Georgia's first violin recital (May 2016)

Georgia began taking violin lessons in March, and in May she performed in her first violin recital! She was even the first student to play. We were so very proud of her growing musical ability and her confidence at the recital.



 
 Note: this is my attempt to embed a video from YouTube. Please let me know if you cannot see it.

A Poetry Reading, by Georgia Finn

As part of Georgia's homeschool, she has memorized several poems this year.

For your enjoyment, here is her recitation

If you visited this post earlier, I apologize for all of the videos! It was difficult to see what they were before they loaded, so now I have the proper video attached:-)

Buckle up, world

Fuller Finn is on the move!

Please disregard my dirty floor and focus on the cute baby. Also, I had a longer video of this movement but cannot get it to load. This snippet will have to do. Fuller has been scooting around like this for weeks but in the past couple of days has really started moving. I am not sure if it can be called a crawl, and it causes him to wipe out head first not infrequently, but he can get where he wants to go now. Watch out, here comes trouble!

Bathtime giggles

No one can make Fuller laugh quite like his big sister Eleanor. One of his favorite things is bathtime with his big sister. As you can see, she greatly entertains him!

The Finnlings' choir debut

Georgia and Baxter have been singing with one of our church's children's choir this fall, and they had the chance to sing for the congregation today. Georgia is second from the left on the second row, while Baxter is on the far right on the bottom row. I apologize that the video quality is not better; I forgot my camera at home, sadly! Enjoy the video. 

A few 'editorial comments' from Mommy: Baxter has said for the past few days that he wasn't going to sing (and he has definitely been rebellious recently), so we were not sure what to expect. Georgia, however, learned the music and practiced at home and was excited about the opportunity. Let's just say that it went about like expected--Baxter acted pretty clueless/nonchalant about the first song, opting to sit down at one point (you can hear me snapping to get his attention:-), then he sang part of the second song with gusto before deciding to leave the stage entirely. Given how he has been acting out at times, we were quite pleased with how he did! For the record, Baxter got upset because he didn't 'know the song', which is why he left the stage. He knew the first couple of lines, but had both refused to practice with G and not paid attention in choir class to learn anymore of the lyrics. It's a work in progress! 

Date filmed: December 16, 2012, at First Baptist Church of Durham, NC

The BEST Christmas carol ever. or at least the funniest.

This will change your life.

Days of Thanksgiving 2012--Nov. 8

I have posted a link to a shorter version of this trailer already, but I want to include it here, during my days of thanksgiving.

Why? Why a trailer for Les Miserables (the movie)?

Because the music is stunning. The plot is a remarkable portrayal of redemption--the bad man finds redemption and new life in Christ, the good man is driven by hatred and retribution and cannot find redemption in his good deeds. 

Nathan and I love musicals. He had never seen Les Miserables performed, and we had a wonderful time seeing it in Raleigh last year. My dad loved musicals, and we would watch the 10th anniversary performance of Les Miserables any time in came on PBS. It is a cherished memory for my time with him.

So for these wonderful things, and because it is an amazing musical, I am thankful for Les Miserables. Enjoy the extended trailer!

Georgia is learning to swim!

This summer, G has shown amazing improvement in her comfort in the water, her desire to put her face under, her ability to use her hands and feet to propel herself through the water, and even  to jump off the side. Nathan and I decided that we wanted to enroll her in swim lessons while this interest was still present, and thankfully, Granite Falls Swim and Athletic Club has a two week intensive course that we got her into. As an added blessing, there was only one other girl in her class, so Georgia basically got a semi-private lesson for the cost of a class. Her teacher was a college student named Brandon who was very kind and helpful and tolerant of little girls' tendencies to talk or ignore his instructions :-)

Her face at the beginning of swim lessons--she was SO excited and had so much fun every day.

