scout's first sleepover

technically this wasn't scout's first sleepover as he has
slept overnight with auntie jen many times since he was a toddler,

this was however, his first sleepover with a friend.
he asked if his best playdate pal and neighbor logan
could sleepover on friday night.

the other mommy and i weren't sure if a 3 and 4 year old
would actually make it through the entire night,
but we were willing to let them try.

logan really wanted to "sleep at finn and cout's house"
{he doesn't pronounce the s in scout's name yet},
so we had him here and let scout know he can go there next.

so friday night, their first sleepover happened,
and melissa and i were thrilled they made it all night.
we had our cell phones next to us just in case we needed
to meet each other on the sidewalk at 1am and hand off a child.

fortunately we didn't need to.

the boys had so much fun!
they played in the invention room, watched a movie,
and slept on the pull-out couch in the living room.
{finn enjoyed having another little fan that thinks he's so cool}

here are these sweet preschoolers before bed,
and wearing their adhesive mustaches that logan brought over.

sleepovers are those little milestones
that remind us mommies our children are growing up
and can be away from us and be just fine.

easy edible valentine treats

i have valentine's day on my mind tonight!

and now that the 5 lbs bag of gummi sharks arrived,
finn and i are officially ready to start working on his
valentine cards. {did you guess submarines?}

scoutie's valentine cards won't be homemade this year.
i was planning on doing some easy craft with him,
but then i came across adorable space-themed valentines
by meri meri and couldn't pass 'em up. 

so this weekend we will not only be working on valentines,
but we will be making simple valentine treats too.
i came across a few easy ideas in the blogosphere and had to post.
all you need is a heart cookie cutter to make simple rice krispy treats
and brownies extra cute for valentine's day.

easy peasy as scoutie likes to say!

image: theirlittleworld

image: ingredientsinc

image: alldaylongidreamaboutfood

i only have time to squeeze in one of these projects this weekend
and since i received this pretty cake pop maker for christmas,
i have been anxious to test it out.  cake pops will be my weekend project.
pink and white candy melts are standing by in the pantry,
along with several jars of sprinkles. this is where the boys will step in to help.

i make no promises they will be as pretty as the photo above,
but my hope is they will at least be tasty {and stay on the stick}.
i will report back after this weekend and maybe even share a photo.

wishing you a fabulous friday!


~ i almost forgot to record finn's accomplishment.
he participated in explorer's annual jog-a-thon yesterday.

students take up donations based on how many laps they run
to earn money for the school. this year finn ran 34 laps!
{i think he is ready for this year's st. patty's day run}.

a little guy who loves to read

scoutie used to open books and read out loud about 
what was happening in the pictures he was seeing.
i learned this is called 'pre-reading',
is a very important step in reading.

on occasion, finn would say "you aren't really reading scoutie"
and at first this would upset him but after hearing c and i explain
the importance of what he was doing,
scoutie started responding "i know finn, i'm PRE-reading".
{i loved that - even recorded that in this book}

for the past year, his teacher at the rock, miss heidi,
has been working with him and the other children in
his pre-k class helping them sound out simple words. 

he had already learned what sound each letter made back
in his 3 year old class, so he was ready for this next step - very ready. 
{pointing out simple words in chapter books that we read together before bed} .

our little guy is no longer 'pre-reading', he is a reader!
a beginner reader, but a reader nonetheless.


here he is reading one of his favorite books: a cars boardbook that
his aunt stacey and cousin aidan gave him for a birthday one year.

i can't tell you how happy it makes me to see him enjoying reading.

superbowl sunday

i hope you had a fabulous weekend and enjoyed a little football
{or at least enjoyed catching up with friends and eating too much}.

i'll come back and do a proper post later
(and maybe a video of the eichorn twins) at yesterday's party.

in the meantime, i DID post on finn's birthday celebration!
to keep my blog in chronological order, i dated the post 1/29 {the day we celebrated}
you can scroll back to this date to see the post, or click here .

last, please excuse the layout/formatting issues. 
i have a new laptop and am having compatability issues....
hoping to get it worked out eventually.

have a fabulous monday peeps!

a powerful play

c and i had a date night last night,
it was much needed.
we were long over due.

we enjoyed a delicious dinner at jai
and afterwards, walked next door to
to see american night: the ballad of juan jose,
the final play of the season at the la jolla playhouse.

