"I've Got To Blog About That"

So it never fails, the kids will be doing something funny or crazy one night and I'll turn to Chris and say, "I've got to blog about that." Then the next day or few days later, I'll forget what it was.  I've started writing it down on a piece of paper and keeping a list going until I have time to sit down and actually blog. And inevitably, I'll lose the list! Well I managed to find a partial list the other day and before I forget anymore...I'm going to forever record them in the blog-osphere!

• As I mentioned in the previous post, Maggie has really become quite adept at spotting Santa around town or in homes or stores or on the front of a card. For the entire Christmas season, she would excitedly say, "See Santa!".  The funny thing is, I think she may think his name is "SeeSanta". We may have mistakenly trained her to do this because we'd always say, "Hey Maggie, do you see Santa?" Whoops! Makes for a cute memory though. 
• Riley has picked up on some more of our sayings at home. We'll catch him sneaking out of bed at night or tell him not to jump on the couch and he'll respond, "Oh, Man!" To which, Maggie will then try to parrot as well!
• Since we got rid of cable TV to cut down on our bill, we supplemented with the much cheaper option of streaming Netflix videos.  Whenever the logo displays on the TV as we log on to access some shows, Riley always points his finger and spells out N-E-T-F-L-I-X    K-I-D-S and without fail will say, "Hey I'm a Netflix Kid!" Maggie, not to be outdone, now says "I-E-I-E...Yay!" which means the same thing in her language!
• Driving down the road the other day, Riley saw a machine on the back of the truck and asked me what it was. I said I couldn't think of the name. He responded by saying, "I think it's a fork lift, Mom." And you know what? He was right!! It's crazy what this kid knows!
• Several of my music lessons that did in the fall featured books by Eric Carle and Riley would listen to me read them aloud and before I begin I always introduce the title and author/illustrator. Shortly after these lessons, I'd pick up a book and read the title and before I could get any further Riley would interject..."By Eric Car-rul" (two syllable last name). 
• We have one book that Riley likes to read that talks about the first day of Kindergarten. One of the first times reading it, Riley got very excited and wanted to know when he was going to go to "Candy-garden!"
• Maggie sure has been working on developing her personality more and more everyday! She is quick to please big brother and give up whatever toy she has so that he can play with it. She can easily get upset when you don't want give her what she wants and will pitch a full-on fit complete with a face-plant on the floor and dramatic cries and tears. She loves to mimic everyone and is talking up a storm! She understands so much now. The other day, I accidentally burped and she looked at me and said, "Cuse me, Momma". She's an excellent helper and loves to sing the "Clean Up" song while she picks up toys. Her version is more like "me-muh, me-mup".  We'll ask her if a certain food is cold or if it's cold outside and she'll ball up her little fists and pretend to shiver as she repeats the word "cold." She is a snack-aholic and will eat everything on her plate that is fried or carb-heavy.  She still loves her crackers, O's (Cheerios), and pretzels (I can't figure out to type how she pronounces these, but it's really cute). She loves to brush her teeth and is extremely interested in watching people go "potty". She is a teaser too! I'll be reading her a book and she'll close it on purpose, so I can't see the words anymore and then open and close it about 6 more times. She'll pretend that she's going to give you a piece of food and then snatch it back.  On our long road trip to and from Indiana, she'd put her pacifier in backwards and look at Riley with a silly smile to make him laugh.  She has such a cute sense of humor--we love it! I had the hiccups the other night as I was rocking and singing "Mockingbird" to her and she kept making the hiccup sound right after me and laughing about it. I love her little dimples and how easy she smiles and laughs.  I hope she never loses any of that joy!

Glad Tidings of Comfort and Joy

 We had an amazing Christmas season together with lots of fun events and family time. Riley enjoyed helping decorate this gingerbread house and when we mentioned the idea of making a cake for Jesus' birthday--he jumped right on the idea! We asked him what kind of cake he thought we should make (expecting him to say something like chocolate or vanilla), and he adamantly stated he wanted to to make him a dinosaur cake. It just so happens that Riley also would like a dinosaur cake for his next birthday. :) Aunt Penny happened to have a dinosaur pan to lend us and though it turned out looking a little more like a scary zombie, I think Jesus still appreciated our effort. It the sweetest thing was listening to Riley sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus on Christmas Day.

