One of Finn's gifts...

was a slide from Grandma & Pappa Henry. It was a little taller than they expected, but that didn't stop Finn. He was SUPER excited. We heard some very loud screams of joy. Unfortunately, the video of him using the slide is pretty poor quality & very dark. But hopefully you can still make out the image of Finn sliding on his bottom, then on his tummy. If you listen closely, you can hear him "poozle" the slide before he goes down the second time & then a little squeal (muffled by the pillow) at the very end of the video. The slide was definitely a hit & he will get a lot of fun out of it as he figures it out on his own. Thanks Grandma & Pappa!

"Ooooh!"

Chuck E. Cheese

For the whole story, check out Gretchen's post about the evening. Here are some more photos from Finn's first visit to see the big Cheese! :P


I followed Finn & Griffin around for a bit while they wandered around. Pretty cute to see where they would go when given freedom to roam. They found Chuck E. Cheese, himself, right away. They didn't really cooperate with the high-fives, but Finn wanted to check out his hand.

Pushing buttons - a favorite activity in our house.

Two joysticks at a time!

Tyler could have been the poster child for the restaurant. He was super excited!

Happy 21st Birthday Brian!

We celebrated Brian's 21st Birthday with Breanna (Brian & Kenton's cousin from Nevada) by going to see Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, then for dinner & drinks at North Bank McMenamin's. Kenton & I really like McMenamin's, but unfortunately, the food took forever & I ended up sick. So that was a bummer. But everyone else enjoyed their food & it seemed like Brian enjoyed his first drink as an adult! The movie was good too...a little violent for my taste, but well done with good music & singing (it's a musical).

The Birthday Boy!

Breanna

Kenton

Katrina

favorite photos...

There were so many fun highlights from our Christmas day...these are just some of them (+ these photos turned out the best).

Kenton & I celebrated on Christmas Eve after Finn had gone to bed. Not exactly as we planned, but we had such a busy day planned for Christmas (trying to get to two different celebrations before noon) that we chose to celebrate early.

However, we did get a chance to show Finn what Daddy-Santa put together the night before. It was really fun to see the excitement in his little face over his new, big car. We hardly ever buy new toys for Finn & they're usually second hand when we do buy toys, so we enjoyed seeing his first reaction to the gift. The first thing he did (of course) was say "Ooooh." :)

What a face!

He's a very good driver. This car, by the way, is totally "Finley-powered." No noises or lights, no motor or anything. He moves it by walking with his feet (like a Flintstones car). It comes with little tools that work on the screws & bolts in the engine. So as he gets older, he can work on his car like Daddy. :) (Plus we got a great deal!)

Doesn't look like a very happy Santa.

Sadie, enjoying her gift from us.

We started the morning at the Henry household (Kenton's parents) along with Kenton's grandparents, 3 out-of-town aunts, uncle, & cousin. Including Finn it was 13 people in all. I've only celebrated Christmas day with Kenton's parents once since we've been married & I've never spent the day with his extended family. It was such a treat to have so many people in town & we are so thankful to have his family living in Eugene.

Next we boogied to the Hecht household to celebrate with my parents, brother, sisters & their families. We made a group of 15! Finn actually napped for about an hour while we opened gifts, but was awake for his Grand Finale: a toy guitar & drum, so he can play Rockband with Dad! :) It always starts out a little crazy but soon each nephew or niece opens a gift that sparks their excitement & things begin to mellow down as they get lost in play.

After eating yummy sandwiches with my family, we headed back to the Henry's house for a full, Christmas dinner, complete with turkey, ham, stuffing, candied yams, potatoes & pecan pie for dessert. We were beyond full & enjoyed every bite!

It was a full day & Finn passed out during the car ride home. Tomorrow we'll spend some time relaxing at home, in between playing with Finn's new toys. But we're looking forward to Uncle Brian's 21st birthday! :)

Merry Christmas!

We wish you all a very peaceful & cozy Christmas & send our best wishes for the year to come!

*My first attempt at digital "scrapbooking." I used a digital kit to make our card this year.

Christmas is starting...

New shoes...I couldn't wait until Christmas. Finn got to wear his new shoes to church today. They were a little tricky to walk in, but he's getting used to the extra traction. Mama picked out his shirt too, of course...in his (*my*) signature color green! :)

We had to get a family picture, while we were dressed in our "church" clothes. Finn didn't mind.

Later, we drove to Portland for the Stoerman gift exchange.

As you wish, Uncle Truls...you made the blog! :P

Oregon-Stoerman cousins with Grandpa & Grandma Janet.

Uncle Truls, Aunt Robin (Mom's sister), Grandpa, Grandma Janet, Mom & Papa.

We had a very nice visit & we all received very nice gifts from each other, including the California-Stoermans. We all were instructed to bring our favorite appetizer to share, plus any goodies we'd been baking. It was a great idea & there was plenty of food...yumm!

