This morning Finn had a little play date for the first time. His friend Jake from our community group at church came over for a little while. I've been wanting to get Finn around some other kids his age more and Jake is just about a month older than Finn and doing some talking so I thought they'd be a perfect match! Now that everyone's walking I think it makes playing a bit more fun. 

Finn always loves being around other kids and is so great at initiating interaction with them. However, it was interesting to see how he did in his own home especially when I had to hold Jake for a bit as he separated from his mommy. Finn wasn't so sure about that! I had two crying babes for a while; one on each hip! 

At lunch time we decided to have a picnic on the kitchen floor since there was only one highchair available. Finn went straight for the gold and Jake was more interested in the toys. That-a boy!

It was a fun couple of hours and some good practice for this mommy. We can't wait to do it again!

lauren

P.S. Here's a sweet clip of Jake with Riley. Riley is such a patient little guy! Bless his heart!

An Afternoon Treat. A little wet, but worth it.

Only in the south do you get caught in a flash rain storm within one mile of your house while on a walk with your toddler, and get offered 5 different rides home by strangers and handed one umbrella through a car window while being told, "just keep it". Random acts of kindness I tell ya. 

Yesterday afternoon Finn and I went on a walk after our afternoon naps (yes, that was our naps and pluralized). Our mission was to walk to the local Wendy's for a Frosty Waffle Cone; if we can walk it we will. I avoid car rides at all costs. Anyway, have you tried the new Frosty yet? I'd been craving one since I first saw they came out and every time I drive by the billboard on my way downtown it respikes my interest. 

My review is "it's good", but next time I'd rather just get the regular Frosty. More ice cream, less cone. Finn sure enjoyed it and couldn't get enough of it. 

Then storm Andrea unexpectedly hit. See story above.

lauren

Charming the Neighborhood.

This morning Finn & I took an early morning walk-slash-trip to our local Starbucks with our friends Anna & Lucy (Lucy is 4 months today!). Finn had a great time walking all over the coffee shop, greeting customers at the door as they came in, and well...frankly smiling & laughing while others laughed & smiled back at him!

This was such a nice way to start off our day....all before morning nap time. 

lauren

P.S....don't you just love the new little TOMS? And this t-shirt he's wearing he's been wearing since he was a newborn. We just love it. Thanks Tutu & Bopa!

Loving.

I thought I'd share some random thoughts about some things I'm loving today. So in no particular order here you go!

Don't you just love this picture of Finn completely passed out in bed? He rarely sleeps on his back like this. Maybe all the walking he's been doing lately is catching up with him and he's just extra fatigued!

We started getting local, fresh and mostly organic produce delivered to our house on a biweekly basis. We love it! Not only is it awesome to have food delivered to our front door, but we are forced to eat and try veggies we may have not otherwise. We've (including Finn!) been lovin' on some kale and all the different ways to eat it. And to top it off, we get to add extras to the bin such as farm fresh eggs, salmon, extra fruit, grass fed beef or even yummy baked goods. 

Finn is completely obsessed with fan pulls. You know, the dangly thing that hangs down from the fan to click it on or off? Yupp, that. We can barely walk by one without him reaching up to grab and pull on it. I'm loving that my husband is so handy and awesome that he made one for Finn for his birthday and had it attached to the underside of a table to he could pull away whenever he feel the urge. Gotta love those handy men. What would I do without him?

Isn' this Free People dress so me?! I love how light and whimsical it is. I found it on The Day Book. It's so darling on Sydney. I think I'd love it for a birthday present....

I'm especially loving that Finnley is walking now. He thinks it's the greatest thing ever! He is so proud of himself. He's keeping himself entertained by dragging his toys around the house, especially his little vacuum. This may be the sole reason I've been able to blog a little more these days! 

Please excuse the exposed appendages in this next video. We were airing him out at the time. I couldn't figure out how to cover him up in the video....I'm sure he'll be super embarrassed someday when I show this to a future high school girlfriend.

I'm also loving the Carolina sunshine these days. The humidity hasn't settled in yet so we are soaking in the ability to keep our windows open and spend evening dinners on the back deck. It really doesn't get much better than this!

What's on your list?

lauren

A Birthday Celebration!

It was a birthday weekend at the Jackson household! The big day started out on Friday with some great activities here. The rest of the weekend was filled with friends, Brick Street Cafe Sweet Potato Cake, sun, and one year old laughs and smiles. Our good friends Eric & Becky came for a visit from Chicago to enjoy the long weekend with us. Even Lyle's childhood friend, Joe, flew in on his own plane for a night....he just wanted a piece of that yummy cake:)

Here's a little photo montage to recapture a few of the weekend's events.

Giving Mommy some bites.

The favorite toys of the weekend: Nana's punching balloon, the V-Tech vacuum, and the Fischer-Price tool bench from my sister's family. Thank you! Finn would just play on the floor in the kitchen for long periods of time while all the big kids sat at the table to enjoy their morning coffee or left over birthday cake. Miracle!

Finn fell head over heels for Uncle Eric, especially rubbing that head of his.

Sunday we went to Lake Jocassee for a picnic and some sunshine. Lyle, I mean Finn, really hammed it up.

After returning home from the lake, the big kids got cleaned up and went out for a nice evening of drinks and dinner on the town. We even got a baby-sitter! It had been so long since Lyle and I had had an evening like that. We felt like kids again!

What a fun weekend. Yesterday was spent recovering from all the excitement and reminiscing on the good times. It had been over two years since we'd had visitors other than our family in Greenville. Thank you Eric, Becky & Joe!

We'll sign off with a little cottage cheese butt. 

lauren

So much fun....Finn is O-N-E!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FINNLEY!

We love you sweet boy. Have a happy happy day!

love, mommy & daddy

This is what we've done so far today. More to come later....it's a birthday weekend!

Kicks.

I'm so pumped about my new running kicks! I finally broke down and got a new pair recently and I've been able to take them out about three times now. I couldn't be happier. It usually takes me a little bit to break in a new pair and to adjust to a new style, but these new babes feel as though they are a part of my body. I introduce to you the Saucony Kinvaras! 

Apparently, these won an award in Runner's World recently; however mine are last years model...great colors though.

I'm really loving these shoes for a few reasons: I do enjoy a minimalist shoe, however I prefer the traditional look of a running shoe with that added support, they are super light weight and they dry right before your eyes after a downpour run!

And while we are on the topic of shoes, I'm also loving these TOMS. I can't seem to keep them off my feet these days, plus I love companies that do Buy-one-Give-one charity. I'm easily sucked in. 

Finn will be getting a pair of these very soon......our new little walker is in need of some new kicks!

Any new shoe obsessions?

lauren

P.S. Our big day is this Friday. The big O-N-E!

A little bit-o fridge fun.

Have ya'll heard of or seen these? They're from StickyGram and they are magnets made out of my darling Instagram photos. So cute, right? I discovered them over on The Day Book and was instantly hooked. I'm obsessed and can't stop looking and playing with them; even after having them for a few weeks now.

The site is really easy to use, they're a reasonable price and shipping is free! Once my little set came in I quickly was ordering more for grandma Mothers' Day and parent birthday gifts. What do grandma's really need other than more sweet photos of the grandkids, right? I know my mom has a million old old photos and whatnot cluttering up her fridge already (Oh, goodness. Please take down that sick one of me in my swimsuit surfing. Not pretty! Or the one of me running the marathon...gross!). Maybe these will help her to keep them from falling off or hopefully replace some of that mess! Love you Mom. 

Ok. Now go order some because I know you're dying to. In addition to the already great price, use this code for $2 off: FRIENDM2U9

Let me know if you try them out. 

lauren