happy campers

Well, Finn and I made it to camp and back. Our primitive, little cabin with no running water or air conditioning ended up being a full cabin with our own bathroom, full kitchen, dining area, living room with a fireplace and two bedrooms. It was so nice and relaxing. Finn loved seeing all of the kids. Many of them came up and talked to him and played with him a little bit. Thursday morning, we arrived a little late to breakfast, and as soon as we walked in, there was a collective gasp and then an "awwwwww!" from all the girls at the first two tables. He ended up being the only child there this week (there are usually several more) and he got all of the attention.

Here is Finn looking out at the lake. It was just a few steps from the patio.


Playing around the coffee table in the living room. He was trying to get to me and I was "running away" from him.


Looking cool strolling through camp.


Playing in the grass and most likely looking for a good rock to eat.


Getting tired after playing hard all morning.


Daddy chasing Finn in the grass. One of their many games they play together.


Daddy chasing Finn. Matthew is such a good Daddy to Finn.


Thursday morning after breakfast, they had a leader challenge and Matthew was chosen from his group. He had to eat the "poopy" diaper and lick it clean then eat 3 powdered sugar donuts and drink a full glass of milk. The first one to finish got the most points. Here is a picture of Matthew stalling for more time. He kept asking questions hoping to delay it a few more seconds. He said as soon as he sat down he could smell it and all he could think of was Finn's poopy diapers. It was refried beans and corn in the diaper. You can imagine how real that looked to Matthew. Poor guy.


Here he is opening the diaper. This face is the "please don't make me do this" face. He actually dry heaved when he opened it up.


Then he bent down trying to work up the nerve.


And then dug in.


The girl behind him is pointing to Matthew and one other leader. It was between them to see who would win. Matthew got second place, but he did a really good job.


Here is our first picture of Finn standing on his own. He did it long enough for us to see what he was doing, for me to get up and get the camera and then take this picture. Then he slowly let himself down to the ground. He's such a smart little guy.


Finn with his buddy, Zach, the music director at out church.


Corey, the drummer, gave Finn his hat to wear. He says Finn is going to be a drummer because he bangs on everything.


Getting ready to go Friday morning.


Looking cute.


Our view from inside. I know it's not the greatest picture, but trust me, it was a nice view.


The living room and kitchen and dining area.

compared to grandma

I just put a load of laundry in the washing machine and was struck by the difference in how I wash a load of laundry to how my Grandma washes a load of laundry.

Grandma washes laundry when there are a few articles of clothing. I wait until there are so many whites to wash that I end up having to cram them all into 2 separate loads and even then I don't know if the top layer of clothes will even get agitated in the wash.

I haven't seen how Grandma adds her laundry detergent, but I'm sure she doesn't just poor it in the washing machine. She probably has a measuring cup in her laundry room to measure the detergent, softener and bleach. I just poor hoping that it's close enough to what it's supposed to be.

When the cycle starts and I see that the top half of the clothes aren't being agitated-because I've crammed them all in-I use my hand to push the top ones down. At least they'll get wet in the soapy water. I then wipe off my hand with one of the dirty towels lying on the floor. When Grandma adds a new article of clothing to the 3 articles of clothing already in the washing machine, she has the "Special Stick" to push the clothes down with. This "Special Stick" is smooth and has rounded edges so it doesn't get caught on any clothes and it is always kept in the laundry room because that is it's only purpose.

When I hear the washing machine stop, I may or may not have a chance to go down there and switch the clothes over. I've been known to go down to the basement to put a load in and see that there are already clothes left over from the last load I did 2 days ago. "That's where all the socks went!" If I do have a chance to put the clothes in the dryer, who knows how long they will sit in there waiting to be folded. Some days, I get dressed next to the dryer. It's like Christmas waiting to see what will come out next.

Oh yeah, the lint catcher. I'm sure Grandma empties that after each use. Some days I could clothe a small child with the cotton that's pulled out of that thing.

The only reason I am speaking out about my shameful laundry etiquette is because my small group that meets on Wednesdays has recently spoken out about its laziness too. We all agree that it is horrible and that we should change; however, I just pulled my shirt out of the dryer to wear this morning.

Oh, I wish I could be more like Grandma.

smarty pants

One of Finn's favorite things is to walk around the yard with his Tonka truck. He will push it across the yard until he hits a tree or a bush. I thought that would be the end of the game and he would need help to push it back to the middle of the yard so that he could keep going, but in the past, I have learned not to help him get anything unstuck. He would rather solve the problem on his own and will spend minutes trying to figure something out. So, I let him go and watched him figure it out. He pushed the Tonka truck a couple of times to make sure that it wouldn't move and then he pulled it away from the bush, walked around to the back of it and started pushing it in the direction he came from. Smarty pants...

Oh yeah, and I guess I sound like a dog when I say 'no' to Finn. I told him 'no' today and he started barking back at me and then clapping.

Matthew is at Jr. High camp this week, so we're on our own for a couple of days. Finn and I are going to meet him at camp Wednesday night and spend a couple of nights there. I've heard that we are staying in a cabin without running water. We might only be staying 1 night. Don't get me wrong, I love camping...in a tent, no less, but not with a 10-month-old baby. I may have some pretty exciting pictures when we get back.

Finn having fun trying to get the phone. He loves to push the buttons. One time, he was out at the farm playing with the phone and when Darlene looked at it he had pressed. 9*11. That was a close one...


