Mother's Day 2013

We all had a great Mother's Day! We had lunch at Todd Pub and then went to a barons game. It was just us girls! Joey took Sam to his moms so we could spread out the Mother's Day love. It was nice having only Finley at the game. I could tell she was loving all the attention. She walked around looking for Babe Ruff and finally found hm and we got a picture. We visited the gift shop, the ice cream stand and the playground. She did not want to leave even though she only watched about 3 minutes of the actual game. The new Regions Park is gorgeous!!! I hope everyone takes care of it so it will stay that way. We were sad Daddy didn't join us, but we will definitely make another trip there soon. I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!!!

Mother's Day was extra exciting because Joey got me a new camera lens!!! Mine has been broken for about 2 months and I have been so upset about having to take all picture with my phone. Finally, I can take real pictures again! Yay!

A Week in Winter

Our book club selection last month was A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy. I loved it! I read another book of hers called Tara Road after I finished. It was good too. A Week in Winter was a slow paced, easy read. We aren't able to meet this month, so we will pick back up in June. We are doing a really fun book club activity my friend Katie mentioned where you cast the book as a movie. So fun!

Quickie...

Lots going on...

1.) We put our house on the market!
Long story short. We needed a bigger house. We put our house on the market. We got an offer 6 days later. We countered. They countered. We countered. They countered. We stuck to our guns. We couldn't find a house in the school district we needed. We took our house off the market. They came back and agreed to pay what we asked. We said no. We're staying here. We'll try again next year.

2.) For the 2 weeks our house was on the market, I cleaned it all day, every day so that took up a lot of time.

 3.) Finley has had gymnastics and soccer practice on Wednesdays and games on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

3.) Joey finished up another semester on his quest for his MBA. Yea!

4.) I went on a beach trip with my pledge sisters. We had the best time despite a stomach bug. Jennie was a trooper and we still managed to have fun.

5.) Joey got to go to the Final Four in Atlanta.

6.) We got to see the Commodores at the Huntsville Classic fundraiser. They put on a great show! I love how they are old school. They had matching, bedazzled outfits, they had short, choreographed dance numbers, they introduced the audience to everyone in the band. They had lots of audience participation. It was awesome!!! She's a brick....hooouussee :)

7.) It has warmed up and everyone is well so we have had playdates galore! We've been to Open Gym at Matrix with Allison and Jackson, we've met up with Katie, Abby and Will to go to Bridgestreet or the mall, we went to Krista's house to play, "the girls" (our neighbors) have been over to play.

8.) I've had a few girls nights out, a few book club meetings and Joey and I have been out on a few dates. We've kept our baby-sitter busy. 

We've had a big time the last few weeks! I'm so excited for summer and all the summertime activities we have planned! Come on warm weather! We're tired on runny noses and stomach bugs!

Pre-K

Finley was accepted into the pre-K program at JVES! So excited!!! I have heard wonderful things about the program and I think it will be good for our entire family. Finley isn't great with change. She needs to be told in advance about changes and then eased into them. I think this program is great because she is in a real school with other school aged children. SWEEM has been great. They are structured and loving, the parents are involved and caring and the kids are products of that, but the pre-k is only half days/4 days a week and I think for her to transition to kindergarten year after next, she needs to go more often so it isn't such a shock. Her teacher is a masters level teacher with 14 kids and two aides and she'll go M-F from 7:30 to 2pm. Huge change! I ran into a teacher at the school last night and she said her class eats next to the 4 year olds and that the first 2 weeks all the kids are sitting at lunch crying, but after that they are all smiles and having a ball. I'm interested to see how it goes. Another plus is that the program is free because it's public school so I can afford to send Sam to MDO a couple days a week. Big plus for mom! I have no worries about him. He is a social butterfly and begs to get down and play when we pick Finley up. This fall will hold some big changes for us, but I'm excited for them :) Wish us luck!

Now, what will I do with all that free time? Go to lunch with friends, lay on the couch and read a magazine, shop? Let's get real. I will clean the house, do the laundry and maybe squeeze in lunch with Joey once a month. On the bright side, I will be doing all those things in peace and quiet :)

Finley's 4th year :)

