Christmas 2011 Part 1

Christmas is such a big event for us that I am splitting up the posts.....plus you probably don't want to see so many photos all at once!

 (which I wish would upload faster...anybody else having slow photo uploads?)

Christmas begins for us when we go to the Christmas Eve service at church. I love setting the stage, if you will, to our festivities by remembering why we celebrate Christmas and illuminating our church by candle light. I always want to get pictures of the dressy Christmas outfits next to the tree before we leave....

Afterwards, we head to Nana & Poppa's for our Christmas together. They fix snack/appetizer type food because Tyler and his brother do good to eat the ham & turkey at the other gatherings. Its always very relaxed and just plain fun to hang out with one another on Christmas eve.

Garyn helped Poppa with passing out the gifts....Ansley went for just about any present in view!

Garyn got a lot of big gifts here! Wii Punch Out game was a great start!

I got some great gifts, too. This was when I opened the wireless printer!

Back to Garyn.....LeapPad!

He also got a Cars 2 Trouble game and, as he calls it, the Who Guess game. He got some Mario shirts and a Tonka truck track, too. We have been playing non stop with all of them!

Ansley got a cute doll with brown hair and blue eyes like her. She also got some cute clothes. I didn't really get a great picture of them though. Tyler got some work wear including these fun safety glasses with lights on the sides......

Then we headed home to begin getting the kids to bed so Santa could come. I had to work part of Christmas night this year, too, so it was off to work once they were asleep! It took Garyn longer to go to bed because he kept asking if Santa had come. This was the first year he did that. We left pie & milk out for Santa, too, so it was fun to see his excitement with all that.

Once I got home Christmas morning, we started breakfast and waited for the kids to wake up. Well, they had already been awake several times that night. Tyler had little sleep between Ansley getting up every 2 hours and waking Garyn up a couple times. He would then want to go see if Santa had come which is when Tyler just put him in our bed trying desperately to get some sleep! Poor thing....needless to say we were all pretty tired Christmas day! BUT it was a great day.

Santa's gifts....

Garyn and Ansley enjoyed opening presents and playing that morning.....

Garyn got a Wii Cars 2 steering wheel! Can't you just see the excitement on his face!

I loved how Garyn helped Ansley with her stocking. He was just as excited to see what she got as he was about his. He is a great big brother!

Ansley got lots of new play toys. She plays with them some but seems to want everything that is off limits, like the razor I found her with the other day!

Tyler went over board, as usual, for me. I got the food processor/chopper you see behind Ansley in the above photo. I also got an I Phone along with every other thing I had on my list! I am gonna have to do better for him next year, I had gotten him some clothes and shoes he wanted.

It was a great night and morning for our first Christmas as a family of four!

Stay tuned for the rest of Christmas day...

January Goals

2012 is here! and I am already 6 days into January without any goals! Well, I know it isn't that big a deal, however, they have been floating around in my head a lot already!

One thing I want to change about my goal posts are to do them by weeks instead of category. That way I can visualize it a little better. Couldn't hurt, right?

Week 1:
Fri thru Sun
-finish organizing Ansley's drawers and closet (As always she is quickly moving through those clothes!)
-put away work uniforms (Still working, but went to 1 single color uniform so don't need all my old ones)
-finish putting away Christmas
-post Christmas pics
-work Sunday night

Week 2:
Monday & Tuesday
-make baby food with new food processor (Christmas gift!)
-work on coupons
-work on laundry
-MOPS card list
-sort through mail and bills for the week

Wed & Thursday
-organize Toy room
-fix a new crock pot meal
-clean floors & bathroom
-post Ansley's 8 months
-work on picture frames

Friday,Saturday & Sunday

-work on laundry
-straighten tables
-plan dinner
-cleaning up kitchen
-work Saturday night

Week 3:
Monday
-laundry
-sort through mail and bills
-work on coupons
-work Monday night

Tuesday & Wednesday
-put up jackets in hall closet
-switch out scarves and robe racks
-find things downstairs to sell/donate
-grocery store
-work on dinner for this week

Thursday & Friday
-clean floors and bathrooms
-laundry
-Ansley's paci holders
-work on blog background

Saturday & Sunday
-straighten tables
-clean up kitchen
-hang pictures
-work Sunday night

Week 4:
Monday & Tuesday
-clean up desk
-work on coupons
-sort bills and mail
-find things to sell/donate
-freezer dinner ?

