January...

This is the cutest, tiniest nativity set. I had it up on the mantel. They're about 3/4" high.


Eric and I were at Kroger and walked by the clearance Christmas items. Eric spotted the bears and picked this one out. We (I) named him Ginger Bear. Not a bad buy for $2.50.

My parents left on the 3rd for a three week cruise around South America. As usual, I stop in to check on things, water the plants and Paul feeds the birds. I stopped in on the 17th, opened the door from the garage and heard this noise. Thinking "what the heck?" I walk into the kitchen and there is a stream of water coming from a big crack in the ceiling. I called Paul and told him, I went home (Eric was sleeping), Paul went over and shut off the water. I also called David, who drove across town to check on damages and helped with some clean up, pulling down part of the ceiling and whatever else the guys needed to do. Due to the below zero temperatures we had and the furnace running out of oil, a water pipe had busted. Paul and I did whatever we could to get things repaired and the insurance company informed and claims started. Needless to say, I know the news of what happened to their house was not what they wanted to hear when David, Eric and I picked my parents up from the airport on Sunday. But the furnace was repaired, Paul fixed the pipe, "super" fans and a dehumidifier were running in the kitchen and basement to dry things out, oil was in the tank and I had washed a ton of laundry that got soaked in basement. So, here you can see the hole, which is bigger now, in the kitchen and the rust in the furnace where water ran into it.

David, Paul, Eric and I went to Buca di Beppo for my birthday. Usually we go to the Boathouse, but my parents decided to take a trip instead, so we'll save that for a later date. But we enjoyed a family style meal of bread, calamari, pizza, a baked pasta dish, chicken dish and dessert. Because it was my birthday, I got a free wedge of red velvet cake, which I took home. I also had an on-line coupon, also for my birthday, for a free dessert. I wanted the apple torte, but they were out of vanilla gelato, so I settled for cheesecake. This was also shared by all, well because I sure as heck was not eating a $9 huge hunk of cheesecake by myself! And I also got a $10 gift card. It was all good!

Here's Eric being cute...

Munching on bread...

Having his picture taken with mommy...

Giving birthday hugs to mommy. He just kept giving me hugs, it was so cute. Didn't get a picture of him sticking his finger up my nose. Maybe that's for the better!

We had our first real snowfall today. The rest have been like one, maybe two inchers, not enough to cover the grass. After his nap, we were able to take Eric out. Here he is giggling as we were trying to make a snow angel. It didn't come out too good, by this time it was sleeting and the snow was "crunchy."

He's walking around in the cul-de-sac. Of course, walking in the deepest parts and falling down.

Time to go inside....

And a video of Eric as he tries to make his way through the cold, wet, white stuff...

Info...

This isn't a real post. I just wanted to point out something I discovered. Maybe some of you already know and I'm just behind times, which wouldn't be anything new, HA! So, anyway, if you click on a picture, lo and behold...ya get a nice big one to look at and enjoy! Then just go back to return to the blog.

Hopefully I'll get something new on here soon.

Christmas in Virginia

I have to go back and include our short trip to Virginia to see Paul's family for Christmas. The what is normally a six hour trip turned into a nearly nine hour one. It was snowing when we left, Paul had to stop and buy a new wiper blade, then the snow turned to sleet...freezing rain...and then all rain. The bridge over the Ohio that we take was closed into Huntington, WV. It took 20 minutes to be able to turn around and about another half hour to go over another bridge and drive through Huntington and back to the highway. The rest of the trip wasn't too bad. Eric was very good until the last hour. He was tired and cranky after being cooped up for so long and it was past bedtime by the time we arrived.

We met up with Paul's Uncle Tom for a short visit over coffee and Coke at Hardee's. Later we had lunch with Paul's sister, Connie. Christmas is always at Connie's, dinner and then gifts. I gave her a break this year and fixed dinner. So, we had baked ziti (with LaRosa's pasta sauce), garlic bread, salad an a veggie platter. Connie put out a bunch of peanut butter balls, yum! Now, if this was Ohio and dipped properly, they would have been Buckeyes.

Eric got noisy toys, thanks all! Also a cute Army,cammy jacket with his name on the back. Because ya know living close my family, it's all Navy around here.

