Fall in Colorado

We've had a beautiful fall here in Colorado.  We made it up to Guanella Pass for some family photos at the end of September just as the aspens were changing.  Enjoy those photos and more in our Fall album:  https://plus.google.com/photos/101238607047988694288/albums/5939644640429073857?authkey=CLy99s-96b2t8AE
Fall Part 1 Album

Some other highlights of September/October include:
-Lucy's new favorite song, Katy Perry's "Roar", has been a hit around here.  We even have a dance and Lucy is learning the verses now, so I'm hopeful we can make her first music video soon :)
-Lucy has been loving watching "Cardinal Baseball!" as she calls it.  We watched the NLCS and World Series, but it wasn't our year.

-way back at the beginning of September we went to Miller Farms again with Blair, Anthony, Betsy, and Tobey.  We all got tons of veggies and Lucy loved picking peppers, carrots, and onions with us.
-We celebrated Aunt Blair's birthday by hiking up St. Mary's Glacier near Idaho Springs.  It was the first time we had all done it and it was a gorgeous hike.  Lucy wanted to do the whole thing without being held, and even saw a "munk chip" (chimpmunk).
-attending lots of Fall Festivals and carnivals--one at Four Mile Historic Park in Denver, one at Mommy's work, and a neighborhood party.  (see another post coming soon about these)
-Lucy is starting to make deals with us and it cracks us up.   "Just a minute...just one more...that's a good deal, right Mommy?" are heard quite often.

Since I got off track with posting, I'll leave it at that for now.  We have lots more to share from our pumpkin patch adventure, and Halloween, as well as visits from both grandparents!  It's been a great fall so far and we've been enjoying all of it.

Hope you all are well!
Love,
The Finglands

Lucy's First Camping Trip

Happy fall!  We kicked off our fall with Lucy's first camping trip this past Labor Day weekend.  We went to Deer Creek campground near Bailey, CO and luckily found a spot.  Lucy was so excited to set up and sleep in the tent--and so was Bailey!  We had lunch at the campsite, Lucy attempted to take a nap (I think she finally fell asleep in the tent), and then we went for a walk around camp.  However, the rain started pouring soon after, so we spent an hour playing in the tent.  Thankfully we borrowed a ginormous 3 room "party tent" from our friends, so Lucy had plenty of room to play.  

We were also so excited when the rain stopped just in time for dinner.  Bryan was smart enough to gather all our wood during Lucy's nap, and cover it with a tarp during the rain.  Lucy learned from Daddy how to build a campfire, and then had her first hot dog and marshmallow roasting experience.  She loved it!  Especially the s'mores--which are also my favorite part of camping!  We walked some more after dinner, and then layered up the jammies for bed time.  We all were pretty tired and slept great, then woke up early and headed out.  It was a great time and we can't wait to take her again.  

Here are some of our favorite pictures from the trip:  
https://plus.google.com/photos/101238607047988694288/albums/5926534390521862449?authkey=CLa5s7Tz3ob4oAE
(With the change from Picasa Web Albums to Google Plus, there have been some issues with sharing photos.  If you run across the link/album that won't allow you to see it, please click on the the "request to view" button, or email me.  That way I don't need to make the photos public, and I can make sure the people who are viewing the album are those that I want to share it with...i.e. you guys!  Thanks!)

Summer...Part 2

Whoa!  So much has happened since our last summer post I should write more often!  I started back at work this past week, so time has been precious and spent laughing with Lucy.  

Since we last left you, we took some trips and had some visitors.  Mommy and Lucy went to St. Louis for 2 weeks, then spent a weekend in Minnesota with the Fingland family for a McEwen Family Reunion.  It was tiring being away for that long, but so great having everyone meet Lucy and hang out with our lovely family and friends!  Some highlights of STL include:  Grant's Farm with James, hanging with her cousins, the zoo where she loved the sea lions, giraffes, and getting splashed by the penguins, trying to eat ice cream faster than the crazy humidity melts it, swimming, Botanical Gardens with Grammy and Papa, eating brunch with Poppe and Nana, and so much more.  I was super excited to eat at Fritz's two times--and of course see family and friends! :)  Oh, and a couple weeks before we left we started potty training.  Nothing like hanging out in the airplane bathroom with your 2 year old 3 times during an 1.5 hr flight (gross).

