bubble berets

Andrew took these pics a couple of weeks ago. Their expressions and little round cheeks crack me up.

A March unlike any other! We'll take it...

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Quiz

Do you know what this is?

Ding ding ding! If you guessed FELLER BUNCHER*, you are indeed correct. Good job and thanks for playing at home!

*Until a few months ago, we did not know that such a thing existed either.

a nice little tea party

We have been a bad bloggers this month! Between a trip to Maui with friends (long trip, good time, took a while to recover) and now two weeks of sick on-and-off kids, not to mention work and oh, also the fact that we haven't done very much fun stuff due to the aforementioned sniffles ... well, there's our excuse. But last week before the ton of bricks hit poor Tess, she had a tea party with her best friend Caroline, and it was adorable. 

funny/ew

Tess: Mommy, I have a boogie.
(I grab a kleenex and turn around 2 seconds later.)
Me: Where is it?
Tess: I ate it.
Finn (walking away, says over his shoulder): I teached her that.

T sings at lunch

Apologies that the quality isn't a bit better but I wanted to capture her songs and the only available camera was on my phone!

Ok, so it's 55 degrees ... Now what?

Church or hockey tryouts?

Finn has entered the self-dressing phase. This morning he showed up downstairs in 3 long-sleeved shirts, shorts and striped socks. He looks like he's going to try out for the Sabres. At least he is interested in clothes. (we did negotiate a change of outfit by the way.)

Tess's new thing is to put on a scarf and say "I have a meeting!" ... Not surprising after all of the meetings I had this week. She's sitting next to me wearing an improvised scarf made of cheesecloth.

Pink Piano

Aunt Judy, this one's for you!

Friends

This is a photo I love of T and her friend Caroline. Love them.

I really wanted to mention that Finn had an eye checkup this week as he has been squinting when he points on occasion. Worry not for he is fine and he was SUCH a trip during the checkup. He told the ophthalmologist that it's not nice to shine a flashlight in someone's eye, which cracked the nurse up. In any case the diagnosis is 20-20 vision and a growing boy who is figuring out how to focus.

pillow pet

With kitty cat pillow pet

Because the prospect of muddling through our holiday photos remains too daunting a prospect for my feeble mind, here's another quick post.

One of my friends mentioned a few days ago that our kids look "vintage" - which is about the most fitting description of them I've ever heard. To the point that when I look at Tess sometimes it's like looking at an old-fashioned postcard. She's still a really sweet little girl, if not a bit bossy ("sit DOWN!" etc.) Lately she's been picking up on anything she hears from her brother or the rest of us. I believe that little kids fall into one of two groups - early talkers or early walkers. F&T were both staunch members of the first camp, both speaking in complete sentences well before their 18-month checkups. Last night she woke up at 10 after being asleep for a few hours and when I walked in she was sitting up her crib, and said, "Hi, Mom." I picked her up and she said, "Rock a bye baby." So we rocked for a while and then she said, "Back to bed now." I laid her down, told her I loved her and she said, "I love you, Mom. Don't let the bed bugs bite." Verbatim. Now if I could only get her to keep saying   Mommy ... it's too soon for MOM!

budding artist

Finn loves art. Can't get enough of it. Luckily, on Wednesdays when I work a full day, Mimi picks him up and always has a fun project to do while she's here. Last week they did some watercolor painting which turned out beautifully. We have to get organized and get some of this art up on the walls!

Andrew took these photos last week. I love the concentration.

First snow day

We're getting a good little snowfall this morning but it's still warm enough to play outside so we bundled up and set out. Finn was already outside but Tess stopped for a quick pose. She insisted on wearing Finn's bofonda (sp?), the scarf his Spanish teacher gave for Christmas. Btw Tess lasted all of six minutes before coming back in.

Sequined hats are all the rage

Toolbox

I'm testing out my new iPhone with a pic of Finn and his new toolbox! Am I now going to be the worlds most annoying blogging mom?

Not a Box

One of Finn's favorite toddler books was called "Not a Box" - such a good one. Today, another reminder that rather than spending lots of money on a few gifts it's a better value to buy one huge thing that comes in a huge, super-fun box. Or a not-a-box, if you will.

They are busy installing the radiant floor in their new apartment.

Happy new year!

up on the housetop

I've been busy customizing the verses of this song to sing at bedtime. Here's how it goes.

Me: First comes the stocking of little Tess, O Dear Santa she's the best (girl)
Fill it with rabbits and kitty cats, and a little pink striped hat.
Tess: Stocking, Mama. Again.
[repeat 4 to 10 times.]

* * * * *
Me: Next comes the stocking of Mr. Finn, O Dear Santa, fill it in,
Fill it with trucks and a tool set, and a penguin pillow pet.
Finn: And a feller buncher.
Me: And a fell-er bunch-
Finn: And a fire truck. And other kinds of trucks.

Only two days til Christmas. I think we're gonna make it.

pageantry

Last night was the Waverly Presbyterian Church 90th Annual Holiday Pageant. As Andrew noted in the haircut post, Finn was the next in a long line of Barbers to participate as a page. His role was to walk up to the stage with one of the three kings and present a gift to Jesus, then they all sang "Away in the Manger" and he had practiced the words so that he was able to sing along. It was very sweet and we were so proud of him. Also proof that I'll be a basket case stage mom.

So adorable in his page costume, which Mimi

originally made for Aunt Heather back in the day!

I mean really, the cutest costume EVER. 

Way to go, Finn!!

