Santa Claus CAME to town

 

Well.  Santa came.  He was good to all, once again.

It’s been 24 hours of food, fun, family, drinks and more of the same.

The kids are having a blast today playing w/ all of their new goodies.  Jack LOVES his Nintendo DS and Ri thinks her baby doll with long hair is awesome.

Me?  I am having fun playing around w/ my new lens!  It’s fabulous.

Now time for more food and drinks.

 

Until next time….

Christmas Eve

Santa is on his way!

The kids are excited.

The parents are excited.

I'll leave you with some pics from today.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Christmas Eve Eve

We made it to the beach last night- around 6:45. But- before we headed down the the beach we spent some time with my family in Columbia.

The kids were more than antsy to open presents. I could barely contain them.

We had a nice time and Paa Paa, Pop Pop and Uncle Scott were very good to the kids, once again. Only downfall is we had to leave some of their stuff at my mom's since our car was over-over loaded.

Here are some pics from Columbia:

Today we'll be doing last minute things: decorating cookies for Santa, putting luminaries out so Santa can find our house and wrapping. Some of us (not me) still have a few things to buy!!

Until next time...

Things you might now know - Part III

Things you might not know

I first wrote this post on Monday, February 26, 2007. (The stuff written in black). Last year I ran across this post and updated it in 2008 (the stuff written in red). Well- as I was searching for an old post I ran across this post again and thought- well- let's make it a tradition and update it once again. So- the writing you see below in green is for 2009!


Enjoy, my friends.


Things you might not know...


Jack sticks his tongue out when he's concentrating. Jack STILL does this. I hear it's a Milligan trait. I catch him doing this while he's busy building space ships and construction vehicles w/ his Legos. Oh yes my friends. Some things never change. If you don't believe me- click here to see for yourself.


Riley can scoot on her behind, and sometimes turn her body in the process. Wow- that was sooo long ago. Now she's jumping, running, trampolining, dancing, hopping and many others. Yes- Ri is still crazy as ever. Now she jumps into pools, rides a big girl bike w/ training wheels, rides her three-wheeled scooter up and down the neighborhood, among other things.


Jack loves Dr. Seuss books, and all books that rhyme. He still likes books that rhyme, but most of the time we read much longer picture books now or he reads me beginner reader books. And- lately we've been reading from my collection of Christmas picture books that I collect year after year. Ri's the one who loves Dr. Seuss now, especially Wocket. Wow- things have changed in this department. Ironically, Jack's first real book (besides beginner books) that he was able to read on his own was a Dr. Seuss book: Green Eggs and Ham. Now he reads w/ ease. He is reading longer books that have mini-chapters in them, Christmas picture books, sports books, books about animals and just about anything he can get his hands on. We are working on comprehension and talking about what he reads but he is far beyond his grade level.


Riley doesn't like green beans, but loves carrots. I would say she still doesn't like green beans and might eat a raw carrot, or chew on one until she spits it out. Hummm- hard to remember those days. Ri is a great eater now. She didn't start out that way- but is now. Some of the 'weirder' things she eats would be medium rare steak, broccoli, fresh green beans, Slim Jims. She loves onion dip, pickles, ice cream sandwiches, 'yolky' eggs, sausage, milk, anything with sugar, and OLIVES.


Jack's first word was "du" for duck, and he said it in the bathtub when he was about 10 or 11 months. I'll never forget that moment. I'll also never forget that he used to say "pu" for cup. I think we've finally gotten the whole fu*&%ing noise thing down w/ Ri. She's no longer saying it. Yup- no more cussing for Riley. We finally had to put vinegar in her mouth to get her to really quit. She doesn't do it anymore though. Her language is crystal clear now. For a while she couldn't say anything with a 'th' in it and did a few other little things that many toddlers do. She's clearly over all of those things now. In fact- she DOES NOT stop talking.


