Cherishing Christmas Togetherness

Christmas is such a wonderful season for so very many special reasons! Of course, taking time to honor the birth of Christ is definitely one of those.  Thanks to my mom for getting us this manger scene to share with Riley.  I'm also thankful for the extended time off from work and opportunities to spend time with family and friends.  The week before Christmas, we took a trip just the 3 of us to McAddenville (aka Christmastown, USA) to see the beautiful lights and listen to the church bells as they rang out familiar songs.  Riley celebrated the joy of giving with his class at CPA with their Christmas exchange and abundance of holiday snacks.  Chris and I were able to enjoy lunch together at some of our favorite restaurants (RuSan's and Meskerem Ethiopian Cuisine).  We also celebrated Edward's 30th birthday down in Charleston with his pirate-themed pARRRty! 

 On Christmas Eve we attended our church's kid-friendly 4 pm service that used the Nativity scene and hymns to retell the Christmas story.  Riley enjoyed the music and would clap after every song.  Afterwards, we ate Chinese at Lui Lui's in Fort Mill before heading out to "see the lights" (one of my favorite traditions as a child).  We found a great neighborhood in Rock Hill that went all out for a friendly competition and the top houses were quite a scene! Too bad Riles fell asleep halfway through our trip around down. Oh well, there's always next year! We put our tired boy to bed after putting out some cookies and milk for Santa.
The next morning, of course, was Christmas day! Riley noticed the toys under the tree right away, but chose to finish his milk before waking up enough to go and explore them.  We opened our stockings and then ate breakfast casserole and candy cane-shaped pastry.   Next, we curled up on the couch as a family and Chris read "the Christmas story" as Riley helped turn the pages in the book.  Finally, we took our time leisurely opening our gifts to each other under the tree.  In addition to the gifts from Santa (the Tonka trucks and Elmo doll), Riley received an animal sounds puzzle, outfit, Nerf ball set, and a few other little toys; but his favorite toy of all that he ended up spending the most time playing with was the Elmo sippy cups we got him! Go figure!

That afternoon, we headed over to Grandma and Papa's where we feasted on prime rib, strawberry pretzel salad, asparagus, twice-baked potatoes, and 7-layer coconut cake (and that's only after we had already nibbled on cheese straws, ham rolls, date balls, rum balls, peanut brittle, pepper jelly with cream cheese spread, and a host of other delicious treats and sweets)! I went with Kelly, Joel, and dad to see Mission Impossible at the theater.  On Monday, Edward, Amanda, Tripp, and Liam arrived for Round 2 of Christmas gift-giving. Papa diligently passed out gifts in the best order he could manage, while Grandma snapped pictures and made sure each gift was intact. Kelly and I had fun playing on our iPods, while Liam and Riley zoomed cars down the giant racetrack Uncle Edward bought us.  Meanwhile, Joel and his girlfriend RJ took the chaos in stride and narrated the events with funny antidotes. Tripp loved opening every gift and supervising what toys the younger 2 boys were getting.  Chris racked up with running wear, while Edward collected Polo shirts in every color of the rainbow!

We began the next phase of our vacation the next day by traveling to Indiana and spending a few nights with Nan and Pap before heading to Ohio.  We were able to meet up with Anderson and have him stay with us in Yorktown for a day.  Grandma and Grandpa Condra, Charla and Chelsea, and even Ben, Brandy, Lucy and Alice were able to drop by for a visit on Thursday to see all the kiddies. Highlights included hearing Grandpa's stories about his childhood, the cousins' bathtime, pork tenderloin sandwiches, Arlo being constantly harrassed by 2 little boys, and enjoying time together.  The following day, we made our way to Toledo for the official Fisher Christmas exchange.  Once we had everyone together on Saturday, we had a wonderful time opening gifts again.  Riley loved his keyboard; Chris loved his new hat; and I loved my Zumba Wii game. As the night came to a close, we were able to ring in the new year with games, fancy hats, and a champagne toast.  

Christmas 2011 was full of wonderful memories that will be cherished for many years to come!

