End of the Year Wrap-up...

Apparently it has been since mid-November that I have managed to sit down and blog about anything (although I did think about it many times, I promise!). So I am going to attempt to cover the last 6 weeks of the year in one big post. Here goes...

Thanksgiving: Usually we go to my parents house in St Louis, but none of us really felt like making that long drive this year. Instead, we went to visit Bobby's family in Lafayette for the day. The three of us and Bobby's dad hit the road around 8 am and were home by 4 in the afternoon. All of us had a good time, especially Reilly. He had some bigger cousins to play with, and he got to meet his newest cousin, Juliette. Her mama Sarah was nice enough to let him hold her and I think that was the highlight of the day for him! He also had fun being silly in an elephant mask that he found.

Holding baby Juliette

Looking cute in an elephant mask and a crown made by his great-aunt Sharon

Hanukkah: We celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas in our house. This year the first night of Hanukkah was December 11. Every night, Reilly would help me light the menorah, and he got a present on the first and last nights (since we also do xmas, I thought 8 nights of gifts would be overdoing it!). He was so excited to see all the candles lit on the last night! He had asked me every previous night when we could light them all...it's so hard to be patient when you're 3 years old!

Excited on the last night of Hanukkah

Other Miscellaneous December events:

-December 12, Reilly and I went to a breakfast with Santa, along with his friend Kamron and Kamron's mom. Reilly had lots of fun and I am SO glad he's not scared of Santa!

-December 18, Reilly had his class party at school. All the kids were so excited and so cute eathing their lunches and chattering about what Santa was going to bring them!

-December 18, I took Reilly to Disney Live. Sawyer and Will (his friends from school) and their mom Muffin went with us. Reilly's eyes were big as saucers when Mickey came on the stage and he was mesmerized by the whole show!

Chatting with Kamron at Breakfast with Santa

Meeting the big guy himself

Enjoying a cupcake at his class party

Christmas: Bobby's mom came in for Christmas, like she usually does. She came in a few days before the big day so we had time to do some other fun stuff while she was here. We saw The Princess and The Frog (loved it!), went and saw the Christmas lights in Lafreniere Park, and did a little shopping. Reilly even spent a night with her at the hotel!

Christmas Eve, she spent the night at our house, and Bobby's dad came over early on Christmas Day. We actually had to wake Reilly up, and he was all excited when he saw that Santa had come! We all got wonderful presents, had a yummy breakfast and dinner, and just spent the day relaxing. (pictures to come in a separate post)

And finally...New Years Eve: This was actually kind of a non-event this year. Bobby took his dad to the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, and their flight left at 5:30 AM on New Years Day. Bobby, Reilly and I went out for an early dinner, then came home and watched a movie. Bobby and Reilly were both asleep by 11, and I was not far behind them. I guess my days of crazy New Years Eve celebrations are long gone!

So welcome to 2010! I hope this is a great year for everyone!

A Big First

Reilly has three very good friends: Grant, Kamron, and Sawyer. Grant lives 2 doors over from us, and Reilly plays with him a few times a week. Kamron and Sawyer are in Reilly's class at school and the three of them are best buddies. Kamron also happens to live just a few minutes away, so him and Reilly get together a lot outside of school.
The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Bobby picked Reilly and Kamron up from school at lunchtime and took them to the zoo. When he went to drop Kamron off at home that evening, the boys decided that Reilly should spend the night over there. Kamron's mom, Mary, called and asked me if he could do it. I said we could try, figuring that I would get a phone call around bedtime, saying that Reilly wanted to come home.
That phone call never came. My 3 year old actually spent the night out all by himself. Mary said she had to go lay down with him for a while to get him to fall asleep, but that he was totally fine. And when I went over there in the morning, he acted like he had just seen me 5 minutes before.
I'm proud of my big boy for doing so well and being so independent. But at the same time...I'm kind of sad that my baby didn't need his mama.

A Special Day at the Aquarium

Reilly loves animals, any and all kinds. He has definitely inherited this love from both his daddy and me...we had 4 dogs before he was born and have added even more animals since then. We are very lucky to live in a city with a wonderful zoo, an aquarium, and an insectarium. Reilly's Pawpaw (another animal lover in the family) volunteers at the Aquarium and over the weekend he arranged a special treat for us.

Bobby left very early Saturday morning for the Ole Miss game, so later that morning just Reilly and I headed downtown to the Aquarium. We were meeting his friend Kamron and his mom there too, so Reilly was very excited.

As soon as we got there, we found Pawpaw and headed to our first special treat...feeding the stingrays! (Unfortunately Mary and Kamron were running late, so they missed this part). Reilly waited not-too-patiently in the line, and finally it was our turn. He was scared to put his hand in and actually feed the stingrays, so he just dropped his fish in. To be honest, I was kind of freaked out to do it too, but I had to set a good example so I acted much braver than I felt.

Next up: petting the baby shark. Reilly was a little scared to do this too, but once he got up the courage to do it, it was ALL he wanted to do..he must have petted the shark 20 times.