Riley laughs hysterically when Jack hops like a bunny rabbit. We haven't tried that one in a while. She does like to laugh at her brother though. Although these days most of that laughter centers around burps and toots (real or fake). Well- this one is so funny b/c Riley LOVES to laugh. I have got to get her cackle on video tape one day b/c it is hysterical. She laughs all the time. She laughs at Jack, me, Todd, Kodiak or herself.


Jack loves Daddy's meatballs, but hates restaurant meatballs. Still true. Daddy makes a mean meatball. YUMMY! (secret is to use fresh romano-yum). Unfortunately Ri doesn't like any type of hamburger meat. Nothing to add here- Daddy still makes kickass meatballs. Mommy- not so much.


My nickname for Riley is "boogity boo." Wow. I haven't used that nickname in a long time. Now we call her Ri, RiRi, Risey, Scooby Doo, Scoopy.... I still call her Scoopy or Scoop. Todd calls her Rizey or Rizarone. Everyone else calls her RiRi or Riley.


My old nickname for Jack was "nuckies." (Don't remember where that started.) Again, a LONG time ago. Now he goes by Jack, Jackie, JMan, Jackster. Ri likes to call him Jackie. Jack does NOT like to be called "Little Jack." He'll tell you that too. Pretty much just Jack for now.


Riley had her first haircut at 6 months old, to trim her side mullets. Since then she's had two more haircuts. (Maybe three). I tried once to take her to a salon. Waste. Of. Money. Seriously. I just cut it at home. Luckily though she doesn't need her hair cut that often. I also cut Jack's and recently started cutting Todd's. What am I? I hairdresser? Funny- just posted on this topic. She's had two 'real' haircuts this year. I like to keep it long though- it's fun to do pigtails, braids, etc... I did just buy her some 'big' bows.


Jack's favorite movie is "Cars." Now- that really dates this post. I cant' remember the last time he watched Cars. Lately he's been into Madagascar. I think it's because he saw the sequel a few weeks ago. He also loves Bee Movie. No more movies around here. Since Jack started big kid school he hardly watches TV. Sometimes at night before bedtime he'll sit w/ Todd and watch sports or something to do w/ animals or dirty jobs or something manly. I bet if you asked Jack what his favorite thing to watch on TV right now he'd tell you sports.


Riley babbles now, saying (while sticking her tongue out) "ba ba ba ba ba...." enough said. Ditto.


Jack loves medium rare steak. Still does. Ri does if she's in the mood. They both love love love it. Anytime. Anyplace. Anywhere.


Riley had BAD, really bad, stranger anxiety from 3 months until recently ,and now she's growing out of it. She's still a bit shy until she gets going. She is still the same way. But if you get her going- good luck stopping her.


Jack "exercises" by taking off the cushions on the couch and jumping. Still does. Ri tries to join him. They both do this. Ri likes to try and do the plank, push ups, jumping jacks. It's so darn cute.


Riley prefers Cheerios over those disolvable puffs.Jack knows all the letters in the alphabet. I swear we could be stock in Cheerios- or their parent company-because our kids eat a Dixie cup full of Cheerios at least once a day. Sometimes more. This obsession has subsided. They don't eat Dixie cups full of Cheerios too much anymore.


Riley sometimes wakes during the middle of the night, talks to herself for a few minutes, and then falls back to sleep. Oh lord. We won't even go there w/ her sleep issues. Hopefully those problems are solved since her adenoids are now a goner. Oh my. The last year was hell-on-Earth for her sleep issues. But now- she's in bed by 7 and sleeps until 5:30 or 6:00. Can't complain- especially since it used to be so much worse.


Jack sings like a champ, and wants to try out for American Idol someday....??? Humm- don't remember that one. He is not a singer. Ri on the other and likes to sing. Let's see.... Kick nack paddywack...itsy bitsy spider....5 little monkeys....etc... No more singing for Jack. Ri likes to sing. They do request lots of current day and some old school songs on the iPod in the car.


