Birthday Truck Load

Finn turned two on August 18th and has had a delightful birthday week. The weekend prior to his birthday he enjoyed a visit from Grandpa Ken and Nana Terri. We spent time at home playing trucks with them and reading books as well as a trip to the zoo. Finn also "helped" Grandpa Ken and Daddy work on a house project which to Finn's delight involved ladders and tape measures.





Finn had a birthday present one day early...his new baby cousin Lilah Louise Beall, who Finn fondly refers to as "Lilah Lou"

On his birthday Finn and Mommy went to the park in the morning and to the pool in the afternoon. The day was topped off with cake and presents in the evening once Daddy got home from work. Finn really dug into his mini birthday cake this year. Finn is also the proud new owner of a tricycle and a scooter (as well as a Thomas the train helmet of course). Finn also spent the majority of the day wearing a birthday crown made for him at his daycare.




At the end of his birthday week, his Aunt Ann, Uncle Devon and cousins Van and Penn came for a visit. Finn loved time with his cousins and overall they played quite well together...I think this spells trouble for the future!! :)






Finn ended his birthday week with a big party at our home with several of his friends. The kids had a great time in the kiddie pools and bouncy house. We think Finn did love his truck birthday cake despite the tears as everyone was singing happy birthday to him. Once all eyes were off him he slowly warmed up to the truck cake and began scooping frosting off with his fingers. Finn hosted a "truck trade" as well where his friends all brought a truck and went home with a different truck. Finn now has more trucks than he knows what to do with and is loving it!





Over all I think his two year birthday was a success...here's to another great year!

Late this summer we were able to visit with Uncle Edy and family as well as Aunt Sophi and family and Gran Patty. We had a great time at Backbone State Park despite the crazy floods they were recovering from at the time of our visit.
Here are some pics...

a fierce game of bad mitten

Uncle Edy cookin' up some southern jambalaya

Cousins Kaiser, Quentin, Faythe, Macy and Finn

the whole clan

kids are funny...

Finn's speech has been exploding. He is speaking in 3+ word sentences at times and although we can't make 100% of it out we generally get the point.
Finn has been on the recieving end of bites at daycare and we have talked about biting being "not nice" and "naughty" and Finn tells us the Sydney got a time out for biting. Finn has also been a target for mosquitos this summer. He has now told us on a couple occassions, "no bite squitos, time out"! It is funny how he puts things together.
Finn also loves "tubby time" and also loves bolting from the bathroom after and running naked around the house yelling "stweeaaker"!
Finn has recently enjoyed time back in Iowa visiting grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. He loves the farm and talks frequently about cows and tractors. We have also been doing some web cam talks with Uncle Joe in Korea and cousins Van and Penn in South Dakota. This has been entertaining watching Finn try to figure out why these people are talking to him from the computer.
We are gearing up for Finn's 2nd birthday, which will be filled with trucks, tractors and diggers and perhaps even some choo choo trains.