Somebody's Six!

Happy Birthday to our sweet, sensitive, silly, singing, swinging, schooling, sword-fighting, cereal-eating, Star Wars playing, sister loving, necklace slinging, six-year-old FINNEGAN!

 Six? Really? Finn's 6 already? What just happened? It's strange when your kids get to the age that you can remember yourself being, in great detail. That just goes to show that these moments he has now are engraved in his memory forever. I hope they are good ones. They are for US! Finn is a total joy to be around. He's always exploding with ideas and questions and stories. He LOVES explaining stuff to people. Selah gets the brunt of it. :-) This past year has been a HUGE one for him. He played on his first team sport, basketball and soccer. He started Kindergarten! He learned to ride a bike. He fell in love with Star Wars. He made a best friend. (Though we try not to use those words. We're all best friends, right?) He learned that he can read! And write! And draw! And count by 5's!  Oh there are so many things Finn is soaking up everyday.  The ride to school is such an adventure every morning, just listening in on him talking to our carpool buddy. Today they tried to outdo each other by coming up with the grossest sounding concoction to eat. (soggy broccoli, mayonnaise, and smooshed up banana slugs, with sprinkles...etc,) So much has changed this year....except for the beads. He's still glued to those beads every day after school. He still pretends with them. It seems to be therapeutic for him in some way. He works out all the stuff of the day in those beads, and all the spooky stuff he and his dad read about.  They just finished a chapter book called the Mansion in the Mist. Now they're onto The Book of Three.

One of the most amazing things about young Finnegan Jack is his sense of direction. He's a human compass. He ALWAYS knows where North is. Always. He's had this gift for about a year or two. He's still trying to wrap his head around right and left, but North, South, East, and West are a done deal. He doesn't even say right and left. He says "I sit on the East side of the classroom and Alex now sits on the Northwest side." I mean it's ridiculous. It doesn't matter if we are inside or out. We were in our friends' kitchen last weekend in Santa Rosa and we asked Finn where West was. He took a moment, looked around, and pointed. We asked our friend Ryan. Finn was right! I don't get it. It definitely doesn't come from me. My family still gives me grief for all the times I used to get lost. But I don't worry when I have Finnegan with me!  He's a directional genius.

He's also still a bit of a ham. He's so silly and spooky and dramatic. So is Selah. I don't know where they get it.  Wait. Yes I do. ;-)

Spooky.

Silly

Smart

Serious

Appalled!

Happy.

We skipped a traditional party this year and took Finn and a friend and cousins to this place called Wacky Tacky! It's an indoor jungle gym extravaganza!

These shooter things were pretty rad. There were enough for everyone to have their own. And they shot an endless supply of balls into a room where kids (Selah) played below. It was boy heaven.

Happy Birthday Finn. This is going to be another awesome year for you. I just know it.  :-)

9 months in, 9 months out.

Serin is 9 months old now. She is a hoot. I love her so much. We all do. She is the most easy-going baby in the world. People always ask me if she's always this easy-going. The truth is, she's almost easier when they see her on the go than she is at home. The poor kid has to sit in her car seat from 7:30 to at least 9:00 every morning as I shuttle kids to school and preschool. And she just does it. Without complaint. She used to sleep a lot during that morning run-around. Now she just hangs out and listens and watches the rest of us scramble, probably shaking her head that we're always running late.

Serin is my little one. She seems a lot smaller than Finn and Selah were. She's long and thin and she really clings on to you when you hold her. I love it. She's a little monkey. She's been crawling on hands and knees now since right before 8 months. (she army crawled for a couple months first) Now she is absolutely everywhere, and now she's pulling herself up to standing. Her favorite thing to get into is paper. She likes to flap it around and then tear off a little corner and eat it.  We are constantly on choke-patrol.  She loves eating now.  Prunes and sweet potato are favorites. She took a while to get into the whole solid foods thing, longer than my other two. But Serin's just a little different in a lot of ways. She's more mild-mannered so far too. I wouldn't be surprised if she's on the shy side as a kid. That's ok though. Finn and Selah are such performers....someone's got to be in the audience. :-)   But she does light up when we come into the room. Especially with Finn. They've got a special little thing.

Here are some photos of her....over the past 3 or 4 months. (I've really gotta get on it!)

Sometimes things happen without your knowledge when you have a 3yr old and a baby in the back of the car together.

Finn and Serin have a special little bond.

This is me getting paid for watching my OWN children!

The end of 2011

Wow...I really took a hiatus from this blog! Right before Thanksgiving, my camera battery ran out. When I finally made the time (after 2 months) to make that dumb errand to the only store where I've found them, they were sold out.  Grrrr. Anyways, I realized that I needed to take a break from taking pictures and just live in the now. So I lived in the now through Thanksgiving, Serin's baptism, all the holiday cheer, Christmas Eve and Day, a trip to SB and New Years. It was great! But I'm over it now and I want my camera back. :-)

All we have of the holiday season are a few pics from Nate's phone. The quality is lacking, but I still think they're keepers!

Hams.

Thanksgiving in San Francisco

I said something that upset Finn. This was his true blue reaction. Drama.

Ice skating with Aunt Jo Jo!

 Fast forward past Christmas to a quick trip to Santa Barbara!

Serin's first real beach experience....in the sand. LOVES IT!

That's all for now. I'm still holding out hope that I can mooch some photos from family who used their cameras this holiday season.  ;-)  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!