Frost in the morning

We woke up this morning to the most beautiful frost.  Well, we actually woke up to darkness but that's neither here nor there.  Anyway, when the sun emerged I took advantage of the light and the frost and got to work with my camera.  Here are just a few of my favorites.

A Tiny Little Peanut

Finley is four months old today!  It was around this age that Conor whittled down his night wakings to only once a night.  So, I'm hopeful.  The last few nights have been...challenging.  Morgan is having a hard time breathing at night which leads to snoring which wakes me up which causes me to insist he roll over which makes his nose plug up which makes it hard to breath which leads to snoring which...well I think you get what I'm saying here.

In between our night time battle we have Finley waking up two or three times to eat and Conor bleating like a sheep caught in a fence several times a night and altogether we feel cranky and out of sorts and in desperate need of coffee.

Wait.  What's that you say?  This is the month in which to be thankful?  Mmmmleh.  That is the sound of me sticking my tongue out at you.

So anyway!  Fin is 12 pounds, 11 ounces and 25.5 inches long.  She's in the 25th percentile for weight and the 90th for height.  Our little girl is long and lean.  Ummm, I'm not sure where she came from but she doesn't get either of those attributes from either myself or Morgan. 

She is just the sweetest little peanut though.  So happy and content almost all the time.  And, while the night wakings aren't great, she goes to bed so easily.   She pretty much wants us to lay her down and walk out of the room.  No intricate bedtime routine, no hours of rocking her to sleep.  Just a swaddle and a kiss and good night.  Wow, I love that girl.

She's recently discovered her feet which is fun for Morgan and I to watch as this is a little trick that Conor, being, quite possibly, the most inflexible child on earth, never managed.  That sentence had an extraordinary amount of commas.  I think if we could all get our feet in our mouths the world would be a much happier place.  I mean, how can you really be upset with someone when they are sucking on their own toes?  There you have it, world peace according to us here at the Hootenanny.

Back to Finley...she's also FREAKING ADORABLE!

Don't you just want to kiss her face right off?

I apologize for the very disjointed, stream-of-consciousness of this post.  I am tired and cranky and really should have left this post until tomorrow but for some reason (possibly lack of sleep-induced) I was adamant that I post tonight!  on her birthday!  Lest we all suffer doom!  And peril!  and...other bad things?

Enough.  My DVR is calling.

More Halloweeeeeen!

 Super  boy!  Costume courtesy of Party City.  Cape courtesy of Aunt Josie.

 Our little baby Zebra

My friend, Erin, threw a Halloween party for the kids of her friends.  Lots of adorable little ones in adorable little costumes experiencing (not so) adorable little sugar highs.

 Ben, the cutest lil cowboy.

 Harper.  Those eyes are going to be her Daddy's undoing.

 Superboy.  Cake ball in hand, cake on teeth.  Dentists all over the world are dying now.

 Addie as Dorothy.  Look at that smile!

 Conor took one look at Marissa's makeup and said to Morgan, "Daddy!  She's bad to the bone!" We don't know what that means.

 Baby Zech as an octopus.

 Pretty impressive to get a group photo of nine kids in costumes and no one throwing a fit!  However I don't think even one kid is actually looking at the camera.

 This is one tired zebra.

 Conor, being goofy.

So long, lil darlin'

I vote

I vote because I am important, I vote because my children are important.


I vote because it is the smallest, easiest thing I can do to influence the political landscape of our country today.

I vote so that my wishes for this country can be heard.  I vote because one voice can make a difference.

I vote because there are those that assume that I won't and there are those who don't want me to.

I vote because I have educated myself about the issues.

I vote because so many women all over the world can't.  I vote because so many women fought for my right to do so.  These women were ridiculed, beaten, divorced, and even jailed so I could vote.

I vote because I can.

And you should too.

November 2nd:  VOTE!

Halloweeeeeeen!

How much fun is Halloween?  There is just so much fun stuff to do and there is none of the stress associated with holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas.


As you know, we went to the pumpkin patch.

We also carved pumpkins with some good friends.

 There is something so powerful about seeing a boy smile like that at his Daddy.

 Melissa was kind enough to hold Finley all night long.

 Morgan and Conor carving

 Reid, our  neighbor, and his son Brady.

 Pumpkin carving requires lots of help.  Conor requested the alphabet on his pumpkin.  He had to settle for "ABC".

 Michelle takes her pumpkin carving VERY seriously.

This one is for Morgan.

The finished products.

A supplementary pumpkin in support of our #1 ranked Ducks.  Our Beaver loving neighbor vandalized our pumpkin by placing a paper bag over it.  Don't worry, we're cooking up our revenge.

I'll have more pictures of costumes up tomorrow.

Just so you know

Yesterday was a super awesome day.  Conor and Finley and I had plans to meet a friend at the Children's Museum and despite us arriving 10 miuntes late, we had the best time.  Its not that the CM is so great, although it IS tons of fun, it was that my kids were freaking awesome!  Like over the top, 110%, not-even-kidding-you fantastic.

Conor played with four year old Ireland and two year old Adelaide and with all the other kids at the CM and not once did I have to reprimand him or redirect him or look over my shoulder to see if any other parent might secretly be judging me, my kids and our parent/child interaction.  (Come one, you know you do it too.)  Finley either slept, ate or just chilled the ENTIRE time.  I kept getting compliments on what a sweet, agreeable and adorable little girl she is.  She really is.

Yesterday was one of those days that made me really proud to be a mom and, more specifically, thier mom.

I was asked yesterday how I like being a stay at home mom.  The truth is that lately I have been struggling with it.  Sometimes I feel like I have a really small, insignificant life.  But I have to admit, its pretty great to make plans to meet a friend and her kids at 8:45pm on Monday night and be free to see them at 9:45am on Tuesday.  And then to have both kids be so (have I said this yet) freaking awesome, well, I kind of like being a stay at home mom.

At least for right now.