She gets it already! - and was up in the middle of the night several times - wanted to "Open?!" and wondered about "Santa cookie!?" Now... The house is quiet, the baby asleep, Craig is at a gig, the house is clean(ish?), the tree and all the Christmas lights are on... Whew, Christmas with a kid is a whole new deal... What a great day. Thanks again to Pops and Lisa for sharing the holiday with us - 8 years running!
Most of the Geiger family (we missed you Bill!) came over for Christmas Eve. The boys were so sweet, even when Finley was taking swipes at them for touching her stuff.
Lisa Nirvana - with a grandchild, opening presents Christmas morning! Post present frenzy CRASH with Papa, Dr. Suess, sucker, and belly button. Betcha never knew you could eat a dinner roll with a spoon! (bib courtesy Sandy) The meal... Finley's own little corner of the kitchen. Can't wait to see what she cooks up!
It was such a sweet request we had to see it through... So here it is: Finley eating sugar cookies say "Aunt Annie" over and over! Guess what her favorite word is now? "Coooooookkkiiieeeee!"
I found this beautiful vintage sewing machine at the dump and lugged it home. An internet search and a few days later, I had the manual. It's a tank and it does work. Thing is I HAVE NO FRIGGIN IDEA what I'm doing - manual or not. I need to take it to a sewing shop (? do those exist? I don't know!) and get a few of the accessories that it no longer has and some needles and thread and stuff. Until then, things are getting done my way. I believe they call this style "by hook or by crook":)
Finley has expressed a lot of interest lately, backing her caboose up to the toilet and making "pssssss" sounds and what-not, so here we go - officially potty training!
One of Finley's great loves at the moment is the moon. "MOOON!" Annie already knows, "Moon!, I hug you!" and tonight was the biggest, fattest, moon of her little life. I was teaching her to howl at it and she was trying to "Jump!" to it. It is actually one of the most awesome moons of my little life too:) Here it is from her bedroom window.
In her new red power snuggly suit listening to mixes in the studio and checking the mail with a feather duster.
At our first time at a sporting event - EVER! Luke Geiger's hockey game. It was great to see the gang and I even let Jack Micoli give Finley her first lollipop. Blowpops are heaven - I took it back when we got to the gum:) Here she is rocking her baby. Babies on the move. Making corn cobb art with Mrs. Costigan at Mommy and Me class. Sentences are happening! In really interesting ways too. "Murray, hold you, Me!" and "C'mon!" "Walking, Me!" "Mo jooos, peees!"
I usually wait for her to go to bed to watch a movie, but I have been sick this weekend - the kind that requires a doctor visit and antibiotics and I thought a drama with no violence would be okay - she just plays around the house anyway. I was watching a steamy Woody Allen movie moment and just when I wondered if I should fast forward I noticed she was looking at me and I said "yes, they are kissing" and she climbs up on the couch, straddles me and comes at me all open mouthed and drooly. I am cracking up and trying to push her off, now this kid is getting big and she was relentless - she kept diving at me! The more she attacked the more I cracked up - the weaker I got. Totally defeated by my 18 month old.
Her "no" period has lessened (for now:) - thank god! Though, when she says it she means it! Now she says, "Yeah!"and "OKAY!" with Great Enthusiasm (Annie, must be like the "of course!" Silas stage)
We (well, I - to be fair Craig was mixing the record) painted the kitchen and it turned out great (though it could be a touch more yellow:). Finley walks in takes one look, points and says "Niiiice!"
She reminds me of the Nightmare Before Christmas song "What's This?" - everything is "what's this?" Sadly for me in a weird way, she is says "sucker" and no longer "gucker" - i'll miss that.
She loves chicken, all shoes, my soup (the feeling I get when she obviously loves something I make is SO ridiculously satisfying), playing in the cars forever.
Finley/Mama turkey art from class
If you are wondering where Craig is - he is always mixing the record or putting Finley to sleep:)
My oldest brother Scott got married to a wonderful woman, Debbie on Saturday in Denver. Craig had to work, but Finley and I were there to witness. The best part was how ridiculously happy they were. One big bummer was that I forgot my camera. My Camera! I had the charger and an extra battery but NO camera. The optimist in me decided to get some disposables and I was actually excited to take some actual film for a change. That is until I got the actual film back today. The quality is worse than bad digital. At least my romantic idea of film can finally be squashed.
Gracie and her son Max picked us up at DIA. She is a truly great friend who always makes time for me no matter what is going on in her crazy life. Finley and I with Gracie and Lori in their fabulous mountain house. Finley had a great time with Uncle Chris - he's such a big sweetie! A walk with Grandpa. Here they are - Mr.& Mrs. Happy Here is the last couple leaving the dance floor as my folks win the anniversary dance with 48 years! It was very sweet. My niece and nephew who won the bouquet and garter tosses (though Christopher stole his!) Here's the proof! Finley partied the longest of her whole little life! We love you guys!!
Okay, we showed up at the wrong place first - the grade school where we have voted for some local stuff in the past. Doh.
Then we made our way over to Town Hall where the actual action was. I have this to say about it: Voting is a very exciting, thrilling and shockingly simple experience. Pull, click... amazing! I was literally tripping over myself in excitement.
Well, it's back to normal life after the Dreyer Family Overdub Vacation where Craig, Finley and I opened our home and studio to the vocal stylings and fabulous song creations of the West Coast Dreyers for 12 fabulous fall days. 18 songs later we have a real record. Some final fixes, mixing, mastering and printing should produce an actual product to have and to hold. Keep checking back on how to get YOUR copy! Check more photos over at The Plump Otter. This is a shot from the cover try day.... A bit smiley but isn't that good? I can't decide.
Here is Finley singing along to one of her favorites...