 
Speaking of potty training, Lucy is now 2 months in and doing wonderfully.  She's barely had accidents since we first started, and she is great at telling us when she needs to go--even in the middle of a dinner party while we are talking to friends "I HAVE TO GO POOP!".  Gotta love her.  We are working on getting her a big girl bed as soon as we find one we like (we're sooo good at making decisions) so we can start doing nap/night time potty training.  But for now, we couldn't be prouder.  Not to mention I haven't washed or stuffed a cloth diaper since June--score!

After St. Louis and Minnesota, my sister Sue and her family came for a visit to our new house.  It was so fun having them and Lucy loved playing with her cousins.  We went on Lucy's first canoe ride, hiking at Green Mountain and Red Rocks, and even got to go horseback riding with Lucy riding Ginger the "big horse" with Daddy and all of us.  She absolutely loved it, and was not scared at all like I thought she'd be.  We trotted multiple times and she never wanted to stop.  We love watching her experience things for the first time, it's the most amazing thing to see her face light up when she discovers something new!  We also went to Snooze to celebrate Madeline's birthday before they left, where Lucy showed off her amazing skill--eating as much as me!  It was a great visit and we even got to go whitewater rafting (minus Lucy) on some fun rapids in Browns Canyon.  

This past month Lucy has solidified a forever friendship with Bailey.  She now feeds Bailey most of the time and lets her outside.  She's also really good at brushing her, and bossing her around.  One day "they" played in the backyard for about an hour by themselves.  We were cooking for company and just opened the window and listened to her play.  It was adorable listening to her tell Bailey everything she knows, and try to include Bailey in all her playing.  At one point she had her baseball bat on Bailey's legs and was throwing the ball to her.   One of our favorite activities now is to play hide and seek and Bailey finds us.  It's just too cute to see them together. 

Lucy is also taking over the reading in our house.  She will get the books and "read" to us.  Most books are just a couple words and then they are done, but this girl's got a memory like a steel trap.  She can recite the books we read often (Goodnight Moon, Wocket in my Pocket, Beautiful Oops, How I Became a Pirate, How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight) and it amazes us.  I caught some on video so enjoy our little reader in action.  

Other than that, we've just been enjoying settling into our house.  Painting away, especially the bannister--what a project!  Our current goal is to seal that and then get Lucy's big girl room finished once and for all.  How nice it would be to finish a room!  But, life is more fun sometimes and we usually would rather go get ice cream than shop for furniture.  Hopefully we can balance both out this next month and get some more done now that I'm back at work and have a steadier schedule than the craziness of summer.  But it was a good one and we had so much fun.  We hope you all had a great summer too and we're looking forward to some cooler fall temperatures! 

Lots of love to you all and enjoy that last little bit of summer if you've still got it!
The Finglands 

Photos and Videos: https://plus.google.com/photos/101238607047988694288/albums/5917713682246043841

PS-Lucy's been cracking us up lately with all she says/does.  I've made a separate post of some of those here since I got kind of wordy above! Check it out here.

Laughs with Lucy

(at the Denver Nature and Science Museum)
"Lucy feel the buffalo fur, what does it feel like?" Mommy
"Soft.  Like an ox." Lucy, who's been playing with her laptop animal game A LOT apparently.

"Mommy, the snake slobbered away!" or slithered...

 (while driving)
"Mommy, dinosaurs are stink." Lucy
"They're extinct?" Mommy
"Yep!" Lucy, once again that laptop is making her a genius! 

(getting ready for bed after bath)
"Mommy it's raining on my boom boom!(bottom).  It tickles!" Lucy's hair was wet and running down her back, aka "raining on her". 

"Daddy, what's in your armpit?  Bailey hair?" Lucy interested in Daddy's armpit hair...haha.



Favorites:  Dinosaurs!  Lucy knows tons of dino names such as: apatasaurus, anklyasaurus, t rex, triceratops, stegosaurus, dimetrodon, pteranondon, and allasaurus.  It's incredible--thanks "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight!", pirates, ice water with lemon, painting, playing soccer at the park, swinging, getting the mail, playing hide and seek, and reading out loud to us.