oh and what a way to end the season. 
i'm still on a bit of a high from it.

of all the performances this season, last night's was my favorite!
actually it was both our favorites, a rarity when it comes to theater.
{i usually prefer the musical of the season and c an edgy drama}.

i'm tired and fear i can't give this show justice by trying to describe it,
so here is a recent article that discusses the show the and the talented
{and san diego native} rene millan, who plays the main character, juan jose.

there are so many elements within the play that i loved,
but one pops into my mind right now that i'll share.

it's the opening scene of the show.
the audience sees juan jose walking at sunset with a beautiful desert image in the background.
in the foreground, a man and woman are playing guitars and singing a beautiful mexican song.

the set design is simple - but it has enough.
there is nothing to distract.
all we see is a handsome young man walking
and these words scroll across the screen:

my hope is that when you see a man,
you don't see a man who walked over the line,
but simply see a man.

this show will stay with me a very long time.

if you live in san diego and have been wanting to see a play for a long
time and just didn't know what to see or simply haven't gotten around to it,
this is one that is worth seeing before it leaves. 

i found it worth every penny.

~ as for that house we looked at the other morning here in point loma.
it was priced right at $525K,  fair for coastal san diego, but it too needed
a good $100K worth of work and it was too close to the flight path.
{we are already in the flight path and learned we don't want our next home to be.}
somewhere out there....

submarine sandwhich

work has been CRAZY and with finney's birthday
celebration this past weekend, i'm tired.
so tired i'm going to bed early...before 9pm.

i have downloaded birthday photos,
but i haven't gone through them all yet.
my goal is to get to later this week or
this weekend at the very latest.

in the meanwhile, i thought i'd post this cute submarine sandwhich.
i re-created it using a football shaped cookie cutter and put in finn's
lunchbox last week on his birthday as a little surprise. 

absolutely adorable yes? {or rather 'cool' as the boys would say}

to bed i go. i'm getting up earlier than usual tomorrow
to look at a home our realtor friend emailed us tonight.
i'm not holding my breath but we'll see...

submarine birthday

after much anticipation,
finn's submarine birthday party day finally arrived,
and lucky for the birthday boy, he was able to tour (2) real submarines
that were sitting in san diego's harbor as part of the maritime museum.

since the tour was the main part of his birthday,
we tried to keep the guest list down and to do this,
we asked parents to drop off and pick up their children at our home.
they all seemed happy about this arrangement.
i've learned at their ages, parents have gone to enough parties
and often welcome a break from weekend birthday parties.

aunt jen had just picked up her new car the day before the party,
so she was able to drive which allowed me to drop off my carload
at the museum and head to spanish landing park to set up for the birthday.
{i did tour the museum a year ago when my girlfriend amira visited - loved it}

here are some highlights of finn's special day:



cupcake toppers {fresh chick designs}

favors: a paperback of  20,000 leagues under the sea
and a chocolate submarine pop i made from this mold

 party table

cute bottle wraps {fresh chick designs}

unable to find a cool sub pinata on-line, daddy made this one





it was a fun filled day and extra special because grammy was with us.

like last year, i missed not having a backyard.

dragging everything to the park wasn't easy
{although i did have pizza delivered directly to us}

also i wasn't able to reserve tables at this park,

so there was a chance one wouldn't be available.

lucky for us, two were available by the playground

{and close to a bathroom}

despite the the work to get set up,
the park did provide a beautiful backdrop to the day  - it overlooked the harbor,

and the weather, unlike last year, was perfect.  it was sunny and in the high 70s.

it's great to be eight

finn oliver gerber is 8 today,
and as my little tradition goes,
i do a tribute post on the boys' birthdays.

so tonight, i am listing 8 things that i want to remember
about our first born at this time of his life.




























1. he is a cuddle bug 
even though he is a big 2nd grader,
he still loves to hold my hand and kiss me goodbye before i leave for work.
nights are when he turns into a real cuddler,
asking for a backrub and song before bed.
you are my sunshine is still his favorite.

2. he loves science
if you are a follower of my blog, you know this already.
he often reminds us that science is his "passion".
his preference to watch nova science now over cartoons says it all.

