Surprise! We're going to the circus!

Creig and I decided to surprise Meredith and take her to the circus on Saturday!  She was so excited...as you can see!

Of course, when we got there we had to buy the cool toy that spins around and lights up and costs a fortune!  Meredith decided on a pink one that has a tiger on the top.  When you press the button it spins, lights up and makes noise...She loves it!

She had a great time, and really enjoyed the acrobats, and body benders.  The clowns were cute too, but her favorite part were the elephants.  Towards the end, they introduced a new member to the elephant family.  Here is a picture of the Mom and her new baby! 

Meredith thought it was pretty neat.  She enjoyed seeing the baby elephant.  Of course, there was an intermission.  Intermission is just another word for spending more money.  The sno cone man came by with multi-colored sno cones in really cute tiger cups.  So...you guessed it.  Meredith had a sno cone in a really cute tiger cup.  I guess it's a good thing that the cup is reusable.

Meredith couldn't sit still.  One minute she was on her Daddy's lap, the next she was on mine.  At one point she just stood right in front of her seat to watch.  She was so excited.  My only goal was to keep her from whacking someone in the head with her new spinning toy!  This was pretty much her reaction the whole time...

After the show we were able to stop in front of one of the Barnum & Bailey Circus cars to take a picture.  We were going to take a picture of each of us with her, but a very nice family walked up and offered to take our picture so that we could all three get in a picture together.  I was so thankful! 

We all had a wonderful time.  We stopped at Cracker Barrell for dinner on the way home, and enjoyed a wonderful dinner.  We definitely made some great memories!  Of course, this is the final result of one really tired little girl...

So Precious!

My God Is So Big!

Meredith has learned a new song in Bible Class.  It is My God Is So Big, and she loves it!  She sings it all the time, so I finally got a video of her singing it.   Enjoy!

She loves Bible Class, and she is learning so much! If you ask her about the two parts of the Bible she will tell you they are the Old Testament and the New Testament.  If you ask her how many books are in the Bible she will tell you 66 books.  We are working on learning the books of the New Testament right now.  I am so proud of her, and so happy that she loves church so much!

Finch Family Fort

We decided about a week ago to start having Family Fun Nights!  These nights are just for the three of us, and we let Meredith pick something fun to do!  Well, you can see in the picture below what Meredith's big idea was...

                                                   
We really had a great time.  We watched movies, made cookies, and slept under our tent all night!  Of course, we had to clean it all up the next morning, but it was worth it!  Meredith said we made the coolest tent ever! 

I like to think we are making some wonderful memories with her, and hopefully these will be the stories she will tell her children one day!

Wii...Love it!

Our family has a new "toy" and we are truly enjoying it.   I even think we may be getting more family time out of it as well!  What is it, you may be asking?  It is a Wii Game System.  Thanks to my Mom and Dad who bought it for all of us for Christmas we are having a lot of fun! 

Creig opening the Wii!

We probably would have never bought one for ourselves, but we are so glad to have it!  Last week, Target had the Wii Fit system on sale and since I have been working out at home a lot we decided to buy it.  I am so glad we did!  It is so much fun!  I am kind of glad to not have to ride my stationary bike every night, and the Wii Fit system actually keeps up with my BMI, weight, and will count my calories burned for me!  Did I say it's great?  Meredith actually likes it too, and we have created a profile for her.  She has been exercising with me!  What better way to teach her good habits!

There are so many exercise choices with the Wii Fit:  aerobics, yoga, strength training, etc.  One thing I have really enjoyed is watching Creig, especially when he does the hula hoop aerobics exercise!  It is quite comical, and he agrees.  Even Meredith said, "Daddy you look silly.  You need practice."   Maybe I will be able to sneak a video or a couple of pictures to post!

The only thing I have disliked about this system is that it takes your measurements and then tells you what your Wii Fit age is.  Now, most of you know I have been exercising and eating well for months now.  And...are you ready for this?  As of Monday I have lost a total of:

45 pounds!

I am so excited...of course, I have more to go! 

