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.

Baby Chicks!

We visited Brielle's house for playgroup yesterday, which meant we got to visit baby chicks!  Brielle's mom keeps chickens behind their house to provide them with super fresh eggs.  There were so many cute chicks to see.  They were living in the study at the moment and they will be full size soon to play out in the backyard with all the other chickens.

Don't the two Finleys look so cute together? I think we are going to go to swim lessons together, two Finleys in the pool...watch out!

Memory Match Game

If we don't have anything going on after dance class on Wednesdays, Finley always asks to get into her "comfy clothes". Comfy clothes are rompers, sized 12 to 18 months, with snaps up and down the legs. They are two sizes too small and in no way comfy, but she has been wearing them for so long, that she isn't ready to give them up. Yesterday afternoon, we were lounging around in comfy clothes and playing Finley's Charley Harper memory game. Finley isn't ready for Memory yet, but she does love to match all the cards together, arrange them in the box, dump out the box when it gets full and start all over again. She goes for all the pink cards first, then onto the animals. I told her "Good job, you got the monkey" and she replied "That is not a monkey, that is a chimpanzee!" This girl knows her animals!
I am excited to be actually able to play Memory with her, I am sure she will beat us.  I might try and start with just 8 or 10 cards and she how she does with it.  I am guessing she will pick it up straight away.

Rodeo Carnival

Finley's most favorite part of the Rodeo was the carnival.  Everytime we drive by Reliant Stadium, Finley yells "Ferris Wheel".   The first ride we took was the Ferris Wheel since Finley was so excited for it.  Since Finley and I planned to go to the rodeo again with her friends, we let Daddy ride on all the rides with her.  I went on the Ferris Wheel to start, but after that, it was all Daddy.  I think she crammed him in as many small pink rides as possible.  She had so much fun!  She loves to ride on carnival rides, it was complete joy.  She doesn't even mind waiting her turn in line.

Destiny

Can we go ahead and set their wedding date? And make sure that their first dance is a sashay?

Fun on the Farm

The Fun on the Farm exhibit is my most favorite thing at the rodeo. I know she will grow out of it, but it is so neat to watch her go from place to place gathering her crops. You get feed to give the chickens to collect an egg from it, you plant a seed and get a vegetable (Finley got a carrot), you milk a cow to get a milk carton, you pick a peach from a tree and you get to harvest corn. Finley gathered all her crops in her basket and turned them all in at the store for a dollar. She traded her hard earned money in for a Rice Krispie treat. She really got it more this year than last year.  Can you even believe how much she has changed?  It is just amazing.

Finley's favorite part was when she got to drive the tractors.  She absolutely loved it. 

Pig Races

We went to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo yesterday. I took a ton of pictures, so I am going to break it up into a few posts instead of one long Rodeo post. Finley has been excited to go to the Rodeo ever since Go Texan Day. We got her all dolled up in her cowgirl dress with boots, she was set. The pig races are a favorite, the little pigs are so cute and it is really fun to cheer them on! We got there early enough to get seats down in the front row. Our section's pig never won the race, but it was still fun cheering for them. The pigs race for Oreo cookies and Finley wanted to know where her pig race cookie was. Finley said she wants to take Max to the pig races....aw.

Hungry Hungry Hippos

Finley is getting a little bit better at playing Hungry Hungry Hippos.  She still likes to put the marbles back in play when her hippo eats them.  She also likes to put my marbles back in play after my hippo eats them.  That way, the game never really ends since all the marbles are never eaten.  As long as Finley isn't eating the marbles, we are in the clear.  Finley really likes playing games.  So far we have played Hi-Ho-Cherry-O, Chutes and Ladders, Hungry Hungry Hippos and a Charley Harper memory game.  I need to get Candyland for her.  Any other toddler games that you guys can recommend?