We had a great Christmas holiday and hope that all of you did too. Some of the highlights included getting to spend time with family and friends in WV and MI, getting to see some snow on the ground and snow coming down, watching Riley have more fun tapping on boxes and playing with paper rather than paying attention to the actual gifts, and making it through WV without serious injury with a Michigan sticker on the car and Riley wearing a Michigan hat!
Riley had a great time playing with her cousins and getting spoiled by her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends. She still needs a good bit of help with the gift opening (she likes the sound the wrapped boxes and crumpled up paper make, and is easily distracted by things other than what’s in the boxes), but did her best to keep up the pace opening up presents.
This year we tried to stick to a ‘buy local’ program for gift shopping, we weren’t 100% successful but many locally produced gifts were given and received. We got some nice hand-made wooden toys and a beautiful cutting board, lots of good food products made in MI, and a sweet 1-year membership to the NC Zoo!!! (thanks Uncle Tim and Aunt Trina!) We’re really looking forward to taking Riley to see all of the animals and promise lots of pictures to show her having fun with the critters.
One of the better gifts that Mom and Dad received was the ability to catch up on some sleep! Thanks to both sets of grandparents and cousins (especially cousin Meghan who took excellent care of Riley and gave 2 other great presents with coupons for diaper changes and baby sitting services so Mom and Dad could go on a date and enjoy dinner and a movie), we got to sleep in and not worry about getting up early with Ms. Riley. And Baby Boo was a trooper – she did great with the long car drives, charmed everyone that she got to spend time with, and adjusted very well to ‘non-standard’ nap times, feeding times and bed times. We are very fortunate to have such a smart, happy and well-behaved baby 🙂
We’re working on getting some new pictures up on the site, so keep checking back for updates. Thanks for all of the beautiful Christmas cards and holiday greetings. Here’s to a great 2008 –
Dad aka Mark