For the Love of Crocs...

In January, we had Finley's 18-month pictures taken by Mary Moua Photography. Mary came to our house and I was wondering how Finley would do, he seems to become straight-faced any time the camera gets pulled out...yup, he did this day too. Here are a few smiling shots Mary posted on her blog and the last one with said, "straight face".

This week was our return to normal, it was nice to spend time at home and not be running in a 1,000 directions. I mentioned last week that Finley likes his WI Badger Crocs...it has turned into an obsession!! I am not even joking. The kid begs to wear them everyday! On Monday he wore them to Stephanie's; evidently she puts him to work and he doesn't look happy about it ;)
Two nights in a row, he got out of the tub just to put his Crocs on, then ran around the house like a crazy-man!
He will sport them with any outfit or jammies...
...he put on his own hat too :)

He has even started SLEEPING in his Crocs! For fear his feet will melt inside the plastic shoes, I carefully take them off once he's asleep.

The warm weather has allowed us to get outside (Crocs do NOT make good puddle shoes). Finley loves to be outside and cries when it's time to come in....

...he's also figured out that Daddy is more fun outside, he stood and looked at the snowmobiles.

For my FB friends, "the gift"...Since Grandma's passing, each family member was told to make a list of keepsake items of Grandma's they'd like. My parents, aunts, and uncles have begun the large job of sorting/cleaning out at her house; Finley and I stopped by Thursday morning when my mom was there. But first - if anyone is wondering where my dad and I get our organizational skills, you need to look no further than my Grandma's junk drawer...she's got everything sorted! Pencils are rubber-banded to other pencils, pens are rubber-banded to pens, the twisties off bread bags have their own spot - WOW, it's beautiful!!

Back to the gift...when my Grandma used to winter in AZ, she would Christmas shop in August, then when she returned a few days before the holidays, everything was bought, wrapped and ready to go (again, organized!). My mom and I were looking through her office closet (where she kept these gifts all year), and we discovered some wrapped items - three were not marked for recipients, one was to Randi Jo and the last one I pulled out said:
My heart sunk. A gift for me, from Grandma! I opened it and found a Swarovski owl figurine. I'm not a collector of owls, but this little owl means the world to me. We have no idea when she bought it (we're guessing 4-5 years ago, since my mom has helped her with holiday shopping the last few years), but at one time she saw this owl and thought of ME. It has a new home in our dining room display cabinet, the hand-written tag is safely tucked inside. I love it.

This week I showed Finley how to set dominoes in a line and push them over, he thought that was cool until he discovered...

...that dumping them out (over and over and over) is much more fun!

On Friday afternoon, Patrick, Heidi, Ryan and I dropped the kids off to Grandpa & Grandma's for their first overnight with all three boys.
Spencer and Finley kept Grandpa & Grandma busy! They took all three boys out to dinner, we heard that was "fun". They brushed their teeth...
...took a colorful bath...
...and got into their jammies!

For the actual overnight, Grandpa & Grandma decided to divide and conquer...Grandpa took Finley to our house to sleep and Grandma stayed with Spencer & Easton.
Grandpa was up early (I forgot to turn my alarm off, it goes off at 4:30 each morning!!); after Finley was up, they headed back for breakfast and more playing.

So, what were the parents up to?? My parents had bid on and won luxury-suite tickets to a Milwaukee Admirals game at the Bradley Center. We had a great time - eating, drinking, talking smart and celebrating early birthdays for Ryan and I.
We even got sneaky...the suite provides snacks, pizza, pop, beer and wine - gasp, no Captain! Knowing this from last year, we hid mini bottles of Captain in our socks and boots. Here we are enjoying our first secret cocktail!
We enjoyed our adult night...until the evening's entertainment began...Yo Gabba Gabba! Are you kidding?!?! Anyone familiar with kid's TV knows who Yo Gabba Gabba is - singing creatures that kids are sucked into! We couldn't get away from kid's stuff - last year it was the Bodeans!
Saturday was my birthday and today (Sunday) is Ryan's. When we returned to EC, we shared a low-key birthday dinner with our kids and my parents.
Thanks for all the birthday wishes - between cards, phonecalls, emails and FB - I got so many!