Frosty Fun

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!

 

Santa's Visit

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!

 

 

Mistake

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're back

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. :)

Christams Part I:Marine World

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! :)

 

(Maybe we should send Jelly Belly this picture to see if Tanner can be their new mascot?)


Riley cannot be my child because he absolutely LOVES anything that spins or goes fast. He loved all the rides at the Six Flags Marine World park. We couldn't get him off of them. Lucky for me, Dad and Grandma could go on the rides with him...otherwise, he would have just had to watch from a distance.

 

 

Poor Tans really needs to learn how to walk. He spent the entire day strapped into one thing or another.

 

Family Nightmare...I mean picture

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.

 

Happy Birthday

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's Visit

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?!?!)

 

The Boys loved their Aunt Jenny. When she stepped off the plane, Tanner and I were there to greet her and Tanner kept hiding his face in my shoulder when she would try to talk to him. He warmed up quickly though.

 

We went to the Garmin kids Christmas party and had a lot of fun.

 

Jenny also brought gifts for us all. Riley hasn't put down his trains since!

 

Tanner loved his Elmo and his book. Thanks Aunt Jenny and Aunt Emily! The gifts were a hit!

It's Regan Time

With all of this ice, we needed a little pick-me-up. :)

Ice Storm Pictures from the Garmin Courtyard

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.

 

 

 

 

Thanks Annie!

Kansas Ice Storm

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.

Sleeping Baby

I was feeding Tanner spaghetti for lunch today and by the time I had looked down to get another spoonful, he was fast asleep. :)

Brian Regan, UPS

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!

The Mom Song

Our cousin Robyn had this on her blog and I just about died laughing.

Childhood Wish

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. " :)

Pandora Radio

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

Uh-Oh

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!?!?!