Wed & Thursday
-Ansley's doc appt
-find dentist for Tyler & I
-visit Georgia and hair appt
-work on laundry
-clean floors & bathroom
-grocery store
-plan dinner for both nights

Friday & Saturday
-help Tyler with a house project
-straighten tables and clean up kitchen
-dust

Sunday-Tuesday
-work Sunday night
-sort bills and mail
-plan dinner each night
-finish up any loose goals!


I think I am going to like this way of dividing up the goals. It seems more realistic when I can see what days I have open compared to when I'm working. Although, I wanted to leave it vague by putting some days together so that I didn't feel to scheduled! I also wanted to mention that a lot of my old goals of learning time and Bible story with Garyn have become more routine. I didn't add them for that reason. I do need to work on my own Bible time, though. I have been reading a great book (it is a Christian one....like that's even a good excuse) and it has caused me to slack. I hope to get some more book reading done this year but don't want to plan on it yet!

Starting out fresh in 2012 feels good!

Garyn's Favorites

Had a little chat with Garyn asking him what his favorites are.....

me: "Garyn, what is your favorite thing to eat?"
Garyn: "Watermelon"

me: "Favorite toy to play with?"
 G: "monster truck and Cars 2 cars"

me: "What is your favorite color?"
G: "blue"

me: "What is your favorite thing to do?"
G: "Play wii games"

me: "What is your favorite thing to wear?"
G: "A cool Mario shirt"

me: "Where is your favorite place to go?"
G: "Game shop" (a.k.a. GameStop)

me: "What is your favorite book to read?"
G: "That cool Mario racing book"

me: "Garyn we have no Mario book..."
G: "But, but I want one"

me: "What is your favorite movie?"
G: "Cars2"

Garyn interjects and says "tell me my favorite character" (a.k.a. "ask me")

me: "Garyn, who is your favorite character?"
G: "Mario!"

You can probably tell what his Christmas list consists of.....
Love my little guy!

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving was pretty great this year if I say so myself! I love hanging out with everyone eating good food without it being quite as hectic as Christmas day. (Don't get me wrong, though, I love Christmas, too!)

Plus, I didn't have to work Thanksgiving this year which makes it more relaxing.

We started the festivities, actually, on Tuesday when my cousins and two aunts came to our house. As I said in my goals, I have been trying to have them up for a sleep over. Last year, at Thanksgiving we went out to eat and to a movie. So now it looks like we have a tradition to get together at Thanksgiving! Eight of us ate at Red Lobster then came to my house and watched Crazy, Stupid, Love down in our den on the big screen. Everybody stayed the night (minus one) talking about girly stuff into the wee hours! (well, wee hours by my standards) Tyler made us a big breakfast and some of us went shopping on Wednesday.

Then we had more family time by staying at my brothers Wednesday night. Garyn and Ansley love spending the nights with their cousins!

Thursday, we had Thanksgiving with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

My sweetie and I...

More playing with cousins...

.

And there's always some singing going on in my family, Ansley was learning all about that....

Then after all the food and playing, daddy and Ansley needed a nap....

One part I love about holidays is that it brings us all together. Even when it isn't your blood family, friends and family are always spending time together that time normally doesn't allow. I have a lot of family that aren't my blood relatives in my life that have always treated me as such. My sister n' laws family has always done just that. My brother and sister n' law have been together since I was 6 or 7 so her family have watched me grow up. Whenever I was younger, I went to their holiday gatherings. Now, when I can, I still try to go stop by. Tyler has always felt welcomed, as well , in fact he looks forward to going because of all the yummy food! We went there Thursday evening for a bit. Most of them hadn't met Ansley yet so that was fun to show her off. I will have to get some pictures, though, next time!

