staying busy

The dishwasher is installed, but there's a leak somewhere. So Kenton has been kept busy with his least favorite sort of home improvement: plumbing. :( We're hoping to figure it out soon, but it might mean taking it back in to get fixed. We'll see...

Finn looks like a pretty big kid here, huh? He amazes us all the time with what he can do & say & understand. Getting bigger for sure.

So we've put him to work! ;) He was having a blast playing in a sink full of soapy water. I'm pretty sure he tasted the bubbles too - he made a face that suggested they did not taste great.

Whatever keeps his attention for more than 5 minutes is definitely something to try. But when he started to pour water on the floor, we had to be done. :)

Today, we tackled a big project that I've been itching to do. We borrowed the Henry's truck & picked up two loads of bark mulch for all of the flower beds around the house. What a huge difference! I love how the dark mulch makes all of the plants seem greener & all of the flowers brighter. It went fairly quickly, for how much we had to do & we worked at super speed once Finn went down for a nap. I think he must be feeling a little icky still - he napped for nearly 4 hours! Sure helped us get a lot done. But hopefully he'll be feeling like himself again really soon.

poor baby

Last night, Finn got our attention when he threw up in bed. He has never been sick like that before. When he was younger, he used to spit-up often & by large amounts. But we had never seen anything like this before. Probably nothing special to most parents out there, but a first for us. We got him out of bed, stripped off the blankets, put Finn in the tub, remade the bed & put clean jammies on our boy. He was shivering all over, so I wrapped him in a blanket & cuddled him while we read a few books.

He must have been really sleepy still because he went right back to sleep without a peep - I was worried he'd get upset if I left him alone. :] Go figure. Amazingly enough, he slept the rest of the night without any further episodes. I stayed home from work though, because he still had a fever & I wasn't really sure he was over it. Turns out he wasn't completely recovered, so it was good that I stayed home with him.

Strangely enough, Ronan, Tyler & Macey were all sick last night too! Yuck! Hopefully it will stop there.

Thank goodness for random junk mail filled with stickers! :) I was definitely scrambling for things to do on a drizzly, gray day. Before his nap, we got bundled up & went for a stroll around the neighborhood, looking for trucks. We ended up walking the same route as the garbage truck - so exciting to Finn! And I got some practice searching for backhoes & excavators on Google & YouTube! Now Finn asks for backhoes every time he sees me at the computer. Whoops! :)

Finn got another fun surprise when Pappa Henry came over to deliver & help install our new dishwasher! He was very interested in the tools & "helping" the guys. Notice: Finn & Pappa are wearing matching shirts, by total coincidence. :)

I will most definitely post pictures of our new dishwasher as soon as everything is back in place.

I'm pretty sure Finn is feeling better. He keeps asking for food & eating a little bit. He hasn't really regained his appetite, but he's getting close. We're hopeful that the worst is over & that we won't experience the same sickness. :\

memorial day

We celebrated Memorial Day with Stu & Jacque.
They came over for dinner & a movie.
We also walked to Golden Garden park, near our house.
We enjoyed homemade blackberry crumble bars.
Along with "National Treasure 2"


Throwing rocks in the pond.


So excited about...


I don't remember. :\ Rocks? Airplanes? Water? Big splashes?
Something cool.


Unwilling to give up his big rock.
We tried to convince him to make a big splash.
"No."


So, he got to bring it home.
Still had to convince him to leave it outside.

zany zoo

After a failed attempt to busy our boys (on a rainy day) at open gym, Gretchen & I made it to Zany Zoo! We drove out to Bounce Gymnastics on Willamette St. for their open gym to find it full! Have you ever heard of such a thing?! Apparently, on rainy days they recommend getting there 10 minutes early. So now we know. And so do you. :) We tried to think of other fun play areas to use but ended up driving out to W. 11th to get a peek at some unique animals. The kids were such troopers & had a blast checking out all of the snakes, lizards, birds, bunnies, guinea pigs, turtles, kittens, puppies, & 1 lemur (we think). Finn even let one of the puppies lick his finger, which made Ronan a little nervous. :) He was fine though - just a few puppy kisses. I'm glad we managed to find something fun for the kids to do.

Afterwards, Finn & I went & picked up Kenton to have lunch together. We went to the 5th St Public Market & had slices of pizza at Marché Provisions. After we ordered, we were eying their sandwiches made to order....yummmm. :P They had some yummy sounding fixings from their deli. We'll have to try that next time.

a shower

Tonight was Nicole's baby shower. I helped Amy with some of the food & set up, & did my part as the recorder of gifts received. :)

Me with Nicole & her table of gifts. Nicole was definitely in her element & comfortable in front of the crowd of women. She told stories to go along with specific gifts & had the whole group laughing. It always amazes me to see her in the spot light...I wish I didn't get so worried about being in front of people. :\

I painted letters for their "jungle" baby room. They are naming their daughter Adalie. :)


Another part of my gift to Nicole: a painting of her "soon to be" new little family, baby girl & all.


(Click for a closer look.)

Nicole with her mom (Eileen) & sister (Cami) who both came down from Washington.

dramatic sky

But no rain! The 6th Annual EEP Walk-a-thon was a success & our kids had a great time! We had several special guests: Mayor Kitty Piercy, the U of O Duck + a couple of U of O Cheerleaders to cheer on the kids as they lapped the baseball diamond.

Other than the incident with the Duck & the bag of plastic balls (he jumped into the bag & scattered the balls all over the place, leaving the wound up kids to "help" clean up), the event went off without a hitch. The Duck certainly didn't make a fan out of Becca, but the kids were SO excited to see him. :P

My wonderful EEP teaching team: Matthew, Tamy, me, Jacque, Becca & Angie
(the girls are practicing the "Angie stance")

hello rain

We were starting to miss you...kind of. The plants are definitely happy. But could you please move along & come back after Wednesday? The walk-a-thon is always more pleasant with a little sun...

