Happy New Year!

Well, we hope you all have a great 2009! It'll be a big year for us since "the clumpster" will be arriving in the next 3 months- eek! A few pics of the holiday festivities below...which Riley LOVED, of course- I mean, c'mon, who DOESN'T Love getting presents! I just wish the post-holiday time was not "what it was" as Riley ended up with some crazy high fever virus for 2 days this past weekend and then had a 24 hour reprieve before his nagging cough (he and I have had it for a couple of weeks) turned into full-blown bronchitis in a matter of a few hours! So, he was sick as a dog (still is, but he's running a regimine of 5 different medicines as of yesterday so he's getting better, thankfully) for the last few days of 2008- looking on the bright side, it sure beats last year with our trip to the ER in the middle of the night on January 1st! Anyway, back to the well wishin'- Hope ya'll have an awesome New Year, filled with good health, good fortune, and all that warm and fuzzy stuff I'm so well known for bestowing, eh??

Happy Holidays

Jim just whisked Riley off to work for the day- Merrill always asks employees to bring in their kidlings on Xmas Eve for a day of breakfast, Santa, and other holiday-esque activities. I woke up with Riley this morning (Jim had a late night at the Court- yeah!) and he was an absolute angel for a good 1:15 hrs, until Jim got up and Riley apparently found his "evil" switch and turned it on to hyperspeed- hopefully, the car ride to Hopewell will return the sweet little guy we all know and love. My Riley-free activities will be baking 2 pies, 1 streusel cake, baked sweet taters, a batch of nut cup cookies, cleaning the bathrooms, laundry, and wrapping up some pressies. Ugh. Anyway, hope the holidays are awesome for all of you- can't wait to see MOST of you who read this thing during my break from teachin'! Wooo!

A few pics of Riley trimming the tree..he's been really amazing at NOT touching the tree, which has surprised both Jim and I.






A funny video of a frequent "post-bath" but "pre-jammie" game- we usually instigate the "hi-ya" game to redirect Riley from some irritating behavior just as trying to pinch us/kicking, etc...sometimes, he can be a real pain in the tuckus after his bath at night, but this little game seems to turn on the "sweet, giggly" Riley and all is right in his little world once again.


P.s.- Our "Frosty" watching count has got to be nearing 50 times in the last 2 weeks. I think I might have switched Riley over to at least incorporating "The Grinch" into his Frosty repertoire, but only time will tell...that, or Wall-E, which Riley got from "Santa" in Nutley last weekend.

Angry....

I've been wondering where my Christmas cards were...ya know the ones I ordered on November 30th??? Well, lo and behold, stupid head up their butts VistaPrint (a printing site I held in such high regard until this morning) had an issue with processing my order but never contacted me, so our order just was sitting in limbo (I kept checking online but the status of "processing" led me to believe that they were just busy with the holiday season, as every one is, of course)...not to be printed and sent before (or ever?)the holidays. Anyway, so ya'll will be receiving Happy New Year cards from the Cook Crew this year...

Here's the "shot" you would have received, had VistaPrint not provided me with such shitty customer service:


This pic was cute too, but the clarity was not great for a Xmas card..


Anyway, tomorrow is my last day of teachin' until the 5th! Woooo hoooo! Hopefully, I will update more frequently in my "downtime"!

T-day Recap

Since Christmas is quickly approaching, I figured I'd better get on the ball and post some T-day weekend shots (including some pics from Jim's bday!)

Daddy gets his annual "Daddy Juice" presents..Happy 37th Lovey!

The Birthday Grinch that stole Daddy's Jameson

How does one entertain a 2 year old at a restaurant? lobster bibs, maraschino cheeries, new foods like calamari (mind you, this is the child that nixed every single Thanksgiving meal option the day before in lieu of a cheese sandwich and some raisins), and grammy's jewelry!




Random Cranny moments that involved someone other than Jim and I entertaining the boy...Ahhhhhhh!


First taste of the seductive world of Entenmann's Crumb Coffee Cake:


Not too much else exciting to report..just crazy busy with wrapping up teachin' for my ginormous winter break (Dec 23rd to Jan 5th!)and trying to get prepped for the holidays without going schizo, ha ha ha. Riley and I have been sick, but nothing too crazy, but enough to throw a few kinks into the works. We're off to Cranny today to celebrate Poppy's birthday tonight and then Jim and I get to venture into the City tomorrow for brunch with my bro, Sean, Leah, and Chris so we're really looking forward to it. Riley will be spending the day in Cranford racing cars, playing knock hockey, and scouting for deer in the woods with Poppy and Grammy.