Read This Book

I've been reading Matt's Blog since my girlfriend showed me his wife's obituary in the star tribune three years ago.

For more information on his book click HERE

How To Draw A Smiley Face

Jack has never shown a huge interest in coloring or drawing. I wish I could just have him sit at the kitchen table for more than 3 minutes and color with me, but he'd much rather be playing hockey, singing hi-ho, or running laps around our kitchen. Since it's been nice out, we have been able to color with chalk outside which has been a lot of fun. Just the other day when it was too cold to go out, I gave him a notepad and a pen and to my surprise he remembered how I drew a smiley face outside the other day (well, sort of...). It was pretty entertaining.



Oh and we'd like to make a few shout outs to some expanding families:
Tom's cousin Dan and his wife, Jenny, had a baby girl a little over a week ago. Baby Kendall Audrey Lorraine Starkey joins her older brother Tristan! We can't wait to meet her!

Tom's other cousin, Katie, and her husband, Paul, had their second baby boy less than a week ago. Baby Brendan Patrick Cowan joins his older brother Connor.

And Tom's good friend from the Air Force Academy, Jace and his wife, Ali, welcomed their first baby boy, Easton Douglas Anders this past weekend.

Can we say baby boom?
We are also adding to our family. No I'm not pregnant, ha ha. My brother gets to bring his service dog home with him tonight. The dog's name is Rio and Brendan has been in extensive training with this dog for a few weeks. He will continue the training even though the dog is living with him and will officially graduate from Helping Paws next Friday.

Happy Hump Day everyone. Enjoy the snow.....yea right.

Finn's 15 Month Check-Up

We had Finn's 15 month well check-up this morning. Here are his stats:

15 Month Stats
Height - 30.5 inches, 25-50%
Weight - 20 lbs, 3-5%
Head - 46 cm, 10-25%

12 Month Stats
Height - 29 inches - 25%
Weight - 18 lbs 11 oz, 3-5%
Head - 45.2 cm, 25%

My lil peanut! At least he is consistently tiny. What can I say, I guess I don't pass along the "biggest" genes. That's ok. He's happy (for the most part) and healthy. That's all I need. I need to work on his vocabulary more. It's so different with your second kid. I feel like I am not giving him nearly as much attention as I did Jack. And every time we ask him to say words or to point to body parts, Jack jumps right in and speaks for him and shows him where his nose or belly button are, it's pretty comical. It's funny to hear Finn mimic us though.

Finn and Jack have been such different children. For the most part, Finn has been way more difficult. He is a picky eater, he is super sensitive, he is the feistiest little man ever, and he doesn't sit still. This was the case for Jack too, but I'm talking - we can't even change his diaper without having someone else pin him down. But on the other hand, Finn is super duper cuddly when he is tired. He loves to run up and give me hugs. He doesn't mind noise and chaos. And when we play outside in the front yard, he doesn't dash into the street like his older brother did all summer long when he was this age. It just goes to show you how different children are and how, as a parent, you never really have anything figured out. Here are some cute pics of my 15 month old.

Fun Fun Fun Weekend

I had a HUGE surprise this week. Tom bought all new appliances without telling me. We have been talking about this for a while. We had everything picked out at Home Depot that we wanted. But then someone told us to check out Appliance Smart. Tom did this on his own and ended up purchasing a package of items without telling me. He was planning on having them delivered and installed while I was on my Vegas trip. But me being the antsy person that I am started pushing for them this week, and just saying how we should go look again, etc. So one afternoon he texted me and was like come meet me up at Appliance Smart and we can compare theirs to Home Depot. I was super excited. The boys and I got there and I started talking to sales lady about the differences. She went away and Tom said "Molly, I already bought this package. It's getting installed this Saturday"! AHHHHH! I was so excited. Don't I have a fantastic husband? So...you want to see pictures!?!?!?!

It ended up being a little bit more work than we had imagined. We had to get smaller cupboards above the fridge and the oven.

Before, new cupboards at the top, new

The dishwasher below is not fully installed yet, which is why it's sticking out a little bit and the trim isn't on the bottom

The finished product...

The rest of my Saturday afternoon was spent prepping for Alissa's bachelorette party. It was SUCH a fun night. Here is a great picture of the bride to be playing a fun game! 

Friday Video Interview with Jack

Sorry I asked some of the same questions as last week. I need to think of some new fun ones. It's also fun just talking about our day and week too. I've got a super exciting weekend planned, hope you do too! Happy Friday!

This is Jack singing the Justin Bieber song "Baby" - I find it quite hilarious. Especially the rapping part.

