Burning off energy

Our weekends are typically consumed with one thing...trying to find fun ways to burn off Jack's energy.

When Grandma Sandy showed us on Friday that the Plasma Cars she got the kids for Christmas were great for riding down the driveway, we started Saturday off with many trips down our own...

And yes, when I say we, I mean WE...I think it may be just as fun for adults as it is kids!

But when it started raining outside, it was time to make an obstacle course inside.

Our house is the epitome of kid-friendly...but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Sweet Baby

Isn't she sweet? All bundled up after a long day.

It must make her tired just watching the other kids play. Not unlike the way I feel when Jacks is full of energy :)

Day of the Duck

When we were playing outside this weekend, Jacks noticed how close a duck was to our neighbor's house...

And shortly after I took the picture, Jack ran a LITTLE too close to it, and it took off...

...and landed where it probably wanted to be the whole time.

Jacks thought it was pretty fun to see a duck so close...I'm just glad we have our fence to keep him from swimming with them!

Spring!?

Today is cold....really cold. And I refused to wear a jacket this morning. So when I ran out to run an errand at lunch, I was reminded of how cold it was....really cold.

Sunday on the other hand was AWESOME. It was one of those days you can only really love and enjoy when you've been cooped up inside all winter in the coldest state possible. (Is it not the coldest?? Because it feels like the coldest.) After Brad and Jacks got back from Target Field, and Fin and I got back from a girl's day with Avery, we spent the ENTIRE rest of the afternoon and evening outside. That is by FAR the most Fin has ever been outside in her lifetime, since I was pretty much a Mama bear making my little cub hibernate all winter.

And all it takes is one spring day to remind you of a few things...

Rolling down hills might be one of the most fun things a little guy can do (although thank GOD there aren't pictures of me doing it too, because I'm pretty sure I had just as much fun)

It's almost time for water play...pretending there was an actual Slip 'n Slide there...there may have been some nice grass stains had there actually been green grass to make them.


Sooner than later it will be fall and football season again

Finding a way to have your baby sister ride in a wagon with you is all you need to make your afternoon.

And riding in a car for that matter. I can just picture this 13 years from now...Jacks with his new license pulling away waving and Fin looking at him like "Let's get out of here!" And NO, we did not let her actually ride with him.
Other people DO exist!! Gary stopped by to say hi :)

And we actually do have neighbors...Nina and Quinn (our favorite neighbors) came over to play. They hadn't even met Fin yet! I'm not kidding when I said we were hibernating!

There is no better play-mate than your Daddy...they're Best Buds.
Man, this little lady melts my heart.

And her big brother??? He's had my heart for a long time...

Now does anyone have connections with the weather man?? Because I'm pretty sure we'd like to order these days for all of April, too!

What happened to my tiny babe??

Here are a few of Finley's three-month pics...

I was clearly not prepared to be in a picture, but I agreed anyway :) Nice hair.

Fin will be four months old on Thursday. FOUR MONTHS OLD!? Where has all of that time gone? I can't believe it...my baby is getting so big.

Target Field

Today Jack and I took a guys trip to Target Field. We had two tickets from our season tickets, so I figured what better way to spend some quality time with Jack then at the new park. We had no agenda other than to see the ballpark, so I let Jack go everywhere! I think we literally walked through each section of the ballpark. We did spend a few minutes in our actual seats (which have a great view!), but most of the time was walking through the upper levels seats. Jack really like the highest possible seats! Sorry for the lack of quality pictures. It's no shock that I am not the family photographer. I'll get better one's during the season.

Words do not do this field justice, it was amazing to see how open things are. I can't tell you how many pitches/runs I've missed over the last twenty years, but I know it will be much easier to keep an eye on the game now. The concourse is so open. The days of going through a small double door to see the field is over. No matter where you are, there's the field.

Here is our section. We are literally 50 feet from the exit/light rail station and 20 from our new concession stand. They seemed to have everything needed for nine innings!

Here is a picture of the Metropolitan club. His is a restaurant and bar for season ticket holders only. The entire side of the place had windows overlooking right field.

This is a picture of the plaza overlooking right field. One cool thing about the field was there seemed to be a concession/beer stand within 20 feed of each entrance! This will be a nice feature in the middle of summer when you need a fresh cold one (or possibly April 3 when we need a hot chocolate).

This is about hour four into our day. I made Jack lean on me during the ride home. I knew that he was exhausted and he went from talking away to being perfectly quiet in about two minutes.


What a great day! I hope everyone gets a chance to make it to Target Field this year. The Twins should have another great year and the ballpark has so much to character -- it's a must see!

Little Leprechauns

I can't tell you how many times since Finley has been born I've been asked if we are Irish. No, we're not in ANY way Irish. Although we are a Scandinavian hodge-podge, Irish is in no part of our blood...but on St. Patrick's Day, we can pretend :)

Dressed in green, it was photo shoot time...and all of these photos make me laugh.

Don't they look like they genuinely love each other?? Because truthfully speaking, they do. Fin follows Jacks around (although her bobble-head has a hard time keeping up) and he constantly showers her in kisses...man I love these kids.

Remember that love?? Sometimes he just wants to squeeze a little too tight.

