Happy 1st Birthday Harper (and Halloween)

Our little Harper turned one today.  She has been as easy a baby as we could hope for, which I'm sure means she will pierced, tattooed, and in a biker gang by 13.  Until then, I am hoping that she is the Daddy's girl that you always hear about.  Little Shelley, or Finley as you know her by, is really starting to warm up to her sister.  Of course, at this age, that is a moment to moment thing, but she hasn't shoved any small objects down her throat - yet - so that counts as love at two and a half.

Before we kick this off, here is a quick video of Harper's birthday cupcake.

Our camera's memory card filled up, so you'll have to wait to see more of Harper's Birthday Blowout Spectacular when I can sync my Blackberry.

On the the rest of the show.

 Finley was adamant that she have the silly pumpkin, while Harper has the. . .



 . . . yes, the "spooky" pumpkin.  It was VERY clear which pumpkin belonged to Finley.



At gymnastics the week of Halloween, the girls got their faces painted.  Finley, if you can't tell, is Monty's mortal enemy, a bunny. 

In previous posts, I've mentioned how Harper is really using her awesome upper body strength (which she got from her father) to pull herself up.   She's now working on curls.

"Nobody knows the trouble I've seen.  Nobody knows but Jesus. . . ."  We baby proofed parts of the house last week, or as I see it, created confinement pens for Shelley's piece of mind. Here prisoners 001, 02.5, and 010 are in general confinement. 

 Finley was pretty excited about Halloween.  Finley couldn't contain her glee in being Strawberry Shortcake and she really wanted Harper to be a Flamingo.  Or a bunny, which is the costume she's holding in the picture.  To prove Shelley and I are well into middle age, she is a cowgirl.  Nope, not a "trampy" cowgirl, just a plain, ole cowgirl.  Or, maybe, based on her eyes, a devilish cowgirl, which still isn't as good as trampy, but it would explain a lot.

 Sorry, dogs, your costumes didn't get lost in the move.  Nor, with two little two-legged mannequins, did Momma get sick of dressing you, also.

"Handsome" Jack doesn't look so handsome now, does he, Finley?  Maybe I'm a little closer after all.

This is why we don't see Dixie in a lot of pictures -- she knows nothing good can come when the camera is out.  Looks like the flamingo is on the prowl.

Yep, nothing good ever comes of it for poor Didi.

Peas in a pod.

I went as a fan of the World Series winning Chicago Cubs.  On Halloween, you can go as whatever you want - reality is suspended for a night!!

This is Monday, the day after Halloween.  Kid you not, they were still tired from all of the barking they did the night before.

Now she's working on her calf raises.  Shelley and I really believe Harper is training pay Finley back for all of the toys she rips out of Harper's hands.

A nice moment where the girls are having a tea party.  You don't see a couple of minutes later when Finley rips the teacup away from Harper, which led Harper to start doing push-ups.  Payback is a comin'. . ..

This was today for Harper's birthday.  Finley was "helping" frost the cupcakes.

Baking seems very, very messy.

Because Finley is such a little helper, she is opening Harper's cards.  Meanwhile, Harper is locked into something.

And here's Finley putting them on the table.  It looks to me, however, that she palmed a $5 in the picture for her efforts.  Harper remains locked onto the target.

She REALLY wants it.

I know it looks like we are parents of the year, but her hand was well away from the open flame.  No children were harmed in the making of this blog.

Just to provide added value to this blog, a bonus feature, which is a behind the scenes look at the girls and their jack o lanterns.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween and thanks for checking the blog.  Many, many, many more happy birthdays, Harper Paige.

Finley's Wit and Harper's Crawl

So, Finley and I were driving the other day when she says,  unprovoked, "You're not as handsome as Jack. You're only a couple handsome, but Jack is all of the handsome. You're just a couple handsome, Daddy, but Jack is all day handsome."  Then, when we came home and told Shelley, Finley kindly demonstrated with her hands where Jack and I rank;  you can assume which hand I am.  I can only be grateful for her short arms or it might be worse.