First Haircut

With the holidays here we decided that it was finally time for Finn's first haircut. He will be appearing in the Waverly Presbyterian Church's pageant tomorrow as a page (the fourth generation Barber to do so --Papa played the same role in 1954 or thereabouts) and there will be many, many other photo ops throughout the season so we wanted his hair to look a little bit neater.

The whole family took a trip to the barber that Daddy goes to (and where Finn has been many times before while Daddy gets his hair cut). Mommy was a bit overwhelmed by the rows of mounted deer skulls with trophy racks, hunting/gun magazines, turkey calls etc. but was quickly put at ease by the friendly atmosphere (note that Finn is draped in a camouflage sheet while getting his haircut).

Finn was initially a bit skeptical (as you can see in the first photo) and never got comfortable with scissors near his ears and neck (which is hilarious when you consider the reckless abandon with which he attempts to play with Papa's power tools, tractors and just about anything else that can cause bodily harm) but he sat still long enough to get the job done.

cheese!

This is the new smile I use in ALL of my photographs! Isn't it pretty?

Dentist!

Today was Finn's first dental check-up. It was such a trip, but I'm still not sure why they charge twice as much as the grown-up dentist... Although he "sure had fun having his teeth checked" so I guess there's your answer.

santa hats

If you've received a holiday card from us in the past three years, I hope you've enjoyed the adorable photos of our kids because this year it's not looking very promising. Mimi knitted these hats for the kids and I tried to get a photo of them - maybe for a card? maybe not? - to no avail.

Such a helpful brother.

Sweet elf.

I call this the "oy vey"/"smirkarama" shot

From the looks of things you all might have to settle for a New Years card, 

or perhaps a simple Easter greeting!

intrepid playground explorers

We went to a playground last weekend that had really cool playground equipment, if it was 1984, but anyway it was a nice day out and we made the most of it. In particular, the kids really seemed to enjoy this rather scary tunnel that (while not entirely appropriate for play) made for some cool photos.

serious Granddad resemblance

I've got this!

Scary tunnel

Get me out.

Tess sings

And to think that I had only heard her sing up to "G" ... until tonight!

relaxing in the morning

Watching "Rio" ... glued.

Oh look, a camera! (note matching jams)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're blowing off some steam at the park before naps and cooking commence! Love to our friends and family today, we're thankful for all of you.

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names

Andrew: Finn, what's my name?
Finn: Dale Robert Barber.
A: That's Papa's name. What's my name?
F: Andrew Dale Barber.
A: Right. And what is Mommy's name?
F: I forgot.
Nico: It starts with an N. N-n-n-n...
F: N-n-n-ninny.
N: Well, ok then.

N: Your name is Tess Abigail Barber! Can you say that?
T: Tess Abracadabra. Abby Cadabby.

Caillou brings everyone closer.

Good thing I have a book in the car.

Nothing beats a driveway nap. Except maybe a map in an actual bed, haha. Zzzzzz...

music

Like a lot of families, we're really into music. We sing in the morning, we dance in the afternoon, we play instruments after dinner, we groove in the car. I'm trying to keep from having to listen to too much kids music (although with that being said, there's some really good kids music out there.) But right now in our car, the #1 rated CD is the soundtrack to The Sound of Music.

Finn was initially obsessed with "My Favorite Things" - which you may recall from a few months ago - next, he was on a "Lonely Goatherd" kick, which has recently evolved into a preference for "Maria." Although raise your hands if you've ever started your car and preschooler in the backseat has chirped, "Sixteen Going on Seventeen, please." He asks for those two songs all the time and Tess does too - although she also refers to "Maria" as "Lamb Song" or "Abbey Song" (which only makes sense if you know the lyrics. Suffice to say... I know the lyrics.) Last week I was trying to skip through some songs to get to the end, being rather sick of the whole CD, and I stumbled upon the organ-heavy version of "Maria" that accompanies her walk down the aisle. Finn literally gasped and said, "THIS IS EXACTLY THE SONG I WANT TO HEAR" so I explained that this is the wedding song in the movie, blah blah blah, and when he realized it was a churchier version of "Maria" he almost lost it with excitement.

So I guess it's time to introduce them to the movie, which I'm actually VERY excited about. It's also time to find some new music for the car!

the lion and the bee

I'll never forget the time leading up to Finn's first Halloween when he was about two months old and I was still so tired and I don't know - sometime earlier in October - some of my friends like Val and Sue and Marna started asking what Finn was wearing for trick or treating and I remember clear as day saying - mehh, I don't think we're going to do that. He's so small. And the uproar was so very loud ("You have to dress up the BABY." "Babies in costumes are SO CUTE!") that I relented and stuffed him into a penguin outfit and it was super adorable but it is possible that he has not yet forgiven us (Val, Sue, Marna - you were correct, so no hard feelings).

Fast forward to this year when we started planning outfits a couple of weeks ago - thank god there's no dressing-up situation at school and we only had to worry about the evening of, which was pretty brief. In the past week, Finn has told people who have been asking about his costume that he was going to be either a fish, seahorse, lion, cheetah, or a dragon. Depending on the day. So thank god my friend Stephanie who lives up the hill had a lion costume in just his size that he fell in love with on sight. And also thank god I picked up this little bee outfit at TJ Maxx a few weeks before which suited Tess just fine. We went to a few of our neighbors' houses, saw the decorations in the neighborhood and then came home and it was all peachy... and I'm glad Halloween is a year away.