Amazing Weather

This weather has made a night and day difference in my attitude and zest for life lately. I know that sounds pathetic, but it's true. Yesterday we spent all morning on our deck and all afternoon in the front. And today at the last minute, we decided to head to the MN Zoo with my friend Tara and her two kids. Jack is only 6 months older than her oldest, Taylor. And Finn is only 3 months older than their youngest, Riley. The kids have a lot of fun together. And Tara and I always have fun talking and catching up and trading mom talk. Thanks again Tara. We can't wait to go and visit Tara's husband (one of Tom's best high school friends) at his work, the fire station. Hopefully we can do that within the month or something. Here are some pictures from the zoo.

All of the kids all ready to see some animals

I only let Finn out of the stroller once at the very end in the aquarium section (not counting lunch time of course). Poor guy, but if you've ever seen him on the go, you'd understand why I kept him trapped :-)

How cute is she?  Oh little girls.

We let the older kids play at the park for a while. Jack was in HEAVEN. I love how independent he is and how he waited his turn for the slide without me telling him. 

Tara with her kiddos

Look at how huge this cow's eye is! Jack loved trying to touch this cow. So funny.

It was a great day! We love being outside and enjoying the fresh air. It's so nice to feel that Spring is finally in the air!

A Really Random Post

My garden is really taking off! It's so much fun. I have the perfect little area on the side of my house for this little salsa garden, but I'm going to wait until the end of May to transfer everything outside. I'm pretty sure I will need a bigger container for my herbs before May though.

The countdown to Vegas has officially begun! We still have like 3 weeks, but still...it's getting close. Some of my girlfriends and I are taking Alissa there for her wedding present! Woop woop. Watch out Vegas. Operation starvation and working out like a crazy person has begun. I also just have to say that the workouts I am getting from my kickboxing and strike classes are amazing. I tried Zumba a few weeks ago and it was ok. A little strange, but a fun workout to say the least. My family is running the half marathon in May again, but I opted to just do the 5 K this year and I couldn't be happier with my decision.

This weekend I am throwing Alissa's bachelorette party! I am SO excited and think it will be a super fun time. I am going to take a ton of pictures, but I don't think all of them will be blog appropriate....

We gave Finn a haircut this weekend. I think it was his third one? His mullet was getting out of control. He looks so much older. Tom cuts the boys hair and does a pretty good job (don't mind Jack's bed head in the photo below).

The boys during breakfast time

Finn takes off his bib at every meal. It's SO annoying.

Two more random Jack stories. Every morning, Jack comes into our bedroom when he wakes up. Sometimes it is at a ridiculous morning hour, like 5:30, and he goes back to sleep. But then when Finn starts making noise, Jack pops up and says "I'll go get him, mom" so I'm like great - I'll just lay here and sleep a little bit longer. I then hear Jack swing Finn's door open as loud as humanly possible. And in the cutest Jack voice ever he says "Good morning Finn! How are you doing today? Did you have a good sleep? Can you say mama? (and then Finn repeats mama). I was just cracking up the first time Jack did this. Then Jack runs into his room, picks out his clothes for the day and puts them in a pile in Finn's room so I can dress both of the boys in Finn's room.

Yesterday Jack was just walking around saying random things. He was just listing off people. Gwandma Woney, Gwandpa Woney, Bwendan Woney, Gwandma Starkey, Gwandpa Starkey, then he started saying - Kai Lan Starkey, Rin Too Starkey, Ho Ho Starkey (these are all Ni Hao Kai Lan characters, by the way). haha. He's so funny. I'll be sure to attempt another interview with him this week. It was pretty entertaining. But what 3 year old isn't?

An Interview with Jack (3 years old)

What is your favorite color?
My favorite color is black

What is your favorite number?
ummm 1

What is your favorite food?
umm a lunchable

What is your favorite thing to do outside?
play with my lawn mower

What is your favorite day of the week?
Thursday

Why do you like Thursdays?
Because Daddy comes home on Thursdays (ha, what?)

Who is your best friend?
Ruby

What is your favorite thing to do with Finn?
Play with the cash register and food

Why do you love your brother, Finn?
Because he's wearing his cool green pants

What is your favorite song?
Baby

What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy?
Making pancakes with daddy

What is your favorite store?
the liquor store...

Why do you like going to the liquor store?
because I get a sucker there

Is there anything else you want people to know about you?
ummmm, Kai Lan.

HA. That was pretty funny to do actually. Happy weekend-ing everyone.

Thanks to all of you who have donated for the CF walk. If you haven't and still want to, please click this link HERE