Christmas - take 3

Yeah!! I'm finally getting around to posting about Christmas now that January is almost over. (There are 3 additional posts about Christmas below this one)

It was Eliza's first Christmas. Her parents were probably a bit more excited about it than she was, but I think she had fun nonetheless. We had the privilege of celebrating Christmas three times this year (2011). We celebrated the real Christmas day in Erda, Ut with the Richards, another Christmas in Evanston, Wy with the Porters, and a 3rd Christmas (on January 6) in Lansdale, Pa with just the three of us. It is actually traditional in Spain to celebrate Christmas on January 8th, a day referred to as Three Kings Day, and we thought about waiting until then. However, we were too excited about what Santa Claus brought to Eliza.

Although it is always fun to travel and visit with family, it is also nice to return home. After a long flight, in which Eliza did well once again, we finally made it back to Pennsylvania on Jan. 4th. One of the benefits of marrying a professor is we get a long Christmas break

Baby Cakes opening presents.



She was super excited about the boxes, even though she didn't really know what was going on.





Of course she enjoyed the wrapping paper too.


She got some fun new toys which she enjoys playing with. A post about play time is coming soon.




Bruce and I both got new suits. Look how handsome Bruce is in his new pin stripped suit.



I was so surprised but really excited after I opened these babies. Aren't they the rockinest pajamas. Baby Cakes was just as excited as I was about these. After she saw my reaction, she squealed and shrieked with delight, flailed her arms and legs with enthusiasm, and giggled uncontrollably.


I was joking with Bruce that I thought it would be awesome to have some leopard printed footie pajamas. Little did I know that he would take me up on that thought and search on the Internet until he found them. Although pink is not my favorite color, it's the only leopard print he could find, and I am definitely not complaining. After I opened them, I wanted to wear them everywhere. Lucky for me they came with a tag that clearly outlined inappropriate uses of footed pajamas. They read:
- job interviews - first date - hot yoga
- spacesuit -hazmat outfit -bathing suit
- bridesmaid's gown - arraignment - funerals (or pall bearer)
-giving a lecture - sanity hearing - runway shows
- black tie events - dinner at your boss' house
- midwife - when doing the trapeze
- bullfighting - appearance in a swimsuit issue
- hula hoop demonstration -guarding Buckingham palace
- surfing -performing surgery - board meeting
- scuba diving -parole hearing - exotic dancing (darn!)
- character witness - Olympic level ice dancing
- receiving Nobel Prize (guess I'll need to get a new outfit for that)
- defending your thesis - race driver uniform - sky diving
- Ren Faire costume - to the Opera - armed robbery
- first tenor in the chorus of Les Mis
- to meet your fiancee's parents for the 1st time
- the female lead in Swan Lake - your 2nd appearance on American Idol
- presidential debates - jury duty - audience with the Pope
- piano recital - Shakespearean audition
- your 1st cotillion - traffic cop - The Tour de France
- psychotherapy - especially if you are the doctor
- when proposing marriage - trying to get a loan
- high tea - tai chi competitions

We spent the day in usual B&B Richards family fashion - eating cinnamon rolls and watching Christmas movies. We watched some new ones this year - the classic Home Alone and Home Alone 2 Lost in New York. Bruce gave them to me for Christmas.
Mostly we enjoyed being together, and we're grateful that Eliza is in our family and got to spend Christmas with us. Family togetherness is the most fun of Christmas. Who says you can't celebrate Christmas everyday?

Christmas - take 2

The Second week of our travels out west were spent with my side of the family. It was neat to have all of my sibilings, neices, and nephews together since that hasn't happened in a long time. We were also able to get some professional pictures taken of our family which hasn't happened since my brother left on his mission back in August of 2002. I think it was about time. For some reason we didn't many pictures while there, but we did have a lot of fun playing games and socializing.

Christmas at the Porters house happened on Tuesday, December 27th. After posing for the camera, eating a dinner of Mexican burgers (my dad's new creation), snacking on Rachel's homemade treats, we opened presents. Christmas is always fun, but it becomes even more fun to see the delight and excitment of a child. My two neices, Addison and Lacey, wanted to open every single present. They didn't wait to even see what they got before tearing into the next one. After all the presents were opened, then they remembered that they got to play with their new things.


