Mae Soccer

Hey Fin, so what's Mae been up to? Okay, here's what... soccer. This is her first practice, when they didn't have a uniform for her yet.

A little dribbling, Dad's really pumped, she's loving it, and then...

... she completely lost interest. Lounging around on the ground for a few...

Her own snack break (which lasted about 15 of the 45-minute session)...

A miserable time on the parachute ride, etc. etc.

So wait, Fin, it probably got better the next week, right?

Well, only because she showed up in her sweet uni that looked like it was trying to eat her.

And then after 30 minutes of wandering around, she wanted to come see my practice, where she sat on the chair and cheered me on.

And by the by, there was a lot to cheer about when witnessing these skills. No, guys, that is not Landon Donovan taking that ball coast to coast.

Portraits of a Cheetah

The Art Museum called and they want to put this collection in their new wing, I told them no. Artists are more infamous when they are unknown, whatever that means.

And now I give you... "Portraits of a Cheetah."

By the way, didn't want to wash this face paint off that Miss Stace put on me so I kept it on for three days... now I have an interesting rash on my grill.

First Day of School

So today was my first day of school. First, last night, we had to make a poster of a bunch of stuff that I love and love to do. So here's my poster.

Let me explain a couple things for those of you who can't read very well...

1. Okay, right underneath the picture of me jumping in the puddle is the word "swim," which I love to do.

2. Right above and to the left of Dad's head in the black and white photo is the word "bike," and just to the left of that is a picture of me on my bike.

3. Right underneath the black and white photo is the word "read," which I'm doing pretty consistently nowadays.

4. Also, in between the black and white photo and the picture of Isaiah and me are pictures of me on the swings, which is probably one of my all-time favorite things to do.

5, Then, as you can see, I've got some pictures of people and things I love - Mae/Mom/Dad, puddle jumping, my stuffed animals and of course, Isaiah.

Okay, here we are, morning-of, and Dad is getting a little emotional so he's taking lots of pictures. Here are a few.

Best friend alert! Don't know if I've ever posted a picture of Miss Stacey or not but in case I haven't, some people call her my nanny. I say "blah" to that business - nanny shnanny. Miss Stace is Mabel's and my best friend.

And then here's us at LoveBugs, which is the name of my school. That is kinda funny because my nickname is "Bug" and a lot of people love me so it's kinda interesting that I go to a school called LoveBugs.

Anyway, first day was a huge success - in fact, when Mom and Dad picked me up to go home and I got in the car I was so sad I started crying. When they asked why I told them I didn't want to go home, I wanted to stay at school. I'd call that a success.

Hanging at Nana's

Just a perfect day out at Nana's recently.

Mae and Papa hung out on the porch swings...

Mae graduated from the regular push swing (with some assistance from Luke)

To the tire swing (with some assistance from Mom)

Sophie and I rocked the swingset

And then I, too, headed for the bigtime.

Dad and Isaiah made sure I was flying high

And then, after baths and dessert, we hit the living room for a tradition unlike any other. See, at Nana's house we put on Irish dancing music on the DVD and we just have at it...

Straight-up Michael Flatley style.

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL??!!!!

So it's upon us, the NFL season starts tomorrow, college football started last week (do NOT mention the Notre Dame loss within 27 feet of my dad if he has a sharp object in his hand) and so we took to the gridiron out at Nana's.

Enough of the princesses and swingsets, it was time for old Finley "Dust Off the Hammer Pants, Can't Touch This" Skertich to strut her stuff with the pigskin.

First I was on defense with Luke and Eli while Isaiah tried to get into the end zone.

Unfortunately for Ice, we caught him at the two-yard line and dragged him down.

Then with the third quarter winding down there was a fumble; I snatched it up and took off.

Nope, this is not Herschel Walker. This is me, a freaking blur on the football field with the rock in my hands.

Now ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you might think that Dad just had the wrong setting on the camera and that's why I'm so blurry. Yeah, and you also might think that the Academy got it right when they gave Shakespeare In Love the Oscar over Saving Private Ryan back in 1999. On both accounts, you are sadly mistaken.

Took this one all the way to the house, leaving the boys like roadkill in my path.

Finleys Skertich

Trivia Question: What is better than one Finley Skertich? (Answer TBD...)

Well, tonight Mom and Dad came downstairs and I had drawn our family, as I pointed out to them who each person was. Mae was obviously the smallest, and so on and so forth.

I was going to write everyone's names by their respective picture but I decided on just the first letter.

Then, when Dad went to get the camera upstairs, I decided that the family needed two Finleys, so I just drew another one. And that's about that.

Oh, and the answer to the trivia question is pretty obvious by now, two Finleys are, of course, better than one.

Nailed It

Well, looky what we have here... it appears MJ has joined the nail-painting party. And she proceeded to tell everyone she met about it for the next three days.