nothing runs like a Deere.

Beme and Grandaddy got P a mini Gator for Christmas. Just like Grandaddy's. Only smaller. And minus the horn. And made mostly of plastic. Besides those things, it is just like Grandaddy's. And P loves it.



The bed even lifts up like a real Deere.



I'm sure this Gator will provide as many years of fun as Grandaddy's big Gator has, cause nothing runs like a Deere.

heavenly peace.

christmas day.

Santa was good to P this year. Really, really good. Delphineus must have given Santa a good report.

Racing cars


A very realistic tool bench with lots of power tools.


My favorite toy of the year, a classic jack-in-the-box.


Santa even brought P a bright and shiny potty. He seems to already have this potty thing down pat. I wonder who he learned this from....


An art easel with all of the essentials.


And Santa brought P his very own tricycle.


P also got tons and tons of cool toys and clothes from us, grandparents, and extended family. He has enough toys to last him until next Christmas. I think we are going to hide some in the closet and reintroduce them throughout the year. He will never know the difference.

We had a fabulous Christmas weekend spent with our wonderful families. We are so blessed to have such amazing people in our lives. We spent Christmas Eve with my cousins, sister, aunt and uncle, and my mom and dad. Rachel's health continues to improve. It is amazing to see God's work in her. We went to the candlelight Christmas Eve service at Rachel's church, which never fails to bring me to tears, and then we headed over to Douglasville to spend the evening with my sister and brother-in-law. Everyone came over Christmas morning to see what Santa brought P for Christmas, then we headed to my in-laws' for more feasting and presents. Then we played in the snow all day today. More on our snow fun coming soon. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

goodbyes.

We have said our goodbyes to our beloved elf, Delphineus. He has been a good elf. He has watched P's every move throughout this holiday season and reported back to Santa himself about P's good behavior. He has been P's friend, foe, and confidant. We will miss Delph immensely. But it is time for Delph to take a vacation. A vacation to the North Pole. A vacation from our wild and crazy P. We baked cookies for Santa. And poured him a big cup of milk. And we said our goodbyes to Delphineus.


Delphineus, you will be missed. We already look forward to your return in 2010.

just because.

I am posting this just because. No reason, really. Just because. Maybe because It's December 24th and I've only posted a handful of times this month. Or maybe just because it's Christmas Eve and I am awake at 1:40 am wrapping presents. Or maybe just because I love this hat on P.

I just love this picture in black and white.


Or is it better in color? I'll post both. Just because.



And here's one more picture for your Christmas Eve enjoyment. Just because I love you.


Merry Christmas Eve to all of my wonderful family, friends, and blog readers!

gingerbread house.

P and I took a little time out of our day to make our very first gingerbread house together. I liked the bonding time with just me and my sweet boy. P liked the candy and frosting.

We bought a kit that contained all of the needed building materials for our cute and edible abode. I just knew that P's attention span wouldn't make it to the decorating part if we had to build the house, too.


I had to repeatedly explain to P that gingerbread houses are made of cookies, icing, and candy. I felt like Willy Wonka. "....almost everything you'll see is eatable, edible, I mean, you can eat almost everything." (For some reason, I can recite that movie line by line.) Once it clicked in P's little brain that the house was a cookie, there was no stopping him. I constructed. P ate.


I quickly snapped some pictures of our my creation, before P ate it for lunch.



I even found some coconut in the pantry to use as snow. Gosh, I'm a crafty one these days.


Even if P wasn't entirely into decorating, we are both quite proud of our cookie condo.

the chosen one.

I have my laptop back. And all of the files. Some genius computer whiz fixed it right up. And saved all of my files. I cannot thank her enough. (I've never met a female computer whiz. Really, I haven't. Most females I know are good at using a computer. And these same females are just as good at ruining a computer.) Anyway, I cannot thank the female that fixed my computer enough. She restored my files. And my sanity. So now I am busy getting all of my files off of the old computer and onto my new one. This has been a very time consuming task. And I've just barely scratched the surface.

