Thursday, December 30, 2010

Winter Fun with Finley
















During our Christmas weekend, Finley and the fam had tons of outdoor fun. Our backyard is a winter wonderland due to the 2 plus feet of snow so we passed the time sledding and snowshoeing. Finley took a couple spills on the sledding hill, so we're not sure if she'll be willing to try that again this year, but she felt pretty cool snowshoeing with the big kids in her "little bears". Not only are they highly functional, they are maybe the most adorable things we've ever seen!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Christmas with Grandma Julie







Christmas came to its finale when Grandma Julie and Jimmy came. Finley had to show off the ixl she got from Grandma and Grandpa Bernhardt, one of her favorite gifts. It teaches her to write, holds digital pictures and mp3s, reads books, and she can draw pictures on it. It's almost as good as the iPhone she wanted! She also thoroughly enjoyed the gift Grandma Julie brought - no, it wasn't garbage - everyone got snow shoes! Finley felt pretty cool hanging with the big kids in the backyard, "floating" on the snow. We will get lots of good use out of them this year, for sure!
Thanks everyone for a very blessed Christmas! We love you all!

Peterson Christmas














































Finley's Christmas' continued on Friday when Grandma Belva and Grandpa Tim came,
followed by Josh and Jill and Luke and Annie. Finley spent most of the day in bed with the stomach flu, but she did manage to open some presents and draw a picture for Santa to leave with the milk and cookies. Luke and Annie brought lots of fun stuff from Spain and Ireland and Josh and Jill's Lite Brite was as much a hit with Auntie Annie as it was with Finners! We all enjoyed some relaxing downtime before the rest of the Petersons came. We had 27 people at our house for Christmas dinner. We ate a 35 pound turkey and some of the most beautiful dishes and desserts ever, thanks to Belva and the Aunts. And, thanks to Mother Nature, we had some great outdoor activities. Our hill in the backyard turned out to be one awesome sledding hill and it left some sore legs and backs on the old "kids" who spent a couple of hours trekking up and down it. Finley went down it once with Auntie Jill but she got snow sprayed in her face so she spent most of the time watching. The Petersons sure know how to party, though, and we all stayed up too late and drank too many bottles of wine. It was a very Merry way to spend our first Christmas in our home.

Christmas at Grandma Brenda and Grandpa Kevin's

















Finley's Christmas adventures began on Thursday when she drove with her mom and sister to Waseca. Daddy had to work so he came later for dinner and gifts (after he dropped his brand new iPhone in the toilet). Grandma Brenda had the most BEAUTIFUL tree we had ever seen and the girls had a great time organizing the presents before getting in trouble for doing so. Finley wasn't feeling well, although we didn't know it until the next day when she threw up several times, so she wasn't all that happy - until she opened her TWINKLE TOES! All night long, she kept waking up and saying, "I can't believe Santa knew I wanted Twinkle Toes," and "How did Santa know to bring me Twinkle Toes here?" She has barely taken them off since getting them!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Happy Birthday, Sadie!











Sadie turns 7 on December 9th and she celebrated her birthday last Saturday just as she celebrated her 6th birthday - at Shana's Dance Studio! This was a real treat for Finley since she takes dance from Miss Shana and absolutely LOVES it. Finley was younger than everyone by 3 years, but she certainly held her own doing the crafts and the dance. And, not to brag, but Miss Shana said Finley has talent! Of course, I never had any doubt ;)




Finley's Advent "Puzzle"















Last year, Grandma Brenda gave Finley an Advent calendar and we kept forgetting it at her house in Waseca so we never got to use it. This year, we broke it out well in advance of December 1st so we would be sure to put it to good use. It's a really cool advent calendar because instead of opening a door and finding something behind it every day, you take a mini book out and hang it on the tree as an ornament. Each of the books are different sizes and fit in a different place inside the bigger book so Finley thought it was a puzzle. Every day, Finley looks forward to finding her puzzle piece and hanging it on her very own tree. Merry Christmas!





Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Finley Update




Finley celebrated her 4th Thanksgiving and had a blast with the Skancke side of the family. We stayed in a hotel and Auntie Gloria and Cousin Jake came to visit. Those wild and crazy relatives inspired her wild and crazy side to come out, as can be seen by the swimsuit-on-the-head moment (notice it had no effect on Grandpa Kevin, sleeping on the couch). Finley also has had lots of bonding time with Sienna and still loves to take good care of her. She has even changed a diaper all by herself!! Way to go, Big Sister!


Sunday, November 28, 2010

Full Moon in the Kitchen

Finley spent about an hour one evening last week washing all the dishes in her drawer. As the time went by, her pants slipped lower and lower. Everytime she reached up to turn the water on or off, we got a view of a full moon. Again, this child takes after her mother ;)

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

OCD much?



For those of you who don't check facebook regularly, these are Finley's OCD moments of late. I have no idea from where she gets this desire for order? ;)

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Happy Winter!




Finley enjoyed the first snowfall of the year with Sadie and Uncle Luke this weekend. After spending the weekend trekking through the snow and playing hard, she had to refuel with a chicken leg. P.S. The binky by her plate is only getting used at home when she's tired.


Monday, November 1, 2010

Trick-or-Treat!








Finley went trick-or-treating as a pink cowgirl with her referee cousin, Sadie. The little lady wasn't quite complete since she refused to wear the adorable pink rhinestone cowgirl hat that Uncle Luke bought her, but she was darned cute nonetheless. We made our traditional Halloween rounds, going to Ryan and Teri's, Steve and Sondra's, and Megan and Sadie's neighborhood and the girls got enough candy to keep them happy for quite awhile. Thanks to the beautiful weather, it was one of the more pleasant Halloweens I can remember :)


Mommy's/Finley's/Sienna's First Day Back at School and Daddy's First Day at His New Job

Today was Mommy's first day back at school and it started with the natural alarm clock of Sienna having a major blow-out at 5:20 am. Of course, in the process of cleaning her up, Finley woke up. Right away she knew this day was different and she said, "Mom, I feel a little sad today." When I asked her why, she told me she didn't want me to go back to work and she started bawling. She bawled on the floor of the bathroom the entire time I took a shower and she wouldn't let go of me when I got out. Cam, who stayed up late working on his school project, was going on 3 hours of sleep to top it off. Due to all the commotion, I didn't get to school early like I'd planned and only had 15 minutes before the kids came in. Naturally, this time was spent in my office pumping instead of getting organized and figuring out what I was actually going to do in class. I managed to make it through my day...but just barely.

Meanwhile, Cam drove his project to school in Minneapolis while Luke watched the girls. When he returned, he got the girls ready and headed to Kids Count. Finley got to move up to the next classroom and she was busy all day playing with her old friends and meeting new ones. Daddy said Finley came up to him twice and said she needed him but she immediately went back to her classmates without any problem. Miss Carrie said Sienna reminded her of Finley when she cried, although she didn't do it much! All things considered, the day was as smooth as it could be and we're all looking forward to getting into a routine again.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Finley Doesn't Want to Grow Up

This morning, Finley came to me with tears in her eyes saying, "I don't want to get big like you, Mom." I asked her why and she said, "Because I want to wear my little girl clothes." She started bawling and just kept saying, "I don't want to get big." I told her, "Well, that's the way God made us. We start out little and we have to get big." She said, "Well, maybe we can ask that lady, Pastor Mary, if she can help me." I told her that was a good idea but I didn't think it would change anything ;) What a little smarty.

Monday, October 18, 2010