Easter

We had a nice Easter weekend celebrating the resurrection of Jesus ("Jethuth ith AWIVE" -Jack) with family and friends. Matt and Melissa came down on Friday night. Jack and Finn enjoyed playing with them and with their dog, Fergie. We hated to see them go, and AS ALWAYS...I failed to get any pictures. I have problems. On Sunday night our small group had Easter dinner at our house. The kiddos were running wild, but the food and fellowship were awesome. (AND SO WERE THE TARHEELS!!!!!)


Here's the token family shot. If you were raised in North Carolina, then you know what is missing from this photo. ....A dogwood tree! That's right! There were no dogwoods to be found, but we did manage to get all four of us in the frame which is a miracle in itself.

Jack and Finn had matching shirts for Easter. Finn didn't seem to mind his hat at all! I knew it was silly and a little over the top, but bear with me, I don't have a daughter to accessorize. Jack's Easter outfit addition was a belt. You wouldn't have known that he had one on because within a few minutes his shirt tail was untucked.

Jack had some pancakes for Easter morning. They must have been laced with some insanity sprinkles because Jack was off the chain crazy all day yesterday! So crazy in fact, that the Easter bunny's delivery was never given to it's recipient. Sugar on top of crazy is not a smart combo.

We caught this cute moment a few days ago while John, Jack and Finn were playing in Jack's bed together. Finn is such a happy little guy.

This picture is for my mom. When Matt and I were growing up, we looked forward to 2 things at Easter: dyeing Easter eggs and mom's bunny cake. Here's my rendition of her bunny wonder. I think it turned out okay. It still looks pretty much like this but without an ear and with several finger swipes to the sides. Who do you think those are from?

One Very Full Weekend

We had a great weekend full of fun and exciting things....Lots of pictures, so here we go:
The first activity was our church's Easter Egg Hunt.  There were over 2,000 kids and over 30,000 eggs!  We had a much better time than last year considering last year Jack pitched the biggest fit of all time and he had no idea what candy was.  
He absolutely understands what candy is this year, and he hunted with the best of them.  He asked me today if we were going to 'clean up' the eggs.  I guess since 'cleaning up' at home means putting his toys in the appropriate basket, he saw the egg hunt as a big cleaning session.  With candy.  Check out his cheeks full of the gooey goodness of a Starburst.  
Here's Jack with his basketball Easter basket.  The use of it must have given the Tarheels the good fortune that they needed for the weekend!  GO HEELS!!!!  We're excited about their win yesterday and look forward to March Madness...I think.  With us being seeded #1 in our bracket, there's always that fear that we'll be the first #1 seed to lose to a #16 seed.  Oh, I hope not.  
After the Egg Hunt, we drove straight to Hampton Lake for the grand opening of Dogpaddle Park, which is the dog park in the community.  They had a K9 unit there, which was amazing to hear about how these dogs are bread and trained to sniff the stuff out that they do.  I had no idea that they train them to find just one type of thing (drugs, people, weapons...).  There was also a frisbee catching exhibition that we went to.  All of the dogs were rescued from abused homes and they could catch the junk out of a frisbee.  John and I were watching and thinking the same thing:  Scout needs to pick it up a notch.  But we love him all the same.  
On Sunday we went to the early service which put us out of church at 9:30.  So...we headed to the beach along with Jason and Lauren!  The wind was kicking, but the weather was awesome.  Jack had fun in the water before he got "too cold."  
He did his usual harassment of the birds.  He ran so much in his wet sandy bathing suit that he has the chafe marks to prove it today.  Ouch!
John had fun fishing for a while.  The fish weren't biting, but it made for some fun pictures.  

Despite the occasional wind gust that prevented Finn from breathing, he loved the beach!  I can't wait until it's a little warmer and he can get his drooly little fists into the sand.  He'll think it's great.
Gigi graciously let us borrow her camera for a while, so we were able to take some great pictures of the boys yesterday and today.  Neither one of us know what we're doing with a nice camera (or junky one for that matter), but the quality is so much better.  The fact that her camera makes this cool shutter clicking sound with each picture doesn't hurt either.  It at least makes you FEEL like you're doing something right:)
During the game yesterday I took pictures to relieve some of the stress.  I'd click a few and then scream at the television.  Fortunately the boys are used to these antics from their mother, and they went about their play as usual.  Jack is a fan of shaking the exersaucer back in forth while Finn is in it.  As much as we punish him and make him stop doing it, we'd be lying if we said Finn didn't obviously enjoy it himself.  But after the face plant into the tile last week, we're avoiding all possible brain injuries like the plague.  
John discovered that Jack made funny faces after we would blow into his face as a baby.  Well....Finley is no different.
Jack took his chalk outside today for some drawing action.  He wants to draw his letters these days.  They don't look like letters, but he'll 'draw' an A and then say, "What does THIS sound make, Mommy?" instead of 'What sound does this make?'.  He knows a lot of his letters, which thrills us that he's remotely interested in anything academic!  I'm sure it's just a phase...
You can't see it here, but we resorted to using the Rec Spec strap on the back of Jack's glasses.  We used it for the beach so he wouldn't lose them in the ocean, but after seeing that they work really well at keeping his glasses on, we may just stick with it. 
Jack grabbed the lens cloth from the camera bag and started wiping his glasses.  "Thee, Mommy? I kween my gwathes."
Finn intently studying something....
What a little cutie.....
Jack asked to take a picture, but this wasn't what he wanted to do.  I think my arms look like something reflected back in one of those carnival distortion mirrors.  Go, Go, Gadget Mommy Picture Taking Arms!!!!  Jack is clearly upset that he didn't get to push the button.  