Getting his legs stuck in the couch.


Happy now that he got the phone. Can't you just hear the belly laugh?


Pushing his Tonka truck. He does this in the evening before going in for his bath. And look at those legs!!!



Yeah....Matthew would be proud. This is Finn eating his first and only Oreo and no, mom, it didn't get on his clothes. =)

finn's first 4th

Finley's first 4th of July was packed full of food and fun. In the morning, we made caramel rolls for Jeramy and Danae's cookout that night. We went to the farm for lunch with Matthew's family and then that evening we went to Jeramy and Danae's house for the cookout and games. We then gathered at the dike in Grand Forks with hundreds of other people to watch the fireworks on the Red River.

We arrived about an hour and a half early for the fireworks to make sure we got a good spot to see everything. So we picked out spot, unloaded the babies, blankets, chairs and strollers and sat. The guys looked further down the river and said that we should move further down. We picked up the babies, blankets, chairs and strollers and moved 20 whole yards down. We sat. The guys decided to go for a walk to find out exactly where the fireworks were going to be set off. Someone, who shall remain nameless, unfortunately looked in the direction of the husbands and saw them waving us further down. So, we picked up the babies, blankets, chairs and strollers and moved another 20 yards down. We sat. By the end of the night, we had picked up and moved the babies, blankets, chairs and strollers 3 times. I have to say that our husbands did a very good job of finding the perfect spot to sit. Our whole group was arranged in between 2 huge oak trees. And right between them were the fireworks.

We couldn't possibly go out to the farm without checking on the cows!


#31, one of the nice cows.


Licking Finley's feet.


Finley seeing his first fireworks.


After the fireworks. It was 11 o'clock and 2 hours after his bedtime.

fun with paper towels

I swear I only left him for a minute.

don't eat leaves, finley

Finley loves to eat leaves...or attempt to eat them depending on if I catch him fast enough or not. He now thinks that if he just touches it to his tongue but doesn't put the whole thing in his mouth it is somehow okay. He doesn't especially love it when I go digging through his mouth trying to find the leaf that he just put in there, so when I tell him not to eat the leaf, he sticks his tongue out and just licks it. That way, if I start walking toward him to dig it out, he can spit it out and look totally innocent by the time I get there. Rocks...well, that's another story. Those are still too much fun to just lick.

Monday night, Matthew and I took Finley to the park to play in the rocks. I would like to say that we went to the park to swing and slide and play on the monkey bars, but Finley is all boy and just plays in the rocks and dirt. Here are a couple of pictures of Finley hating the swings.




Matthew got Finley to hold onto the monkey bars and he loved just hanging there. His arms are so strong!


Later that night. Monday was a busy day for us. We went on 3 walks throughout the day, played in the pool in the afternoon and then at the park that evening. He was wiped out!




Sleeping so peacefully.


Finley was 10 months old yesterday when these pictures were taken. Here he is waiting for me to come and push him in his Tonka truck. He started out pushing it around the yard, but then he ended up climbing in wanting to me to push him around the yard.


How can I resist this sweet, little face???

ish

Grandpa Norberg has a word for something that he doesn't like...ish. If Finley could talk, I'm sure this is the word that would have come out of his mouth for what he felt today. We have been finding out that Finley doesn't like anything greasy or cold and wet on his hands. Matthew was hauling bales yesterday afternoon and got quite a sunburn on his shoulders. I put some cocoa butter on his shoulders to help with the pain and burning. Matthew then picked Finley up. Finley got a weird look on his face and pulled his hands away from Matthew's shoulders. Every once in awhile, he would lightly touch Matthew's shoulders and then promptly remove them and try to wipe them off. This afternoon after Finley went swimming, I had his swimming trunks and shirt drying on a chair. They were still soaking wet when he crawled over to them and started touching them. He would touch them a little and then pull his hands back and try to wipe them off. He was rather intrigued though as he kept touching them and wiping off his hands.

Here are a few pictures to catch you up on what Finley has been up to lately.

Eating lunch. Finley loves to eat!


Peas and corn coming out of his mouth. And yes, mom, he has a bib on. =)


Looking at one of his favorite books. It has pop-up farm animals. He will hold this book up and yell when he wants it read to him or he will just bring it to me. He can say "book" now. Hasn't quite gotten down "book please".


Looking at the book and pulling on the pop-up pig. When he's finished with this book, it will be solely held together with tape.


Shoving a banana in his mouth. He loves bananas and can't eat them fast enough. I have to ration the one banana that he gets every day and if he sees that I haven't given him the whole thing, he will get upset.


More of his ration for the day.


Matthew, Finley and I were sitting in Matthew's office at church when suddenly, we didn't know where Finley had gone. He had found a computer that was not being used and pulled the keyboard under the desk so that he could reach it. When we found him, he was typing away like it's something that he does every day.


He was trying to hide so that he could keep playing.


This is what he looked like when we first found him.


Do we have a little drummer?


Some of the middle school girls. He is taking Alyssa's glasses off of her. She is his babysitter when Matthew and I go to town and he loves her. Thankfully, she likes him too and wasn't too mad that he was taking her glasses. She had been pushing his hands away from her glasses all night and he took this opportunity to steal them when she couldn't do anything but stand there and smile. =)


Driving Grandma's car on Sunday. He loves steering wheels and pushes over his stroller just so he can steer with the wheels.