Riley and Avery

Here's the finished Waldorf doll that I made for Riley. It wasn't a really big surprise because I didn't even try to keep it a secret. She does like it, but for now, with all the flashing lights and sound effects of Christmas, it has taken a backseat. It's saving grace is that I made a bunch of clothes for her, and Riley is all about dressing. I am definitely going to make one for Avery, a 12-inch one. But I really don't look forward to making more doll clothes. What Riley really likes about the doll is that she can take it anywhere since it's handmade and not bought in a store. She always say that she can't bring toys into the store because they'll think we stole them, but not this dolly.

Avery found the microphone on the keyboard that Daddy got her and she figured it out all by herself. This isn't the best picture that I took of her singing, but it was hard to tell on the thumbnail images, and I didn't pick the best. Oh, it's cute anyway. Her little voice sounds so adorable. Riley and Avery were playing around in bed today while I was trying in vain to get them to sleep at the same time. It usually annoys me, but this time it was really cute. Avery was just giggling and giggling and hugging and kissing Riley. They played so well. Riley can be a bully, but despite her size, I think that Avery will be able to hold her own. She's feisty. Several times she just leaped on top of Riley and tackled her down to kiss her.

Riley has developed a habit of dumping all of her pretend food into one bowl. Normally this would be fine, but she has wooden beef stew with peas, carrots, yellow cubes that I can't identify (it's Haba, maybe Germans put yellow cubes in their stew), and beef, then she has a can of green beans and a bag of noodles, and muffins, and half-dozen eggs. In short, a lot of little pieces that have to be sorted back out to be put away. And on top of it, her imaginary dishes are never what they seem. One would think that a dish that clearly has six eggs, three muffins, an assortment of veggies, etc. would contain on of those ingredients in Riley's world. But no. I'll say, "Oh, what delicious eggs!" and Riley will say "There's no eggs in jello!" and I'm like "This is jello? Why are there muffins in it?" and Riley will say "That's silly, why would I put muffins in jello?" so I say "I can see the muffins right there" and Riley replies "Just eat the jello." And as soon as I put the food away she dumps it out again. Argh!

Riley said something cute the other day. She said "Avery has two names: 'Avery' and 'Poophead'." She also told me today "I want a real guinea pig. That's what I want for my birthday present." She's said that she wants a guinea pig several times over the passed week, but never specifically for her birthday. I wouldn't mind getting her a guinea pig. But Rudi wants to get her a rabbit. I've had both guinea pigs and rabbits as a child, and I think that guinea pigs are more suitable for younger children and rabbits for children that are just a little bit older. Plus her classroom has two guinea pigs that she helps care for, so she is more familiar with guinea pigs. Ah, maybe the whole thing will pass.


Just one little note here before I'm nominated for the sloppy housewife-of-the-year award: these pictures were taken during the madness of Christmas Day, hence the immense clutter in the background...


Oh yeah, and we're getting another blizzard here in the Springs. It only seems to happen on Rudi's days off of work. And the streets haven't been adequately plowed after our last blizzard last week. We have about four inches already and it's supposed to continue through Saturday. So it won't dump down all at once like last week. Maybe they'll actually plow the freakin' roads this time. Rudi had wanted to go into Denver on Friday and has been looking forward to it. But not now.

I think I'm dowloading too many pictures. I have to save some for later, but just a few more...