With just a few minutes left of the year 2010, I can't help but reflect on what an amazing year it has been for our little family! New Year's Eve always makes me cry! Maybe because I'm up late and am more emotional or something :) , but I think mainly because I am so grateful for the year that has passed and so happy for the year that is to come. What a great chance we have to reflect and look forward at the same time!
I don't have any pictures on this computer, so I'll have to do a more detailed post later, but a quick summary of our 2010: --new job --new house --new car --new ward --new niece --new friends --new foods --new trips (DC, AZ) --new personal growth
Beck opening presents was pretty much the funnest and cutest thing ever. He hasn't opened presents since his first b-day in January when he didn't quite get what was going on, so it was so much fun to see him be soooo super excited. We are still in Arizona (which has been so awesome!) so I haven't got any regular pics downloaded yet, but I actually managed to get the videos uploaded (it's usually the other way around, or neither...). So anyone who would like to watch them, enjoy! ;)
**So YouTube deleted my video for "copyright infringement," even though the only thing they said at the concert was that no flash photography or videoing was allowed... :( **
Day 5: Silent Night, from the amazing David Archuleta/Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert I got to attend last weekend.
With only 10 days left until Christmas (it's technically 9 now since it's after midnight, but just ignore that!), I will be posting a video or thought each day to help me (and hopefully maybe some of you too!) reflect on the real meaning of Christmas. :) Day 10: What Shall We Give?
Right after the incident... :) Must...touch... The holidays are so fun with a toddler! Not necessarily easier or less messy, but definitely fun. :) We put up our Christmas tree right after we got back from D.C. (if I ever find my camera cord, I will post pics of our trip!), and it was love at first site for Beck! When we loaded our tree into the car, Beck was soooo excited; he couldn't believe there was a tree in our car! He definitely got a kick out of that. :) And the love has continued ever since we set it up. THe morning after when I went to get him up, we were cuddling for a minute and then he was like, "Chismas twee!" He totally remembered! And surprisingly knew how to say it already! The next day he even had a run-in with it, causing it to completely fall over on top of him. Lol, it was pretty funny to watch (only because he didn't get hurt!)! He was just trying to pull an ornament off the tree, bless his heart, but we think the trunk had rotated in the stand and made it really susceptible to falling. Whatever the case, it has made a fun memory! It scared Beck a little, and he was kind of in shock. He kept saying, "Chismas twee owie. I bwoke it." Cutest thing ever! The next day I asked him about it and he totally remembered (watch the video). Even today when he was looking at a picture of it that I snapped right afterward he was like, "Oh, owie Chismas twee." Looks like it made an impression! He's also managed to bust a couple of our ornaments. Oops. Live and learn. :) Here are a few pics and videos of our Christmas tree adventures! Pretty much one of my favorite things that he says! Sorry this is so shaky, Adam got a little excited apparently. :)
Beck recounting his traumatizing experience (sorry for the crappy phone camera quality!)
Two posts in one week, look at me go! This is just a random little post, but I wanted to record a few of Beck's funny little obsessions lately before I took them for granted and forgot about them!
--"Hi, hi, hi"-- He has a favorite song! It's "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train. His one and only Lindsay introduced him to it (yes, she's also the one who taught him the word "butt," so I guess this evens things out... ;) ). And as if it wasn't cute enough that he has a favorite song, he calls it the "hi" song--is that freaking adorable? I think it is. :) He'll get in the car and say, "Hi, hi, hi?" And the best is his little dance that goes along with it. I need to get a good video of it sometime, but here's a crappy-quality phone video that gives you a little idea. ;)
--Colors-- He is loving colors lately! He loves to color and loves learning the colors of everything. He now confidently and consistently knows red and green, and sometimes orange, yellow, blue and purple.
--Numbers-- He is obsessed! In a good way. :) He counts to 3, which is soooo adorable (another video I need to get...), and he is so proud of himself. He loves numbers in general and gets so excited when he recognizes them.
