Last Weeks Joys

Right now I feel anything but joyful ... content yes but joyful no. I woke up with allergies causing me to have a headache and making me feel tired. I can totally see the vein protruding from my left temple and my left eye hurts a little too. It's always my left side that gives me pain. Weird.

Riley doesn't always wake up in a happy mood like his father. By now you all should know that I'm not really a morning person however, through the years I've been getting better at not being so grumpy. I just don't think I will ever be all giddy in the mornings so don't expect me to be all talkative before 10:00 am.

Riley wasn't too thrilled about having to come with me to drop Nathan off at school, lol. Just look at his face ... and his double chin. Hilarious! He usually stays home with Sydna while I take Nathan to school but I decided to bring him along this time. Not a happy toddler.

But as much as he hated to be in the car with me just shortly after waking up I found joy in it. He made me laugh. Once we drove away he began talking and he soon forgot about his stinky attitude.

It was windy last Monday night. I heard the wind in the middle of the night as I changed my sleeping position. The wind has such a calming effect on me. When mother nature isn't fierce she can be very therapeutic.

The main reason why I have been getting more sleep lately is because Riley has been sleeping through the night. Sometimes I don't even need to get up to soothe him back to sleep. He'll just go right back to sleep on his own. I think he remembers what I tell him just before he goes to bed. I tell him if he wakes up at night that he needs to go back to sleep. Everything is ok and it's not nice to wake up mommy because mommy is tired.
I hope he continues to make progress on this what seemed to be a no end in sight experience. It has taken us three years to get to this point.

These large coloring pages are so fun to color. I just wished they had Toy Story. I didn't see any at our local Target.

And it appears he still prefers to use his left hand when coloring or using a pencil.

I love his happy little face. He's a silly boy too. I believe they were watching a Little Bear episode. Duck can sometimes be quite funny. We love duck ... and cat ... and owl ... and hen.

Then one day after dropping big sister off at school we ventured into a neighborhood where we came across sheep and goats ... and it is located on a back road along very tall pine trees that shade the street. It will be such a relaxing and cool walk once summer rolls by. It would be nice being able to see them up close. Hopefully when we decide to walk by here that they will get close to the fence. I just hope we don't get yelled at by the owners.

We hadn't been to the library in over a month. Mainly because Riley is so active and he just runs all over the darn library. Honestly that's irritating to me. The other day I asked Riley if he wanted to go to the library. Naturally he said yes. So while we were getting ready I told him that he had to stay by my side and no running or yelling. I reminded him about every fifteen minutes. He even memorized what I was telling him because he would say it along with me. I forgot to bring my phone in with me to the library.
He held my hand as we walked inside. He didn't raise his voice and after I let go of his hand he walked right beside me. We sat down on the floor and began looking through books. I made sure to look for dinosaur books ... he's very into them right now. Thankfully I kept finding cool dinosaur books. We looked through them and he was totally mesmerized by them. He sat still and really listened to the few lines that I read to him. After about eight books we got up and checked them out. Even at the check-out kiosk he was good. Standing still and being quiet. I was very impressed. Once we got to the car I praised his good behavior and thanked him for listening to mommy.

Look how happy he got from me praising him. Isn't that sweet?!

I had not promised a reward for his good behavior because I don't want him to expect something in return whenever he does something he should do in the first place. I had to go to the store and after walking out I saw McDonald's and thought that a vanilla milkshake sounded good. So I ordered one. He drank about half then I had the rest.  Although in all reality the milkshake was his reward I didn't tell him it was and that is important to me.

When his older siblings take time to play with him .... that's always a good feeling.

Sydna, lover of books ... and I think that's wonderful. She's read the Twilight series at least eight times. She loves it that much and is more into the books than she is the movies. Naturally. The books are more detailed, darker and more entertaining. I often find her smiling when she's reading. I see a lot of myself in her, its crazy. Don't underestimate her because she's a teenager. She is also very much into non-fiction as well. She loves to read books about the Holocaust. She's read books I haven't even read. She also reads the bible. Thankful she does.

After we've read him books and he begins to memorize the story it's neat to hear him giggle at what's coming next. Or, he'll narrate along with who's ever reading.

And lastly, this made me laugh. I was sitting on the couch, writing. Jacob was sitting on the floor playing a game on his phone when Riley stands next to him and begins to notice his moles. He's got a couple smaller ones on his face. Riley was just staring at them quietly when all of a sudden he says clearly and in a complete sentence, "daddy, you have bugs on your face". I laughed hard. I immediately grabbed my agenda and wrote it down. I didn't want to forget this. Jacob smiled.

