Sledding with Grandpa

While Karl and I went to a party, Riser got to have a sleep over with Grandma Kelly and Grandpa Kraig on New Year's Eve. The next morning, they decided he needed to go sledding out front.... What a lucky kid to have such awesome grandparents!

Riser out sledding with Grandpa Kraig

They said they couldn't decide if he was having fun or not... I can't understand why... That is TOTALLY the face of joy...

Ooops... He fell over!


This is my favorite part... The ensemble... You can't see it, but he's in his sleeper, with socks on his hands, his Aunt Milly's snow hat on his head covered with... well really, Kraig and Kelly, Where did that leather hat even come from? But he pulls it all off don't you think? :)

Riser's Big News

This is mostly for all of our "non family" readers. On Christmas, Riser had some very important news to share with everyone... here it is.....



The pictures of him actually wearing the shirt did not work out so great, so, you know, you do what you can! Anyway, here we go again! Pretty crazy.... The new addition should be here some time around July 28th.

A Very Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! We hope everyone had a really great Christmas. We sure did. We thought we would send a few pictures of the boy. He was very entertaining this year.

Christmas Eve, after chatting on the phone with Karl's brother Kevin, we went out to dinner with Karl's family. We had some fabulous Pizza Benders at the Italian Village. Just before our food came, who should walk in the door, but my parents, Matt and Clancey, my aunt and uncle, grandpa and Greg and Cheryl! Crazy... There must not be a lot of Restaurants open Christmas Eve!

Anyway, after dinner we went back to Karl's parents' house and opened presents. Riser got a wagon and a dog book (that we read about 100 times a day) from Grandma and Grandpa, some books from his cousins and a doodle writer from Aunt Justi and Uncle Kent.

After that we went home and put our tired boy to bed.

The next morning we got up to see what Santa had brought. Riser was very surprised to see a bike sitting beside the tree... so surprised that he wasn't quite sure if he could touch it. He grabbed my hand and took me over to it and just kind ofr looked at me like "is it o.k. for me to play with this?" Once he got the o.k., he was on and off of it all morning long. He LOVED it!


After a nice relaxing morning, we headed into my parents house for more presents and hanging out. Riser got some fabulous bath toys (that are so much fun that they don't seem to stay in the bathroom), and a really cool airplane. We also spent some time with Grandpa and my cousins that night and had a delicious Ham dinner. It was so much fun to be able to spend time with both our families. We hope everyone else had a great Christmas as well!

Greetings

Hello and Merry Christmas to all of you! This year we decided to post our Christmas Newsletter on our blog. That way we can put lots of pictures on, and they won't be tiny and blurry.... except for the ones I take... they seem to end up blurry a lot....

Well, we have had a really great year. Riser is growing at a break-neck speed, and Karl and I are starting to feel like we might be getting the hang of this whole "parenting" thing. At least for now.... who's to say what next week will bring.

Here's what's been happening with each of us this year. We'll start with the star of the show.

Riser: Riser has had a big year. Some of his great accomplishments this year are: Sleeping through the night! There was much rejoicing in our home when this finally happened. We never knew how much we had taken a good night's sleep for granted. Sitting up, crawling, and finally, WALKING! The boy is forever on the move..... so is everything in our house that isn't bolted down. We have learned to keep anything important well out of Riser's reach. Otherwise, we may never see it again. Signing and Talking He knows so many signs and words, He talks my ear off all day long. I love it. Some favorites are mom, dad, Mya (his dog), hello, milk, cookie, cracker, water, uh-oh, and no (of course). Playing with his best buddies (his cousins) Riser is so social. He loves to play with any kids he can find (at church, at the store, you name it.) but his favorites are his cousins. He gets so excited when we pull up at both of his grandmas' houses because he knows that his friends are inside. We are having so much fun watching Riser grow up and we feel so grateful to have such a fun, talented, funny, smart, friendly, and handsome little boy.

Karl: Karl's biggest change this year was getting a new job in June. He is working for a company called Alliance Health doing design work (he can explain what he does a lot better) for all of their products. He has really enjoyed being at a start-up and watching the company grow. I am posting here as well for you all to behold the batman pic that Karl is posting on the web. Right now Karl is excited about the new Batman movie coming out in July. (some things never change.) Karl's makeup is real (AND I got to drive around with him looking like this) but please rest assured that I didn't let him do that to Riser... his is photoshopped. He just updated to CS3 (kudos to you if you know what that means) and got a new apple monitor. He was like a kid in a candy store the day he brought them home. He is also the cutest dad I have ever seen. I love to watch him wrestle with Riser. They are such good buddies.