Riley was actually due on her daddy's 32nd birthday, July 6th.


That's all for now. Whew- that was fun.


Until next time..

An early Christmas gathering

So we gathered up the family truckster yesterday and drove down to Columbia for an early Christmas gathering of the Monroe clan. We went to my Uncle Barry and Aunt Holly's house and hung out with two of their three children and their respective others, my mom's sister and her clan, my Grandmother and my brother and my mom's friend John. Around 20 or so people. Nice crowd.

Barry and Holly live in a great house on a lake that they've redone over the years. I could have spent lots of time in their backyard taking photos but we were mostly inside and well- my inside picture taking ability isn't as polished as my outside picture taking ability.

It was great to see my cousin's first born, Heath. He's such a darn cutie and at seven months is already all over the place. I loved watching him shove the jingle bells in his mouth:

Of course any opportunity I have to take photos of my children makes me very happy:

And while I made Riley 'strike a pose' the boys were busy tossing the football around:

Of course I couldn't look at the spectacular view of their backyard w/o snapping a few pics:

And my mom stole some sugar from RiRi :

And we all did a Chinese gift exchange:

While Heath hung out in my present:

And then we celebrated Christmas a little early w/ a fabulous dinner of rib roast and lots of veggies:

Four generation of Monroe ladies: Riley, me, my mom and Grandmother.

Until next time...

Pigtails and Crewcuts

I took Ri here to get her haircut the other day. She had a tiny bit of anxiety on our way but did fine once she sat down in the yellow taxi cab.

In fact- she acted like quite the princess once she was comfortable. Shocker.

And- just in case you were wondering... our little princess has always had LOADS of hair:

Until next time...

Success!

Well- she did it. All of the practice paid off. Ri sang her little heart out and made her Mommy and Daddy immensely proud. At one point I fought back a tear b/c I was so darn proud of her.

Although she may be a pistol at times, seems like she's turning out to be such a good girl. She sang every word of the songs, did all the movements and grinned a grin I had never seen before. I think it was a 'I'm proud of my self grin.' And that made me one proud momma!

See for yourself: (first pic is of Ri w/ her teacher, Mrs. Zubel)

Here's the grin. Love it!

Jack has been busy himself. His class party was on Wednesday. Three other parents and and I planned a fun party w/ rotating stations with arts/crafts, snacks and other fun stuff.

Today the library at Jack's school was transformed into the Polar Express. Each class enjoyed hot chocolate, cookies and a reading of the book. Here's Jack in a photo op right by the train!

That's it for now!

Until next time...

Peppermint Stick

We are off to Ri's very first Christmas Program in a few minutes. Here she is practicing bright and early this a.m.

Recognize the sweater? Yep- she's been wearing that red sweater for everything holiday related this year. And will continue to do so!!

Until next time...

Christmas Card Outtakes

 

Since our Christmas cards were mailed almost a week and a half ago I thought I’d share some fun pictures from the quick photo session I did w/ the kids in November at a local park.  I don’t think our kids are lacking in the personality department. 

More to come.  Over here.

Until next time…

No more….

Remember these days?   And these?

Those days are no longer. 

The Lego obsession is officially over.  Kaput.  Closed up shop.

From time to time Jack will still build Lego’s but he’s not obsessing over what he’s going to buy next or spending countless hours manipulating colored pieces of plastic.

But we all know the deal: one obsession is usually replaced by another…

 

Yes.  Jack has officially been bitten by the basketball bug.  If it’s not raining or dark out (which lately it’s been raining a lot and dark by 5:30) he is shooting hoops. 

Here’s some pics of Jack and his buddy Carson today.  The two of them spent about an hour and a half shooting hoops and playing with any and every type of ball. 

 

And they found time to do a few other things too:

And me?  As the boys played I walked around and checked out the flowers I planted a couple of months ago and have forgotten about.  Amazed that they’re still alive- guess it’s all that rain we’ve gotten.

Until next time…