Category Archives: holiday

June 21, 2015

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This silly boy loves to run through the house with his broom singing Frosty the Snowman – even in June! He absolutely loves to “help” clean the floor. When we use our floor duster he likes to use his broom. Such a big helper. And did I mention he likes to do most all things by him “self” too?

It has been a week filled with sadness in our home, but also a time that has filled our heart with warmth at the family and friends who are a part of our lives and surround us in the good times and the bad. The Manning’s brought a delicious dinner to us on Friday and we enjoyed their company. Finn loved having fun and playing with all of the girls and at the end we decided to head to Graeter’s for more ice cream. Finn has developed a bit of a shyness and it was so fun to see him just go off with the girls and head into the grass to catch fireflies. He even talked to two other young girls he’d never met before who put fireflies on his arm and hands. IMG_20150619_083644614_HDR IMG_20150619_200510142 IMG_20150619_211318873Part of our night time routine is singing songs before bed. We usually sing 3 or 4, including Frosty the Snowman, Mr. Moon (a song I made up on the way home once when Finn was screaming and screaming, and it has become a regular now), Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Jesus Loves Me.  Finn knows many of the words to several of the songs. We often hear him singing in the morning when he wakes up. Here he is with a part of Jesus Loves me:

Last Fall in October Kevin heard about the Buckeye Country Superfest concerts that were going to take place at the ‘shoe (Ohio Stadium). It was a two-day fest, with big names in country music playing from 6-11pm both Saturday and Sunday nights. He bought tickets and also a sweet parking pass which allowed us to park right outside of Ohio Stadium. Jim and Pat had recently purchased an RV and they graciously offered it to us to use so we could hang out in the lot prior to the concerts each day.  Given the week we had, I wasn’t sure either of us were up for going as we really just wanted to be home together with Finn. But at Kevin’s urging, we decided to force ourselves to get out and have some fun.  The weather was great for both concerts despite the days filled with rain leading up to them. We had a fun time together enjoying some food, beverages, and listening to so many artists including David Nail, Keith Urban, Blake Shelton, Rascal Flatts, Kenny Chesney, Cole Swindell, Lee Brice, and Tyler Farr. We missed Cassadee Pope and Parmalee as we were hanging out in the parking lot during these openers, but we were ok with that ;).  Oh, and did I mention that during the Rascal Flatts performance (they are from OH) Urban Meyer came on stage with National Championship trophy. That was pretty cool to see. It was a really well organized event. IMG_20150620_165508401_HDR IMG_20150620_202442335IMG_20150620_202452237_HDR IMG_20150620_202549855_HDR IMG_20150620_203919038_HDR IMG_20150620_211854 IMG_20150621_175536908_HDR IMG_20150621_202330710_HDR IMG_20150621_220240451_HDR IMG_20150620_213918548_HDR 20150620_225104-1 IMG_20150620_225924047

Kevin was gracious enough to go to the marathon concert on Father’s Day!  We started the day with church and then home to open Father’s day gifts. Finn made his daddy a picture frame that he painted (with the help of Debbie, of course!) and filled it with a favorite picture of he and his dad. IMG_20150621_142438124

While we were all home together this week Finn and daddy made special pancakes one morning. He is quite the helper in the kitchen and particularly likes dumping and mixing. We also enjoyed lots of snuggles watching Sesame Street, Dino Train, and playing with puzzles. Finn is really good at putting his 2-piece dinosaur puzzles together all by himself. IMG_20150620_094927772_HDR IMG_20150620_094942035 IMG_20150620_095149703 IMG_20150620_100940532 IMG_20150620_100947960 IMG_20150620_103041803 IMG_20150620_105108208 IMG_20150620_105330911 IMG_20150620_110239628 IMG_20150620_115843558_HDR

May 31, 2015

DSC_0037It was really nice to have a long weekend! We began our Monday by making our 3rd annual trip to the Powell Memorial Day Parade. This year we got a nice spot on North Liberty Street. We took our wagon and chairs and had nice seats. Griffin got plenty of candy too – I think every person that walked by threw a handful at him!  He’s very cautious when going into the street to get the candy too.  And at the end the policeman got out of his cruiser and photo bombed us! Later that afternoon we spent some time in the backyard. Finn was feeling pretty adventurous climbing up the ropes of the hammock along with running to see Lily. DSC_0007 DSC_0018 DSC_0019 DSC_0010 DSC_0021 DSC_0025 DSC_0028 DSC_0032 DSC_0040 DSC_0039 DSC_0042 DSC_0043 DSC_0044

Always wanting to do what daddy is doing….DSC_0047 IMG_20150525_182650682 IMG_20150525_182811775 IMG_20150525_182936171_HDR IMG_20150525_184234904_HDR IMG_20150525_184830395 IMG_20150525_184932805_HDR IMG_20150525_185023473

We had a peacock in our yard this week!  Finn and I ran inside to get my phone so we could snap some photos. We were within 8 feet of our bright blue friend.

