Finley Counts Spoons

Finley spent Saturday with Grandma and Grandpa at her cousin Veta's house, while Daddy got to have boy fun and Mommy got to stay home for some alone time. Before everybody went home on Sunday, we met for some authentic Mexican food. Finley couldn't believe her eyes when she saw all the food - and neither could Grandma and Grandpa! It was good to spend some quality time with the family - even if Cam couldn't enjoy it (if you get my drift...).

Tonight, while Cam did some grocery shopping, my OCD daughter showed up in the kitchen. She spent a good half hour taking all the spoons out of the pans, lining them up in a perfect row, then putting them back into the pans. At one point, she categorized them by plastic utensils and metal utensils. Every once in awhile she would count them, too. She also does this line-up with her crayons and markers. Also a testament to her OCD-ness, and as my cousin Jennie witnessed at my cousin Paul's wedding, she also has to wrap her baby up in her blankie with corners perfectly straight. She may look like her father, but she is definitely her mother's child!

Dr. Bernhardt-Peterson

With all of Finley's many illnesses, came a desire to be a doctor! Mom stayed home with a feverish Finley on Tuesday after she coughed and cried continuously the night before. Every time she would sneeze or cough and bring up phlegm, she would shout, "Boogers!" and cry until I wiped them away with a kleenex. I also rubbed her down with Vicks Vapo-rub and Baby-rub. After I took her temperature that afternoon, she gathered all her "medsin" and played doctor on her and her dolly. That must have tuckered her out because soon after, I found her hiding in my closet with her blankies.

Just for an update (Grandmas!), Finley went to the doctor on Wednesday and got on some strong antibiotics. She actually got to see Dr. Noll, which was good. We go back again next Wednesday to make sure she's all better. After that, the next time she'll see Dr. Noll, she'll be 2!

Finley, The Count(ess)

Finley got a Sesame Street coloring book for Christmas and one of her favorite things to do is look through it and find the characters. She surprised us the other night by turning into the Count! How adorable is she?!

San Frannies 2008 AND 2009

Picking up where the last blog left off, Finley and Cam went to Trimont to the Peterson Christmas and Mom stayed back to wait for her besties to come in from their respective hometowns. They were set to arrive around 7:ish, but due to weather in Washington and who knows what in Texas, they both came in late. Instead of heading to Trimont, Paige, Natalie, and I hung out at the house and broke in our new beverage dispenser. The next day, the girls headed to Trimont for a Grandma B. Christmas. We ate some wonderful food (can you say "Grandma B.'s mashed potatoes?!") and had a classic Bernhardt sing-along. I'm pretty sure Natalie died and went to heaven when we sang Silent Night in German - or at least tried to sing it in German. Finley got some sweet magic paints, glitter markers, and some sparkly shoes like Sadie's. As you know, the girl couldn't ask for anything better! The next day we meant to get up and do all sorts of stuff, but instead we got stuck waiting for my perdittle to get fixed. Finley was still not entirely herself, so it ended up being ok, but it sure wasn't very exciting. We took Finners to Auntie Megan's for the evening so we could go out to eat at our favorite restaurant, Broder's Pasta Bar. We met some of Paige's friends and had a great time. Then, since we'd become such pros at Wii bowling, we decided it would be a great idea to go real bowling. I think the Wii (or the wine I had with dinner) messed with my form because I ended up bowling about a 50! The next day, Cam had the stomach flu, but of course he went to work anyway. The San Frannies and I braved the snowstorm to eat some delicious breakfast at French Meadow. We did a little Uptown shopping and then travelled south to pick Finley and Sadie up, before heading to the Bernhardt Bar and Grill in Waseca. We plum wore ourselves out with the Wii again and Finley stayed there so the big kids could enjoy the New Year. After an interesting dinner and drinks, we went to Tony's for the strike of midnight. I danced my pants off and must have worn down my immune system with all the Prosecco because I woke up with a slight sore throat the next day. We went to pick Finn up at Grandma and Grandpa's, and of course we played some more Wii. After exhausting myself with beach volleyball and a boxing match with Paige, I went to bed. I woke up with knives in my left tonsil and it was so big, I couldn't even lay on my left side. This was unfortunate since I had to sing at my cousin's wedding the next day! I downed about 2000 mg of ibuprofen and took some Mexican antibiotics and we all headed to South Dakota in our caravan of cars. Paige actually drove the exciting trip to Sioux Falls since both Minnesotans in the car (me and Hannah) were feeling the effects of a bug. We made it in time for the rehearsal and enjoyed a lovely dinner; however, I couldn't even make it to the end of dinner. Grandma Joyce and Grandpa Bud had to take me back to the hotel while everyone else whooped it up. I ended up shivering and sweating in a hotel room all by myself (boo hoo). I pulled it together enough to sing the beautiful music for Paul and Karen the next day, but I can't say I was too exciting. It was also EXTREMELY cold and it rained ice all Saturday. This did not help my situation at all - or Paige and Natalie's, who I'm pretty sure will NEVER return to Minnesota again. Finley, who was a little off her game still, especially since she hadn't been home for more than 12 hours at a time for a week, did manage to entertain us with her doll Lilla (short for L'il Adorable) for a time. Paige and Natalie went home the next night, excited to go back to a place where they can walk outside in t-shirts, but all-the-more strong for having endured some true Winter.

Christmas 2008

I always forget that blogger posts pictures weird, these are a bit out of order.

We had quite a Christmas this year. We had big plans to do lots of fun stuff and travel all over, but that got derailed when Finners got sick. Cam, Finley and I had our mini Christmas at home the night before Christmas Eve. Finley got a toy vacuum cleaner, in the hopes that it would help her get used to the real vacuum cleaner, of which she is terrified. She was equally as terrified of the toy vacuum, although she warmed up to it eventually. She definitely liked the broom better. We thought she was better before Christmas, but when we woke up on Christmas Eve to get ready to go to Great Grandma and Grandpa Laven's, she had a fever again and only wanted to sit in Mommy's lap. We took her to Urgent Care on our way up north and they couldn't find anything, so it was presumed a virus. We continued on our trip anyway and still managed to have some fun. Since Finley was too sick to go to church, Cam and I stayed home and played the Wii. I got my all-time high score of 248, only to get bested by Cam the next game - by one point! Santa Claus, aka Uncle Tom, visited the house. He came up the hill behind the house, got his top caught on a tree branch and almost blew his cover, but he pulled it together and climbed the hill to surprise everyone with a brand-new Christmas hat! Finley got LOTS of fun things from everyone, even though she wasn't feeling well enough to enjoy much of it. By the time we left, Finley was a miserable mess, and her parents weren't much better. Finley and Cam had to postpone their trip to Grandpa Tim and Grandma Belva's because she was still sick on the weekend. Unfortunately, this wasn't a great Christmas for pictures :(