Hope you enjoyed the montage of pictures!  

I Almost Killed Finn

Our family has survived a lot since the last posting. Finn fell from the kitchen island, which was 100% my fault and Jack had his first dental visit.


So most of you who read this have heard the Finn fall story already, but for those of you who haven't, here goes: Finn was in his carseat sitting on the kitchen island (MISTAKE NUMBER 1). I pulled the handlebar back to remove him from the carseat. In walks Jack from the garage. He's walking like he just rode a bull and is saying "I poopie on the potty?" in a fretful voice which means he actually had already pooped in his pants. I run Jack to the bathroom and leave Finn sitting there, still strapped into his carseat (MISTAKE NUMBER 2). After about 10 seconds, I hear a bang. I immediately know what the bang is, return to the kitchen to see the carseat upside down on the tile floor and Finn's chubby little legs sticking out from under it. I never would have imagined that Finn could weasle himself and the carseat over the edge of the island. Let's just say I learned it the hard way. After tears shed by all 3 of us present, an 'okay' given by our pediatrician and more self inflicted guilt trips than you dare imagine, we're piecing our lives back together. Since I have been a mother, nothing has shaken me to the core like this. I felt terrible. So why am I blogging about it? For some reason it feels like due punishment to have cyberspace and the few Ussery blog readers know what an idiotic thing it was that I did. The other reason is for all reading parents to know they should never get their kids in or out of a carseat unless it's on the ground! Lesson learned.

Finn was fine other than a busted lip and sore nose. He's 6 months old today, which is so hard to believe. I'll post his stats soon. He has his check up tomorrow.

On Monday, Jack had his first dental appointment. John and I were THRILLED to find out that his teeth do not have any cavities! Yet. We've been blessed with the horrible teeth gene and dread the day that we see our children suffering the dental drills and spit suckers on a regular basis. We are thankful that Jack loves to brush his teeth. Flossing is another story, but we try.

He did enjoy the dentist's office. There were TVs on the ceiling, one of which was playing Ratatouille. So he just chilled and watched a movie while they poked and prodded his pearly whites. Dr. Hubbard did say that his teeth are close together which indicates a future need for braces. Better add that to the list of things to start saving for!

I was folding clothes in Finn's nursery yesterday and looked over to find this cute scene. Jack and Finn were playing together! It was so cute. Finn was pulling Jack's hair and Jack was saying "Ouch" in baby talk, which was funny. He hears us talking to him that way and assumes that's what he needs to do as well. I hope the trend of brotherly love continues.

Jack is the master at messy face pictures. On this particular day he was enjoying the hazlenut/cocoa wonder of Nutella. He called it his chocolate sandwich.

Oh, and by the way.....GO HEELS!!!!

Savannah

Saturday was one of the many days that John and I felt blessed to be living in this part of the country. The weather was absolutely beautiful!!! He had the weekend off, so we took the moment and ran with it...to SAVANNAH!!! The boys enjoyed touring around in the stroller, and we had fun breathing in the smell of Spring.



We went to Forsyth Park which sits in the middle of the historic district of Savannah. There are wide open fields and several playgrounds. We even caught parts of a Rugby match going on. What a strange and dangerous sport. I fully expected to see the gamers guzzling hard liquor instead of Gatorade from their water bottles. But it was water...I think.

John pushed the stroller most of the day while I brought back Chapel Hill memories by tripping on all of the uneven brick paths. I was lucky to emerge without any skinned knees.




We hit up a pretty fun playground when we first got there. John loved the slide as much as Jack did!

Finn finished off the day with some toe sucking. He likes to show off how limber and disgusting he is all at once!

Hope everyone is having a great week!

GO HEELS!!!! (dook round 2 on saturday at 9)