packing away...

We're staying busy around here with all that comes with moving out of our house. This weekend will be devoted to packing up everything in hopes that we'll move everything out before next Friday. On Friday, Kenton will be flying to Alaska so that he can drive down with his brother, Brian. We're so excited to have Uncle Brian back in town & can't wait for them both to arrive safely at home!

This will be the longest Kenton & I have been apart since Finn was born, so the longest Finn & Kenton have been away from each other ever (about 5 days, probably). Thankfully, I will already be staying with Kenton's parents, so I won't be completely on my own. We're planning on staying with Mummi & Pappa Henry for a few weeks, until we can close on our new house (around October 15th).

That being said, blogging might be put on the back burner even more than it has been. I will definitely be back at it, full force, as soon as I have fun before & after photos of our new place. There will certainly be before & after pictures too, cause this house needs some love & beautification. Yay! My favorite thing to do: projects! :) And I'm not even joking! So do check back...but it might be a while...

i dream of eugenie

On Saturday, we gathered with family & friends for the annual Eugene Celebration Parade (the theme this year was I Dream of Eugenie)! We try to make it every year & often get to enjoy it with a big group. This year, the group included Gretchen, Ronan, Griffin, Becca, Sadie, Cohen, Memaw, Papa, Carolyn, Jesse, Carolyn's dad (Dave) & step-mom (Deena), Kenton, Finley & me! Last year, Finn was just 10 months old & not as aware of the whole event. This year, I started talking to him about the parade the night before & telling him about the different things he might see.

Kenton & I were pretty amazed with how well he sat & watched everything. He was very serious the whole time & barely said two words.

This backhoe certainly kept his attention. From the moment he saw it, he couldn't take his eyes off of it. We watched his eyes follow it into the very distance & only once it was out of sight did he shout "At-Oh!" (Finn's word for backhoe) with a huge grin. :)

The Eugene Celebration Parade is not your typical parade. This is the Chinese Dragon style Slug that makes an appearance every year. Also, a new "Slug Queen" is crowned each year & it's quite an honor! There is a lot of poking fun at Oregon + local & national politics. We were amazed this year at how many alternative grade schools were represented in the parade. I always get a little excited when I see my high school marching band + my former crew team. Fun fun!

I loved experiencing the parade with my boy. He's getting so big!

Carolyn enjoyed some snuggle time with Finn too. It's hard to keep him still usually, but not a problem at the parade!

We've been to the parade many times with Carolyn & Jesse. It was great to have them back this year (we missed them last year while they were in Azerbaijan!)

life is getting interesting...

We accepted an offer on our house! If all goes well, we will sell our house & be out by September 30th! Life is about to get pretty interesting. We actually will be trying to pack up & be out by the 25th because Kenton is flying to Alaska on the 26th to drive down with his brother, Brian. So we have about 14 days to pack this house! Eeks! To make things even more crazy, we found out that our offer was accepted on a new house (new to us)! So, everything is moving very quickly & we are praying that everything continues to move smoothly as we make this transition into our new home. Thanks for prayers & keep sending them our way. We're movin' right along!

labor day weekend

Many months ago, Kenton & I made plans to visit Seattle with our friends, Stu & Jacque, so that Kenton & Stu could attend the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX). This is a game convention that Kenton has been interested in for several years but had never been able to make it up for. Jacque & I decided we'd enjoy a girl's weekend in Seattle, so we tagged along. Finn stayed in Eugene with my parents for one night & Kenton's parents the next night - the longest we'd ever left Finn!

On Saturday, Jacque & I met up with my friend Angela, who I know from high school. I got to meet her sweet, little boy, Rooke. It was really nice to catch up with Angela, since I hadn't seen her since her baby shower last Spring. :)

The Convention Trade Center
This is where the guys spent most of their time & where we often picked them up.

On Sunday afternoon, Jacque & I explored the Pike Place Market, while we waited for the guys to finish up.

Amazing flowers at amazing prices!

Yummy farm, fresh produce!

Jacque & Katrina
We sure managed to do a lot of shopping. We especially enjoyed spending as much time as we wanted in stores like Ross & TJ Maxx, where our guys are usually instantly bored. :P

Kenton & Stu with their 3-day passes around their necks. They seemed to have a great time. I heard it described as better than Disneyland, more than once... I'm not sure if I'd agree, but I'm so glad Kenton had someone to go with who would enjoy it as much as him.

open gym

Finn, Ethan, Macey, Dylan, Griffin, Sadie & Ronan

On Tuesday (8/26), Finn & I went to Open Gym at the National Academy of Artistic Gymnastics with Gretchen, Amy Green, Aimee Madsen & their kids (+ Sadie). We were a big group & it was lots of fun! I really enjoyed seeing Finn accessing all of the cool gymnastics equipment, including the rings, foam pit & trampoline. All of the kids were so brave & tried everything out! We'll definitely check it out again - especially since we got tons of free passes from our friend Angie (her daughter is an awesome gymnast)!

playing catch-up: cars, parks + "backhoes"

I've been getting behind a bit on the daily happenings of the Henry household. Sorry. I have a good excuse. I have been on vacation after all. Anyway, here is a bundle of photos from the last week or so that I didn't want to leave out. Enjoy! :)

One of Finn's favorite things to do at the mall is hang out in the coin operated ice cream truck. We don't actually put any money in it...we just pretend. :)

His other favorite places to go include the pet store, the food court & the playground.

We went to a playground near our house with Gretchen & her boys...almost 2 weeks ago. Ack! I'm so behind! This is Ronan being some kind of creature.

Griffin trying to climb up high like his big brother!

Kenton acting like the little kids. :)

Finn trying out the cool toys too. We all tried them out. It was a cool park!

Griffin taught Finn how to say underdog! Finn still says "gog" for dog, so his underdog sounds more like "gun-ger-gog!" I gladly oblige to such a sweet request!

Later that afternoon, we had Sandy, Nicole & Addi over for games, dinner & fun at the park. I was trying to get a good photo of Finn's static-hair after going down the slide but I was a little off center. Pretty silly expression though. :)

So sweet. Baby + Mama.

She really is just the sweetest little thing!

Getting a ride on the teeter-totter with Dad & Sandy.

On Friday of that week (8/22), we had dinner with Kenton's family + Deanna & Melanie Henry (who visited again on their way back to the airport) at Olive Garden. Everyone worked together to keep Finn entertained while we waited for our table to be ready.

He did a great job in the restaurant too! One of our better experiences eating out. It is not always easy or relaxing, but he did really well.

We live near a series of ponds that are being developed into a safer, public nature area. I don't know if it will technically be a city park, but they are adding access roads & making the banks less steep, adding in native plants & protecting the turtle nesting areas. Good news for us. Especially when there are bulldozers & excavators to check out!

Of course, Finn still calls all construction vehicles backhoes (or "at-oh").

Little boy heaven!

We really love living so close to the ponds & open fields. We'll miss it if our house ends up selling...and we'll enjoy the new & improved area if our house doesn't sell! Still nothing happening for sure in the house-selling arena, but prayers are welcome. :)