sunny winter day

We have a really great park on our street, but we haven't played there since Finn learned how to walk. So we were excited to have a dry, sunny, COLD day off to go explore the park together. Finn was so excited about each part of the play ground. He was grinning like crazy & kept laughing a goofy giggle. It was great! It was very chilly & he was bundled enough to enjoy himself. Daddy's hands were a little frozen though.

Walking across the bridge, all by himself.

Crawling back & forth through the tunnel, between Mama & Dada.

Finn was pretty amazed that Daddy climbed to the top of the climbing wall.

So silly!

Peek-a-boo!

On the see-saw with Mama & Dada.

Other kids came to play while we were there & they had a little dog. He was really interested in watching the big kids play & had fun trying to catch up to the dog. He is so sweet & social. He said hi to everyone & tried to talk. He really likes people & has such a playful personality with everyone. He went right up to one of the older girls & started pointing at things & "talking" about them. Such an outgoing boy - I hope he stays that way. :)

We had another fun evening with Stu & Jacque. We made nachos & taught them 2 new games - Settlers of Catan & Vegas Showdown. Jacque beat us all so bad on Vegas Showdown! Nice job, Jacque! It was fun to have friends over. Finn was a little fussy. He's getting a couple of teeth & fighting off a cough. Sad. But he loves having friends over & enjoyed showing them his toys & books. A good Martin Luther King Jr Day overall. :)

giving hugs

I think Finn might have his first crush! He was all about giving Macey hugs last night while we were at the Green's house (our good friends from church) for games. :) Sometimes she smiled & hugged back...sometimes she frowned & pushed Finn away. He was being kind of forward & lingering in the hug position for a little too long. We need to work on that, I guess. But he was very unhappy whenever I would try & take him away to give her space.


He wanted to be right next to her or, better yet, laying in her lap. It was super cute & we were all getting a kick out of seeing them hug.


After we separated Finn & Macey, he decided to show some love to Ethan (Macey's twin brother). :) I don't think Ethan knew what to think of Finn's hugs. But we all enjoyed seeing them interact in such a sweet way.


After all the kids were asleep (Finn slept in a pack-n-play in Jon & Amy's room), the grown-ups (Jon, Amy, Sandy, Kenton & I) played a crazy game called Roborally. It's only the 2nd time we've played it & we've owned it for a couple of years. It's super complicated but definitely kept us laughing.

You each program your own robot with 5 command cards before the round starts & then go through with those movements step by step. The fun comes in when you hit a conveyor belt that turns you in a direction you weren't anticipating & end up completely off course for the remainder of your turn. There are also lasers that hurt you & cogs that spin you in place. Lot of fun. 3 1/2 hours later, Jon won the game. Whew! I think we all had a good time. :)

My robot, Zoom Bot, next to Amy's robot on the right, Spin Bot. I'm stuck on a conveyor belt & Amy's stuck spinning on a cog - she is a spin bot after all. ;)

enjoying the sun

My mellow boy, after his nap. Sometimes he wakes up happy & sometimes he wakes up sad. This day he was in between, but was fine with me setting him down to look at his books. I was excited to see the sun shining through the windows.

I try to take advantage of the sunny days, even though it's still pretty cold. On clear (not rainy) days, Finn & I walk to meet Kenton when he rides the bus home from work. Yesterday, I let Finn walk on his own. We don't get to play outside very often due to wet, Oregon weather, so he hasn't had very many chances to "run free." (Of course, we stopped to watch cars go by while I held on tight to my 14 month old.) :) It was a nice walk filled with excitement over birds, rocks, kitties & leaves. The sunset was pretty too. And Daddy got a kick out of seeing a tiny kid walking next to his Mama as we got closer & closer. It helps that our street is the longest, straightest street ever! (Right, Aaron?) We could see Daddy pretty far down the street.

My hair is doing something dorky, but Finn is cute!

Mama's wearing a hat!

Happy (blurry) boy!

