Thanksgiving

I took four pictures on Thanksgiving. All of them were slightly different angles of a table of pies. Then I gave up because the light was low and I really wanted some pie. Here is one of those amazing photos.
Graham and Finn didn't eat much on Thanksgiving (unlike their parents, who stuffed themselves silly). Believe it or not, Graham's a pretty picky eater. He loves bread, rice, pasta, muffins, crackers... you get the idea. He's not even the sucker for fruit that Finn has always been, but he did go to town on a pear the other day. He likes BIG food, and will get mad at you if you try to break things up into baby sized pieces for him.
Have I mentioned lately that he's the cutest, happiest, and possibly cheesiest baby in the universe? Here he is the other day as I tried to get him to ham it up in the kitchen, and he repeatedly ignored me in his quest to touch running water in the sink.

Graham in the kitchen from Katie on Vimeo.

Finn is three!

That's right, we have a three year old now. Finn's birthday was on Saturday, and his party was on Sunday, and the whole weekend was chock full of birthday goodness. Here's the birthday boy studiously opening presents Saturday morning. It's serious business, y'all.

(That's a flashlight, his number one birthday wish.) Then Sunday we went to Roaring Camp Railroads, rode a train, had a blast with friends, and eventually demolished a chocolate cake. New friends and old joined us, including Finn's best friend from his preschool in Los Gatos. Unfortunately, many of our pictures went kablooey when I had phone problems earlier this week, so if you're reading this and you were there, please send me your photos for our Fortney archives! Here's the blowing out of the candles, where you can see all the kids eagerly waiting to pounce on the cake, and hear the railroad sounds in the background. If you are so inclined, you can also go watch us sing Finn "Happy Birthday."

Candles from Katie on Vimeo.
Mmmm, cake.
Last weekend was also exciting because my mom and Dave came to visit. We ran them pretty ragged, but we showed them a good time, too. Here we all are at the Brookdale Lodge for brunch. It's been around for over a hundred years, and in its day was visited by the likes of Herbert Hoover and Marilyn Monroe. A brook runs through the restaurant, aptly named the Brookroom. We highly recommend checking it out if you're in the area. Nothing beats an honest to goodness brook for distracting small children during a meal.

If you follow Jonathan on Facebook, you may have heard that Finn has been lording it over Graham with all of his 3+ toys. Here is one such present.

The picture fails to capture the intensity of the "No BABies, Graham!!" that we frequently hear now, while Finn points to this symbol I showed him the other day when he wanted to know "what you get to do when you're three." Sharp knives and driving cars were the request, but he had to settle for this.

Ah well, Graham. It's for your own safety.

Walking around

Graham has been mastering the art of the continued forward stumble. Known by many as "walking." He really is pretty good at it now and likes to walk around just for fun. He can easily end up in the other side of the house if you're not paying close enough attention.

Walking around from Jonathan Fortney on Vimeo.

Finn is in the neighborhood of being potty trained. At home or at school he is usually at around 1 accident per day, but some days are zero. When we're other places, like museums or restaurants, the failure rate is higher. Also, bowel movements are always a disaster. But there is a good progress. His excitement to wear underwear has been a positive driving force, as well as the teachers at Happy Days, the boys new daycare. We HOPE that the boys will be there for a long time.

The pic below doesn't need any further comments. The cuteness is evident. Graham is enjoying car-life more since we turned him around last month.

"A nice dragon" and ... Sir Chubsalot?

Trick or treat!
We Fortneys had a fun-filled Halloween here in Santa Cruz. Finn picked out his costume online over a month ago, and has been wearing it happily ever since. He wanted to wear it to preschool today. Don't worry, though, he says he's not a big scary dragon, but "a really nice dragon." A fast one. Graham was a knight, but not nearly as excited about his costume.
We spent Halloween afternoon checking out downtown Santa Cruz with some friends. At the last minute, we decided Jonathan and I should dress up, too, so we dug through our closets and decided our old nun and reaper outfits would allow us to have some kind of vaguely medieval family theme. The last time I wore that costume I was 9 months pregnant.

We figured Finn would run around downtown and we'd push Graham around in the stroller. Then Finn fell asleep on the way there (becoming a VERY SURLY dragon when he woke up), and we ended up doing the opposite. We kept encouraging Sir Graham to attack the dragon at his most vulnerable, but he just kept running away.

Finn was back in top form by trick or treating time, and both boys had a blast. Finn just couldn't believe the whole thing at first ("She gave me something." "I got candy!"), but caught on quickly. He kept telling Jonathan they should do "one more house" long after I went home to hand out candy (100 pieces in half an hour! This neighborhood is crazy!). Graham enjoyed meeting all the new people, and "trading" them the candy in his hands for what they had in their bowls. Apparently he was a big hit in the neighborhood.

Graham seems to spend a good part of each day just thinking happy thoughts about how awesome he is. Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Graham likes his tummy from Katie on Vimeo.
We have a similar video of Finn from when he was about a month older than Graham is now. Man, that kid had a big head, and was in desperate need of a haircut.
On the preschool front, the first two days at our new child care center have gone great, and I think the boys are going to be very happy there. Finn announced this morning that "I get to go there every day!," and we had to break it to him that he's still stuck with his parents on the weekend.
Happy Halloween!