Finals, the roses, snow days, and vuh-CAY-shun!

I was less than thrilled when, on the first night of my waytooshort week of exam prep/ paper writing time, Seth had a ridiculous work-related drinking event. Still reeling from Ford's Great Three Week Plague, I was behind on a 40 page paper and had back to back exams the following Monday. Major crunch time. Seth had promised to step it up this week so I could have time to study, so you can imagine my enthusiasm for an "I really need to go to this completely optional and idiotic event."

But it meant I got to take Finley to her daddy-daughter music class, which means I got to see this. Seth had simply reported that it was "cute," but I feel like that was a wild understatement for this kind of unbridled joy.

And, since I had to drag Ford along, he got to play the sticks and had a blast. So it was totally worth it. 

What a reminder to stop and smell the roses.

I definitely got more rose-smelling than studying done this week. These two are pretty irresistible.

They've started interacting more, and it's the best thing ever. Even when Finley subjects Ford to very aggressive toothbrushing

And spoonfeeding.

I eventually got the paper done. (I pulled a "write 'til it's done" late night at school, and Seth redeemed himself wrangling both kids on his own and getting all the chores done to boot.)

Which meant we could celebrate with gingerbread cookies

and a gingerbread house that lasted exactly 30 seconds before collapsing. Not that Finley cares what kind of shape the vehicle for sugary treats is in.

We had a snow day

on which we attempted to take Christmas pictures (you can see what a hit that was) while Seth got in some deer hunting (he got one!)

and a long and involved dance party to all the Christmas songs I could think of.  A "Go Army" foam finger was involved.

I just got home after my last finals. They were, predictably, a nightmare, seeing as most of my studying wound up looking like this. 

But they're done! And Seth survived his long day at home both kids (although on my way home tonight I got the following hilarious text. "The house is kind of a mess. They won.")

Oh boy, do I know the feeling.

And we're frantically throwing warm clothes in a bag because for some reason we thought it would be a terrific idea to catch a 6am flight tomorrow. Good thing we know Grandma & Grandpa are looking forward to seeing these two, because we might sleep for a week.

(My favorite photos this week are a tough pick, but I love these, of Ford stealing Finley's guitar during her naptime, and Finley insisting on wearing all her jackets to school.)

And now, we're on what Finley calls delightedly "vuh-CAY-shun!" Tomorrow starts our midwestern adventure. Happy holidays, and wish us luck!

We beat Navy. (And Finley discovered cake pops.)

Army-Navy weekend is always kind of indescribable. It's special, it's emotional, it's a little crazy, it's full to the brim with plans and meals and beers and shouted conversations and half-finished sentences and friends and acquaintances and people we love and people (mostly of the Navy persuasion) who very nearly escape encounters with Seth...

But this time there really aren't words. After a 15-year losing streak (Seth was on the last team that beat Navy, in 2001), Army pulled out a huge, emotional win in Baltimore Saturday. It was a great game. And I'm pretty sure Seth will never forget this moment. (You have to be pretty dedicated to watch it, since Lena captured the last several minutes of the game.)

Naturally, this was the year I had decided to take one for the (Nieman) team and skip the game so we could bring the kids along for the rest of the festivities. (It is way too cold for them in the stands.) I will probably never quite get over missing it (and am a little concerned that a superstitious Seth will never let me attend in person again.)

But Finley and Ford got to watch the game in front of the fireplace at Josh and Michelle's, and play with Scott and Grace and the dogs to boot.

And they had fun hanging out in the hotel, which had- to Finley's delight- a Starbucks. (No, we do not usually allow her to eat goldfish crackers out of the bag, but all bets are generally off Army-Navy weekend. Hence, also, the cake pop. Her new favorite thing.)

And we hired a nanny to come to our suite both nights so I got to do some celebrating too.

OK, plenty of celebrating. (This photo was taken in a bar/club we were clearly much, much too old for, and we beat a hasty retreat not long after it was taken. Still...)

But not as much as Seth. (This picture, from Saturday morning, cracked me up. Two peas in a pod.)

On top of the huge, emotional win, we had a terrific time- as always- catching up with our friends-who-are-family, in what has become one of our favorite annual traditions.

(And their dogs, to Finley's delight.)

Naturally, we stayed longer than we should have and drove home late and in the snow, and now I really have to buckle down for finals week. But couldn't let this weekend go by without a few words. None of which, as I said, are sufficient. It was incredible.