Poor Baby Cakes was sick, sick, sick on this Christmas. She was coughing, had a runny nose, and a fever. The poor girl didn't crack a smile all day; she didn't even make a peep: no crying, no talking, nothing. She would nap for hours at a time, wake up long enough to eat, and after sitting on someone's lap (just sitting there staring off into space), she would fall asleep.


She was such a sweetie and a trooper through the day since she wasn't fussy at all. I just felt so bad for her because I knew she wasn't her normal happy, over excited about everything self. It was still a good day despite her sickness and so nice to spend it with my entire family.

Here is a "lovely" picture of me and nephew baby Nathan. (Appearance doesn't count on Christmas)



As always "Prince" Bruce is a good sport with all I put him through.


Baby Cakes is ready to go outside

When she felt better a couple of days later, Baby cakes enjoyed sitting on grandma's lap:


Watching football, basketball, and more football with grandpa:



Playing with grandma's toys: (I love this picture)


She also got to visit great grandpa Porter for the first time:


She played with great grandma Porter:


And we took a four generation photo:


She played cards with grandpa


Played with grandpa's face:


And she visited g-ma and g-pa Erickson. (I'm not sure why I didn't get one with g-ma??? Sorry)


Before we came home, we also visited my friend Louise who calls herself Grandma Weezie.

Bruce and I were joking that Eliza met so many grandma's and grandpa's that she is going to think anyone who is not mommy or daddy must be called grandma. Thanks everyone for the wonderful Christmas vacation.

Christmas - take 1

Early in the morning on December 19th, Eliza boarded an airplane for the third time in her life to travel to Utah for Christmas. I always worry about airplane travel. It seems like there are so many things that usually go wrong. If for some bizarre reason, Eliza totally has a meltdown, I am limited in what I can do. Lucky for me, she did great - as usual. She was so happy and smiley in the waiting area.


Just as I stood up to board the plane, she laid her head down on my shoulder and promptly fell asleep - no crying, no struggling, nothing - just instant sleep. After she woke up and ate, she played with the pull down trays for a little while. But for some reason, she wouldn't take a turn sitting on daddy's lap. Then she buried her face into the crook of my arm. When I moved my arm to see what she was doing, I noticed that she was sound asleep, with her belly across my legs and her face buried in the crook of my arm. I didn't think she was very comfortable, but when I tried to move her to a different position, she moved right back to where she was. She woke up as we were getting ready to land. What a traveler!! The little boys sitting behind us kept her very entertained until we left the plane. (Random note: this same family was on our return flight as well.)

The first week of our vacation we spent in Utah with the Richards family. We did so many fun things. Eliza was just slightly overwhelmed by the number of people she met, and the amount of constant attention she received. Of course, she didn't mind the attention; I worried that she would be so bored when we got back. We had a jam packed week full of fun activities like:

Celebrating Luke's 17th birthday who Eliza took to really well.

She just snuggled right in and fell asleep.

Eating at Bruce's favorite restaurant, Robintino's, courtesy of grandma and grandpa Smith.

Eliza really wanted to share her daddy's beloved Robintino's pizza and lasagna. Dad settled for a taste of water from his glass instead.

Visiting temple square with our friends from Illinois, the Jacks.

Then playing games at Kaylyn's parents house.

Playing ping pong on the kitchen table.


Wearing our traditional Christmas pajama pants on the 23rd. We didn't sleep under the Christmas tree this year and watch Christmas movies all night like we usually do. We kind of wanted to make sure Eliza actually slept that night.


Hanging out with cousins.

Baby Ezra (6 months older) and Baby Lillie (10 days younger)


Cousin Linda - soon to be 5 years old.

Playing with grandma who took her Eliza watching responsibilities very seriously.


Eating a breakfast of real Fruit Loops Christmas morning. (No one opens presents until everyone has eaten breakfast)


Standing in line youngest to oldest to tromp into the living room and see the Christmas tree full of presents. (Bruce hasn't been at the front of the line in 30 years - what a treat)


Opening presents - of course.

Don't ask me why I have that look on my face. Bad timing with the camera I guess.


Typical for most babies, Eliza loved playing with the wrapping paper. She was more interested in that then what was actually inside the paper.

Playing with new toys.


