Finn Finn is 8 months!

Finn feeding himself some cereal.

doing the Army-crawl

It's been a big month for Finn. He is a pro at sitting and started doing the Army low-crawl a few weeks ago. He can really get around! He's getting up on all fours and rocking, but Cullen preferred the low-crawl to conventional crawling for months... Another milestone Finn has reached is feeding himself finger foods. He loves it and it makes mealtime a little easier, having something to preoccupy him while I'm getting food on the table. The stinker still won't take a bottle, but will just about take a sippy cup if it has orange juice in it. (A boy after my own heart, I'm not a fan of apple either.) He absolutely loves bath time, he's a little fish; not getting upset if he's splashed in the face.

room mom/ kids say the darndest things

I was room mother in Cullen's class again Tuesday. I love helping in his room and being able to sit back and watch him interact with his peers. My job was the painting station, it was really messy, but fun! Cullen was really excited to be the leader for the day. He took his job very seriously! He brought in another one of his favorite books for show and tell and helped me pick out the class snack (Teddy Grahams, bananas, and peach white grape juice) which he helped serve.

They are having a field day the last day of school. I signed up to run the Simon Says station... This is a hilarious age, that should be a riot.

Speaking of hilarious... Sean has referred to Finn being full "on boobie milk" two times that I can recall... So anyway, the boys and I and were out shopping Monday when Finn started getting fussy. When Cullen says loudly "What's wrong Finn, do you need some boobie milk??" I died. Then looked over my shoulder and high tailed it out of there! (There were some people within earshot... bet they got a good chuckle.) Thanks Sean.

soccer, ducks, park

Getting ready to feed the ducks

Poor Finn is wearing most of his OJ.
Guess I should know better than to give him a sippy in the car!

Cullen and Grayson playing at the park.

Finn all bundled & ready to watch Cullen play soccer.

Cullen had his first soccer practice and scrimmage Saturday morning. Last week was canceled due to our snowstorm; and this week they canceled right after everyone got there b/c of the cold and drizzle. :( And we're going to miss the next two weeks while we're in KS. Good thing Cullen has lots of experience kicking around soccer balls with CoCo!

super heroes (it's in their blood)

The boys this Halloween

Me at 3 for Halloween

I knew I dressed up as Superman for Halloween one year... and I just came across this picture. God bless my mom for honoring my wishes on what I wanted to be that year. :) And boy, have Halloween costumes come a loooong way.

Mr. Biggs

shooting the foam balls

sweaty boy after the bounce house

We went to Mr. Biggs Saturday. That place is really cool they have everything- bowling alley, laser tag, bounce houses, miniature golf, go carts, and a "little town" for the toddlers to play and climb. Cullen had the time of his life. Finn and I had to wait in line an hour for Sean and Cullen to ride the go carts, but they both enjoyed it. :)

picnic playdate at the park

rolling down the hill

We met Kenton (Cullen's preschool buddy) and his mom and sister at the park yesterday for a playdate. The boys had so much fun!! It was so cute to see them following each other around the park. Finn and Addison had fun sitting on the blanket and staring at each other. :) We are loving the warmer weather (after our snowstorm last week)!

hooah

Sean being pinned.

Sean's dad, Paul, made it out for the ceremony.

With some team guys who also received awards.

Cullen sitting patiently.

Sean was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor on Wednesday. Poor Finn is cutting his top teeth, so I was walking with him the majority of the ceremony. I wasn't able to get many pictures, but Paul took a few for me. Sean was also interviewed by the Colorado Springs newspaper afterwards. Here's a link if you want to read it online: Gazette article and here's another article from an Army website: Army article Thank God they all came home safe! I'm sure glad I don't know the specifics of what he's doing (at the time) when he's deployed!

Happy Easter!

Cullen found were the Easter Bunny hid his basket.

"Are you kidding me, this is it? Have you seen Cullen's basket?"

It was a Spiderman/Scooby-Doo Easter...

The neighbors hid some eggs in the front yard for Cullen.
(Lovely weather we had...)

Finn loved the little rabbits!!

Hope everyone had a good Easter! We had a fun Easter. Cullen got up bright and early to hunt for his (and Finn's) basket. It was hard to pull him away from it to eat breakfast and get to church. He was even a perfect angel in church! (It's still hit and miss with him.) After nap Cullen went out and found some eggs the neighbors hid for him (in the snow!). Then we had two single Soldiers over for an early dinner. I think Cullen summed it up well, before bed he told me "Mom, this was a good day!" :)

hunting & decorating eggs

Cullen at the egg hunt (he still looks sleepy).

How sweet is the reward!

Ummm, chocolate....

Decorating the eggs

Finn "helping"

I took Cullen to an Easter egg hunt Saturday morning. Sean and Finn stayed behind, it was snowing and we weren't sure if it would be moved indoors. Luckily it was moved in, it was freezing! Cullen wasn't too into the hunt, he was more interested in the toys around the room. The goal was to find as many eggs as you could, the boy and girl that found the most got a big prize- but everyone left with a bag of candy. Some of the eggs had change in them, so that motivated Cullen a little more... Cullen found 54 eggs, and the boy who won found 400!!

preschool tales

Cullen had an Easter Party at preschool today. He was so wound up and was excited to go thru his Easter Basket (each parent brought in something for the kids to put in everyones basket). I asked him what they had for snack today, he told me Mickey Mouse cupcakes (it was a girls b-day). Then I asked him what drink they had, he said "I don't know, I didn't want it... it was princess cups." I told him it was okay to drink from a princess cup. He replied "No, mom, I not a gurl. I am a boy. Okay? I drink from a princess cup, I be a gurl. I don't want to be a gurl. I be a gurl later, okay mom?" But I doubt he would have turned down the cupcake had there been a princess on it... :)

Wow, already at the age of 3 he shows such strong gender preferences! I didn't notice any girls in his class getting upset about the Diego cups we brought in when I was room mom...

Here's my Spiderman scaling the wall...

I was in the kitchen, with my back to Cullen, when I hear him call me. This is what I turned around to... :) In other random news, Finn's second tooth broke through today.

Cuddles visits again

getting ready to watch the movie

Meeting Red...

We had Cuddles again last week. We took Cuddles to see Monsters vs Aliens in IMAX 3D. It was the first movie Sean and I have seen in 3D too, it was really cool! Cullen enjoyed it and actually kept the glasses on the whole time. Finn watched for awhile and then fell asleep. After the movie we went to Red Robin for dinner. As luck would have it, Red was there and came by to meet Cullen and Cuddles.

eggstravaganza

Finn waiting with daddy in the line to meet Spiderman.
Ohh the drool!

Cullen with the pinwheel he painted.

Ohh the excitement! Cullen meets Spiderman.

The boys with the Easter Bunny.
Cullen said "This one is for gurls."

We went to the Eggstravaganza on the base today. It was madness, TONS of people showed up. Sean and Finn spent the WHOLE time in line to meet Spiderman (and the Easter Bunny). Cullen and I ventured off to see and do other things: the bounce house, Easter egg hunt, painting the pinwheel, etc. It was worth the insane lines though, Cullen was beyond excited!