Joe

I bet you forgot about him. I bet you forgot that Joe the Cat who lives at Nana's is one of my bestest friends. Well, these pictures are here to remind you not to forget it ever again.

There's Joe DiMaggio, Joe Pesci, Joe Montana and Joe Namath (otherwise known as Broadway Joe), Joe Lieberman, Mickey Rooney ("Wait, Finley, what??!! You just said Mickey Rooney!!" Yes, folks, I know. Mickey Rooney's birthname was actually Joe Yule. I'm sure he got teased and was called Yule the Mule on the playground or at Christmas all the kids sang "troll the ancient YULEtide carol, fa la la la la la, la la la la" or something like that so when he turned 18 he figured he'd change his name to Mickey Rooney. Good call, Mickey, good call), there's Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat (close enough), Joe Crede (Google it) and the oft-used Joe Schmoe, but the all-time #1 Joe is Joe the Cat. You heard it here first.

Duck, Duck, Mother's Day

Mom and I often take walks down by the lake where we live. It starts out at home with a "Finley, do you wanna go feed the ducks?" and then I start hyperventilating and we're off to the Lakefront. So on Mother's Day we set out for a picnic down by the ducks and we took Dad along (we only brought him along so he could take pictures but I haven't told him that yet).
Whoa! Here come my friends... only thing missing is the goose.
At first glance you will probably think that is Maverick from Top Gun, but if you look really closely you'll see that it's just my Mom.
Then we hit the lawn by the Shedd Aquarium and opened up our lunch on a blanket; it started to drizzle so we busted out the umbrella.
Rihanna's got nothin on me.
And one last one for good measure.
All in all, a fantastic Mother's Day for my Mom and me.

My Future's So Bright

I gotta wear shades.

Double Dribble (in your best Nintendo voice)

Dad is in a basketball league on Tuesday night with his buddies and this past week I went to his game. His team's name is Beaver Truck. I have absolutely no idea what that means and when I asked him he just changed the subject; started talking about geothermal energy and how it requires no combustion and it's less expensive than energy generated by coal and blah blah blah.

I think Beaver Truck is some secret Marquette code or something that I don't have the ability to crack. As the kids are saying these days - "whatev."

Anyway, Dad's team lost but I didn't really care because it's not whether you win or lose, it's how much you eat for dinner that really counts... at least I think that's how the saying goes.

As you can see, I'm pretty close to being able to palm the ball.
LOOSE BALL - GET ON THE FLOOR!!!!
I know this looks like a travel, but it's not... it's only two and a half steps.
I really wanted to get out there - no chance that little #2 dude in the yellow could handle my killer-crossover dribble.

Happy Mother's Day

I think you've seen this picture before, but it's one of my all-time favorites so I'm using it again in honor of my Mother's Day Post.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you Moms and Grandmas out there - hope you have a wonderful day.

Dress Up

I like to do things with clothes. First off, Dad has put a stop to folding any of my clothes after they are cleaned because one of my favorite things to do is to take everything out of my drawers, walk around the upstairs with it, and just throw my clothes in all corners of everywhere.

Aside from that, sometimes I just like to put my coat and hat on for no reason. Like here, I was eating but I really wanted my coat and hat on. So there you have it, not much more to say except I kind of look alternative in this photo; you know, like the University of Colorado kid who goes to the Arcade Fire concert and has the long hair coming out from under his winter hat... only difference is I'm not stoned (might be hard to believe looking at that second photo and the fact that I look like I'm on a munchies binge).
And this was after a bath, I had no diaper on, half my jammies on and half of them off, and I have to say it was quite liberating. Does this mean I will participate in streaking the Marquette Union 20 years from now during finals week? Don't answer that.

Happy Easter!

Wait, I know, I'm about a month late, but you all know why, so let me just jump into this post (hopefully without hurting myself)... wait for it... wait for it... okay, hopefully you got that one.

So, we moved into our new home at 1341 S. Indiana Ave. in the South Loop (Unit H, I might add). And right after we moved in Grandma Lammel came to stay for a whole week! So I got to spend just about every waking hour with her for seven days straight. And a few days into her trip Nonie came from New Hampshire and she stayed for a week, too. And then Good Friday became Great Friday because Grandpa Lammel arrived for Easter Weekend.

Here's a breakdown of some of the many wonderfully fun things we did that week.

I blew bubbles with Grandpa in my park (yes, I'm calling it mine, now).

I played in the sandbox with Grandma. Grandpa actually MADE me that sandbox and it sits right out on our patio so I can play in it whenever I want.

I ate one of Nonie's famous meatballs. Dad calls Nonie's meatballs his death row meal... like if he was ever on death row and was given his choice of a last meal before being executed, he would have to have Nonie fly in to Chicago, make the meatballs and take them to the Joliet Prison.
I colored Easter eggs with Dad.
Easter morning we went to Church at Old St. Pat's.
Then Dad's whole family over for dinner. We ate some mean cuisine and then headed out into my park for some play time.

I had an egg hunt in my beautiful Easter dress.

Eli taught Grandpa how to play t-ball.

Back inside Nana and I put things on our heads (silly, Nana).

Isaiah read me some books.

I watched The Masters with Papa.

And Mom and Nonie spent some quality time together.
Whew, what a week. This post could've been much much longer - I mean, a LOT happened in that week - but I figure that was a lot of photos to digest.

God, it's good to be back.