I tried to post this video the other day, but it was too long, so I had to edit it into two separate videos. Take a look - Harper is getting after it and she LOVES Dixie.

Still Alive

So, I am a bit bothered by not being much of a man of my word, over four weeks since my last post. That certainly isn't any way to bump my readership over the 5 of you that come here to see picture of the girls. My apologies, but work is keeping me pretty busy, as are the two little mini-Shelleys.

They are both doing great - Finley is starting to break out of her separation anxiety - almost to the point of when she was a regular in daycare. She has been going twice a week to 1/2 day preschool and today she didn't cry at all when Shelley left. That is quite a contract to the full bore meltdown she had on day one and the smaller, yet powerful hurricane she unleashed the second time. In fact, yesterday at dance class, Shelley was able to join the other parents outside the studio for the first time in four classes, too.

As you can see, she is pretty busy, and we haven't even mentioned gymnastics on Friday nights, where she loves the trampoline and is becoming an accomplished performer -- the Russian judge gives her frequent face plants a 10 for degree of difficulty. She's growing great - she weighted 28.2 pounds tonight before her bath - almost as much as either of her much younger cousins!!

Harper is continuing her own development. She has decided she wants to crawl on her knees now, too, in addition to her army crawl. However, at almost the same time, she discovered standing; she now regularly pulls herself up into the standing position - tonight even getting so bold as to only hold on with one hand. As you'll see in the pictures below, she is growing up fast -- her hair is getting longer and a bit darker, all while accomplishing the feat of getting taller and chunkier.

The dogs are doing well, too. Monty is an old pro, given this is her sixth move as well, so she has already found all of the spots with the most sunlight for the best sleeping. The guy that put in our dog door put it too high, so while she can get out it, she refuses to come in it from the outside. So, as you can imagine, she just barks to get us to let her in. Needless to say, I'll be figuring out a workaround ASAP.

Jack and Dixie are the same as always, although I think they really, really miss their yard back in Chicago. However, this is made up by the fact that they have a gate that looks out onto the street, which given it is in more of a neighborhood than our last house, lets them see all of the action. When the school bus lets the kids off in the afternoon, you can't get him to come inside - he just sits there crying and barking at them; he couldn't be happier unless they came up to play! Dixie likes the house because of all of the carpeting and rugs we have, in contract to all of the tile and hardwood in Chicago.

Finally, we are good, too. Shelley is slowly, very slowly, getting into a routine with the girls. I think she enjoys the time she gets to spend with them, which is good, since it is 24 hours a day. She has signed up for the Nashville Country Music 1/2 Marathon this spring, probably just so she can get an hour to herself while she runs (good thing I am getting her a jogging stroller for her birthday - that way she can include the girls in this, too!!!!!).

Work is going well for me - I've been seeing a fair amount of Canada lately. In fact, a couple of weeks ago I was only 250 miles south of the Arctic Circle in a town called Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories. I would have taken some pictures, but there wasn't much to capture -- it looked like western Nebraska with more small trees and as many lakes as Minnesota.

Anyhow, this is more than you care about -- here are the pictures.

This is Harper in late August. She really likes to be outside - even now she loves to get pushed in the stroller during the dog walks.

You can see the misery on poor Jack's face about the backyard downsizing the Weinsteins did - I've tried to tell him that at least it isn't an apartment, but he still isn't pleased.

Finley's weekly dance class requires this uniform - but with slippers instead of Crocs. She got a tutu - a real one - at class.

This is her uniform for her line dancing class. That, thankfully, takes place in our house between her and her mother.

Daddy and 3/4s of his girls.

Papa Joel came up a few weeks back and helped out around the house. Even now, Finley says, "Papa Joel is so silly."

A small carnival came to a parking lot near our house about 3 weeks ago. This is Harper at the start of the festivities.

Finley really liked the Merry Go Round, but would not allow her mother to leave her side.