Amidst all of this year's holiday bustle, I actually managed to get my Christmas cards mailed before New Year's Day. (I told you I was an overachiever.) I plan on scanning the actual Christmas card and uploading it to my blog, but like many other plans I scheme up, it's probably never going to happen. So, I wanted to post the picture. The one that made the final cut for this year's Christmas card.


If you read this blog and I don't have your address, please send it to me at rice.rebeccak@gmail.com. I would love to add you to our Christmas card list. The more the merrier.

Merry Christmas everyone.
Love,
The Rices

the good santa.

Ok folks, I'm back in business. The hard drive is at the lab being poked and prodded for any salvageable files. And I'm on my brand new, awesome, make you wanna kiss your husband, computer. Thank you so much, Taylor. Merry early Christmas to me. So if I wasn't behind before the big computer crash, I'm definitely behind now. I will post as much as possible this week. And as soon as I get those files off of my deceased laptop, I will be posting even more. So, get ready for picture overload.

On Saturday, P had his much anticipated visit with Santa. And it was not a visit with just any Santa. It was a visit with the good Santa. This Santa is so good and so popular, I had to stay up 'til 3am on a night in early October to book a reservation for P to see this good Santa. Yes, I said 3am. And, yes, I said early October. I also had to pay fifteen dollars just to make the reservation. This Santa must be the real one. The one from the North Pole. The one with all of the elves and reindeer. I am certain he's the real deal. What do you think?


He's so pretty, isn't he? So, I've told you about the trial runs building up to this visit with the good Santa. My P is a shy one around strangers. I wanted to try everything possible to prepare him for his visit to prevent a freakout or a meltdown. I definitely didn't want Santa to leave my child traumatized or scarred for life. I got a little nervous while we were standing in line. And P got very excited.



And then it was our turn. The big moment had arrived. And I felt a little nauseated.

P was a little hesitant at first.


Santa was so calm and patient. P warmed up a little.


And then P warmed up a lot. Enough to have a conversation with Santa.


And then he was good. He sat on Santa's lap and didn't shed a single tear. We even got a smile or two for the professional pictures.


And then we ate candy canes and tossed coins in the fountain.


It was a good day with the good Santa. P keeps asking to go back. I think we will have to wait 'til next year to see the good Santa again. I think his schedule is a little full.

real tears.

Real tears were shed by me on Wednesday. And again today. My computer has died. Crashed. Passed away. Kicked the bucket. However you put it, the hard drive is no more. Thank goodness I had backed up most of my pictures to an external drive. Otherwise, I would really be one devastated girl. Even though my pictures have been salvaged, I am still sad. My camera has six days worth of great pictures that are begging to be blogged. And this old clunker of a laptop that I am using for the time being has no business dealing with Photoshop. Or even photos, for that matter. So, I am taking a bit of a vacation from blogging, at least until I can figure out an alternative. Stay tuned. And rest in peace, old HP Pavilion. Rest in peace. You were a good friend.

the reason for the season.

Every Christmas season, I promise myself I will stay on top of things. I chant daily, "I will not get behind, I will not get behind". Yet, somehow, each and every Christmas season, I still manage to fall behind. For example, I'm nowhere close to completing my Christmas shopping, I've yet to send out Christmas cards, and I still have not hung the outside wreaths on the windows. But my sweet twenty month old serves as a reminder that those things are not important this holiday season. His sweet innocence and joy reminds me of the true reason for the season.


So, if you do not receive a Christmas card this year, please don't be a hater. I truly meant well. But, being the perfectionist that I am, I will try my best to get those in the mail before Christmas Eve. Or maybe I should just send out New Year's cards....

catching up.

Last week was insanely busy. And along with the busyness came lack of free time, therefore, lack of blogging. So, sort of like Fridays in elementary school, this week will be deemed catch up week. (That one's for you, Jenny.) The Gala is finally over. And it went well. Look for a post on the big event later this week. Look for lots of posts this week. So much time, and so little to do! Strike that, reverse it. (Name that movie....)

