Finn

I skipped his second nap yesterday, which meant I was left with a couple of hours of him needing constant attention and entertainment. yay! I figured I may as well take advantage of the situation and snap a few.   

(Yes I wear work-out pants every day.  We'll just pretend that I have 7 different pairs :/.) A new past- time of Finn's... climbing through my legs every time I stand still for a moment.. 

 But mostly he's reaching for me and screaming so I'll pick him up.

But sometimes I can't because I'm too busy --

with things like photographing him while he's screaming for me to pick him up.  I'm an awful mom. 

Are you noticing these fun little strawberry curls in the back?  Who knows where they came from, but I'm in love.

On another note, Ross' parents are watching the kids this weekend while we do a little weekend "away" for our anniversary! It's not until the 3rd, but we're celebrating now-- starting with two nights close by, in Palm Springs, and then one at a beach house with our good friends, Brooke and Tyson on Saturday.  Mila's been surprisingly sweet the last couple of days, so I'm not counting down to the SECOND.  Just the minute.  

 I am SO. excited.

Florida Through the Phone

It all started in Ontario.... for leg one, of THREE legs of flights.  We started happy.  Finn roamed his first airport lookin' all cute and big and I took pictures and thought, my kids are so rad, maybe it won't be so bad.  Ha.

They're still rad, but it was bad.  It's always bad traveling with a baby isn't it? Especially when they're young and you don't have to buy a seat-- so you don't because you think the suffering is worth the many hundreds you're saving.  But then the flight is full and you're ACTUALLY stuck with the lap child on your lap (or your sweet husband's lap) and your cute babe is eventually driven by exhaustion and cabin pressure and too many fruit snacks being desperately shoved in his mouth to become something wild and awful and out of control.  And there's no where to go. And no where to hide.  And people try not to watch but they're all watching.  It's enough to make a person want to jump out the emergency exit.  

You see this is why Ross held him almost the whole time.  He deals with that kind of stress far better than I.  Thank you Ross.  And I'm sorry, sweet Finn.... I know it's not your fault.  If it was socially acceptable for me to cry and scream and arch and throw my head back in exhaustion after hours of traveling and surviving on snacks because Southwest doesn't do food, I'd do it too.

PHEW--- but eventually, close to midnight, we got to Florida.  And after getting the rental car and driving for a couple of hours.... we got to Aunt Lacy's house.  And the real fun began!

We went on a nature walk to see wild alligators... and we definitely did.... let's take a closer look at that one above.  Here it is below.  Still gives me the eebie jeebies.

We did an awesome little teaching zoo.... so beautiful and green and NOTHING like our dry, dusty wide open, desert zoo.  We got sitters for the babies and floated down the river on inner tubes ... wandered a museum, got a sitter and went to my favorite Gainesville restaurant (that's the picture below where it looks like I have a booty.  Something weird happened there.)... we did Strawberry picking (AWESOME), and ate strawberries at every meal thereafter, we swam, we Easter'd, I saw my old friend, Michelle!, and mostly soaked up my sweet sister and her entertaining husband and darling kids as much as we possibly could.  It's always so so hard to say goodbye.  

Oh and the flight home was SO much better.  One less stop.  And Ross got a whole row on the long flight for him and Finn.  Which meant we could lock him in his seat.  And he could sleep and we could READ! And the girls had the most awesome giggle attack when a little boy behind them all of a sudden said "we're fwying wike a biwd"... and it went on and on and on.  Cutest thing ever.

Easter in Florida

 This is the only day I pulled out the real camera... going through these pictures and taking the time to blog them reminded me why! It just takes so much time!  But I'm glad I have at least a few captured with more than the iphone.

Hope your Easter was colorful and sweet and full of happy kids and too much food .... like ours.

March in Instagrams

So we just got back from Florida, where we went for a week to visit my lovely sister, Lacy and her family.  My girls have been talking about it for months, I've been dreaming about the time with family and waking up in cold-sweats imagining the hours of travel with Finn.  We survived the travel... and we soaked up our sweet loved-ones as best as we could... SO sad to see it end.

I hooked up my phone to get the pictures from the trip and started feeling the OOOPA.  (Out-of-order-posting anxiety.  It's a real thing.  For me.)

So before I could post our fabulous wanderings around Gainesville (mostly documented through my trusty iphone-- I feel like I'm cheating on my nice camera but sometimes convenience just has to win you know?)... anyway--- before I could post those.... had to squeeze in our March.  Looks kind of uneventful.  But I'm convinced that 70-yeard-old me won't think so.  Hmmm.... what did we do......

- Lots of bike/scooter- ing on these beautiful spring evenings
- Giggled a little at the bum crack that we cannot keep covered on Mila... I've tried everything I tell you.
- Watched Finn make silly-squishy faces in the window
- Searched for ladybugs
- Ate lots of greek yogurt with dates/honey/walnuts... a favorite around here
- Enjoyed reading-time on a backyard blanket
- And on the couch
- Fresh flowers
- and the Lorax
- Watched Finn be generally, insanely cute because a wabbly waddling 15-month-old with a huge belly, strawberry-red hair, and a bunch of teeth to growl through is insane.
- Celebrated with Sophia after she lost her first TOOTH! (lost while the poor things was throwing up with a horrible flu.)
- Had a date-night to the Tennis Tournament which was awesome...
- Continued to let Mila choose her own clothes despite the result.
- Had Nana & Grandpa B time!
- And snuggled ... and snuggled.... wore silly glasses.... and snuggled.

Unsuspecting Southwest passengers, here we come.

Had to unload some random photos off of my memory cards before we leave for Florida tomorrow!  And found this one I thought was sweet.  A relatively usual look.... old tears on Finn's face from falling off of something or whacking his head on a corner or having Mila take her toy back or not getting the right food on his tray fast enough or having to have his diaper changed....... the list goes on.  It's hard being 1.

On another note, off to see my sister in Florida! Terrified to take this little guy on the flight tomorrow... but so excited for every moment after that.  Two lay-overs, no seat for Finn, a total of ... I don't know... like seven hours of traveling?  I feel like we're preparing to run a marathon.  Right down to the carb-loading..... if cookies count.... maybe that's called stress eating.

Wish us luck.  And Happy Spring Break!