Outside

We are outside these days as much as the weather, our schedules and the pollen will allow.

I just overheard Finn mumbling to hself while hosing off an old plastic fisher price toy: "why are all of these crappy cars made in China?!" lol. Even when he's been awake for what seems like 72 straight hours, he's still hilarious.

Mothers Day Tea

Finn's school invited all of the moms for tea yesterday and it was SO cute. They greeted us, served tea and snacks, sang songs and gave us each a necklace. His school is definitely one of the bonuses of living here. We are very lucky.

Kentucky Derby

Tess is ready for the party.

outtakes

Last weekend, our friend and photographer Brie Homer opened a new studio in Sayre, PA and did some quick "mini sessions" with Finn (Tess was home sleeping). I'm looking forward to booking a whole session with her for both kids soon, because I think these turned out so well! Finn was very much in the mood to play along.

I was also wondering if when we're in Nebraska this summer, if we could get some photos of all of the cousins and extended cousins if enough of us are there at the same time?? Trip is not yet booked...

Birthday Party!

We celebrated Baby Boo's 2nd birthday on Sunday in Mimi's fabulous newly renovated kitchen/family room! It was wonderful. The actual day is this Thursday the 26th so we'll probably have another much-less-fancy cake and a few more photos by the end of this week.

Party dress! (from Aunt Katy last year!)

Aunt Red and Little Red

Ready for her cupcake. Ready now.

Finn and Ella waiting so very patiently.

A huff and a puff...

"I did it!"

Such focus!

MMMMM fairy princess cupcake.

This is the "set on table to eat frosting" maneuver.

Blessed with so many lovely things!

Mimi & Papa gave her a new doll baby.

Her name is "Priscilla." (lol)

Love this pic of her face. 

But of course...

(This morning.)
Me: Tess, that's such a nice drawing!
Tess: (somewhat indignantly) It's art.

Finn has been asleep in bed since 4 pm. Surely this will result in all of us getting a fabulous night of sleep, but if not I'll post some great pics from yesterday's birthday celebration...

Invitation

This arrived in the mail today, my invitation to the Mothers Day tea at school. It's a very hot ticket :)

We're celebrating Tess's birthday tomorrow ... 2!!

Happy Easter!

We have had a lovely Easter Sunday. Wishing you all the same!

Tess was *so* happy to find Angelina Ballerina in her basket!

Tess the Bunny with Papa.

All dressed up.

Tess's coat is a "Mimi original." SO cute!

Impromptu egg hunt

Finn loves his new truck. It's a feller buncher!

John Deere recently started manufacturing them just for Finn.

Fascinated!

Tess at Sciencenter

She's thinking, this vacuum is so cool! We need one! (kidding... I do actually vacuum on occasion.)

Ithaca sciencenter

We went to Ithaca today got the annual opening of their incredible farmers market. We're fortunate to have access to a lot of great local produce and bread and meat and herbs. In exchange did suffering through my oohing and ahhing the kids shared a giant scone then we spent a couple of hours across the street at this terrific science museum. Here's Finn on the triceratops. He is entering the dinosaur phase, although trucks still rule.

6:45 a.m., 29 degrees.

We wake up to his whining, "I need to play sand table!"... so we relent, and wonder how long he will last out there.

first day of spring

I haven't posted in a while so thought this video might be worth sharing. A few things to note:

- this sand table is worth its weight in gold.
- I love how Tess repeats basically whatever Finn says.
- her face when I say, "look at me" is so funny.
- he is so intent on his project - building a water system.

Enjoy! We're awaiting the return of warm up here now.

weird weather

I like to know what the weather is like in Nebraska and Miami so this is the home screen when I check weather.com. I'm guessing this is the only March ever where the temperatures have been perfect in all three places. Gotta love global warming.

more things they say

We talk a lot about food around here, and where it comes from. Maybe too much.

At the store today:
Me: We need to get some bread and honey at Minier's.
Tess: Get local bread.
Me: Yes, we'll get local bread. Here it is.
Tess: Local honey. I want local honey.
Me: Uh... sounds good.

The other funny thing that happens often is when Andrew sings to the kids, in particular this song that goes, "Bluebird, bluebird, fly through my window..."
Andrew: Bluebird, bluebird--
Finn: Sing "Cardinal, cardinal."
Tess: Yeah, sing "Cardinal."
Andrew: Ok. "Cardinal, cardinal, fly through my window..."
Finn: Sing "Bulldozer fly through my window."
Tess: Sing "BACKHOE!"

Rocking chair

Tess loves this rocking chair, which happens to be my mom's when she was little (thanks to Aunt Judy for keeping it until this summer when we were finally able to bring it back!) She watches Caillou from this spot daily. (when exactly does the Caillou phase END?) anyway, she's a little grumpy today so a long nap is imminent, especially since Dad and Finn are out at tractor supply.

curtiss museum

While I was away, Andrew and Mimi took Finn to the Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport (recently voted  America's Coolest Small Town by Budget Travel - and it really is lovely). The museum has a lot of cool old airplanes and equipment so he - obviously - really enjoys it there. I can't get over how much bigger he looks in these photos than he did a year ago.

This morning it was 60 degrees and his teacher told me they were on a long nature walk. While all of the other kids were looking for leaves and pinecones, Finn was "excavating." For an hour. As well as telling her how we were going to "blow out a wall and expand the kitchen" at home ... hmm. I wonder where he gets these ideas?!

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!