My parents were here!: Finn's first hair cut

 So having my mom here gave me the courage to cut Finn's unruly hair! He sat so well and we got it done it no time! He won't have his sweet bathtub mohawk for a while but I think he looks pretty darn handsome!

This is his wild mane before I got a hold of it

We had to keep handing him things to stay distracted, other wise he would pull away and stare at me like I was crazy

Oh and just ignore my yucky pre-shower self...

It was kind of sad to see all his little baby hair all over the counter, he's growing up too fast!

After! What a little stud muffin

My parents were here!: San Antonio

 So my parents came to visit this last week! They got here on Wednesday night and left this past Wednesday. I loved having them here for a whole week but it still didn't seem long enough! We had so much fun with them here and made sure to pack in as many original Texas experiences as we could for them. Daniel and I were able to take advantage of our free babysitters and stayed in downtown Houston Thursday night, then Friday we went to San Antonio to explore the River Walk and to check out the Alamo. 

The Alamo

The Alamo

Downtown San Antonio was way cool too.

The hustle and bustle on the River Walk was so fun. There were a lot of unique shops and restaurants that we loved to look at,

But the quite peaceful areas were our favorite

We ate ice cream cones on the river walk, Finn was a fan of the chocolate.

We also went to the "Ripley's believe it or not" museum, where we (mostly) chose to believe it. We checked out the wax museum too which turned out to be way cool.

Hallo- to the -Ween!

Ok so I know this is way way late but I had to share some fun pics of Finn's first Halloween!
Finn posed as two players this year. First, Thursday morning Finn and I had a playgroup party to attend and we decided to dress up for it, but considering Daniel played a huge part in our family costume I decided to dress us up as something else. Finn's cousin Abby calls him "Huckleberry" so I decided it would be a fun quick costume to throw together. We went as Thom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. 

 Then Thursday night we had a party with some friends in our ward and we went as Calvin (Finn) Hobbes (obviously Daniel) and I went as Calvin's mom.

The best part of the party was seeing everyone's costumes, there was: Disney's Robin Hood and Made Marian, Broadway Lion King's Nalla and Simba, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, the Old man and little boy from UP, and a few more that I didn't snatch a pic of.

Then we had our ward trunk-or-treat on Monday night. Besides getting eaten alive by mosquitoes all night, it was a great time. Then we came home and had dinner at the "Witch's Broom Cafe" haha I just made up some funny menus and named all of our food funny things, add a few drops of food coloring and WALA you have a "spooky" halloween dinner! It was a lot of fun so we decided to make this the start of a new family tradition!
We were so bummed that we couldn't make it to Dallas for Callie and Grants party which was INSANE. Callie went all out on treats and decorations it looked so sweet check out her post here. But it was a fun Halloween, I probably get one more year of dressing Finn up as what ever I want before he starts making demands so I'm already planning his costume for next year :)

happy happy 9 months Finn!

Our Little Man is 9 months today!!

   I know I say this every time but has it SERIOUSLY been that long already?

 

 

 
 






















What we love about Finn at 9 months:

• His big toothy grin! He's now got two on top and two on bottom.
• With his new teeth he loves to chomp! He is exploring all kinds of new food and textures and loves to taste everything that mommy and daddy are eating.
• He loves to scream at the top of his lungs at a very high pitch. He's found that it definitely gets a reaction out of us and he just thinks it's hilarious.
• We are teaching him a few signs during meal time and he has really taken to "more" (of course, he is his mother's son) and "all done."
• We love how observant he is, he focuses so hard on us when we are trying to teach him things, and although is still takes a couple 100 times before he can do it himself, you can tell he's taking it all in.
• He absolutely loves horsey rides on Daddy's back, and will take any oportunity to play chase. His favorite time is when we just get him out of the bath and bring him in his room to get him dressed, he'll take off crawling as fast as he can and with a quick flash of his naked bootie he's gone; bookin it down the hall and into the living room to hide behind the couches.
• Peak-a-boo is another one of his favorite games. He loves to pull the blanket over his head and rip it off all by himself as we say Peak-a-boo.
• He loves to walk! Although I wouldn't call him a pro quite yet, he is definitely stepping up his game, and loves practicing, especially around sharp corners and drop offs because it gives mommy a heart attack.
• Getting ready for nap/bed is one of my favorite times. I'll pull the curtains and sit on the rocking chair in his room and start to sing. He pops his thumb into his mouth and his little body will just melt into mine. "I'm trying to be like Jesus" is one of his favorite songs, while I sing it he just lays there completely still snuggling me. I sing it over and over, lay him down, and watch him pull his legs up under him like a stink bug with his thumb still glued to his mouth.  

