Leif's Welcoming Ceremony

As promised, below are some photos from Leif's Welcoming Ceremony. Also, the video is on vimeo for those of you with about 15 minutes to spare.

The welcoming ceremony serves as an alternative to the traditional baptism. We have chosen mentors for our kids, and for Leif we have our friends Christina & Justin Mattson and uncle Sam & aunt Nicole. We sang some songs and the mentors read some meaningful passages. Both sets of grandparents were there, along with Mickey's grandma, Bev and sister Erika.

We actually had a morning of warm sunshine, so we got to do it outside, which made the whole event a bit more special.

You say it's Finn's birthday!

We had a big birthday bash for Finn on Saturday. The theme was The Beatles, as they are Finn's favorite band. (Honestly, he really likes their music! It's not just me making him like something!)

Here's Alina & Sheryl, blog-buddies and parents of Tenzy & Rilo, and Jasper, respectively.



Our nearby neighbor and buddy, Andre enjoys some carrot cake with Finn.



Tenzy (of the T & Ri blog) weaves through the crowd.



The birthday invite.



We had a mix cd of Finn's favorite Beatles songs as a party favor. Here's the cover art I designed/ripped off.



Grandma Nancy made a pretty sweet piñata of the Chief Blue Meanie from Yellow Submarine.



Coming up next: pictures from Leif's welcoming ceremony. Stay tuned.

Fat babies are awesome

Leif's bathtime is a joyous occasion as of late. He giggles and splashes.







Below is his "what do you mean you can't hold me 24/7? Why do you need to get dressed?" face.



Finn in his detective duds. In other Finn news - at 2 years he is 3 feet tall and weighs just under 35 pounds. Way to go Finn!

Will the real Spring please stand up?

Today is pretty nice, but man... We're all waiting for the warmer weather up north.

Here are some photos for your Monday:

Leif started eating solids last week, but don't let this smile fool you. Despite his girth, he's less than enthusiastic for anything other than breastmilk. We're not worried, though. The second stomach he undoubtedly has in his sizable thighs will need food soon enough.



There must be a legal mandate of some sort that compels children to play in boxes. A subclause of that law is that they look adorable doing it.

Happy Birthday Finn!

As of yesterday, our little guy is officially a toddler! Without getting too sentimental, it really is amazing how much he has grown in two years and how quickly the time has gone.

Finn on his birth day:















Finn on his first birthday (showing everyone how old he is/was):















Finn on his second birthday (eating a birthday blueberry muffin):



















We were in Iowa this weekend, visiting family and having fun. Below are a couple of photos from our adventure.






























































On the way to Iowa we stopped to visit Uncle Sam, Aunt Nicole, and their new Golden Retriever puppy, Fetch. Finn and Fetch hit it off right away.


























Here are Finn and Uncle Sam practicing their stick handling:

Big Kid Bed!

Finn spent his first night in his new "big kid" bed last night and it was a huge success! We were all in a jovial mood this morning and took some photos to celebrate Finn's big achievement.

"Spring" fun

We took advantage of the warmer weather yesterday and played outside all afternoon. This morning we woke up to snow and wind. You can also check out the new video on vimeo. After his bath Finn pretends to be a star war character (can you guess which parent taught him this?).

Happy Dapper Dude

Leif is looking sharp today for his Thursday "playdate." While Finn and Mickey go to gymnastics, Leif and I go to a regular Mom + Baby group that's lots of fun.