Finn is three and WHAT AM I THINKING.....?

My darling three year old, Phineas John (he says Johnny) Martinis

I spoke with Jennifro about the love and pains of blogging the other day and related my deep guilt and stress over my extreme neglect of my blog, AKA my journal. The thought of "getting caught up" (something I swore never to do) is tugging at my brain. I want to document the fun and wonderful events of summer AND still spring break etc etc etc, but I am dreading the time and maybe even the acute thoughtfulness that it will require. I keep thinking to myself, WHAT WAS I THINKING in getting soooo behind. Darn.

I miss you and need you to forgive me dear blog, but I am still not ready to commit. I am bad. My schedule has changed and definitely NOT for the better. I am staying up later to connect with my man and indulge in a new love, Pinterest (nevermind I gave up Facebook for the summer and what did I do... replace it with another....) It can be a real time sucker and I could easily become addicted. Ick!! So as a result of the late night, I am a walking zombie and a busy one at that. The good part of this summer things were very, even too busy. Camps, overlapping trips and company keeps us sprinting forward. FFFFIIINNNAAALLLLYYY.... we have a few weeks to settle down, chill out, go to the pool, argue a lot, do a little homework, a titch of practicing, maybe some reading, basic facts, Piano is Fun, chores and maybe a trip or two to the beach. Oh, the beach.... how I love you....

I realize that that does not sound like "settling down" or "chilling out", but it is happening at a much slower pace so... I can live with it. So, here is the scoop. I do plan to catch up. Eric is currently in Oregon with our camera and the OBX pics on his computer. I can't really catch up with the gross lack of pictures......but, there is a faint chance that I can come up with a few things before his return and my ankle biting darlings are back home to take up all my time, love and patience.

With that, a brief summer timeline and picture of my darling, adorable and spirited 3 year old. That's right, on 07/22/11, Finn turned three years old. It is very bittersweet for me. He is so fun and such a rascal. He hits, spits, bites, scratches and uses awful language... BUT he kisses, cuddles, laughs most of the day, hugs, teases, is crazy smart and I cherish every minute with him (the good, the bad and the ugly).

We had a HUGE family birthday party for him. It was so fun, but I will save that for another post (maybe tomorrow.....) Most importantly, he had a great time and loved the whole party. He is old enough now to understand that it was all for him and that makes us all so happy. I guess I should also announce that he is 99.9 POOP potty trained. He hasn't taken a dump in his diaper for 3 weeks. I need to work on the pee part, but that is under control and can be easily done when his brothers, the distractors, are not around. It is mainly a night issue at that. AND THAT IS EXCITING!!!... and still bittersweet too. I (we) are very excited to never change a dirty diaper until a sweet grandchild pops into our lives, but that means that our baby is growing up and will no longer be our "baby". No diapers. No binkies. No baby. Ouch. It is a hard pill to swallow. I certainly do not want a baby. No way and we all know it is not possible, but..... it is difficult to start down that path. We are ready, but it is still a bit painful.

I did not forget the timeline...... here goes. This summer we have had some serious fun. I feel so blessed and happy for our many memories we have made over the past few months. We
*went to OBX with my family (except Liz and Jake) and had the best time ever!!!
*Eric and I went to Costa Rica. We saw Liz who is in the Peace Corps there and had a wonderful, relaxing fun time there.
*the boys have gone to Calleva, cub and scout camp, art camp and yet again, two weeks of the hottest Owlettes yet. Still, we love it all, especially Owlettes.
*Grandma and Grandpops came and watched the kids while we were in C.R.
*The Pavuks came for their usual two weeks and we had a great time with them and wish it wasn't so busy. We enjoy their visit and look forward to it each year. The Lee's are due here in a week and we are excited to have some female presence in our home.
*Speaking of girls, we had a lovely girl named Mayson Astle live with us for 7 weeks and work for Calleva. It was nice to have a good, nice Mormon girl in the home. I wish we could have given her a better East Coast experience, but she left too soon. It was busy when she was here and now we can slow down and enjoy the summer more.
*We ventured to the beach a couple of weekends ago and will again this week or next with Ryan and the girls. I decided that next summer we are going down there for a couple of weeks. I am ready.
*Eric is in Oregon this weekend and he courageously took Gabe and Finn with him. As a result, the older boys and I went to Baltimore and DC. It was fun and sooooo much easier with older darlings.

I think another issue I have is my blog is that it looks like crap. (pardon my french...) The pictures are not coming in all that great and my template flew the coop. I have no idea how to fix things and hopefully will get Meredith to beautify it before I go blog insane. I can't stand how it looks and am too HTML handicap to fix it myself. Ick! It will be done. I just don't know when. With that, I am going to retire. It is late and I have no real excuse for it other than I am trying to make friends again with my long, lost blog. (o;

Life is good. XO