He Totally Nailed It!

Finn has been taking dance lessons (or "agility training" as Josh calls it) since December. Yesterday was the big recital. I had no idea how it was going to go since he did this:

during the entire rehearsal Wednesday afternoon. Oh yeah. No amount of bribery would convince him to dance - he said no to both McDonalds AND Dunkin Donuts. That's some serious stage fright!

Day of, I had no idea what to expect. I promised Finn we'd get "special ice cream" if he danced, Finn promised he'd dance. We showed up, realized we forgot the tickets, I dropped Finn off while Josh took care of the ticket situation by getting this note:

After everything was taken care of, the 5 of us (Josh's mom came!) found some seats and waited for the magic to happen. And magical it was. The whole show was REALLY well done. However, my favorite part was this:

He totally nailed it! I am so proud of my boy! After their number the kids had to wait in one of the classrooms until the finale, which is when they were released to their parents. As I pulled Finn down from the stage, telling him what a great job he did, his first words to me were, "NOW we can get special ice cream?" Yes sweet boy, now we can get special ice cream.

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Finn's Five!

You guys, my baby turned 5 last week. I know I ask this almost every time one of them has a birthday, but how did this happen?! How did we go from this:

to this:

already?

At his doctor's appointment on Monday, Finn weighed in at 46 pounds (90%) and measured at 44 1/2 inches tall (80-85%).  Finn informed me the day after his birthday that he is now big and strong, and no longer a little kid. He's totally right and it almost made me cry right then and there. 

Finn is such a great kid. I know every mother says that about all of her kids, but Finn really takes the cake. He's so smart, and so funny. I hope his kindergarten teacher is mentally prepared for him, because when he starts school in the fall, it is going to be something to behold. Kindergarten will also be a HUGE adjustment for Finn and for me, as he's been at home with me for the past 5 years, essentially enjoying my undivided attention as we hang out at home or run errands or go to Bible study. I'm thinking it's going to be harder on me, losing my little buddy. But that is a topic for another time!

Finn is SUPER into Peanuts right now. He walks around quoting Charlie Brown all the time. "Good grief." "I can't stand it." Good grief, I can't stand it either. He also LOVES to read. He may not read as much as Zeke does, but he never goes to bed with less than 10 books spread out around him. Finn loves being outdoors and he loves water in all its forms: baths, showers, pools, oceans, rain puddles, hoses, rain, faucets, etc. When the pediatrician asked him what his favorite food is he answered, "Nutella." She said that was the first time she's ever heard that response. (That's my boy!) Finn loves hanging out with his brothers, even though they don't often enjoy his company. He likes to play plants vs. zombies, but he'd rather act it out and envision it all in his head, than sit and play it on the iPad or kindle. Not that he's opposed to playing the video game version, he just really enjoys playing his own renditions of it. 

On Finn's actual birthday we had tacos and "cheese bells" (a. it was his choice, b. it was Cinco de Mayo) for dinner, then some brownies for dessert which we put candles in and sang over. 

This past Saturday we had family and friends over to celebrate the boy. It was a beautiful day, and Finn was spoiled rotten. It was a really great time and we enjoyed ourselves immensely.  

I've really enjoyed watching this boy grow, and I'm excited to continue to do so. He frustrates me to the point of pulling out my hair one second, then has me doubled over in laughter the next. Finn is going to do some mighty things in this world, and I cannot wait to see what they are.  I love you, Finn! Happy Birthday.

This Is My Life...With Finn

On Monday, Finn and I braved Shoprite to gather some things before Snowmageddon hit, and two Latina ladies walked past chatting. Finn looked up at me and said, "Those two were talking crazy!" I replied, "No, honey. They were talking in Spanish."

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This is a picture of someone saying, "NO!"

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I tweeted this picture already, but I love that he sleeps with books

the way most kids sleep with stuffed animals.

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As you may or may not know, Finn has a very good friend named Charlotte. Char and Finn are great fun to watch interact. Don't be surprised when they get married to each other some day. Now, because Charlotte takes dance classes Friday mornings, Finn decided HE wants to take dance classes on Friday mornings. The first time we took him, he HATED it. When Christine (Charlotte's mom) asked Finn what he thought of dance class his response was literally a growl.

"Finn, what did you think of dance class?"
"GGrrrrrrrrr."

So, we dropped it until a few weeks later when he insisted on going again and he LOVES it now. All of this is to set up part of a conversation overheard on the way home from dance this past week.

Finn: That's hurting my brain!

Charlotte: That hurts MY feelings!

Oh yes, we can hear the wedding bells already.

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He has decided to be like me and wear a scarf on occasion.

Of course, his favorite is the frilly purple one.

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He has taken to calling me "My Darling" lately. He also says "You're welcome" when he should be saying "Thank you." So, if you compliment him like, "Hey Finn, great job building that block tower!" He will respond, "You're welcome." My favorite example of both things happened the other day (week?). He had finished pooping and needed help wiping. As I was wiping his butt I said, "Wow Finn, that's a big poop!" To which he replied, "You're welcome, My Darling!"