Instead of tea cups, they had strawberries. Finely is REALLY into Strawberry Shortcake right now, so this was the coolest thing ever for her. She kept say we were in a strawberry just like Strawberry Shortcake.

Harper, 15 minutes later.

As with the Lake County Fair before we left, Finley loved to drive. She continue to backseat drive when she is in the car with me -- "Eyes on the road, Dad;"" Both hands on top of the wheel;" "Radio off, Daddy."

She lives her own message, as she keeps her hands on the wheel turning the heck out of it the whole time.

My daughter, the Teamster.

So, at the last fair, she really liked the Dragon roller coaster. This one seemed to go much faster, which you can tell, by the look of abject horror on Finley's face.

The girls Great Aunt Sara sent each girl a pumpkin that has their name where the teeth of the jack o' lantern would be -- they are VERY cute. Harper loves to watch Finley.

As with Finley, Harps has a really good appetite. She looks pretty good wearing it, too.

She also likes to touch you while she is eating with her index finger, which you can sort of make out here.

As Finley said when she saw this picture, "Someones in trouble."

"Not me," Finley said.

So, not all of the pictures are always so photogenic - that she gets from me.

Or her sister, that still has vestiges of her "cheese" face from many months ago.

Finely, two videos. The first, from this week, shows how much Harper is jumping in her exersaucer.

Think of this one as our own little blooper reel at the end of a move -- it isn't as easy as it looks!

I also appologize for any typos or gramatical errors - I really wanted to get this up, but I'm pretty tired and don't have it in me to proofread tonight. I will try to look at it tomorrow, but don't want to delay posting.

I hope to get more up soon.

Catching Up - Through Early August

As promised, I have much to report, despite the glitch that seems to require I type with center justify. Despite that, I am pleased to report that we are all well, although we are all adjusting. Work is keeping me very busy, as all new jobs do, while Shelley is adjusting to be with the girls all day, and as she reminds me, it is ALL DAY LONG. The dogs seem to like the house, despite a yard that is much, much, much smaller than their old yard.

Moving to Canada has also been a good experience for the family. While it is obviously very similar to the US - many of the same brands, etc., it is the little things that have made it a good experience. First, there is much more diversity in Canada, with immigration coming from throughout the world. We have already found a great Vietnamese restaurant, Caribbean place (with oxtail stew), two Greek restaurants, and an all you can eat sushi spot that is our new Tacos el Norte (how we miss you so!!!). The grocery stores are different - smaller with fewer, less familiar choices, which has been a struggle sometimes. Shelley will only go to Whole Foods and Wal-Mart, which means that it's almost like she never left Chicago, except she wouldn't have been so desperate to go to Wal-Mart back home.

So, the pictures below are through about mid-August. In my next post, I will get you all caught up, but here is what you've missed during the time I was too lazy to post. I have provided a couple of videos, one from today, to hold you over until next time.

Happy Birthday, Grandma Susie (and Uncle Steve, too). This is from Harper's baptism, which we never posted pictures from in June.

The Hoschek's all came in out in force.

Posted just because it is a pretty good picture of me . . . and Nana Pat and Harper, too.

Finley was NOT happy at all of the attention Harper was getting at the church. Poor Nana Pat was forced to go outside the chapel to let Finley get her energy out . . . and not ruin the ceremony for Harper. At one point, I think she was going to dive into the baptismal font if that was what it was going to take!

The godparents - and a new record - 3 pretty good pictures of me in a row!!!

So, as you saw before, there go our goods onto the truck. Ontario, here we come.

Finley was pretty good with it all, and seem to really understand what was going on. But she still wanted to know, after the truck left, where was her couch?

So, we got to the house in Oakville, a Toronto suburb, on Friday and had to wait until Monday until the truck would arrive to deliver our things. This is the view from the front door into the house.

Our new kitchen.

Monty leading the nickle tour - what's up there?

