The 12 Days of Christmas

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Below are pictures, and three videos, of the past couple weeks from our main camera -- I will have more later this week from my camera phone, too, which includes a couple of pictures from Finley's first haircut -- which really only involved a bit off her bangs and a bit off of the back. Still, for a child that had more hair at birth than I do now, it was still a haircut.

Anyhow, over the past few weeks, we've had Shelley's dad, Steve, here, gone back to Des Moines to see family, celebrated Christmas, and had our first major snow fall. All will be captured below, but since this blog is a bit of a pain when it comes to posting pictures, they aren't entirely in a chronological order. Here goes:


Finley getting ready for the the first snow in her pretty new pink boots and snowpants. As you'll hear in the video, she REFUSES to wear a hat or gloves, so her hands get like ice.

This was by about 3:00 Christmas day. Finley, on the other hand, was still hopped up like she washed down two tablets of speed with a large Red Bull.

A picture from a couple of weeks ago, but Daddy and his girls . . . but Jack refused to be left out!

We've been hearing that the dogs haven't been getting enough airtime, so by popular demand, a canine trilogy. If pictures had captions, Monty's would be, "Wake me when this is over . . . or there are snacks."

"Really? I thought these got lost in the move."

"Maybe living on the streets of Nashville wasn't so bad. I thought after we didn't have costumes for Halloween, we were in the clear."

Again, Finley HATES anything on her head -- she has snow caps, Cubs hats (save it Cardinal fans), but she will not wear any of them. However, once she saw the dogs wearing them for pictures, she allowed one picture to be taken . . . then she threw it on the floor. Models!

Grandpa Steve was in town and he, too, learned how much Finley loves to read the same books over and over and over and over again.

When we were back in Iowa, we got to go the Helbling/Weinstein family Christmas for the first time since 2006. Finley very much enjoyed her time there -- she keeps asking to open presents when she wakes up every day since Christmas.

While we were at Valley West Mall, Finley saw the choo-choo and had to ride. Of course, not alone, so Mama squeezed into the car as the only adult on the train.

Harper doesn't have as many pictures -- she's at the stage where if you see her in one, she is basically doing the same in all the others, minus a costume change. In this one, I believe she is trying to reach Santa to let him know that perhaps Finley wasn't as good as she might have led him to believe.

Jack gets so tired after the hunt. Jack is resting after tearing the stuffing out of his Christmas Eve (stuffed) goose.

A cute video above of Finley holding Harper. Two apologies -- first, I am kind of loud and annoying in it. Second, unbeknown to me at the time, Shelley's butt makes a 30 second cameo in the video and we cannot for the life of us figure out what she is doing down there!!

Finley has a bit of Aunt Stephie in her; well, you can watch for yourself her reaction to hair accessories.

As you may know, the dogs love the snow. You can watch them play here, plus see Finley freeze because she won't wear her hat or gloves. Also interestingly, despite liking the snow last winter, she FREAKED OUT when we put her down this time. The tears were all but frozen to her face she was so mad. We'll work on that over time.

Please enjoy -- I know there is lots here, but I hope since we weren't with any of you for the holiday, this helps you feel a bit closer to the girls. More to come soon.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to both of our loyal readers. We have some great pictures to post from the last week, including our trip back home to Iowa. While I hope to post more of those later today, here is a cute little video from Wednesday. Finley is obsessed with Santa and Frosty the Snowman, so she is always VERY excited whenever she sees them. As you'll see below, she's mastered what Santa says . . . then also shows that she can be easily distracted!

Merry Christmas everyone.

Holiday Spirits

Kind of a slow week, but yesterday we did take the girls to Santa. As is generally the case, Finley is able to muster her smile on command, as she did here. Harper, on the other hand, can't be bothered. As with her picture below from our Christmas card, she really doesn't want much to do with this whole photo thing yet. As it isn't part of her 3 Commandments -- sleeping, nursing, and messing her diaper, I can't say that I blame her.

It also might have been nice on this picture to have her top and her jean legs pulled all the way down.

Like her father, Finley isn't afraid to sport naked ankles, even in winter.

I know I am outvoted on this, but I think this picture is tragic and that Harper will not speak to her mother when she is old enough to understand that this was her coming-out photo. Shelley disagrees, as do most of the women that I mention this to; however, the guys at work are on my side.

Finley, one of Finley's favorite poses -- the possessive, "mine" pose.

All is well with us. We are heading back to Iowa for an early Christmas next week, but plan to spend the holiday here with the dogs. I hope to get some new pictures of them on the blog over the coming weeks, too.

Happy Holidays, everyone.

Since I've Been Gone

A picture to start -- Grandma Susie with all of her grandchildren - Harper, Finley, and Amy. Not pictured, Shae's unborn son, Wolfgang Tupac Hoschek, due in January.

OK, I admit it -- every month or so I apologize for falling behind, only to get on a roll for awhile and then slow down. So, here is my latest promise to keep the blog updated more frequently, esp. given you have twice the babies to see.

Here are a bunch of picture, in no particular order, that will bring you up to speed in the Weinstein's lives. Also, Shelley took the girls to get our Christmas card made -- they'll be going out this week . . . and they are good.

Over Thanksgiving, Shelley's mom and older sister, Susie and Steph, came to visit. A month before Harper was born, Stephanie and Steve, her husband, had a baby girl, Amy Marie Stuecker. Amy was born over nine pounds, a difference that will become evident in a few photos below.

Below is a picture of Harper from this week -- she was a month old this past Thursday. She is growing like mad, eating all of the time (a true Weinstein AND Hoschek), and not generally sleeping much at night.
Another picture of Harper, much closer, from about two weeks ago. Yes, she mostly sleeps -- or cries.

As mentioned above, Amy was born about 3 pounds bigger than Harper (or Supersized 50% more). You will see that difference, plus the additional month, below.

The best picture we took of all three of the girls. At this point, they are 3 weeks old, about 21 months, and 6 weeks old.

Every year, our Realtors, Terri, Kieron, and Steve, have a big Christmas party at Kieron and Steve's house. We went for the first time last year and this year Finley and I went, where we saw the world's greatest balloon animal artist at work. While we were in line, we saw this woman
make a goldfish blowing clear bubbles, Ariel from The Little Mermaid, and a princess. Finley, who we took to the town Christmas tree lighting and saw Santa, wanted a Santa Claus balloon. She got one, as you can see below:

One of the bloopers trying to get the picture above - she hasn't quite mastered her mother's automatic smile yet.

Shelley's family got Finley a 6-piece baby doll set, which included a pack and play, car seat (which she is holding), baby Bjorn, booster chair, and bouncing chair. Finley's two dolls are named Baby Harper and Baby Amy -- they are different sized dolls and Baby Harper is the younger one, while Baby Amy is the older, and larger, one.

Another Harper picture - this one at about two weeks old.

The best picture of Finley as we were trying to get all three girls to look the same direction -- or at least not tip over.