Outdoors Girl

"Brayeee" "Ousiieeee" "Bawlll"!!!

Finley loves being outside... even now that its getting "buggy" and hot. Hot like soup. She's walking all over... almost running through the soup and LOVES it!

Baptism

Finley was baptized May 3rd. It was an awesome day. We were surrounded by the Spirit, family and friends. We feel so incredibly blessed. God has trusted us to be her parents, to be her family. It was a day to celebrate His amazing gift to us, and the responsibility of raising her in an environment of love and faith. We couldn't do it alone and we're so glad we don't have to.

The top picture is of the lamb cake Mimi made for Finley's Baptism. It's a family tradition. Isn't it awesome?!
Below is Finley opening the sweet cross necklace from her Nana the morning of her Baptism.

Mommy and Finney at her Baptism.

Pastor John baptizing our sweet girl.

After service, celebrating at our house (Lexi, Mattison, and Finney)

Finney and Trey enjoying some lunch (Trey took off his tie to eat)... Look at those faces! :)

Walking!!!

Ok.. so walking is pretty hard to capture in still photographs...
But these are pretty cute anyways. She started "walking" on Easter when her Aunt Nicole and Nana were determined to get her to take steps on her own and gain confidence. Since then she's taking lots more steps before lunging forward. She's really getting good.

A wobbly subject coming at you makes for blurry photographs, but that's just because she's so fast :)...

1st Time at the Beach

"Oh Mom-- not the bikini! Not with this belly!" :) So cute!!

We went to the beach for the first time for Nana's Birthday... we had a GREAT day!!

The water was still chilly, but being the water baby she is, she did not mind at all. She loves the water!!

Pool Fun

Finley is definitely a "water baby". She loves playing in the water and thinks she can swim. She is very independent these days and wants us to let her go... even in the pool!

Here are the neighbor boys (left to right: Brett, Jake and Koen) and Finnie playing at the pool...

Me and Finley and niehgbor Caroline playing at the pool...

Hanging out with Aunt Nicole and Nana at the pool over "Spring Break"...

We look forward to many more fun days at the pool... It's just starting to heat up and we're really loving being over there playing, lounging and swimming.

My Future's So Bright...

"I gotta wear shades"! :) Sweet girl LOVES being outside. She's saying so many words now... one of which is "out" when she wants to go outside. Good thing she tolerates hats and me slathering on pounds of sunscreen. Here we are in our "shades" before a run...

One of Finnie's other new words is "Brayeeee" for Brady. She loves playing outside with her puppy dog...

She also always says "ball" when headed outside... she loves to throw the ball for Brady. It's really sweet.

Toddler 1

Finley graduated to the "Toddler 1" classroom at Baby School so she's no longer in the infant room. That means she only gets one nap a day... at the same time as everyone else (after lunch) and it's on a cot! Amazingly, she's been napping great! Peer pressure is a beautiful thing at this age in some respects, evidently. These pictures are from the morning of her "1st day of school" in the T1 classroom. She was in such a great mood and we talked a lot over breakfast about what a fun time she was going to have with the "big kids".

Here she is giving me the "ONE" for her first day in T1!!

And here she is as I was leaving her with her new sweet teacher, Ms. Linda...

10 seconds after I left (of course I stayed to watch from outside) she was playing and having a great time. Now, she's doing great. She loves her new classroom-- they even get to play outside some during the day and she LOVES that. They are learning songs and read books and have art projects daily. She recently started singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" at dinner the other night when Chris and I recognized the "Up abah bah bah bah bie"-- sure enough, it was her song from the day at school. We are so blessed that we "found" such a great place for her. I can't believe she's no longer in the infant room though!!