A Day with Finley and Braden

The monthly pictures have kind of fallen by the wayside... mostly because I can't get the boys to sit in a chair long enough for me to take them.  Vic emailed me several times yesterday with different ideas for capturing the details of our lives--both of our favorites was "a day in the life". So I made a conscious effort yesterday to take the camera out and carry it around to capture some of our every day moments.  There are many I missed, but here's a brief glimpse into yesterday. (Also, I'm in the middle of preparing for Finley's Peter Pan party, so if you look carefully you can see some decorations laying around. Also also, I love some of these pictures and the way the light falls, and some I did a weird job editing and do not like. For what it's worth, which is nothing.)

After breakfast, the boys normally watch Mickey Mouse while I clean up and get ready... then they get dressed.  Sometimes not all at once. Normally while holding the animals they love--Finley is rarely separated from Mama Monkey and Joggy Doggy (or Mama Monks and Jogs, as he calls them). And Braden loves that little tiger, which he calls a lion.



Crazy bedhead hair on both.



On mornings where we don't have anything planned, we go to the gym. Braden has finally decided he can be happy there, and it's a nice break where I get to exercise and have some me time--well, me and some show on the iPad.



Braden always requests the same thing for lunch--chicken, applesauce, chocolate milk. That's also his standard order at Chick fil a.  Today we also added a quesadilla, and chicken noodle soup for Finley... which he claims is his favorite, but he barely touched.





Finley's favorite time of day is Braden's naptime because that's when he gets to play with a lot of stuff that we don't get out when Braden is up.  And I love putting Braden down for his naps--he goes so sweetly and starts sucking his thumb as soon as you start walking into his room.  He cuddles Tucker the Giraffe and doesn't make a sound. Except to tell me sweet dreams.  Angel.

Finley's favorite toys are his Magna Tiles--which my parents got him for Christmas. Seriously--these are the best toys. Everyday he's building something new--a castle, rocketship, battleship, garage, Transformers...  He also thinks he's the world's expert on Transformers even though he's pretty much only seen a 30 second clip of them at a museum. I often catch him laying down while he plays--I guess it really wears him out? We also do a few preschool activities, and if he's lucky he gets to watch Busytown while I take a quick nap.





It's been slowly getting nicer... which is great. I often catch Braden trying to sneak into the backyard in various states of undress.  No shoes, no shirt, no problem. He loves to play outside.







After dinner we read some books--in our teepee.  It's about the only thing that can make them sit still with me.





And then time for brushing teeth and sleep.  More reading and cuddling in Finley's bed. Braden loves loves Finley's bed. I think he's convinced that one night I'll just let him stay there. He's wrong. Probably.







I would also like to point out the VERY SPECIFIC way Finley has to sleep. Somehow our monkey collection has grown to three, and they all sleep shoved together with Joggy Doggy in a pillowcase from Barbara that Finley calls their sleeping bag.  Their heads can't be twisted and they have to be on THEIR pillow. They all come out during the night, so if he gets up to go to the bathroom I have to go back and re-shove them all in the pillowcase before he can go to sleep. It's really normal and not at all weird.

Quite a few times while I was shooting today, I wished the video was one because they are just so funny. From Finley's massive meltdown, to the way Braden snuggles in next to me--they are things that are just hard to do justice in a picture.