Falling asleep in the middle of opening presents because all the excitement was a bit too much.

She was sucking on the top of my DVD. When I felt her relax, I looked down to see that she zonked out on my lap. It made it hard for her to open the rest of her presents.

After the Euphoria of everything wore off, it got the best of all of us.


Wearing the Christmas dress I sewed to the one hour sacrament meeting full of wonderful music and words of Christ. The perfect Christmas program.




Drinking hot chocolate after church.


And enjoying a bath in grandma's jetted tub.

When we first put her in the big tub, she screamed at the top of her lungs the first three times we tried bathing her. After that, I think she finally realized that it was just a big bathtub, and she absolutely loved it. She kicked, squealed, and made a huge mess of the bathroom.

Not pictured (I'm not sure why):
Dinner and games with my former roommate Vernie and her family.
Lunch and visit with another former roommate Roni and her two girls.
The large family picture of all the Richards clan.
A temple trip to Bountiful with grandma Smith.
A visit to Lewiston/Logan to see Neal, Riki, Rachel, and Angeline.
A trip to Orem to see Blake, Suzanne, and Ezra and their new house.
A visit to grandma Smith's house (Christmas afternoon) to see cousins, aunts, uncles, etc
Grandpa Richards because he had strep throat on Christmas. :(

I liked that Christmas was on a Sunday. It helped us remember the reason we actually celebrate the season; although we had to break our usual tradition of wearing pajamas and playing games all day long.
We were grateful that we were able to spend Eliza's first Christmas with family, and hope we can spend more Christmases with them. May we have the Christmas spirit all year long.

Ward Christmas Party

On December 17th, we had our ward Christmas party. It seems like some people have certain expectations that a ward Christmas party should meet. Some people expect ham and funeral potatoes to be served. Others want something nontraditional. Some expect Santa Claus to pay a visit; whilst others think it should focus more on Christ. In my opinion, a ward party should entice the members of the ward to get to know one another in a less sacred setting and share talents. That is exactly what our ward Christmas party did this year. (I guess it was actually last year)


before we left for the party

The Saturday before the ward Christmas party, auxiliary leaders and elders quorum members went to the homes of all the less active and nonactive members of our ward with a plate of cookies and a paper and personal invitation to attend the party.
It was a brilliant idea, and it actually brought out a lot of people. The gym was packed with people - I never knew our ward was that big.

The theme this year was Christmas around the world. Each table was decorated with artifacts from various countries around the world. After the traditional dinner of ham and funeral potatoes, different groups of people sang Christmas songs from various foreign countries. This included an amazing piano performance from a 10 year old Korean boy, and Rudolph the red nosed reindeer in Korean.

After the performances, the bishopric members dressed up as the three wise men and retold the Christmas story. We all joined in singing Silent Night, then Jingle Bells. At the end of Jingle Bells, Santa Claus made his appearance. I was really impressed with how quickly everyone moved through the line. Baby cakes and I were at the end, but we only waited for 15 minutes. Unlike the two babies before her, Eliza didn't mind Santa Claus at all. She didn't smile, but she didn't scream. She seemed content. It could have been because she was dressed as Santa's little helper.

New Tricks

In the long time it's been since I have posted, Eliza has learned some new tricks.




One of her favorite things to do is suck on her toes. She especially likes her big toe. During a diaper change or bath time, her toes go instantly to her mouth. When she is sitting on my lap, she will bend over until her mouth can reach her toes. If she has socks on, she has learned how to pull them off in order to access her toes. In all actuality, she has been doing this for the greater part of two months. (I'm just slow at documenting things).



She can also roll over super well. When we put her on her stomach, it is almost instantaneous. It takes her a bit longer to roll from back to stomach, but she certainly can do it - quite regularly too. The other afternoon, she rolled across the living room. She has finally figured out that if she wants something that is out of her immediate reach, she can still get to it by rolling over. What a cutie.





She loves to blow raspberries - it's so cute when she does it too. Her tongue comes out, she squeals with delight, then blows some raspberries. Adorable.


Last but not least, she can pretty much sit up on her own. She still topples occasionally so I never leave her alone when she is sitting. She topples when there is something just out of her reach that she wants.



Aren't these pictures so cute. Eliza and daddy reading scriptures together as part of the regular morning routine. So Cute!