Christmas 2011

WOW!  Christmas in our household is a little overwhelming!  In total, we spent 4 days celebrating Christmas with various family!  One good thing is we have that much family to spend our time with, but it also means ALOT of running around.

The weekend before Christmas on Saturday we headed down to Tuscola to spend time with my mom's side of the family.  Riley loves spending time with Cooper and it was even warm enough they got to go for a walk in the "forest" with Uncle Ronnie!  And we got to play with some of Uncle Ronnie's toys!

Also the weekend before Christmas on Sunday we had Christmas with my Dad's side of the family.  Of course Riley got to play with more kids so he had a blast again!

  



On Christmas Eve we headed to Kyle's parents house to have Christmas with Kyle's Mom, Dad, & Grandma B.  By this point Riley was almost "over" opening gifts, but he did such a good job!  After his nap, Kyle's Dad's side of the family came over and we got to visit with all of them too!

Christmas Eve night we headed home to spend the evening with just the three of us.  We made steak & lobster.....and Riley had a turkey sandwich!  :)  And then of course we ended the night watching a Christmas movie.  It was the year to watch White Christmas!  Growing up we always watched White Christmas on Christmas Eve, but Kyle and I decided we would only watch it every other year and on the opposite years we would pick another Christmas movie. 

And then there was CHRISTMAS DAY!  Riley got a trampoline from Santa (which happens to still be in the family room!).  He LOVES it.  He jumps in it at least 3 times a day!  Sometimes he lays on it to watch TV.  After we all opened our gifts we headed on our merry way!  We were off to my Dad's house to have Christmas with my Dad, Patty, & Patrick!  Then we headed to Kyle's Grandma P. to have Christmas with Kyle's Mom's side of the family.  And then we headed back to my Dad's house to have dinner with Patty's family.

Whew....So as Riley would say, "Tree Gone" until next year!  I hope everyone had a great holiday!

Tara

Riley's 2nd Birthday!

Riley's 2nd Birthday celebration started on Tuesday the 20th because Kyle had to work nights on Riley's actual Birthday (the 21st).  On Tuesday night my Dad and his wife Patty, Kyle's Mom & Dad, and Kyle's two grandmas took Riley to Chuck E Cheese.  We had some pizza (which surprisingly was delicious!), played some games (ok maybe Kyle & I played the games), opened presents, and had some cupcakes!  Overall it was a success!!

Here are some pictures from our night out at Chuck E Cheese!



After Chuck E Cheese Riley and I headed home while Kyle went to Party City to get Riley's balloons.  When he woke up on his Birthday the family room/kitchen was filled with balloons!!  He was so excited....."balloons mommy, balloons!"  He even wanted to hold them while watching his cartoons. 

At lunch time we had one more surprise for the little man!  We were having pancakes and his was shaped like a 2!  He looked at it like, "Mom, what is this?"  We even put his #2 candle on it for him to attempt to blow it out (the night before he didn't understand the concept).  But to our surprise, when we said "blow out the candle," he didn't even hesitate.....he just BLEW it out! 



Now I have a whole year to think of some more fun ideas for his 3rd Birthday!!  If you have any cute ideas let me know!

Tara



Happy New Year!

We have had a crazy few weeks with the holidays and Riley's 2nd Birthday (I know....can he really be 2 already?).  I am excited for the new year and all it will bring! We have alot of little family events planned like going to the beach, the waterpark, a Cardinals game (with amazing seats thanks to Kyle's parents!), Allison's wedding! So much to look forward too, but first we have to get pasted winter!  :)

My new year's resolution is to make one new recipe a month.  We are starting tonight with white cheddar chicken pasta!  Wish me luck!  I will be sure to update you on how it goes.  I have been a stay at home mom for just over 6 months now (but I feel like it has only been 2 months).  Time sure flys!  Since I am home alot now I have this desire to learn how to cook.  Kyle and I are very simple and our menu for each week usually involves frozen pizza and hot dogs!  Hopefully I can get us to having at least a few real meals a week.

PHOTO UPDATE!

Cousin Colt (plus Aunt Amber & Uncle Jason) came to visit!

Riley went to his 1st hockey game!  GO WOLVES!

Kyle took me to VEGAS for my BIRTHDAY!!  He even surprised me with tickets to the American Country Awards!  Best husband ever!  And the Christmas decorations in the hotels at the holidays are amazing!

We celebrated Riley's 2nd Birthday with a small gathering at Chuck E Cheese!

(We are having a big party in June for him---with a bounce house!!)

Here is a picture we took on Christmas night!

I am going to try and blog more often instead of one huge blog every now and then.  Hopefully everyone enjoys!

Keep your eye out for my blog about Riley's 2nd Birthday & Christmas 2011!

Tara

Lost without Internet!

It has been a while since I have posted a blog because our internet was out for almost a week!  It is crazy how much we need the internet and don't think about it until we don't have it.  After about 4 days I had a huge list of things I need to do that involved the internet.  I finally went to Grandma Powell's and used her computer (Thanks again!) so I could catch up!

Back in September we finally had the opportunity to camp with the Weber family!  They usually go 3-4 times a year, but this was the only one we were able to make it to this year.  Riley and I went over for the day on Saturday and enjoyed visiting.  Hopefully we can make it to more next year!


Riley playing "trucks" with Mommy



Our fire pit that looked like a Jack O Lantern.



Uncle Ronnie & Cooper playing bags

 Riley is still going to gymnastics every week.  He is finally starting to learn how to jump and it is super cute!  A few weeks ago when Kyle went with us I finally had the opportunity to take some pictures and videos.  Hopefully you will enjoy!  I am having trouble with the videos uploading so I will have to try that on another post.

 

Once or twice a year we like to go up to Chicago and stay with Kyle's cousins (Allison & Lauren).  On October 1st we were able to go up and stay the night.  Riley loves hanging out with the girls! And we go to surprise Kyle with lunch at Chick-fil-a!  If you have been around Riley lately, you know he is pretty much obsessed with trains and buses.  On our trip to the big city he got to ride on both!  We spent the afternoon at the Children's Museum.  Riley had such a good time and I would love to take him back sometime.

      

Since we had super nice October weather we made another trip to the zoo!  It was over 70 degrees and we all enjoyed ourselves!  I have some cute pictures from that day so I thought I would post them!



1/2 price slushie thanks to "Aunt" Megan!



  

We had some beautiful October (that felt like August) weather for our trip the Dollinger's!  We were so happy the Mauk (Chirs & Lynae) family could join us! It was alot of fun and we should do it agian next year!

   

And of course since it is October, we did celebrate Kyle's Birthday!!  On Thursday (the 13th) I baked a cake for him and some of his family came down in the evening to celebrate!  And on Friday (Kyle's Birthday), him and I went to Michigan to the Four Winds Casino!  Even though we only went for the day, we still had a great time! 

Hopefully I can update again with the videos that I think everyone will like!  Have a great weekend!

Tara