Finn's Easter Shopping Spree

Today the main event was for Ya-Ya to take us on a shopping spree at the outlet mall. Finn made off like a bandit! Can we say, "metro-sexual"? It took a while for him to let mom and I get him all done up in his new Easter clothes but we finally convinced him after bringing licorice into the equation. The first picture here is midway through the outfit and Finn was clomping around in his shirt and shoes. Ya-Ya bought him a cute blue linnen button up with striped tie and some khaki pants and new Easter shoes and belt. What an outfit! He had the most fun with the shoes as they make a loud "clomp" on the kitchen floor.
This bottom picture is the whole ensamble and he looked HOT!! Can anyone resist these blue eyes and red hair? The only thing missing in the picture is the belt. We couldn't finagle him into that. If you look closely, you can see a morsel of licorice on his cheek. Happy Easter Everyone!

Finnegan Begin-again

Here are some classic pictures of what goes on in our house on a daily basis. Finn has become obsessed with bubbles. He is pretty good at blowing them himself--that is, when he doesn't lick the bubble wand first. We spent the morning on Saturday outside in the front yard and then at the playground. Finn loves to climb the slide the wrong way and then slide down on his tummy. You'd think that getting a tummy burn would dissuade him from doing that over and over again, but not this kid.

Saturday night turned into Watson Family WWF when Finn learned that it was really fun to body-slam his parents and the dog. He laughs rediculously when he lands and then jumps up to do it all over again. Finn is like me in the fact that just before crashing, he gets a random burst of energy and runs around like a maniac. He is the most giggly and fun to be with for the 20 min post bath and pre bedtime.

Learning to Draw

Finn has recently learned to love to color. We started out with the sidewalk chalk and then moved on to crayons. At this stage he still can't decide on whether he is a righty or a lefty. He eats with his left hand but draws with both. Like any kid learning the facinating appeal of colors, he switches crayons mid-line and never draws with the same color for more than 30 seconds.
Eric is trying to help Finn write his name. finn looks perplexed about how to execute the letters but then he gets excited and scribbles with all his might fast and furious. I recycled this paper from a mailed package I got the other day. It is perfect because it is big and can spread over the entire table. That way I don't have to scrub the table clean of crayons.
In the end, Finn saw me using multiple crayons at once and tried it himself. When he was finished, he had created his masterpiece. Not really the first since we sent the first picture to our friends Zoey and Annie in Maryland.

Ya-Ya is here in Hawaii for a week and so we look forward to many fun adventures with her. Hopefully, we will have lots of fun pictures to post. As I type this, Ya-Ya and Eric are encouraging Finn to shove his mouth full of Cherrios and actually chew them. He likes to just take mouthfulls and not swallow. I think he must like the squishyness of soggy cereal.

Boring Blog

This is what Finn would look like if he were behind bars...He loves to sit out on the lanai (fyi...Hawaiian word for portch) and sit with his legs dangling through the bars. He watches all the birds fly around and yells at them. We have quite a few birds living in the tree behind our house because the dog very frequently doesn't finish her food so they hang around close to pick at her leftovers.
Today was sunny and we took advantage. It really has been like 3 weeks of rain! Eric and I were just commenting on how if we wanted to live with constant rain, we would have moved to Seattle! We went to the playground and played on the slide and swings. And yet, Finn wasn't quite as entertained as he is while sitting in Maile's dog house. Whatever. If it makes him happy, he could sleep with her too. He already prefers her food to the stuff I put in front of him.

Eric and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary this last week...I wanted a picture of us to put on the web, but the camera was acting up. It would only take really fuzzy pics of us so unfortunatly there are only pics of Finn. That is really what everyone wants to see anyway, right? Amy Rossi is out-doing me on this whole blogger thing...her posts are much more entertaining than the ones I write. Maybe it's because my son keeps shoving toys in my lap as I type. He is so jealous of the laptop! Whenever Eric or I get on it, he insists on being in our lap or he just comes up and tries to take a swing at it. Hopefully he will get over that and I can put a little more thought into being a pro-blogger.