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He's still trying to master putting on his own coat.

This happens more times than he'd probably like me to say.

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This is a picture of Finn riding on his own motorcycle.

The black splotch is his helmet. Safety first!

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Yesterday, as we were cleaning up after Bible study, I looked up and Finn was standing in the middle of the chapel, by the pews, with his pants around his knees. When I asked him what he was doing he said, "My penis keeps falling out of my underwear pants." Oh, how my friends who were still there giggled. But I fixed him up, pulled up his pants and moved on with what I was doing.

Later that evening, Finn went upstairs to get ready for bed, but then came down (to talk to Josh on the phone) with new underpants on, but he had them on backwards. I asked him if that's so his penis doesn't fall out anymore and he said yes. So then Deacon said, "But now your butt might fall out!" A look of horror flashed across Finn's face and his hand flew to his butt to check it out. He was relieved to find his button was, in fact, still fully covered.

And this is pretty much every day. I love this kid and I will be pretty sad when he goes to kindergarten next year. He really does keep things interesting and he truly makes me laugh.

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Chop! Chop!

This happened Saturday:
















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Off To Work With Grandpa Bob

Last Friday, the boys had off from school so we took the opportunity to (and the beautiful day) to visit my dad and go to work with him. My dad, Grandpa Bob, owns his own tree company, which means he has lots of really cool "toys" that we went down to see in action. The boys and I met him at his office, followed him to the yard where he keeps his stuff, then all piled into his truck to drive around to different jobs and see what's what.

We saw all kinds of cool things. We saw a guy in a bucket truck cutting down branches from the tops of trees, a giant stump grinder grinding out giant stumps, chainsaws, and the like.  It was a lot of fun.

The boys' favorite parts (besides the new puppy we met at the office) was the chipper:

and the dump truck:

The chipper I get. It's super cool watching big branches get chewed up into tiny wood chips. But the dump truck? I mean, we live next to a quarry and see dump trucks every single day.  Lots of them. Every day. I guess seeing them by our house and actually sitting (and taking a 10 foot ride) in one are two different things though.

My favorite part was when Finn decided he was going to help. As we stood watching the wood chipper chip wood, Finn looked around, found a stick (small branch) that was a bit bigger than he was and started carrying it towards the machinery.

Thankfully it tripped him up before he got very far with it, so I decided that where it landed was the perfect place to make a pile of sticks and branches for my dad's workers to then pick up and put into the chipper themselves. Zeke and Finn loved this and enjoyed it. Deacon wasn't as thrilled, but he got his fun later in the dump truck.

He's so cool.

After the dump truck we were hungry so we went back to the office for lunch. Well, Zeke and I walked across the street to the deli to order lunch while my dad took the other two boys back out to check out his mini bulldozer thing. I don't remember what it's actually called, but Finn asked for a bulldozer that morning, and this was the best we could do and it was perfect.  All in all, a really good time was had by all. Thanks, Dad!

We All Got Older

Since it's been awhile that I've been diligently blogging here, we have all had a birthday come and go. I'm almost embarrassed by that. Looking back, the last birthday I posted about was Deacon's 6th birthday. I never posted how big he weighed in at his physical that year, and now I can't find my numbers anywhere. I think he was 47" tall because that put him at 1 inch too short to ride the big slides at Frog Falls last summer. As for his weight, I don't know. Moving on.

After Deacon comes Josh in the birthday order of things.  Josh shares a birthday with his mom, so the weekend before we went down to visit his parents, making a short visit to the beach.

On his actual birthday, I had PWOC. Before I left for the evening though we had a nice dinner and some cupcakes (Katherine joined us for those), a little celebration for the birthday boy.

Following Josh is Zeke, with Me being right behind. I actually did post about our birthdays here. See? I'm such a mess. What I didn't post then was Ezekiel's height/weight numbers. Those I do actually have and will post here for any future time when I may need them - assuming I can remember where I posted them, that is. So, at 8 years old, Zeke came in at 52 1/2" (85ish%) and 56lbs (50%). This means, once again, Zeke is tall and skinny just like his dad.

This brings us now to Finn, who turned FOUR in May of this year. Finn's birthday was celebrated in the usual style - family over for dinner, cake and presents (not necessarily in that order).

Finn weighed in at a lot of pounds for who still insists on being carried around almost everywhere (42lbs [90%]) and measured 42" (90%). He's a big kid. When we pick up the boys from school, most days I just look at how Finn is either as tall as or taller than quite a few of the kids in kindergarten and first grade. I get that he's trying to keep up with his brothers, but this is a bit ridiculous.

Now we come full circle back to Deacon who turned SEVEN (what?!) this summer. Another birthday, another family party (this time some friends came too - hello Davis and Aguerra families!).

This birthday was a little extra special because a new member was added to our family. I wrote a post about The Turtle Stark (what I've been referring to him as recently), but here's a pic from the day he arrived.

On Deacon's actual birthday we had cinnamon rolls in lieu of cake. Yum!