As I'm done writing I find myself lighter, in a better mood. Headache is gone and so is my eye pain and even my vain is no longer visible.
Looking at these pictures brought me joy. I laughed. Internal happiness heals.

God has a funny way of flowing into the 

empty spaces and filling them with blessings.

Christmas 2013

After I got Riley dressed following a bath he told me he wanted to put on his socks himself. He said, "can I try?" I put on the right sock and I let him do the left one all by himself. He did a good job even though the bottom side was on the top.

We had a few sunny days just before Christmas. I thought it would be a great time to go for a walk. It was cold but the sun felt good on our bodies. He talked about every single plane and bird that would come our way. He would notice messy front yards all on his own and say, "ew, that grass is messy" or if it was muddy he would say, gross. He's definitely very observant. Totally got that from me.

Watching tv and using sister as a hammock, lol.

We have our big feast on Christmas Eve. That's how I grew up celebrating Christmas. We would have all of my dads family over or we would go to one of my relatives homes and celebrate big on Christmas Eve. Lots of tamales, beans and potato salad and desserts ... and at midnight we would open our presents. As I grew things changed just a little. I remember going to Christmas mass on midnight. When I got married I decided that we would still have our big feast on Christmas Eve and let the kids open just one present and that one was usually from a family member or friend. We opened all the presents that Santa left on Christmas morning. Depending on how we feel we sometimes go to the Christmas Eve service or if we are too tired or the kids are being too insufferable we end up going to church on Christmas day. It really makes no difference to us.

It was nice having my sister with us to celebrate Christmas. Even though we're a bit low key we did have a nice time. Riley had a great time. I caught him rolling off his papasan chair onto the floor. Little daredevil.

He tried to crack open a pecan but it kept on sliding off his fingers and he thought that was the funniest thing ever.

He loves chips and dip just like his momma.

Besides watching movies with us, Sydna and Nathan played with their electronics and Riley found it fun to play with a flashlight. Sometimes Libby will be downstairs and will begin to chase the light all over the living room floor. Of course Riley finds that hilarious.

The kids always have a great time with their aunt. She was looking for funny cat videos I believe, and they were all cracking up.

Jacob made me a batch of sugar cookie dough. I like my sugar cookies a bit thick. I think the cookies look prettier. Well, I thought I had white icing but when I looked I realized there wasn't any.  So I decided to drive to the store at 8:00 pm on Christmas Eve. I got to the grocery store parking lot and noticed there were no cars, the darn store was closed. GREAT!! I even went to Walgreens but they didn't have anything. Bummer!!!
So I told everyone that they couldn't have sugar cookies until I had iced them. Good thing Jacob also made a batch of chocolate chip cookies so they had those instead. Jacob doesn't like sugar cookies and I don't really care for chocolate chip cookies. This is why we made two different batches.

Jacob read the Night Before Christmas and I think I was the only one that was sitting next to him listening. Everyone else were busy looking at funny videos and Riley was busy playing with his toys. That's alright. I totally know the entire story by heart. I'm sure most of us do.

After spending the entire day playing, this little guy called it quits around 9:30 pm. But before he fell asleep I changed him into his Christmas pj's and allowed him to sleep in our bed. He was happy about that.

I've wrapped the presents on Christmas Eve since we got married. It's a bit tiring but there is no way I can wrap them before. I'm never alone besides, where would I put them? I'm not going up into the attic. Are you crazy!
I slept in on Christmas day. I think I woke up just before 9:00 am. I could hear everyone downstairs talking. Riley was still asleep next to me so before he woke up I took a quick shower and got ready. I then woke Riley up and went downstairs.

At first he didn't understand what was happening. Why everyone was sitting around the living room floor looking at him with smiles on their faces. My sister said something like, "look, Santa came".  He then looked towards the Christmas tree and then he noticed the presents and then the Buzz Lightyear bike. Oh my gosh! That moment was so precious. He smiled so big and immediately walked towards it. His expression was just priceless.

Glad that all three kids were super happy with their presents.

After opening presents and having breakfast we got ready and headed out to Christmas mass at a Catholic church.

All in all Riley behaved himself pretty good. It was a nice service ... just wished they didn't get too crazy with the incense. I got a headache.

