Perfect Duluth Day

The weather was just awesome today, hence the title.

In the spirit of comparing and contrasting our babies Pearson, here are two shots of our boys in the same outfit and same bouncy seat, although Finn is eight months in his picture and Leif is seven months in his.

Leif:


Finn, circa December 2006


In other news, Finn got a haircut recently, which makes him look like a totally older version of himself. We started perusing college applications in anticipation of the coming year. He looks THAT old.






My cousin Danny from Salt Lake City came out to Duluth today, en route to the Boundary Waters (lucky devil.) We had fun showing him around Duluth and throwing rocks into Lake Superior.

Our funny boys

Finn is a pretty funny little guy these days. Not only is his rapidly growing vocabulary a constant source of entertainment, but his autonomy and "helpfulness" is often pretty great.

Case in point: This morning, while I was sleeping, Keely said said to the boys, "I'm going to go let Gracie back inside." She got Leif into his bouncy seat, turned around, and noticed Finn was gone. She went to the back door to find Gracie on her way inside and Finn right behind her. In an effort to "help," he had run to the back door, opened it and left the house, opened the gate for Gracie and come back inside. Guess we'll be locking all the doors from now on.

In other news, the family of bears we saw last summer made their way back through our neighborhood today. Sadly, the camera was not on hand, but I'm sure they'll be back once the raspberries in the local gardens start bearing fruit.

I sit!

Leif can sit unsupported.





































But still prefers his tummy.

Dream big. As in, "maybe I can drive the excavator" big.

Our neighbors recently began work on a garage, so you can imagine Finn's excitement the day the digger came to work on the foundation. We spent most of the day either at the window, staring out at the digger, or in the wagon on walks bound for the digger.

















































Here are the boys, gearing up for last week's big road trip to Okoboji.

Happy Mothers' Day!

Dear mommy,
We love you so much! Thanks for everything.
Love, Finn, Leif & Mickey

Finn Photos

Here's how Finn was positioned in his bed last night. Very cute, very funny.


While Leif slept this morning, I played with our camera's black and white, filter, and exposure settings with mixed results. Here are the better shots.








Also, Blogger has implemented a new rating system for blog posts (1-5 stars), so feel free to give that a whirl.

Finn's in the paper

When Finn had his two-year check-up at the doctor, a photographer from the Duluth News-Tribune was there to highlight a new literacy campaign at our pediatrician's office. The article ran today and you can read it here.



Leif has his six-month appointment today, so stay tuned for more off-the-chart-growth news

Leif - Happy 1/2!

Leif turned 1/2 yesterday! Our little guy is growing up fast!

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!