Two boys. Two shovels. One wheelbarrow. 

And ten cubic yards of double-shredded hardwood.

Springtime is mulchtime in NoVA!

A fine, fine Saturday...

March Madness

Two reasons for our latest post (well, three....)

One, Finn ate his first ice cream cone. Maybe that's not exactly right. But we caught Finn eating an entire ice cream cone on video for the first time. Interestingly enough (or maybe not), consumption of said cone took exactly 25 minutes. We picked the best two minutes to share....

Two, Finn built his first snow man. It's pretty cool. So we wanted to share the pix...

And three, Finn had his 4 year checkup. All's still good. He's still in the 90th percentile for height (42 inches) and 95th for weight (44 pounds.) They don't measure his head anymore (no idea) but we're pretty sure it's still an enormous melon. We got him a batting helmet for T-ball ('cause the pitchers are nasty!) and had to exchange the official t-ball size for something dad can squeeze most of his not-insubstantial melon into if need be. Shocking, but true.

FIrst Day of Soccer

As any red-blooded northern Virginian will tell you, you're not pulling your weight as a three-year-old if you're not playing soccer. While this curdles my blood, we've dutifully signed Finn up for his first "soccer team."

While what follows may not not strike purists as "soccer" (or worse, "football"), it should at least serve to amuse.

And, speaking as a completely neutral observer, I think it's safe to say we have a budding North American Pelé on our hands. Just saying...

Header...

Pelé!

This is soccer???

Manzanita

Some pics from our recent trip out west.... Great time, awesome place and even better company. Special thanks to Ethan, Erin, Ellis, Emile, Eiron, Patsy, Cuinn, Scout and Althea; we started missing you all the minute we drove away. We're not waiting so long to do it again next time! Love, us!

Hot time, summer in the city....

Ok, so we don't really live in a "city"..... But it's been hot. Damn hot! 


And it sure as heck hasn't been a dry heat.


But you know what? That's why the deity invented sprinklers. 'Cause it can get hot under the hood....

Because it's a New Year

A couple pix, a couple vids, all out of perversity, and all with love....

Enjoy!

Xmas at our house....

Where'd Finn go?!?

There he is!!

Finn's first job...

For those of you concerned that personal hygiene doesn't get the attention it deserves at our house....

Finn and his friend McCauley at her beautiful Northern Neck farm....

That's for you, dad.... (and yes, that is dad's lob wedge Finn's dragging all over that field)

Spooky trees.....

Do a Little Dance

'nuff said....

Outside

Just a couple short vids from a recent trek around Ida Lee Park in town, and a couple still shots of our newest neighbor.

As you can imagine, there's a fair amount of hullabaloo about the neighbor...

Come on, dad!

Bye-bye snakes!

From our neighbor's back-deck.

Later!

Today, Finn tried to give the cat a bath.

In the toilet.

Yaayyyy......

We still have a blog?!?!?

So maybe 8 months between blog posts is too long...

Sorry about that. Finn is 2 1/2 going on "can we sell children on eBay or craigslist?" only once or twice a week. Other than those special moments, the ones that bring grandparents the world over such perverse pleasure, he really is doing great and mom and dad can't really complain either. It was a wild and crazy fall and winter, and spring seems to have leaped overnight into 100-degree days o' summer. As always, we promise to do a better job (but don't hold you breath) and thought we'd surprise everyone with a couple little somethings...

Be well, stay cool and give us a holler the next time you're in the Piedmont!

f., a., m.

The Honker

Taggin' the driveway

You can't eat like this at a 7-11. Just sayin'.

First watermelon!

Delicious!!

First Easter Egg hunt...

Yup. Gettysburg.

Yup. Finn commanding the Union Army at Gettysburg.

Truckin'.

"No Bebo Monster!"

Off to School!

Well, Finn survived his first day of school. OK, so it was daycare but hey, it was a big deal!!

Here're a few pix of him this morning before we went. He was in fine form, as you can tell....

And, if you're curious, mom and dad survived too.

Love to all!

The summer's flying by and our postings have gotten fewer and farther between. Finn is doing great, and mom and dad couldn't be more in love with him. He's totally amazing and every day brings something more incredible. In more ways than he'll probably ever know, he really gives more to us than we do to him...

Anyway, we're getting settled in our new "country" digs and loving the space and pace. Mags has gotten super busy and the fall looks even more so. Jamestown is keeping dad busy, with some really fascinating projects (and some cool travel around the corner), and come September 7 the boy starts daycare 3 days a week. We're all very excited, if a little trepidatious.

Finn was still off-the-charts at his 18-month checkup. Well, technically, his noggin and his height were off the charts; his weight was just near the top of the charts. Might have something to do with his new diet of solid foods.... He's a great fruit eater, a middling protein eater (have to work on that for Snackerbowl) and an awful veggie eater (which is just fine for Snackerbowl.)