Pictures...sorry Alex, I didn't get any good ones of you!

John (Paul's brother-in-law), Belle and Connie (Paul's sisters), Paul or Papa (Paul's dad)

Belle and Connie

The Sittin' Spin is now musical! Very loud music! It's revenge towards your sibling by giving their child noisy toys. We rotate them out of "hiding." Eric can go around and have all the toys with sounds playing at the same time. Needless to say it's chaos.

Eric and Vanasa (Paul's aunt)

Connie and Paul


Eric, Bruno and John

Hailey, Belle and Eric

Bruno

Hailey, Eric, Connie, Paul

Eric and Papa

Other December pictures and happenings...

Going back and looking over what else happened in December, there are only a few things. Christmas with Paul's family is another post. We celebrated Eric's 1st "Gotcha Day" anniversary on the 20th. It was a year since Eric's adoption was finalized and officially became ours, even though he was ours since the day we first laid eyes on him. Paul was out of town, so I was just going to take Eric to one of the two restaurants went to that day. I opted for LaRosa's, since I didn't feel like driving to Kentucky to get to Joe's Crab Shack. When David heard what I was doing he invited himself and mom along. No problem, especially since David ended up paying, thanks bro!

Eric didn't eat very much of the fruit I brought for him, nor the spaghetti that was ordered for him. Anything off of other plates, especially Uncle David's, sure. He loves bread, so the bread sticks were a hit. Uncle David's sausage hoggie, including the green pepper, cheese, lettuce and whatever else was on it. He was hilarious with the pickle. Don't mess with his pickle! He held onto that thing for dear life. He had a hard time eating it. David was able to eat most it, kept picking pieces off. Next year, we'll do a little more with him. Make it a special day.

On to some of his antics...at my parents, (yes I spend a lot of time there, especially around holidays and when they have visitors) Eric climbed onto the love seat, with the help of David's laptop computer case. He proceeded to take anything on the love seat and the vicinity, and shove it behind the love seat. Not sure how much he crammed back there. But he was up and down gathering things.

Eric has been taught a couple of sign language signs, like eat, drink, more, all done and please (a couple are his adaptation of them). One night, while sitting on Grandpa's lap at dinner, he signed drink and then grabbed a napkin and held it up under his chin. Dad didn't catch it, mom and I laughed. When we are in the family room, if he's mooching a drink off of one us, we always use a cloth of some sort as a "bib." So, we are always holding a cloth under his chin, in case of dribbling. Can't say he doesn't pay attention!

Eric loves cell phones. He now has my old one, Paul's old one plus an old one of David's. He prefers one that's operational, but that doesn't happen often. At the family Christmas gathering, Eric had Paul's phone and was "talking" into it. This was a first. He usually just holds it up and we say"hello," he doesn't say anything. He was so cute walking around, talking into the phone, then close it like he was done with his call. David would called Paul's phone, Eric would either open it and then close it right away or hold it up to his ear and the close it. Not sure if he ever heard David on the other end. It was cute. My dad should have gotten a video of it.

Here are some more December pictures starting with Lucifer and his "bling"...


Hard to see, but Eric is pointing out a Tigger ornament....

Children's Hospital Outpatient Eastgate, where I take Eric for speech therapy, has a Santa Claus, for one evening for an hour, every year, available for picture taking and then the kids also get a small gift. That's where the picture for last year's Christmas card was taken. It's in the waiting room, so the background isn't the best. I try to get as much of the Christmas tree in the background as I can. I haven't seen the pictures dad took. Maybe he got Eric with a smile, but he loves his Beanie Baby puppy, Fetch. The one of the three of us is good.

Christmas 2008

On Christmas morning I awoke to the sound of Eric in the other bedroom, with Paul, at my parent's. I quietly got up and listened at the door, daddy was asking if they could sleep for another 2 hours. Ha! Eric had a couple of surprises from Santa...a new tricycle (a little big yet) and a new chair.

Uncle David had to work, but he got off earlier than he was going to originally. So, we were able to have Christmas dinner and then open all our "loot" after.

Here's the little emperor on his throne Christmas night at home...

And here are the kitties with their presents, catnip bags...

Monster

Lucifer

Kalamazoo

And finally, daddy taking Eric for a spin.