Oh, and so was Seth's spot on the CBS pregame video, available here: https://www.facebook.com/CBSSports/videos/10154450942856773/

And this photo, from a Ruby Tuesday's stop on our road trip.

More finals, Santa, and Finley's first snowball fight.

The finals crunch continues on this last week of classes (and I'm trying to frontload a ton of work before we head to Baltimore for Army-Navy weekend), so just a quick overview of what still managed to be an action-packed week around here.

We got snow! And Finley learned the joy of throwing snowballs. (Thank you, Seth.)

Finley and Ford both inexplicably starting waking up at 4am, and I discovered that they would go back to sleep if I threw them in bed with Dad. Where they promptly took over my half of the bed.

We had the Ryans over for cookie decorating

which devolved into a fashion show in my closet, complete with underwear headdresses. Finley had a blast. We haven't yet recovered. I'm still finding sprinkles in the couch cushions.

We took Finley to the nature museum's Yule Log celebration, where Ford bundled up and took a nap

and Finley got to help find the yule log.

Although she liked setting it on fire best. Naturally.

Sunday morning we had breakfast with Santa. Finley loved the fancy tree at the West Point Club

and decorating cupcakes with her friends

and both kids were thoroughly unimpressed by Santa. (Finley matter of factly informed him that she would like a bike. Please. And then shook him down for candy canes.)

But the waffle bar was the biggest hit.

So we're definitely glad we got everyone up and dressed and on their best behavior early on a Sunday morning, when we could have just gone to IHOP in our PJs.

We also got the Christmas lights up this weekend. Or rather, Seth tossed all of the clearly substandard ones I had purchased, picked up his own decorations, and did it with no help from the clearly incompetent yours truly. And then we took the kids for a Christmas light walk, in Walters family tradition. Ford glowered at all the lights and was generally furious that he had gloves on and couldn't suck his thumb, but Finley oohed and ahhhed enthusiastically.

And we spent the rest of the weekend mediating toy disputes, since the weather has taken a turn for the chilly and Ford is finally old enough to act disgruntled when Finley swipes whatever he's playing with. Which she invariably does.

Luckily, they also crack each other up, which is kind of the best.

Photos of the week are of a still-skeptical Ford making an attempt at dinner

and Finley's first snowball fight. Check out that face. She's a natural.

Beat Navy.

Lots of thankfulness. And finals.

No matter how many times I go back to school, I never learn. I always think I have a handle on things until a few weeks before the end of the semester, and then all hell breaks loose.

To be fair, I think I'd be doing OK this time around if not for Ford's protracted bout with every kind of cootie imaginable. But still, from a "papers and projects and finals, oh my!" perspective, things are looking pretty dire at present.

I'll try to still post a couple photos a week, although due to shortfalls in both mental space and time to jot down thoughts, the next couple may be short on substance.

We had one last pre-finals getaway for Thanksgiving: as has become our tradition, we rented a cabin, played in the snow, Seth hunted, and we had a festive if makeshift meal. 

We stayed in a ski condo in the Finger Lakes, where we loved having the fireplace,

Ford discovered stuffing,

and we #opt(ed)outside for Black Friday.

The kids loved the indoor water park, which had terrifically warm water (and wasn't as filthy and germ-ridden as most.) Seth and Finley marched around like they owned the place,

and Ford looked a little nervous at first

but ended up spending literally hours in the indoor-outdoor pool, where he loved seeing the steam rise off the pool and snow on the ground. He's a swimming phenom and didn't want to get out.

Seth also introduced Finley to her first arcade. She's a kid after her Dad's own heart, and it was obviously a hit.

We also discovered our new favorite children's science museum, in Ithaca, and loved that both kids were big enough to enjoy it.

We stopped for Turkish food on the way home, where Finley looked way too comfortable drinking out of this golden chalice.

Sunday Seth celebrated his fourth Alive Day in a treestand and watched football on the couch with Ford,

and Finley got cupcakes

And helped herself to early-arriving Christmas presents while singing "happy birthday to me." She really does think every day is her birthday. 

In my next life, I'm coming back as Finley (pictured here stealing my favorite coffee mug.).

Photos of the week are videos. Ford's getting to be such a big guy, he can sit up like a boss, is working on crawling, and scoots around on the floor (although he usually goes backwards.) I haven't been terribly successful at catching the action, but tried here.

Anddddd what has become our at-least daily concert. Finley loves her guitar and she dances around the house with it like a one-man mariachi band, looking for an audience. Ford is her favorite mark. Here she's trying out some new material with those "chugga chuggas."