Astros Home Opener

This past Friday was Finley's third trip to the Astros Opening Day.  I can hardly beleive we have done this twice before.  Opening Day One and Opening Day Two were both so much fun, it is such a nice tradition, I hope Finley never misses an Opening Day.  Finley ate a hot dog, enjoyed the kids' area and watched all nine innings of the baseball game.  Even though the Astros lost, we all had a great time.  We had been to the ballpark a couple days earlier to get her outfit, it was a challenge finding Astros gear for a toddler at any of our local sports stores.

Zoobilee Zoo

This week was Zoobilee, which is a fantastic event for zoo members.  We went last year, I cannot believe how much Finley has grown!  She really got to participate a lot more this year.  There were free carousel rides, giant slides and of course, collecting stamps in your passport.  Finley even went through the bouncy obstacle course, I was amazed she made it through all by herself.  She got an adorable tote bag, coloring book, crayons and froggy pencil board for all her passport stamps.  Finley also got to pet a big bunny, the zookeeper told her "two fingers", but she translated that to "two hands" and buried both her hands into the soft bunny fur.  There was no Little Bigs afterwards this year because it has since closed, which is quite a bummer.

Beautiful Ballerinas

The green hair bow with white polka dots was Finley's selection. I was so happy she actually picked something that wasn't a perfect match!  And can I take this bench home from the JCC?  I totally love it.

Finley's Trip to the Final Four

Well, technically, the NCAA Championship game since we didn't go to the games on Saturday.  We were lucky enough to get suite tickets to the big game and there was even a ticket for Finley.  Tipoff was 8:20 pm, way past Finley's bedtime, but it was such a big event, we figured we had to take her.  We took the light rail to Reliant Stadium and Finley was so excited to go to the basketball game, though this time there were no bears, just Bulldogs and Huskies.  Once we got to the suite, we saw the actual championship trophy inside!  One of Finley's most favorite things to do was to crack open peanut shells, she didn't like the peanuts, but was happy just cracking them open.  She had all sorts of snacks, but her most favorite was the ice cream cart that came with about 3 minutes left in the game.  The ice cream held her over until the end and we saw UConn defeat Butler in a pretty sad game.  Finley made it through the whole game, but was asleep before we got on the train to go home.  She told me today that she wants to go to the basketball game "gain!"

Happy Birthday, Riley!

Gorgeous Miss Riley turned two yesterday and had the most fantastic party on Saturday.  The whole ride over to the party Finley kept asking what color the cake was.  Seeing as I had no idea, I told her I didn't know.  She told me it was pink.  And she was right, pink strawberry cupcakes.  And for the first time Finley ate all the frosting AND the cake part.  There was a jumpy house, a swing set, sidewalk chalk, a bubble machine and all sorts of fun riding toys.  Finley was acting really shy, which is not normal for her.  Even with her BFF Max.  Happy Birthday, Riley!

Not much to say...

Mommy's Plate

I remember eating macaroni and cheese off this plate when I was a kid. It came from McDonald's and I am still not quite sure how I came to posess it, but I have it and now it is a special treat when Finley gets to eat her macaroni and cheese off it. The only difference is, she has sausage on the side (which I still cannot imagine eating!) Last night I made shrimp and Finley was obsessed, I think she ate more than I did. Prior to this, she has only eaten fried shrimp, so I was pleasantly surprised that she enjoyed sauteed shrimp. My guess is she ate it because she is obsessed with all things pink. I think she had a 30 minute meltdown this morning because she couldn't wear a pink dress. Then it was on to needing a pink dish for her breakfast. And a pink spoon. It isn't only pink things, it is mainly that things have to "match", her fork has to match her plate. And even stranger, she likes to match her food to her plate. If she has banana slices, it has to be in a yellow bowl with a yellow fork. The one sticking point is that we don't own any pink forks!

We have done three days at the new gym so far and Finley is loving it. Miss Cecelia and Miss Michelle are so nice with her and they even did an Easter egg craft with her today. Miss Michelle has a little girl the same age as Finley, though she says Finley is much calmer. I am so glad it has been an easy transition for her. The transition for me hasn't been as easy =)

Children's Museum with Mommy

Finley and I headed over to the Children's Museum this afternoon.  It is already HOT here in the afternoon, so the zoo wasn't an option.  Finley is old enough now that I don't even need to bring the stroller.  She walks with me to the museum (aka Zee-um) hand in hand.  Her favorite thing is still the kids' grocery store.  But today she actually asked to go upstairs to the Tot Spot.  We were up there for a little while, but not for long.  She really has begun to outgrow it.  The grocery store and veternarian office are her two favorite places to visit now.