Random Moments I Still Want to Remember

 Here is our little man all dressed up for church on a recent Sunday morning.  (He doesn't pause very much anymore for a picture, so this was a walking action shot in the kitchen.) Riley really enjoys going to the nursery there and playing with some of the other boys and girls.  The nursery workers always say he is well-behaved and just last week the one lady who works for a preschool full-time was really impressed with his ball-throwing skills.  Maybe we'll have an athlete on our hands! You never know!

 Here's my little Tiger all-dressed up with me in our Clemson gear for the USC/Clemson game! We are a house-divided when it comes to college football and Riley is actually wearing a USC t-shirt underneath this beautiful Clemson jersey (just to please Daddy).  We all went to David and Brandy's house to watch the game and Riley had a blast playing with Callie and his football helmet.  Speaking of football, Riley has a little red and yellow Nerf football that he absolutely adores playing with right now.  It's one of his favorite things to get out of his toy box and toss around.  He hikes it back to about his ear and says something like "Three, Go" before he releases it to the nearest person or target. 

 Another one of Riley's recent games includes going to his toy box or basket of books and collecting a handful of objects to go and give to one of us.  He'll want you to hold the wide array of objects before he ultimately decides he has given you enough items and is ready to escort them all the way across the room and put them on top of his toy box.  Then the little game begins all over again and continues for usually 2 or 3 more rounds before he decides to go on to something else.  Here's a picture taken just yesterday of Riley loading up Daddy with his latest precious cargo!

So, just to keep you posted, we still do have contact with Riley's birthparents.  Kristin e-mails me about once every few months.  Her last e-mail on Nov. 28th said she just wanted to say hey and let us know that they had moved to a small town outside of Olympia, WA and that she also had a new e-mail address because her other one had a virus and was full of Spam.  I replied back with a few pictures of Riley attached from Thanksgiving and let her know that I was thankful for the new address and wanted to send them a Christmas card and some pictures we had taken at Portrait Innovations (see pic to the left).  She just wrote me this week in an e-mail to say they got our card and his picture and love it.  They can't believe how much Riley has grown. Lily and Lex are excited for Santa and keep asking "How many more sleeps until he comes?".  Kristin said they are finished unpacking and like the new town and all it's history, but she hasn't even had a chance to thinking about Christmas shopping yet. It's nice to know that she still cares and wants to stay in touch.  I know that will be important for Riley to know as well!

We are enjoying our first full week of Christmas vacation.  Riley had his Christmas party at his daycare today and Chris and I were busy finishing shopping, wrapping gifts, and catching up on household chores.  But we did manage to get in a nice lunch at Rusan's suishi buffet and hope to take Riley to our favorite Ethiopian restaurant tonight if he's in a good mood (it's been a little hit or miss with eating out lately).  We're planning on taking him back to the Children's Museum and for a haircut on Friday before we start all the Christmas festivities (church service, gifts, seeing my family on Christmas and the day after, traveling to Indiana Tues. night and then going to Ohio for the Fisher Christmas/New Year's gathering).  Should be a busy, yet delightful next few weeks!

My Little "Turkey" says "It's Beginning to Look A Lot like Christmas"

   

Here's our little "turkey" trying to eat his bubbles (a.k.a. daddoos)! He loves to pop them with his mouth and nose and then run to the couch and wipe them off. 

We spent Thanksgiving in Union at Mommaw and Poppaw's house surrounded by some of the best home-cooking in the entire Southeast! Our delicious feast consisted of both turkey and ham, green beans and green bean casserole as well as a huge assortment of other fixin's: creamed corn, sweet potato casserole, collards, dressing and gravy, squash with onions, strawberry pretzel salad, macaroni and cheese, and dinner rolls.  And let's not forget the desserts--pecan pie, chocolate pie, chocolate cake, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin bars. Everything was absolutely wonderful and of course, Riley loved all the attention he received being the only "baby" in the house.  In addition to Mommaw and Poppaw, he entertained Grandma, Papa, Kelly,  Joel, Eliza, Rod, Tommy, Ann Marie, and Anna Caroline (who ended up being his most favorite  playmate).  As we let our food digest, we browsed the Black Friday ads (where stores actually opened earlier than ever before...Toys R Us at 9 p.m., Wal-mart at 10, and many others at midnight).  I was particularly excited to be able to accomplish most of my Christmas shopping online this year and still take advantage of the great Early Bird deals.

