the train museum

Today, we went to the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History and it was REALLY fun. It had a really nice children area with books about trains, puzzles, a play kitchen, train tables, and a plush train to climb on. What more could a kid as for? I think my favorite was the dress up area, though. :)

ultimate playdate at east cobb park

Finley and I joined Kt, RoRo, Natalina, and Babbo for a little music in the park type thing. The girls had fun, but it was SO hot! I'm am really not a fan of summer :)

finley on the bar at gymnastics...

I'm pretty disappointed with the class, but finley seems to enjoy it. that's what counts, right?

myrtle beach

of course, there was lots of playing in the sand...





here is finley sucking ice out of nanno's hand. i still don't understand how nanno can hold ice in her hand for so long...



finley was fishing. i actually really tried to catch one, but those little guppies are quick. nanno tried to catch one also and after giving up said, "it's like they know what we're trying to do". :)



timmy the turtle was mucho fun.







aw, the obligatory little boy who wants to play with your toys and the parents don't intervene. i just had to include this... :)

fe's first attempt at eye liner...eek!

bath time!

It is always fun when RoRo joins us for bath time. On multiple occasions Finley will just start taking off her clothes when she sees or hears the water running at Rosie's house. And it is even more fun when Natalina joins them!

strawberry picking

last week, kt, roro, tatatina, fe and I went strawberry picking. the girls were into it for about three minutes. then they just wandered around as kt and I tried to fill our buckets.

not long after, finley ended up slipping in a puddle of mud at the entrance of the row I was on. I should have gotten a picture. her shoes and legs were completely covered in mud and she was really upset. I didn't bring my bag with us into the fields, so I tried cleaning finley as best I could with the two wet wipes kt had left after changing natalina :). when I was done, finley was still sad and turned to rosie and said, "i fell down roro" rosie hugged her and said, "i know" and "it's okay fe". they continued to hug and repeat themselves over and over. it was adorable. rosie was comforting her. precious...

ballerina time

a typical day...

finley rae is 2!!

Finley had so much fun at her ladybug birthday party! We had a couple families over with little girls Fe's age and they played pin the spot on the ladybug, ladybug bean bag toss, and dug through the sand table to find little plastic bugs.






Thank goodness Nanno came to visit for the party or I never would have been able to do it all. Thanks Nanno!!

the happiest place on earth

ummm...I love Disneyland. I took Finley for the first time while we were in California and it didn't disappoint, despite the 100 degree weather. The lines weren't too bad and Finley really enjoyed it...it's in her blood :) Her favorite rides were Dumbo and the Finding Nemo submarine. I can't wait to go again with Dada!

our trip to california

Finley and I flew to California for two weeks in April. It was the first time I wasn't really worried about flying with Finley because she is old enough that I feel like I can reason with her when she gets upset. She also really enjoys hanging out in the airport and watching planes taxi into the terminal and take-off. The morning after we arrived, my dad, Sage, Fe and I packed up the motor home and headed to Glamis for Easter weekend.



Finley loved playing and lying in the sand.






Here we are hanging out in the motor home...




Sage would watch Finley while my dad and I went out in the buggy (is that what it's called?) It was a lot of fun and it was actually quite beautiful in the middle of the dunes.




I love this picture of Finley playing in dad's car. She is doing a "thumbs up", which to her also means her thumb must be up in the air...cute.



On Easter, the group we were with had an Easter egg hunt for the kids and Finley scored big time. She found at least 20 eggs all by herself. If there was any question before, she officially loves candy :)

easter festivities

Here are a few pictures of the smog Easter egg hunt and coloring eggs at Aunt KT's...

testing...testing...123

i'm trying to learn how to post videos, so i've included two from our trip to the georgia aquarium with nanno, kt, rosie, and natalina.

the first one is of finley "swimming like a fish." she had never done this before, but as she was watching the fish she starting swaying her hips. sorry it is sideways...i took the video that way and i don't know how to fix it.

the second video is of finley chasing pigeons (also sideways) in the park after the aquarium. she was doing this evil laugh as she was chasing them. it was pretty funny, although probably not to the pigeons.

it's been a while...

i'm going to re-enter the blogging world with a real humdinger of a post:

yesterday, while i was doing my weekly pine cone, stick, and spike ball removal from the yard, i noticed a mound of dirt in the middle of the lawn and without thinking kicked it to spread the dirt out. as i was kicking it (in what felt like slow motion), i thought how it could have gotten there. as i pulled my foot away, my fears were confirmed. there were millions of ants scurrying around their destroyed home and my shoes! eek. luckily, i didn't get bitten because the ants here in georgia are ferocious. i'm just glad i found it before finley did.

so, i went to home depot and purchased some ant killer. i hope it works. the end.

toad statistics

we call finley 'little toad' because she scrunches her legs up just like a toad when we hold her (these statistics are for her, not an actual amphibian).

toad went to the doctor today and got four vaccinations. she was also weighed and measured. she is nine weeks old exactly. she weighs 11 lbs 10 oz. she is 23 1/2 inches tall. at birth, 63 days ago, you may recall her statistics were as follows: 7 lbs 13 oz; 19 1/2 inches tall.

this means, in nine weeks, she has gained about 4 lbs and 4 inches (about a pound of weight and and inch of height every two weeks, or, broken down even further, she is putting on about an ounce of fat (er, muscle?) and 1/16 inch in height every day).

we thought this might be some kind of record or something, but it turns out she is pretty average. depending on what "baby percentile calculator" you choose, finley is from the 50th to the 90th percentile in height and the 50th to 75 percentile in weight.

she may be of average size, but according to our own, personal baby cuteness calculator, she is 100th percentile.