Note: As you may be able to tell by the increase in my "blogging," I am on vacation! Yay! Kenton is now *officially* on vacation too. We have the next two weeks off & I am thoroughly enjoying the extra time together. I had last week off, but it'll be so nice to have Kenton home now.

almost Christmas time!

Enjoying our white Poinsettia, while it lasts. I have a really hard time keeping these flowers alive. I usually buy red but we received this one as a gift & I really like it! It works well with the color schemes around our house. :)

Nice smile, Finn.

Enjoying his Jack-in-the-box. He knows the trick though...he always makes it pop before the right point in the song. No fooling this kid!

a great surprise

Today we received a package from my dear friend, Lauren. She used a photo of Finn to make a "prototype" for a project she's starting. She said to spread the word if I liked it & I love it! It's so cool, such a great gift! Click here to see her website & click on "Gallery" to see Finn. I can't wait to share it with everyone in person, it's that cool! :) Looks like she's taking orders too...

Thanks Lauren!


Edited: I got a picture of the print hanging in our blue craft/game room. Couldn't fit more perfectly in that room. I love looking at it while I work at the computer or on a project. I really am just in love with this gift right now! :) I showed it to Finn after he woke up from his nap & he smiled real big & made a happy "hmmm" noise. He likes photos of himself, so I wouldn't be surprised if he knows it's him.

dress up

Sadie & Ronan thought it was pretty funny that I joined in on dressing up! Finn was completely oblivious & only cared about the Mardi Gras beads.Sadie called me a princess...Becca called me a gypsy. :)

Sadie in her "nylins" - as Ronan calls them.

Sweet Griffin in a leotard!

My parents have quite a selection of dress-up clothes: anything from ballet costumes from when we were in dance classes to hippie clothes from when my parents were hippies! :)

4 generations of Stoerman...

Finley's Great-Grandpa Stoerman is in town for a quick visit before heading up to Portland to spend Christmas with Aunt Robin & her family. Of course, we had to take a "4 generation" photo! Great-Grandma Janet was having fun making comparisons between Finn & his Great-Grandpa, since Finn's middle name is Stoerman. :)

The Great-Grandparents with their 6 Great-Grandchildren!

Short, fat tree

...but we were excited to get a Noble fir for the first time. :) Here it is with only the lights.


Then I added the ornaments. Finn is doing pretty well with the tree. There are a couple of ornaments that he's allowed to play with. Plus, there's one that has a button he can push to make Winnie the Pooh talk - so that's super fun! :)

We put lights on the house last week sometime. It's always tricky figuring out where to start & how to best use all of the lights. I think we figured it out, but we wish that we would've put lights along the very top of the roof too. Maybe we'll fix it...and maybe we won't.

This is the face that Kenton generally makes at some point during the house decorating process:

lemony goodness

Here's a video of Finley's reaction after tasting a lemon. Some people thought we were being mean, but he liked it! (Or at least, he was having fun.) He wanted to taste it over & over again. :)

mama's eyes

I think he has his mama's eyes. :)

morning hair

Finn is officially walking! He started about a week ago. He walks everywhere. He can even lift up to standing without any help - which makes him so proud! He gets really excited when he's walking & really seems to enjoy himself! :) I can't believe we have a walking boy. It's weird for me... He's not nursing anymore + he's walking = he's not a baby anymore. :( But this is definitely a fun stage. He's starting to talk more. He says "Hi" to everyone (we make friends wherever we go!). We're pretty sure he calls me "Baba" instead of Mama. He also says "goggie" for doggie.

We live near the Eugene airport & hear planes fairly often. Whenever they fly overhead, Finn waves his hand in the air like an airplane & makes an "airplane" noise. :) He waves bye-bye to everyone & night-night (to Daddy). And if I'm really lucky, he gives me kisses. He likes to tickle toes, but he's still learning to be gentle. His favorite thing in the world to do is to turn on the X-box by pushing the "X" in the middle of the controller. It lights up green & a second later the console turns on. Very exciting stuff!

Anyway, I felt like I needed to make notes of all the things Finley is doing at 13 months. Hopefully we'll get our Christmas tree tonight & I'll get to post some holiday photos of our house. I feel like this year I am busier than I have ever been before. Working on projects, shopping, cleaning, working, thinking about sending a Christmas card... Harder to get everything done now that there's a little boy following me everywhere. :) But worth every second!

doing it himself

This morning was the first time that Finn really wanted to use the spoon by himself! I had never really let him try, so I let him go for it. He did really well for a couple of spoonfuls. We were really surprised! He was using his left hand & I was curious, so I switched the spoon to his right hand. Then he became uninterested in the spoon. He wanted to eat with his hands... :)

Then he just skipped straight to licking the bowl clean. Daddy & I were amused!

He was so proud of himself!