Small Town Livin'

 Isn't it funny how as kids and teenagers you can't wait to get out of that small town?  You can't wait to see it in your rear view mirror as you hit the road to see the open world.  Then you have kids, and you realize that a semi-sheltered life in a small town is not such a bad place to grow up.  One of my favorite things about my small town is the traditions.  The sociable is one of those traditions. The children's sociable is basically a big talent show that the kids have to try out for.  I was in it a lot as a kid so it was so much fun to see my girls do it this year.

The above picture is of the whole group at try outs.  They did a dance to Splish- Splash and did a great job. 

Brielle Hope and their cousin Lexi

  I wasn't surprised at all when Brielle wanted to do it.  I was beyond surprised that Hope wanted too.  It was a lot of work.  Practice for try-outs just to see if they get to perform, then on the day they had to do 4 shows.  She was a trooper though and loved it. 

Cousins!  

Another reason I love my small town.  It is filled with family.  Both immediate and extended.  

Madison and Maggie(Both my cousins little girls) Lexi, Brielle, Hope

WOW! Rigdons Birthday!

I decided that since the month was almost over, I had better get pictures of our cute birthday boy up.  We wouldn't want our January birthday to over lap into February now would we.

 

On his actual birthday we celebrated here with an ice cream cake, a couple cousins, and presents.  He totally knew it was all for him and was so happy.  He didn't understand how to blow out the candles so we all blew them out for him, and then afterwards he blew.  He seemed a little afraid of the fire.  

 

 He loves any type of vehicle and calls them all cars.  

 He was a little overwhelmed with all the kids trying to do everything for him, but he just jumped from one present to the next.

 

 On Sunday I made him a cake and we went over to my Moms and celebrated our sweet boy some more.  He loved the cake, but he didn't even eat it.

 My favorite part was the stripes inside to look like the black and yellow road signs.

  It was fun to learn this new cake technique.

 

Rigdon at 2:

*Is very clingy.  He wants one of us to hold him almost all day.

*He loves to play with his sisters.  When they are home his clingy-ness lessens.

*Rigdon still doesn't talk a lot but he does say a few words:

ball, car, cold, hot, daddy, some form of sorry( he says it the same every time but I don't think anybody would know it was sorry) ba ba, poo-poo (points to his diaper and tells us), ow, UH- OH (I hear this a lot), NO!

*Rigdon loves to go bye bye.  Any time he sees somebody getting their coat he runs and gets his shoes (he can find matching pairs and everything) and coat.  Also if he hear me say "lets go".  He loves to ride with me to drop Brielle off at school.  He waves bye, and blows her kisses over and over.

* He LOVES shoes.  He is always stealing his cousin, Tates, shoes.  He also loves to put on mine and the girls.  His favorite seem to be boots that come up clear past his knee, or the church shoes that make tapping noises.  

*He is very particular with things.  Almost OCD.  He cries if his shoe isn't buckled right and we have to stop everything until its fixed.  He likes doors shut.  He spilled a little bit of milk the other day and ran and got a towel out of the drawer to clean it up.  He did the same thing when he spilled water on himself.  Josh had to wipe it off him a couple of times until he was satisfied he got it all.

*Recently he hasn't been sleeping well.  For awhile he would just cry and cry when we put him to bed.  I started trying different things and left the door open one night.  It was amazing the difference.  He has really hardly come out of his and for a couple weeks it was great.  Then he started waking up in the middle of the night and he would wander the halls and come knock on our door.  He has been sleeping worse than when he was a baby.  He slept through the night from 2 months on, and now we are getting paid back.

*Rigdon has a lot of passion and rage.  When he doesn't get what he wants he throws the biggest fit and hits and pulls hair and looks for anything he can to throw.  Most of the time he is really quick to say sorry, but his still spends a lot of time in time out.  He is a time out champ.

 

At walmart the other day.  He refused to sit in the cart.  Refused to let me hold him.  Refused to walk.  He just laid there in the middle of the floor saying "No!"  This was on day 3 of refusing to take a nap so I think the poor boy was exhausted.  Since then I am happy to report naps are back in session.  But on this day I just let him pout in the middle of walmart floor.

  Im doing Rigdons room right now (more pics to come) and when he saw his new bedding he fell in love.  I wasn't sure I was in love but he sealed the deal.  He was hugging it and laying on it.  I never knew a 2 year old boy would be so excited!

 

Happy Birthday my big 2 year old!

Our December

Why is that as kids December seems to crawl, but as adults it just buzzes by?  Our December has come and gone and we still have things that are on the to do list.

We had a very fun, full and exciting December.  

 

To start off the holiday season we had an elf arrive at our house.  She would return to the North Pole every night to tattle on the kids. The girls named her Quincy and they loved her so much that we had to start talking about what we were going to pray for before our family prayers because Quincy seemed to consume them.

 They loved to wake and find her new hiding spot.  Even
Rigdon loved to look for her.  These are a few favorites.

 This little guy continues to keep us hopping and laughing.  He is constantly on the go and always doing something fun.

 

He knocks on doors to let us know that he wants someone to come open it.  

 He also uses everything he can get his hands on and pretends like it is a gun...like a lego

 

and even a high heel

Hope got to bring Clifford home from preschool for the weekend and we had so much fun with him.

 

Everybody did!

 

This is what Rigdon does when I want him to do things that he doesn't want to do.  Like brush his teeth.  ( sorry for the blur of pictures, my camera broke and most of these were taken by my girls on my phone)

This poor girl has unfortunately had a lot of practice doing this.  Today we found out that she has strep throat for the third time in a month.  On antibiotics for 10 days, off for 3 days, REPEAT.  It has not been fun.

 

Boo for strep throat!

For family night Josh made gingerbread houses with the kids

Rigdon was mostly interested in eating it. He was really proud of himself for swiping a piece.

 And this made Hope really upset.

David and Ava

 

I love how Rigdon's eyes are locked trying to find another piece to eat.

 For some strange reason, the girls spent a lot of time in their swimming suits.  

 

 Santa Claus left a card with $50 in the girls stockings to go to build a bear.  They had a great time and it was fun watching them make their choices.

 Hope knew right away which dress she wanted for her Jeanette chipmunk.

 Brielle and her bear Cookie

 

 Hope and her chipmunk Jeanette

The girlies on christmas morning in their feety jammies.   They have wanted feety jammies for awhile and I thought they would hate them because they get so hot at night, but they LOVED them.

Rigdon was a little hesitant to tear the paper.  It was almost like he was afraid I would get mad at him, or he knew he was messing it up.  He seems to like things a certain way. 

 But once we got the paper off he was definitely MVP.  He was so cute and got so excited over everything.  He would clap and yell "yeah!" Then he would put his hands on his head, like he couldn't believe it.

This is what consumed most of our December.  Josh and I built this dollhouse for the girls for Christmas.  It took forever and we had a lot of late nights, including  staying up until 5:30 am on Christmas eve.  I was hoping the girls reaction would make it all worth it, but unfortunately they liked their feety jammies more.  The more time passes I think the more they like it. Hopefully it was all worth it.

 

I think the favorite part of the dollhouse is climbing in the top.

 We had a great Christmas and we have a great end of year planned.  I am so excited to see what the new year brings.