Milestones

So the past few days have marked a couple of milestones for us.  Minor ones, albeit, but they are still milestones.

The first was the pacifier breakthrough.  R truly only used it when it was time to sleep, so we knew it wouldn't be as hard as if she used it all the time, but it was still a change not only for her, but for us too!  Her Parents as Teachers lady has stressed to us for the past six months that the longer we let it go on, the harder it will be for her to break.  We had no trips planned for awhile, so figured this was prime time.  We first debated how to go about it...do we have "the talk" with her on how she's a big girl now and pacifiers (paci's) are for babies?  Or do we snip the tip and call it "broken"?  After realizing plan A probably wouldn't work very well for our Roo, we opted for plan B.  See Exhibit Q.

Exhibit Q-

So here we go, it's Friday night.  It's time to go to bed, and R inevitably asks for her paci.  I go to give it to her and she promptly puts it in her mouth and promptly removes it.  Looks at it.  Puts it back in.  Takes it back out.  I ask her if it's broken and if she wants to throw it away and she says yes (all while having an absolute disgusted look on her face).  She then asks for another one.  DOH!  We have multiple and she remembers this.  So Chad quickly prepares another one.  This one we have now kept as a gentle reminder in case she asks for it again.  To sum up a story that I've somehow been able to draw out, she's been a trooper.  Nap times have been rougher than night time for some reason, but all in all she's performed beautifully.  Our baby is growing up. :(

On another note, as of today R's hospital bill is officially paid off!  We will baske in the awesomeness for the time-being, anyway. ;)

2013

Here it is, a new year!  We rang it in at home this year.  I am still amazed at how your priorities change once you have children.  But that doesn't mean we didn't have fun.

We ordered pizza, Chad had his boyfriends over for poker and Riley had her neighbor friends over for fun and dancing.

R's hair pretty much went with the music we were listening to.  80's all the way, baby.

We got to hold baby Amaia again as well.  R gets pretty excited when she gets to hold her as evidenced below.

 



We also had some sparkler fun!

 

 

Here's to 2013!

 

 

Three Christmases

We started our Christmas vacation with the 3 1/2 hour drive to good ol' Dodge City.  You can't really say Dodge City without adding "good ol'".  First we celebrated Christmas with my Mom's family and Riley grasped the whole unwrapping present concept very quickly.  And of course loved helping everybody else as well.  Here's just a few photos.

A bed for her babies....!!!!

 

And a Macy's bear that Uncle Doug got in New York City that recites "The Night Before Christmas".

 

 

Trying on "Bay-bay"'s purple boots.

 

 

Her elephant popper from the Smith's was a big hit. 



 

 

Next stop was Christmas at the Riley's.  Nikki & Eric were there too!!!  R loved helping Papa get the fire started.

 

And more presents!!!

We even made Papa & Grandma their very own garden stepping stone, complete with R's handprints.  Nonny (Mom's mom) got one too.

Christmas Eve morning brought the 4 hour drive to Nana & Papa's in Oklahoma.  We were ready to see "Mimmy" (Emmy) and "Al" (Alex)!

Growing up, my Dad's parents always had the tradition of us singing Happy Birthday to Jesus on Christmas Eve and the kids getting to blow out the candles.  We decided to start this tradition as well!  It's a great way to reinforce the reason for the season with the munckins.



Christmas morning, R was oblivious to the stockings and presents, but as soon as Alex got up the cat was out of the bag!

Christmas morning wouldn't have be complete without Papa handing out pre-breakfast snacks...cheese puffs.

Nana & Papa got Alex a wagon.  Needless to say, this is probably all they would have ever needed.  They LOVED being pushed around the house in this thing.

Riley's big present unveiling.....she would probably admit that this was most possibly the BEST. PRESENT. EVER!!!



Lot's of cookin' went on, and is still going on.

 We got to spend an extra day with the kids when Zac & Chelsi had to go back to Amarillo and Emmy & Alex got to stay with Nana & Papa.  These kids had an absolute GREAT time.

We even made Nana her very own garden stepping stone!

However Alex better step it up next time.  I have no clue what was going through R's mind when she decided to maul him, but it does look like Alex tackled her first. ;)



We hope everybody had a very Merry CHRISTmas!  We sure did!

 

The big 2-0 months

Whew!  What a past few weeks it's been.  Snow days, traveling, gifts, coughing & ear drainage, more traveling, more gifts, and more kleenex, we've been busy!!!!

First things first, and that was R turning 20 months old on December 18.  To sum her up in one word, "entertaining" would most definitely be it.  Wow, she's a character.

Like when she decides to empty all her books onto the floor (which is an ordinary occurence). 

