and just like that...

...the ground was again covered with snow. This week the weather has finally really started to get to me, but Finn - thankfully - doesn't mind. This despite the fact that he's up every night for 1-2 hours coughing, but the pediatrician doesn't have a lot of great advice and we don't want to medicate him for something that will hopefully go away once it warms up a bit. In any case, he's spending a couple of days with his grandparents happily moving snow around with his (and Andrew's and Dale's) trusty trucks while Tess and I are home trying to get as much sleep as possible.

(Is that a new backhoe I spy?)

SPRING!

It's 40 degrees therefore we're at the Park! A little brisk but that's A-ok...

Tessie's first bow!

little irish

Same onesie, different baby:

March 2009

Finn, 7 months

March 2011

Tess, 11 months

It cracks me up how different they are - our sweet, solid boy and our equally sweet, but slightly less mellow, petite little girl. (When she's wearing a particularly cute outfit, Finn still calls her "Ma cherie Tess." Pam taught him that.)

They are currently resting up for our big night out - by which I mean, we're going out for a walk! In the sun! And maybe to eat some meat. I think Finn just woke her though, as his idea of Quiet Time means jumping in his crib, yelling at Ba to "MOVE THE MOBILE CRANE and get the skid steer out from down cellar." Yelling. Yeah, she's up.

One more thing - the other day I picked Finn up from school and his teacher was excited that he is starting to spell! He did a painting and she was labeling the colors and he said, "Blue, b-b-B! Red, rrrr-R!" It's such fun watching him learn new things literally every day - I can't believe he'll be THREE this summer.

playing together

Thank heaven the kids have started amusing each other.

The funniest person in the world is her brother.

And every morning he can hardly wait to see her.

On this day, however - all she really wanted was his tractor.

Finn loves this particular tractor because it has "duals."

"Maybe if I just grab it, he won't even notice."

"Unnh! I almost have it!"

"Oh well, this little plastic present is cool."

"I will get that tractor.

Did I mention that ALL of my top teeth are coming in?"

It's good that Tess is learning to stand up for herself.

In the end, I'm just happy that they love each other.

Boat

Finn drew this boat the other day without any help! I have to say, it looks pretty boat-like.

PS. Welcome to the new Wagoner baby Celia Grace! Shawna and Shawn we are excited to see photos of your baby girl.

When toddlers open netflix

Ash Wednesday

My friend Stephanie reminded me about 10 am kids mass this morning so Finn and I went and he was great - he even clapped after the song at communion and beamed at Fr. Lou after he blessed him. This kid, I tell you.

Having never been to mass on Ash Weds with kids I didn't know about the stickers they give the little ones (instead of ashes) so this is probably a common occurrence - it's very sweet!

Grizzly

Finn and I took a little road trip with Papa today and stopped at a mega-huge tool store called Grizzly on the way. Finn loves it and knows what most of the tools are... I meanwhile am (cluelessly) wandering behind at a safe distance looking for an employee who might direct us to the nearest DQ!