Christmas Dinner

We were able to head up to Tim's parents for Christmas Day dinner. Xavier loves visiting Grandma and Grandpa's house! We were also able to see some of Tim's younger siblings that we don't get to see as often. It was yet another great get together with the family.


Tim and his parents.



Xavier opening his presents from Grandma and Grandpa. They got him a cool tent and tunnel. He'll definitely get a lot of use out of that. He also got some fun dinosaur magnets and a subscription to Animal Baby magazine. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa- you definitely know our boy too well.



This is my absolute favorite moment of the day. Xavier pretty much ran around the house the entire day and didn't stop until Mary's boyfriend Jake flipped on Guitar Hero. He instantly wanted to join the fun. Jake was teaching Xavier how to play. What a sweet guy! Good pick Mary!



Cory, Jeff, Dave, Katie, and Aunt Bev. Jeff got a yo-yo for Christmas, so him and Tim spent at least a couple hours trying to do all sorts of tricks. It made me think of those professional yo-yo competitions. Well, it probably looked more like professional yo-yoers when they were amateurs.



Aunt Bev and me. Aunt Bev is a total sweetie. She is a sports fanatic and an MSU sports fanatic, so we really get along great! We don't get to see her much because she lives in Detroit, but we loved seeing her today.



Xavier is eating mushrooms in Grandma and Grandpa's bed. I think he ate all the mushrooms by himself. Well he pretty much didn't stop eating the entire time we were at Tim's parents. Every time he went through the kitchen, which was a lot, he had to grab something. It alternated between cookies and vegetables or something else. I lost track of how many cookies he ate. I am surprised he didn't end up with a stomachache.



Jake (Mary's BF), Mary, me, Suzy, Cory (Suzy's BF), and Kameron. If you notice Kameron, you'll see he has some type of earphones on his head. These were hilarious because him and Xavier kept putting them on and it would squish there faces so they looked really chubby.
Yet another holiday season filled with fun times and memorable moments at the Richardson home.

Merry Christmas

Since my parents couldn't be here for Christmas I told them I'd post this video of Christmas morning for them to see a glimpse of our Christmas morning. Xavier sure enjoyed playing with all the gifts Santa brought. Merry Christmas Grandma and Grandpa Schiffman! We love you!

Christmas Eve 2009

This year we joined Tim's older brother John and his family for some Christmas Eve fun. Xavier loves playing with his cousins Zach, Eli, and Abbi. Even though the boys are a little older they act like he's just one of the gang. They let him play their drum set and guitars, which he absolutely loves. And last time we were over there Xavier learned how to run suicides. I had to laugh when Xavier told me this because you don't normally hear a 2 year old saying "I ran suicides with Zach and Eli". They sure give him a run for his money....

John's families first tradition is to open a present, which is always pajamas. They were so sweet and got Xavier a pair of Thomas pajamas. He immediately had to put them on so he could be Thomas.


This is the best pic we had of him in his pajamas.



They also got him a few books, which he insisted on daddy reading to him.



We got Zach and Eli Under Armor Michigan State wrist bands, which they sported around in all night.



For our cute little girlie girl niece we got a hat and scarf. She's such a cutie patootie!

After we opened presents we read the Christmas story out of the Bible and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. I wish I had snapped a picture of the cake and the kids surrounding it singing. It was so cute! I think this really helped Xavier to know the true reason for Christmas.

We had a great time and felt the love of family and the true Christmas spirit! We are so glad we could share it with John's family this year!

2009 Gingerbread House

Last year we started our gingerbread house making tradition. This year I saw a picture of a really cute and "healthier" gingerbread house in Parents magazine so I thought I'd try it out. You know me, I'm always looking for ways to cut a little sugar and add a few healthier options. It turned out pretty good, but it lacked color so we went ahead and added some candy for an extra splash of color. I guess healthy isn't always as fun! We had a blast making it together as a family and Xavier loved eating all the candy. We couldn't get the icing on as fast as he was eating the treats. (Wow, kinda of sounds like a flashback from last year.)