We returned home and had lunch. I recorded the Disney Christmas Parade and we watched it as soon as we got back from church. I was keeping my eye on it because I knew that Buzz just had to make an appearance. As soon as I saw the Toy Story gang I yelled for Riley to come see {he was in his playroom}. The first ones were slinky, potato head, Rex ... then Jessie, Woody and last was BUZZ! I was maybe a bit more excited than Riley. Riley was watching with such amazement. Couldn't help but think of when we take him to Disneyland and how much fun it'll be to watch him come face to face with his favorite Disney character. That's gonna be grand!

Knowing that most places and stores would be closed on Christmas day I decided it would be fun to take my sister to more fun places we've visited and loved. You all know how I don't like to stay home when Jacob's home or on the weekends so we drove to W Seattle.
It was pretty cold. You could see your breath. That didn't stop Riley from goofing off.

We drove a little further in and stopped by the park that we love to hang out at. I was less cold at this location. My sister was freezing and so were the kids and Jacob. I loved the weather. I was comfortable.

My sister got a chance to experience a pretty awesome PNW sunset.

And if you're lucky enough to catch a ferry in the picture as the sun is setting it's THAT much more enchanting.

One cannot leave this park without trying the zipline. I haven't gotten on it ... yet. I'll probably lose my grip and fall on my a** ... because when the swing hits the end, it really yanks your body and your legs go flying. Jacob even wanted to try to go down it with Riley on his lap. I told him he was crazy and told him not to do it. Thank God he realized that it would have had a very bad result, so he went on all by himself. What a nutcase for even considering having Riley ride with him! Men!!!

My sister didn't get on it either.

He was happy swinging on a kiddie swing. I was happy too.

Before heading home I had Jacob stop at the store so I could pick up icing and sprinkles. Happy to have found some we went home. We all got into comfortable clothes and I began to ice my sugar cookies. Don't they look so pretty?! and they taste just as good too. There's only two left out of the fifteen.

So good with some dunkin coffee.

This little girl has been spending a lot of time upstairs, either under my bed or on Sydna's bed trying to stay warm. She does come down to visit with us but it doesn't last long. Either Riley bugs her too much or she only has about a ten minute tolerance to being around humans, lol.  She sure loved being caressed above her eyes though.

Riley has been practicing on riding his bike in the house. He learned within minutes and now he can go fast, turn and stop quickly. I've been looking for a Buzz Lightyear helmet but haven't found one at the stores so I'm gonna have to order one online. So until we get him a helmet he cannot ride his bike outside. He's happy using it indoors for now. He looks so cute too.

I bought him window markers and here he is helping me wipe the glass doors clean. Glad he was having fun helping with the cleaning.

Although I like the winding down from all the Christmas hustle I am feeling a bit melancholy already that this month has flown by. I hope that I remember to carry Christmas in my heart all year long and that I give each of my children and husband the attention they deserve. This is why I'm not on facebook that often or post a lot of pictures on Instagram. However, my blog, this space I cherish. Here is where I share a little more of my life, our life, than on any other sites.

{I had taken this selfie to show my good friend that I had on the sweater she gave me for Christmas. I took this while Riley was taking a bath. That's why I'm in the bathroom, lol.}

Thank you all who remembered us this Christmas. We loved all the Christmas cards.

Hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas. 

To those that may be hurting, my wish to you is that I pray you find hope and peace.

Isaiah 41:10

I Love This Time Of Year

I love the holidays ...
well as soon as the 1st day of Fall arrives I feel the difference in myself. To me it just seems like I'm in a happier mood. Knowing that my favorite season has finally arrived, festivities, togetherness and Christmas ... its just something special to look forward to. It's the chill in the air, sweaters and cozy socks, craft making, Starbucks holiday drinks, pumpkin patches, our new favorite tradition of apple picking, all the delicious Thanksgiving food, Christmas music {even though we listen to it all year long}, and of course ... the true meaning of Christmas that puts a smile on my face and our home feels even cozier.

Creating memories and new traditions with my husband and kids is what life is about for me. To always thank God for blessing us with good health, food, a roof over our heads and all that we have. This is just a special time of year, plain and simple. I don't see the holidays as a burden because I know not to get caught up in all its commercialism. I know the true meaning behind every holiday {and Halloween} we celebrate. And even though we can't always celebrate the special times and holidays with our extended family I know we're also on their minds and thought of fondly ... just like we're constantly thinking of them and we're in constant contact with our parents {and my sister Claudia}. That gives us comfort. At least we hear their voice and we talk, finding out what's going on in our lives. I don't need to have them close to maintain a strong bond. When you care about someone you make an effort to keep a strong bond no matter the distance and the differences of opinion.