 These 9 months have been such a blast. I love seeing his little personality blossom. He is such a joy and really lights up our home! We love you buddy!

Ladies and Gentlemen...... We have a Toddler!

So there is this little play ground in Hermann park called Toddler Town, everything is itty bitty and soft and there are fun little things to walk around and play with. So I didn't think that Finn would fit in SO well here, quite yet...... We went to check it out and have a picnic last night for family night and let me tell you Finn was more than comfortable!

He loved playing with daddy on all the toys especially because

                        He's a walkin!!

Last week Finn was just standing against the wall watching me fold laundry down the hall, when all of a sudden he gave me this determined look and let go of wall! Despite his very concentrated face he took one step and face planted. That one step seemed to lite a fire inside him, and he became a very focused little boy. The rest of the week he was found attempting to walk anywhere and everywhere. He starting by trying to moving his legs very fast and leaning forward to get from one stable thing to the next as soon as possible, when that resulted in a lot of bonks and bruises he took things a little slower. He began to realize that if he took a second and found his balance before he started moving, he could actually take a couple of steps in a row. Well with lots of practice and a very sore tushie he is a walkin man! He can take about 8 consecutive steps, and we couldn't be prouder. 

Way to go little man!!

Sorry its sideways I have no idea how to rotate it....

 

Also these past few months he has been so much fun! He is 8 1/2 months and is so full of personality! His favorite thing to do is pull all of our books and movies from off of the shelf and stand on them,  (pic on the right) he just thinks he's so funny! In the pic on the left he's wearing the cutest owl hat that our friend Amy made for him, he was trying to "cheese it" but that pesky flash was too darn bright.

 We have also switched to cloth diapers!!! I know I know I must be crazy right?! but they are just so darn cute on him! I also like: how gentle they are on his skin, not throwing hundreds of diapers in the garbage, and saving money!!

This is at the Children's Museum, it's a 10 minute walk from our house and Finn loves the "Tot Spot." It is a toddler's wonderland; they have every toy and fun thing you can imagine. We need to go back now that he is a little more stable on his feet so that he can explore everything on a whole new 'level' :)

Also this is the first piece to his Halloween costume! I fashioned it out of an adult size shirt that we found at Goodwill. The design was perfect for his character, him and his daddy are going to be quite a pair (I'm so glad that Daniel was game for dressing up as a tiger) any guess as to what he will be?

Brazos Bend

We went camping this weekend at Brazos Bend State Park and it was a good time! Finn is like our very own little Mogli child, He loves being outside so he was pretty excited about the idea of eating, sleeping, and playing outside all day! It was a sweet set up, Daniel had to work until 5 so we didn't get up there until almost 7, but when we got there the tents were set up and dinner was cooking! We were pretty lucky! Also the food was amazing, with peach cobbler, AND banana boats, we ate better camping then we would have if we had stayed home for sure!

 

Finn loved hanging out with Kelsie and Mitch, I think he can sense that they are going to be parents soon!!

