fetch

Rylee likes to take her socks off. She then proceeds to put them in her mouth.

"bring your sock to Mommy"
"Good girl"

Now, if only we could get more "puppy-like" hair on that head.

2011

New Year's is a hard holiday for me to be away from my family. More so than Christmas. My family has always had a big party at New Years with yummy food and as much noise, laughter and games anyone could handle. It was the one day a year we could stay up as late as we wanted, bang pots and pans as loud as we could, scream at the top of our lungs (as a 6yr old this seemed like the coolest thing ever and as a 20 yr old it was fun to remember being 6), shoot off bottle rockets dodging (or aiming) at neighboring trees, or act like a snow queen of the world for 2 minutes.

As to not spend the evening drowning my sorrows trying to join in a virtual game of shang-hi or 31 via skype we decided to throw our own party.

We invited a few friends over to ring in the new year. It really was more of a celebrate the last evening of the old year . . . . . (really what parent wants their 2-year old up past midnight?) We had a bunch of fireworks and food - we basically just sat around talking, laughing and consoling the kids that were scared of the fireworks. Ours included. {Rylee was pretty scared of the big booms which made her extra snugly.}

sparklers Here's to long naps in 2011!!

After the crowd departed Michael and I lounged out on the couch when some other friends showed up! Even at 4 hours late, I was so excited!! :) They had a stay-in babysitter for the night and joined us for games, food, more games, and MORE fireworks. Not that it would have been the end of the world, but I'm glad we weren't up til midnight alone :)

Fireworks were basically a constant sound all night, but once midnight hit, it sounded like a war zone (at least I'm pretty sure that's what a war zone would sound like). We ran outside and there were fireworks EVERYWHERE!! It was AWESOME!! Our neighbors across from our backyard put on what can only be described as a 'grand finale' every direction you looked was fireworks. It was seriously amazing. We kept going from the front yard to the back yard and I had a constant smile on my face. What a fun way to start out the new year. Here's to 2011.

The Rest. . . . .

Michael and his siblings that were home this year (mocking the ladies for taking 1.2 million pictures of the grand kids in this very spot): After snowmobiling one day I begged to be taken to Starbucks. I love their Carmel Apple Spice (The non-chocolate lovers warm drink). I introduced the beverage to Michael's dad and he also became obsessed. Once we were all home he promptly searched the Internet for the recipe (we all know Starbucks isn't exactly cheap). At any rate, he found one and I didn't drink anything else for the rest of the week.

Christmas Eve is big at the Allsop house. That's the day they exchange sibling gifts, receive the "yearly" ornament, open all the presents under the tree and have their traditional lasagna dinner.

Ornament giving was one tradition that Michael and I both had and wanted to implement in our own family. Here is Rylee with her "baby's 1st Christmas" rattle ornament.
Ours is a snow girl that says "daughter"

All bundled up ready to go party at Great-Grandma B's
Michael's cousin Kelly was the only one that Rylee didn't scream at the first time she held her. (We were dealing with some serious separation anxiety)

It was a Christmas Miracle.

Go to bed Rylee so Santa can come!

He came!

bringing food, snacks, books, stuffed animals and a few toys. Nothing too crazy but blessed indeed.In case you couldn't tell from the video, she put EVERYTHING in her mouth. (at least she's got the purpose of the spoon down)
Santa also left Rylee the my pal Violet dog.

"Really Dad? Its for ME??!! "
It's actually really cute, it says (and spells) her name, sings songs, counts, etc. She snuggled with it as we drove home.

On our way home there was a fair amount of fog and a bit of snow off and on (it never really stuck to the ground but was in the air). We stopped to get gas and got a better look how the snow/ice stuck to the car. We thought it was pretty cool looking, and so did the McDonald's Drive Thru employee.

We had a wonderful "Parent's First Christmas"

(a spoiled one at that)

We hope yours was great too!

Cousins

Watching cousins interact has always been a fun thing for me. (my oldest nephew turned 16 last month . . . . whoa!) I'm here to say its a million times sweeter when they are interacting with your own child.

The Allsop grandchildren: It was incredibly cute watching the older boys play (the girls basically just stared at one another) with Rylee, or get mad at her saying "NO Rylee!" when she would empty the dump truck of the cars he clearly wanted to be full . . . . over and over again while I watched and laughed (sorry dude). Or scare her because it would make her smile, endless tickles, and basically putting up with her stealing toys and turning around so they'd be "out of reach".

It was also incredibly sweet to hear of cousins getting excited to pick out toys for her, or tell others she is her sister that lives in Texas, lend her clothes and basically ask what 'tricks' she learned and how she's doing.

We love living here, but being so far from family is difficult - some days are harder than others.

white stuff

I suppose it was fitting for Rylee's first Chirstmas to be a white one.

Thankfully, the weather was nice enough (not "bitter", just cold) and by the time we stuffed the whole family in one room together I was wishing I'd packed more short-sleeved shirts.

Rylee is basically the result of a giant experiment, so we had to see what she'd think of the snow.

um, its cold.
Michael's dad got his hands on a couple snowmobiles and we were lucky enough to go out for a couple rides. We had a great time. Michael was a little nervous to let me drive, basing his fears off of previous experience with wave-runners. Not to worry, I'm a much "safer" driver in the snow. I loved the rows and rows of trees, the wild turkeys, pheasants and mostly getting out of the house TOGETHER.

on a trail
father and son.


We even took Rylee out for a little ride.

It was great to spend a week seeing and experiencing the snow, and then getting the heck out of there.

Rylee's 1st Christmas

Santa put a little camcorder in my stocking this year. Too bad he didn't leave a note to open that first (like before everything else was unwrapped) - I liked the surprise anyway :)

Hopefully my videography skills will improve with practice but here's a little Christmas montoge of Rylee opening and trying to eat some gifts. Since it was Christmas, we let her.

Rylee's 1st Christmas from tricia allsop on Vimeo.

Road Trip

We drove up to Wisconsin to spend Chrismas with Michael's family. Crazy? most definately. I was pretty nervous about the trip. More so than flying solo with Rylee last August, I dare say I was even more nervous than giving birth. Really? let me explain:
1. when the pain starts to kick in I have no "happy"-dural option
2. there isn't a professional that can "take-over" if need be.
3. if she screams the entire drive there is nothing I can do but let her scream. (no picking her up without adding an hour+ to the arrival time) and I'm stuck in a contained space with a screaming baby.
4. she's mobile and more independent every day
5. I was worried she'd hate being in her car seat from that moment on

Well, I'm pleased to announce she was a dream boat. We drove through the night (both ways) taking turns driving so she'd sleep. She was a bit better driving there than back, but was the best traveler out of the three of us.

I did spend a good chunk of the drive in the back seat- partially to pass around snacks/toys/books, partially to get more comfortable rest. Sadly we didn't use 80% of the toys or snacks I packed. Live and learn I guess.

Have I told you how much I love this mirror? best invention ever. And the sun in the eye trick just facilitates eye closing for naps. awesome.

Thankfully the roads were clear and I've turned into a big fan of audio books and the SA library. We all slept in this morning trying to recover from a fun vacation week. More on the trip and Rylee's 1st Christmas to follow.