The Ritcheys at a Glance

Wow, talk about a crazy holiday schedule!  We've had something every night/weekend for two weeks!  This week was filled to the bring with love and pre Christmas goodness!  Monday we headed to our dear friends, Kevin and LeeAnn's house.  They rented a golf cart and we toured their neighborhood to see all the Christmas lights on the houses.  Their neighborhood is well known in Naples for having the best lights and each year it only seems to get better!

On Tuesday, us and the Michetti's grabbed a bite to eat and then headed to the Flesher's Farm up in Bonita Springs.  This family decorates their property top to bottom with lights.  There must have been a million lights.  They've been doing it since 1986, not for profit, just because they enjoy doing it.  They start putting up the lights in SEPTEMBER!

They had horses too, which the kids enjoyed seeing.  Pretty sure John pulled a muscle as a result of the horse!  LOL!  I can't look at this picture without laughing at John's face!

Charlie is a chocolate mess right now.  He fell down on Monday and busted his lip open and bruised his forehead.  On Tuesday at "school" he fell again and opened the same cut again.  He also scraped his nose.  And on Thursday he was running in the cul-de-sac and fell AGAIN and bonked his forehead and has a huge goose egg on it.  POOR LITTLE GUY!!  Apparently he has two left feet.

Santa was in attendance at Flesher's Farm.  I was so excited because I wasn't quite sure when in the week we'd make it to see Santa so we were able to kill two birds with one stone!  Charlie wanted NOTHING to do with the old man and he screamed his brains out when he got even remotely close to him.  We managed to get this photo and then he was a mess!  John and Charlie did NOT go for the sleigh ride part!!  Santa took me, Adrey and Billy around the circle driveway on the sleigh and Santa asked Adrey what he wanted for Christmas.  Santa was straight out of Nashville, TN and he had the most soothing, comforting, gentle, southern accent and was so soft spoken.  I didn't want him to stop talking! 

  

Santa: Well, Adrey, what would you like Santa to bring you for Christmas?

Adrey: Um, a rocket.

Santa: Oh, a rocket, now that sounds nice. What else would you like?
Adrey: Um, an angel.

Santa: Well that's special. And just what would you do with that angel?
Adrey: I'd put it in my room.

Santa: That's nice. Now what would your brother like from Santa?

Adrey: A reindeer.

Santa: Oh, a reindeer, well isn't that special.

Me: Santa? Will you come to our house every night about 8:00 and read us bedtime stories please?

Wednesday we went to my parents house for dinner.  My Aunt Ellen and Uncle Paul were visiting from Montana.  My Aunt Sue is also hear from Rhode Island.  Just some good, solid family bonding. 

And we played a little "Left, Right, Center"...

Thursday was outdoor movie night at the Waynes house.  We packed up and headed down but it ended up just being me and John watching the movie with the others and both the boys were running around in the cul-de-sac.  We went because we thought the kids would enjoy the children's Christmas movie but they couldn't have cared less!  We ended up packing up and heading home because I had a million and one things at home to be doing there!!

Last night (Friday) is worthy of an entire blog post in and of itself.  It was Mike's surprise 40th birthday party.  So much fun!  I will post those pictures next week! 

Today, Santa came to visit our neighborhood as he does every year.  But in all years past he's arrived on a fire truck... budget must be tighter this year because he came on a Fire pick-up truck today instead.  But that's ok.  We still got to see him and he still passed out candy canes!

Adrey LOVES his Donald Duck hat he got at Disney last week.  He wears to it to eat, to watch movies, to brush his teeth...

A couple cute stories to share...

Yesterday the boys and I met John for lunch.  I told Adrey that if he was a good boy at lunch he could have a candy cane.  WELL, to make a long story short, Adrey did NOT earn a candy cane.  And he was NOT happy about that.  When we got home he said he wanted his candy cane and I reminded him that he didn't earn his candy cane.  He said, "I want to earn it back".  I told him that if he took a bath and a nap that he could have a candy cane when he woke up.  He was a very good boy and did both.  After two hours of napping I heard "Mama?" from his room.  I walked in and he sat up and said, "Did I earn a candy cane?" and of course the answer was YES, so I went and got it.  I crawled into bed with him and we layed there and talked while he unwrapped his candy cane.  He tried the candy cane (it was not a regular candy cane it was pink) and didn't like it.  So I told him he could have something else so we went to the candy jar.  He grabbed a rice krispieAdrey was eating his rice krispie treat and he said, "Mama, what's this called?" and I said, "It's a rice krispie treat" and he said, "A rice Christmas tree?"  Oh my gosh we were laughing so hard!  It DOES sound so much like that.  I can assure you that that's what we will be calling rice krispie treats in our house from now on!

Another funny thing... Adrey was a little "backed up" in the poopy department yesterday.  So John gave him a liquid suppository to get things going.  It was successful, by the way.  And a little bit later I was putting my make up on and my mom called.  I had her on speaker phone and she asked how I was feeling (because I feel like I'm coming down with something) and Adrey heard that and said, "Daddy put juice in my butt and I feel good now!"  OMG!  Again, laughing SO hard.  This kid says the funniest stuff!  As challenging as this age can be, he is the cutest freakin' thing I can't stand it!

Hoping everyone is having a Merry Christmas Eve. Really looking forward to experiencing Christmas tomorrow through the eyes of our beautiful baby boys.

We are so blessed.