 

Once we recovered from our turkey-induced coma and headed home, we decided to get a head-start on Christmas this year.  So on Friday, we climbed into dad's truck and headed to Penland Christmas Tree Farm for our annual tradition of cutting down our own tree.  Riley loved walking between the rows of bright, sweet-smelling evergreens, but the uneven ground did have him landing on the ground quite a bit.  We stopped by the chicken coup as we dragged our "just-right" 8-foot tree back to the main building.  From there, we went for hayride pulled by one of Riley's favorite vehicles...a tractor! In fact, he was sorely disappointed when he found out he had to ride in the wagon part and couldn't climb up behind the wheel! Chris and I guzzled some hot chocolate as we tried to keep a hand on our adventurous toddler when we returned and then loaded up all our precious cargo! 

 Once home, I began to unpack some of the many musical decorations that Nan has supplied us with over the years and Riley had a blast pushing the on buttons for all of them and making them sing at all the same time.  I think he might make a fine conductor one day!  We waited until Riley was down for the night to put up all the decorations, and the final result looked something like this:

 We plugged it in the next morning and showed it to Riley and he immediately went and checked out the lights and ornaments.  Within just a few minutes, he had discovered a "football" ornament, "dog" ornament, "ball", and "dat" (pointing to a golf cart).  It is so neat to see how well he can communicate now and that he is taking such pleasure in identifying different objects.  One of our favorite words that Riley has learned recently is his name.  We have a special ornament with Riley's picture on it and whenever we ask him "Who is that?", he'll reply "I-ley".  It is so stinking cute! He can't pronounce the "r" sound at all, so he just leaves it off altogether. I have a feeling this Christmas is going to be even more full of wonder and joy than ever before!

Haircuts, Happy Visits, Halloween, and other Hilarious Happenings

This is Riley getting his 3rd haircut.  Despite the look on his face, he actually does enjoy the attention! He especially likes ClipperDoodles (which he's gone to twice now) because he gets to watch cartoons on his own personal TV and eat animal crackers (or just hold them in his hands the whole time until they turn into a soggy mess like he did last time!).  After the haircut, we went to our church's Fall Festival to eat some BBQ chicken and check out the vender booths.  The picture here was taken in the sanctuary of Philadelphia United Methodist.

My Precious Pumpkin

Today was what fall fun is all about! We went to Black's Fall Festival in York, SC with some of our dear friends (Jess, Ronnie, and their kids-Jackson and Eliza; Brandy and David and their daughter Callie; Alice, Kevin, and their children Blake and Delaney; Susan and Ben and their sons, Benjamin and Tommy).

Besides all the cute little photo-ops, we got to pet the 3 Little Pigs and go through a hay house, check out a miniature hay maze, check out a petting zoo, and go on a for-real hayride through the nearby corn field/woods (it was quite a bumpy adventure).  We were able to grab a bite to eat in their country store and our $5 entrance fee included a cup of icecream. 

Riley loved walking through the different stations (though he had some difficulty navigating the uneven terrain)! He also took a special interest in the tractor and had a great time playing with his friends and clapping whenever we took his picture and asked him to say "cheese".

  Now, after he wakes up from his nap, we're off to go play at the Davis' house and watch some college football.  I'm so excited to have a child to be able to share these family moments with!  And what a blessing to have great friends to join our fun as well!