--Lindsay-- Lindsay is like Beck's second mother, she is awesome. Besides me and Adam, she probably knows Beck the best--his likes/dislikes, tickle spots, tantrum-causers. She is in love with Beck, and he is in love with her! And she is always so willing to watch him for us, and is so good with him. Whenever anyone comes to the door, Beck always gets so excited, says, "Lindsay!" and runs to the door in anticipation. I feel bad for whoever is visiting when it's not Lindsay because Beck gets so sad. :) He even wakes up asking for her some mornings, like today! I don't know what we're going to do when she leaves Rexburg sometime in the near future, because life sure is fun living near her!
--Clifford/"Cody"-- Beck is also obsessed with thinking Clifford the big red dog is his Uncle Cody. I can see the resemblance, but still think it's hilarious! He used to see Cody almost every day, and he hasn't been able to see him for more than three months now, so he's obviously having total withdrawals. This is a video we took when he first started doing it. I call Beck a dork in it, don't judge. ;)
--Pappaw and Papa-- Every week or two we Skype with Adam's mom and step-dad, and his dad -- Pappaw and Papa, respectively. ;) It's such a fun way to keep in touch, and we all love it, including Beck. So I guess it's maybe because he doesn't see them in real life very often (they're in D.C. and Arizona), so he is having withdrawals, but he thinks (or is maybe hoping?) every single person we see is Papa and Pappaw! It used to just be that he thought every man with a beard was his grandparent, but not it has extended. Be they black, white, bald, bearded or even a woman (yeah, talk about awkward), he looks at them and says, "Papa?" so sincerely. It's so cute. We get to see my parents quite often, so I think he realizes that they're real people and we go visit them sometimes. But with the other grandparents, he barely ever gets to see them, so he's not sure about where they exist! Whether in the computer, or in Rexburg, or neither. :) He loves the "digital versions" of them but misses the physical versions of them, too!
He loves Grandpa too, even if he doesn't think everyone is him. :) Here's a mid-kiss picture to prove it! ;)
--His paci(s)-- So Beck has always just used a paci when sleeping and falling to sleep. But lately he's obsessed for some reason! Like asks for it throughout the day, instead of just at nap time and at night. *sigh* Sure going to be fun breaking him from this thing..
--Everything about cars-- (and planes and trains and tractors, but we'll deal with cars for now...) He looooves cars and Cars the movie (although he's been a little distracted by Kipper lately...). He also loves lining up his cars and different things up in rows. Very tidy. ;)
--Kipper-- My parents found these VHS videos at a second-hand store for Beck, and let me tell you, he and Kipper are the best of friends! He's usually not much of a TV/video watcher, but something about Kipper has him hooked. Which is good and bad. He wakes up and goes to bed asking for Kipper, so we have to come up with other fun distractions for him, or else he would be happy watching him all day, I'm convinced. I will say that I like these videos because they are about simple, everyday things. They're very mellow, but still educational and fun. And they have quite the catchy intro song, which Beck cannot help but dance to. If he's sitting or bundled up, he can't just continue being so--he has to get down and dance.
So there you have Beck's latest random obsessions! ;)
We had the cutest little cowboy on the block (maybe in the whole town!) for Halloween! Unfortunately, Beck came down with croup and an ear infection this week, so he wasn't able to officially go trick-or-treating, but thankfully we took him to a little trunk-or-treat on Thursday, so we were still able to have a little bit of Halloween fun! He was a cowboy, with real boots and all! I tried them on him a few weeks ago and he hated them, but now he's totally in love with them!
Beck lovin his boots!
^-- This is where Beck could be found for the next few days, trying to break into the candy constantly!
So on actual Halloween night (well, technically Halloween eve, on Saturday), we just watched football and handed out candy. But let me tell you, I totally enjoyed it! I got so excited every time the doorbell rang! Since we've lived in apartments every year before this, I'd never really been able to experience this fun aspect of Halloween! We totally underestimated the number of trick-or-treaters and were out of candy by like 7:30 p.m., but thankfully I had quite the stockpile of Fruit Roll-Ups and granola bars, so we started handing out those. And then completely ran out! We figure we had about 150 kids stop by. Beck hated every single time I opened the door. He was so mad he was inside, and that we were giving away all "his" candy!
