Riley and I (mostly me) built our first snowman today. He is completely infatuated with snowmen so he really got a kick out of it. Being the snowman novice that I am I nearly broke my back trying to lift the middle ball into place. It was so heavy I had visions of Riley getting crushed by Frosty so I shored up all the weak spots!
Grandma Charlene invited Santa (AKA Uncle Jeff) to come visit Riley and Tanner on Sunday night. Riley warmed up pretty quick as soon as he saw that Santa had TWO Thomas trains for him. Santa even got a hug...that is unheard of. Thanks Grandma, that was fun!
I'm not sure how our "Wednesday" We're Back posting got put ahead of our "Thursday" Marine World posting?!?! Just know that somehow or another, these two posting should be in reverse order.
We just got back from Yuba City (just outside of Sacramento). We had a really great time with all of Todd's family. We woke up at 3am yesterday to catch our flight back to Kansas and are all completely wasted. Poor little Tanner slept from 6pm-8:30am and is back asleep right now only 2-hours after he woke up. Riley is another story, but we won't go into that. Anyway, we have some great pictures, video clips, and stories to share, but we have to recover first. :)
Christmas was so jam-packed, that I'm going to have to blog in parts. Tonight is all about our Saturday excursion to Marine World. We went with Todd's Aunt Linel, Todd's cousin Heidi, her 1 1/2 year old son William, Shelton, and Charlene. The highlight of the trip was when, after a 2-hour drive, we arrived at Marine World SIX-hours before it actually opened. What kind of business doesn't open until 4:00 the Saturday before Christmas?!?! So, with those 6-hours we had to kill, we went to the Jelly Belly factory, out to lunch at McDonalds (Where else would you go with 3-kids?), and to this cute shopping center called the Nut Tree where they had all sorts of fun rides for kids.
We went on a tour at the Jelly-Belly factory that was pretty fun...not memorable or anything, but it was better than sitting in the car. Unfortunately, we went on a Saturday, so the factory wasn't operating. However, now Todd and I will kick but on any Trivial Pursuit questions regarding jelly beans...we're experts! :)
Well, we finally took the plunge and got a family picture taken. It only took 3-hours, 2 poopy diapers, 1 balloon, 3 bottles, 2 carosel rides, and 2 adult-sized sanities to get them...and possibly a few cuss words, but we won't go into that. So, to our mothers, this one is for you.
Here is a shout-out to Todd...Happy Birthday! Todd just turned the BIG 30! Sadly, all of my plans for his birthday just didn't pan out...and there were MANY! Fate was against me with this birthday. Everything I planned just got shot down in one way or another. So, we spent Todd's birthday in the Costco parking lot eating take out from On the Border while Riley watched "Frosty the Snowman" on the DVD player. Not exactly what you would call a "fun" birthday. Sorry Todd. I tried. :(
Aunt Jenny came to visit us this weekend and it was so fun. All we heard from Riley was, "Aunt Jenny, come play with me!" (We also heard a lot of screaming, but we won't go into that?!?!)
I risked life and limb to get these pictures (the walkways were treacherous!). Hopefully this will be the last bad weather we have for a while. I walked outside last night and heard an odd cracking/creaking sound made by all the iced over trees trying to sway in the wind. Kind of eerie.
We have had some interesting weather the past several days. I can honestly say that this is my first experience with ice storms. I'm not a fan. I would rather have snow any day!
On Saturday we all went to the YMCA and everybody was driving REALLY slow on the roads. We couldn't figure it out until we actually got to the YMCA and I took one step out of the car and fell ever so gracefully right on my bumb...but not before hitting the car with my back on the way down. Like I said, "gracefully". The road was one big sheet of ice.
On Sunday church was canceled due to ice so we stayed in our jammies all day and drank hot chocolate. I wouldn't want to do that every day, but it was nice for one day.
Last night Todd went to pull the car into the garage. He couldn't see out the window, so he rolled it down, only to find out that there was a separate ice window still in place. He went to get the camera, but it shattered when he shut the door.
I was feeding Tanner spaghetti for lunch today and by the time I had looked down to get another spoonful, he was fast asleep. :)
Well, I wasn't going to post another You Tube clip until I had posted some more on our family, but I just can't help it. This guy is so funny!!! I hope you like Brian Regan as much as Todd and I do, because I'm going to be posting his comedy clips every now and again. It is just good stuff!
Here is a shout-out to my baby sister, Jenny, who is going to be deployed in January. Anyone who knows her will laugh at what I found...and if you don't know her, then I think you'll still chuckle. I found this in a folder with a whole bunch of stuff my parents saved from when my sisters and I were in elementary school. I fell in love with this "Christmas Wish List" because it reminds me so much of Jenny...you could say it is the epitome of her personality.