Fin is SUCH a Daddy's girl...I love her pure enjoyment of him in this one. I think she may have a chicken complex though someday since his nickname for her is "Finner Finner Chicken Dinner" Beckett has just started to call her "Chicken Dinner"...forget the Finner Finner stuff.

Fin's expression in this one cracks me up....like "OK, Jack...you can step out of my frame now."

See that flash of lightning over Fin? Yep, that's Jack...jumping over her. The day he learned the "Jack jumps over a candle stick" at school, it was over. And see, she can't quite keep up with that flash of lightning. Never ask if I have my hands full. Enough said.

Smiling is pretty much a bribery only. All he wants to do is funny faces, and then look at the camera immediately afterward to see how funny he is. He must take after Aunt Jess :) KIDDING, JESS!

Man I love this little family. Some day I will be in some of the pictures again...but for now I love just looking at them and smiling. They are all the loves of my life.

Oh yeah - and remember the JINX! I heard of Fin's sleeping habits? Yep, the night after I wrote that she was up at 3am and thought it would be fun to play until 7:15 when I dropped her off at daycare. She then proceeded to sleep until NOON. I guess she showed me...

Finely's Baptism

This is a really old catch-up. We had Finley baptised on January 31, and I'm finally getting the pictures up! It was a fun day, and we were so glad our families could be there to celebrate with us on such an important day in Fin's life.

Finners and her sponsors: Jeremy and Melissa, Kasey, and Kara

And that thing about never getting a good picture again?? Yeah.....thanks Jacks :) He does crack us up though.

Don't we look tired?? Not that it should be surprising with a newborn and a 3-year old that sleeps WORSE than the newbie....

On a good note - Finley is finally sleeping through the night. (Did I hear a JINX! out there??) She's been sleeping from 11-7! She still gets up for 4:00 feeding every once in a while, but we feel blessed to have a sleeper on our hands. The other night she didn't fall asleep until closer to 1, but we were shocked when she didn't wake up until almost 11:00!! Now, if her big brother could follow suit, that would be sweeeeeeeeet. Too much to ask? I know.

Oh - and I couldn't post without showing you the adorable invitations Jess made for me. I was SO not on top of things this time around, so I ended up just emailing this out to everyone, which ended up being great, and much easier! (I mean, come on...you know my "Christmas" letters had to be re-named "New Years" cards this year, and even THEY were late!)

Silly Straws

I remember when I was a kid LOVING silly straws. Apparently Jacks took after me in that aspect, but when I found him using his in a HUGE bottle of Sprite, it confirmed I have my hands full with this little man. He explained that when he had it in the short cups, he kept spilling his milk...

To quote Jack's comment to Brad last week..."Daddy, if you aren't looking, I just do it." Uh huh...he's 3 1/2.

Twins Fest

Brad and my Dad took Jacks to Twins Fest a few weekends ago (yes, I'm still catching up and totally out of order, deal with it!) :)

Jacks had so much fun with everything. He is still talking about it! The most fun part? Getting to ride the train (the light rail). He thought it was a blast.

We'll see how he does at a game this year...I'm pretty sure Daddy is more excited about it than he'll be!

A House of Sickies

I think we're over it (did I just jinx myself??) I think everyone is going to be healthy for a while...

Two weeks ago, Jacks came down with a terrible virus. If you know Jack, you know he is ENERGETIC. Yes, that's what we'll call him...energetic. On the last two days of my maternity leave, he was so sick he couldn't even get off the couch. When I took him to the doctor he even said "Mom, can the doctor come out to the car instead of walking in to see him??" Definitely not the Jackson I know. It wasn't strep, just a really bad sore throat, soaring fever and cough...

Cut to a week later, and little Finny wasn't far behind. When I could feel her breathing in her chest, I knew it was time to take her in. This is the picture Brad took of us at the doc while we took her oxygen levels and had her nebbed...

My poor babe had RSV. Jacks got it when he was about the same age, only his was coupled with pneumonia, so I felt lucky to only have RSV this time. You hear the horror stories of babies spending weeks in the hospital or having to be airlifted to Children's because they can't breathe...so we really were fortunate for just a terrible cough. She's finally over it...feeling better and acting like herself again!

Let's just hope we can make it to Spring with no more sickies in our house.

Big Brother

Jacks found out that sometimes being a big brother isn't always so fun...like when you're trying to get your little sister to smile and she throws up on your face.

Yep, good lesson learned.

My Little Lovies

Does it get ANY better than hanging out with your little lovies??

I say no...not when it's these two :)

If I Only Knew

Let me start by saying Jacks is MUCH more interested in taking pictures these days than being in them. And typically, when he gets his hands on the camera...pictures turn out like these that were taken by him.

So...when he said "Make a funny face with Fin Fin, Mommy!" of course I did because I knew it would only be the top of my head or of my ever-flattering sweet sweet muffin top.... little did I know he'd actually get us in the frame! I mean, come on...no one would make this face thinking it would actually be a picture...

I smiled for one for him too...what a surprise we got when this showed up on my PC when I uploaded the pictures! If I only knew...I would have put my sweater on earlier!