So, back to the Wii Fit Age.  I went through all the tests and was weighed, did the balance test (which I did very well at) and do you know what my Wii Fit Age was?  33 years old.  Ugh!  Can you believe that?  I am not even 33 yet!

Now, Creig gets on the board and hasn't exercised in probably a year, eats what he wants, and did terrible at the balance test.  Guess what his Wii Fit Age was? 29 years old!  What?!  Something is wrong with this picture!  Oh well, I guess 33 years old in Fit Age is better than 43 years old in Fit Age!  

Guess who else got a Wii System for Christmas?

That's right...Tiffany and Patrick!  I am hoping I can talk them into getting a Wii Fit too, so we can link up together and work out.  We'll see! 

So, I guess you can tell Wii...Love It!

 



Beautiful Ballerina

This is Meredith's second year taking dance lessons.  Last year she was in a ballet only class, and this year she is learning tap and ballet.  She loves to dance! 

She is really good, and knows the steps pretty well.  She pays attention in class, and her teacher says she tends to be the leader in class.  Meredith really loves tap, and says that's her favorite...of course, that was always my favorite too!  I hope she continues to enjoy dancing! 

Next year she will be able to take tap, jazz and ballet.  She keeps asking me when her recital is...she loves recital time!  This year her recital is June 10th, and the costume is beautiful! 

Meredith takes dance at Miss Donna's and they have parent watch nights.  This is where parents and other family members can come and watch the students in class to see what they have been learning.  She of course loves these nights...she gets lots of attention!  Her next parent watch night is in February, and we are already looking forward to it! 

We are so proud of our little ballerina! 



 

Someone is going to be...4!

A very special little girl is going to soon be 4 years old!  Who could it be? 

That's right!  Meredith will be 4 years old on March 26th!  It is so hard to believe, and my how time flies!  She is getting so excited about her 4th birthday, and she will not let me forget about it.  Everyday she says "Mommy, I'm going to be 4 on March 26th!" 
I have already started planning her party...of course, I have to plan ahead.  I like to be prepared.  She finally decided yesterday after I showed her the different options on the Party City website that she wants to have a Little Mermaid party.  So, Little Mermaid it is!  We have a few other surprises up our sleeves for her, but we will have to share those later!  I can't believe we only have one more year and our little princess will be going to school...how will I prepare for that?

Snow, Snow, and Ice

We have had our first, and I hope only snow for 2011.  It started Monday morning and the last of the freezing rain finally left sometime this morning.  We ended up with about 7 inches of snow, and then ice on top of that.  We have all three been stuck at home for two days, and I have truly enjoyed it!  The house is clean, laundry is caught up, and we have even enjoyed some movies together.  I think we are all three finally ready to get back on our normal schedule though.  Meredith misses her friends, and I think Creig and I are ready to get back to work!

Meredith has enjoyed the beautiful snow.  She and Creig spent some time outside yesterday morning while the snow was still coming down.  I tried to stay out as long as possible, but I have been sick with a sore throat and it was really cold!  Meredith had talked about making a snowman for a couple days, so Creig did his best...

He is such a super daddy, and bless his heart he tried so hard.  Unfortunately, this snow was not wanting to pack toowell.   So, here is the finished product....  Meet Mr. Snowman Head!  HA!

Meredith was very creative.  She picked Oreos for the eyes, and Trix cereal for the nose and mouth.  She was very pleased, and that's all that matters!  As you can see we also couldn't find her gloves, so she had to make do with mis matched fuzzy socks.  She was super excited about wearing her boots that Granmommy and Grandaddy gave her for Christmas.

Such wonderful memories!

Welcome to our blog...

So, I have finally done it!  After thinking about it for a while I decided to start a blog for our family.  There are two reasons I decided to do this.  First, it's a great way to keep our family out of state updated on what's going on in our lives, especially with Meredith.  I enjoy sending emails, but with our daily lives getting busier and busier it is getting much harder to send the individual emails like I used to.  Second, and most important to me is keeping up with all the many new things Meredith says and does everyday.  So...let's see how this goes!  Hope you enjoy!