Lily Baby

Ah, our sweet Lily dog was definitely our first baby and she loves to be in the middle of it all in the family.  She loves her creature comforts and likes to seek out the blankets that we place down for Josette to play on.  Here she is cuddling the baby doll.  My favorite part of this picture is the ear draped over the doll's head.

 Here she is on the play mat.

 Cuddling up next to Josette (and Josette showing off her sitting skills!)

 "No, Josette, I will enjoy the playmat while you play on the wood floor"

 Check out Josette's push ups

 Josette says, "Okay, Lily, if I can't play on my mat, I will play with you!"

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year.  It was completely stress-free and laid back and full of gratitude.  We entertained at our house this year which was so much fun.  I love to host holidays.  Jan and Peter joined us.

Here are Josette and Finn in their holiday clothes

And, here we are set around the table.  Finn and I had fun crafting some decorations.  Josette was very excited to try out her first Thanksgiving meal with her favorite being the squash and rice salad.  We also went around and said what we were thankful for and Finn reiterated his gratitude for tanker trucks :)

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was as wonderful as ours.  All of our friends and family near and far were in my thoughts.

Applesauce

This post is from a few weeks back.  I have been meaning to blog about our applesauce making, but I kept forgetting until we began delving into the delicious jars.  One day we finally decided to process all the apples we picked during the snow storm.  I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with the time it would take to peel and core every apple particularly because they were quite irregular in shape and I knew my handy apple corer wouldn't completely do the job.  So, I borrowed my neighbors' food mill/strainer.  This is my newest favorite kitchen tool!  Amazing!  All you do is de-stem the apples and quarter them.  Then you cook them up and put them through the food mill.  Instant applesauce and Finn loved using the machine too.  It has all different types of strainers for a variety of fruits and veggies.  And then the applesauce gets that beautiful rosy color fromt he red apple peels.  I feel like I should be on an infomercial for it, but we really did have a good time.  And the applesauce is wonderful.  It is strictly apples with no sugar added so that Josette can happily partake too.  She is as big a fan of it as the rest of us!

13.1

Last Sunday, I participated in my first half marathon in over 4 years.  Actually the last long race I did was the Arizona Rock n' Roll marathon in January of 2008 (right before finding out I was pregnant with Finn).  So, this was my big debut after having two kiddos!  Training around the demands of two kiddos has been challenging, but it has been so wonderful to get back into shape and enjoy running again.  Unfortunately, I got very sick the week before the race, but I was recovering by Sunday and decided to go for it.  It was a gorgeous day on the seacoast.  The race was the Seacoast Half Marathon out of Portsmouth.  The course went through Rye along the beach and then through beautiful marsh land in Newcastle and back into Portsmouth.  I had a wonderful time.  I was SLOW, but all the better to enjoy the scenery, right :)  I came in at 2:39:03, a pace of 12:08 per mile.  I think I could have done a little better had it not been for spotty training and sick lungs, but I completed it and that is all I wanted for this one.  It definitely inspired me to keep training and get back to my PRs.  I will definitely do this race again next year.  It was beautiful and really well supported.  Also, next year, I've got my sights on Reach the Beach and the Dublin Marathon (oh, yes, Chiara, a training schedule will be coming your way soon!)

Here we are prior to the race.  Finn found a great climbing tree:

And, Sean was amazing entertaining the two kiddos for almost three hours while I ran.  I am not sure who got the bigger workout :)

And, DONE!

Apple Prints

Apple prints are definitely a fun fall activity and so easy.  Finn and I made a banner of apple prints to celebrate the "thankful" season.  On that note, I have been trying to talk to Finn about what it means to be thankful.  He hasn't fully understood the concept, often stating that he isn't thankful for anything when I ask.  However today on our walk, we were once again talking about seasons and how we are coming up on Thanksgiving.  When I told him, I was thankful for him and I asked him what he was thankful for, he replied, "I am thankful for houses and doors and rocks and logs and tanker trucks."  Well, that is one thankful little boy!

