Haley's Nursery

Here are "before" pics of what used to be the guest room after we moved out all the furniture.

Robb painted the walls and we hired a contractor friend to put up the chair rail.

I forgot to take a picture before we started moving furniture in!

 

Finally, the finished room:

 

We are so happy to be able to reuse all the items that were given and bought for Riley. Next step: unpacking and washing all those teeny, tiny clothes!

One month to go!

Christmas Day

Robb, Riley and I hosted the family on Christmas Day. We spent the morning as a small family of three (and 2/3) and then my immediate family and Robb's mom joined us that afternoon. We had a blast eating Robb's steak dinner and opening presents well into the night.

Riley was so excited that Santa ate her cookies and drank the milk. She cracked us up by eating the leftover crumbs herself.

Helping Daddy open a present

Trying on her Cinderella costume (which I got FREE from one of my 3rd graders, who was "selling" it at our third grade Community Market)

Ready for the fam to come over!

With her idol, cousin Ava

Mom and Zach, who actually sewed blinking lights into that sweater himself to make it even more awful

Littlest family member Blake with my sister-in-law Amber

Robb's mom Lesli decked out in an apron we gave her

Brotherly love

Amber with Cole

Lesli had made the drive from LA that day and stayed with us for a few days. Riley had so much fun playing with her Grammi. I can't believe we only got one pic with our actual camera of the two together.

Having fun in the fort

All in all it was a wonderful Christmas! Happy New Year to everyone!

Family fun times

We are so fortunate to have family close by with whom to celebrate the holidays. This year family members that live farther away came to us too! The week of Christmas was packed with food, food, and more food... not that I'm complaining.

We began the food-eating by visiting my Grandma's retirement home for a festive sit-down dinner.

Riley was a little lady the whole time. She enjoyed sitting by her great-grandma.

Older brother Zach (being a dork on purpose), cousin Dru, and friend Sam

Robb, younger brother Tyler (visiting from San Diego), Mom, and Aunt Patsy

Relaxing in the common area after dinner

Giving Great-Grandma a present

 Next, my mom hosted us for lunch and Aunt Patsy threw a dinner party both in honor of my cousin Heather's family, who flew to the States from Singapore to be with us this Christmas. Riley loved playing with her second-cousins Victoria and Stella.

Let's start with the lunch at my parents' house ...

My parents with Heather and her husband Peter

The best picture I could get of the three girls playing together: Riley, Stella, and Victoria

Enjoying early Christmas presents

Moving on to dinner (not the same day!) at Aunt Patsy's house ...

 

The grown-up table

The kid table

Cutie pies

Cousin Dru with his dog Bentley, outfitted for the occasion

My cousin Heather and I with our moms

Peter and my three cousins: Heather, Dru and Nic

  And we're not even to Christmas Day yet. Don't worry, there was more food. Stay tuned for the next post!

Pre-Christmas Festivities (also known as the entire month of December)

The month of December found us celebrating Christmas with a Santa-related activity every weekend. Riley learned the word "overexposure." (Just kidding.) I apologize in advance for the gratuitous amount of photos below of our only child.

We kicked off the holiday season with a visit to Old Sac to see the light show. Santa made a surprise visit afterward, so we snagged a pic.

"He's not going to touch me, is he?"

We followed up our Santa sighting with a trip to the ice cream parlor. No, Riley didn't eat that whole sundae herself. I may have played a small role in devouring it. Robb practically lost a finger in the process.

The next weekend we went to the Community Center for a city-sponsored event.

Riley was surprisingly scared of the big balloon creatures.

Showing off the craft she made (kind of)

Her very first candy cane!

A bit hesitant to meet the big man himself

Nervous hand in the mouth at all times

"You can make me sit here but I'm not going to look at you."

As we were the last ones to leave, Riley got a special shout-out!


Weekend #3 found us at a different community center (yeah, we hit up all our surrounding cities) for breakfast with Santa. This time Grandpa and Grandma came along.

At this point, Riley was becoming a pro at visiting with Santa ... as long as she had her trusty hand to suck on.

Afterward there was a "workshop" with games and treats that the Boy Scouts and other random teenagers put on.

"Now this one's more my size!"

So far the season has been delightful ... and Christmas is still over a week away!