Thinker, Sister, Dancer, Fi

My personal favorite age of kids is 18 months to 3 years old. They are independent enough that they can get around by themselves and communicate with some degree of diplomacy, curious enough to be occupied by the smallest things, very loving, and extremely playful. Finn is at this age right now, and has a bit of all those things above. Madie was so fun at that age as well.

But, Madie blew up that stage once she hit 3 years old...

(again, seriously wish someone would have warned us that 3 was worse than 2)

Having Finn has been such a good thing for Madie though. She loves to help Finn take his jacket & shoes off when we get inside, and help him get down from his booster seat. Although the sibling rivalry stakes have heightened recently, she has been a helpful and loving big sister.

Quick story that a Primary leader shared with me about Madie on Sunday:

Madie, Mumma, and I at Reel Cinema watching "Frozen".

Madie rarely participates in singing in Primary, let alone home. We literally sing two songs every night before bed, and Mal sings all day with the kids, and Madie is a stalwart. She has, however, come around a bit recently. She will join us when we sing "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star", "I am a Child of God", and "Once there was a Snowman".

At Primary on Sunday, they sang "Once there was a Snowman", and Madie apparently got really excited. After the song, Tiffany Dauk began to tell a story during sharing time about a man that went to the store to buy a few things. When the man got home, he realized that the cashier gave him $10 too much money.

Madie interjected: "Um, I have something to say about that."

Tiffany called on Madie to comment...

"That cashier shouldn't have given that man the $10."

Tiffany said "Well, you are correct Madie. He shouldn't have done that..."

Madie's listening skills and comprehension are getting much better lately, thanks to reading a lot of books and lecturing from Mom & Dad.

The Juggernaut

Some refer to him as brute, wild, thunder beast, or juggernaut. This 18 month old is taking the world by storm, one trot at a time. He is always full throttle. He is a force to be reckoned with, folks.

Funny Finnisms: 

• Today he ran up to the wall, head butted it square-on, and ran away laughing. 
• He currently enjoys putting the tabs of his blankie up his nostrils...not to be funny...just something he does to calm down when he has two fingers in his mouth. 
• He loves running around with his big sister. 
• We've hosted a few scouts from the Red Sox for dinner recently. They are intrigued with Finn's ability to chuck a ball across the room.
• Puzzles intrigue him. 
• His vocabulary is growing every day. New additions include hat, shoe, hello, yes, down, water. 
• If you pose a question, his default answer is always "No". Smart guy.
• If there are stairs or ramps of any type nearby, he can be entertained for hours. 
• He eats just about everything, and doesn't stop! This boy can contend in the big leagues with how much he puts down. 

Scary Finnisms: 

• Quite the temper. If you tell him no he is going to look for something to throw or hit. 
• After all of the abuse Madie has inflicted on him over the past year, he is starting to fight back. He best moves include the bite, the claw, and the open hand slap. We don't encourage fighting at all, but it has brought some 'balance' in the food kingdom. 
• He has some sort of phobia of abandonment. Any time Mal or I walk out the front door he throws a fit. 

Happy New Year!

Things I learned in the last 5 hours of 2013:

- In some cultures, people stuff 10 grapes into their mouths in the last 10 seconds of the year.
- Seeded globe grapes are bad to do this with.
- Levi's mouth is even more ridiculously large than my own.
- Crazy charades is the best version. ("Octuplets playing a washtub base.")
- Dad canNOT play crazy charades.
- Maine Root is the best root beer--not really newly-acquired knowledge, but reaffirmed after a good  
  taste-testing. (Conner clan, next time the test will be between Root, Hines, and A&W.)
- The Conner tradition of running barefoot in the snow is more fun than I remember it being, and at
   the same time, more painful.

