Sick Days

We've all* been sick lately.

*Okay, Tyson's not sick....but he injured his rib and it hurts to move much.

So, he may as well be sick.

I'm sure that you are ALL asking yourself...

"What do the Finlinsons do when they are sick?"

Obviously that's the first question that popped into your mind....

We sit around and draw house plans of our "dream home".

Don't you do that?

Leila was just scribbling (although deep down I wouldn't doubt if she was thinking "and this is my bedroom with loads of puzzles, games, and things to climb on.")

Eden was actually drawing her dream house. The important things were that the house had stairs and her bedroom was upstairs (we currently don't have stairs in our house and she seems to think stairs are the "cool thing"). Downstairs was a family room.

Tyson and I have been coming up with our "dream house" since we were married.

Tyson draws house plans and I find pictures online.

Too bad our dream its on a long waiting list....

1. Survive med school
2. Decide what Tyson wants to do with the rest of his life
3. Survive residency
4. Pay off student loans
5. Save up for house
6. Get "dream house"

Currently, it'll looking something like this....(but not exactly, I'm sure)

Kitchen

Nothing huge or fancy...pretty simple

A courtyard where we can eat outside

And stairs....for Eden

And a large Minerva Teichert

*Sigh*

One day.

Then again, when that day comes, our dreams will probably be different.

For now we will dream....cause its fun.

And spend our lives the way sick people do....

...watching movies and eating Ramen noodles.

p.s. This is totally random. Leila's been signing "potty" to me recently. So I'll take her to the bathroom, strip off her diaper, and she'll sit on the potty for what seems like forever. She never does anything. I ask, "Are you done yet?" "No." Sit, sit, sit. "Are you done yet?" "No."

Today she totally took me by surprise when she pooped in the toilet!!! A part of me wants to explore getting her potty trained (even though she's only 19 months old) but I'm not too stressed about it.

I'm just happy there was one less poopy diaper I had to change today.

Alyssa and Ben

This past weekend my sister, Alyssa, and brother-in-law, Ben came to visit. We had lots of fun...mostly just hanging out, walking around downtown, and playing LOTS of Settles of Catan.

We happened upon a parade in downtown Grand Junction....and all I could do is laugh. It was a little....what's the word....sad. Definitely a "small town" type parade. It was for the Lions Club. Mostly people walked around in old (and rather abnormal) Halloween costumes trying to get you buy raffle tickets and a bunch of cars with advertisements. I do wish I got a picture of the type of car that Leila seems to really like. It was somewhat like this...

The old blue buggy. It was always the blue ones...but they were prettier than this one. Those were the cars that always got Leila excited.

But the highlight (or low-light) of the parade was the group dressed up like terrorist protesters protesting airport security. Hmm....questionable.

Other than the parade we also went out to eat. Alyssa and Ben took me out for the late birthday dinner. Alyssa was able to get her flute fixed (which was the main reason for the visit). We visited the candy store and the kids got discounted valentine chocolate heart pops. We went to a friend's house to eat dinner and play games. Talk about food and house plans (which are both highlight topics of conversation in my book). And the kids LOVED Alyssa and Ben around to play with all the time.

Thanks for the awesome visit Alyssa and Ben. You're welcome back anytime!

Birthday and Valentines

I'm gonna put the pictures in first this time. Change it up a bit. Then type, type, type...

Here's what we did on my actual birthday.

My 28th birthday was on Monday (the 13th) and the next day was Valentines of course.

You know, the only time it seems sad that my birthday is the day before Valentines is when I need to blog and I end up combining the two into one post.

Other than that, I really don't mind it.

Its like two days of being spoiled. No complaints here.

It actually started on Saturday....so really I got FOUR days of spoiling.

I told you all how much I wanted to go to the temple and my hubby sacrificed by staying home with sick kids. Then he left that night to grocery shop for Sunday.

Well, Sunday I didn't feel the best, Leila was still coughing, and we thought we'd give Eden another day to recover (leaving Tyson to take care of us all)...so we didn't go to church.

We stayed home and relaxed but Tyson had planned a glorious meal to have that night (since he didn't have work he figured that would be the best day to make me a birthday dinner). He made me chicken and shrimp carbonara with a blackberry sage lemonade. Yum. Very yum.

Then on Monday night (my birthday) I had a spontaneous thought. "Let's go bowling!" And since it was my birthday, nobody complained. Even though we knew it would run past kids bedtime, we headed out the door. It was a lot of fun. The kids mostly just played around but they enjoyed themselves too. Tyson won...but not by TOO much. Then we came home and had some strawberry short cake and sang happy birthday.

