Happy Birthday, Run!

I love the way you...

call me on your way home, carry Kleenex in your pocket just in case I have an allergy attack, laugh at the messes I make, entertain my home improvement projects, have grace on the months I blow our budget, forgive me when I forget to do something you ask, are always willing to put Finley to bed at night while I finish dinner, find importance in family pictures because you know they are important to me, spoil me with the best birthday and Christmas presents, call me Splenda, find me attractive no matter whether I am fixed up or not, give to others even when I'm hesitant, calm me down when I am fired up, say bedtime prayers with Finley and sing her "Jesus Loves Me", realize that some of my closest family members aren't blood related, feed the animals at night even though I've had all day to do so, believe that no one is manipulative even though it often drives me crazy!, wonder what I was like when I was Finley's age, clean the kitchen each night after I cook, curl up on the couch with me to watch T.V., try to hug me first even though Finley bombards you as soon as you come in the door, force me to take medicine even when I don't want to, celebrate my latest craft project, read this blog even though you still don't get the "blog world", are always ready to go to church on Sunday morning, have more patience than I could ever dream of, would rather do something for me than for yourself, love on our children, consult me before committing us to someone else's plans, never let weather interfere with watching the Cowboys, use the best Grover voice when reading the Sesame Street books to Finley, are such a perfectionist when it comes to hanging anything on the wall despite the fact that I am the perfectionist in every other area of our lives, take the vacuum up and down the stairs so I don't have to carry it, tackle the mail pile on the kitchen island because you can't take it anymore, can fix anything and find the time to do so, get up early and get to work so that you can hopefully come home earlier to spend time with us, make us breakfast on the weekends, so different from me and yet so much the same, still hold my hand when we're in public...

Plain and simple
I love the way you love me.

Birthday Week

I seem to be going backward in time in my attempt to catch up on the last month!  Since we had Finley's birthday party before her actual birthday, I was able to really relax and enjoy spending Birthday Week with my girl.  Each day, we did something special or a little out of the normal and it was so fun!  I love Birthday Weeks!

Monday:
Finley's school called because they were afraid she had pink eye so I picked her up early.  Fortunately, she didn't have pink eye, but she did have some sort of eye infection so we went out for icecream!  I love Baskin Robbins, but rarely go there for some reason.  Anyway, Finley and I split a scoop and it was a great way to begin our week!

Tuesday:
The weather was rainy so instead of playing outside, we went to the indoor play area at the mall.  Finley loves it and we had several playdates there this summer when it was super-hot.  Of course, we had just gotten there and they decided to close it in order to clean it.  Finley wasn't too happy about getting back in the stroller, but we occupied ourselves while they cleaned and then headed back to play.

Wednesday:
After school, we went to our favorite park and played!  There were two kids from Finley's school there who are about a year older and she had so much fun copying them.  I love watching her interact with other kids.

Thursday:
The weather was beautiful so we went to the zoo.  I was so surprised at how much more Finley enjoyed the zoo this time versus the last time we went.  She loved the animals and knew a lot of their names.  I could tell she was just taking everything in and promised her we would go again soon.  Of course, her favorite part was the water feature they have.  She loved guessing where the water was going to shoot out from!

Friday:
It was raining again so we went to a cupcake place and split a cupcake.  YUMMY!  I'm still not keen on Finley having a lot of sweets and because of that, it is ever so much more fun to enjoy them with her from time-to-time!  She was the official greeter and greeted everyone as they came in the door.  I think the owners wanted to keep her!!!!!

We also went to Walkaround that night for Homecoming.  We had debated about going since it had rained most of the day, but it ended up being a such a fun night!  Walkaround has always been a favorite event of mine so I would have hated to miss it.  Finley had an absolute BLAST.  I think she's going to be a huge Cowboys fan like her mom and dad!

Saturday:
Finley's actual birthday!!!!  We drove to Stillwater and took pictures on campus.  The sky was overcast which I thought would be perfect for pictures, but I had trouble shooting in manual and when I shot in automatic, Finley was overexposed.  I am really disappointed that more pictures didn't turn out.

After pictures, we went to Aunt Beth's and Uncle Kenny's to hang out and eat lunch.  Finley was super-tired so we decided to wait until after the game to do her birthday party.  An old friend of mine and Beth's came over and watched Finley while we were at the game and fortunately, Finley did great while we were gone!

Once the game was over, we picked Finley up and met Beth and Kenny for dinner.  We had a lot of fun and Finley was pretty well-behaved since she had her favorite people to entertain her.  After dinner, we went back to Beth and Kenny's where we sang Happy Birthday and ate cupcakes.

They got her the coolest present.  It's a recordable book so now she can listen to Aunt Beth and Uncle Kenny read her a book anytime she wants!!!!!!!  They also bought her a new Elmo video and I don't know who is happier me or Finley!  I'm so thankful to have something new to watch. ;)

I still can't believe Finley is actually 2!!!!!  What an amazing two years it has been!  I just love watching her grow up and can't wait to see where she is in another 2!

LbC: Week 24

Little Baby C {LbC} Pregnancy: Inch by Inch from 4 to 40 {weeks}

Trimester: 2

How far along: 24 weeks

Size of baby: An ear of corn (20 ounces and 12 inches long)

What is going on with baby: brain developing more and more and his tastebuds are too!

Total weight gain: +8!!!! (Just like with Finley, I seem to maintain for weeks and then gain several pounds all at once!  People are actually noticing I'm pregnant now!  HOORAY!)

