Distracted

I have been very distracted since Christmas, hence the reason I haven't blogged. We had a great Christmas this year. Mitchell and I both agree it was the best we've ever had!

Riker's Christmas PJs!

Santa filled my stocking with buttons!

Riker's new bike from Santa!

I got a Cricut!!!

Mitchell got a PSP!

My Little Handyman

My friend Nicole got Riker a tool set for Christmas, and we let him open it early so she could see his reaction. He absoulutely loves the tools, and he's looking just like his Daddy!

Christmas Outfit

I never got new outfits for Easter and Christmas when I was little. So I want to get all of our kids new ones every year, if we can afford it at the time. This year I got Riker's Christmas outfit in October! They had the cutest ones at The Children's Place, I just had to get it.

There's my handsome little man!

Sweet Socks

There we all are.

Handy Manny

Riker favorite show these days is Handy Manny. He could watch it for hours, and this is how I found him the other day while he was watching it.


Under the table just taking it all in. He's definitely going to be like his Dad when he gets older. Watching Mitchell and Handy Manny will help him become an excellent handyman.

A Christmas Tree..Finally!

On Monday we went and got a Christmas tree for Family Home Evening. It was so fun seeing Riker's reaction to the lights and ornaments. Last year he went to bed right after we got home with the tree and Mitchell and I put it up and decorated it. This year was totally different, Riker wanted to be involved in all the holiday action. He helped get the tree stand ready, and made sure all the bulbs were working on the strands of lights, he handed me pieces of tape while I up lights up around our windows, he pulled ALL the decorations out of the box (and laughed at each one), he also got the special privilege of putting the star on the top. I was LOVING it, I'm so obsessed with the holidays and it just made my night that he was so excited.

Time out..sad. If you look closely you can see his HUGE smile.

Happy Last Minute Shopping Everyone!

Dinner Disaster

There is a reason why Mitchell normally cooks. I do sometimes but I also have problems sometimes. I try to buy things to make it easier for me, like pre-made crusts for pizza. You know the ones you roll out? Well, the first time I made a pizza with that crust it turned out really yummy. But a few days ago I tried it and it didn't turn out so good.

I definitely forgot to roll out the crust. Instead I just lumped it all together and tried to spread it out and once I realized I had done it wrong it was too late. Mitchell even tried to come to the rescue with this pizza tossing skills but it didn't work. We ended up at Taco Bell :)

Prayer

Riker has just recently started actually saying the prayer. Sometimes he does it at dinner if he's not too shy, but he says one every night before we put him to bed. I really think it's been helping him with talking too, because since we've started helping him with the prayers he's been talking a lot more!

Applebee's Boy!

Riker and me went to Applebee's yesterday to visit Keri, and her friend Danirl gave Riker his nametag. So now Riker offically has his first job?

A Girlfriend?

Today we had a play date with Riker's "girlfriend". Her name is Erin, and he just loves her! He is always trying to hug her and hold her hand. This Sunday her mom told me that in nursery when Riker was crying, Erin went up to him and gave him a toy. When that didn't stop Riker from crying she gave him a hug and said, "It's ok, Riker." So cute!

There they are, the happy couple.

Riker's eyes are closed, but this is cute one of Erin. And you can tell they're holding hands in this one too.

Arms Length

Last night we went to the mall and saw Santa. I'd been talking it up to Riker about how were we going to see him and he was going to sit on his lap. But to no avail, he wouldn't sit on his lap. Or next to him even! Here are the pictures I got.

Testing it....

Not having it....

Finally he stayed on Mitchell's lap and Mitchell sat next to Santa. Riker still looks scared, and he wouldn't even look at him but he got a coloring book anyway. Santa must know he's an amazing little boy.

Parade!

Last night was the Winterfest Festival in downtown Tallahassee. I use to go to this when I was little but I don't remember much of it. We went last year too but we got there too late and it was so crowded it wasn't even worth it. This year we got there about 2 and 1/2 hours early, so we got an awesome seat for the parade. I was going to run in the annual Jingle Bell Run but I didn't even realize I didn't wear the best shoes for it. So me, Mitchell, and Riker just sat and waited for the parade while Keri and Freya ran it. Riker was all about the parade, he was waving and clapping the whole time. And he got lots of candy and goodies. Mitchell and I decided that if we want the good stuff we just need to bring him with us!

Frosty, Riker and me!

Freya, Riker, Mitchell, Keri, and Brandi

Watching the parade

Riker had a sweet ride!

Primary Activity

Today was our ward's Christmas primary activity, I went to help out since I'm a teacher, but Mitchell was working so I brought Riker along too. He made reindeer food, a necklace, and a present for Mitchell. He liked it a lot for the first 2 minutes of every activity but after that I had to finish it for him.

Riker with his necklace on, and reindeer food in hand.

Coloring the wrapping to put Mitchell's present in.

About 30 minutes before it was over Santa came! Riker was excited but he didn't want to get too close to him. He got close enough to give him a high-five. I wonder how he's going to react when we go see Santa at the mall and I make him sit on his lap. You know you always have to get that one picture of the kid screaming for them to laugh at when they get older.

School Already?

I was doing some stuff around the house yesterday not really paying attention to Riker. Once I realized how quiet he was being I went looking for him, and I found him like this--


He looked so cute with his little backpack and my huge shoes on! But I'm definitely not ready for him to go to school, I'd miss him too much.

A Mayday in December

Keri's friend bought her tickets to a Mayday Parade show that was last night. She asked me to go with her, I didn't know hardly any of their songs but I went anyway. They are from Tallahassee, and Keri went to school with some of them. But it was a really fun concert! I'm definitely going to learn their songs now!


Mayday Parade

Me and Keri

Jamie All Over video--http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZaK37dheCM

This is one of my favorites--Miserable At Best--http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE2JDyj2_uc

Danda!!

On Tuesday me, Riker, and Keri went to the Tallahassee Mall just to look around, and we saw Santa! There was no line to sit in his lap but I wanted to wait until Mitchell was with us to do that. Riker had gotten a small bouncy ball from Old Navy and him and Santa were playing catch. It was so cute! Riker was so excited to see Santa and to play with him. It made me really happy to see him so excited. I love Christmas time!! Anyway, we went into another store and the whole time Riker was saying "Danda! Danda!" (Santa in his words) and he kept pointing toward where Santa was. I had to tell him that we would go see Santa sometime soon with Daddy. I didn't have my camera to take pictures, I wish I had, but I just thought it was a cute story!

Oh, The Lights!

I decided this month to plan out all of our Family Home Evenings because there is just so many Christmasy things to do! So yesterday we went to a cute little park called Dorothy B. Oven. Every year they decorate the park with Christmas lights. I use to go there as a kid with my family and loved it. I was so excited to take Riker this year. I think he's still too little to really get into it but I like to pretend.

There we are! I wish Mileena was here with us though.

We found a train!

Checking it out.

Riker found a huge lollipop. Boy did he think he was in heaven. Too bad it wasn't real.

The Elders came with us too. This is Mitchell, Riker, Elder Lore, and Elder Cozzens.