Helaina updates

Helaina got her first tooth on New Year's. Shortly before nine months she started with an army crawl and about one and a half months later she has mastered the crawl. She is quite speedy with the crawling and is constantly making a bee-line for the cat water bowl. She is also pulling up to a stand and starting to cruise along the furniture. Much to Finn's dismay, she prefers Finn's toys over her own and she has earned the nickname Hurricane Helaina as she frequently plows through the middle of his toys. Her favorite pastime is tubby time. I think that is when we get the most smiles and giggles from her. She loves splashing and has no fear in getting her face wet. We also see her biggest tantrums when trying to get her out of the tubby.

New Year 2012

We rang in the New Year with a trip to visit family in South Dakota to visit family. Finn and Helaina especially loved time with their cousins and meeting new baby Beau.
Here are a few pics from the trip.

Christmas 2011

We enjoyed a quiet Christmas at home this year.
Christmas morning starting early!

Finn spies Santa's tracks.

Helaina did a great job tearing paper...we just had to make sure it didn't go in her mouth after.

Santa came through and brought Finn the requested combine.

Helaina and Laura

Grandma Patty came for a Christmas visit.

Our first Christmas as a family of four.

Disneyland - December 2011

I have once again been negligent of updating the blog and am planning a mass update now...we will start back in December 2011. We had our first big trip as a family of four to Anaheim,CA. I had a conference that I attended there, which was a good excuse to give Finn and Helaina their first exposure to the magic of Disney! We had a great time and all in all had two really great travelers with us. We spend 3 days at the two Disney Parks and really enjoyed it. It was fun to see everything all decked out with Christmas decorations, especially at night.

Helaina poolside

Finn and Chris enjoying the Christmas parade

Finn got a thumbs up from Buzz, definitely a highlight of his trip!

Finn also LOVED the firetruck in Toon Town

Buzz light year ride

It's a small world lit up at night...very cool!

The family in front of the gigantic Christmas Tree

Finn gets to meet Lighting McQueen

Nighttime ferris wheel with reflection in water

Up at the top of the ferris wheel

Toy Story army guys



We have become fans of the magic of Disney and hope to plan a visit to Disneyworld soon!

More Finnisms...

Recent Finn quotes that made us smile...

"maybe if people at dragon meat they would be powerful too"

One day I grabbed Finn and hugged him and told him I was squeezing all the naughty out and he giggled and smiled at me and said "you just squeezed all the nice out"

I told Finn that I loved him and he said "awww mom, that's sweet"

Finn came out of his room after being put to bed and tells me..."mom, I just can't sleep"...why Finn..."Piggy is talking and won't let me sleep...mom, tell piggy the three steps"...me - ok, piggy, look Finn in the eyes, say you're sorry, then Finn in his piggy voice says "I'm sorry"...me - and ask for forgiveness...again in the piggy voice "please forgive me"

We were at the hospital pharmacy and Finn asks "what kind of place is this mom, like an office?" I tell him that this is the hospital where he was born. He says, "oh, this is where you came to buy me?"

Polar Express

2011, the year Finn took to Christmas. I would guess in most children the age of three brings about a string of years in which Christmas is pretty darn fun for most parents. The local paper published the listing of Christmas themed shows and most every night if supper and baths went well we had a choice of old favorites to watch with Finn.


We went to Green Bay to ride the Polar Express. Like our summer visit to see Thomas the Tank Engine, this was hosted by the National Railroad Museum.


Though much less popular than Thomas, the lack of popularity meant better parking. We rode 3 laps around the rail, two too many times by some accounts, and then waited in line for Santa.


Our previous excursions to see Santa with Finn have all resulted in quickly snapped awkward photos of a Santa trying to hold a horrified, crying Finn. The poor kid. I thought with certainty we would get the same result here. However, once at the point of being next in line we told Finn that Helaina would probably be a little scared to meet Santa and could he be brave and help his sister. With a deep breath and a stern mouth Finn marched up to Santa and sat on one side while Helaina was put on Santa's left knee and for the first time ever Finn told Santa what he wanted for Christmas. A Diesel Ten (A Thomas character) and a combine. No one cried and we couldn't have been more proud.

Finnisms

When asked to go get something for me, Finn responds "on it" and takes off running.

Finn informed me tonight that he couldn't sleep because piggy (his stuffed animal) was talking to him. He then proceeded to have a talk with piggy explaining to piggy that he needed to be quiet so he could sleep.

He will frequently comment..."that's odd"

"Daddy, let's get our play on"

"Dad, I have great eyesight, I must be a tyranosaurus rex or something"

"Let's stop to think"