Big Day

Today was a very busy day. Finley and I started out bright and early to hit the gym one last time. Today was the last day that 24 Hour Fitness on Greenbriar is open. The brand new fancy gym opens tomorrow morning. I was so sad to leave this gym, it is perfect size and there are always so many interesting people there. I am not ready for working out a fancy gym and I hope Finley is okay with the new fancy gym's play area. I worry she might be overwhelmed, but hopefully she will like all the cool new stuff they have (touch screen computers!) The front desk worker let Finley choose a DVD to take home since they were just going to get rid of them all. She chose Finding Nemo. All the kids' area stuff was being thrown away, I tried to figure out a way to take the two play tables and chairs, but there was no way they would fit in my SUV. Bummer.

After that, we went to lunch at Cazadores with Miss Marianne (Joe's mom), Miss Shannon and baby Emily, Miss Chelsea and Miss Lisa with Gideon and baby Eden. Miss Lisa and I used to work together at the Rainbow Lodge 10+ years ago. We were both single girls back then.  How time flies. 

We then had to head to a podiatrist appointment. Finley loved the Lego table they had in the waiting room. The podiatrist determined I had a Neuroma, but wanted to do an ultrasound to confirm it. At this point it was nearly 3 pm and Finley hadn't had a nap. I told the nurse that I would prefer to come back next week without her since I was working on borrowed time. The nurses and front desk staff were fantastic. They watched her, gave her pink candy and played on the Lego table with her while my foot was being looked at by the ultrasound. I had to get a steroid shot (ouch) and get my foot wrapped up, but hopefully this will stop the pain. Finley was a total trooper and even made it through a quick stop by the grocery store on the drive home.

Art Time

Meera had the most awesome set up for playgroup today.  They have converted their garage into a dance studio.  It always works well as an art studio for toddlers.  She had all sort of art supplies out for all the kiddos.  Finley loved the stamp paint pens, we are going to have to invest in them.  The roll of paper was also a huge hit.  The funniest part of playgroup was when Max arrived.  Finley saw him coming over and went over to him...but instead of heading towards Max, she headed toward the image of him in the mirror.  Whoops!

Rough Morning

Finley popped out of the car this morning ready for dance class.  Sadly, her coordination isn't so hot and she tripped backward over a curb.  She landed straight on her bottom.  She seemed totally okay, which was a big relief.  We walked to the dance building and Finley asked to clean her hand.  I looked down and she had thrown up.  All over her tutu.  Poor thing.  I asked her if her tummy felt alright, she said it did and she wanted to go and see Mr. Carlos.  I took her to the restroom and cleaned her up as best as possible.  If we were staying for dance class, the tutu had to go.  I think the jostling of the fall combined with her massive breakfast this morning made for the unfortunate results.  Poor thing.

She walked into class and said "Mr. Carlos, my tutu is wet" and off she went.  She did fantastic throughout class, I am so proud of her.  She wanted to play in the park after class, so we did.  After that, I decided to take it easy this afternoon, there have been no further signs of illness and she ate lunch like a champ.

Last Day of the Rodeo

In honor of the last day of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, I figured I would post the last post of pictures from Finley's visit to the rodeo.  After we toured to livestock exhibits, visiting more tractors and seeing some cute pigs, we said goodbye to Daddy.  Clifton took the light rail home and headed out to Austin with his friend J.  Their friend Blair was in town for the weekend from San Francisco.  So Finley and I braved the rodeo show together.  I hadn't quite worked through how I would manage the stroller, the diaper bag, the camera bag and Finley in Reliant Stadium.  This was especially fun to manage heading down to row "A".  I was quite the site, stroller over my shoulder, diaper bag across my body, camera bag around my neck and Finley in my arms. 

They announced that it was University of Houston Day~ how exciting!  I stood of with Finley flashing the Coog handsign.  Case Keenum was in one of the wagons and he sent it back to me.  I was SO excited.  He is going to lead our team to an undefeated season next year, I just know it.

We went and got ice cream about half way through the show, I left the stroller at our seats, but I toted everything else with us.  Then Finley got upset that we were going to share the ice cream and I about lost it.  After some convincing, she agreed to share.  It was super fun getting the ice cream back to our seats. 

The seats were right up close to all the rodeo action.  The chuckwagon races seemed to be Finley's favorite event.  We made it all the way through to the calf scramble, which was almost two hours of rodeo for Finley.  She had not had a nap and it was getting late, so we packed up and headed back up the stairs laden with all the gear.  It was quite a workout!

Playing at the School Park

We are first on the waiting list for Kid's Day Out next fall.  Fingers crossed that Finley gets in.  Finley and I visit the park at the school often since it is within walking distance from our house.  Finley knows the buildings as Max's school since this is where we saw him in his Christmas Pageant.  I hope we get to see the two of them starring in the pageant together this year!  This past week our area has been overwhelmed with people.  People are lining the streets parking for the zoo and the museums since it is Spring Break.  This means we are doing our best to avoid going to the zoo or the museums, though Daddy has promised Finley a ride on the ostrich at the carousel today while I am at a baby shower.  The combination of gorgeous weather and Saturday will make the zoo super busy, at least they won't have to worry about parking.