I was also bad and didn't get pictures at Tyler's family Thanksgiving dinner. I attempted to get pictures from my mother n' law and actually had this post ready before Christmas. However, I was unable and will need to add them later! We celebrated on Saturday after Thanksgiving. I enjoy doing that, too,  so we can spend a lot of time with both of our families. One of my favorite parts was Garyn sitting in his grand grandmothers lap playing Rummy.

We enjoy our family time in the Rich household!

7 months and mobile

Well, here we are at 7 months already! She has been moving since about 5 months but is now crawling on all fours and pulling up on things. Phase One of destruction has begun! By that I mean, she is into any basket/ tub/ cabinet that catches her eye. I have walked away a few times to come back to her eating paper, spilling Garyn's drink or even pulling at electrical cords!

She will hardly be still, too. These pictures were hard to get this time. Back to being destructive, she hasn't left the room I put her down in yet. She will be in a totally different spot when I return but she isn't booking it down the hall into the bathroom or anything when I am not looking. 

She has found Garyn's toys to be more intriguing than her own. In fact, she hardly plays with her baby safe toys! Cars, trains, books, blocks, Wii remotes and/or dvds are her normal chew toys.

And, like I said, she is pulling up. Started the same day she turned 7 months. She quickly became vertical and now doesn't like to be sitting much and especially not laying! I have got to get some corner guards for the coffee table. She is still a little wobbly especially when she lets go while holding a toy or something! Daddy has been calling her prairie dog because she pops up on the other side of the table, down and then back up smiling all the while! When she wakes up at night (still getting up 1-2 times), she quickly comes to the stand at the end of the bed closest to the door.

Reminds me......sleeping wise, she is about the same as she has been the last few months. Still waking around 4 to eat and sometimes before that just long enough to get her pacifier. Although, she is now just taking 2 naps. If we are out late, she might cat nap after dinner but tends to want to stay up longer so I try to not let her go to sleep in the early evening for a nap. And another change is that she will let you rock her! This was not something we were striving for either. When she was sick with an ear infection, (Yep, had first one about a month ago)  we slept in her rocking chair a lot together and it started a habit. She was just so miserable and wouldn't let me lay her down. I have slowly gotten her back into the habit of not being held or rocked to sleep but it took some time.

Other than being more mobile, she has been saying "da da" and has said "ma ma" a hand full of times. She still doesn't use them to ask for us. However, she is reaching for us and has that object permanence memory going on. When she is tired or hungry, she fusses as soon as we are out of sight but then gets excited when we come back.

Speaking of hungry.....she still isn't chowing down on baby food like Garyn did, but does get excited about eating when she sees the spoon coming. She has just started the meats and seems to like them ok. I have been making several different types of baby food and freezing them. Honestly, she eats it better! I hadn't really noticed but Tyler mentioned it one day. I don't have time to make it all, though. And she still eats the jar food just fine. I am trying to push her to eat three times a day now. She will, but two of the meals she eats more. Of course, she is still nursing, too. She is growing steadily just not as fast as Garyn.

 Size at 7 months: 16 lbs 3 oz at her Dr visit for her ear infection.  And not sure on length. She is wearing 6-9 months but some 3-6 months still fit. Her waist and chest are small but the length is long enough for the 9 months.

She still loves her big brother! It is amazing really how the two them already play together. He has started picking her up under the arms and carrying her to another spot. I have cautiously been monitoring this and trying to instruct him because I realized he was going to do it anyway. He also gave her some cookie the other day! I came in and saw her moving something around in her mouth then gagging. I peeled it out him eventually. She survived so I wasn't harsh on him!

Again, couldn't get her to be still in this chair and gave her this bird thing trying to bribe her. I have to do this a lot especially when changing her diaper. It doesn't always work though.

Here is her "boo" face as daddy says. When something doesn't go her way, she pulls this out and quickly turns it off when she gets what she wants! Once, Tyler pretended to spank her and she started sobbing as if he beat her. Oh...... it was funny! I thought she fell or something and came running. He is swiftly becoming wrapped around her finger!

Garyn was happy to smile for the camera!

We recently went to Nashville (another post) and she loved looking at the cute baby in the closet mirrors! I love watching the discoveries through their eyes. You can see her hair has gotten thicker and some longer. I can put bows in it more now. She is pulling them out some and I have already been losing them. Ugh! I foresee us going through many of those bows!

