Mama and Fin Sing

I've been singing Fin the song 'Beautiful Boy' by John Lennon almost every night since he was born. Two weeks ago he joined in and started singing with me. Melted my heart. Was able to catch him singing a few nights later; his little voice is so awesome!

Quick Pics!

Here is Nuggy at his birthday party. We had a delayed celebration and it was a blast. Beautiful weather, we played soccer, ate veggie chili and polenta. My mom's neighbor (who made our wedding cake) made Fin's birthday cake and it was AMAZING! Look at his face.

Trains! This kid is cuckoo for trains! Jeff's auntie Kit MADE this train set for him and he loves it. All day it's "choo-choo-choo'!  

Fintan in Boots.

RAWR! Another great Halloween costume from Auntie Mary!

Fin and Pip! 

My friend Deborah, a classmate from school, and her daughter came and trick-or-treated in our neighborhood! Fin LOVES Pip and followed her around as much has he could (until he was wiped out)! 

Rather than say trick-or-treat Fin walked up to all the doors and said "RAWR!" 

Playing Peek-a-boo!

Silly times Rockin' Mama's Swim Cap!

Love

Family Nap time!

Jeff and I went to a Gophers Game! They lost but we had a blast! Then that evening Jeff surprised me with tickets to "A Prairie Home Companion." I had SO much fun and actually cried as it started! That radio show defined so much of my childhood and adulthood-such a blast!

Fin and his new baseball hat and backpack (just like Mama)! 

Nuggy is 2!

The other day Elyse (Fin's new nanny) couldn't see him on the video monitor so went to check up on him. There he was all cozied up under his bed with all of his animals and blankets! Silly Nuggy.

Jeff and I went to a wedding last weekend-took a couple shots of us dressed up. The background with the changing leaves was too good to pass up.

Dinner time! The wedding was good and it was fun to be out and about together.

On Sunday Nuggy turned 2! We had a low-key day...well, I went and studied. But Grandma and Grandma Dahl came down and spent the day with Fin. We're going to celebrate his birthday next weekend when I'm done with finals (one week to go)!

Happy Birthday to Finny B. We love you more than we could have ever imagined. 

Singing Happy Birthday. Being a special day we offered him a bite of ice cream...wasn't interested at all!!! Ha! Pretty funny and awesome.

Last night at dinner. My boys. 

Finny B at the Zoo.

Nuggy and I got dressed up to go to a baseball game but we didn't make it on time! A pic of Nuggy in the Target Field Parking lot. 

Mama's First Day of School

Jeff played in a really cool golf tournament called "The Bobby" (after Bobby Jones) in Northfield, MN. He looked rather dapper!

Nuggy LOVES music class!

...and hockey.

Fin.

End of Summer!

I'm back in school again and thought I'd throw a few pics up from the summer. Nuggy is doing well, though a bit sick, but smiles through it. Joanna ended up having to stop working with us because her school schedule just couldn't work. We were bummed but have found a fantastic replacement. Elyse is getting her masters in neuroscience at the U, speaks Italian, and is a phenomenal cook! We can home to homemade lasagna yesterday...even the sauce was from scratch! So delicious! Fin loves her already and we're thrilled to welcome her to our pack!

We're doing well. Got another huge project done: dig up, weeded, tilled, composted, replanted, weedblocked, laid brick all around the house! It was SO much work but man, our house looks great. Plus, it was end of the year sales so we got crazy good deals! Jeff has a couple big tournaments coming up so he's working tons. School is really busy for me. Seeing Nuggy and Jeff a good amount and enjoying my classes. Here we go again!

Hello!

Nuggy still likes to be swaddled every once and while.

Three of Mama's favorite things: Nuggy, Tie-Dye, and a Stethoscope!

The cousins reading Fin a book before bedtime. We spent a couple weeks up north on Lake Vermilion; part with my mom and most at my dad's cabin. Fin was in total heaven! Cabin, outdoorsy, water kid. He also had so much fun seeing family and friends. Such a social kid. 

Cousins Kayden, Brady and Nuggy. They were PHENOMENAL with Nuggy and he LOVED them. It was so cute seeing them all together. Great older cousins. 

Fun

Helping Great-Grandma water the flowers. Always the helper!

Fin got to see his cousin Delia when we were north! Cute!

I quilted with Grandma. 

Lake Vermilion Sunrise. 

Lake Vermilion Sunset.

Nuggy enjoying lunch. 

He cried the entire way home from the cabin yelling for "Wah-Wah!" So we immediately stripped down and played in the sprinkler. He was happy again. 

Snapshots from Summer

At VillageFest! St Anthony has a petting zoo for the little ones. Fin loved it. 

There were tons of bouncy-blow-up play things too. Jeff was nervous but I said I thought Fin would shimmy right up this one...AND HE DID! The picture doesn't do the vertical any justice, nor the height. I went behind just in case he fell backwards. When we reached the top a 12 year old girl said, "Whoa. He climbs fast!" Haha. That Nuggy!

He wanted to rub his cheek on all the bunnies. 

Family

Checking out what the burro was doing! Got real close!

Petting said burro.

National Night Out was last week and there was a huge block party. Super fun! The St Anthony Fire Department came by and let all the kids climb in the truck and try on their gear. Fin LOVED it.

Fire-lady Kelly showing Fin some stuff in the truck. 

At the Children's Museum: I don't wanna work, I just want to bang on me drums all day.

Nuggy's hand, Nuggy's handprint, Mama's handprint.

Fin dressed up as a little beaver at the museum.

Giving Curious George a hug. 

On this particular day, Fin was giving Mama a run for her money. Testing, testing, testing. Then we went to return something at the Mall and the only thing open was Caribou so we shared yogurt and he was sweet as can be. That guy. 

We met up with my friend Deborah from school and her daughter Pip at Fin's favorite park. There they are running through the fountains. 

Jeff and I took on one of the last 4 big hours projects last weekend: taking down all the doors, sanding and painting them, removing all hardware and polishing it, painting the remaining trim. All in all, 14 doors total...YIKES! No wonder we waited, it was a beast of a job but the house looks SO great now! Fin the helper was of course doing so whenever possible. 

At the park the other day Fin stole a football from some older boys and they were very sweet about letting him play with it. Here's Dad tossing Fin the ball and railing him right in the head! HAAH! 

The little mister before bed the other night. Running around in his old man pjs. 

Once again, helping.

Wanting to get into garage to help more. 

Fin loves wearing my bike helmet!