(Beck being an airplane in the pumpkin patch aisle! :) )
A couple weeks ago, my friend Kristen and I went to this fun little pumpkin patch with our boys and had so much fun! Here are a few pics, and a link to see all of them on Facebook (you don't have to have an account). http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2195477&id=193302310&l=e1e2e08d17 (my links will never post as actual hyperlinks on Blogger, sorry!)
I have half an hour before Beck wakes up from his nap, and although there are a bunch of other things to do, I'm sucking it up and making a post finally! We love our little Beckster so dang much. He is learning and growing soooo quickly. Lately I've felt guilty when I haven't made record of every single word he's learned along with the exact day he learned it, or keeping track of every funny little thing he's doing. But I have finally come to the realization that at the rate they are learning at this age, that that is almost impossible. And although I do need to get somewhat decent about keeping current on pictures and such, that just as importantly I need to just enjoy this fun (and challenging!) time! But here is a few months' catch-up on what he's been up to, along with some pictures I took of him a month or so ago.
1 1/2 years! He turned the big 18 months at the end of July (can you believe it?!). He loved Nursery at church the first few weeks, then hated it the next two weeks, and is now tolerating it. Funny how these little people's emotions work. :) He loves playing with toys and other kids and such, but is quite the attached child at the moment! It also doesn't help that our church is from 1:30-4:30, either. :(
Toddler Lab He also started Toddler Lab last week, and he absolutely loves it!!! It's for 2 1/2 hours (1 1/4 hours twice a week), which is a perfect amount of time for both of us to get a break from one another. ;) His teachers and the activities they have for the kids are so great. The only thing Beck struggles with is story time. He loves books, but hasn't learned the whole sitting-on-the-floor-and-listening-quietly part of it. Out of the 12 kids in there, Beck is one of two who are under 2 1/2. Since he's big for his age, he fits right in, but probably seems seems under-disciplined. ;) They have a little booth you can watch them from (with one-way windows), and it is so fun to just observe him and how he interacts. Like the first day, he spent like five minutes at the drinking fountain--he was so excited he could actually reach one on his own!
Talking-machine This kid of ours may not be a great eater or sleeper (although he is getting better at both), but at least he can talk. So I remember (since we counted for our blog post) that he knew 25 words by the time he was 15 1/2 months. And since then, he's just been learning and learning. But I had a friend ask me a few weeks ago how many words he knows now, and I didn't know, so we counted--like 125. He learns new words every day. Want to know his newest word? Butt! We have Lindsay to thank for that one. ;) But he also says "Jesus,""temple,""church," and "amen." So it all evens out, right? :) Some of his other newer words over the past few months: tickle, garage, Nursery, cloud, piano, burrito, work, elbow, office (as in "The Office"), helicopter, bug, ant, and a bunch of others I'm totally forgetting.
What he's like Good helper--loves helping put things away Obedient--even when he steals my phone, he'll give it back when I ask him to (although we're still working on the whole no-hitting and no-throwing thing...) Sweet--he loves to cuddle (and even asks to--cutest thing ever!) and give kisses and hugs Crazy--he is so much fun and has so much personality, which also translates into craziness sometimes (like instead of just playing with someone, he'll try to wrestle with them! working on that, too...) Funny--he does such funny little things, like stacking grapes on top of pizza, or sitting on top of his stuffed dog while watching a movie--where do they come up with these quirky little ideas? :)
His latest developments 18-month stats: 27 pounds (64%), 33 inches (72%) and 19.8-inch head circ. (96%--not 99% anymore!;) ) Climbing--he even insists on climbing up our high dinner chairs onto his booster seat by himself. Thank goodness he's not a jumper-offer yet. Tickles--he has now started to "tickle" us, I will have to record it sometime. He moves his little fingers and makes this little noise, it is so hilarious. Teeth--besides like two or so sets of molars, all of his teeth have cut through! Including his four canines that all finally cut through within a week or two of each other. Glad teething will be almost over with for the next little bit! Undesirable behavior--he's not perfect, don't worry! He throws his fair share of tantrums, and also is too aggressive sometimes; not in a mean way, thankfully, but he's just a very rough-play little dude. So we have a long way to go on that!
