Happy Birthday, Audrey!

Audrey had a fantastic birthday party at her house last weekend. It included all of Finley's party favorites: juice boxes, pizza and cake. There was a great bounce house and a pinata. The pinata was really neat, instead of beating it with a stick, all the kids got to pull strings from the bottom to release all the prizes. Inside were little bottles of bubbles. The kids had a blast running around the yard chasing the bubbles. Happy birthday, Audrey!

Finley's Big 3rd Birthday

What a big day Finley had for her 3rd birthday. It was a school day and they were having their Fall Festival for the day. Finley got to have her picture taken in the pumpkins, throw bean bags in a pumpkin, played in the tunnels, got some fall temporary tattoos, make a turkey with her handprint on a tile and even had a butterfly painted on her arm. I was volunteering at the fishing and bean bag toss station. The kids had such a blast doing all the fall themed activities. It was even more special for Finley because she got to wear her birthday crown.



After nap time at school, Clifton and I joined her class to celebrate her birthday. I brought in cupcakes for all the kids and they sang Finley "Happy Birthday!" She was so excited. Miss Juliana and Miss Jackie gave Finley a piggy bank that they had decorated. We have already filled it up with coins, she loves banks of any sort!


Since Finley had actually napped at school (twice this week!), we headed over to the zoo for the rest of the afternoon. We changed her into her zebra outfit since it had warmed up since the Fall Festival in the morning. Finley got to ride the carousel twice, once with mommy and once with daddy. And we ended the visit with a trip to see the zebras. Finley picked out a stuffed zebra at the gift shop for her birthday.


Then it was home to open presents. Finley got a Cars Memory game and two Lights and Sounds vehicles from the Cars movie, Mater and Lightnin' McQueen. She had so much fun racing the cars with Daddy. She even insisted on bringing Lightnin' McQueen in the car. Which was a little strange to hear it talking over and over again in the back seat.



After presents, we headed over the Pappasitos for Finley's birthday dinner. She didn't eat terribly much since she had been sick the day before. It was so strange to see her not eat a ton at Pappasitos. She loved being sung to again.

Then we headed home for one more round of "Happy Birthday" and candles. What a VERY busy birthday!

Happy Birthday, Finley!

I will post pictures tomorrow of Finley's very busy day, but I wanted to be sure to send out a virtual happy birthday to the sweetest three year old in the world.  Finley had a rough night last night, she caught a stomach bug at school and I think we both got about three hours of sleep each.  Luckily, she was happy and healthy this morning to celebrate her birthday in full swing.  Finley spent the whole night in our bed last night, I think for the first time ever.  She would wake up every hour or so and would want to talk to me.  She asked about her birthday, my birthday, what I wanted for my birthday, what she wanted for her birthday, how she loved school and how she was excited for her birthday party.  With a lot of "I'm thirsty" from her and "small sips!" from me.  Finley's three year doctor appointment is next week, so I will have her height and weight stats then.  I love you Finley!  Happy birthday!!!

Charlie Brown and Lucy

Orange Party

Finley had an orange party at her school for Halloween.  There was fruit, cheese, cookies, cupcakes and Finley's favorite, juice boxes.  It was so neat to see Finley in her classroom.  She loves being at school so very much, she asks every morning to go to school.  Of course, in Finley fashion, she was the last one to leave the party.  She eats everything and eats it all very slowly.  Finley's school is having their Fall Festival next week on her birthday, so I will be back in her class in a week.

As a side note, notice the big band-aid on Finley's leg?  It looks like she has the same allergy to latex that I do.  Her Cars band-aids have latex in them and have left her skin raw and red, poor thing. 

Happy Halloween!

After a big day at school and dance class, with lots of treats mixed in, we headed out to Aunt Rose and Uncle Ferrel's house for a spooky carnival.  They had quite the set up!  There was a graveyard out front, a haunted house in the garage, and carnival stands for lemonade and candy.  There were games for the kids to play and a great time was had by all.  Finley dined on two hot dogs, popcorn, "triangle" chips and lemonade.  Then she was ready to trick or treat.  She did GREAT!  She had so much confidence, she walked straight up to the door, rang the bell and said "trick or treat" all by her self.  I was so proud of her.  And the most fun was that she didn't want to stop.  We hit a ton of houses and Finley has a pumpkin full of candy treats.  We headed back to the Halloween party to hang out with the cousin Faith, Josh and Zack with all their friends.  Finley didn't want to leave.  Our little duck was fast asleep on the drive home, after all that she had only eaten one piece of candy.