Foods consumed in the last 5 hours of 2013:

- Minestrone
- Polenta with red sauce
- Stuffed mushrooms
- Eggnog
- Bacon-wrapped jalapeños
- Bacon-wrapped dates
- Crackers and spinach-artichoke dip
- Maine Root, Old Soaker, and Cap'n Eli's root beers
- Giant grapes
- Cider
- Galette de chocolate with whipped cream and raspberries

Here's to a fabulous on-coming year!

Not Quite 8 Crazy Nights...but Close!

• Sunday, December 22: An ice storm hits coastal Maine.
• Monday, December 23: Alexa flies in for a visit; We become four in >30,000 people in Maine without power.
• Tuesday, December 24: Still no power...
• Wednesday, December 25: Still no power....but at least there is a family gathering in Dover-Foxcroft, where we can charge our phones. 
• Thursday, December 26: Still no power...until about 2:00 pm! Hurray!

We thank all of you for your concerns and prayers for us and others without power. In all seriousness, we actually had it pretty good. Sure, we didn't have power for most of the week of Christmas. But we were warm, we had running water, and we could flush the toilet. What more could you ask for when you don't have Power? Really, we were spoiled compared to a lot of other people.  I think a lot of people's concerns were related to activities, like "What did you do without power?" It was a blessing in disguise to tell you the truth. It eliminated distractions (ahem...Facebook) and helped us just enjoy spending time together as a family. We even started going to bed early, which was awesome! I'm always passing out on the couch by 9:15, so early bedtime is just fine for me.

For Christmas Eve, we hosted four missionaries for our traditional oyster stew, rolls, cider (pomegranate and pear this year), with gingerbread and whipped cream. It all turned out quite successfully actually. Luckily, all of our surrounding neighbors had power (which was the frustrating thing about losing power...we could see others around us that had power!!), so we used their oven to bake the rolls and gingerbread. We've got a propane camping stove, so we did the oyster stew there no problem. We were set! Another tradition is a candle-light dinner. This is the first time I've ever had to rely on the candles as a primary light source in my entire life of having candle-light Christmas Eve dinners. Here are some highlights from Christmas Eve: 

Look at this photo carefully...do you see that foot sticking out of the blanket toward the bottom of the page? Can you guess who it belongs to? I'll give you a hint...not Madie...

BOOM! Off to the races. He loves hiding in there.

Quite the assortment of misfit stockings. On the left, we have our 'generic' stocking from Target. The middle is Madie's that Mal made her last year. The right is a 20+ year old wool sock that Finn got to use. The book Santa gave him didn't exactly fit in there too well. We'll have to get him a more suitable stocking for next year.

On to Christmas day...

Happy as a clam carrying Madies baby.

Opening stockings from Santa.

The loot.

Finn picked up on the art of opening gifts pretty quickly.

Mal got some giant sewing needles. I also got a physical therapist lined up for her upcoming shoulder injuries.

Opening gifts at Grammy Haskins with family.

One complaint about the iPhone camera is it doesn't capture motion AT ALL. I'm seriously considering a windows phone just for a decent camera.

Sorry, Lex. I had to snap this one. Baby Thomas was so content sleeping with Lex. I think this is an Omen...Lex just has to move to Maine to keep these four little boys happy.

Finn playing with his tool bench.

Madie loved her dollhouse furniture and added it to her dollhouse.

Mal cooking some mean black bean burritos on our wood stove!

Christmas day dinner. I'll be honest, it was a bit of a let-down to come home and have the power off Christmas night. But we actually had fun cooking burritos on the wood stove.

On Thursday I just began to accept the fact that power wasn't coming back on and just decided to be content with our situation. We really didn't have it that bad. We had everything we needed, and more. The kids were happy the whole time. A few hours after making a personal resolution to be content and move on with or without power, Bangor Hydro Electric turned our power back on. The joy that we all felt was legit, my friends. It was definitely a Christmas we would never forget. In retrospect, it was an adventure.

