Twelve Things

1. Rory is loving him some Jem these days.

 

2. Rory looking cute waiting for Dr. N at his 9-month appointment.

 

3. Rory and Kate in Sam’s and the cousins playing together at Nola and Nopsi’s house after school.

 

4. Riley and Rory got a special gift from LPb and DB for Christmas: a personalized picture board book. Thanks so much, y’all!

 

5. Kenny and I went to a wedding at the Roosevelt last Friday night, so we got to see the beautifully decorated lobby. So pretty.

6. We finally bought a new carseat for Riley and passed his old one down to Rory, who had very much outgrown the infant seat. Now they both have sweet rides.

7. Kenny and Riley got to play at the farm with the ‘Woods two days before Christmas. They jumped on the big hay bales, Riley found a really big stick, and everyone tried to stay warm in the cold weather.

I’d say the wonk potatoes had a good day.

8. One last picture of our 2013 Christmas tree, with a pile of brown paper packages tied up with strings underneath.

9. The boys have been very busy testing out some of their new Christmas presents.

  

10. Rory sprouted his first tooth (his lower middle left) the day after Christmas!

 

In other news, look at this child’s eyelashes. Gorgeous.

11. I have neglected to post this audio clip until now, and I am sorry about that. Please listen to my two boys having a grand time in the backseat of the car on the way home from school one afternoon. Wonk potatoes and crazy fries.

12. Michelle and Becky came in town to visit just after Christmas, so we all gathered at our house for an afternoon playdate. We had so much fun! Sadly, Alden and Rory are not pictured below, but at least the other seven were in the same place long enough for me to snap a pic.

Happy New Year’s Eve to everyone! Have a safe and fun time tonight. May 2014 be even better for you than this year was.

Video Monday: Crib Brothers

Riley loves getting into Rory’s crib with him, and Kenny and I oblige this simple request as often as we can. A lot of times it happens when Rory wakes up in the mornings.

 

Then there was the afternoon we all ended up in Rory’s room after a diaper change. Riley asked to get into the crib first and then he wanted his little brother in there with him.

His little brother who was in quite a kicky mood.

Happy Monday!

Christmas Afternoon

We left Nola and Nopsi’s house around 1pm and headed back to our house, where all of Kenny’s family had already gathered. The ‘Woods were in from California, Uncle Steve, Aunt Jaimi, and Zac came from Prairieville, and Grandma and Grandpa rounded out our group.

 

We scrambled a bit when we realized that almost everyone had something to go into the oven, which was completely occupied by the turkey. We ultimately made everything work, even though dinner was delayed by a little more than a hour. But that just gave the boys more time for backyard football.

After dinner, we made the boys wait just a little bit longer to open presents. Grandma wanted some family pictures, so we took some of the five cousins and some of the whole family. Those kids were so patient during that process. Even Riley.

We ended up leaving the brown couch in front of the tv for present opening, which gave the kids lots of open space to tear through their gifts. Once again, Riley would open one present and immediately ask if he had any more. Butthead.

We had dessert and hot chocolate after presents, and I snuck away for a bit to bathe Rory and put him to bed. He was one tired boy, even though he got both of his naps that day. 

The rest of the evening was filled with games of chess, a bit of cleaning up, good conversation, more food and drinks, and a screening of Prep and Landing before the out-of-towners finally called it a night and headed home. Riley was in bed just before 9:30pm and Kenny and I finally crawled into our own around 11pm.

What a joyful, happy, magical, merry day.

Christmas Morning

Afraid Riley would come downstairs super early and see what Santa left, Kenny and I both got up just before 6am on Christmas morning. Rory woke up about 20 minutes later and had a bottle. Then we sat on the couch waiting for big brother to roll his lazy butt out of bed.

That didn’t happen until almost 7am (!). But at least he didn’t get a sneak peek of his loot. I helped Riley put the last ornament on the countdown calendar, I made the boys pose for their top-of-the-stairs picture, and then we let them see what they got.

 

 

Riley got an Imaginext castle and dragon and four shake-n-go cars. Rory got puzzles and a whole lot of ball pit balls.

  

Santa also brought the four Ninja Turtles, four mini Dragons figures, plush Blu and Jewel heads, and gummies.

After a bit of playtime, we got dressed and headed over to Nola and Nopsi’s for the rest of the morning. Riley opened his gifts from them before everyone else arrived, and he cleaned up. He tore through each gift so fast, looked at what it was, and then immediately turned and said, “Did I get anything else?” I wanted to strangle him, the ungrateful little punk.

The rest of the family started arriving as Riley was finishing up, so, much to his chagrin, we took a break from presents and got breakfast underway. Riley had already eaten at home, but he found more room for some of Bop’s chip bacon.

Duly fortified, we moved back into the den for more gifts. Riley was very patient while we passed everything out, the pile of goodies slowly growing around him. Then it was finally time to open and he cleaned up again. And so did everyone else! Nopsi and all of his grandkids even got custom-made Duck Song shirts.

Rory was taking his morning nap throughout most of this, but he finally woke up after almost two hours, had a bottle, and was presented with his very own pile of presents.

I love that Kate was right there next to Rory the whole time, oohing and ahhing over what he got and even showing him how some of his new things worked.

 

Not one to be left out, Riley soon abandoned all of his new toys and joined the baby fray.

Those three crack me up. Christmases are just going to keep getting better and better because of them.

Afternoon recap coming up next. We went back to our house to host Christmas for Kenny’s family. There was food, there was football, there was fun. And even more gifts. Riley would have been really upset had he not gotten anything else.

Looks like I have some major explaining to do before next Christmas.