Our Christmas lights are still up. We'll work on that someday...really!

more mosaic fun

1. Coming down for you, 2. Juvisy-sur-Orge, 3. Kokeshi Doll, 4. 8/366, 5. Untitled, 6. Things around the house, 7. "The Best Gift In Your Life", 8. Just because I need to mix things up a bit, 9. Fresh Eggs Yay, 10. fresh, 11. mad hatter, 12. Jan 12 - Saturday's breakfast, 13. matchbox4, 14. Jane Austin, on the bobbin, 15. 2008-01-03, 16. Saturday tulips.



I hear my little boy coughing in the other room. Sad. He's teething. I hope that's all it is. He's tired...sounds like he'll go back to sleep. Which is my cue to follow suit. Just wanted to post another mosaic of pleasing photos from my favorite time-trap, Flickr.

bapple

No matter how many times I tell Finn that this is an orange, he says "bapple." When I try to get him to say "orange" he comes up with a long string of gibberish that sound a bit like "oyloyloylo." Someday he'll learn to say orange...but I don't want to forget how convinced he is now that it's really a "bapple." :)

Au revoir Uncle Brian!

We will miss you!

Uncle Brian is moving back to Alaska. Can't stay away from the 20 below weather...or something. :) So Pappa Kevin is driving up the Alaska highway with him, in the middle of January. Please send prayers their way as they start their drive tomorrow morning.

We had dinner & dessert at Kenton's grandparents' house with the family before saying good bye.

Fun with Nana Lee (Finn's great-grandmother)

Checking out the digital picture frame.

What a world Finn is growing up into. He already knows how to turn things on with remote controls, how to open the disc drive on our computer, how to turn the volume up on our receiver...and he will only learn more from here.

games with friends

On Saturday evening, Stu & Jacque (Katrina's co-worker) came over for dinner & to play games. Jacque & I made "homemade" pizzas (on Boboli crusts) while the guys played Halo. :) But after dinner we all played Carcassonne. We joked that we lost our other Carcassonne-playing friends to the Peace Corps (thanks a lot, Carolyn & Jesse :) ) but that it was fun to play again. We also bought this game for Kenton's grandparents for Christmas, so we need to play with them soon, too! Stu & Jacque are good sports to play with us nerds & we had a lot of fun. In between games, Jacque & I made chocolate chip cookies while the guys played more Halo. :)

This is our what our 2nd game looked like at the end. Do you get it? ;)

We've enjoyed spending time with Stu & Jacque. Kenton & Stu both enjoy a lot of the same games...& Jacque & I both really love the color green! :) We have other things in common, but that definitely was one of the first things that we noticed about each other. Ironically, neither one of us is wearing our signature color in these photos. What is wrong with us?! (I actually got mistaken for a Target employee earlier that day due to my red-ish shirt.) :P

In other news, welcome baby Rooke! My friend from high school, Angela, & her husband Ryan welcomed their sweet baby boy into the world very early, Friday morning. Check out their blog for pictures of their son. Congratulations Ryan & Angela! We can't wait to meet Rooke! Finn's ready to play! :)

in honor of the big move

Tonight, we went to Abby's Pizza for the anniversary of my parents' big move from California to Oregon 32 years ago (I think). When they reached their destination (Winston, Oregon), they ate at Abby's & we gather there at least once a year in honor of that move. Anyway, in all then years that we've gathered at Abby's, I don't think we've ever had a balloon sculptor visit out table. The kids were definitely excited & they enjoyed their balloon creations. Tyler's was a sword, Sadie's was a pink kitty & Cohen's was a blue dog.

Our balloon sculptor, making Ronan's motorcycle!
(Taken simultaneously with my mom's camera flash.)

Finn LOVED his lion!

So cool.

Griffin's was a teddy bear.

