some of his first "crawling steps" - you be the judge. Also, there's a quick shot of Julia at the table in her Snow White dress and having a snack.

Click here for a link to the video.

Julia's been doing great too. Sometimes though, a few minutes after being put to bed, she'll fuss and complain about her legs hurting. We're not quite sure if it's a way to get attention or if she's got a case of The Seavers. Otherwise, she's enjoying pre-school and her daycare friends and she really likes seeing Christmas decorations. Here she is after her dance recital hugging a snowman decoration that she saw.

A Happy Thanksgiving

I hope that you enjoyed your Thanksgiving as much as we did this year. The kids seemed to enjoy their holiday, so that means that Torey and I did as well! Funny how that works!

Just as many of us tend to contemplate what we're thankful for at this time of year, I did some reflecting on this subject as well. When I asked Julia what she's thankful for throughout our travels, the first answer I got was "pink and princesses," then "Mommy and Daddy and Finny," and then "Finny Binny." It's great to see her realizing all that she is thankful for. Overall, I came up with "I'm thankful for the joyful little moments in life." Here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving vacation that demonstrate what I mean:

Observing Julia laughing, playing, and strengthening her bond with my cousin, Alexis.

Watching Grandma Ruth's face light up while snuggling Finn!

Appreciating the relationship that Julia has with her uncle/godfather and future aunt.Listening to giggles between Finn and Grandma Phyllis.Studying the concentration that puzzle-lovers commit to the task at hand.

And let me tell you, the list goes on! Thank you to everyone who helps to bring those joyful moments into our lives...

I also wanted to share with you the recipe for Pumpkin Pecan Pie that I made for the Thanksgiving meal at my parents' house. It survived the road trip, tasted yummy, and was pretty easy to prepare too!

Up Close and Personal Friday!

She may appear large, but she's only three!

Here are the kids, snuggling together on the couch. Having happy kids sure is great!

Finn has been eating a lot lately! He'll snarf down a a whole container of 2nds baby food and barely blink. And this one time, last Spring, he grabbed my Arby's Beef 'n Cheddar sandwich right out of my hand and took a big ol' bit out of it! Yeah, I know, the one with the onion bun! Er...maybe that last part isn't quite true...considering last Spring Finn was hanging out here, next to his sister:

Insulted by a Three Year Old

After we finished reading Julia her bedtime books this evening and were saying goodnight, Julia said "Goodnight cute Mommy". So I asked her, "Well, what am I?" I realized this was slightly dangerous - who knows what a three year old might say. I figured (or maybe foolishly hoped) that she would get stuck on one thing, like little kids are prone to do, and just stay with "cute". That's an adjective I can handle. But no. She replied with a smirk: "Goodnight big, stinky Daddy."

I didn't take offense to it because I knew it wasn't true. The proof is below. As you can see, if I was stinky, Julia wouldn't be sitting so close to me. Plus, there aren't any visible stink lines.

Just to make things fair - here's a picture of the other two people in my family (also no stink lines (We do bathe regularly!)):

6 Month Statistics!

Today we had Finn's 6th month doctor appointment. His stats were as follows:

Weight: 16 lbs 10 oz (45th percentile)
Height: 27 in (75th percentile)
Head Circumference: 43.5 cm (50th percentile)

In comparison, Julia's 6th month stats were:

Weight: 17 lbs 5 oz (87th percentile)
Height: 27.5 in (97th percentile)
Head Circumference: 42.5 cm (50th percentile)

Finn cried a little while he was getting three different shots, but was happy again right after they were done - due, in part, to his sister. While Finn was getting his shots, Julia was singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to him. He always calms down when she does that. It was especially cute because she kept singing it as we were leaving and the nurses all smiled. She even kept it up through the waiting area and made most of those people grin too. She'll never realize that she very well may have brightened someone's day who wasn't feeling very well.

Here is Finn from a few weeks ago with Grandma Colleen and Grandpa Dayton.


P.S. Finn popped out his first tooth yesterday! It looks like this: __

Halloween is Spooktacular!

As you can see, we had two Care Bears residing at our house this Halloween. Julia was Funshine Bear and Finn was Bedtime Bear (Julia calls them "Sunshine Bear" and "Sleepy Bear," respectively).

Below, Julia is talking on the phone after getting ready to go out trick-or-treating. While talking to him, Julia sang Uncle Jason the Care Bear song, just in case he didn't believe that she really liked them.


Julia had fun walking around our neighborhood trick-or-treating. However, she did not like anyone wearing a mask. And by "not like" I mean "would nearly break down crying out of fright". But her courage prevailed and she came home with a nice bucketful of treats.
Be sure to read the title again - it contains the best pun ever.

Julia takes things into her own hands...

Julia decided that she wanted to feed her brother supper earlier tonight. It was super cute! Finn smiled each time she put a spoonful of baby cereal into his mouth. Then Julia commented, "I'm feeding Finn! Now it's in his belly!" Enjoy the picture...

Up Close and Personal Wednesday!

Julia likes getting close up pictures of herself taken...so now you get to see 'em. Don't worry, I'll add some other stuff too.

Here's a movie of Finn taking his first bath in the little blue tub. Before this he always bathed in the kitchen sink. Compare Finn's mood to Julia's first bath in this tub - hers consisted of a lot of screaming. Yeah, it's a little dark.

Click here to open the video in a new window.
Here's a brighter shot of the same scene. Julia insisted on trying it out, for the sake of nostalgia.

When did she become naughty?

Maybe she's paying us back for never being a climber when she was little... She was supposed to be washing her hands after going to the bathroom. I went to check on her and found this:
And here's a few pictures of Finn, in case anyone would like to see him too. He's been rolling around a lot to try to get certain toys that he likes. He reaches and stretches for things that he wants. In the mornings, when he just wakes up, he's really smiley and happy - unlike child #1 who refuses to get out of bed... (Is she 3 or 13?)