 I "Mustache" You A Question....Do we look funny or what???

 We began our Christmas journey on Thursday, Dec. 19th (Chris was able to leave school a little early to give us a head start on traffic). We made it to Charleston, WV and stayed the night before continuing on to Tim and Jen's house in Toledo, Ohio. We arrived around 2 and the rest of the gang trickled in later that same day. The kids had a great time playing together. Pap read them a cute Christmas story.

 Riley loved having his cousin AC to pal around with!

 We celebrated Tim and Lucy's birthday that weekend as well. The kids loved the cake and the adults loved going out that night to a local pub "just 800 feet away" while Nan and Pap held down the fort.

 On Saturday, we had our big Christmas gift-opening and various exchanges (local beers, homemade gifts, White Elephant).  We added a few new games to the mix--like the paper plate drawing on your head and Left-Right-Center. Despite Tim's best attempts to play the "Lucky Chicken" song each time he rolled the dice, Chris was the winner of the game and took home all the moo-lah! It was exciting to have Aunt Charla, Chelsea, Aunt Penny, and Emily join us for the evening festivities as well. Tim cooked up a scrumptious dinner of beef tenderloin, green beans, hashbrown casserole, salad, and rolls.

 This is the best I could do for getting a group shot. It was like trying to herd cats to get all the kids to stay near the tree much less look and smile in the same direction!

 On Sunday we packed up and road on down to Greenfield to visit Grandpa and Grandma Condra. Riley was ecstatic to get a Hot Wheels stunt loop and toy car and Maggie really liked taking care of her baby doll.

We had to make the long trek home on Monday and the kids truly did a wonderful job in the car for the 11 hours.  Tuesday was Christmas Eve and we were able to enjoy a special kid-friendly service at 4 pm that day at our church. Grandmama, Papa, Kelly, Joel, Mommaw, Poppaw, and Connie were able to join us for this as well.  Then we headed off to our traditional Asian meal at a nearby restaurant (Red Bowl this year, but Chris says it has to be Wan Fu next year because it's so much better). And afterwards, we drove around to look at the lights. This time both kiddos were awake enough to know what was going on. Maggie's favorite houses were anything with "Santa" on them (as that is the one item she figured out how to recognize this year). Riley liked anything with lots of colors! 

 This house in Stafford Park has won 1st place for several years in a row. We love going through this neighborhood and seeing all the many displays.

 Christmas morning Riley and Maggie woke about 6:30 and were delighted with the toys that Santa brought them. Riley has put his imagination to work as he rescues people in his "city" as he calls it. Maggie loves pushing her grocery cart and stroller around and playing with anything that makes music.

 Ready to go shopping? --Maggie is!

I'm the biggest sucker for traditions. We have a sausage and egg casserole and this candy cane pastry every year. Many thanks to my mom for making the pastry for us this year---it was delicious as always and brings back many childhood memories! 

 We headed over to Grandma and Papa's house for Christmas lunch with Kelly, Joel, and Connie. It was delicious medley of Beef Bourguignon, ham, mac and cheese, rolls, collards, 7 layer coconut cake (both vanilla AND chocolate), and lots of other tasty sweets and treats. We came back 2 days later to celebrate Christmas again with Edward and his family. We drew names this year and Chris was thrilled to receive his GPS running watch from his Secret Santa (Joel) and some help from the merry elves (Bonnie and Ed). I had a great time making traveling memory notebooks for both Joel and Edward and my Secret Santa (Amanda) surprised me with a beautiful turquoise Infinity scarf and ceramic coffee mug, several bottles of Bath & Body Works lotions and shower gels, and some exotic Chai-flavored marshmallows. We had a good time playing Reverse Charades together that evening and sitting out by the fire pit together.

 Kelly loved her Secret Santa's (Edward) gift to her of art supplies so that she can keep on creating!

 Amanda received some homemade clay family ornaments courtesy of Kelly.

The gifts were all wonderful, but the time spent laughing and being in each other's presence this holiday season is what I am glad about the most. It is of much comfort to me to be surrounded by so many loving people in our families and hear the house fill with sounds of joy!