...of course, I could use another excuse to wear my cute rain boots before Summer arrives. :)

griffin time

After church, we brought Griffin home with us (Gretchen attended a bridal shower while Josh & Ronan went to a movie with a friend). He fell asleep in the car & stayed asleep while I transferred him to a pack-n-play, set up in our room. He napped pretty well (considering it was a very hot day & he was sleeping somewhere he'd never slept before) but woke up before Finn. Kenton & I took turns entertaining him & he was so happy & smiley! :)



We ended up waking Finn so that they could have some playtime, before Griffin had to go home. :) They read a book together...

...explored the garage together...

...played in the water bucket together...

...and even came back inside together for another look at the toys.

I love to see them interact. They get so excited when they see each other. I brought Griffin with me to wake Finn up. Finn rolled around a bit, but sat straight up when he saw Griffin. I lifted Finn out of his crib & set him down on the floor & he instantly took off running & started talking. He usually takes a little longer than that to wake up, but he was ready to play! :)

new friends

Finn made new friends at Stu & Jacque's house! This is Cinder, the ferret. :) She was very sweet & a little shy.

This is Hurley, the frog. He was pretty quiet, except for when he hissed at Finn for poking him. :)

This is Oliver, another ferret. He's super playful & has a thing for squeaky toys (& hiding them).

It was another very hot day, so Finn had a great time spraying himself in the face. :P

It was a great day to avoid the hot kitchen by firing up the bbq. We had kabobs & corn on the cob! Yumm... Followed by a trip to Coldstone & board games at our house after Finn went to bed. Finn really enjoyed meeting the ferrets. Every time they hid under furniture, Finn tried to tell them "Come here!" Sounded a little more like "Mere!" but we knew what he meant. Kenton & I were pretty impressed with the ferrets too. They were so friendly & playful - way more social than I expected. Thanks for the fun night, Stu & Jacque. For a couple more pictures, check out Jacque's blog post about the evening.

96 degree day

Whew! What an amazing, hot day we had today. We copied my mom & let Finn play in the sprinkler again this evening. He really enjoyed it earlier today with Sadie & Cohen at Memaw's house.

We'd been in the car for awhile & it was hot! We let Finn run naked through the sprinkler, but ended up putting shorts on him for photos. :) They didn't stay up very well without a diaper to hold them...

Finn is totally braver than us in so many ways. He is fearless of heights & doesn't mind the frigid hose water. He was soaked by the time we were done.

And he loved it!
Notice his fingers are crossed. Kenton taught him how the other day & now he's crossing his fingers all the time. :P

light evenings

I love this time of year
when days are bright into the evenings
& the air is warm.

The flowers were so vivid
as the sun was setting.

My pansies survived the winter
despite my lack of attention to them.

The mystery mix of tulips
kept my interest until the end.
I didn't know what types I was planting last fall
but I'm not disappointed in the least.

Enjoying the evening for a moment
after Finn went down for bed.

18 month checkup + photos

My handsome 18 month old! He's getting so big.

One last shot with Mama.

Finn had his 18 month checkup at the doctor's today. Despite having a bit of a cold/cough, he's right on track. :) He's in the 50th percentile for weight (I think he was 26 lbs) & the 80th percentile for height (33 1/2 inches). Also, he passed the screening for Autism, so that's good too. They have a questionnaire for all parents of 18 month olds to help with early diagnosis; I was very excited to see this, since I work with children with Autism who often go undiagnosed for several years. So yay for our doctor, for doing his part! :)

mother's day, continued

*Edited to add more pictures...scroll down. :)

One of many attempts to get a photo with my busy son. :) It's pretty cute still.

We had a very full & wonderful Mother's Day. We ended up just going to church for a little bit because Finn had the beginning symptoms of a cold. We brought him in for some singing, but didn't stay for the whole service. Long enough to see most of our "mom-friends" & to wish them a happy day. :) Then we went to my parents house (while no one was there) to try & get some photos before there was too much to distract Finn (Ha!). Cousins or no cousins, Finn will find something to keep him busy! That's my boy; I sure love him. :)

Holding tight!

Ahhh...he pauses for a flower. Sweet.

Erik surprised us all by driving down that morning & making it to my parent's house right as everyone arrived after church. He hadn't been home since Christmas, so it was good to see him!

Mama Becca with Sadie (4 1/2), Cohen (2 1/2) & Tyler (8)


Mama Gretchen with Griffin (almost 1 1/2)
& Ronan (3 1/2)

Cousins
Tyler, Sadie, Ronan, Cohen, Finley, Griffin

The dads made pizzas! Yumm....

Cohen & Finn searching for bugs. They've become such good buddies, since my mom started watching them on the same days. I love how happy they are to see each other. :)


After Finn's nap, we went to Mummi & Pappa Henry's house with Nanalee & Papa Lew for bbq chicken, steak & corn on the cob: one of Finn's most favorite foods! :) Then there was strawberry shortcake (my favorite) & white cake (Outi's favorite) for dessert. So delicious! :) Finn was a super star! He even held his hand very still while Kenton used tweezers to remove 2 big splinters! He said "ow" a couple times, but didn't even flinch. I was so proud of my big kid!


The Moms: Outi, Marylee & me

Lew, Marylee, Outi, Kevin, Kenton, Katrina & Finn


Finn helped make a stepping stone for Mummi Henry

Outi & me with our garden gnomes from Marylee. So cool!

After all of the festivities, we had Stu, Jacque & Erik over to watch the Survivor Finale. A very good day, altogether. We're so thankful for our moms & that we are able to be so close to both!