 

She got an early Christmas present from Grammy & Guy (mainly so we wouldn't have to lug it all over God's green earth during the Christmas week), and that was her very own table & chairs.  No more high chair!  Unfortunately it is the perfect height for "Haw-wah" but R doesn't hold back with her "No, no Haw-wah"s.

 

We enjoyed our one snow day before break with pancakes followed by watching Daddy shovel the driveway....and four of our other neighbors'!

 

 

She's become quite the jabberbox, doesn't eat as much as she use to and is waaay more picky (aka your typical toddler), is now scared of the vacuum, loves her baby dolls, Has to tell EVERYbody "night-night" and blow kisses before she goes to bed, has mastered the Tupperware shape toy as well as her wooden "Riley" puzzle, and loves to "GO".  I still have trouble understanding her at times, sometimes it takes both Chad and I to figure out what she's saying but we are getting better at it.  Her favorite sayings are "All gone?", "Where Karo?" (Where's Toro), and lastly, and this is a little foreshadowing for my next post..."I cookin'!"





It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

So unless you live with the Aborigines, you probably already know that Christmastime is here, in full swing at that.  But you probably wouldn't have internet, or even a computer, so I suppose that point is moot.  Anyhow, Chad worked hard on the Christmas light display (but so do washing machines, right?).  I wanted more, but I probably I should be thankful for what I got.  Unfortunately we can't really line the driveway anymore because of the silly phantom rabbits that nibble through the cords, so here we are.

I'm more proud of my contribution to the outdoor festiveness, this Pinterest Christmas tree.  You'll have to click through for instructions, it's waaaaay too time consuming for me here, now. ;)

The first weekend of December we spent attending the Annual Mayor's Lighted Holiday Parade.  Besides for the scary K-State Marching Band drumline (per Riley) it was a fun time.

Terence, Lachelle, & Logan got to join us, too!  Note R's blue raspberry Dum-Dum lips.

This last weekend brought the St. Thomas More Cookie Carousel (!!!!).  Probably one of the most looked-forwarded to events of the Christmas season for me.  What a novel fundraiser idea, to have your church ladies bake gobs and gobs of cookies and then sell it all by the pound?  Brilliant!

It also brought Salvation Army bell ringing.  Kiley, Jenny, and I bundled up and set foot to Hobby Lobby for 2 hours of "Good mornings", "Have a nice days", and "Merry Christmases!"  Unfortunately there are no photos to prove that we did this. :)

Lastly, it brought our sort of annual Christmas Party.  It is very funny how our parties have changed, and for the better of course!

Last year, Riley and her bff, Noah....

And this year!

Now Riley's room is the hot hang out spot.

 

 

We had all sorts of goodies...and the main event was Chad's smoked ham.  Mmmmmm.

 

 

R enjoyed getting help from Lacy on her new Pinterest Christmas tree Grammy & Guy made her.  I showed this to Mom awhile back knowing that I would probably never sit down and atctually make  it, but that it was simply a neat idea.  Grammy & Guy just need a couple hours on a Sunday afternoon to hammer it out.

 

 

Onto next weekend, have I mentioned that I LOOOOVE this time of year?



A Rocky Mountain Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year we were with my Mom's family and got to make the 11-hour drive to beautiful South Fork, Colorado (we also were there for Spring Break).    We carpooled with Mom & Kevin, which made for a more fun car ride.  However if it wasn't for Kevin's iPad and access to 3G and Yo Gabba Gabba, we probably all would have pulled our hair out on the drive back.

Chad's folks were able to come with us(!!!) and met us in Syracuse on the way over.  Riley was thankful to also have her Nana in the car with us.

Our first deer sighting on our drive through the Bear Creek edition.

We were sooo happy to have arrived!

 

 

Riley finally had her Beej & Marshie back and they all had a lot of fun together.

 

 

 

Besides for going on walks, playing games, and just hanging out, we didn't really do much.  Again, thanks to 3G we were able to have atleast some internet access (God forbid we go without!).

 

 

 

Not to sound all cliche, but I'm sooo thankful for my wonderful family!!!

 

 

The girl hates hoods/hats on her head, but liked the ear muffs?  Go figure.

 

 

 

Oh yes, Riley go to go on her first 4-wheeler ride!  Even though it appears we made a Riley sandwich, she loved it.

 

 

 

More deer sighting.  It's what you do in the evenings.

 

 

 

What else do you do in the evenings you might ask?  Well it's when the crazies come out.  Especially when you roll out the Christmas music.
 

 

 

We were able to do a little Black Friday shopping in nearby Creede.  Not your typical "day after Thanksgiving" Target experience, but small mountain town shops are pretty special.

 

We had a blast, it was great seeing the family, but were happy to get home to our Christmas decorations that were just itching to be put up. :)