Holidays » THE FINTONS

A lot of – A lot

No Responses » Tagged with: Family, Holidays, Pictures

Oct 312010

Life is…hmm…stress. I am pretty good at making my life out to equal that. Even if there really isn’t a ton of stress going on around me, I still seem to attract it. I don’t by any means thrive on stress. But, alas, I live my life by the rules of stress. Just get it done, and move on to the next thing that should have been done yesterday. Like, posting on the blog. Ha. I’m sure that we have lost quite a few readers since my posting has been non-existent, but hell, I don’t know – I don’t have time to check.

Last year we purchased pumpkins from the local veggie stand. The pumpkins left a lot to be desired, so this year we went to Tim’s Pumpkin Patch in – well – it’s about 15 miles from here. That’s pretty much all I know. It was really cute, and even though we froze our asses off waiting in line for apple fritters (totally worth it!), we had a lot of fun, anyway. And we got some spectacular pumpkins.

Erik was quite proud of himself after he found the pumpkins he wanted. Almost as if he were saving them from certain death. Although he was taking them home to gut them and cut them. Eh, you do what you can.

Our kid is a country boy. You couldn’t take him out of it if you wanted to. He wouldn’t be able to function in a city. He loves being outside, he loves farm animals – hell he loves being on a farm. Sorry upstate NY, you aren’t getting rid of us anytime soon.

We got to do our ceremonious cutting of the pumpkins last week. I of course got my yearly picture with Erik’s “Erik” pumpkin, so I will get the stages up side by side, just like I do every year. At least I’m dependable.

I’ll cut you.

Or I’ll just smile at you after you take the miniature saw away.

Sadly enough, they are pretty rotted now.

My dear friend Amy also recently sent me some filters, macro lenses, and a new lens cap for my camera. She rules. There might be less whining in my future about my camera needs. Possibly. Most likely not. So I of course have been playing around with them. My poor, poor family. Oh, and Ashley’s pets, too.

Photos without my new UV filter:

And with:

Much crisper, and more colors. I love it.

Screwing around with my macro lenses:

On to totally random things since this post is completely jumbled and has no flow at all – Erik has officially learned how to write his name. He can do it from memory as well. He doesn’t need something to copy from – and we are like kids on Christmas. We are so freaking proud that we jump around and then post it on the refrigerator. Next step – framing.

The other day he also came out of his room after stealing a index card from me with a little something he decided to draw.

He calls it Erik monster. Complete with eyes, a nose, a smile, and brown hair. Brandon says this shows we have raised a good kid, because when asked if the monster is happy, he says “of course he’s happy!”

Okay okay enough rambling. I will now deliver on my promise of the progressive shots.

Yea I know, I hate that his 2nd halloween pic isn’t him with his Erik pumpkin. Oy.

I’m grateful

No Responses » Tagged with: Dogs, Family, Friends, Fun, Happy, Holidays, Summer

Jul 052010

I’ve never done a post like this before, but I figured it would be fun. And possibly interesting. And at least self-soul-searching. Well, kind of.

On the 4th of July, you are supposed to be grateful for being an American. Proud.

So here are some of the things I’m grateful for. And definitely proud of.

Organic Raspberry Lemonade on a warm summer day. I even love the little bit of pulp that is in it that gets stuck to the inside of the glass. Makes me feel like my grandmother just made some fresh squeezed lemonade. Even though my grandmother never made fresh squeezed lemonade, but if she did, it would definitely feel like this.

And of course beautiful bouquets of flowers. And it’s even better that these flowers grow around our house.

And for really crazy sun rays that make for cool pictures.

Oh, and our new glasses. Our new glasses are cool. Very retro.

I’m extremely grateful for boys who are so tired out from playing so hard they almost fall asleep while driving around their power wheels. There is nothing better than a beautiful summer day and skipping naps because well, Momma doesn’t want to have fun without her boy, either.

For our furry friend visitors that take great pictures, and are a lot of fun to have around.

For dead plants that I brought back to life. Since I have this ability to save dying plants, Brandon call me the plant whisperer. So I’m grateful for silly husband, too.

And for awesome yellow petunias that bask in the summer sun. That also create sun spots on my lens.

For Grandpa’s who are patient and kind. And aren’t afraid to be silly.

And for Grandpa’s silly friends.

I’m grateful to be able to watch my boy learn how to roast marshmallows over the fire.

And to see him so proud of his work. I am also quite grateful to eat the results.

I’m grateful for others who love my little so much that they greatly care about him, and they show it.

For awesome fireworks. I love the flashes and the bangs that you hear roll down the valley.

I’m extremely grateful for my wonderful husband who allows me to take his photo so often. Who also so kindly poses for undoubtably crazy photos with me.