Deacon, at his most recent physical, weighed in at 56 1/2lbs (about 80%) - he now weighs more than Zeke does, and measured 49" tall (about 70%) - which means he grew 2 full inches in the past year. Sheesh.

Well, now that this is finished, I feel better. I also managed to get this done before Josh's birthday came around again. Of course, this year he'll be in Florida on his birthday, so there probably won't be a post about the amazing party we had for him. Yes, that is why there won't be a post - he will be out of town...

The Next Generation Begins!

Last week, the 13th to the 19th of July, Zeke and Deacon spent the week at Pine Bush Bible Camp. This was super exciting for a few reasons. One, it was the first time either of them spent a night away from home without us, except for Easter two years ago when they spent one night at my mom's. Two, my cousin, Candice, and I grew up going to and then working at this camp.  It was a HUGE part of my summer, life, etc, for a good 15 years or so. Needless to say, I was super pumped to have them go. They were super pumped to go as well, and seem to have a had a really good time.

I was also super pumped my sister, Katherine, was there to come along side the boys and lift them up when they were feeling a little down, and to just be there with them. She said Zeke did really well, and had a smile on his face all the time and loved it. She also said that Deacon wasn't as excited and kind of moved slowly like a zombie through the week, but that's essentially Deacon in a nutshell.  That kids have very little pep. I think Zeke got Deacon's helping of that.  I digress...They both said they had a great time and would happily go back next summer, maybe even for 2 weeks.

This meant Finn got to have Mama (that's what he calls me) all to himself for the week.  I do mean all to himself as Josh was in Indiana almost that whole time too. He left before the boys did and didn't get home until Thursday. So, what did the wee one and I do? Umm...

Monday we had a successful trip to the library:

Tuesday Finn "helped" me cut the grass in the backyard:

Wednesday he "helped" me do some laundry:

Thursday, Finn helped me take garbage and recycling to the dumpsters:

Finn is a HUGE fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (has been for a few years now) and before each of these chores, Finn would ask himself, "Which Mouseketool will we use today?" The answers being: scissors to cut the grass, a shovel to do laundry, and a flashlight to take out the garbage.

On Friday, Josh was home, so instead of chores, "we" played on computers: 

Like father like son.

So, the whole week Finn kept asking when we would go to camp and get his brothers. He asked every single day if we could do that. Every day.  Saturday rolls around, he climbs into bed with me and asks, "Where are we going today?" When I told him was the day we could finally go to camp and get his brothers he was all, "Umm...no. I don't want to do that today." What?! Well, get them we did, and I think it's pretty safe to say they all missed each other:

Welcome home Zeke and Deacon! I'm glad you had such a wonderful time.

PS. Thanks to Erna Tremper for taking so many great pictures and posting them on Facebook while the boys were gone! The first 2 pictures are from there. 

Second Week of June Recap

June's going to get a week by week recap this year. I'm trying something new. It might just be how I do the whole summer if I like it. I guess we'll see. Except for things that deserve/require/just straight up need their own individual posts. So, without further adieu, the first week of June!

I've already covered the first few days while Josh was gone, and I wrote about Deacon's cafeteria saga, so we'll start with the 7th (it's when I have pictures for) and go through the 14th (excluding the 10th), covering the rest of the first week and all of the second week!

The 7th was the first Saturday of the month, which meant we were at The Home Depot for their kids crafting day thing.

We also went fishing that afternoon. I caught a little something:

and Josh caught a bit bigger something, breaking Finn's fishing pole in the process:

Nice.

Since it was super warm that day, we made our way to Frog Falls after dinner, and NO ONE was more excited about it than this kid:

The 8th saw Deacon going to his first NASCAR race with Daddy, Tante, and Pappy! It was at the Pocono Raceway, and he had a pretty good time.

On the 12th, Finn had a playdate with is girlfriend, Charlotte:

They're so stinkin cute together!

Finally, on the 14th, Josh and I went to the All Saint's Ball. Aren't we a handsome couple? 

So, there you have it. Tune in next week for this coming week's recap!

FOUR?! How Can He Be Four Already?!

You guys! Finn turned FOUR! I don't remember authorizing this to happen. My sweet baby really isn't a baby anymore. For posterity, at his appointment Finn measured in 42 inches tall, and...I don't seem to have his weight written down anywhere so let's just go with...heavy. I'm not kidding. That is kid is NOT light.

The Saturday before Finn's birthday we had his family party. Usual guests doing the usual things, at the usual time and place.

On his actual birthday we did the usual smaller affair. 

Since it all played out as usual, and I haven't anything else really to add, I thought I'd take a look back at what each boy looked like at four. 

Zeke
43" tall, 36 1/2 pounds heavy:

Deacon

41 1/2" tall, 41 pounds heavy:

Finn

(again) 42" tall, (probably about) 41 (or so) pounds heavy:

What fun! Happy birthday sweet boy. We love you and LOVE watching the funny, smart, resourceful kid you are turning into.