By this time, Mary and Kamron had arrived, so we went and checked out some more of the aquarium. We saw penguins, frogs, sea otters, all kinds of fish, plus some birds and an alligator. We took a break for lunch and were walking around some more when Pawpaw called with some exciting news...it was time for us to meet a penguin in person!

We went back into a back room and there was one of the other volunteers with a penguin named Cole (I think). We all got to pet him for a few minutes. I wasn't sure what I thought he would feel like, but it was just like touching any other bird. The boys were really excited, but very good. They were gentle and didn't make any loud noises that would have scared the penguin.

After spending some time in the play area, we rounded the boys up and headed home. It was a really fun afternoon, and one I know that I won't forget anytime soon!

My little prince on a big frog

Petting the penguin

Just being boys...


Petting the baby shark

Checking out the stingrays

The Story of the Pilgrims

Reilly comes home from school almost every day all excited about what he has learned that day. Sometimes, though, he doesn't get the facts quite right. For example, we had the following conversation in the car yesterday...

Reilly: Mama, I want to tell you a story.
Mama: OK, tell me.
R: I am going to tell you about the pilgrims. They wear a hat and a suit.
M: Yes, they do. What else?
R: They came in a boat called the Mayflower. But a lot of them got sick on the boat. They got sick because they didn't have any food and there wasn't a refrigerator.
M: What did they do when they got here?
R: They hunted for turkeys and vegetables.
M: They hunted for vegetables?
R: Yes, they hunted for them in the field next to the lake that I know.

HUH???

Reillyisms

More funny and amazing things that come out of his mouth...



It is often a battle to get Reilly to go potty. He will do anything to avoid going when we ask him too (he gets that stubborn gene from me!). The other day, I told him to go use the bathroom and he gave me a resounding "NO"!! He was wearing a Superman shirt, so I said "come on Superman, let's go potty". He looked down at his shirt and responded with "Superheroes don't go potty!" I guess it would be kind of rough with the tights and all...



One of our family traditions is that on weekend mornings we all curl up in bed together and watch TV. On a recent weekend morning Reilly crawled into our bed and tried to snuggle up Bobby. For some reason, Bobby had slept with no shirt on, which is very unusual for him. Reilly promptly told Bobby to put his shirt on. When Bobby asked him why, Reilly said "I don't like your fur". Bobby has very little body hair, so I'm not sure exactly what Reilly was bothered by, but Bobby humored him and put on a shirt.


Reilly and I were shopping at Sam's recently, when I went to go look for some deli meat. I was standing in front of the big case, trying to figure out what I wanted, when all of a sudden Reilly yells out "Go Meat!"


Reilly loves to take all of his toys out, but hates to put them all away. The other night, we were trying to get him to clean up the big mess he had made in the living room. His answer: "are the maids coming tomorrow? They can clean them up for me". Ummm, no honey, YOU need to pick up your toys.



I put out our holiday decorations the other day. One of the things I put out is an Elf on the Shelf, so that night I read Reilly the book and got him to try and find the elf. I don't think this is going to be a very effective behavior management tool in this house. He told me that the elf is just a decoration and can't fly to the North Pole because he doesn't have wings. I think he is too smart for his own good.

Halloween fun (a little late)

Yes, Halloween was over a week ago, but I am just now finding time to sit down and blog about it. It feels like I have not 5 spare minutes since then, but better late than never, right???


Reilly had a 2 day Halloween celebration. It started on Friday at school, when his class had a party at lunchtime. All of the parents sent food for them to eat, and they all got to wear their costumes to school. Reilly wore his pirate costume again...I just think he looks so cute in it! He (and all the rest of his classmates) had a lot of fun and I think they all enjoyed having so many parents there with them.

Saturday, the next day, was actually Halloween. This is always a big event on our street. Both ends of the block are barricaded off and everyone sets up tables in their driveway and it's a big block party and always a lot of fun. This year we had invited Reilly's friends from school to join us, so we had even more fun! Only a few people ended up coming, but the ones that did had a blast trick or treating, chasing each other around, and eating lots of candy. Unfortunately, Reilly may have done a little TOO much eating and chasing, since he threw up in our neighbor's golf cart, but a good time was still had by all.

Enjoying lunch with his classmates

The look on his face when he walked in and saw the classroom decorated for the party

Playing with friends Halloween night
Looking cute in his puppy costume

Reilly-isms

More of the amazing things that come from little man's mouth...

We always listen to the radio in the car, and Reilly really pays attention to the lyrics. One of his favorite songs is "Boom Boom Pow" by the Black-Eyed Peas. He asked me in the car the other day if "jockin' my style" is a potty word. Didn't know quite what to tell him.

He also really likes "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift. When he hears it, he always tells me "mama, I belong with you"...melts my heart every time!

Driving home from school yesterday, we were looking at all the houses in the neighborhood that are decorated for Halloween. He pointed out a house with no decorations and said "They didn't decorate their house. That's so sad"

Last night at dinner, Reilly was reading a book at the table while we waited for our food to come. I leaned across the table to look at the opposite page and Reilly said "move Mommy, your boobies are on my book". Well, excuse me!