Finley's Pepto Bismal colored bedroom. She loves it.

It didn't take Finley long to turn the kitchen into the playroom. I have no idea why she felt the need to go topless, either.

"Oh, Finley, you're so smart. F for Finley." Harper is already try to play to her sister's vanity.

Cousin Kelsey came to the house the week after we moved in to drive back with Nana Pat. Finley LOVED Kelsey and wouldn't leave her side.

We went to downtown Toronto one of the days she was here, and Harper is resting up on the train ride down.

Kelsey, who has started her sophomore year in college took advantage of the 19 year-old drinking age in Ontario to have her first beer EVER (just in case her mother or father see this). She tackled a Guinness, too, but over course she didn't like the taste of beer and just ordered a milk like her parents would have wanted (you're welcome, Kelsey).

Harper has been tackling real food for the last couple of months. Here she is eating a baby biscuit, but she is already up to almost all types of real, soft foods. She's even eaten her mother's homemade pizza and green tea ice cream.

The day downtown left Finley exhausted.

One thing Shelley does like about Canadian grocery stores, perhaps the only thing, is the double seat carts all the store have. Finley likes to sit next to Harper, too.

I know the video was not very clear from last month, but here is proof that Finley was on the roller coaster at the Lake County Fair. I know this is out of order, but this stupid blog program won't let me move it up in the right order.

This video makes me laugh. It is about 3 weeks old, but the only difference is that Harper just goes faster. She is doing great developmentally - she is on the move, she will pull herself up onto things, etc. The only thing -- she refuses to crawl on her knees. As you'll see here, she army crawls everywhere. She can shimmy all the way across the house, but only on her belly. Even today, three weeks later, she will crawl with her hands full of things, so she is quite good, but still as though she is in boot camp.

Finley's favorite song is California Girls by Katy Perry. As you will kind of hear, she loves to dance to it. Sadly, she dances as though she is the love child of Elaine from Seinfeld and Shae, but at least she loves the arts. This is from about two weeks ago.

So, as I close out, a tease for the next posting and a link to the video above. This is from this afternoon while we were driving to the store. I was trying to sing along, when she told me I should just listen to Katy. Then she started singing and it just made me laugh. Enjoy.

Next week I will post pictures from Finley's first dance class, Harper and Dixie, and more. Sorry for the delay in posts, but as I get into a routine, I hope to return to my weekly or biweekly posts. I hope you all are well.

We're Alive

So, I know it has almost been a month since we last posted, so I only ask you wait a few more days before the "Since We Left Off" post. I did want to let my loyal readers, all four of you, know we are alive and doing well. The girls are settling in and loving being home with their Momma all day, even though I am sure their Momma is craving adult interaction.

More to come shortly about the transition to Canada, how the girls are doing, and the dogs thoughts on having a tenth the yard they had before.

As you can see, Harper (or Lil' Sammie with less forehead, as Shelley calls her) has her top two teeth. Late breaking update - the upper canines are starting to drop this week. She's doing great - she already 20 pounds, which is just about eight behind her sister.

Other than the fact Finley doesn't allow Harper to have any toys of her own, they are doing great together. Fin is more than happy to let us know when Harper is commando crawling someplace she isn't supposed to. Harper has yet to crawl from her knees, but she has just about gone across the entire first floor scooting on her belly. When she gets to where she wants to go, she is pulling herself up, which she loves to do into Finley's purple polka dot chair. As you might imagine, Finley isn't crazy about that new trick.

We've gotten Finley enrolled in gymnastics again, which started last week, but she is most excited about her dance class, which starts Saturday. Shelley had to go to a dance supply store to pick up a leotard, tights, and ballet slippers -- all pink, for the class. As Finley is really into Angelina Ballerina and Olivia, she couldn't be more excited to dance.

That's all for now. I'm sorry I've been so remiss in posting, but as we get into more of a routine, I promise to return to my 7 to 10 to 14 day postings of the past. I hope you all are well and we miss everyone.