Now Playing the Role of Baby Jesus.......

Monday was a big day for our family as Finnegan played the starring role of Baby Jesus in the 1st Grade Christmas Pageant at St. John Fischer. This is the parish where Nick's mom teaches fourth grade, and the church and school where Nick grew up.

The teachers asked Kathy if Finnegan would play Baby Jesus and of course we said yes! It was such a fun afternoon. I remember being in these pageant's, it doesn't seem that long ago really. The kids did a great job, had the cutest costumes and sang some great Christmas songs.

Finnegan was just amazed! He kept whipping his head around, trying to take it all in.

Enjoy the pictures!

Cousin Fun

Sunday we made a trip to visit with Nick's uncle Brian and aunt Laurie!

Thought it might be nice for Finnegan to spend some time playing with his cousins.

He seems to really enjoy spending time with our neighbor girl Jill, and is now just kind of into watching a "little person" motor around, talk and show him cool new tricks.

Jack, Brian and Laurie's youngest, is a little over a year older than Finnegan, and while that age difference feels like a lot now, I know in the future they will be good pals.

Jack didn't seem too sure what to think of Finn, and just kind of kept his distance, while the girls Brenna and Emma thought Finn was great! They had lots of fun playing with him for the afternoon.

Just Some Pictures

Swamped at work today! Will post more later this week.

But for now,

Some pictures of Finnegan :-)

Why most of you read this blog anyway!

Find Out Your Grinch Name!

The holiday season is upon us.....
If you're feeling a little overwhelmed by all the tree decorating, gift purchasing and wrapping, baking, etc......

Don't just wearily accuse yourself and others of being a "Grinch", use this helpful and funny web site to find YOUR real Grinch Name.

http://www.yourgeekfriend.com/GrinchName/GrinchName.php

Mine = Stingycrab Rascalton

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Firsts!

Well this SURE was an interesting weekend!

A weekend of many firsts.

1) This weekend was the FIRST weekend in the 12 years of my military career that I have gone to drill on the wrong weekend. That's right people, on Friday evening, I sat through rush hour, taped my eyelids open and made it to Madison, only to find out that I actually have drill NEXT weekend. I swore a lot, felt a little ill, and then had to get back into my car and drive all the way back because the weather was going to be just NASTY (which it was) on Saturday. Good thing I had all the adrenaline, anger and thoughts of "How in the hell did this happen" to keep me awake for the trip home. The worst part is that it's next weekend, I have a huge work event to run and I'm going to miss seeing all my friends before the holidays AND a dear friend of mine's retire party. I SUCK.

2) Another first, Nick's first eye exam! While this may seem unmomentous to some, it was not at our house. Nick has been complaining of being blind for quite some time now, and he finally went and saw the doctor! So Saturday he battled with his dialated peepers and thank goodness Finn wasn't afraid of his Daddy's new look. Pictures of his new specs forthcoming!

3) Finnegan's first Christmas tree is the third First! He loves staring at the lights and I must say we had a lot of fun decorating it too!

4) This last one, is the first time I've ever used the blender we got for our wedding. Needless to say I didn't really read the instruction manual. FYI....banana, blueberry, peach smoothie is a

#($*&#(%*&!!! to clean up.

Thankful

Wanted to share some photos from this weekend.

I was SO thankful to be able to spend a nice long weekend relaxing with my family.

We had a DELICIOUS dinner....we ate all weekend actually!

Nick and Dad sat at the "kiddie" table.

Greta and Nate enjoyed their time with Finnegan.

We took Finn to his FIRST PARADE!

Twinkle Parade people! It's what's happening!

Cows, Queens, and Candy Galore! Greta was ruthless.

We also got milk and cheese. You can't get much more WI than that.

AND there was loads of snuggle and hang out time.

Naps with Grandpa, and general merriment.

I am SO thankful for my family. I love you guys.

Six Months

We've got a SIX month old!

Is that possible?

The time has just flown.

This weekend Finnegan celebrated his half year birthday.

We celebrated by having lunch with Erin and Moe and then took him to the Mall for his FIRST portrait session. He was such a good boy. Smiled and the whole nine yards.

This morning was a trip to the doctor for more shots. He weighs 18 lbs. 2 oz and the doctor was shocked to hear that he eats 8 tablespoons of cereal, mixed with 4 oz of formula AND a whole jar of baby food, in one sitting. This kid has his Dads appetite for sure.

Future Me, Future You

This is a super cool website people.

http://www.futureme.org/index.php

Don't let it's stark genericness scare you.

This web site essentially allows you to become a pen pal with yourself. Writing yourself letters to send to yourself in the future.

I LOVE this idea. I'm going to do it. But I am almost overwhelmed with the excitement of it.
When should I write myself a letter first?! To receive a week from now, 50 years from now? Will I even HAVE the same email address 50 years from now? Will there even BE email 50 years from now? (you can see why I am having some problems getting started)
The opportunities and topics are endless.

Make sure to check out the Public Entries. Some cool letters to read.
ENJOY!

No Rest for the Wicked

Is that what they say?

Well I am wicked then I guess :-)

Work has been SUPER busy these past few weeks!

Here are the highlights:

I went to Washington DC for the ProLiteracy Worldwide Convention last week.

I attended some great workshops, listened to some amazing speakers and attended a fine banquet, and had the chance to meet Nora Roberts! Queen of romance novels. This woman is the most prolific writer of all time. She has written close to 250 novels. And I think something like 23 Nora Roberts novels are sold every minute in the world. She was a real classy lady, her speech was great and it was fun to meet her.

Tuesday night I had the honor of meeting some of our young supporters!

I had a meeting with Girl Scout Troop 006 who is working to earn their Bronze Award.

They are going to do a book drive for us. They were super cute.

That SAME night, around 20 people came from all over Chicago to sit in, hang out in our space, drink coffee and work on writing novels as part of NANOWRIMO, http://www.nanowrimo.org/.

13 of them were high school students from Corliss High, and with their teacher Kelli, have set out to attempt to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. They were really cool kids and it was very fun to here about what topics they were writing about.

And then yesterday we had another 15 people or so come for a volunteer lunch/meeting!

It was SO great to have people in the office all week...fired up and ready to help us.

Hard to imagine that a year ago we were in Stacy's basement.......

New! New!

Here are some new things around our house:

Exersaucer!

On loan to us from the gracious Dahringer household, Finn is totally digging this item.

Apples!
Finnegan has also been embarking on new tastes, cereal and oatmeal. He tried green beans for the first time last week. He made a hysterical face and then gagged. I will try and get a photo of his next reaction. He loves sucking and gumming apples.

Warm Fuzzy Outdoor Suit!

It's kind of warm here today actually, but in the past week or so we have had the chance to put Finnegan in this ADORABLE blue snuggly for his outdoor adventures.