Leading Off

 If you haven't been following our other social media outlets lately, here is the update: Maine has snow. And lots of it! We got over two feet the second week of December. The snow was a welcome site in the Watkins home. Every one of us loves to be outside playing in it. Finn is just discovering it and really doesn't know what to make of it. It's been a trial to walk in, but he just loves being outside with Madie and Dad when we are shoveling snow to make a fort, or just playing in the sled.

There was a clear difference between Madie and Finn when they were babies. Madie was born in Rexburg, Idaho and lived in a beanie for her first 6 months of life. Finn was born in California, and did not wear one at all. Trying to get this boy to wear one when he goes out to play was extremely frustrating for both parties but he is finally noticing what hats are and has decided to comply. Before he dons his hat, he now gives his head one solid pat and says "ha" (Finnish for 'hat'). 

When Finn goes out, he loves to run up and down the driveway, or climb the stairs to our porch. When he is in the front yard with us, he tends to limit his walking due to frustration of uneven walking surface. Madie is very active in the snow and loves to slide down the snow-covered porch steps, run and fall in fresh powder, or climb snow mounds. Quite the adventurer. 

Madie and I began building a snow fort in our front yard, but then shifted to a snow cave. The cave is still in-progress...more on that later. 

Our kids love books. We love snuggling in a blanket on the couch before bed to read a couple books. Madie and Finn will plop themselves on the couch or in their rocker randomly throughout the day to flip through one of their books. Finn has been quite selective about books he checks out at the library. If it has an animal with four legs or wings, he's sold. Madie is currently working through her first chapter-ish book with us. It would be nice to transition to chapter books sooner than later. I think it will help improve her listening skills. She's still a huge pinkalicious fan and will insist on checking out/renewing the same pinkalicious book from the library. Good thing that book doesn't have a wait list!

Ah yes...Rofi joined out family around the first of December (I know I'm spelling this wrong and Mal is going to give me a hard time, but I'm just too lazy to look it up). That sneaky guy was hiding all over the place playing games while we were sleeping. Madie didn't pay too much attention to him during the day, but looked forward to finding him in the morning. She was also very cautious about making sure none of us touched him so he didn't lose his magic.

Santa came to my Christmas work party this year, and stole the show again. Madie was still a bit freaked out by him and didn't want to get closer than a few feet to him. Finn on the other hand was happy to be plopped right onto his lap to admire his big white beard and the bell on the end of his hat. 

 

Oh Christmas Tree....Oh poor Christmas Tree

 We may have to come up with a new rendition of that song with our tree this year. This one is quite...how do you say...homely? Here's the story: We have an acre of land that is mostly wooded. The trees on our property range in type, age, size, etc. Unfortunately, we don't have any spruce or douglas fur trees, which make great trees. We were trying to be practical with this because there are a few trees we have been wanting to remove anyways. So we figure we would make a 'marked' tree our Christmas tree. Well, there you have it folks. It is endearing, and actually looks okay when it's lit up with ornaments, besides the star on top that bows to the side. We only had one casualty with an ornament that Madie was hanging, luckily. The branches aren't the strongest. We'll have to plant some trees that will be more serviceable for the future. It was fun to carry on the Watkins family tradition of cutting down our own tree.

Another tradition we have been following is making a gingerbread house. Candy to eat while we decorate a candy covered house? Everyone is all in.

 

 

Thanksgiving in Brooks

 First thing in the morning, I took the kids to Acadia's visitor center parking lot, aka Madie's proving grounds. Finn was just happy to toddle around. The lot was pretty dead. 

 We went to John & Ashleigh's in Brooks for the feast. They have the perfect home for hosting large parties and dinners. John did another amazing job with the turkey this year. 

 Finn was more than happy to grab food off the counters and run with it. 

 Same with Madie...only she was a little more selective. 

 Lottie was admiring Finn, it was pretty cute.

 And these two boys were pretty vulnerable once they had their 'needs' met. Finn, as we all know, is set with blankie and his two fingers. Pip has similar needs once Ashleigh's hair is near him, and he resorts to his thumb.

And Madie learned a little bit about Foosball. Lots of fun.