Xavier is shouting "Tuh-duh!!" in this shot. He was so proud of his gingerbread house.



I dyed pumpkin seeds green so we could make some trees out of them. We used pineapple for the windows and framed them with pretzels.


The roof was frosted with peanut butter and topped with frosted mini wheats. We used unsweetened coconut for the snowy affect.



The blue things on the edge of the roof are dried blueberries and Tim did the icing to look like dripping snow. He did a good job don't you think?



Of course, we added some gumdrops and little round candies for a little more color. Voila our completed 2009 Richardson Gingerbread House.

Baby Gorilla

Listen to the video first and then read further....................






So there you have it! We are having a baby gorilla. I guess it's not too far fetched considering who I'm married too. He is quite the harry man. But if you haven't heard yet, we are expecting baby number 2. I am now 13 weeks along. We are so excited and feel that we have been blessed in so many ways this year. We can't wait for this little angel to join our family.

Gingerbread Cookies

Xavier has loved reading the Gingerbread Man over the holidays so I decided we should make some gingerbread cookies. Xavier was ecstatic. I think he thought that when I took them out of the oven they'd coming running out just like the gingerbread man in the book.



What a big cheese! We've only made cookies one other time together and he wasn't too interested. But this time he had so much fun rolling out the dough and using the cookie cutters to make the cookies. Notice he has more flour on himself than on the table. He liked playing with the flour the most. Every time we'd go to roll out more dough he'd grab a huge handful of flour and say, "mama it's raining!" as he'd sprinkle the flour on the table.



My little sous chef was a great helper!



As we rolled out the cookie dough and made little gingerbread cookies he insisted on making a mommy gingerbread person, a daddy gingerbread person, and a baby gingerbread person. I tried adding raisins for eyes, but Xavier ate them all before I could even put them on the cookies.



This is what the table looked like afterwards. I can always tell how much fun Xavier had by how big the mess is at the end. I'd say he had a good time. Happy baking!

The Princess and the Frog

To celebrate Tim being done with finals, he surprised Xavier with a movie date with mom and dad. After taking Xavier to see Up and leaving because the dogs scared him we haven't ventured to the theaters. Although we now own Up! and Xavier loves it. I guess the dogs aren't as intimidating on a 27 inch screen as say a movie theater screen. Oh and Xavier refers to himself as Russell, not Xavier. If you don't know Russell is the little boy in Up.

When we told Xavier we were going to see a movie in the theater he said "what's the movie called?" Then he answered his own questions saying "Up!" He was so excited. We explained we were going to see a new movie and he said "okay! Let's go!" He ran to the stairs to get his shoes on.

Our second try at the theater turned out to be a success. Xavier sat through the entire movie and really liked it. We had to remind him several times to just watch the movie without talking, but all in all he did great. His favorite things were being able to eat popcorn for the entire movie and the frogs. The Shadowman also made an impression on him, but he didn't get scared (which I was a little worried about at first). Tim and I give the movie a two thumbs up. It was, of course, a cute princess movie and it was very funny. The characters were really cute and it gave a new sort of twist on your typical fairytale. Good job Disney.

Christmas Advent

I didn't have time to make a cute advent this year. Instead, I got a bunch of socks from Target's dollar bins and a few other places and put together a sock advent this year. I put a number on each sock, a scripture and treat or toy in each sock, and tadah- our Christmas advent. Xavier loves looking in the socks each day to see what's inside. And I'm happy it was so easy to put together.

I also got a bunch of Christmas books and wrapped each one. Every morning Xavier finds one under the tree. So we read our scripture and our Christmas story each day. Xavier's two favorites so far are the Grinch that Stole Christmas and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. It's been so fun to introduce him to all these classics and we'll have our Christmas library for every year to come.