His fascination with planes, trains and automobiles has fully kicked in, and he's becoming quite adept at a wide range of animal noises: monkey, dog, cat, wolf, goat and sheep (interchangeable in Finn-speak), lion, tiger, bear (also pretty interchangeable now that I think about it....) and elephant. Oh, cripes, how could I forget!! He does a mean snake impression, too. A little Parseltongue, this one... (Yeah, dad's a dork.)

Wanted to get a few pix and a vid from a trip to the Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazey Center that we made on a recent rainy, swampy day. Museums are a really interesting experience with someone who's got an attention span of about 15 seconds.... It was a hoot; I don't know who had more fun, me or the boy. Anyway, it was a great excuse for gratuitous photography, and a great excuse to post an update for you all.

We send our love to all, and formally announce the opening of our new casa to anyone who finds themselves in the Piedmont region, and specifically to anyone who finds themselves near Gilbert's Corner.

Peace and bacon grease!

f., a., m.

Just really cute...

18 months and pensive

I know there's a snack in here somewhere...

The Goober meets The Blackbird

Get that stuff outta here!

The Wanderer

Dirt

Everyone's well, happy and healthy, but we HAVE been bad about The Report...

So, in the midst of boxing up our lives, thought this vid would bring a smile to everyone's faces. We miss you all and can't wait to catch up over the summer.

Peace and summer grease!

f., a., m.

Dirty Paws

Still here

Sorry, sorry, sorry... We've been really bad about posting lately.

Luckily, there are now about 3 to 4 months of pix and vids for us to parse through, so you may have to wait for a few more days on that.

Finn is still in one piece, he hasn't grown horns, or a third eye, or anything weird like that. He's still the cutest little dude around.

But his parents are really irresponsible. And don't care about other people.

In the meantime, wanted to post the boy's latest 40 times from his 15 month checkup today...

Weight: 30lbs 8oz

Height: 34 inches

Mellon: 20 inches

Still off the charts. Dude's a monster.

Love to all. Happy spring. More later.

Peace out.

Still walkin'.....

And now....

With keys!!!!

He's amazing!!!!

Love to all

m., f., a.

The Goober Walks!

More pix and vids to come but this one was too good to hold onto...

Love to all

a., m. & f.

One more vid....

We call this one "Delirious Goober." Enjoy!!

Oh, and we got new "40-times" at his one-year checkup today; still off the charts.

Weight: 29lbs, 12 ozs

Height: 32 3/4 inches

Head circ: 19 3/4 inches

And congrats to our friends the Crumrines (http://crumthekid.blogspot.com/) and the Barrentines; new babies on the way!!! Woohoo!! Nice work guys!!

Love to all...

Delirious

Vids: Playing the Piano and Walking!

Had a couple vids from the last few weeks we wanted to get up and out to everyone....

The first couple are of Finn's Nanny teaching him how to play the piano over Christmas; the last few are of Finn displaying his emerging walking skills. While the first two may predict a thrilling future as a concert pianist, the others may simply portend a lifetime of doing the Lawnmower.....

In either case, we thought they were really cute and worth sharing.

Enjoy!!

The Pianist

The Pianist 2

Walking, sorta...

Walking, sorta (2)...

Walking, sorta (3)...

Woohoo, figured out how to get vids posted again!

Remarkably uncomplicated when I got right down to it.

Sadly....

Anyway, we'll get some holiday shots up soon, but wanted to get video of Finn's first swing ride up and also had a great photo-series of the boy's first attempt at a jailbreak that's too amusing not to share....

A little context: Mags and I got a night off for New Year's eve when Mom and Dan gave a us a free-night-out pass for Xmas; that New Year's morning, Finn was doing his normal roamings and wanderings when he ran into his newest nemesis, the babygate we had to put up to curtail his new favorite hobby, stair-climbing (which wouldn't be so bad if his stair-descending was a little less like stage-diving); this time, though, Finn brought along one of his newly adopted "toys," one of Maggie's mixing bowels; and unbidden and uncoached, the little rascal demonstrated problem-solving and tool-use all at once. See for yourself. The look on his face in the last shot pretty much says it all. Special thanks to Dan for capturing the moment; and double-super-special thanks for actually thwarting the jailbreak!

Hope everyone had a wonderful season and is already having an amazing New Year!

Love ya!

Swingtime!

Planning his route...

Ascent...

The summit!

Snowpocalypse!

So, no Finn shots, but wanted to get some of the storm we had over the weekend up and posted. I went out snowshoeing on Saturday afternoon in the midst of everything to check it all out and thought some of the pix were kinda fun.


I know this is nothing for you folks up in New England or out west, but still pretty impressive for us flatlanders....


Happy holidays to all!!


a, m. & f.

That's my car under there....

And that's our deck.

Grillin' blizzard burgers

Wish I'd put the grill cover back on

REALLY wish I'd put the grill cover back on...