Love you Lucy.  I love you as tall as a giraffe, and to the moon and back.  You are my sunshine.

Summer Shenanigans Part 1

Summer is here and that means Lucy and I get tons of time to have fun and play around Colorado!  Or, just do tons of work at the new house!  A little bit of both. 

This past month Lucy has been so excited exploring our new house and new neighborhood.  We have a park at the end of our cul de sac and we go about once a day.  I also have enjoyed spending the days with her, because she is a whole new person these days!  I can't believe the sentences that come out of her, the inflection of her voice, and the sense of humor she has!  She not only cracks herself up (and will laugh extremely loud at herself), but she has me laughing hourly.   Here are some funny things that have been heard around here lately...
*Lucy:  "The horsey drinks milk.  Oh, and the horsey is drinking the body!" (Lucy pointed this out to me while reading a book on horses.  She saw the baby horse drinking from the belly of the mommy, and it did literally look like it was "drinking the body".)

*Lucy(when we are waiting for Daddy to get home from work): "Daddy on the ways". (on the way home)


*Lucy:  "Mommy, you say Bryan?
Me:  "Yes, Lucy."
Lucy: "Oh.  I say Daddy"  (in reference to what we both call Bryan)

*Some other favorite words she says:  "ecker-size" (exercise), "fridger" (refrigerator), "polkin dots" (polka dots), "matoes"  (tomatoes),"coot case" (suitcase), "mannas" (bananas)


 Lucy is also taking after her Mommy these days and makes up songs about everything.  Smoothies, pirates, Bailey pooping in the grass, you name it--she sings about it.  Lots of times the song is just the same word over and over again, but lately she has been getting into it.  She even told me after singing about pirates one day, "that was a good one Mommy!".  She's got confidence in her skills too.  

We had a great visit with Nana and Poppe who came out for a week.  We celebrated Poppe's birthday and Father's Day together.  Right after they left, we started potty training.  Lucy is doing great with it, and we are so proud of her!  Our next big adventure is going to St. Louis and then Minnesota in July.  Enjoy the pictures from the past month or 2, and I threw in some house ones too for those interested.  It's pretty bare still around here but we are slowly making plans and progress!
https://plus.google.com/photos/101238607047988694288/albums/5886747647417134145?authkey=CKW7hKKprsbm3QE 

Lots of love to you all,
The Finglands

We're Back!

Well after a couple month hiatus, we have a lot to update you all on!  Last we left off, Lucy turned two and we had so much fun celebrating her.  Since then, we have sold our house, went on vacation, packed it all up and moved in with friends for 2 weeks, and bought a house and just moved in this week.  It has been an insane Spring, but we are so excited to be in our new home and settling in quickly.  Lucy has been a champ through all of this transition, and poor thing got sick before we moved out and is now sick that we moved in.  

Here are some highlights of the past couple months:  (and we have tons of videos of our new 2 year old showing off her personality so check those out here )

*Saying goodbye to our first house.  It was bittersweet but we are happy for the next chapter!  Lucy helped us pack and would throw her toys in random boxes, take off her clothes and start packing those, and then start unpacking boxes.  Adventures in packing with a two year old!


*Bryan and I went to Supai Indian Reservation in Arizona, right outside the Grand Canyon in April (2 weeks after selling our house, good timing!) to celebrate both of us turning 30 in the winter.  We flew to Vegas and Grammy came to stay with Lucy.  Vegas was quite the overwhelming experience but I'm glad I saw it at least once.  We drove out a couple hours from there to the canyon, then backpacked 10 miles in until we got to the small village of Supai.  We stayed 2 nights there, and hiked around seeing these amazing tropical looking waterfalls in the heart of the canyon/desert--so bizarre and beautiful!  See more pics in this Vacation Album)

 
*Right before our trip we lost a house to some other buyers, so we were pretty over house hunting.  We resolved on vacation to give it some time since we had a rental property lined up to live in for a couple months.  So when we got back to Vegas on a Sunday after days without email, and our realtor had sent us a house listing, we didn't get our hope up too much.  When we got back in Colorado on a Tuesday, we looked at the house listing again, since amazingly it was still on the market (rare these days!).  We decided to go look at it so on Wednesday night we got right back into house hunting.  It seemed weird because we couldn't find anything really wrong with it, which is not usually like us!  Something seemed kind of missing though, so we went back with Lucy to see it on Thursday and thought about it some more.  I think we were just so set on not finding anything so soon, that we were shocked that this could be it.  We put an offer out Thursday night and by Friday afternoon, we were under contract!  However, since our rental fell through, we were graciously taken in by our 2 friends Mike and Betsy, and lived with them and their adorable 5 month old daughter Tobey for 2 weeks.  It was pretty fun having such great roomies, but we finally moved May 20th and are happy to have our own space to call home now.  


