Fun: Birthday party in the park with pals and cupcakes.
Ultra-mega-fun: Birthday party in the park with pals and cupcakes and a free cape!
Superheroic Finn & a whole posse of little partygoers were the happy recipients of stylin’ felt capes–complete with their big initials–thanks to fellow Las Madres tot Mabel and her mom Elizabeth. Thanks, guys!
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Hey, everyone–Happy Easter! We’ve been having fun revving the boys up through the sugary goodness of marshmallow peeps, and little Henry has been enjoying his new stuffed bunny Rusty (hand-knit by Grandma Nack). With the lads ping-ponging around like Superballs, I’ll keep things brief, but here’s a little gallery (HTML) of the action.
Wishing you great blessings today,
The Nack Fam
On Sunday we & the lads enjoyed a visit to the recently re-opened Happy Hollow petting zoo. It was a lovely warm, sunny day, and we all had a great time roaming around the park. We saw goats, mules, sheep, lemurs, and parrots, and we didn’t even make it through the whole zoo! We decided to buy a family membership since it was obvious we’d want to come back many times.
Here is a little gallery (HTML) of our adventures. Finno and Dad-o decided to feed the goats–happily no trolls were spotted. Even Leo got in on the action! (We were a little worried that one of the goats might make off with Leo and have him for a snack!) We found a big water pump just like the one in Finn’s favorite book Hogwash. After a break for sandwiches and fruit, Finn and Dad-o made their way to the carousel where Finny got to ride on the big giraffe. On our way out, Finn made the acquaintance of several large brass animals that were gleaming in the sun.
[These days Finn is just as taken with inquiring about drainage pipes, wires, etc. as with checking out animals. Seeing (and announcing) “Lemur pooping!” was a highlight, however, as was his spontaneous attempt to drink from the goat watering hole! –J.]
Finn has been really into giraffes lately, loving to watch all kinds of YouTube clips about them. He especially loves how their super-long tongues can scrape leaves off of “beating sticks” on trees. This has led to lots of horse–er, giraffe–play involving the zookeeper (Dad-O) and the strings of his hoodie sweatshirt:
Grandma Nack was in town to help us celebrate Finny’s birthday a few weeks ago, and although we’re admittedly late in getting the photos posted, here they are! Just as cute as the day they were captured.
There were lots of adventures, and here is a little gallery (HTML) of them. Among them, you’ll see Finny unwrapping Grandma’s presents, enjoying some leftover birthday cake (chocolate, obviously) with Henry riding shotgun, and Henry munching on one of Finny’s gifts–BugBonz from our pal MrsW.
Oh, and there were plenty of Grandma’s smooches, Finn enjoying his new bike (a zike bike, perhaps?), and a goofy exchange of glances between Mom-o and the boys in the kitchen.
Finn has been having a ball commanding the ol’ iron horse around our house. He’s awash in great Thomas the Tank Engine wooden train pieces (found via Mom-O’s homework project to buy something via eBay*), and he’s even sporting his own engineer cap, bandana (which he calls “banana!”), and train whistle. (Special thanks to pals Erica & Zachary for those.) Check it out (HTML)!
* This caused some funny confusion: Finny was a little concerned that when Mom-O was headed back to work, she’d take the trains back to eBay!
For father-son bonding, there’s nothing like a little trespassing on heavy machinery.
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Acting on a tip from Mom-O, Finn and I scrambled around a big piece of equipment (an asphalt-devouring Wirtgen 1200 F cold milling machine, I’ll have you know!) that was parked in our neighborhood. Finn (and Leo) got a big kick out of sitting in the driver’s seat, playing with the steering wheel (but not the God-forbid-it-turn-on knows/switches), and plugging various lights into the tracks. Our boy now knows what a grease gun is. 🙂
Finnegan & Henry Seamus Nack bid you a hearty “Sláinte!” As Finn would say, “Go Irish!” (“Beat the bad dudes!”) We can pretend that Henry’s non-seasonal pumpkin is a boiled potato or something. 🙂
For a bit of historic fun, see how Finn looked on his very first St. Patrick’s day, and what the two of us were doing last year.