I’m grateful for wonderful cousins….

…and for fun days at the lake with them.

I’m grateful for fun in-laws, and falling asleep while floating in the lake. Also grateful for my sister-in-laws ingenious idea of using an anchor to keep us in place. So, I’m grateful for laziness.

For Grandmother’s who aren’t afraid to have fun with Erik.

I’m grateful for the furry ones who sit and let me take my crazy silhouette pictures.

For our view of the beautiful lake that we can look at everyday.

And I…am especially grateful…

….for a flower that has the ability to stand alone, and still be breathtakingly beautiful. It’s a lesson that I need to learn.

Hope you all had a good 4th. I know we did.

I’m going to break this up this time

No Responses » Tagged with: Boat, Family, Friends, Happy, Holidays, Lake, Summer

Jun 282010

Last Wednesday Erik and I went on a date. We’ve really never done it before, but we had a wonderful time. I’m sure Erik had such a wonderful time because he ended up with a rockin’ day, but I loved the day too. Erik is a movie connoisseur, so going to the movies for him is like it is for an adult. A serious affair that should be conducted with utter respect. He really is an angel whenever you take him to the movies, and it makes it that much more enjoyable for me. He was so excited for our date day that he was running around saying “can we leave now Mommy?”

We went and saw Toy Story 3, and I gotta tell you, it’s worth it. Go see it. Amazing movie. We of course had to bring Buzz along to watch it with us. He said he loved it, too.

When we were waiting for our movie to start, Erik and I decided to venture over to Build-a-bear. He had never gotten the opportunity to make one before. I let him pick out whichever animal he wanted, and he picked an adorable little puppy. When we went to have the nice associate stuff his bear for him, Erik thought she was pretty silly when she asked him to do crazy stuff. He still liked to put the heart in his puppy. Then we went and picked out a shirt, and good boy grabbed a Syracuse shirt. He always says he’s going to go to Syracuse when he gets older and play basketball. : ) I asked Erik what he wanted to name his puppy, and he said Drake. Him and I agreed that he would call him D.J. for Drake Junior.

Erik carried D.J. everywhere. On the way home he fell asleep, and D.J. was right there with him.

On to Friday – Erik and I went to yet another movie with a friend, and this one was Shrek. Erik got to play with his friend Lea, and I think he’s in love!

Later that evening, Erik and Aunt Ashley decided to play a new game of sumo wrestlers.

Also on Friday evening, Brandon finally got the boat running. It still needs some TLC, but at least it’s in the water. Brandon dad was up for a nice belated father’s day dinner, and the two of them took the boat out for a quick spin to see how it was running. Erik wasn’t invited, and he was really disappointed. So Aunt Ashley picked him up and let him watch to make him feel better.

Lee decided he wanted to watch, too.

We finally got to go on the long awaited and highly coveted cruise around the lake. Erik was finally happy. He is a water boy at heart, and I have a feeling will always be.

I, amazingly enough, have probably 50 more pictures to post from this weekend.

Maybe tomorrow.

Father’s Day – finally

No Responses » Tagged with: Family, Holidays, Stress

Jun 242010

I haven’t been able to post, because A) taking care of Erik (including our date), and B) because my desk, looks like this:

i.e. I HAVE SO MUCH HOMEWORK!

Okay, yea, so maybe I can take 20 minutes to write a post. Maybe. I’m only doing it because I’m taking 2 minutes to eat. (I’m a poor liar – I’m coming back to this hours and hours later)

So yea, back to what I have been meaning to post about for forever (not sure if you noticed but this empty post has been up awhile – I’m trying to find a new way to photo blog). Father’s Day was obviously this Sunday. We had originally planned for a nice day of picnic-ing and boating. That, sadly did not happen. Patti didn’t realize she was going to have a rough day – but that’s what Patti had. Not completely my fault! The boat’s still not running, so it’s half the boats fault. Nahnahnah.

Anyway, I still mustered up enough strength to make a yummy dinner. And you thought that was going to be the strange end of the post, right? Well, it wasn’t, I just never finished. : )

So, anyway, back to Father’s Day (almost a week later…heh…I’m on time). We did have a wonderful dinner, and we gave Brandon the cards we had bought him.

Erik prefers to open everyone’s card for them. Even if he gave it to you.

So we ate our wonderful pasta dinner that Brandon had asked for. Life was good – and the day became less hard. I was happy to have spent it with such a wonderful husband anyway. Love, you are an amazing father, and Erik is lucky to have you. He knows it too. You can tell by the way he looks at you and calls your name in the middle of the night when he’s afraid. The love you two share makes me heart feel full when I watch you, and I wanted to thank you for that. Happy Father’s Day, my love.