Stream of consciousness

Before I start my post, I would like to congratulate my Godsister Christy, and her husband Scott on the birth of their new baby girl!  Aubrey Grace was born around 8am this morning weighing 7 pounds, 1 ounce.  Mom and baby are doing fine!  Can't wait to see her!!

This is our last week of summer.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't trying to cram all the cleaning I meant to do all summer into these last couple of days.  Sometimes it is better to work under pressure.

 (if you are wondering what Finley is wearing in this picture - it is a sled.  She found it in the garage.  And now it is stuck)

I cleaned underneath both girl's beds on Monday.  That took me the entire day.  I had no idea they had started to put all the toys from the basement under their beds.  Mostly under Finley's.  I should consider myself lucky that I didn't find anything under there that was unpleasant.  I didn't find anything interesting either, like money.  That was kind of a bummer.  All those hours of work, and not a single fun find.

 I have to tell you that after throwing out two garbage bags worth of McDonald's toys, old art projects, broken toys, unknown items - it looks much better.  I think it will stay that way for about, oh, a week.  And that is probably pushing it.

 I am also a total type A loser who set out the kids first week of school clothes.  School starts next Monday.  I am a bit on the early side, but I figured while I was cleaning, I might as well go all the way crazy.  I even gave Arlington's bookbag and lunch box a bath AND got all of her school supplies organized in her cute little pencil box.  2nd grade - here she comes!

Cainan's room was so much easier to clean.  He isn't quite the pack rat the girls are.  Although, his little toys have about 1 million parts, and I have no idea who owns a sword or wings or gloves.  Superheros have way too many costume parts.  It is a little over the top.

 (stuffing his pie hole with chicken.  Like he is never fed.)

Of course - I shouldn't complain about his toys because at least they don't have the smallest PollyPocket shoes in the entire world.  Or  - when organizing Cainan's toys - do I have to match up shoes that are the size of my pinky and stare at them for 45 minutes to make absolutely sure everyone has a buddy.  No......no he doesn't have that.  (If Arlington's wasn't helping, I would have chucked this shoe project)

 We booked our plane tickets to Disneyworld yesterday!  We are so excited to go.  We are going for a whole week - I can't wait!  The kids are going to be almost 3 years older than the last time we were there, so it is going to be so much fun.  We are booking the rest of our vacation today.  We are staying on property, and going to the Castle for lunch, and of course, doing Bippity Boppity Boutique!  Even Cainan gets in on the action -they have a pirate theme part for boys!  And we are going to do the Pirate and Princesses party one night.  We are going to Universal as well - I cannot see the new Harry Potter theme park.

 (nugget man with a mouthful)

We are really excited.  We aren't going until Feb., but we wanted to book everything early, since we want to do a few special things.  They tend to fill up quick.  Anyone who lives around Orlando that wants to come and join us - we would love to see you while we are down visiting!

It rained this weekend and we didn't get to go to our local fair.  We were pretty bummed.  We will have to catch it next summer.  I was hoping to see our cow Tom from cow patty bingo in the cow pull!  (I know - small town)  Stinking weather.

I have found out recently that many people find my blog by searching for cow patty bingo, and Pfizer corinthian hotel.  I think that is pretty great!  I have even gotten a few emails about these subjects.  I can tell you - if you run across my blog because you were looking for info on cow patty bingo - leave me a comment!  It was really successful and we had a great time.  And the hotel was beautiful in NYC.  I recommend staying there - great views, great service, great location!

 I wanted to mention about the sweetest man on the planet.  His name is Mike Prestia.  He is 87 years old and the uncle of very dear friends of our family.  I have never met a more caring, hard working, driven 87 year old in my life.  He is amazing.

The point?  He has been really involved with our fight for Finley.  He ran circles around us helping us get ready for the BBQ.  He has been proactive on fundraising and spreading the word about our little girl around my parent's hometown.  We cannot say how much we appreciate all of his hard work and dedication to our little girl.  We understand he has a picture of her in his car and prays for her recovery.  How could we not love this man?

Anyway - we have our Visionwalk coming up in October.  Mike wants to make sure all the people in my parent's hometown are ready to go!  So - he had our family friend - Larry (his nephew) drive a route around my parent's town to map out 3.1 miles.  This is the distance of the 5K we will be walking in October!  Check it out:

How cool is this?  This is for us to practice for the walk so that we will be ready.  I tell ya - we are lucky to have Mike.  I wish I lived closer so I could practice this route.  Too many hills in our town in Connecticut!  (I am lazy).  I think that Mike might need to adopt my children.  I think they would learn a lot from him.

This past weekend Mat picked our second set of goodies from our garden.  This time it was corn and zucchini.

 He had the girls help him make zucchini bread.  Yuk YUM.  Arlington is looking a bit disheveled.  That just show what a hard worker she is.  (did you buy that?)

 Finley got close to getting the flour in the bowl.

 Finley is concentrating very hard.  She takes her bread making very seriously.

 The finished product (minus some taste testing)

 We have a new friend.  We have a hummingbird feeder that hangs outside our kitchen window.  All summer long three little humming birds fight over who is going to drink the sugar water.  They also have to fight off a bee or two.  We have some really beautiful hummingbirds.  They are pretty loud when they are angry at each other.  Tricky little devils - not really into sharing.

 So this is why the other day I found apparently the alpha hummingbird perched on the hummingbird feeder.  He (or she?) sits here for hours at a time.  If another humming bird comes close - this one chases them away.  He doesn't even mind that I am watching him.

 Or taking his picture through the glass.  (I tried to go outside, but he spooked and flew off.  Don't worry.  He returned to his duty when I went back inside).

 So I feel kind of bad for the other two (who - no offense are prettier).  They can't get close!  Next year I am going to have to hang a few feeders for my little friends.

Today I mowed the grass while the kids played.  For awhile, Finley wore a butterfly net on her head - over her face.  Don't ask me why.  If I wasn't mowing, and way to out of shape to run in and get the camera - I would have taken her picture.  It was too weird.

Arlington meets her teacher tomorrow, and hopefully we will learn some of her classmates.  Then she is getting her hair cut by a friend of ours.  Finley also has an allergist appointment and I am going to work for a few hours.  So.....a full day.

In keeping the post completely random - Finley looks just like Aunt Betty here!  We found her look a like! ;)

 This picture though?

 This is ALL Finley.

Aren't you glad you know all the details of our mundane life?  I thought so.  You.are.welcome.

Don't forget to check out our new website... HERE.  If you got a message from us, and it came through as a spam, I assure you it was not.  Finley's Fighters is a real website created by us!  So take a look.  I apologize for gmail.  Sometimes they make my life very, very difficult when I want to send a message to mass people.  And order your shirts for the walk!  Help us fundraise for October!  Get a Finley's Fighters wristband to show your support!

Mat and I are seeing Wicked Saturday, and may not be home from NYC until late.  So I may have to wait and blog Sunday.  Oh -will you survive???