Tuesday (Valentines) was a bit crazy. We had a Valentines Day party for preschool at my house. So I had to plan everything out, teach a lesson, and pretty much we just let the kids go crazy in the kids room and the mothers sat around chatting and eating snacks. Then I went to a baby shower a few hours after. Then I came home (later than I planned) not having anything special for a valentines dinner.

Tyson came home with beautiful flowers and Hagan daaz ice cream (in my favorite flavor).

I made leftovers.

How romantic.

Tyson's MUCH better at "romantic" than I am. Obviously.

The kids were beat after preschool and the baby shower (with no nap) that they went to bed a little early.

Tyson and I were very unromantic although I admit that I really enjoyed myself and thought it was romantic. Tyson just knew that he was dedicated to me all night. That sounded like a good Valentines to me. :) We ended up watching hulu on the couch while giving foot rubs. Then we fell asleep on the couch cuddling until we woke up realizing that we needed to really get to bed.

Call me crazy. I totally think that's romantic. Relaxing with my hubby. Foot rubs. Falling asleep cuddling. And course those beautiful flowers that remain on my kitchen table.

Best. Husband. Ever.

Today was our ward temple trip. I've been wanting to go to the temple for months and months. I've really been looking forward to this trip. Its a 2 1/2 hour drive to the Monticello Temple from Grand Junction. Next to the temple is a stake house where volunteers from our ward came to babysit any kids. I was excited. A temple trip WITH my husband WITH babysitters. Plus, its my birthday on Monday...this TOTALLY was part of my birthday wish.

Then this morning we woke up and got dressed. Eden and Leila woke up.

Leila: *COUGH COUGH COUGH COUGH"

Eden: "Oh no! Not again! My tummy hurts!"

Last night she said something about her tummy hurting, but it didn't seem to affect her play time...so I thought maybe she was just saying it hurt and it wasn't really a big deal. But then she told me she didn't want breakfast and instead went back to bed.

When we tried to wake her up again we noticed that she didn't have any color in her face. She definitely wasn't looking good.

Tyson knew the temple has been something I've really been looking forward too...so he volunteered (on his ONE day off of work this month where he's been working 14 hour days several days) to stay home with the kids while I went to the temple.

Best. Husband. Ever.

I admit, I was really sad and disappointed that Tyson couldn't come with me. After all, all this working means I haven't had a lot of time with Tyson. And it was a 2 1/2 hour trip there, 2 hour session, and 2 1/2 hour trip back. But I decided to go anyhow.

I hitched a ride from some good friends. We left at 8:45 am and I didn't get home until 5:30 pm or so. While I was at the temple Eden threw up all over her bed, clothes, and Tyson. Tyson cleaned it up, cleaned the house, took care of the kids, and now he's at the grocery store buying food for a Sunday dinner he's going to make me tomorrow for my birthday dinner.

Yes. Let me say it again.

Best. Husband. Ever.

He wins. Period.

Anybody Still Reading?

I just hope I haven't lost ALL my blog readers.

Sorry for the absence.

Let me fill you in....

5 GOOD Things that Happened

1. My parent's left on a mission to Sendai, Japan on January 2
2. Go out for a birthday lunch with my family and birthday dinner with Tyson's family
3. I was able to go to Costco and WinCo
4. Participated in the family Christmas Spirit List auction
5. Played games with family and friends

5 BAD Things that Happened

1. I had a lot of expensive dental work done
2. I forgot to find a substitute teacher for my primary class on Sunday
3. I signed up to feed the missionaries BEFORE I got back from Utah and didn't realize until the day AFTER...leaving them meal-less
4. I had to cancel preschool at my house at the last minute
5. I locked my keys in the trunk of my car

10 Things Eden and Leila Have Done

1. Played with cousins
2. Stayed up WAY past bedtime....every night
3. Eden earned breakfast in bed (quite a highlight for her)
4. We went to Kangaroo Zoo (bounce houses)
5. Eden won "kid make up" (nail polish, lip gloss, and body glitter) at the family auction
6. Ate WAY more treats and snacks than normal
7. Ate WAY more fruit than normal
8. Watched more Barbie movies than any human should ever watch
9. Rode on a carousel
10. Christmas presents (favorites probably being dress up clothes, puzzles, books, and baby signing time videos)

5 Things Tyson Did While We Were Away

1. Ended his Radiology rotation
2. Started his Surgery rotation
3. Told he would be an AWESOME surgeon...by a surgeon
4. Played games....after all, he's a guy
5. And honestly....I'm not entirely sure....

