Christmas at the Barnettes'

Our first Christmas gathering was at Finley's great-grandparents' house a couple of days early. Finley got to open the first gift, a helicopter that plays music. He loves it!

We played music and sang after dinner, and Finley danced and shook jingle bells.

One of many photos this Christmas of Finley trying to eat tape, wrapping paper, or bows. Surely by next Christmas he won't be putting everything in his mouth, right??

Finley wanted to wear Brandon's new shoes. They were so big and heavy he couldn't move in them, but he didn't want to take them off!

After lots of great food, music, and gifts, Finley conked out. Mommy and Daddy got in some good cuddle time before we went home.

Finley also got to ride on Granddad's tractor this Christmas! He definitely liked that!

Baking Cookies

We've taken quite a few photos already on our trip home, so I'm going to have to put them on the blog in batches. (The internet speed here isn't exactly blisteringly fast.) Speaking of batches, Finley got to help his grandmommy make his first batch of sugar cookies. Here he is in his cute dinosaur pj's, getting ready to bake!

Finley enjoyed getting dough and flour all over his hands...

...and his face!

He tried to grab entire handfulls of sprinkles...

...so Grandmommy had to help finish that part.

Then Finley got to give Maddie a treat. Finley loves Maddie and wants to play with her all the time. He calls her "Mannie."

And no, Finley didn't actually eat any of the sugar cookies he helped make. We're still trying to give him as little refined sugar as possible. We're not terribly mean parents, though; we did offer him a tiny piece of cookie, but he didn't even want it. Guess that means a healthier Finley and more yummy cookies for me!

Rocking the Jet Lag

Since our last post, a lot has happened (which is why I haven't had time to post!). I finished my fall semester classes, Nate's on holiday, I celebrated a birthday, and we flew to NC! And now we're rocking the jet lag that comes from a 13-hour time difference between NC and HK. Finley did well on the flights, and we only had a slight delay from Chicago to NC, so we were very happy. And now we're super happy to be with family for the holidays. We've already eaten tons of good food (NC bbq, chocolate delight birthday cake, lasagna, and all my mom's Christmas goodies), and we've been shopping, all in a couple of days. I don't have any great Christmas photos yet to share, but here are a few random photos from Nate's iPhone from the past couple of weeks that you can enjoy in the meantime.

These are the decorations at our apartment complex. The pink is nice, right?

Finley's into trying on our shoes these days.

We took Finley for his first real haircut last week. It was a disaster. We had to hold him while he kicked and screamed.

We went out last week to buy a slow cooker to celebrate signing another contract for the next couple of years. Here's the Christmas tree at the mall where we went (in HK).

Playdough and Thanksgiving

I was feeling in the mood to be Susie Homemaker last week and decided to make Finley some playdough. I wanted to make it myself because I wanted it to be edible. There was no doubt in my mind he would try eating it, no matter what I said to discourage it. I tasted some myself, and it tasted terrible.

Nate and I enjoyed a yummy Thanksgiving dinner with our friends from church last weekend. The feast was pretty traditional except for the spring rolls. No party in HK is complete without spring rolls!

Sorry to keep this post short, but I have a whole lot of school work to do in the next week! Looking forward to finishing it and getting a break over Christmas!

Happy Birthday Nate!

Happy birthday to Nate! We had a great birthday weekend together. Went to a movie Friday (which we hadn't done since Finley was born), brunch on the Jumbo on Saturday, hiking and fro yo on Sunday, etc. Made a whole weekend of it!

Here are a few photos from the Jumbo.

The dock where the little boat takes you to the Jumbo.

The Jumbo, complete with high rises in the background.

Our restaurant was on the top deck of the boat, where the blue awnings are, and was appropriately named Top Deck.

I have a children's book called "Chopsticks" written about these exact dragons coming to life.

This photo would have been good if only Nate didn't end up blurry. :(

Bye, bye Jumbo!

And this last one is of Finley trying to take off his own diaper to climb in the tub for his bath.

And now, a fun video of Finley's pre-bath silliness! Click here.

Thailand

Last week was HKIS's fall break, so we went to Phuket for 5 fun-in-the-sun days with our friends Kathryn and Chris, and Finley's friend Iris. (This is all part of my mission to turn Kathryn, Chris, Iris, Nate, and Finley into "beach people".) Not to be pessimistic or anything, but it was a stressful start to the trip, because a few things happened before we even got there.

• The landlord came by the day before we left to say he would likely have to rip out a large section of our floor and the concrete beneath it due to a leak, a loud, messy, 3-4 day project!
• There was supposed to be a van coming to pick all of us up at 6am for the airport, but a car showed up instead. So we had to hunt down a taxi to take with the car at the last minute. (No, they didn't charge us for the car since they messed up.)
• The computer didn't make its way into our luggage, and I had a lot of school work I was planning to do on the trip. Small freak-out over than one.
• Finley was previously sick with a slight cold that somehow turned into a chest issue that somehow turned into an ear infection a mere 36 hours before we left, which of course also gave him an upset tummy from the resulting medicines. Yes, that equals two weeks of crankiness, poor sleep, and poor appetite leading up to the trip. On the airplane, Finley screamed for 20 straight minutes during takeoff and then again during landing, because of the pressure in his ears. He also pooped on me on the airplane thanks to his tummy troubles.

So as you can imagine, by the time we landed in Phuket, we really needed a vacation! Fortunately, other than the first 36 or so hours of the trip when Finley was still recovering from his ear infection and wicked diaper rash, the rest of the trip was GREAT! Iris and Finley got along well, and it was really fun for Finley to have a pretend sibling for the week. The weather was great-- no signs of any flooding or escaped crocodiles. The resort was easy-- plenty of food options, beach, pool, children's playroom, etc. And the flight was only 3h 15m direct from HK to Phuket, with a 30 min ride from the airport to the resort, and a 1 hour time difference. We stayed on and around the resort, so didn't have to worry about dragging toddlers around on sightseeing trips, just lots of beach and pool time. I'm so glad we went, and I'm so glad we got to do it with our friends. And we totally owe them for putting up with a sick child (and a stressed out mama) for the first part of the trip! After the trip, we were all feeling more relaxed, rested, and happy. And Finley was sooo good on the flight home!

Unfortunately, I'm not going to share a lot of photos online. We spent most of the trip in swimsuits, and I'd rather not have a bunch of swimsuit photos floating around the Internet. So here's what you get:

And Finley's favorite part of the trip...a water slide! (Nate and I enjoyed it, too!)

And here's a brief video from the trip: CLICK HERE.