 

as you can see Finn was pretty excited about Mitch's hair

 
 Finn did so well. After taking a few naps in daddy's arms he fell asleep when we did around midnight and then didn't wake up until 7:30, he loved being able to sleep with D and I so when he woke up he just starting giggling and climbing all over us, it was a pretty cute way to be woken up.

 Here's Heather, John, Emily, and TC. Jerrick came too but he had to leave early before we busted out our camera.

 The coolest part about Brazos Bend are the Alligator walks. There are paths that are lined with swamps that are full of alligators!! We started out seeing a few small ones that were on the other side of the bank, and ended with a giant one eating a turtle like 5 feet away from us! To be honest Finn was pretty oblivious to the whole alligator thing, and after a night of little sleep he ended up sleeping most of the hike.

 

Here's the video of the alligator eating the turtle, right in the beginning you can here a huge crunch of the turtle's shell cracking. It was kinda sad, and super creepy, but really what are the chances?! Usually alligators are super lazy and pretty boring so we were stoked to find this!

The 5:00 Showdown

There is something so strange about every night at 5 o'clock in the Anderson house hold.  Finn wakes up from his afternoon nap very driven. Daddy will be home in an hour and a half so...

Mommy's to do list:

• Finish dinner

• Pick up the house

• Set the table

• Get presentable (some quick mascara and maybe a crumb/spit-up/booger FREE shirt

• Keep Finn out of trouble......That should be an easy one cause he's just a perfect little angel right???

 Finn's to do list:

• Make sure mommy doesn't get her list done, at all costs. (Plan of action: Yell and scream when I know I'm just fine, refuse to be put down, dig out any cupboard that I can get my hands on, hold on to her legs so tight that she can't move around, have no interest in my toys and play with anything that usually has the ring of "no Finn" to it, and work hard to fill my diaper very, very full)

• Put my "Woops, sorry mommy, I love you!" face on while I do it.

So needless to say Finn usually wins out and Daniel comes home to, a half set table, a messy house, a half presentable/ half defeated wife, a kiss, and a Finn HAND OFF.

 This is one of Finn's tactics. He'll grab onto my legs while I'm in the kitchen trying to make dinner and hold on for dear life, which leaves me having to peal him off when I need to walk somewhere else, then I need to continue to bounce around the kitchen trying not to stay in one place long enough for him to latch on again. Don't let that sweet face fool you, it's all part of his master plan.

A few weeks ago Daniel called me from work and told me that he scored free tickets to the Astros game at Minute Made park. This would be My and Finn's very first professional baseball game! Unfortunately when we got there I took 2 pics of D and then our camera died, but we were there too.

It was a lot of fun! Minute Made park is so cool, it has a big train that goes around the stadium when we score a home run and with all the big sponsor signs and lights it has a fun whimsical feel to it. We had awesome seats in the first balcony right behind home plate, this, along with the fact that the stadium as a huge dome that they close and run the AC, made baseball ACTUALLY interesting to watch for a little while!

 This was Finn's test run. We had bought tickets to the BYU-UT game in Austin and we were a little nervous about how he would do with such a big crowd. He was pretty good at the Astros game, he didn't love it when everyone cheered really loud (which luckily wasn't that often because it turns out that the Astros are terrible...) but he wouldn't get too upset and enjoyed looking at everything that was going on. So we were set for Austin about 2 weeks later.

This stadium had .... a few more people in it than Minute Made Park .... It was gorgeous. We were in the North end zone in the upper bowl with a bunch of other BYU fans. The best part about the stadium is that there is no upper bowl on the South end zone so you can see the Austin skyline which was breathtaking, especially when the sun went down!

 Finn was eating a graham cracker and making a funny face here, but he did so good. We plugged his ears with cotton balls so he was a lot less bothered by all the cheering.

 He fell asleep around the middle of the 3rd quarter, which was probably best considering the outcome of the game. walking out of that stadium full of 100,000 excited Texas fans wearing a BYU shirt was a little intense and pretty sad. We made it out alive and still had a blast!