Christmas

Christmas was so fun this year! We started off having a Christmas celebration with my Grandma Pruitt, Aunt, and cousins on Tuesday. We then spent Christmas Eve at my mom's house in Lindale. Finn had fun playing with his 3 step-cousins. It was the first year that Finn really understood the concept of Santa, and he was really excited to leave a plate of cookies and milk for him. He got one gift from Santa that morning before we headed over to Rick's sisters house in Austin. We stayed the night there, then went back to Tyler to see my Dad, Grandma Donnelly, and Aunt Susan. Even though it was a lot of driving, it was great to get to see everyone.

Erin leaves to go to England tomorrow. I know Finn will miss his Aunt Ern (his pronunciation). Hopefully I can go visit her while she is there.

Today is Finn's BFF Aidan's birthday. Happy Birthday Aidan!

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Ready for Christmas

Haven't posted much in a while- we are just getting ready for Christmas over here. Finn has been very interested in the wrapped gifts around the house, and can tell you exactly which gifts belong to whom, especially him. I have been working on teaching him about the reason why we celebrate Christmas. If you ask him what is happening next week, he will tell you that it is Baby Jesus' birthday. We are going to busy traveling around this next week. We will be going to Dallas, Tyler, Austin, and back to Tyler. Finn had his 3 year check-up with his new pediatrician this week. Everything went well. Finn seems to be flat-footed like his Daddy. Finn has had a major growth spurt- he is almost 39 inches tall- in the 75th percentile. Finn no longer uses his pacifier which makes it take a really long time for him to get to sleep at night. He does have a new habit- thumb and finger sucking, but he has done suprisingly well not asking for his pacifier. We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and I will post pictures after the holidays!

Third Birthday

Yes, the rumors are true. My sweet baby boy Finn is no longer a baby- he turned 3 yeas old today. Time has gone by so fast. It seems like yesterday that we were driving on an icy bridge to make it for my induction, because we couldn't wait to meet Finn.
Finn has had a busy but low-key birthday celebration this year. On Saturday, we had a small family party. The theme was Curious George, along with a homemade Curious George Cupcake Cake. Finn enjoyed being the center of attention and showing off his new dance-cam skills.
Today Finn had Mothers- Day-Out. We brought some Cars cupcakes to school so that he could enjoy them with his classmates. Then they sang Happy Birthday to him, which was really cute. Finn loves singing it to himself.
Tonight we went to Build-A-Bear for Finn's first time ever. he picked out a zebra that he named Marty, after the zebra from Madagascar. We put one of his pacifiers inside Marty while they were stuffing him, to symbolize Finn not needing a pacifier anymore. Finn was not so excited about that part, and will probably gnaw open the thing by morning to get it out. Finn also picked out a construction worker ensemble for Marty to wear.
We ate at a cute 50's style diner called The Purple Cow. He finished the night with a big purple milkshake. Marty had to eat with us, of course.

Finn is finally potty trained and just barely made it my goal for him to be potty trained by the age of three. I'm really proud of him. It took a lot of patience, candy, and bribery.

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Thanksgiving

We had a very busy Thanksgiving week. B'Kay came in town with Tera, Scot, and Finn to celebrate Thanksgiving last weekend. We showed them around Ft. Worth and went to Fossil Rim, the wildlife park. Finn had a great time seeing Rick's family, especially playing around with his cousin Jaxx.

Finn and I went to my mom's house on Monday. We helped get everything ready for our Thanksgiving meal. On Thursday, we had our Thanksgiving lunch with my mom, Doyle, Erin, Zach, my Aunt Amy, Brent, Will, and Grandma Pruitt. It was great to see everybody and there was so much food. Finn refused to eat anything but rolls. Then, we had Thanksgiving dinner with my Dad and Grandma Donnelly.
It was a very busy week, but a lot of fun. Our family has a lot to be thankful for this year.

Santa

I know that we haven't even had Thanksgiving yet, but I have been really trying to get Finn excited about Christmas this year. So, I decided to go ahead and take Finn to get his picture taken with Santa at the mall. The closer you get to Christmas the longer the lines get, and Finn is not known for his patient line waiting.

I was worried that Finn would get scared once we got up there, because he has been going through a scaredy-cat phase. As soon as we got up there Finn quietly said "Hi Santa." I think he was in shock that he was meeting the "real" Santa. He sat on his lap and got his picture taken without a hitch or a smile. Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he told him a bell. I guess Santa is used to more grandiose requests, because he decided to find a jingle bell to give to Finn. Finn was so excited and carries that thing around everywhere singing "Jingle Bells." Finn got his one Christmas wish- a single jingle bell from Santa, just like in the movie "Polar Express." This is very sweet but I can't help but be a little disappointed that I can't hang over his head that he needs to be a good little boy or Santa won't get him anything for Christmas. Oh well.

Mother's Day Out

Finn will start going to a Mother's Day Out Program on Tuesdays at the North Fort Worth Baptist Church. He is very excited about this, and has been begging me for a while to take him to school to play with "his friends." He brings a sleeping bag with him to school for naps, and this makes Finn think he is a big tough guy.

Other interesting facts about Finn....

* his new favorite food is capers. Yes, capers. He has a very sophisticated palate and calls them "baby pickles"

* his favorite sayings are "I can't like that" (like whenever you try and make him eat his dinner), and "I'm a big man". Finn hates being called a baby now.

* Finn's new favorite show is "Sesame Street". He especially loves Oscar the Grouch (go figure) and Elmo. He loves the Oscar song "I love Trash" and sings along.

* Finn wants one single jingle bell from Santa for Christmas. I think it's so sweet that Christmas hasn't become commercialized for him yet.

* Finn is counting constantly and knows all of his shapes and colors. We are working on letters...

*Finn is the puzzle king. He is really good at doing all sorts of puzzles. he did not acquire this from me.

Victorious!