The Blackmail Picture

Most of the time we parents play it pretty straight. But every once in a while, an opportunity comes along that just can't be passed up. Case in point, Finn riding the big blue ball. Now, I'm not typically evil, but as my son sat naked upon the toy du-jour, I just knew a picture like this shouldn't be absent from his wedding rehearsal dinner. As I walked (okay, sprinted) to get the camera, I couldn't help but laugh out loud at the thought of his face that day, years from now. There he sits, dressed and pressed, his bride-to-be at his side, with pictures of their lives passing by: first tooth, Disney, graduation, prom, when suddenly - BAM - "Finn riding the big blue ball".

To the future Mrs. Harper, I welcome you to the family and joy that is being a true Harper. - Bill

Date Night - Revised

Since we didn't get our original date night, due to the snow, we decided we should go out Saturday night for a do-over...sort of. At 5 p.m. we packed up the kids and headed to our favorite sushi place. All-in-all, everything went quite well. Finn loved the chopsticks and Estelle continued to be entertained by Finn. We had decided not to do gifts, but Bill got me a little something I'd been wanting - brow tamer. Super-sexy, I know. And the way he describes it, it is: "Is there a little woman dressed in all leather with a whip inside that bottle?" As a matter of fact, there is...at least that's what I tell my unruly brows :)

Finn trying to figure out how to use chop sticks (and doing a pretty good job!)

Making Love Day Cookies for Daddy

Finn woke up Friday morning announcing that he wanted to bake cookies -- RANDOM! The good news was that I had planned to bake cookies for Bill for Valentines Day, so it worked out perfectly.

First we mixed all the ingredients...



Then we make the dough..."One bowl for Daddy and one bowl for me, right, Mommy?"



Finnegan LOVES dough (who doesn't?) He was quite upset when the dough had to go into the refrigerator to firm up...



I distracted him by letting him peel bananas. He filled his belly with two bananas instead.



Mommy and the other little chef.



20 minutes is a long time to wait when you're 2, but it was finally time to roll out the dough (and eat more).

Next we floured the surface, "Ohhh Mommy, it's so soft!"



Then we roll out the dough...



Then we cut, cut, cut, roll some more, cut, cut, cut...Mommy actually did this part while babes napped...Finn couldn't keep the dough out of him mouth.



They're FINALLY all done...that was a lot of work!



On Valentine's Day we made them pretty for Daddy...one from each of us: Cream Cheese Sandwich Cookies -- YUM!



Giving Daddy his Valentine's Day present - a little plate of home-made love:



We love you, Daddy!



Estelle wishes she could have some too!

YET ANOTHER -- Snow Day!

We had about 4" on the ground when we woke up this morning...now we have 12" - 18" -- hard to tell with all the drifts. And that's on top of what we already had...yardstick currently reads 29".

Mommy started the day by making soup...



And then we took a bath...











Finn wanted to see what would happen when he dumped the water over Estelle's head...



Then we took a nap...and woke up!







Then we watched a movie (Ice Age 2). Estelle loves movies :)



Then our neighbor Will, and his mommy Alex, came over to play and mommy took pictures of the snow.

And it's over

The final yardstick reading...24"

Winter Wonderland

Friday at 5:30 p.m.


Saturday at 7 a.m.


Home sweet home.


This is what 21" of snow on a tree looks like.


This is what 21" of snow on a fence looks like.


Getting a head start on shoveling

Little Chef

"Mommy, I have my baking gloves and my baking scarf...
where's my baking hat?"

Our little teddy bear

All bundled up and ready for snow!