After we ate dinner, the kids & dads played in the little arcade.
I had fun taking pictures with the different lighting that came from each game. :)

Sadie tried & tried to get this ball out of one of those "claw" machines. Aaron even gave it a shot. In the end, a nice lady who knew the trick gave this one to Sadie. It made her night.

inspired

1. LYCEE, 2. IL TRONO DEL RE DI QUADRI - FRAMED FRAMES, 3. Saturday Light, 4. old oil brushes, 5. 035 : 365 dec 28 pause., 6. candyland tray, 7. Bamboo Lanterns, 8. bidon, 9. ...of yellows & greys;-), 10. He says his nose feels stuffy., 11. re-purposed sweater sleeves for certain, 12. books i read in 2007, 13. destined for applesauce, 14. 1º Pôr do Sol de 2008, 15. day 42 : 365 jan 4 • lamp bokeh, 16. locked


Playing around with Flickr & Mosaic Maker. How time flies when you're wasting time on the computer. :\ At least I am looking at pretty pictures & feeling inspired to take more photos of life...and not just photos of Finn. I'm not lacking in that department. :)

I've been wanting to make a mosaic of my favorite photos (that other people have shared on Flickr) for awhile, since seeing it done on Ali's blog. She is constantly sharing great ideas!

new hair

I decided to go short again. Having fun with my new hair. Thanks Mom! :)

Wanna see more photos? I added a new album of photos from our trip to the snow. There were more pictures that I needed to share. :) Plus, I added some more photos to the "my creations" album - mostly holiday projects.

play date

This morning, Finley got to play with his new buddy, Nathan (& we got to chat with Nathan's parents, Paul & Sheila.) Finn hasn't really been around any kids that are littler than him, so it was cute to see his interactions with Nathan, who is about 4 months old.

Eye to eye

Nose to nose

Lips to lips?!
That's right...they gave each other a little kiss - very sweet.

And a little cuddle before saying bye.

Finn was curious about Nathan as soon as Paul & Sheila arrived. Right away, he walked to Nathan's car seat & started "talking" to him...or about him? (We're still learning Finn's language) We had to keep reminding/teaching him to be gentle - he wanted to touch every part of his little face.

It was fun for us to see Finn with the little guy & fun for us to remember what Finn was like when he was that young. It's amazing how much he's changed in the last year. We were so glad to get a chance to visit with our friends before they head back to Missouri. Thanks for a fun morning, Paul, Sheila & Nathan! :)

Finn likes shoes.

Pay no attention to the messy closet in the background...

Finn brings me shoes (sometimes his, sometimes mine...rarely daddy's cause they're kinda big) & sits down so that I can help him put them on. He even tries to take steps in some of my shoes. Very cute. I had to put a bunch of shoes that he'd outgrown away because he always wanted to put them on. Now he has a couple of pairs that fit well & he likes to wear them. :)

finding snow...

Ooooh, snow! We had a great plan of taking Kenton's family to see snow! They moved here from Alaska & it's been weird for them to be without snow at Christmas time. We drove to Mt. June, where we've been in the past to go sledding. We drove up & up the mountain & we didn't see any snow. Such a let down. It really seemed like we were going to strike out. We stopped to talk with Kenton & Brian (they were in a second car) to decide where to go next & decided to go up a little farther. We drove around the next corner & found SNOW!

Yay! Wet, melty snow...but snow. Enough to show Finn & see his cute reactions. He definitely was interested & seemed to enjoy himself. We was bundled in many layer & stayed warm. It was a quick trip & we only stayed long enough to get chilly, but it was fun!

Fun at first...then a little scary, but Daddy kept him safe.

We were so glad that he was excited to see snow.

Snow on my lens; cute boy on the saucer.

My 2 favorite boys

Outi & the boys
(Kevin, Finn, Kenton & Brian)

Yay!

new year's eve.

2008?! Weird! We celebrated at Jon & Amy's house. Kenton's grandparents stayed at our house while Finn slept so that we could go out. It was really nice to be able to let him sleep in his own bed & know that he was safe with family. We rocked out on Rockband for awhile...it wouldn't be a party without a little bit of Rock! Amy's sister, Erin even joined us for a few songs. Then we played Outburst, from the '80's...it was hard, but the girls won, cause we're that cool! It helped that 2 of our categories were "Hair Equipment" & "Types of Sweaters." "Brands of Soda" helped us out too...but we're cool anyway. :)

Rocking out...I think.

Amy & Jon

Kenton & Katrina

Happy New Year 2008!