*Lucy got to go horseback riding for the first time (and second time on Mother's Day) and loved it.  I can't wait until she gets a little older to see if she likes taking lessons and camps!


*We also were sad to say goodbye to our roomie, Aunt Blair.  We've already visited each other's new places though and we are so glad she is still here in Denver with us.  


 *Lucy's loves:  the alphabet and spelling her name/pointing out various letters, pointing out school buses and yellow cars while driving, playing at the park, pretending she's a pirate (she has a 4 year old boy as a best friend at daycare as you can tell!), taking care of Bailey--she already loves being the one to let her in/outside at our new house and feed her, and singing songs.  She even proclaimed that "broc-cree is my fave-rite!" (broccoli) and that her favorite color is yellow.  She is getting so much older every day but is so fun to be around and cracks us up with her observations, sentences, and joy in the little things.


And since pictures (and videos) are worth a thousand words, I won't write anymore!  Again, here's a view into our lives the past couple months:
https://plus.google.com/photos/101238607047988694288/albums/5882003712532898257?authkey=CNOawPv1uaDcpwE

Love to you all, and come visit soon!  We've got a guest room with your name on it!
The Finglands

PS-next month we will share more pictures of the house.  We are one week in and have paint (well samples) on the walls!  So excited!

Lucy's 2, part 2!

Sorry for the delay in posting about Lucy's birthday bash, and 2 year old photos.  I was waiting to take some photos outside but apparently every weekend in March it wanted to snow a foot.  We've also been a little busy with getting our house ready to sell, putting it on the market, and now having it under contract.  After 30 showings in 12 days, we are excited to be under contract and moving forward;  hopefully everything goes smoothly!  We are still in search of a new place, and the market it slim out there, especially when you have super picky detail oriented folks like ourselves trying to find something...we'll keep you posted.

Now back to the real star of the show, our little big girl.  We went to her 2 year check up and here are her current stats (Fingland genes are kicking in):
-Height 75th percentile (38 inches)
-Weight 25th percentile (25 lbs)
-Strongest areas of her "test/questionnaire" thingy:  communication, fine motor skills, gross motor skills.  (Although problem solving really wasn't that far off, Bryan thinks we need to start giving her math problems...)

We celebrated Lucy's birthday with an art themed party since this girl loves drawing and painting and all that good stuff.  Nothing like painting with 11 kids ranging from age 3mos. to 9 years 4 days before our house went up for sale!  Exhilarating!  Here was the invite I made and her 2 year photo strip:

 

We had a blast celebrating with Lucy's friends and our friends.  It was so special to spend time with everyone and gather together for our little girl.  We think she's super amazing so it was pretty awesome to have such great people to celebrate that with us.  Enjoy the pictures from the big event here, as well as photos from Lucy's 2 year old photo shoot. 
https://plus.google.com/photos/101238607047988694288/albums/5860599476863933361?authkey=CODzoJaFuon4EQ

Lucy, you are our sunshine through and through.  You make us happy when skies are gray, and when they are bright and blue.  We hope you never forget how much your Daddy and I love you!  We can't wait to continue watching you grow and become this amazing girl.  (Ok, signing off before I start crying.  Love you Lucy and Happy 2 one last time!)

The Finglands

24 months...the big 2!

Well Lucy's birthday has come and gone, and it was a blast.  We still can't believe how grown up she is, but every day just gets more fun with her.  Lucy was lucky enough to have 2 birthday celebrations, so I'll write about her birthday party in a seperate post.  