3. he is a rule follower
he not only follows rules but he understands why there are rules in place.
whether it's deep understanding - way beyond his years, i'm just not sure.
i can just say that it's made things easier for his parents, nannies and babysitters.

he won't hesitate to call out kids {or adults} who aren't following rules.
example: he recently told a mom, who was driving him somewhere on a class field trip,
that she was going over the speed limit.  she told me laughing but admittingly said
"i was, and finn kept me in line".  this is something i love about finn.
he keeps c and i on our toes and reminds us that little eyes are always watching.

4. he loves movie nights
friday nights are typically our family 'movie nights'.
finn loves these gatherings and no matter how large of a dinner we eat,
finn always insists we have popcorn
{without it, he says it's not just a 'real' movie night}

5. he enjoys playing the piano
he's been in lessons for 4 months now and has performed in his first recital.
so far, he seems to enjoy playing and only groans on occasion about practicing.
the rest of the household is enjoying the music he brings into our home.

6. he is outgoing
finn loves life and loves people.  after having a long talk with grammy barby,
he started upstairs for bed and stopped and said "i love to talk. i'm not sure why.
i think it's because there are SO many interesting things to talk about."

7. he reads for pleasure
it took until this past year, but now he enjoys reading for fun!  
for c and i, it's been a joy to see him reach this milestone.
he loves to visit his school and community libraries.
beyond science-related books, he is especially into the magic treehouse series.

8. he is a great big brother 
sure he fights with scout from time to time, but more often than not,
he is sitting right next to his little brother playing with him.
{i used to think this was normal for brothers at this age,
but i've since learned that it isn't always the case}.
it makes my heart happy they are besties...for now at least.

a thing for miley

i think my youngest has a thing for miley,
a sweet little girl who's been in his class for the past 2 years,
if he has his pick of playing with the boys or miley,
it's always miley.

i don't know if i could call it a crush,
but, i can say these two little ones share a very special friendship.

whenever i get to do 'drop offs' in the mornings,
miss miley is already there at school
{her mom teaches 2nd grade at the rock}.
she comes running up to scout and gives him a big hug.

he grins shyly, hugs her back, and off they go together to play.
a few months ago, he was invited to her princess themed 4th bday party.
other than her cousin, scout was the only boy invited.
and he was so happy to go,
and happy to have gotten a sword to play with instead of a tiara.

he asked me to be sure to invite miley to HIS superhero or pirate party this summer.
when i reminded him it's a long long time away yet {6 months}, he didn't seem to care.
he just wants miley there, oh and aunt jen too he said.

here's a photo i snapped of the two at her 4th birthday party.
{doesn't she look like she could be finn's little sister?}

i cheated again! this post was a draft i started a few weeks ago.
i just inserted the photo.
{i wanted to be sure i captured the friendship between these two}

submarine ♥

my first born is just days away from his 8th birthday!

his actual b-day is this friday, 1/27, but the party will be held on sunday.

this one will be extra special as grandma barby is flying in from arizona.

finn will get to celebrate two special occasions with her -
grandparents day at his school this friday and his birthday.
he's never had a grandparent able to attend in the past,
so this is really special for him.

as for his birthday, every year he chooses a theme,
and it's always something he is passionate about.
this year he chose SUBMARINES.

this doesn't come as a surprise to anyone who

has spent more than 30 minutes with him over the last 6 months. 

if he gets your ear, he will weave in talk about submarines and 

discuss in detail how they are designed and how ballast tanks work 

{i didn't even know what they were} shhh

he will also talk about taking an entire crew down with him

on his mission to search for the lost city of atlantis.
{which is made up of some friends and family members}

i'll just let him tell you all about it:

so there you have it.
he really does plan on going to atlantis someday
{when he's older and done with college he tells me} *wink*
he's even convinced half of his classmates to be part of his crew.

since subs are his theme,
i showed finn some adorable yellow submarine invites i found at target way back when.
and he was adamant that we not send them.
apparently, yellow submarines that have a single porthole are for "preschoolers."
REAL subs are gray or black.*sigh* {yet another reminder he is growing up}

i jumped on etsy in search of a more grown up invitation.
there were few to chose from that weren't the traditional yellow,
but i did find a design and a few coordinating printables
that i thought would work from fresh chick designs.

when i showed him this submarine invite, he approved. *whew*
he liked that the sub had his name incorporated into it,
and i liked the simple color scheme. it also had a bit of whimsy to it.

for finn, this weekend can't come fast enough.
i wish it were here too.