Maternity clothes: I've pulled out a few things, but most are still too big.  My regular shirts are fitting so well and I'm frustrated with trying to get dressed since I'm in between regular and maternity! =)

Gender: It's a boy!

Movement: I am feeling him at more random times and can tell that he is getting stronger!

Food cravings: Lots of candy... probably from all of the leftover Halloween candy we had!

Symptoms: I still feel pretty good!

Sleep: Pretty good!

Best Moment This Week: My doctor's appointment... hearing the heartbeat and finding out that I'm still measuring perfectly!  It's always a relief to hear that!

Looking Forward To: Being able to actually focus on all things LbC... it has been a crazy October!

My Prayer This Week:

Dear Lord,

It's amazing how You think of everything. You've placed each part where it should be. I pray for good hearing and a good sense of direction for my baby. Please keep my baby's ears safe and help him not to get earaches, as many young children do.

Lord, please give my baby a good sense of balance in life. Let him know what is important and yet not go overboard or be obsessive. Give him the wisdom to know when to work, when to rest and when to play. Let him know that with a balanced Christian life, following Your ways, there is a time for everything.

Thank You, Lord, for this gift of life. Please also help me to balance my own life according to Your will. Help me to know when to rest and just leave the undone housework alone. Help me to know when to say no to requests from other people. Help me take time to pray and meditate on Your Word. Let me be a good role model of living a balanced Christian life.

And Jesus, please help me teach my children to be generous. It's hard sometimes in this society we live in, but You showed us examples all throughout the Bible on how we should give to others. Help me to be a good example.

In Messiah's name. Amen.

Chicken Little

Beth sent me this chicken costume idea last year and I fell in love with it!  I thought it was so cute and seemed like something I could make. So this year when I found out that Finley's school was going to have a Festifall program where all the kids dressed up, I immediately pulled this idea back out and got to work!

I really had my doubts on whether she would keep it on, but once it was on (which was a bit of a struggle), she was perfectly content to run around as if she had regular clothes on.  I was REALLY surprised that she was able to move in her shoes with the rubber gloves attached, but she did!  Of course, I MAY have had to use a little candy to help her into the costume each time, but in my opinion, it was WELL worth it. =)

Our little chicken was ADORABLE!

Festifall was a great time!  Finley loved all the kids and even though we let her try the bounce house, she wasn't too sure about it once she was actually in it.

The big kids bounced her out and she was fine with being done with it!  Ha, ha!  She was really too young for most of the games, but I think she'll enjoy them next year.

She did enjoy the Sweet Shop however! She had no problem partaking in it this year!

On Friday night, the costume went on again and we drove to Storybook Forest.  I had wanted to go last year, but we ran out of time.  This is BY FAR my new favorite family tradition.  It was so family friendly and so wholesome.

Finley enjoyed being on the loose as we meandered from one fairytale portrayal to another.  I can't wait until she is more familiar with the stories as it will be even more fun then.  When we got to the end of the forest, we went on a hayride and then decided to head home since our little chicken was getting tired.  I was disappointed that we couldn't stay for hot dogs, marshmallows, and stories by the campfire, but it was late and I knew we needed to get home.

By Saturday night, the costume was in rough shape.... notice how dirty the bottom of the gloves are! =)  The Storybook Forest had taken it's toll and the feathers now had twigs intwined and her chicken feet had been torn so we did a bit of patchwork and went to Devin's aunt's house and then to a couple of neighbors' houses who wanted to see Finley, but then we were done!

Just a few more of my favorite pictures of our chicken:

Notice the egg... it looks like she laid it! =)

In Action... She had no problems running around with these feet!

I love this one!  She has her candy wrapper in her hand as we had just gotten the costume on!

From the back!

It's November!!!!

It's FINALLY November!  My favorite month of the year!  I love this month.  There's so many things to love about it...

There's the fact that my sweetie-pie's birthday falls in this month, the fact that basketball season starts, the fact that there's a ton of really great football games played this month, the fact that the time changes and we actually gain an hour of sleep, the fact that the leaves are beautiful, the fact that Thanksgiving is this month, the fact that I can put my Christmas shopping into full gear, the fact that the weather is usually cool and crisp and not dreadfully cold, and well, a million more things that make it my favorite among favorites!

But this November is particularly special!  I had so many fun things going on in October that I forced myself to put off anything I could until November and one of the most important things that I have waited for is planning for LbC!!!!!  I knew that I would enjoy all of my projects more if I found the best time to work on them and that unfortunately included waiting to make big planning decisions for my little man.

Of course, even with my plan to wait, I couldn't resist starting a Baby Name list, picking out what will most likely be his bedding, buying him several outfits including what will most likely be his going home outfit, cleaning out his room (for the most part anyway), booking his newborn photo session, buying him a Christmas present, and choosing a theme for his first birthday party (and no, I'm not kidding!).

I am so excited to REALLY get started and make some important decisions that I haven't wanted to make until I could truly focus on him.  It's going to be a fun month for sure and I am just so in love with our little guy that I can hardly stand it!!!!!  February better come quickly!

She Left Proof-- November 2010

Some pictures of me and my girl on her 2nd Birthday aka Homecoming 2010!  She wasn't really in the mood for pictures, but I love these because they are just so "us" right now!

This is such a Finley face!  I think I look like a little kid here.

Can I photoshop out the United Way sign in the background? =)

Does this face say "I'm done!" or what???? =)  Note to self: take pictures with Finley at the beginning of the "photo shoot" and not the end!