(for those of you who have a hard time reading this, here is the translation as she wrote it):
"Jenny R
I wish everything was perfect. and ther wasn such thing as a war. People wouldn't kill and no fighting or litering. I wish Frosty the snowman was alive. " :)
This is such a great website that creates customized radio stations just for you...with no annoying DJ's or commercials. It is fantastic!!
http://www.pandora.com
I hope I'm not alone when I say that when I hear Riley start to scream...depending on the scream that is...I don't come running right away. Mostly it is Riley getting frustrated because his train track came undone, or he is trying to move something that doesn't move, etc... However, the two phrases that call me to attention immediately are these:
1-"Napkin please mom"
2-"Oh no mom, what happened to ________________" (Insert name of train)
These two phrases mean that there has been a major catastrophe, usually in the bathroom or the dining room table involving some sort of messy substance like soap, shaving cream, lipstick, yogurt, etc... No matter how well we think we have put these things away, little Riley ALWAYS finds a way around it. Boys!?!?!
Riley has been going around the house "reading" the words that he sees. He has learned to sound out words and uses this skill every chance he gets. I unfortunately only caught a snippet of him reading the title to "Grapes of Wrath". I just need to carry the camera around with me 24/7 so I can catch him reading a whole sentence. He hasn't reached the level of recognizing that the letters in the English language can make more than one sound, so it is pretty humorous to hear him sound out words. He doesn't quite get the whole "putting the sounds together to make a word" concept yet either, but we'll get there.
I have been posting an awful lot this weekend haven't I?!? Well, with Todd home, I've had the time. Anyway, our boys both love the bathtub. Riley wants a "washdown" several times a day, and Tanner would stay in the bathtub all day if we let him. It's nice to have kids who like getting clean. :)
Oh my goodness...if you want something yummy to do with your turkey leftovers, then try this: make turkey pot pie.
I diced a small onion, two carrots, and 2 stalks of celery and sauteed them in a little bit of butter and sprinkled with some oregano, salt and pepper. Then I added 2 cans of chicken stock and my 2 smallish diced potatoes and brought it to a boil. I let it simmer for a few minutes to get the potatoes a little bit softer.
In a separate saucepan I melted about 2 TBSP of butter and added about 2 cups of shredded turkey and about 1/2 cup of milk and 3 TBSP flour. I cooked that through and added to my veggies/stock mix. It wasn't as thick as I wanted, so I added a little cornstarch and water. Then I let it thicken and added some frozen peas.
I put my leftover pie crust in a pie plate and topped with the filling. Then I put a second pie crust over the top, crimped it down, and cut some holes in the top. I baked it at 425 degrees for 15-minutes and then turned the temp down to 350 for about 15 minutes more. It was so delicious!!!
We had such a fun day today...and I think it was made even better by the fact that we slept in today instead of going shopping. :) We started our day by going to get our Christmas tree and then decorating our house. It looks so festive and fun. I just love decorating for Christmas! 
This evening we went to Kansas City to the lighting of the Mayor's Christmas tree celebration. Besides the fact that it was in the 20's...brrrrrr...we had a lot of fun. We got to hear the Kansas City Symphony Chorus (my choir) sing; we got to see the water fountain/music show; we played in the fun little life-size Christmas village; we ate dinner at Riley's favorite diner where the trains bring you your food; and of course what Christmas adventure would be complete without seeing Santa Clause? This Santa just happened to be an antique mechanical Santa from a department store that had its hay-day in the early 1900's. It was pretty cool.
We had a nice Thanksgiving with some friends. Todd's co-worker, Juhee and his wife Sumee, along with their darling little girl Lois, came over for Thanksgiving dinner. It was really fun to get to know them a little bit more and of course, eat! We had a really yummy dinner--so yummy in fact, that we forgot to take any pictures before we dug in. And of course, it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without playing any games. Unfortunately, Todd finds it a bit "boring" to play games with just me, so I played Cities and Knights with my dad online. I'm not sure what I would do without the Internet. It makes being so far from family and friends not seem like such a big distance. It was a very nice day.
Well, we had to enjoy our last nice day of the year...and boy was it nice. It reached 75 degrees and was just the right weather for the zoo. We had so much fun eating lunch with the peakcocks, riding the train, climbing the rocks, playing in the barn, and seeing the animals. I'm sure thankful for our one last fall day. :) 
I took Tans to the doctor today for his 9-month well visit, and here are the stats:
Weight: 25lbs...+95%
Length: 30inches...+95%
Head Size: almost 20inches...+95%
Well, at least he's consistent!?!?! :)
I was so sick of walking in my front door and seeing these stark, white walls, that I couldn't stand it any longer. So, I took matters into my own hands and started painting! I absolutely love walking in my door now...well there is still the dining room and kitchen that are only half painted, but the living room looks great! :)
Riley still needs a new fan, but other than that, this kid is good to go!
It sure looks a whole lot better...all our neighbor's keep telling us that, and all we did was paint the trim white, put up new lights, put up new numbers, and paint our door black. We still want to put up black shutters on the two top windows and the main window. Unfortunately, this is just a temporary fix until next summer when the house is going to have to be painted. It is need of a serious paint job?!?! :)