5 New Years Resolutions

1. Run 3 miles in 30 minutes (don't laugh, I'm seriously out of shape)
2. Read 1 new book every other month
3. Learn to make a few AWESOME meals to serve guests
4. Teach Eden to read
5. And one that I'm keeping a secret from the blogging world....

My parent's decided to do family pictures since they were leaving on their mission. Something I learned....my kids are NOT picture people. We sat there forever trying to get everyone to hold still, look forward, and smile. In the end I look back and laugh at the funny memories we made.

This picture of my kids makes me laugh cause it is such "doom and gloom" But that was probably the best one we got of the girls together....

Eden's Photo Shoot

(Told her to pose like a princess)

Leila's Photo Shoot

My Mom and Dad

Emily and Kelly's Family (kids: Ty, Rhett, and Anika)

Becca and Shawn's Family (kids: Brayden and McKell)

Laura and Eric's Family (kids: Trey and Ramona)

Nate and Sayuri's Family (kids: Kenji, Hideki, and Miriana)

Alyssa and Ben's Family

Group Pictures

Just Letting You Know

So, for the 3 or so of you that read my blog....

I'm feeling a little "anti-blogging" lately.

So, when I start feeling "blog-ish" again, I'll write.

A Little Like Sheldon

I admit, I'm a little like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory when it comes to Christmas (but of course I'm not quite as geeky as Sheldon).

(If these clips don't show...sorry, I'm new at this and I'm having problems. Click "watch on youtube"...you won't regret it.)

Then after all the stress of giving a gift of equal value (or in my case just making sure they like it at all) then I often wish I planned ahead like Sheldon does by buying SEVERAL gifts of different sizes and values so you can make sure to give the CORRECT gift in return.

Then of course I have to show the clip where they do the gift exchange...cause its hilarious.

But, I'm happy to report that I have been much more festive this year!

Okay, Okay....I admit it. Its more about competition than festiveness. I mean, is it bad that I probably wouldn't be "festive" at all had it not been for my family creating a "Christmas Spirit List" where if we do an item on the list we get points that go towards our family Christmas party auction?

But it has been fun and I'm glad we have the Christmas Spirit Lists. We've been keeping our days filled with crafts, projects, Christmas books, service, gifts, and of course reading scriptures about Christ's birth and His visitation to the Americas.

Here are some of the Christmas Spirit events going on at my house recently...

Decorating a Christmas tree ("poor man" style)

We took our mini IKEA plants and decorated them.

We've also made paper snowflakes.

Can you guess which one is my, Eden's, and Leila's snowflakes?

I thought the big one would be fun with Eden, but she didn't care for it too much. She instead took her own pieces of paper, made a few cuts, folded them up, and taped them to the wall. She was pretty impressed with herself too. And I must say, in the scheme of things....her snowflakes look much more like real snowflakes than mine. Leila just took the strips of leftover paper and drew on them. Tyson also made one, but I never got a picture of it because he did it later in the day (since we did the project while he was at work).

Here was my other invention. I attempted to make our house a little more Christmas looking by adding some hanging ornaments (where we usually hang a few lavender sprigs).

I'm not sure it turned out as fabulous as I wanted it too. I ran out of ribbon and couldn't seem to figure out how to make it look as awesome as I had envisioned. Oh well, it definitely adds a lot having the red and gold instead of the lavender.

We also put up Christmas lights around our front window...but I haven't gotten around to taking a picture of it.

Eden also wrote Santa a letter. Well, I technically wrote it, but she told me what to write. And let me tell you, its hard to write as fast as she talks.

It may be hard to read...so this is what it says...

Dear Santa,

I'm gonna be a good girl this year.

I am going to sleep on Christmas

and not be naughty

and I will not fight

and I'll do the dishes with mommy

and I'll hug and kiss dad every time he comes.

Please Santa bring me a castle with

Rapunzel, Flynn Ryder, her hairbrush and her chameleon.

For Christmas I want a

big, big, big, big, BIG,

big, big, big, BIG princess tent.

And that's all.

Love Eden (she signed herself)

She also drew a map so Santa could make sure to get to her Nana's house where she'll be staying on Christmas Eve. Hate for Santa to think we were still in Grand Junction when we're at Nana's.

Well, hopefully you hear from me again on more festivities that we've engaged ourselves in.

Happy Holidays everyone!