Riley's Second Christmas

We spent Christmas Eve and Grannie Annie's house as usual. The entire family came over and we had a great time. We had ham/roast/pork and many sides for dinner, hot apple cidar and a wine punch to drink and homemade toffee, peanut butter brownies, lemon pie and coffee for dessert. After dinner we played the gift exchange game...Cody ended up with a zip-lock bag sealer (to prevent freezer burn, I guess?) and I ended up with a scarf, mittens and Dunkin Donuts gift certificate. Riley of course received tons of gifts....a poodle purse from her Cousin Grace, an adorable shirt that says "Smiley Riley", gold slippers and a hair bow from Arianna Colosimo and plenty, plenty more! Riley had so much fun (full of energy as usual) and crashed by 8:00pm...she was so tired she ended up staying the night at Grannie Annie's house.

The next morning (Christmas morning) we woke up early, went on a walk to see the sheep and horses down the street then we went to Grandma Sue and Grandpa Gary's house for breakfast...we had pancakes with blueberries and hot syrup...Riley opened even more gifts and enjoyed spending some time with Uncle Charlie, Aunt Amy and Cousin Siena.

Here are some of our pictures of Riley's second Christmas...


Riley's Christmas Attire...sparkley tutu, vest and shoes...

Dad with Riley and Siena Bug (Riley 13 months, Siena 7 months)


















Riley with her cousin Grace and Madison Riley (Riley loves these girls so much!)
Siena and her Aunt Gina (Amy's sister)














Riley giving Cousin Siena kisses on Christmas morning...

The "mini" Christmas tree at Granny Annie's house...

Riley knows what she wants and when she can't do it herself (i.e. opening the door below) she gets a bit frustrated...


Christmas Bells...Riley loved to shake them and hear the noise that they made...

Riley in her swing and ringing bells with Uncle Patrick Christmas day...it was very cold out but Riley really wanted to play in the swing (she sings "help" and that is how we know what she wants)




















Riley and her family...





























Some random snapshots of Riley...
















Siena Marie Rounds...

Santa Claus is Coming to Town!

Last night Riley met Santa for the first time and was like most kids...a bit scared. We went to a Christmas Party at Paula's house (co-worker who lives down the street)...Riley had a great time, minus the 10 seconds that she was in Santa's arms (she was signing "help" the entire time...it was sad but cute!).

Zoo Lights

For my birthday on Sunday night, we went to dinner at Houston's (yes, we all got hot fudge sundaes!)...after dinner, we went to Zoo Lights at the Phoenix Zoo. We got to the zoo around 7pm and Riley was already tired at that point...but she was so mesmerized by the lights, music and people that she stayed awake the entire time we were there.
Riley and Arianna shared the red wagon and Amy snuggled Siena in her wrap. Here are some pictures from our fun night...

December 14, 2008...Phoenix Zoo

THE KIDS: Riley, Arianna, Siena

Riley keep hanging over the side of the stroller and not moving...she was seriously sitting like this totally frozen for minutes

Riley enjoying the lights with her head resting on the stroller...

Riley loved the stroller and being all bundled up in her Juicy jumpsuit (thank Stephanie!) and hat/mittens (thanks Grannie Annie!)

Amy and Siena Bug

Mom and Dad

Grandma & Grandpa Rounds

Prince, Stephanie and Arianna