Catching up: December edition

Get a good look at Finn in the above pic ... because it's the last one he ever posed for with a 3-year old sister! As soon as daycare was done I hurried home and started cranking out stars and 4s and spent my birthday eve decorating in the pantry ...

... so that I had ample birthday treats at daycare!

Because we had a big party planned for the next weekend, I settled for a yummy Daisy Cupcakery peppermint cupcake for my birthday dessert and soonafter proclaimed "I can't wait until I'm 5!"
Although we kept waiting and waiting for snow before embarking on our annual hunt for a Blue Spruce, we decided we couldn't wait any longer and headed to the tree farm south of town. Although Finn's puffy snowsuit hindered his ability to keep up with my sprints through the firs and spruces, we all eventually met up at "my perfect tree!" ... it turns out our Blue Spruce hunt was actually a Balsam Fir hunt!

I invited all of my eastside friends over for a big celebration ... and unlike years past just about all of them could come! Our house was filled with people (both big and little), Christmas tree art projects, yummy meatball sandwiches, and 2 7-up cakes ... and I had a blast in my party clothes!

The next day we took advantage of the warm sunshine and headed out for a walk with Belle and Thumper in order to do some shopping in the neighborhood ...

We eventually traveled up to GDO's and GMO's house in the snowy woods just before Christmas and immediately headed out to find something for Santa to put the presents under. While GDO was busy cutting down the tree ...

... I snowshoed off some of my anticipation energy on the lake before standing still long enough to take a pic with Finners.

After that sneaky Santa found his way up to the woods once again ...

... we were off to Michigan and COUSINS!

My cousins and I played, ice skated, danced, giggled, and slumber-partied our way through the better part of a week and celebrated our last night together by heading to the bowling alley where even Finnerelli got in on the action.

After bidding my cousins goodbye we started our long trip home ... and made a brief stop at Jane and Larry's farm to check in on Moon the horse and the barn cats.

Coming soon: January!

Catching up: November edition

Fresh off our TOT'ing and with Dad filling in for Mom's lack of a day off, we took advantage of an unseasonably warm Wednesday and headed out into the (still windy) city ...

... and ended up at the zoo! With the place to ourselves we sprinted from the big cats to the giraffes to the rhinos to the primates and were quickly back on our bike ...

... so we could fuel up on some UW Union pizza ...

... and then continue our animal exploration at the fish tanks at Dad's work.
Lucky for us Dad's lab received a shipment of frogs on the same day and Bill obliged my curiousity by opening up the box of boys ...
... so I could check one out.

A few days later Finn got to spend one more day in our favorite themewear before it was retired for good.

For Turkeyday we headed up to GMO's and GDO's in the woods and woke up to our first snow of the year! The forecast indicated it wasn't going to last long, so I convinced GDO to lend me his stylish hat (necessary since it was also hunting season) and headed out to roll a few snowballs.

I also had a blast helping out in the kitchen ...

... before Finn and I couldn't stand the indoors any longer and orange'd-up and headed out and down to the lake.

Tomorrow: December!

Time to ToT!

Happy halloween! We started our ToT day all decked out on our way to daycare ...

... and headed down to our neighborhood parade en masse ...

... before finally heading out to fill our bags!

Nothing rhymes with orange

What a hectic month! It started out with tag-a-long'n (Me) and Cougar'n (the Finns) through the streets of our city for the latest installment of "No Cars, Just Bikes!" For the first time ever Mother Nature didn't really cooperate so we had to share the ride with a few drops and puddles (but puddles are still better road companions than cars!)

When we weren't biking, we were pumpkin picking ... first for little ones at the market on the Square ...

... and then for big ones at a farm outside of town. We had a fun hayride, a pumpkin hunt, and yummy pumpkin desserts at the farm - we'll be heading back next year!

When we weren't biking or pumpkin picking, we were visiting Mom in the hospital after she had a bit of a surprise operation (don't worry, she's all better now).

When we weren't biking, pumpkin picking, or hospitaling, we were strapping on our babies, hoppin' on the #7 and headin' downtown for our favorite museum.

When we weren't biking, pumpkin picking, hospitaling, or playing at the museum, we were raking and playing in the backyard!

And on Tuesday nights, while we were doing none of the above, we were learning how to swim!