Eating Noodles

Tonight we ate Alfredo noodles and corn for dinner. Finn did pretty well feeding himself. Then we decorated "Peeps" eggs in preperation for Easter. I know, I know, Easter is another month away but we won't be in Hawaii for Easter so we had better get a jump start.

Today we babysat one of the kids in our ward, Chris. He is 5 and Finn adores him. Finn follows Chris around like a little lost puppy and laughs at everything Chris does. Finn mostly loves to sit in the recliner with Chris and cuddle. I walked into the front room today after cleaning up dinner and Finn was smothering Chris with kisses. It was priceless! They keep each other entertained and they stay out of my hair for the majority of the time Chris is here.

Finn has learned to answer yes and no questions with appropriate yes or no words. It is really fun to hear him...it makes me happy as well as I now feel like I have a somewhat intellegent son. Actually, instead of yes, he says yeah but he does say no. I wonder how long it will be before he starts screaming sentances at me. Sure am looking forward to that! :)

Hawaii's "Balmy" Weather

Here we are today taking advantage of the first daylight without sheets of rain pouring down. It has been so rainy for 2 weeks and much of the island is flooded. Finn has been stir crazy and so today we spent some time outside even though the wind was blowing mock-10. I know some of you are thinking that we must be crazy to be in zipped up jackets and sweats here in Hawaii but it is really COLD! 65 degrees with added wind-chill is like freezing! I heard that today in Utah there was some sort of blizzard so let me just tell all of you Utahn's, WE FEEL YOUR PAIN! :)

Finn really enjoys playing with (and eating) sidewalk chalk. He usually takes chalk in both hands and then walks to each and every driveway in a 20-foot radius and places his "mark" on the ground. The dog usually follows him and rubs her face all over in the "mark" when he has moved on to the next driveway. You can see here, we have already taught him to write his own name. he he he

We also played on his bike that Ya-Ya bought him for his first birthday. He is just barely grasping the whole "ride on it" thing...up until this point, he just liked to push it around. And then, just before going inside, we played a game of stairway peek-a-boo. That is always a fun game.

Finn in the bath

Tonight we gave Finn a pretty shabby haircut...I am most definately NOT a professional. I did my best though. Some of you are thinking...at least it isn't a mo-hawk. Believe me, we thought about it. :)

So afterward, he got directly into the bathtub. The bath seems to be the only thing that makes him happy these days. He has become such a whiner! I don't know if it is because of his teeth or growth spurts or what. Whatever it is, it is really annoying. Poor Eric gets the brunt of it all too. Finn must view Eric as one big consoling teddy bear. Every second he is home it seems like all Finn does is whine at him. He hangs on his shorts and just wants Eric to hold him. He doesn't do that to me (thank goodness!) but Eric is on his last string.

So back to the bath. Finn routinely takes his orange cup and dumps water on his head (a trick he learned in Maui from his freind Camden). Sometimes if Eric is lucky, Finn dumps water all over Eric and the floor. It was a little more comical tonight since Eric had just finished cleaning the bathroom. Loved it! All in all, it is both Finn and Eric's favorite time of the night...mostly because it means that time is drawing near for Finn to be locked away in his crib! J/K.

Finn thinks he is a Dog

Lately Finn has taken to not only eating Maile's food but hanging out in her house. He loves to chill in the kennel and shut both he and the dog in. It is great fun and keeps him out of our hair. The only downfall is when we forget to put the dog's food away and he comes away with doggy-breath. He gets an immediate tooth-brushing visit to the bathroom!

Aloha!

Aloha Everyone! Here is just a little insight into our family living all the way in Hawaii. We thought that if you could see the photos's and hear the stories you would understand a little of what our life is filled with. We hope it brings you at least a little enjoyment.