Sistah Visit

I love having company.  Mr. Finn isn't "as" social as I am, (meaning... I could have visitors 24/7/365) but since he has been spending a good portion of his weeks in Minnesota, it was fun having my sister here for 5 days all to myself.  She came for a conference but I got her in the evenings.  The kids were so excited to have her here.  She is a fun Aunt!  The Dude was a little miffed at her the first night because he got in trouble and she said she would take his toys home with her.  Yikes!  I was a bit worried, but you can see that it was short lived.  How could he stay mad at that face?

It's beyond me!  She gave them these jars full of gummy eye of newt and bat's eyes.  Her expression was priceless when she was telling them about it.  The kids... not so much.  They made sure we tried them, but they weren't having anything to do with it.  I was partial to the bat's eyes and Aunt Erika like the eye of newt.

When Saturday rolled around we headed out for a day of all things touristy, so we ended up at an authentic KC BBQ place.

The open faced pulled pork sandwich was to die for.  And the sweet BBQ sauce was ummm ummmm good!  We never even made it to the fries.  You gotta try it sometime.

Then we were off to Adam-Ondi-Ahman... after a quick trip to Walmart so she could get a souvenir for her roomie in AZ.  Well, that turned into and hour and some odd trip of looking at kids clothes and Aunt Erika buying way too much for the kids.  Miss Boo was thrilled because she loves new clothes and especially ones with hearts.  Erika made sure they all had lots and lots of them.

The weather that had been gray all morning took a turn heading towards northern Missouri and just as we parked, it started to pour and then dump and the wind picked up to a velocity that was a bit scary.  About that time Mr. Finn called and said that we were under a tornado warning.  Great!  We were on a bluff.  Enough said!

We decided that it wasn't going to quit and were going to leave.  Can you believe that it stopped raining instantly as she put the car in reverse?  What a blessing!  We hopped out of the car and ran down the bluff to the overlook.  I wasn't exactly in running shoes and well... it was an adventure, but totally worth it.

The wind never slowed down though.  It made for a pretty great picture.  Unfortunately the wind blew all the leaves off the trees and we didn't get to see the pretty colors of Fall.

It seems like just as soon as she got here, we were packing her up to leave.  I think she was worried that everything wouldn't fit in her bag.  Did I mention that we went shopping?  Not just at Walmart.  I had forgotten about that until I wrote this post.  We left the house and went there first and then over to eat because we were famished from all that shopping.

The Dude is a bit mischievous as you can see.  He loves his Aunt.

I could eat him up.  He is a kisser by nature.  That's o.k.!  He's only four.  I might change my mind when he is a teenager, but as long has he is loving on his family it can't be bad, right?

He was trying to be "Toothless" in this picture and it made me laugh.  The outfit courtesy of his sweet Aunt.

Miss Boo missed out on our dinner Friday to attend a birthday party.  I love the face painting she came home with.  I got the last of it off Sunday morning.  She had to keep it for another party she attended on Saturday.  I totally get it!

Are those eyes not amazing?

Aunt Erika... we miss you!  Thanks for everything and especially for finding a conference in our neck of the woods.  It means a whole bunch to us.  The Dude says he misses you one hundred thousand and one hundred fousand ten.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Bathroom Makeover

I have been wanting to paint my bathroom for a long, long time but energy didn't match the want factor.  We have a fairly large bathroom with really high sealing and lots of angles.  Can you see why I would want to change the way it looks?  Don't mind the vacuum, I always have to clean before I start working.  Weird habit.

I love how warm it looks now.  I added a painting one of our neighbors gave us when we lived in Washington to bring the color of the wood cabinets upward.  

I learned that on my new favorite decorating show, "Sarah's House".

This picture makes the walls look yellow brown, but I'm not hating the look.  Maybe I should paint the walls gold.  Hmmmmmm...

I found this towel rack at Old Tyme Pottery and was in love.  I'm not one for off the rack things so this was purchased with no remorse.  Can you believe it was only $5.00?  

I'm serious!

I couldn't find any screws that would go with this, but I found that craft paint works just as well.  I love quick fixes and I find you can do just about anything with super glue, hot glue and cheap craft paint.  I can meet any challenge...

I love how it looks from my bedroom.  So nice with those dark chocolate walls.

I like that everything blends together, from my duvet to my walls, etc.  I tend to be very earthy in my color palette, but it is soothing in my world.

The room is in disarray because I am refinishing the dresser and all Mr. Finn's clothes are in boxes to the left and the top of the dresser stuff is on the floor.

I don't know why I am obsessed with painting and redoing everything in my home.

Fresh paint =  Fresh outlook?

Halloween Hallows

Mr. Finn has brought it to my attention that orange is not a good color for my posts even though it looks Halloween festive.  Bummer!  I really liked it, but hopefully you all can read it better now.

My handsome, blond headed, blue eyed little boy is a Vampire. Seriously, see his face when I moved from being his shade.  He doesn't like the sun much.  What's a mother to think?

 While Mr. Finn is enjoying all that Minnesota (said like this;  mini-soooooo-ta) has to offer, I loaded up the kids for a trip to Halloween Hallows.  It has never disappointed and with this year's theme of "How to Train Your Dragon", how could you go wrong.

 And... VIKINGS.  Lots and lots of poor vikings, running around in their fake fur, sweating to death with our unseasonly (quite aware that isn't a word, but I like it, so it stays.) warm weather of 92 degrees.  They must have been fooled last year when it was 42 degrees and they were clad in thin costumes.  Can't count on the weather here, it just isn't reliable.