IMG_20150527_191835391_HDR IMG_20150527_192327029Finn and I went out together for dinner on National Hamburger Day – to Culvers, of course! My little stink bug also loved helping me with my caramel cashew concrete mixer.  Mmm.

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Grandma watched Finn on Friday, and as you can see, they had lots of fun. She brought him Krispy Kreme do do’s for breakfast. He was so happy and goofy at 7:30 in the morning!FullSizeRenderSaturday morning daddy brought Finn breakfast in our room. None other than some dodo’s that grandma had brought the day before! He was in heaven. And he didn’t want to have his jammies on either – when I went in to get him he was half undressed and kept saying he didn’t want to wear his jammies, he wanted to be “nu nu”. IMG_20150530_075719468

Here is Finn taking a selfie on Saturday morning 🙂IMG_20150530_101533589 And here he is getting some good exercise with Lily. The dogs haven’t had their “blue ball” in quite awhile!IMG_20150530_102253129

Saturday we spent the afternoon on a last minute trip to COSI, having fun with Graham, Rowan, and Greta. IMG_20150530_140917404

 

IMG_20150530_142230885 IMG_20150530_144210982 IMG_20150530_145317931 IMG_20150530_145348910 IMG_20150530_145605474 IMG_20150530_150843809 IMG_20150530_153014464 IMG_20150530_153844436 IMG_20150530_154412028 Daddy wasn’t able to join us since this is the weekend they are “cutting over” to the upgrade that Kevin has been working on for months. Monday is the go-live date so all weekend long the transition is occurring which means he is frequently on the phone getting updates and dealing with whatever may come up.  Here Finn and Rowie are sitting together and behind them is the building Kevin’s project is based out of (the tall one in the center!). Kind of cool!
IMG_20150530_161235264_HDRDaddy was able to meet us for dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse, and by the time we had just left the parking lot – Finn was asleep!  He hardly ever sleeps in the car! And he went to bed at 7 pm – super early, but he hadn’t had a nap today. It was a full day!IMG_20150530_183521146_HDR

 

May 24, 2015

It’s warmer weather and time for a summer-do for Finn.  Check out a before and after of sorts – our boy got quite the hair cut! He looks so much more grown up with this summer-do. But he gets so warm, has so much hair, and it such a head-sweater that we both thought a short summer style was a good thing!DSC_0005 IMG_20150524_162331547

This week Grandma and Grandpa Armstrong played with Finn for a couple of days. And Finn was super excited to play in their new “R.B”! One of his favorite things to do right now is to “drive drive drive”. Anytime we go somewhere or even if we are walking past the car in our driveway Finn loves to sit and drive and play with all of the accessories. He loves driving grandma and grandpa’s new RV, not to mention walking all around and checking it out. It is “really, really nice” says Finn, and we agree!DSC_0002 DSC_0004 DSC_0003 DSC_0001

In other big news Finn is doing really well with potty training. On Friday, after attending Graham’s pre-school graduation (he and Greta are sharing some cake below), I headed to the mall to get Finn some big boy underwear. He was pretty excited to wear them, as you can see! He has been going on the potty multiple times each day (both #1 and #2) and he is so proud of himself. I tell him when he’s finished that I’m “so proud” and he says, “you so proud, mommy?”.  Melts my heart.  We’ve been giving him stickers each time he goes on the potty, and while this picture below isn’t the result of any pottying (he was just having fun with stickers) I thought he looked cute 🙂IMG_20150522_125416724 IMG_20150522_173240609 IMG_20150520_182956196Can anyone spot our frog legs? This night Finn was being pretty silly and giggly. IMG_20150519_204733919 IMG_20150519_204756474Friday night it was a really nice evening and Kevin was heading to the Crew game, so he asked Finn and I to join him. We had fun being together enjoying popcorn and hot dogs. And to top it off, Finn met Crew Cat! He thought it was pretty cool – the rest of the game he kept saying “where is crew cat?”.IMG_20150522_211418931 IMG_20150522_212219872_HDR IMG_20150522_212355764On Saturday we had family over for a last-minute cookout for Memorial Day. The kiddos enjoyed checking out Grandma & Grandpa’s RV, playing in the basement, flying a kite, jumping in the bouncy house, and getting wet at the water table. And Finn really enjoyed playing in the yard with Babou (aka Abou) and Lily. IMG_20150524_160719227_HDR IMG_20150524_161137162 IMG_20150524_153234786 IMG_20150524_162331547 IMG_20150524_161944004_HDR IMG_20150524_161914929 IMG_20150524_172932709IMG_20150524_173159028_HDRIMG_20150524_182127239IMG_20150524_183630185IMG_20150524_184354275IMG_20150524_185251319