Today we brought our friends the Whitfields to watch Georgia's last lesson of this session. G loves having friends watch her (the girl is a social butterfly who enjoys putting on a show:-)

Georgia in action:

Her face at the end of the swim lesson:

I had not taught her to doggie paddle or anything, but by the end of these lessons she has learned 

*to doggie paddle the length of the pool;

*intro level work on her freestyle and backstroke;

*basic diving position; and

*how to tread water

I am SO impressed! Here is video footage of her really in action!

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*Sorry for the weird spacing--I think the video is throwing things off*

Friday Favorites--2012 Olympic Musical Moments

every now and then...maybe even each week, we'll see... I'm going to post a Friday favorite. Something that I love or my kids love or just something random that I want to document for the future. This week, it's funny music videos from the Olympics. If you know me well, you'll know that a musical parody is a quick way to make me giggle. If it happens to involve one of my favorite things: the Olympics, then I will definitely be chortling. Disclaimer: I do not agree with the views expressed on the second video. I'm a Phelps fan all the way :-)

 

Georgia is reading!!

For several months I have been working with Georgia on reading. It has been an up and down sort of ordeal, where for a time she was not terribly interested, and I was not being consistent with working with her, and it was a vicious cycle. However, we are in a "regular routine" (that's in quotation marks because I so don't stick to a routine) of working on her reading now, and she WANTS to do it!! So ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, I give you Georgia reading the book "Tag."

Baxter's carrot gun

Baxter turned a broken Pez dispenser to a miniature carrot shooting gun. It was fascinating to watch his concentration and focus as he shot the carrot over and over again. He had so much fun, and I loved watching his creativity explode (and his fine motor skills improve as well!).

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Date taken: February 7, 2012

Bax Vader

Eleanor-early walking at OneTrueMedia.com

This video was taken about a month ago, when Eleanor was first learning to take a few steps with her walker. Please ignore the messy room :-)

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Baxter playing on scooter

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Trip to New Bern May 5-6, 2010

We took a family overnight trip to New Bern, NC, and had a wonderful time. This beautiful city is on the river, and is steeped in history as the colonial capital of North Carolina. Enjoy the pictures!

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Ring Around the Rosie, Baxter style

Musical prodigies

I snatched this video tonight while G & B were 'playing' the piano. Listen for Baxter's singing along!

Just for Granddaddy Finn

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Baxter is 10 months old!

Baxter is obviously the second child, because I have not yet posted the stats from his 9 month appointment (which was three weeks ago).

Here are his nine month stats:
Weight: 20 lbs., 13 oz. (55%)
Height/Length: 29 1/2 in. (85%)
Head Circumference: 45.8 cm (60%)
He is not as chunky as we thought! He is only in the 55% for his weight, but is 'taller' than many babies his age. We were shocked at how little Baxter weighed, because he is as solid as a football player:-)

Baxter is crawling everywhere now, and can really move fast. He pulls up on everything he can, and has recently mastered the art of cruising the couch. His approach to things is so different than Georgia's was--I don't remember her cruising much at all! Baxter has four teeth now, and I think the top two are going to have a cute little gap between them (at least until he knocks them out, I am sure). He puts everything in his mouth, so we have to constantly be on the watch for that. AND he eats like a horse! I don't think Baxter would stop eating if we didn't put a limit on what he eats. He prefers to eat 'people food' with his hands, but will still eat pureed baby food as well.

Baxter has several funny habits. One is that he loves to be in motion, and will rock back and forth in his exersaucer, high chair, or car seat. He gets that from his dad! He also has this habit of tensing up and shaking for no reason at all. We thought it was when he was pooping, but it is not. My sister says he is "hulking out"--and that is exactly what he looks like. We think it is how he expresses himself when he is excited. And my in-laws have taken to calling Baxter "Chewy" because he has a very cute, Wookie-like sound that he makes. Hopefully I will catch it on video soon.

Below is a video of Baxter in action at dinner-time. He started rocking in his high chair, probably hoping to move it across the floor. Enjoy!

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Baxter wants to swim...

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