Half of this week was cloudy and rainy ... and the second half the skies cleared and the sun shined bright but it was cold, real cold ... like 30's in the daytime and dropping to the 20's at night cold. Brr!

Nathan still keeps in touch with a few friends from Tucson. You know little brothers always want to be around their older siblings. Nathan was face timing with a friend and naturally Riley wanted to see what was going on so he got in the middle of their conversation. Nathan's friend was such a sport though. He was making Riley laugh, it was so funny to see.

Sometimes I text Jacob pictures of Libby ... just to make him laugh or he probably feels indifference when it comes to her because she's so annoying with him that all Jacob wants to do is get away from her, lol. He calls her names and when we tell him to look at Libby for whatever reason he doesn't, he ignores us because he gets annoyed by her ... but we do it on purpose, it's just funny to us. And you know what? No matter how much he ignores her she still loves him like crazy and is constantly looking at him to see if he'll look back at her and when he does she'll meow her sweet meow and rub against his leg or whatever body part is available for her to rub on. Poor thing. Then we hold her because we feel sorry for her but she immediately wants down and runs away. Little witch. She knows that with me and the kids it's all just fun and games and tries really hard to stay away from us ... but we chase her around the house and grab her and love on her even though she gets mad, we don't care. That's what she gets for preferring Jacob over us, lol.

Ok, remember in my last post that I couldn't wait to show you what I was working on for Riley? Here is it: I'm making him fabric and felt alphabet letters. I'm now on the letter L. I'm still not sure on how I want him to play with them. I'll either put velcro on the back of them or magnet strips. And I think this is also going to be a Christmas present.

Oh, and remember the red Christmas tree I showed you guys a few posts back? Well I'm almost done with the fabric ones and can't wait to show you the finish project.
Jacob says that he could never do something so tedious. I laugh every time because I really enjoy crafting. It keeps me busy and I love to add cute simple touches to my home.

Boy, does this kid love eggnog. We always have some on hand during this time of year and when I give him some he drinks the entire thing. Every time he's done drinking it he'll say, "it's good" or "I like it".

About two weeks ago I went looking for Riley's Christmas outfit. I had seen a cardigan at Carter's.com that I really wanted for him but when I got to the Carter's store they were all out. I also wasn't able to find a shirt in his size, even after going to several kids stores. I was a bit bummed. I did find pants though. As soon as I got home I immediately went online to check out the Carter's website, thankfully they had the cardigan and I also found a nice shirt for him. Woo Hoo! I got so happy .. and the best part was that before tax the total for the two items was under $20. Now that's awesome! The package arrived a few days ago. He's gonna look so handsome.

I let Riley sleep with us the other night. He's always been a light sleeper. I didn't want to move because I didn't want to wake him so I got my phone and changed the camera setting to front facing camera and I saw him looking my way, lol. I started to laugh. I had to take a picture. Ohmygosh, this kid.

And thank goodness for the little things right? The heck with the brand, it's what's inside. My favorite peppermint white chocolate mocha {w/no whip} holiday drink. It is delicious! If you haven't tried it you should.

The coldest night so far was a couple of nights ago. It got down to the mid 20's where I live. There was frost everywhere and even by mid afternoon frost still stuck around.

On the way out of the craft store I noticed this tree that was multi colored. It had green, yellow, orange and crimson colored leaves. I thought it was beautiful. I was surprised to see that it still had most of its leaves.

Riley is still into books. Yay! I haven't been reading to him as much as I should but we did browse several this past week. He knows the names of all the animals. I'm so impressed with how much a child can retain at such a young age.

For a split second I forgot about JFK's 50th anniversary on Friday. When I dropped Sydna off at school I asked her, "who died? why is the flag at half staff?" but as soon as I said it I remembered that it was in remembrance of JFK.  Sad day in our country's history.

Thanksgiving is next week. Can you believe it?
My in-laws will get here on Thursday. Haven't seen them in a year. We spent last Thanksgiving with them. It's gonna be nice having them here and spending Thanksgiving with them again this year.
Today, Saturday we'll be staying home for most of the day. Need to tidy this place up a bit. But first I need to make a quick stop at Hallmark to get the last of my Thanksgiving cards and mail them out. I know, kinda last minute. I'm sure they'll get them in time though.

Have a blessed weekend.