Carving a Jack-O-Lantern

Finley went to the pumpkin patch (aka St. Luke's Methodist Church) on Friday with Max.  They were both dressed up as Charlie Brown and Lucy since they had a Halloween party to attend that afternoon.  Pictures to come of that event, I want to coordinate with Courtney since she and I were very Mama-razzi that afternoon, especially at the pumpkin patch.  Finley selected a short and round pumpkin from the patch and we brought him home.  This afternoon we carved the pumpkin into a Jack-O-Lantern that Finley decided to name "Pumpkin."  She really needs to get more creative when it comes to naming things.  Finley was really good at scooping the seeds from the pumpkin, but if she had worked alone, we would still be scooping seeds.  She was very methodical to say the least.  Finley also helped me bake Candy Corn Cupcakes for her school party tomorrow.  Finley has a big day ahead of her, party at school, dance class and then trick-or-treating with her cousins.  Fingers crossed that she naps at school, but seeing how that hasn't happened since we got back from Nevis, I am not holding my breath.  We told her no trick-or-treating (an empty threat) if she doesn't nap tomorrow, we shall see if it works.  I wish her party was in the morning, then I would just pick her up after lunch at school so she would get a nap here at home.

Happy Birthday, Samantha!

Samantha's birthday party was at Pump It Up and Finley had a ball.  She went down the slide countless times all by herself.  It is amazing how much confidence gymnastics has given her in her climbing skills.  She had so much fun jumping all around Pump It Up.  And she had even more fun eating her birthday party favorites, pizza and cake.

Cutest Cougar!

Finley went to her first University of Houston football game this year last night to see them take on the Rice Owls.  It wasn't her first Cougar football game, but it was the most exciting.  It was certainly better than last year's game at Rice.  And unlike her first ever Cougar football game, we did get Frenchy's chicken beforehand.  The Cougars, led by Case Keenum who broke the NCAA all time touchdown passing record, remain undefeated and are certain to move up in the rankings again this week.  The stadium was sold out and there was a very exciting parachute presentation at the start of the game.  Finley loved watching the parachutes drop down into the stadium.  Sadly, we didn't get to stay for the entire game because it rained and rained and rained.  Finley wore her adorable cheerleader Cougar uniform that I got for 50% off at Target.  It is a 4T, so it is a little big, but that way she can wear it for years to come.  Go Coogs!

Arrival in Nevis

Last week we packed up our bags and headed to Nevis for 8 sun-filled days.  It was a bit of a process to get there,  Our flight departed Houston at 6 am, which meant we departed for the airport a bit before 4 am.  After a quick layover in Miami, we landed in St Kitts.  It was Finley's first time to use the stairs to exit the airplane.  After our luggage was collected, we boarded a boat for our hotel.  It took about 45 minutes to get to Nevis and it was so beautiful to approach the island by sea.  The hotel does your check-in in your room, so we were ready to hit the beach after Finley did some snacking on the welcome treats.  There were macrons, fruit and little pastry turtles to welcome Finley.  It was an impressive start to what would be an amazing vacation.

Zoo Boo

Zoo Boo is one of my most favorite Halloween activities. Finley has never missed it, so we had to go again this year. At her first ever Zoo Boo, Finley was a giraffe.  And last year we went three times (pumpkin, clown and spooky cat.)  Finley is wearing her pumpkin dress to school today, still fits her great!  Because of her school schedule and our vacation to Nevis last week, I am not sure that we will get to Zoo Boo more than once this year.  The weather has finally cooled down a touch, it is still in the 80s, but it is way better than the 100s we had this summer.  The only issue yesterday was the insanity of the mosquitoes.  They are rampant right now, so we only stayed at Zoo Boo for a couple of hours.  Even with bug spray on, Finley and I have a ton of bug bites.  Finley had so much fun collecting the candy all around the Zoo at the Trunk or Treat stations. We taught Finley to say, "Trick or treat, quack quack." Adorable.