Baby Boy is One!

Happy Birthday Riley!

We got him this chair for his birthday and some cute little pedi-ped shoes. He has been getting in his sister's pink chair everyday just to sit, so we thought he would love having his own. When he saw it he climbed right on up and just sat and played and smiled so big.

My sweet boy is one year old! I can't believe it! Riley is walking everywhere. His favorite foods are blueberries and bananas. He eats twice as much as Mckenzee does. We call him the hog. He can say: Momma, Da da, bye-bye, ball(ba), pup, duck(du), and PawPaw. He has signed 'more' and 'all done', but most of the time he just prefers to yell and point. He's a big fat Momma's boy all the way. If he's not busy eating the dog's food or dumping out her water, digging in the trashcan, getting in the recycle box, climbing in the refrigerator, or knocking down his sister's newly built block tower, he is quite content to be on my hip. He love, love, loves to dance to the Hokey Pokey. He is sleeping from 7:30 to 5:30 and will usually go back to sleep for a couple of hours after he wakes up then. I love his sweet face and big blue eyes. I wish he let me squeeze him tight more and give him lots of kisses.

First pic was on self timer. He was in his chair, but got away from us before the picture took. I thought it was quite appropriate of how things are around here. Of course, sister is naked as always.

Me and my boy

Party time

He loved it when we sang him Happy Birthday.

...but he was not a fan of the cake. He tried to push it away when I sat it down and of course his fingers got icing on them when he did. After awhile he finally put his icing fingers in his mouth and then he gagged. We tried cutting open the cake and just giving him the inside, but he just kept looking like he wanted to throw up so we got him down and opened presents.

Sold!

Please forgive me. I had every intention of posting that we had just listed our house for sale this week. I was going to put up all the pictures of my perfectly clean home that kicked my butt all last week. I will still post those pics soon because it was beautiful and may not ever be so perfect again.

So, we listed our home for sale on Saturday afternoon. Our realtors had it on the internet within a couple of hours. On Saturday we cleaned out the garage, planted flowers, and cleaned off all counters and surfaces. Completely clutter free. On Sunday we had one showing and Monday we had 2. Monday night we had an offer for our full asking price and we accepted and now we are looking for a new home.

We have prayed and prayed about this and it is obvious to us that God is working it all out. We are entering into our 10 day option period now so we hope the inspection goes well and if all does we are set to close on March 5th.

Christmas

On Christmas Eve my sister called and said she heard on the radio that we were going to be met with near blizzard conditions later that day. She and I both thought that was hilarious. Then later, we knew what they were talking about. The snow fell ALL DAY and toward the evening was blowing completely sideways in sheets. It was awesome. I very much loved it. We decided to go ahead and brave the cold and loaded up our babies and head to church that evening. I asked Chris as were were buckling their car seats if we should really be doing this and he said he was just thinking the same thing.

We went anyway and when we got to church there was a full house including lots of small children and babies. Crazy people. After, we went to my parents house for pizza and Wii playing. Here is Kenzee snowboarding.

I am sure she really will be an awesome snowboarder someday. She told me the other day in the car that when she got bigger she was going to go snowboarding and that it would be okay cause it was just a little bit dangerous. This was before she played it on Wii....don't know where that came from. Then, for days when you asked her what she was getting for Christmas she would say a pogo stick. I would tell her no, time and time again that Santa did not have any pogo sticks for 3 year olds and then one days she finally said, How about a snowboard? Silly girl.

Chris and I stayed up until 2am getting things ready, cleaning up and doing additional assembly. Obviously, I did not follow my rules for Christmas Eve, but it we were glad to get everything in order for the next day.

Christmas was awesome. We started the morning by reading the Christmas story, but this year we read it in our bed with the kids before we went into the living room because we figured we wouldn't be able to control them once we got in there and we were right. Chris and I went a little overboard with the kids, but that's okay...we had to dock our spending money for each other, but we were just so excited about their stuff we didn't care. The picture is a bit embarrassing. It's not that they got so many things it's just that the things they did get were big. They loved their presents and we enjoyed watching them.

Later that morning Chris' family came over and we opened presents with them and then that afternoon after naps we went to my parents house. I do believe my mom and dad went a little overboard on their children too, but we really enjoyed our gifts and spending time with them and Aunt Sara....who got me awesome presents by the way. She always knows what to get. Thanks Wa!

We just hung out over there all evening and it was fun. My mom made ham and other tasty food and had a beautiful table set for us.

Merry Christmas!

New Year's Resolutions

I haven't made resolutions in a few years. Not because I didn't have anything to improve upon, but because I knew I wasn't in the right frame of mind to stick to it, but this year I want to. So here goes in no particular order...

1.  Maintain my home
2.  Lose 8 pounds by June (Colorado vaca)
3.  Spend more time with God
4.  Make time for my writing
5.  Sell our home and Buy a new one
6.  Go to bed at a decent time
7.  Spend more time with my grandparents
8.  Plan a curriculum for Mckenzee for the fall
9.  Dress cuter and blog about it
10. Plan more date nights with Chris (including dance lessons)

2009 Year in Review

2009 kicked 2008's butt big time and we had a great year! Here are a few of the biggest things I remember about 2009. There were so many it was difficult to narrow down:

January
We had a baby!

Riley Christopher

7 lbs 3 oz 20 in

born at 8:00am

March

My friend and neighbor had her baby boy. We have matching families and live around the corner from each other in matching houses. Girls 6 weeks apart and boys 8 weeks apart. This is the earliest picture I have of the boys.

April
We went on a last minute trip to Colorado with The Swinney's and saw the most beautiful snow I've ever seen. We made a poor decision to fit 4 adults 4 car seats and a dog in the Tahoe and drive all the way without stoppping except to breastfeed Mr. Riley who was less than 3 months old! But we had so much fun, Mckenzee still talks about it and we can't wait to go again....in two cars so that Connie and I don't have to find a happy place in our heads so that we don't go insane from claustrophobia. :)

July
Riley was dedicated at church in his cute little man suit

We saw Dora the Explorer Live!

August
Mckenzee turned 3! She had a fun dress up party with a few friends. She also started ballet (for real this time)

The Krodles had their baby boy

Kason Alan

October
Big month!

Chris and I celebrated 7 years of marriage

We attended my 10 year high school reunion.

Chris bought us a Z71 Suburban.

Two of my good friends welcomed beautiful baby girls.

Calli Alayna McCalip

Emma Louise Walker

November

Thanksgiving and Mckenzee's first fish.

My cousin Kari had her baby boy!

Brighton Patrick LaRusch

December

Fun holiday month full of family, food, shopping and being together! Merry Christmas!

We have been very blessed this year with a new baby boy, a sweet big girl, family that loves us, great friends, Chris' job, a place to call home, warm beds to sleep in, healthy children.... Thank you Lord for taking care of us! 2010 here we come!