Mom, More 'dem Hot Chi Peppers, Pweeeeeez!

Huh? What's that you say? Well, I just had to share this cute story real quick before it slips my ever-increasingly forgetful mind ...

This morning on the way to daycare, Riley began having a small meltdown as he decided he wanted his blankie and binkie and they were nowhere in sight. I did my usual explanation about how I know how much he loves those items, but they are for nigh-night and naptime only. Well, I'm sure you can envision how well that response was received!

So, I was growing impatient with his tantrum (as was Gage, he was screaming, "Riley! No No! Knock it off!") My sentiments exactly = )~ It was a little much to listen to at 7:40 in the morning! So, being the wonderful parent that I am, I decided to drown out Riley's pleadings for me to turn around with some music. Yeah, yeah, I know ... I'm a real mother-of-the-year candidate! Anyhow, my favorite station, Jack, was playing a music block, so this worked out nicely.

The next thing I know, both boys are swaying and be-bopping in their seats and having a grand ol' time! When the songs finished, Riley requested, "Mom, more dat, more dat!" I explained to him that the band was called Red Hot Chili Peppers, which brings us to the title of this post ... "Mom, More 'dem Hot Chi Peppers, Pweeeeeez!" Awwwe, I love my boys and I'm so proud they have such good taste in music! I'll have to stock some RHCP cd's in the car for future meltdown relief = )

Spoiled Rotten ... and loving it!

Well, the Christmas season has come and gone and it was nothing short of a success! We enjoyed good food and good company, and the boys got everything they could have ever wanted and definitely more than they had even dreamed of = ) Us adults didn't make out too bad, either!

Here's Riley and Gage in their new Dodge Viper courtesy of Gma & Gpa Soukup. Yes, the kids already have a cooler automobile than their parents!

I am happy to report, though, that the kids were equally as thrilled with the simple presents as they were with the big ones (we've got to enjoy that as long as we can!) Here our little artist, Gage, creates a masterpiece.

Riley enjoying his kaleidoscope.

We entertainingly -- not to be confused with skillfully -- played several rounds of Guitar Hero during our festivities. During this particular round, Riley actually beat the score my mother had posted earlier in the evening. Too funny! But, to good ol' mom's credit, she did redeem herself (albeit ever so slightly) later in the evening by beating her 2.75 year old grandson's score. Love ya mom = )

Riley & Pa Pa catching a football game.

Great-Grandma Galyardt, Gage, & Grandma Soukup letting the big breakfast settle.

Riley and Gage admiring the lighted Christmas wreath that my Grandpa Galyardt made from scratch several years ago. This was our 2nd Christmas without him and he was missed greatly. My Grandma was very happy to see his wreath lit up and the kids enjoying it. I am so thankful to have this decoration, not only for it's simple beauty, but also as a meaningful remembrance of someone who will always be close in my heart.

Well, that just about wraps up a pretty exciting 2008. Looking forward to what blessings 2009 will bring. We wish you a very Happy and Prosperous New Year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So Much Fun!

Well, we started off the weekend getting together with my cousin Mitch and his family. It was so good to see him, it's been way too long! The visit would have been a little nicer though if my rowdy children had not been strapped into car seats for 2.5 hours prior. After that, they were in no mood to sit still and be good in a restaurant (and I was in no mood to deal with their shenanigans!) Oh well, we all made the best of it and survived = ) Mitch even brought us back a bottle of spicy Saki from Japan. Can't wait to share it!!!!

The next day we headed to Corey's parents farm to have our Huber family Christmas celebration. We all had so much fun! Marilyn, as usual, went overboard and made more delicious food than any of us could finish ... although, we did give it a heck of a good try!!!! Riley and Gage really enjoyed hanging out with everyone as we do not get to see them as often as we would like. We have been looking at the pics from the weekend every day and the boys love to point out and shout the names of each person in the photo. Too cute! Here are some of our favorites:

Woo Hoo! We got Guitar Hero!!! If my blogs are not current, this ridiculously addictive game may be why! Although, Corey may not play with me much more if I keep whooping up on him so badly = )~

Riley got his very own camera! Way to go Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Jamie! He LOVES it and goes around "pitchering" everyone and everything!

Grandma Huber and Gage (with his "Dear Santa, I really TRIED this year, honest!" shirt on)

Riley opening his remote control car. I need to get video of this. The scenario goes something like this ... Riley starts playing with the car and drives it all over the house. Gage sees the car moving and chases it -- falling and tripping many times over -- until he catches it and giggles triumphantly. Riley rips the car away from him and it starts all over again = )

Gage and Paige, best of buddies. Gage really loves his big cousin, she does such a good job looking after him!