Foodie

At 6 months-old, Josette is able to start experimenting in the realm of solid food.  After learning a lot with Finn and the introduction of food, we opted to go with the "Baby Led Weaning" movement (also known as baby led solids).  Essentially, this just means Josette gets to enjoy meals with the family and try to eat whatever we are eating.  So far, she is more than enthusiastic.  Here, she is happily trying some oven roasted broccoli.  She has eagerly tried everything we have put in front of her thus far:  stuffed acorn squash and green beans, bananas, mangoes, broccoli, bell peppers, pasta and venison meatballs, oatmeal, applesauce, and more.  Bon Appetit!

6 Months

Our sweet Josette is 6 months old!  Oh, how time is flying with her first year half complete.  She is doing so well, almost sitting unassisted, pushing up on her arms and wiggling everywhere, and taking a keen interest in toys.  She is typically curious and joyful and full of smiles.  You will notice we finally had to give her a haircut to get those bangs out of her eyes.

Sick

We are coming to the end of two weeks of sickness in our house and I am happy to say we are all starting to feel better.  Poor Finn got it first with a crazy high fever followed by a cough and congestion that led to bronchitis.  Then, I got it with a more mild fever, cough and congestion.  And, lastly, little Josie Bean got a small cough and no fever.  Oh, it was exhausting trying to take care of everyone and feeling so terrible myself.  But, alas, it is a good reminder of how glorious just wellness is.  And, if you haven't noticed, I am obsessed with Finn sleeping pictures.  Here he is falling asleep on Sean one day when he wasn't feeling well and then curled up in bed.

Finn's Birthday Party

On Saturday we had a lovely birthday celebration for Finn with family and friends.  Finn had requested a blueberry cake and he was excited to blow out his candles.

 Finn received a wonderful array of gifts:

 And here he is crashed after the party:



Happy 3rd Birthday, Finn!

I am very late in posting for Finn's birthday as he was very sick during his birthday week and now I have come down with it too.  I have been torn between wanting to get this post up in a timely manner and wanting to make sure I do it justice because there is so much to say in celebration of Finn's completion of his third year.

Finn amazes me daily.  He is growing and developing so quickly that I can barely keep up.  I wish for a photographic memory to keep all of his daily wonders fresh in my mind.  He is such a fun-loving kid and embraces life to its fullest everyday.  His boundless energy simultaneously inspires and exhausts me :)  He is becoming increasingly independent and often tells me he can do it "all by myself."  He has also really become a huge help in our daily tasks.  He is experimenting with comedy, often prefering slapstick and potty humor, yet I can't help but laugh.  He is very busy with his toys and I love watching how he can build and interact with everything to play out elaborate scenarious with cars and trucks and airplanes and blocks and boats and fish.  He continues to challenge himself physically indoors and out, intent on risking life and limb at times, but always surprising me in his abilities.  We also do a lot of reading and he is choosing longer books with interesting story lines and he likes to have us spell out words.  He is playful and generous with his little sister.  He will sing her songs in the car or try to soothe her when she is upset and he often tries to share his toys with her.  He is incredibly sweet and caring.  It is such a gift to watch him grow.  I love you, Finnbar.  Happy, Happy 3rd Birthday!

Trick or Treat

Due to power outage, our town canceled the trunk-or-treating on Sunday and the door-to-door on Monday and rescheduled for next weekend.  We were pretty bummed, because trick-or-treating is really best on the spooky Halloween night.  Luckily, there were some rebels who went out anyway and inspired us to do the same.  Finn put on his snow pants and black kitty cat costume and we went around to our neighbor's houses.  Everyone was prepared and happy to see our cute kiddos and we got the Halloween experience.

Lily & Finn

Finn is learning to play with Lily as a retriever.  Too bad, she is not really into the "let go of the stick" part of the game!

A Snowy Hike

After the snow storm, the weather was absolutely gorgeous with bright warm sunshine, white snow everywhere, and trees still laden with colorful leaves.  It was the perfect time for a long walk in the woods.  With the snow melting, the streams were running high and Finn just could not stay out of the water.  And, as usual, Josette happily took it all in wrapped up on me. 



Snowy Apple Picking

For some reason, once the power goes out, we feel the need to pack every minute with activities.  We decided to pick apples from our neighbor's apple trees and make some apple sauce.

Jack-o-lantern Frost

What to do with 16 inches of wet heavy snow?  Build a snowman, of course!  And in the absence of a corn cob pipe, button nose, and two eyes of coal the day before Halloween?  Use a Jack-o-Lantern!