The Family That Blogs Together...

The family that blogs together, stays together. Right? Kyle has started his own blog, detailing his quest to SuperNova Elite. (SNE) I won't even begin to try to explain it on here, but if you're interested in Kyle's professional poker playing career, check out his blog, "CAPture SNE" at http://capturesne.blogspot.com/. I've also got it linked on this blog over on the right hand side, under "favorite Blogs". A word of advice, start at the beginning (March 24) otherwise you won't have a clue what he is talking about.

Aidan and Aubrey had their last birthday bash on Saturday night when Grandpa and Aunt Marsha came over for dinner. Yes, that makes 4(!) times that Aidan got to celebrate his birthday, and 3 times for Aubrey. There's no question about it, they both know exactly how old they are and can show you on their fingers. Practice makes perfect.

Opening presents with Grandpa

Pinocchio that Grandpa got for Aidan in Italy

In the coveted new Thomas the Train shirt
Thank you, Aunt Marsha!

Dumpster Diving in her future?

Birthday Bashes

Fantastic Fish Cupcakes made by Nana

Celebrating birthdays in the Dells

Aubrey and Aidan's birthday party

She's ONE!

Happy Birthday, Aidan and Aubrey!

With two small kids that have birthdays only 5 days apart, it's more like "birthday week". And since we were at the Dells last weekend with my family, the kids are getting multiple celebrations.
My mom made these awesome fish cupcakes to celebrate with the kids. Aidan and Aubrey opened their presents from Nana, Poppa, Kali, Kyle, and Reese last weekend at the Dells. Aubrey is now outfitted for the summer and Aidan has his new wheels to burn off excess energy.

This weekend was Aubrey's actual birthday (3/26). We combined her 1st birthday party with Aidan's 3rd birthday party. Since Aubrey doesn't really have any "friends" yet, she got to share Aidan's friends. :) In my infinite wisdom, I thought it would be easy and fun to have the kids play at the local YMCA's indoor kid's gym. Fun, definitely a yes. Easy, not really. However, the kids had a great time and that's all that matters. They ran around, played, figured out every way possible to go down a slide, painted some crafty caterpillars, and then ate some cake/cupcakes. My kiddos were worn out, and I'm assuming everyone else was too!

Aidan turns 3 on Thursday. (3/31) We'll keep it low key and just open a few presents from mom and dad. Then, on Saturday, Grandpa Finn and Great-Aunt Marsha are coming over for dinner. Mick has been enjoying Rome for the past week, so we can't wait to hear all about his adventures!

Spring Break!

As always, I'm trying to pack as much action as possible into spring break. Yesterday I visited the eye doctor and tomorrow Aidan and I head to the dentist for Aidan's first dentist appointment. (he is very excited) The rain today is forcing my hand and we're staying inside for crafts and Sesame Street and other low-key activities. I'm wishing I had gotten groceries yesterday when it was decent outside.

Last weekend we met my parents and Kali's family for a few fun-filled days at the WI Dells. Holy buckets, that place is over-stimulating! The kids loved it, and I loved getting to spend time with my family.

Up next we've got Aubrey's birthday on the 26th and Aidan's birthday on the 31st. Can you believe they're going to be 1 and 3??? I cannot. I still need to figure out birthday presents and what kind of cake to make. I think that will be added to my list of things to do today.

Aidan's birthday present from Nana and Poppa...
a new set of wheels

The "open-mouthed" stare

This is how we were all feeling on Sunday
morning while trying to pack up

Checking out the "Ladies Man"

Having a blast at the indoor water park

"Easy"

I think "easy" is a word that is thrown around lightly in the cooking world. Perhaps, each recipe should be tested with two little ones "helping" in the kitchen before it can earn the high honor of being "easy". Really, if it were that "easy" I would not have onions burning on the stove while my almost-three-year-old is touching raw bacon on the counter, and my almost-one-year-old is screaming on the floor because she wants in on the action. I've found that recipes are "easy" only when they involve minimal ingredients and cook in 15 minutes or less. Even better, I like when they come frozen and all I have to do is set the timer and cook them in the oven.

March

Dear Winter,
Go away. In protest of your continued snowstorms, I have changed the background of this blog to a more festive St. Patrick's Day green. Please take the hint.

Sincerely,
The Finn Family

11 Months Old

Aubrey's favorite aunt requested a blog dedicated to Aubrey. Apparently I don't talk about her enough. Blame it on second child syndrome.

At 11 months old Aubrey:
~weighs about 19 lbs
~can pull herself up on just about anything
~likes to open and close drawers...making me very nervous that she's going to chop a finger off
~dislikes Aidan or Roxie anywhere near her and she lets them know by screeching like a banshee
~still only has her two bottom teeth
~is a cuddlebug with both Kyle and I, and she's overcoming her fear of other people
~has curly hair when it's wet, and very wavy hair when it's dry. I love it.
~takes two naps a day and sleeps 12-13 hours at night
~eats like a horse and is still a tiny peanut. We're not sure where it goes, but I would like to share her metabolism

Snow Much Fun

When life gives you this...
you've got to get creative. I pulled out every trick I could think of, and I still resorted to the iPad by Monday afternoon. Aidan played in the snow (technically I threw him in the snow and he thought that was fun), we made crafts, we trekked up to Grandpa's house twice, we got out the ball pit, and we read lots of books.

Ball Pit: Minute 1...Kind of fun

Ball Pit: Minute 2...Get me outta here!

Cardboard box fun

The "I haven't left the house in 48 hours" look

iPad, we love you

Inspiration

I need some. Inspiration, that is. My brain is feeling sluggish due to multiple 12 hour work days this month, not to mention two rambunctious kids. I need some inspiration for blog posts and my thoughts are turning toward "birthday month". Also known as March. Aubrey will be turning 1 and Aidan will be turning 3 ....with a mere 5 days in between their birthdays. Do I want to have a party at our house? Do I want to have a party somewhere else? Do I want to have a party at all? For the next few years the kids will be sharing a party. It's not like they've got their own sets of friends yet, and really, all little kids want to do is run around and eat cake. Hmm, what to do? Please send any inspirational ideas my way.

BTW...my sister and Reese were up for a visit last weekend. Check out her blog for pics and a recap.

Family February

Nana and Poppa were here the first weekend of February, Kali and Reese are coming up this weekend...it's Family Month!

Last weekend we braved the (not too) cold temps and headed downtown St Paul to visit the annual Winter Carnival. It was the 125th anniversary, but there were no grand spectacles or ice castles this year. Thank you poor economy. They did have some pretty awesome ice sculptures though, and we got to eat out for lunch. Always a bonus.

St Paul Winter Carnival

Ice Dog

How do you cart a baby around without a stroller? Just strap it to your back!

Ice Throne

Dam(n)

Dam/Damn is the homophone of the week at the Finn household. Ginormous ice dams can be seen on our roof and the expletive, damn, can be heard flying out of Aidan's mouth at random times. What, you ask? How could that sweet boy have ever learned such a word? Hmm, maybe you should ask Kyle. Enough said. It's probably a good thing that Aidan spent most of the time indoors as Kyle was roof-raking and chipping away at the ice dam. I'm sure he would have come back inside with a much larger vocabulary than just "dam/damn".