Gage and his laser gun. As if the gun doesn't make enough noise on it's own, he adds his own "shoot, shoot" sound effects to boot!

Cousin Hunter shooting Riley while he double shoots into the distance!

Then, not long after we arrived back in Lawrence, our awesome neighbors, The Scotts, brought over an amazing bounty of homemade cookies and candies. Delicious! We have, however, had to hide these yummies as Gage has turned into the Cookie Monster. Moving chairs and scaling drawer handles trying to reach the cookies after mom and dad have told him he has had enough. Really, a 1.5 year old does not need to eat 4+ cookies in one setting! That boy sure has a major sweet tooth! His brother Riley, on the other hand, cannot get enough cheese popcorn. We bought a large tin with a variety of cheddar cheese popcorn from Hunter to help support his boy scout troop. Well, the container is more than half gone already! If Riley spies it, he goes crazy until he is elbow deep in the stuff!!! It has been his snack of choice every night = )

Well, that's all for now. We're looking forward to celebrating Christmas Day with just the 4 of us, then the weekend with my family. Happy Holidays. Peace, Love, and Joy to you all!

2008 Photo Review - Merry Christmas!

A lot has happened over the past year -- the boys have grown and learned so much! Please enjoy our photo montage. Merry Christmas and Best Wishes from the Hubers!!!

Ups and downs and all-arounds ...

Ok, maybe that title doesn't make a whole lot of sense if taken strictly literally, but it is really a fitting description to our week and weekend. First off, my boys are like farm animals, however this time I'm not referring to them being little piggys or being born in a barn. I liken them to farm animals as I swear, they can foretell the changing of weather patterns days in advance. They have been absolutely insane the past few days. They have been constantly wanting to go outside and basically bouncing off of the walls (or furniture, or cabinets, or parents, or each other ... you get the idea.) I suppose it didn't help that there was also a full moon involved as well. Anyhow, they have sure kept life interesting.

Riley seriously seems to be learning a new word every other minute and he is doing so well with putting sentences together. I am so proud of him! Of course, the English language geek that I am, it is all I can do to not jump in and correct each little grammatical mistake. I just need to remember that the important thing is that he is talking and learning constantly and the rest will come. The big thing right now is confusing the pronouns I and my. For example, "Mommy, my do it." Do you think it's too much for me to be giving my 2.5 year old grammar lessons already? I mean, he has to learn sometime, why not get a jump start on it? Well, I'm doing my best and so is he ... so I guess, that's just going to have to do -- for now = )

Gage is also learning new words on a consistent basis, but mostly he is following the monkey see, monkey do pattern. He loves to repeat 2-3 word phrases ... unless, of course, you ask him to. Then you get his patented answer for most any scenario, "No." However, he has recently added, "I don't want to" to his arsenal of favorites. The funny thing is, he will usually go ahead and say what you want him to or do whatever task you request almost immediately after uttering this. He is a funny fellow.

Saturday we headed out to have new family pictures taken. I figured maybe all of you who read this blog might like a different set of mugs to greet you at the top of the page = )~ The morning was a breeze. Everyone ate well, took care of their digestive matters, and didn't put up any fights about getting dressed in the clothes mom picked out or getting their hair brushed out. I should've known that things were going too easy. As we arrived 10 minutes early for our appointment, we were informed they were running about 45 minutes behind schedule. Excuse me? That is like an eternity for a 1.5 & 2.5 year old. Luckily, this was at Sears, so instead of hanging out in the waiting room, we decided to peruse the store. Riley and Gage (well, and Corey, too to be honest) fell in love with a couple of $3000 riding mowers. Keep dreaming boys! Anyhow, "driving" all of the different mowers kept all my boys occupied for the majority of the wait time. I'm sure none of the salesmen in that department were sad to see us go, though. So, as we finally were able to start our session, 1 full hour and 15 minutes after we arrived, the kids had just about had enough and were ready to get the heck out of Dodge. The girl that was taking our pics was nice enough, but she was very young and you could definitely tell that she did not have kids. Corey and I were feeling pretty frustrated when we left, not to mention the kids were about to have a meltdown as it was now past lunchtime and pretty much naptime. We grabbed some fast food and the kids ate chicken nuggets and fries on the way home. Yeah, yeah, real healthy, I know. Gage was asleep in his seat by the time we pulled into the drive and Riley not much after. Then, our sweet neighbor girl, Sara, came over to watch the kids so Corey and I could finish up our shopping. Well, you know how much we loved that! But, thankfully, that chore is now complete.