Walking Tall

• Riley just turned 17 months this week and as of Monday, he can now push himself up from the floor and walk tall and proud! He is movin' and cruisin' every time we turn around! What an amazing transition to watch from just going short distances to walking laps around our couch.  It sure helped when we moved our coffee table out of the way to create a wide open space in the living room like he has at school.  He feels much more comfortable walking now and while he still wobbles and falls, he is able to quickly assume a tri-pod stance and push himself up into a standing position.  Of course, sometimes he likes to just look at things upside down while he has his head on the floor and laugh when he sees Mommy and Daddy looking at him.  Silly goose!
• Speaking of silliness, our little ham has now taken to carrying objects around in his mouth like a dog.  He especially likes to put soft balls in his mouth and walk around with them, but today he decided to transport a book the same way back and forth between our couches. We think this may have to do with his teething as he now has almost all of his back molars in and 1-2 smaller ones are starting to break through now too.  
• Last weekend, Riley got to spend some extra time with Grandma and Papa while Mom and Dad spent a day together watching the USC game, going through a corn maze in Mint Hill, and grabbing a drink at Waldhorn's Oktoberfest.  Meanwhile, Riley went to a pumpkin patch and picked out his very own miniature pumpkin that has a "handle" so he can carry it around. He loved watching the ponies too and then spent the rest of the afternoon playing at their house and riding his truck back and forth on the sidewalk.  
• Our tenacious toddler is becoming very opinionated about exactly what foods he will and will not eat and has resorted to throwing food off his highchair again in a very deliberate manner.  SO, as much as we'd hoped it was just a phase, we've decided to start using time out to help Riley refine his table manners.  We always start by giving a warning but in 9 out of 10 cases we have to follow-through with the actual act of placing Riley in the corner by the door.  He has tried to escape many times and we have to be diligent about putting him back.  We're following the "1 minute for every year of their age" rule for right now and I've gotta say...it's the slowest minute in the world! 
• Also earlier this week, Chris discovered that Riley now knows how to "shush" him by putting his finger to his lips and making the "sh" sound.  We found out he learned this from singing "The Wheels on the Bus" song at school. His teacher, Miss Ashley, said that Riley loves doing all the motions especially for the verses "The mommies on the bus, go sh, sh, sh" and "The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish." What fun! It's so neat to see his little mind absorbing so much at such a young age!

Nose, Toes, and Uh-Ohs

Our little man sure does keep us entertained with his quirky antics!  Here are just a few of his latest memorable moments:

• We have a bookworm in our house and he is devouring books of all sizes, shapes, and subjects!  No sooner does he let you finish reading one book before he's climbing out of your lap or vehemently pointing to get another one.  It's really quite cute.  He'll even go and pick out just the right book he wants to read and bring it to you and then hold his hands up or turn his body around so he can sit in our laps.  He loves to turn the pages and point to different pictures while saying "dees" or "dat". He loves participating in the different actions, especially when reading Elmo Says. What a joy to watch!
• For many months now whenever we would ask Riley where his nose is, he would immediately reach up and touch his ear!  It happened every time, no matter how many silly noises or touching our noses or his nose we did.  It's the only body part that he seemed genuinely confused about.  He has been able to locate his head, hair, eyes, ears, toes, tummy, hand, and feet with little to no problems at all.  Well, as of this week, I'm happy to report that Riley now knows where his nose is! Now instead of touching his ear, he pretty much shoves one finger up his nostril! Silly boy!
• On the note of body parts, each night we let Riley help brush his teeth with his Elmo toothpaste and green toothbrush.  He takes a few swipes inside his mouth while he's lying on his back on the changing table before promptly deciding that his toes also need a good brushing!  He thinks it's hilarious when we try to explain that his toes really don't need to be cleaned and pretty much refuses to stop brushing them until we take the toothbrush away.  I guess he'll have the whitest, shiniest, best-smelling toes in town!
• Riley's walking skills have really taken off lately.  He can now walk easily 8-10 steps before plopping down on his bottom.  We've seen a major shift in his confidence level these past few weeks and now our cautious little cruiser is a terrifying teetering toddler!  He no longer thinks he needs to hold on to anything and begins to set off for a destination before fully gaining his balance.  Chris and I are on edge all the time now as he walks around the living room.  We try to prevent as many spills as we can, but there's just no way to stop them all and we've had quite a few uh-ohs recently.  Luckily, nothing that has caused bloodshed or broken bones, but there have been some bruises, bumps, and nasty marks.  Maybe we'll just bubble-wrap Riley for the next month or two until he gets his land-legs. :0)
• Have I ever mentioned how great Riley is about taking medicine?  This sweet little boy will open his mouth wide and guzzle down any flavor of liquid concoction the doctor has prescribed with no problem at all and then act a little disappointed when it's all gone. Now this does not apply to eye drops as we learned recently when Riley was diagnosed with pink eye.
• His vocabulary is steadily increasing.  He can now say "hoosh" for "house", "tees" for "trees", and "tuck" for "truck" when riding in the car and looking out the window.  He knows how to say his version of please and thank you.  He will also ramble on and on in his own babble language while playing and that's always fun to hear!