Nana and Poppe came in for Lucy's 2nd birthday.  Unfortunately Nana, Blair, and Bryan got sick (but all with different sicknesses), but we still had a great time.  We went out to breakfast for homemade donuts, and Lucy's favorite--oatmeal, at Jelly restaurant in Denver.  Lucy opened presents afterwards from her grandparents and us. Between a cash register, laptop, and new bike, she should be pretty bush playing for the next year!  We also headed to Sweet Action ice cream after Lucy's nap, and all enjoyed some ice cream on a beautiful sunny day!


Highlights of the month:  Lucy got to go to Build a Bear for the first time thanks to Aunt Mandy and Uncle Brad's gift certificate from Christmas.  She is now the proud owner of "Monkey" who goes everywhere with us.  Another favorite moment of the month was Lucy's Valentine's Day present, her bee balloon.  She loved playing with that thing!  We also got a big snow storm but it was a bit too windy to stay out for long.  


2 Year Old Smarty Pants: Lucy is learning so much lately.  She can count to 10, say her ABCs, knows all her colors (well, primary and secondary along with her neutrals :) ), knows the basic shapes, and is starting to recognize some letters (A, B, C, L, U, Y, O, M, N, P, S) and numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 7).  She even surprised us and can now spell her name--most of the time!


2 Year Old Favorites:  Lucy is in love with the song "Thrift Shop" (yes, a rap song about Goodwill in case you haven't heard it.).  She asks, daily, to "play pockets" song and has even started to sing the chorus now.  She also has picked up on tons of the songs on the Pandora station we listen to, including "No More Monkeys", "ABC", "Down by the Bay", "Over the Rainbow", and more.  Lucy also is in love with her Monkey from Build a Bear and brings her everywhere.  Another favorite activity is playing with her kitchen, and pouring tea and getting pretend food for everyone in the room. 


This past month, Lucy's language and talking has been quite funny.  Enjoy some of our favorites:  

Mommy:  "Lucy what are you drawing?"
Lucy:  "Mona Isa"  (we had been reading her art book that day and she was fixated on that painting.)

Mommy:  "Lucy what do you love?"
Lucy:  "Um, twinkle twinkle, booberries, and cinnmen"  (blueberries and cinnamon)

Daddy:  "Come on Lucy, let's put on your shoes."
Lucy:  "Daaaady.  I'm GOING down the stairs!"  (with a head tilt and hand in the air, like a true teenage/two year old)

Both of us:  "Lucy, it's time to ______ (insert any task)"
Lucy: (clearly refusing or running away from said task and laughing) "Hahaha.  I funny!"

We can't imagining loving this girl more, but every day she makes us smile, laugh, or tear up at how amazing she is.  Love you lots Lucy, you truly are our sunshine!  Happy 2nd Birthday!

Photos and Videos here:  https://plus.google.com/photos/101238607047988694288/albums/5855038512507953969?authkey=CNzz77jejvaLMw

Lucy 23 Months

Last blog before we have a 2 year old!

Favorite Lucy sayings this month:
"want some Mommy?" (while playing with her teapot/food), "ahh, tretch. you tired?" (as she stretches and acts tired), "cuse me" (excuse me), "I funny" (she broke this one out while running around in circles instead of helping us clean up), "I know" (she will say this when we ask apparently really obvious questions), "down the mountains!" (she loves seeing the mountains from the car and wouldn't stop saying this after we took a hike one weekend),"bess you" (when you sneeze, cough, use a kleenex--she's quite kind), "cuuuuuute", "You, baby!" (when she sees her own baby picture, and finally..."Lucy"!  It took her a while to get that L sound out but she finally said it.  Though she prefers still calling herself "you". She also is in this kick of listing people's names with their family.

  She's special that one ;)
Lucy's Favorites:
-Food:  tortillas, cheese, pommies(pomegranate), apple sauce with "cin-men" (cinnamon)
-Activities:  singing, playing barista with her teapot, painting/coloring, jumping, dancing, playing/reading in her bean bag chair, reading, praying at night and saying "AAmen!", hiking on the mountains, getting "ponies" (she loves having her hair done now--hooray!).
-Songs:  "Over the Rainbow", "Jesus Loves Me", "I Will Wait" (Mumford and Sons), "Winnie the Pooh". 
-Learning Skills:  naming shapes (triangle, circle, heart, square), naming colors, counting to 11 and counting how many things she has--she can do this up to 3, ABCs.
-Books:  Goodnight Gorilla, Snowy Day, The Mitten, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, Jesus Loves Me

  Playing picnic with Aunt Bwear
Singing in the car

Lucy also had to go in "time out" twice this month--I think for throwing or hitting.  Apparently sitting on a stool in a corner for 30 seconds is very appealing, because after you talk to her and hug it out, she asks to go to "tie mout".  Guess it hasn't been too effective...