I think Finn may have been born about a century too late for his true calling, that of fainting silent movie ingenue. Check out his swoon over the new one-of-a-kind acorn hat that Hoot & Alex commissioned for his birthday :-):
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We really had a ball celebrating the big guy’s birthday with so many pals yesterday. At first Finn wasn’t quite so sure he was ready for the “Totpocalypse” of toddlers descending on our homestead. Five minutes after the party started he said, “All done… all done with kids!” He then wanted to hide out in the “bat cave”–i.e. the pullout couch that Grandma Nack had been occupying. Fortunately he chilled out pretty quickly, and Grandma was a huge help in minding the sometimes overstimulated Henry.
Anyhow, it seemed that everyone had a great time, as you can see in our photo gallery (HTML). Special thanks to our pal Hughes (Hoot) for manning the camera and getting some great Finn’s-eye-view perspectives on the scene.
PS: “M&Ms are *GOOD*. Finny like to EAT them!!”
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone. We had a ball today with our lads. First Finny & Dad-O went on a secret mission to score Mom some flowers plus her favorite dessert: red velvet cake! Finn got so wound up from the cake, he was literally bouncing up and down on my leg saying “Boing-a Boing-a Boing-a!!” as we video-chatted with the Liggett GPs. And after dinner, when he heard me mentioning the cake to my folks, he shot me a serious look and said, “Eatitagain!”
Somewhere in the midst of this we took Henry on his first trip to “Rolly slide park” & had “Dueling Snackers” in the kitchen, brandishing hot dogs & squirreling away grapes. Here are our pix (HTML).
Here are some shots (HTML) from Finny and Henry’s first bath together in the tub! Both boys were really enjoying themselves, much to our delight. I honestly thought it would be like tossing two cats into a pool–lots of fighting and tears!
Clad only in a bubble bath goatee, we think Henry resembles a tiny, infantile Colonel Sanders. He sampled the seafood (purple Octopus cup), and tried on a bubble mohawk, which Finny proceeded to “shave” with a small tube of toothpaste. Dad-O proclaims the brotherly antics “Dynamite!”
Yesterday (Superbowl Sunday, for folks overseas) our pals Tom & Sarah brought their lovely little Harper (10.5 months) over for a visit. She and little Henry had a good time on the playmat, and she was especially patient as he started making some “illegal use of hands,” tugging on her shirt & trying to get some attention. The poor guy got rejected by the lady, and you can see he wasn’t entirely thrilled about that! No harm done, though.
Too bad our big linebacker Finn slept through all the proceedings, waking up just as the Hogarties got in their car. Ah well; here are the pix (HTML).
Kind of speaks for itself, we think. 🙂
Somehow in my mind, I hear Lady Gaga singing, “Ta-Ta-Ta-Teething Faaace…” Our little SuperHen has developed a whole variety of facial expressions to complement his newly arriving chompers (we’re on the verge of six!). My favorite is the one at left:
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In remotely-possibly related news, the G-Man is experimenting with tongue clucking, and whenever I join in, he takes notice & seems to recognize that we’re speaking the same “language.” It reminds me of how Finn and I started coughing back and forth (video) at roughly the same age.
January came and went in the blink of an eye! We’ve got a serious backlog of photos, so we’ve put together a little gallery (HTML) of miscellaneous goings-on from last month. The rain kept us inside quite a bit, so the camera was always at the ready. Highlights include:
Okay, we know this is an offbeat & slightly unflattering shot of Henry, caught at a weird moment–but for some reason we find it charming. It’s a little as if he’s raising an eyebrow at any floor-surfing girls who might happen by, luring them to the “cat mat” for some delighted cooing. 🙂
Leprechauns, Unite! 😀
The four of us were treated to a spectacular double rainbow on Saturday. Clearly our little Irishman got a kick out of it, saying “Pot o’ gold over by Adobe!” The light show provided a nice recollection of the rainbows that decorated our wedding.
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Finn has taken on many personas lately as his imagination has kicked in with a vengeance. One of his current favorites is “Finny the Carpenter” thanks to his terrific red toolbox and play tools (thanks Uncle James!), and a book about building a house, loaned to Finn by our friends the Pawligers.
Yesterday, we received an assembly-required cedar chest to store John’s sweaters. Do I need to mention how excited Finny was when he saw the box pieces, the box of screws, and my drill? He went completely bananas and immediately grabbed his toolbox. “Tape measure! Hammer! Screwdriver! Finny the Carpenter building a box!” Here are a couple of pics from his carpentry adventures. We played with the box for a good three hours! (Finn’s Tournament of Roses shirt courtesy of Auntie Laura and Uncle James.)
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The Tinmen Cometh. 🙂
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