Jenny: This year I had a few "1st's" of my own. I had my 1st cavity, which was completely terrifying, I am pleased to report that I came out alive, but I am still afraid of the dentist. I got my 1st pair of glasses, which was actually kind of fun, because I always kind of wanted to wear glasses anyway. Now I had an excuse to go buy some. I feel like I look very smart now :) All in all, Let's hear it for getting older! I also ran my 1st 5k in July with My sister-in-law Kamille. Our goal this time was to finish (which we did), our goal for next time is to improve our time. We had a great time, and I was so proud of us, that I displayed my number on our fridge....It's still there. Other than that I am just loving hanging out each day with Riser. I feel lucky to be able to stay home with him.

Mya: For all those wondering about the wonder dog, she's hanging in there. She has a love/tolerate relationship with Riser. Riser LOVES her, she tolerates him because every now and again he drops some food for her or pets her instead of just pulling her ears. We keep thinking they'll be great friends if she can just make it through him being a toddler.

Well, that is what has been happening in our family this year. Keep checking back for more updates. We hope that all is well in your homes, and that you have a fabulous holiday season! Merry Christmas!

With Love,

Karl, Jenny, Riser, and Mya the dog

Riser and Mya the Elves

Riser thought it was so funny when everyone else posted their's, that we thought we better make one for him. he thought it was soooo funny! he just kept smiling and laughing. very fun!


http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1336230261


http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1368258149

another tag

I thought of someone that I need to tag for the 6 things..... I was thinking about all the girls in the fam being tagged and
completely forgot about my fabulous husband!! Karl, tag, you're it... aren't you glad I remembered you?

My 6 things....

O.K. Well, here we go...

I talk A LOT....... so this is hard. Like Nicole, I feel like everyone know pretty much everything about me. I am not shy about telling anyone anything about myself, so if there IS something you feel like you don't know about me, hey, just ask. :)

I am a HUGE worrier. Nothing is too big or small. I worry about it. I worry that Riser will inherit all my learning disabilities. I worry that I offend people all the time. That I am not being a good mom, wife, daughter, primary president, friend etc...... The thing is, I can step outside myself and see that I am being silly, but I can't stop myself from worrying... STRANGE.

I have always been TERRIFIED of the dentist. I have the most non-intimidating dentist in the world, but the day before I go, I start to feel really anxious. The whole way there I have to give myself a pep talk "You can do this Jenny, it's not scary, you've done this a million times, It's no big deal" By the time I'm there, I have sweaty palms and shaky knees. Here's the kicker. I have only had one cavity my whole entire life, and I didn't even get that until September. It didn't hurt to have it filled, but even now, just thinking about going I'm getting a little shaky........ do you think I am crazy yet?

I don't miss teaching... not even a little. This really surprised me, because I LOVED teaching. I felt like I was a good teacher, I loved the kids, I loved the grade I taught, I loved my friends I worked with... but I don't miss it. People ask me all the time if I miss it, and if I think I'll ever go back, and I don't think I ever will. I love being home. I love watching Riser grow and learn. I love being able to be the one to put him down for a nap. I love being the one to read him books, and feed him his lunch, and just hang out with him. I know that he will grow up and not need me so much, but then I will have time to volunteer to help more places, and do some of the things I never seem to find time to do. I love knowing that I will be available when he does need me. Sometimes I feel like people think it is strange that I don't want a job anymore, but I really feel like this is where I should be, and I am so happy being here!

I used to hate to read. I know this made my mom CRAZY the whole time I was growing up, but I absolutely HATED it. She would buy me new books hoping that it would get me excited about it. We always went to the library, but no dice. I hated it. I can't decide if it was because it was hard, and I didn't like to fail, or if it was because everyone was forcing me to do it, and I was just stubborn.... possibly a combination of the two. Anyway, I finally figured out in college that it really wasn't that bad, and that I actually loved to read. In fact, it ended up as one of my minors! I wish I had more time now to do even more reading!

I love "clean sheet night" This is the 1st night you sleep in your bed after you change your sheets..... it can't be beat. They are all nice and crisp. They smell lovely. The only way you can make it better, is to take a nice hot bath/shower before hand, and then put on some p.j.'s fresh out of the dryer.... I think I will go and change my sheets right now. I encourage everyone else to do the same!


Anyway, that is me. I'm kind of weird. I hadn't really took the time to notice that until know, but wow..... kind of weird. Anyway, I think everyone in "the fam" has been tagged, but Steph, if you've got some time.. tag you're it! 6 things about yourself!