Mars Present

Xavier received a nice present from Mars the other day. It's an airplane m&m dispenser. If you look close enough at X's smile, you'll realize his teeth are covered in chocolate. He pretty much just flies this around the house constantly. Mars sure knows how to persuade Tim and I that Mars is the best choice for work. I think Xavier is already sold.

Interview with Intel

Last week Tim flew to Chandler, Arizona for a second round interview with Intel. He had a great time visiting the area and interviewing with Intel. The best part was he got to visit the house he was born in, literally. His mom delivered Tim on a bean bag in this very house.



After visiting this house, he got to see one of his best friends, Aaron Adams and his family. So sad I couldn't be there too. Thanks Aaron and Sarah for feeding him and showing him around town!



Tim, Aaron, Sarah, Claire, and Noel

We are waiting to hear back from Intel as far as a job offer goes. Hopefully later this week we will have a final word.

The Golden Ticket

As some of you know Tim flew to Hackettstown, New Jersey for a second round interview with Mars. Tim had promised Xavier that he'd bring him back some mini m&m's which are Xavier's favorite treat! When we went to pick him up from the airport Xavier was sooo excited to see daddy, but more excited that it meant he'd get his treat. Well, Mars outdid themselves. Tim came home with an entire box filled with all kinds of candy and snacks that Mars makes. (regular m&m's, peanut m&m's, mini m&m's, almond m&m's, snickers, almond snickers, snickers energy, dove chocolate bar, combos, and much much more.) So, if you have a hankering for some chocolate, just come to our house.

Last week Tim received a job offer from Mars. So not only did he visit the real life version of Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory, but he came home with the Golden Ticket. Yippee!

Congratulations babe!

What we've been up to lately

So I haven't posted in a while. It's not that our lives have been boring, time feels like it's been in fast forward lately and I feel like I'm in slow motion trying to keep up. My sister-in-law was in the hospital for the second time in six weeks with a collapsed lung. Mind you she is pregnant, so things were quite complicated for her. She had 2 surgeries all of which were successful and her baby is okay. We watched her son Kameron for a week while she was being monitored at the hospital. We are so glad she is home and doing well.

Thanksgiving was awesome as always. We spent the day at Tim's parents with the entire family. We had our usual yummy spread, clay pigeon shooting, family football game, and good company. A few of Tim's classmates joined us. We were so glad Carlos and Kappo came along to enjoy an American Thanksgiving. I forgot to take pictures because I was having so much fun chatting with the girls. But one momentous occasion happened this year- Tim hit 3 clay pigeons. Since Tim and I met the running joke is that I always hit more clay pigeons than him. It's usually me hitting 1 and Tim hitting none. Well he outdid himself this year. Mind you I didn't shoot this year. But I guess I'll let him have his shining moment for once.

Tim has been traveling quite a bit lately to California for more interviews with Apple, New Jersey to interview with Mars, and next week he's off to Arizona to interview with Intel. Poor guy has to catch a red eye back here so he can make it back in time to give a final group presentation in one class and take a final exam in another. He'll definitely deserve a break after this semester.

I just finished putting together a program for our ward's christmas party. Our activities committee chose the theme "twas the night before christmas" and everyone wore their pajamas. We ate breakfast for dinner. And I put together a program of musical numbers and a Christmas story. It all went well and was a lot of fun!

Tonight my group, Spartan Spouses and Significant Others (S3) hosted an MBA Wonderland of Lights event at Potter Park Zoo. We had about 102 people come and enjoy the lights that surround the zoo. Plus we had our own private room to mix, mingle and eat. It was a lot of fun. Xavier loved running around the zoo looking at all the nights and spotting all the lights shaped as animals. He was even happier when all his friends came along- Yohann, Asher, Aiden, and Kylie.

Now that these events are over I can breathe a little easier and sleep more sound. Hopefully with the semester coming to an end we can have some much needed family time and R and R.