4 year stats:
Height: 38 1/4 inches
Weight: 33 lbs.
Clothes: 4T
Shoes: 8

Finley is a petite little thing, but her growth is right on track. She had to get 4 shots (3 sticks) and a finger prick yesterday at her appointment. It was pretty bad. She doesn't remember ever having shots so she wasn't sure what to expect. I told her it would hurt, but only for a minute and then we would go to McDonald's for a milkshake :) She cried big tears, but by the time we go out of the room she was fine. Now, her biggest concern is getting the band-aids off. One time I had to take her band aids off and I pulled them off really fast. Let's just say that when it comes to taking off band-aids, she and I have different opinions on the best method. She had her vision and hearing checked. Her nurse and I had a big laugh during both. Instead of raising her hand when she heard a sound, she would just say what sound she heard. It was like she didn't understand why she would raise her hand when she could just tell us what she heard. Good luck to her teachers in the future ;) We'll work on that this summer. Then, during the vision test, her nurse was pointing to a star with her finger and asked Finley what it was and Finley wasn't sure because it was really small. She kept asking and asking so finally Finley said in an exasperated voice, "It's a finger!" I think for now her vision is fine, but it's only a matter of time. Joey and I both wear contacts and I started wearing glasses in the 3rd grade. Hopefully, she can at least make it until then without them. I'm thankful for a wonderful pediatrician and her awesome staff!

We survived the 4 year appointment!

 A milkshake makes everything better.

Finley talks NON-STOP! Literally. I have started trying to help her practice being quiet, but it has been a huge failure. Joey and I are talkers so I don't know what we were expecting. She says the funniest things! I need to start writing them down. She loves to read books to us and to Sam. She loves her little brother so much. She always wants to know where he is and what he's doing. Every day when I get her from school she asks him if he missed her. She loves to go in his room and "get him" when he wakes up from his nap. They love to chase each other. She still knocks him down and gets irritated when he cries, but she also gives him lots of hugs and kisses and she always introduces him to people wherever we go.

Quick list...

LOVES: reading books, gymnastics, Angry Birds, the iPad, swinging, chicken nuggets and french fries, spaghetti, when Daddy picks her up from school, Taylor Swift, the grandparents, jumping at the mall, puzzles, using the Swiffer mop (woohoo!)

NOT SO MUCH: anything green (as in food), wearing bows (too bad, you're wearing them), dresses (heartbroken, I only make her wear them to church), doing what Joey and I tell her to do

A little hope for other moms of girls..Since Finley turned 4, I have seen a huge improvement in her behavior. Yea! I heard 4 was better and it is so far. 3 was a rough year. I wasn't sure we were both going to make it out alive. We did and I think 4 is going to be a great year for us all :)

Finley's 1st soccer game!

Finley had her first soccer game today. It was hilarious! Our team is the Orange Tigers and it's co-ed. Finley complains that the boys won't let her have the ball and that she just can't do it. She runs around the field and tries to keep up with the other players, but she is the smallest one on the team and those older boys are fast! Most of the boys are focused, but the girls are more concerned about the fact that their names are on the backs of their jerseys. At one point during the game, Finley and Mary Francis were discussing the outfits in the middle of the field. I realized that every team at the YMCA has some token characters. Every team has...
-a kid that cries the entire time
-a powerhouse
-a kid who wanders aimlessly on the field (we have a few of these)
-a kid who is bigger than everyone else but is afraid of the ball
-a kid who falls down constantly (this is either the crier or the powerhouse)

When the other team kicks off and her team goes after the ball, Finley will wave her arm to everyone on her team as if to say, you go ahead and then after everyone has run past her, she will run after them. It's hilarious!

Things overheard on the field today:

"Mommy, those boys won't let me have the ball!"
"Mommy, my bow is falling out!"
"Mommy, scratch my leg, it's itching under my socks!"

Soccer is a hoot and I'm so glad we signed her up.

Sam is 1!

See how I put an exclamation point in the title to try and seem excited about my baby turning 1? I have tried to be happy about it, but I just want him to be a newborn again. He may be my last baby and he's not even a baby anymore :( He is running all over the place at all times. He is definitely all boy as they say. He loves things with wheels and he likes to ram things into walls. He likes to search and destroy. When Finley lines things up or stacks things up, he runs over to it and furiously swings his arms until he's made a mess of things. It's hilarious! He loves to scream and when you act horrified because it's ear piercing, he smiles and laughs. You FINALLY got your 1st tooth! It's the front bottom one and the one next too it will be coming through soon, I think. He loves to be tickled and thrown in the air. He loves to be outside and free to roam. He loves opening and closing doors and drawers. He loves bathtime. He is so good in the car and was quiet the entire way to Birmingham last weekend. We all call him Bubba ;) I try to call him Sam so he doesn't go to school known as Bubba. We used the last scoop of formula the night of his birthday and he had his first taste of whole milk the next day and you would have thought he had been drinking it all along. He loves his paci. He hugs everyone. He will just randomly come up to us and give us a big hug. He is the sweetest thing and everyone that meets him loves him. Sam, you are a sweet, precious baby boy and you make us all so happy. You were definitely meant to be in this family and you were created just for us. We love you, Bubba ;)

1 year stats
Height: 29 3/4
Weight: 21.7 lbs.
Size 4 diapers
Size 12-18M clothes
Size 4 shoe