Christmas Eve

 Christmas Eve always begins with my dad's side of the family.  We get together at this beauty's place:

 

We decided not to do any gifts there this year.  Just get together and hang out, which was more than fine by me.

 

There was lots of good, yummy food, but of course, Oliver just wanted to eat junk.  His favorite was a green Rice Krispie wreath which made him look like he had eaten the Grinch.

  

  

Jello shots were also present, which is not out of the ordinary for this family.  My mother's jello shot taking skills are less than to be desired.

Oliver, however, took the jello shot opportunity to practice his fine motor skills with stacking.

 

 

 

 

After Christmas in Meriden, it was off to my parents' house. 

Santa had come so we checked out what was in our stockings.

Riley's typical demeanor toward me and my picture taking:

My parents got Ollie a helmet to go with the tricycle that Santa would be bringing him Christmas morning....he really wasn't a fan.

Following all the presents we ate supper and then went to church together.  Usually we get some family photos beforehand, but it just didn't happen this year.

Christmas Break

One of the many things I love about being a teacher is Christmas Break.  I don't think I would make a very good stay-at-home mom, but I love having two weeks to stay at home with my little guy.  We did lots of running around with traveling for Christmas celebrations, but we also took advantage of just being at home.

Here's my little guy on his last day of daycare before Christmas Break.  Teresa gave him that tractor that is filled with mega blocks.  He has been playing with it ever since he got it, so needless to say, it was a big hit.

Christmas Break was filled with lounging around and playing together.  I will not admit how many days I spent in my jammies, but let's just say it was quite a bit.

 

Riley and Ollie ran errands one weekend during break and came home with flowers.  Riley will admit that he doesn't have a romantic bone in his body, so this was an extra special little treat. 

 

One evening, Riley tried his hand at cooking.  (I'll just start by saying that this isn't a Riley thing.)  Apparently reading also is not his thing.  He tried to make sloppy joes, but failed to read the packet correctly.  It said "2 cans of tomato sauce OR 1 can of tomato paste."  Well, Riley missed that all too important word, OR and added both.  

He said it would be fine and proceeded to make a sandwich and take a bit...and then made a terrible face and threw the rest in the trash.  So he rinsed the hamburger off and started again, this time with his go-to, tacos.  He was successful! :)

Now even though I give Riley a hard time about his cooking skills, he is the go-to-guy for pancakes and waffles.  Ollie is always willing to help, too.

The rest of break was just spent hanging out and playing.  We didn't do a lot, but sometimes less is more.

I did get into a great napping routine with my little guy.  Now at daycare, he naps great with no problems.  However, here at home during Christmas Break, we would nap in his bed for about 45 minutes and then want to snuggle with mommy and finish his nap on the couch.  I had no complaints.  These baby snuggles get less and less as my baby isn't so much of a baby anymore.  I will take them when I can get them, plus it gave me an excuse to take a nap too.

Christmas 2016

Baking

I had a bit of a baking party going on this past weekend.  My Aunt Rhonda, mom, and sister joined me in baking Christmas goodies the year before last.  We decided to make it an annual thing, but missed out on doing it last year.  We were determined to make it happen this year.

We had the same crew along with Rhonda's son's girlfriend, Emily.  We did lots of eating, laughing, baking, and perhaps a bit of drinking by some.

Friday night we just hung out and enjoyed each others company.

Saturday we spent the morning making all kinds of Christmas goodies.

 

Oliver also joined us this year.  He was sure to get the peanut butter jars cleaned out and not waste a bit.

Our crew!

I can't wait to do it again next year.

Weekend Routines

On weekends, we usually have a few things that we try to do each and every weekend.  

#1 is spend at least one day in our jammies.  This isn't always possible, but I definitely try my best to make it happen.

#2 is make breakfast.  This is usually a job for my assistant, Oliver, and I.  When I'm cooking he always wants to see and once he sees he then wants to help.  Most of the time, he is a good helper and follows directions well.  B&G was on the menu for day.

Riley's involvement was making some Tang...delicious, but not so nutritious.

It's been a while since we have had biscuits and gravy, but it was ranked with big smiles from Ollie and an 11.2 by Riley.  (Riley ranks my cooking on a 1-10 scale to give me a better idea of how he likes something, especially new recipes.  The rating system is better than the typical, "It's alright" that I used to get.)  

I've never scored above a 10 so this was a big win! ;)

#3 on our list of weekend things is laundry, the dreaded laundry.

Oliver does like to help so at least you've got a cute assistant.  Now if only he could fold...

Day Date

Last Christmas Riley and I received movie passes from my Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Chris.  Along with the movie passes also came the offer to babysit Oliver.  We finally got around to using them so we had a day date in Topeka while Aunt Rhonda babysat.

From the pictures I received, I'd say they had a pretty good time.