She is so amazingly fun to be around and we count our blessings each day that she is ours.  She brings such joy to our lives and makes us laugh out loud every day.


Next time we write she'll be 2!  So hard to believe!  Have a great month,
The Finglands

PS-
Here are some pictures and videos from this month: https://picasaweb.google.com/101238607047988694288/20130203Lucy23Months?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLLH2vH17Mf7XA&feat=directlink
I also didn't have a bunch on our good camera so here are some instagram photos from my phone too that we enjoyed:

Dancing during Superbowl Halftime
making Valentines
after school hang out on her bean bag chair
cool chick

Happy 2013!

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and fun new year!  We finished up a 2 week long trip in St. Louis, and had a wonderful Christmas and visit with family and friends.  Here are some highlights of our trip and of what Lucy is up to at 22 months (2 months away from the big 2!)

Advent in Denver:  We created an advent calendar for Lucy this year and had so much fun doing various activities, advent readings, and opening little gifts each day.  Some highlights include:  making a snowman craft, reading and watching Dr. Seuss' 'The Grinch', decorating ornaments--and cookies--and a gingerbread house, seeing Trail of Lights at the Botanical Gardens, reading advent stories, and more.  December was such a wonderful month seeing Christmas and the season through Lucy's eyes.  It was fun to re live the magic as a family.  Santa visited our house a week early before we went out of town, and Lucy received an easel and art supplies, a vest and hat for the snow, and a bean bag chair from Mommy and Daddy.  

Movie Watching

 Christmas in St. Louis:  We had a hectic travel day coming to STL and barely made our plane.  We were relieved to be in St. Louis and get to relax and visit with family and friends.  We spent Christmas Eve with Nana, Poppe, and Lucy's Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. Santa visited there too and Lucy loved her stocking goodies so much that when I tried to put them in a bag she laid on all her stuff and say "no, I play!".  She played with her 8 cousins into the night, then spent Christmas day with her Grammy, Papa, and Aunts and Uncle.  It was a great time.  Some other fun things we did in St. Louis included visiting Great Grandma and Grandpa in Springfield, MO, going to the Magic House (the BEST Children's Museum ever), having a play date with James McCommis, and playing the piano--she LOVED this.  Although Lucy got a bad cold, she didn't let it stop her!
Magic House fun

Road trip to Springfield
Decorating Christmas cookies, and taste testing!
 
 22 Months Highlights:  Lucy seems older than ever this month.  Maybe it's because we spent 2 weeks with her, but we swear she was saying a new sentence or two every day and words he's heard once just flow out of her mouth.  She's got most all the family members' names down, and is speaking in sentences now, including:  "Where _____(insert person or dog's name) go?", "I paint, I eat, I color" and more, "more cheese peas (please)", "peas and dank you" (please and thank you), and some others as well.  My favorite phrase is "oh man" when she is bummed.  She loves her ABC's and can now sing the whole song to you, with only a few letters being mumbled.  She is still my budding artist and knows  all her colors and how to say them.  Lucy is also practicing to be a musician and will sing "Twink-twil Twink-twil ittle Star" as well as "You are my shun-shine" all day long.  I've yet to catch these on video because when you make eye contact with her as she's singing, she tends to get shy and smile and stop singing.  Lucy also is working hard on her jumping skills and finally got 2 feet off the ground this week!  Finally, Lucy got her first haircut before Christmas.  She had mixed feelings about it but no tears were shed.

Lucy's 1st Haircut 12/14/12

Sorry for the delay in this post.  Hope you're staying warm because it's freezing here!
Have a great month,
The Finglands
Photos:  https://picasaweb.google.com/101238607047988694288/20130101Lucy22MonthsAndChristmas?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOmB0_q_nc38FQ&feat=directlink