Sneak Peek

Just a snippet of the amazing photo shoot from today. We are so blessed to have such a talented photographer in our family. Check Adam and the rest of his work out at www.waglerdesigns.com

Football Birthday Party!

We had a great day in Bloomfield today. We started off by Uncle Adam taking Finnean's two year pictures at the McGowen farm. The pictures turned out amazing. The sun was bright and the air was crisp. Finnean loved running and exploring the nature around him. Then we had Finnean's Football Birthday party (FinnBowl II) in the afternoon. The tailgate scene was set by an ISU tailgate tent in Grandma and Poppa Wagler's house, football field tablecloth to display the yummy tailgate snacks, lemonade from a big cooler like you see on the sidelines and a football cake to finish it off. Finnean is a lucky little boy. He opened lots of good loot (a motorcycle, college fund money, a Big Wheel, movies, a train, cloths, blocks, books, tractor socks and a dump truck). He had fun running around and chatting with his friends. He loved his cake and eating it too. He found out that he likes lemonade. I am pretty sure he consumed more sugar today that he has in his whole life but he had fun and he is sleeping soundly now. What a wonderful day! Thank you to all of you who helped us celebrate!!

Here are a few pictures from Michael's phone, not the best but catch Finnean in action!

stacking.

"big" smiles.

go pack go!

"big" sandwich.

ears.

eyes.

more stacking.

crazy hair.

smartie pants...

As Finnean gets closer to the big TWO...he continues to amaze us. He loves the Capitol of Des Moines. He talks about the dome all the time and loves it's golden color. He loves to stack blocks and his favorite thing to build is the courthouse. He will stack, stack and stack. Tear it down and stack it back up. He can throw a great spiral with the football and is working on asking you if you are "ready?!" before he chucks it at you. He loves Jerry and we are working on not throwing balls at him. We are working on saying sorry and learning to share (both very hard to do sometimes). He has really been drinking milk lately. He eats about two meals a day, the other one he just picks at his food. He still loves snack time. He loves to cook and bake with me. He really likes playing with his barn right now and shooting hoops is the best thing in the world. He says longer sentences and we are working on our "big boy voice." The whiny voice has got to go!! He likes it when his friends come over and he likes to watch Curious George in the mornings. He loves to give hugs and gives out kisses. He is still asks to sit on the potty...but no actual potty yet. The other day in the car he told me "drumming" and then "guitar." I didn't know what he was talking about...and then he said "music." of course, he could hear the drums and the guitar in the song. He does this all the time now and always asks for music to be on. Like I said at the beginning of this post...he amazes us! We feel so blessed to have such a fun little guy.

Catch up...

This is from a Sunday with Dad. Coloring, toys everywhere (which means they played hard), jammies still on, a little football...a pretty good day!

This boy loves to color! We got a package a few weeks ago and a big piece of cardboard was wrapped around it. He LOVES it! He has been coloring on it since. It is a pretty cool mural now!

The end result.

This was a fun trip to the Science Center. He loved stacking the blocks!! He can build a "big" tower!

Is it potty time?!

To my surprise today Finnean told me that he had to go "poopy!" I asked him if he wanted to go to the bathroom and sit on the potty and he said yes. So I completely overreacted and made it a huge deal and he was so excited! He pulled down his pjs, we took off the diaper and he sat on the potty chair!!! It was amazing!! We waited and waited for any sort of potty...nothing but boy was it exciting! He pulled up his pjs and he was ready to play...then he decided to try to go again. Still nothing but then said "diaper" and he was ready to play again. I was talking on the phone later today telling a friend about it and when I got done he said "bathroom?" So off we went and he did it again! Still not potty but this is major progress!! So...I guess we will give it a try and have him sit on the potty more often and maybe try this potty boot camp thing that we have heard about?!? The cutest thing was his little expressions and how proud he was that he sat on the potty. I have been talking about it with him a lot today and each time I say something he gets the biggest smile. I am sure there will be more posts to come. :)

four years...

On Thursday Michael and I celebrated our four year anniversary. I think that is one of the reasons I love fall so much, it reminds me of the beautiful day that we had on October 28, 2006. We celebrated by taking our little giraffe trick or treating, probably not what the young kids in the pictures below thought they would be doing in four years but we wouldn't change it for a million dollars. Enjoy the flashback...

Go Cyclones!!!

On Saturday morning we headed to Ames to get in a little tailgating! We started the morning off with donuts or "domuts" as Finnean called them.

It was still a little chilly so Finnean had a few layers on...he looks a little bulky!

He loved playing football with Uncle Trav and Daddy.

We even found Cy. Life was good because we didn't get too close to him. Finnean prefers to see him from far away!

Daddy and Finnean after seeing the marching band. Finnean LOVED the band and cheered for the football players as they walked into the stadium.

Hi Dad!

"Come on Mommy!"

:)

Finnean has some sweet dance moves and he was showing them off in front of the stadium. If he hears music he starts grooving!

*****
The game started at 1pm, so we decided not to go, since it was during Finnean's nap...instead we drove back to Ankeny and EVERYONE took a three hour nap...all that fresh air must have worn us out...as a double bonus...the Cyclones won!!

Halloween week!

Getting ready!

Finnean was not a big fan of scooping or touching the pumpkin guts...he spent most of the time watching Dad work on the pumpkin.

I love how serious Finnean is here...and Michael is so proud of his sweet cat design. Finnean wanted a dog on the pumpkin but we could only find an easy cat design...he loved it anyway!!

Not scary but super cute for sure!

On Thursday night we headed to the library for Trick or Read. Finnean loved showing Dad where we go each week and it was a great event!

Then on Friday we did Trunk or Treat at the Ankeny United Methodist Church ...it was out in a big field and it was the perfect fall night. Finnean had fun trick or treating, riding the hayride and watching the BIG fire. We went with the Frelunds and it was a blast!

Checking out the puppet show that was going on at Trunk or Treat!

Good family fun!!

Making sure the Cat was okay after a night out! Each night we would show Finnean the cat and he loved it! He would tell him Night-Night as we walked inside.

They are so cute together!

Silly boys!!

This is a flashback from our Halloween party last year. O my how the little ones have grown and our group has grown as well, Neva the Flower added a sister, Allie and Grady the Skunk added a brother, Jace. It was so fun to get the kids together again on Halloween!

A Giraffe and a Monkey...pretty cute little pals!

Vroom!!

Watching his friends...

They are so big!

GO!

Costumes, leaves and football...doesn't get much more fall-like than that!

*****

We got our money's worth from the giraffe costume this year. We got to wear it for about two weeks. We also made stops at Jim and Marcia's and Matt and Kelcee's. Finnean hammed it up at both spots and we all had lots of laughs!!