 Not sure how the Hot Dog fit into the theme, but the kids were in love....

 I love hay rides... especially when they take you from your car to the activity.  I don't like walking in the heat, it drains me, so this is the perfect way to arrive fresh and full of energy for those sweet bundles of joy I bore once upon a time.

 The Dude learned to play golf for the first time.  Ha ha!  I adore the skeletons hanging behind him.  He played it more like crochet, but it was fun to watch him.  He was quite serious about it.

 Miss Boo is an expert golfer as she has been on the green with her Dad.  Just ask her!

Do you ever feel that each morning you have to slay your own dragons throughout the day?  They got to do it for "real" and it was so enjoyable for me to see how exciting that is for a 4 year old.  He had the sound effects down and everyone was enjoying watching him.  Check out the Viking's face behind him.

 What is up with Patrick's stomach?  Seriously!  According to my son, the genius, it is because he is "FAKE".  Can't get anything closer to the truth than that.

It took 2 hours of slaying dragons for her to have the courage to take a picture with Patrick.  She then decides when we are in line for the hayride back to the car that this would be the perfect time to run across the field for that photo op.  Glad we took it.  Maybe we will actually get our FIRST picture with Santa this year if she can take one with this "fake" Patrick.  We can always dream.

Oh, before I forget after the children made their viking shields and earned their stamps of courage on them, they were given Viking names.  Priceless.

Ragi and Runi.  You guess which is which.  But since you are going ask...

He is super proud of his "new" name.
ME TOO!  He earned it.

I'm no Van Gogh

I have been really busy lately painting everyone's houses.  I love to paint, so this isn't a big deal, but I think last night was the last straw for my body.  It gave out!

I am officially tired of painting again!

At least for now!

Until I can't stand looking at my unfinished bathroom.

At least the downstairs stairwell got done on Monday and only because I felt guilty giving all my time to other homes.  Surely, this house could feel that my feelings were split.

So, I appeased it and painted what I thought was the easiest project.  It wasn't the easiest, actually turned out to be the hardest.  I did learn that I can be a bit of an acrobat though.  Always nice to learn things about yourself.

A Night of Fun

With Mr. Finn working in Minnesota these days, the kids and I loaded up the SUV and headed to the Mall of America.  There was no way we were bypassing this event after Mr. Finn showed them a brochure on it.

We got off to a rough start.  

The main desire of the children was to visit Spongebob's house.

Which turned out to be a big disappointment.  Apparently it was a bounce house with lots of kids bouncing around.  Not the experience they were looking forward to.

What more can I say about this?

My Fearless son talked me into going on a ride that takes you 50 feet in the air and drops you over and over again, all the while screaming at the top of your lungs even though you know that you need to be CALM for your little boy that is sitting beside you muttering, "I hate this... I hate this... I hate this!".  I know it is bad when he uses a word that is forbidden in our home.  I couldn't console him because I was terrified and out of control.  Things not to find out about yourself while falling 50 feet to the ground.

See how he is letting me know that each ride is o.k.  Such confidence that I was not feeling.  Double thumbs up... glad it was only a Back to the Barn hayride.

This was my favorite ride for obvious reasons.  

How can you go wrong in a hot air balloon?

This roller coaster, and I use that term loosely, (more like soul sucker) proved to my final undoing.  It made me scream from the starting gate and it took the corners on two rails, literally and then when it couldn't go any faster is started to spin.  What the heck!

As the Dude said, "Mommy screamed like a girl"!  Totally!  

I knew I shouldn't but I couldn't stop it.

After this ride, I even got sick on Diego's Rescue Adventure.  Very Sad!

We can't even get our kids to sit on Santa's lap, but bring in Sponge Bob and it's like they are seeing an old friend.  They would still be with him if we didn't have to leave.

Of course there was the visit to the store.  It was incentive for my darling Miss Boo, who isn't always the most easily warmed to new events.  The deal was that she went on 5 rides and she could have a toy.   Don't think she didn't take me up on that and lickity split too!

Everyone was so tired after a long evening at Nickelodeon Universe.  Look at that poor little boys eyes.  Plumb tuckered out!

Especially the Mama and the Papa.

Delightful Surprise

Once upon a time I had this visiting teacher named Shannon who was so wonderful that she offered to shave my legs when I was pregnant.  Really?  You betcha!  She is top notch for sure!  I never took her up on it, but there was a moment when I really almost picked up the phone.  If it wasn't for the fact that I was too tired to shower, I would have done it.  She would have come anyways, she's just like that.

SHE IS FANTASTIC!

When I got home from grocery shopping there was a package on my doorstep.  An unexpected at that.  I raced through the fog of my mind for anything that would bring a package to my home.  NOPE!  Just fog.  And a few crickets.  chirp... chirp

Upon retrieval of the package and to my delight it was addressed to me.  Once again fog and crickets... nothing until I saw the return address.

My delightful friend Shannon... what could she be sending me?  Why would she be sending me something?

Her sweet little note answered all my questions and put a huge smile on my face.  She knows me and my love of receiving nuggets in the mail.

She knew of my flavor pallet of color and sent me something so fun for this time of year.  I now know what I "could" do with that bag of corks we got from a wine store years ago for a project I never did.

Have you seen anything so adorable.  Pumpkins in the perfect flavor pallet.    With my little pumpkin head boy behind them.  What could be more perfect?

Thank you my dear friend for sending such joy and warmth on this Fall day.