She still loves her bath time. I have got to get a bath sit for her since she doesn't want to stay still. I took these pics of her in this towel because I have one of Garyn in the same towel.

She is always so happy!

'

Here is Garyn. He was almost 6 months old. You can tell they are siblings! Their nose, mouth and cheeks/chin are the same. The eyes even are except for the color. But she looks a little different somehow in the eyes to me.

Well Christmas day is almost here and she will be 8 months. It is flying by too fast! :(

'

Football Season 2011

I have been wanting to post on the event that takes up most of our time during the late summer/ early fall......which you can guess from the title is highschool football!

Tyler became the defensive coordinator for this year and was therefore busier than he normally is already with football. He loves it, though, even as time consuming as it can be for him. Garyn and I love going to the games on Fridays, but wish we could see him more during the week. But its just part of our life! Ansley seemed to enjoy it, too!

loved this outfit K.mac made!

she made the cute bow too

We didn't miss a game! The one cold rainy night of the season, I was planning to skip, but then Garyn insisted we go! So we went but didn't stay that whole game.

Garyn's favorite part is still getting to play on the field afterwards, here he is dancing

Don't remember what he was doing but he is wearing his RB jacket monogrammed by K.mac

The team finished 7-4 going into the first round of playoffs. Tyler survived his first year as a coordinator. I was stressed much more than he every thought about being most of the time! However, I was also proud and thought he handled it all well.

another outfit by K.mac

Daddy and his baby girl

I have always loved going to the games. However, I don't see as much now that I have Garyn to keep up with. Next year, I imagine I'll be chasing down Ansley, too. I actually had to this year really. She was passed around a lot between player's moms and teachers. Since Tyler and I went to Red Bank, we see a lot of people we know.

Speaking of Red Bank being our Alma mater, Tyler was crowned the Homecoming Queen from the male teacher homecoming court. Yes, that is him there in a lovely pink dress and red wig.....

It was truly hilarious, the whole gym was laughing except for Garyn who was terrified of his daddy and the others dressed up. We made the mistake of walking into the room they were waiting in before it started and he was not prepared to see all of them dressed in drag behind the door. So he stood in a corner crying and shaking. Poor thing! Any who...I couldn't stop laughing and frequently left his side to see and take pics. (There was a football parent with him) The pic below was a "cat fight" with another candidate.

I wish I had gotten a photo of the back...the dress wouldn't zip all the way but did clasp at the top so it looked like an oval shaped view of his beautiful and hairy back!

\

Good times, I tell ya! The season always keeps us busy but doing fun things. After a short break, work outs have already begun for next year! It will be here before we know it.

November Ends; December Begins

Its that time again. Goal time that is!

November went well, I feel.............

Fun:
We had a good birthday dinner at Provino's for the first time. It will definitely be a new birthday meal for us.
I also went to the pottery day on my birthday.....fun thing to do!
Then Thanksgiving was great and started off with a family girl's night here at my house.

DIY/Craft:
not much got done....
We did paint the hallway and Tyler was able to put crown molding in Ansley's room
And he also got to work in the back yard....I on the other hand did no crafty things

Cleaning:
All of this got done except for the laundry room

Cooking:
About the same on eating out...maybe a little better since football is over

Teaching:
Garyn is counting well, he counted to 50 for a prize at school. He can do some addition, need to work on it more though...
Bible time is sweet, I love hearing what he remembers or feels is important with each story

Other:
Coupons are mostly cut for the month of November
I have done ok with my own devotional time, just finished Revelation study by Beth Moore which was wonderful. Need to always improve though.

December is a busy crazy month so my only goals are basic......

Fun:
-SS Christmas Party
-Red Bank Parade
-Nashville trip

DIY/Craft:
-Decorating for Christmas
-Tyler to work on house projects

Cleaning:
-Keeping floor clean since Ansley is everywhere!
-Clean up laundry room more
-keep car clean

Cooking:
-you know the goal!

Teaching:
-Bible time daily amongst craziness still
-Keep Christmas focus on birth of Christ!

Other:
-bathe dogs