A few of Finn's favorite things...

the piano, or really any musical instrument

his blocks

cellphones, especially blackberries

anything he can climb on

and, of course, his stuffed animals, especially the bunny

I'm back!

Well, it's been awhile since I've blogged, as you may have noticed. I can't believe it's been a whole month almost! However, I'm now well rested and ready to return to the world of blogging. For my first post, I'll be playing catch up. We brought in the new year with our dear friends Manasseh and Lachelle. We miss them so much and wish they didn't live so far away in a land called Utah. Also to bring in the the new year , we decided it was time for Finn to get his first haircut. Daniel was his stylist.

So, Finn is now clean cut and no longer has the beginnings of a mullet. He was starting to look a little scraggly, but I kind of miss shaggy Finn.

Here we are at the Red Robin in Chattanooga on our way home from spending Christmas in Lucedale, MS with Daniel's family. He loved that balloon.

This is a picture that Daniel's sister Carmen took of Finn and his two cousins Ladner and Taite. She takes great pictures. This one is one of my favorites just because it makes me laugh.

Here's Finn cracking up at his cousins' shenanigans (is that how you spell that?).

My two sleepy boys on Christmas morning.


Here's Finn at the Ader's house playing around while I try to get pictures to send out in Christmas cards. Valerie and Ben did a great job trying to help me get Finn to smile. I don't know why he didn't want to smile. He's always smiling. This is the second year in a row that the Ader Christmas tree has been my background because we haven't put up a tree of our own. We have a fake tree and plenty of ornaments, but I haven't seen the need to put it up when we just go out of town for Christmas every year. Also, I didn't want to keep Finn out of it every day. Maybe next year we'll put it up since Finn will know a little more about what's going on.

I just thought this picture was cute.

Pre-Christmas: Since there was no tree to get into, Finn has to resort to playing with his favorite blocks (Thanks Ashlee!).

So, now we're all caught up. I hope all of you had a wonderful time during the holidays. Next on my to do list is to read everyone else's blogs to see what you guys have been up to, so I'm sure I'll read all about your holiday experiences then!

Weekend

Finn bundled up and ready to head to the Christmas parade downtown. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to the parade. When we got close to downtown and saw all the traffic, we were grateful we had a kid who couldn't talk and beg to go. We turned around and decided we would go next year and arrive earlier.

Here's Finn drinking some milk at the free cupcake tasting at Magpies. My favorite cupcake was the chocolate peppermint, while Daniel liked the gingerbread. Finn didn't get a cupcake but he liked the milk. They also had delicious coffee cake and cheesecake for tasting.

Here we are at the Holiday Homemade Craft Show. We got some presents for ourselves. We both got a mug from the pottery place in the picture. Daniel also bought me a Christmas present, but he couldn't wait to give it to me so I got it when we got home. It was a handmade zippered pouch. I love zippered pouches. They help me keep organized. I also bought some Christmas cards for my friends and some blank notecards from the BirdDog Press. I really like their designs and the fact that the cards are letterpressed. The craft show is going on this weekend and next. So check it out if you haven't already and support our local artists.

Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Memphis at my parent's house this year. I ate way too much, but the food was so good! We also exchanged Christmas presents with my family and we got a new digital camera (finally!) with which these pictures were taken. Finn got to eat his first Thanksgiving turkey and he really liked it.

This is Finn on the Memphis to Nashville leg of our return home. I wish I had that set up!

I took this picture outside the Quizno's near Crossville to document the snow, but you can't see any in this picture! I promise that if you were there in person you would have seen snow on these trees. It was actually quite a beautiful site. Hello December!


Finn has amazing bed hair. The top one was taken on Sunday in Nashville at my friend Whitney's apartment after he awoke from a nap. The bottom one was taken on Monday after waking up from his first nap after arriving home.

Making faces

Daniel took these photos of Finn during dinner a few nights ago. I never knew he made so many different facial expressions in such a short period of time!

Finn

... discovering life as a dinosaur

... enjoying a fall day

... taking a sip