What he's obsessed with lately: Planes Tractors Cars Trucks "Pups" Kitties Stars/moon Himself Elmo Spongebob (whom he calls "Bunky" every time for some reason) Skyping with his grandparents on the computer--we can't pull out the laptop without him coming over shouting, "Papaw?" Doorbell and any other type of button Peaches Apples Water Everything new and exciting (which go hand in hand for him)
I can't believe I forgot to post this on here! We bought a gorgeous piano like two months ago, and I am so in love with it. We got it for about half-off, which was way good. It was still a little chunk of money, but we think it's worth it! ;) I need to take some official pictures of it, but here's this one to give you a glimpse!
Hey! I'm having a garage sale with my friend over at her house tomorrow (Saturday) from 8-noon--so if you're in Rexburg, you should come! :) She lives just east of Arctic Circle, so just watch for the signs. There will be lots of kids' stuff (clothes, shoes, books, toys, etc.) as well as a lot of household stuff (shelves, curtains, miscellaneous) and other random stuff! Hopefully we'll see you there! :)
WHAT A GAME TONIGHT! I think this is the first time I have ever used caps on my blog--that's how amazing this game was! If you missed it, I am so sad for you. It was freaking awesome! Broncos were crazy-good at the very beginning, dominating 17-0 at the end of the first quarter. Then they totally sucked it up for most of the 2nd and 3rd quarters, and actually most of the 4th. But they held on. And with two minutes left, Virginia Tech was ahead 30-26. BUT amazing Boise State pushed them off and managed a victorious touchdown! WHOOOOO!!!!! This was probably the most intense BSU game since the Fiesta Bowl; I was yelling and hollering and going crazy pretty much the entire time. Beck didn't know what to do; it freaked him out the first couple of times, and then his look changed from scared to concerned about his mother's well-being kind of look. Haha. What a fun night!
So proud to have been born and raised in Boise! My family has been Broncos fans ever since I can remember, and games like tonight show why!
One of my hidden talents (maybe my only one!) is that I'm a pretty decent typer! I guess I just must have naturally inherited it from my mom or something, because in 6th grade I typed 93 words per minute and got in trouble by my teacher because he thought I somehow cheated. I took a test in front of him to sort things out. Ha. With how fast I type, you'd think I would be a better blogger! ;)
Wahoo, all this talk of Christmas and snow in August makes me somewhat excited for fall and winter coming up! So, back on New Year's Day of this year, there was an amazing snowfall! And to make it even more amazing, like no one in the world was in town because it was still Christmas break and all the students were gone. So, one of my bestest friends, Lindsay, had the wonderful idea to make a snowman in the parking lot of her complex! It was the ideal snowman-making environment: a thick, fresh blanket of snow in an empty parking lot. And our apartment was like around the corner from hers, so I drove on over (I can't really remember why I even drove...) and we got to work! Here is our snowman's amazing journey... Oh, and p.s., this was at like midnight or something crazy, so it made it that much more fun. :) Very excited! Lindsay blessing the snowman parts or something... :) Our snow fossil!!!! Our finished little snowman! Nice profile shot. ;) He looks so peaceful and happy... until... The freaking snow-plow man ran over and destroyed him!!! Even though he was right up against the light post (on purpose!) and wasn't in anybody's way. A life cut short! *sigh* But we had so much fun! It was still totally worth it, even if just for the few hours he did exist. :)
Take a peek into the everyday lives of Adam, Kathryn and Beck Ririe! We are just a little happy family with a pretty normal life. :) Adam works full time as the Career and Academic Advisor for the College of Business and Communication, and I am able to stay home and take care of our cute little boy. We enjoy spending time together as a family and experiencing life's little moments together. Life is good. :)
