Birthday Weeeeeeek

So look, Mae and I milked this birthday thing for everything we had. As you remember, we got our bounce present on Friday, February 3 and had a birthday breakfast the next day.

Then we got all geeked up for my actual birthday and hit up Pequods Pizza for my birthday dinner on Thursday night, February 9, where Mom and I basically took some glamour mother-daughter shots, they were that good.

Got a shot in with Dad, too.

Did I mention Mae is attempting to battle Dad and me for "biggest pizza eater in the family?" Mae, how bout getting some of that pizza IN your mouth.

Then we went out again the night of my actual birthday to Nightwood restaurant in Pilsen and went home and had yet another round of cupcakes.

I'm exhausted... birthday week... aaahhhhhhh.

Oh, and this is completely unrelated but Mae got this really cool lion mask as a birthday gift from her friend, Kim, and somewhere along the way she flipped it upside down and created a homemade Baby Bjorn for her little buddy, Mouse.

Oh, and that's his actual name - Mouse. I told her you can't name a mouse Mouse, it would be like naming a cat "Cat." But she keeps insisting that it is completely rational and the mouse's name is, in fact, Mouse... oh, and in case you were wondering, that is jelly all over her cheeks from a bagel and jelly breakfast thinger she had the other morning. Notice a pattern here with food all over her face? Yes, I bet you do.

Well, Well, Well, Look Who Just Turned

Thanks for the shout-out, Mae.

The Co-Birthday Extravaganza

So for the Finley-And-Mabel-Co-Birthday-Extravaganza we went with another birthday breakfast this year and it was, again, a smashing success. Last Saturday morning was the magic day, though it didn't start out so magic. Mae woke me up at 5:15am that morning so we got off to a shaky start.

But a trip back to sleep and a quick reminder that it was our birthday party got me back in the swing of things, and it was party time. A little bouncing with the boys...

A little donut birthday cake...

And a whole lotta birthday love.

Here is the list I wrote the night before our party of all the people who were invited. I started out trying to fit everyone on that tiny piece of paper and finally I just couldn't take it anymore and gave myself a little more breathing room.

We Came, We Saw, We Bounced

So before I get to a post on the wonderful Birthday Breakfast we had with all my friends and family on Saturday morning, I have to tell you about Friday night.

Mom and Dad wanted to give us our birthday present that night, so they told us to wait downstairs so they could get it ready. Then they had us come up together and...

A BOUNCE PLACE IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR LIVING ROOM!!!!

Mae and I always want to go to the Bounce Place but it looks like the Bounce Place has come to us! As you can imagine we bounced to our little hearts' content, got nice and tired and then passed out for sleepy time.

MaeDay! Mae Day!

So somebody turned two today. I'll give you a couple clues:

1. She is really funny

2. She is really cute

3. She goes potty and poop all by herself on her little toilet - literally all by herself with no help whatsoever... it's quite impressive seeing that I'm still getting assistance from time to time.

4. She knows about 80% of the words to the song "Roll Away Your Stone" by Mumford and Sons but, oddly enough, thinks the song's title is "Kickdrum"

5. She has had a runny nose the last day or so

6. She has yet to reach the 25 lb mark, making her possibly the lightest two year old in the S. Loop

Okay, here are a couple more clues:

Did you get it yet? Yeah, I thought so. Happy Birthday to my best buddy, Mabel Jane.

High Five, Eli

As you know, this blog is usually reserved for all things Finley and Mabel, hence the name of the blog. But when Eli turned five a few days ago and we went to his birthday party, it was big news.

This party was awesome from the word "go." When we got there Aunt Tasha took the bunnies out so we could hold them.

And then a little while later it was on to the cards and presents. He got some matchbox cars and some hockey pants.

And then the funniest gift of the night was that Luke got Eli some hair gel. Eli loves when Luke does his hair up with gel so Luke decided to get him some of his own. Nice work, Luke.

And then I gave him my card. Oh man, oh man, if there's one thing Eli loves, it's birthday cards, sometimes we think he loves them more than his presents. So I decided to make him a really nice one with lots of colors and stickers and stuff. Check out the look on his face - see what I mean?

After cards and presents the three "little kids," as I call us, snagged a photo opp and then Nana and Papa wanted in on the action.

Oh, and by the look on my face with my tongue wagging out can you guess what it was time for next? Yeah, you go ahead and smile for the camera, Nana, I've got my eye on that chocolate birthday cake.

We Can Dance If We Want To

So about a week ago was my last dance class for the session and the teacher let us bring someone along to dance with us. Naturally, I brought my fellow dancing sensation, Mabel Jane, who loved it so much she made Mom and Dad sign her up in her own class.

It started out with some pre-dance stretching; Lord knows you don't want to pull a calf muscle or you'll find yourselves on the sidelines watching.

We were the second group to go so we got a little glimpse of what was to come, though Mae found herself a little anxious to get on the floor.

Here you can see me in the background doing a move called, "And the World Was Watching." I do not have even remotely have a clue as to what that just meant... in all honesty, I just made that up (but looking back on it, that sounded pretty legit).

Take a look at that picture again - check out Mae's sparkly tutu (too-too? to-to? sorry, Dad here - absolutely no idea what the correct spelling of that would be). She was born to wear that thing.

And finally, this move is called "The Sunrise" and I'm not kidding about that one.

All in all Mae and I had a great time and even more fun is that one of my best friends, Corinne, is going to be in my class starting next session in a couple weeks!