Oh, so back to the pictures. Well, we obviously didn't have time to view the portraits before we left on Saturday, so I set an appointment up for Sunday afternoon to take care of that. I was really dreading it, because I was worried that none of them would be any good. Thankfully, I was wrong. There were several of the boys that turned out super cute and a couple of Corey and I together that we really liked. However, in each of the family pics, there's always a little something that is just too off for me to really be proud of them. However, there are a couple that Corey and I had some fairly hearty chuckles over! Here's a couple that have been cropped that should make you smile. I'll post the good ones later. I'm using some of them for our Christmas card, so I don't want to spoil the surprise!

Nice gums - you can see the light reflecting off of them! Oh and the lovely half-open eyes - I look like I'm half lit! What a wiener =)

The lovely one-eyed stare. The half-smirk with curled lip. That is hot! What's not to love? = )~

Ok, on to something truely cute. Sunday afternoon, Riley, Gage, and I prepared some holiday treats for family and friends. Here are a couple of our Rice Krispie masterpieces. It was all Gage could do to not stick his finger in the yummy confection - just look at that ornery smile = )

Well, I know there's a lot more I wanted to say, but that's about as much fun as I can recollect for now. Have a great week!

Twinkling Lights and Twinkling Stars

'Tis the season for holiday shopping. I know for most people this is a great source of enjoyment, but those who know me well, know that I am not much of a shopper. I like the idea of it and I love to give things to others, I just don't have the patience for all of the non-sense and rudeness that seems to come along this time of year from, I'm sure, otherwise reasonable people. Now, if I had the clout to have an entire store shut down for a couple hours like a famous rock star or movie star, then I could probably really get into the whole shopping experience. However, that is obviously not going to happen, so Saturday I decided to suck it up and brave the crowds for a little while. After hopping around a couple of places we ended up at Sam's Club in Topeka for a few necessities -- namely diapers and wipes. You can get 176 Huggies diapers for around $35.00. I know this probably sounds like a lot, but with our super-poopers that amount won't even last a month between our house and daycare. Anyhow, we can't stop in that store without Corey getting his enormous vat of nacho cheese, a jumbo-sized jar of jalapeno peppers, and a humongous box of tortilla chips. It is ridiculous. The only thing more ridiculous than purchasing these items is the fact that he will consume every last bit of it in less than a month and not gain an ounce. The man has a serious hankering for nachos. Uggh! I love Corey, but I am seriously, insanely jealous of his metabolism and a bit flustered by his ambivalence to how just one little serving of his beloved snack would immediately add 2 inches and a couple of dimples to my derriere. I mention this, because as he is devouring his nacho mountains, he never fails to inquire if I would like some. What? Remember me, honey? I'm dieting!!!! Oh well, he loves me regardless of my flaws, so I should just be happy with that and quit whining, right? Ok, done ... for now.

So anyhow, after shopping we stopped by Red Lobster for a bite to eat (so much for that diet,) then headed out to the Winter Wonderland light display at Lake Shawnee just outside of Topeka. It was really pretty cool. It's a drive-thru park with hundreds of lighted Christmas displays in varying themes. I tried to take a couple of pictures, but they are a little blurred and really don't do the place justice. The boys were in awe! I wish I could have tape recorded all of their shouted and excited phrases. There were tons of "oooooh's" and "aaaaaaah's" and "looks" but my personal favorite was, "Look, those deer, they're, they're, they're ... kicking!" (Riley's utterance upon viewing a light display of Santa's reindeer in flight pulling his sleigh) " Upon leaving, however, poor Riley's little heart got broken. He did NOT want to leave. He cried and cried wanting to go back and see more. We might have obliged him if the line to get in didn't have about a 30 minute wait. Luckily time did heal his distressed little soul about the time we arrived at Lawrence's city limits. Yes, it was a long drive, I will definitely have to give him earlier reminders next time so he can transition more easily for all of our sakes! = )

Finally, we'll leave you with a couple of videos. It is amazing to think that at this time last year, Riley could hardly talk and basically had to re-learn all the words he thought he knew because he had not been hearing correctly for most of his first year and a half. Now he sings and counts and says abc's and oftentimes just jibber jabbers and tells stories. Thank goodness for Jessica and all of her co-workers at Tiny-K for helping and guiding us! Anyhow, here is a video of him singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Of course, he sings it normal and perfect 20 times a day, but the minute I put a camera on him he gets all squirrely. Oh well, that's my boy! And, of course, anything big brother does, little bro needs to do, too. So you are also getting treated to crazy, can't sit still, monkey-boy Gage's rendition as well ... not bad for a 1 1/2 year old, though = )