Last week we headed to Chevy's Diner, a local restaurant, for the tapping party and kick off of Jailhouse Brewery's Slammer Wheat beer. We had a great time hanging out with family and friends while enjoying cold, yummy, and local, brewskies. Taylor's brother, Blake, helped renovate the old jailhouse in Hampton for the founder of Jailhouse Brewery, and has since become one of two distributors for the company. They are energetic guys with a fabulous plan. We wish them much success with their craft beer launch. Support your locals. Find Jailhouse on tap at your local eateries and try them out. You won't be disappointed. (And there's my plug.)

Check out their awesome tap. Neil, the nice owner of Chevy's, let me get an up close look.


Join Jailhouse Brewery's Facebook fan page here or check out their website here. Glenn, Blake, and Chad are great guys. Watch for new tapping parties in the near future and come out and meet the gang.

brrrrrrrr.

All bundled up and ready for a wagon ride. He's such a sweet boy.

soft landing.

With this rainy, cold weather that's moving through, I'm daydreaming about being at the beach. So, I dug deep into my hard drive to find some pictures from our trip in October that will take me there. I can already feel the warm breeze and sand between my toes....

I loved this bright, aqua beach chair for its colorfulness and originality. P loved it for its sturdiness and height.





He must have jumped a hundred times. At least the sand provided a soft landing.

Is it Spring yet? I'm not much of a blustery, cold, rainy weather kind of girl. So look for more beach posts in the near future. They take me back to a happier (and much warmer) time and place.

joy ride.

Taylor's vintage trike from his childhood is back in commission. Beme and Granddaddy have brushed away the dust, greased the wheels, and pumped up the tires in preparation for a second-generation rider. Look out, cause here comes P. And his daddy.





They move so fast, P's eyes water. Or maybe he's crying from laughing so hard. Either way, he is just too darn cute.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I was enjoying the time spent with family so much that I failed to take pictures. My belly is still full. And so is my heart. I have many blessings to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving. And Happy Black Friday to everyone. My 4am jaunt to Toys R' Us was definitely worth the effort.

hand turkeys.

I wanted to do a craft project with P for Thanksgiving. I know it's cliché, but we decided to make hand turkeys. P really got into it. I helped him do the tracing and the cutting and the gluing. And then I let him play with the glue and the markers. With the caps on, of course.





And here's the final product, minus eyes and a beak. The lady at Michael's failed to put the googly eyes in our bag. P was a little bummed. He kept opening the bag looking for the "gilly eyes". And there are no orange markers in our house. I didn't want our turkeys to have pink beaks, so they will go beakless until I can purchase more supplies.


Happy Thanksgiving to all. We are thankful for so many things. Happy twenty months, baby P!

good morning.

My very sweet husband let me sleep in a little on Sunday ('til 9am), and when I came downstairs, I had a lovely display of Mega Blocks built just.for.me. I have two very sweet and creative boys. They built a dog, garage, skyscraper, and a robot. Or maybe it's a frog. Either way, they are great.


My extra rest was much needed to gear up for this hectic week ahead. The Cancer Services Gala planning is in full swing. Thanksgiving. Visit from aunt "Ninny". And early morning black Friday best-day-of-the-year shopping. I better head to bed right now to rest up. Goodnight.

the pink pig.

The Pink Pig is already a holiday tradition for our family. Or, let's call it a pre-holiday tradition. We like to beat the crowd. We took P last year, and he was fascinated by the lights and colors. This year, he was thrilled by the experience. Even though we went before Thanksgiving, we still had to wait at least thirty minutes for our turn. P was so utterly excited, he didn't even mind waiting in line. He just kept chanting, "choo-choo", and pointed and stared at the pink "train".




After the Pink Pig, we headed over to Phipps for a dry run of our visit with Santa. We somehow managed to secure a highly coveted appointment with the "good" Santa at Phipps. (Yes, I'm one of those crazy mom's that stayed up 'til 2 am one night in early October to book our appointment.) We're a little worried about P's reaction to Santa, so we're making our best effort to slowly introduce P to the concept. We watched Santa from the second floor balcony and talked about sitting in Santa's lap, his reindeer, elves, and toys. P was mesmerized.


We think our first trial run went pretty well. We'll keep working on it. It was a great family weekend. A weekend to be thankful for.