December Outings

Watching the Friendswood Christmas Light Parade


The Christmas Train


Waiting to board the train...wearing his "Choo Choo" shirt







We made a fun day trip to Galveston: Lunch at The Rainforest Cafe, tour of The Aquarium at Moody Gardens (specifically to see penguins and sharks) and ended our fun afternoon at a favorite spot on The Strand...an old fashioned soda fountain/candy shop!













Michael enjoyed the animated gorillas and elephants at The Rainforest Cafe, but only from a distance...he didn't like being close to them. During the "thunderstorm" he kept saying, "wow." He seemed to like watching the fish in their tanks the best. By the way, he says, "fsh" for fish!

Adam and I were so excited to take Michael to Moody Gardens. We just knew he would love watching the penguins and sharks. Nope, he could have cared less. He wanted to people watch! We could have gone to the mall to do that. Oh well. I know he'll enjoy it when he is a bit older. I on the other hand, could spend all day watching those cute little penguins! :)

If we could ask Michael what his favorite part of this fun day was, I am pretty sure it would be this one...using his newly acquired skill of sucking on a straw to drink Daddy's vanilla malt! :)

December - Michael at 15 months

Michael Addison Richards at 15 months...WALKING and RUNNING!!
Weight: 26 lb 11.5 oz
Height: 33.25 inches
Can sign "more," "all done," and "please"
Body parts named: nose
Body parts identified: nose, mouth, head/hair, belly button
Has a vocabulary of 20+ words!!(of course some of those words only mommy and daddy know what he is saying)
Favorite book: Brown Bear Brown Bear
LOVES Sesame Street...especially Elmo and Big Bird
Now has too many teeth to count...lots in the back
New Task: Drinking out of a straw
Favorite Activity: Sneaking granola bars out of the pantry; carrying them around and hiding them all over the house. We think he sees them as his "treasures."
Favorite game: CHASE

Apparently, I ask Michael where things are alot and stick my hands out when I do. Everytime I say, "Where is _______?" Michael does this:


Michael enjoys playing in his ball pit. He "dives" in and out.


Michael loves to put things on his head (blanket, scarf, kitchen towel) and walk around and giggle. This occurs numerous times a day!



Michael is now beginning to master the art of climbing...onto chairs, sofas, ottomans, steps. He is so proud of himself. This was first discovered while Mommy was out shopping and Daddy looked up and saw Michael on top of the ottoman jumping!


It can be confusing having one parent that is a Longhorn and the other a Baylor Bear...

And then there are some less confusing days...like the day Baylor beat Washington at the Alamo Bowl in the most amazing football game EVER!


Michael loves to go on family bike rides.

He rides in style...


Michael was not a fan of Santa Claus up close and personal this year. We went to visit Santa twice and then Santa came to visit us at our Sunday School Christmas party. Michael screamed when we put him in Santa's lap. On our third attempt, Michael saw him across the room and as I walked closer he held me tight and said, "No, No, No!" Therefore, we have no picture with Michael and Santa this year, and that is OK! I love that Santa came to our Christmas party and read to the children from the Bible, the story of what Christmas is all about...JESUS, not Santa! Way to go Santa!

Listening to Santa tell the Christmas story...from a safe distance in the comfort of Daddy's lap!


I made a few Color Discovery Bottles to help with learning colors. Fun!

Thanksgiving 2011

I am very behind in my blogging! Michael and the holiday season have kept this Mommy busy!

We spent Thanksgiving at Grand-Daddy and NaNaw's with the whole gang. The Lindsey family and Ms. Janell joined us too, making T-Day extra special this year to be with friends and family. I am kicking myself for not taking more pictures and I have to credit my super sis-n-law for the pics I do have. My mama (always with a camera in her hand) would be ashamed!





Kissing Cousins! Michael and Olivia spent the whole weekend playing, chasing and kissing! Fun cousin bonding time!

Baylor Homecoming

We had such a fun Saturday at Baylor University. I have been attending Baylor Homecoming since I was a little girl. Green and gold just flows through my blood. This is hard for my Texas Longhorn to the core husband to understand. I finally was able to drag him to BU Homecoming for only the second time since we met. He was a trooper and even wore a green shirt, but he said that was as close as he could get. As we arrived on campus my heart began to swell, full of happiness. When I am there I feel like I am "home", sounds silly, but true. Now that we have a child (and hopefully more to come), attending BU Homecoming will have to become a regular occurrence, that I hope Adam will eventually embrace. As an alumni, there's nothing like going back to BU with your lil' bear in tow. I enjoyed showing off my baby to friends and even family members that had not met him yet.

My lil' bear, ready for the parade.


Watching the parade on Daddy's shoulders.





Michael watching the bears at the bear pit. He got a kick out of watching them and they were very active. Michael gave them his best "ROAR!" Too cute, wish I had it on video.




Baylor Friends!



Tasha and I with our kiddos.

Halloween

We went to a fall festival at a local church. They had "trunk or treating" where the church member volunteers decorated the back of their SUV's or car trunks and you walked around to each to get candy. There was also a hay ride (minus the hay due to the drought), which Michael enjoyed. Other activities were inflatable jump houses/slides, a mechanical bull ride, free food (hot dogs and popcorn) and fun people/costume watching (Michael's favorite of the evening) and fun music. Thankfully the mosquitoes were not too bad last night.

Pumpkin Patch

October 2011

We have had a fun and busy fall thus far. Michael is growing by leaps and bounds, saying more words, making connections and enjoying life. He has some new favorites: the purple ball from his ball popper and any Sesame Street book. We have two (So Big and Bubbles, Bubbles) in his living room book area, one on his bedroom book shelf (Nighty Night) and one in the car (Eyes and Nose Fingers and Toes ). Out of the tons of books in each area he ALWAYS finds these books and brings them to us to read, so cute! We are not sure what the attraction is to these books, but he absolutely loves them. It makes this teacher's heart so happy when I see him "reading" books on his own. He loves books and I couldn't be happier! I think he spends more time with his books than he does with his toys. He is beginning to repeat words. His new words are: cheese, kitty kat, what's that, hello. My favorite new thing he does is put his hand to his ear and say, "Hewoe" (hello). He will also put any object up to his ear and say hello as well. Love it!! He enjoys going on walks outside in his stroller. He took his first step while watching the UT vs. OU football game. He still prefers to crawl, I think because he can get there faster when he crawls.

Watching the UT vs. OU game with Daddy...it didn't go the way Daddy wanted it to. (Notice that Michael is holding the beloved "Bubbles Bubbles" Sesame Street book)



Reading books.




First time in the "Big Boy" shopping cart at HEB!



Since Michael has an obsession with phones and now says, "hello," we bought him a toy smart phone with some of his birthday money...he LOVES it!




First time playing on the playground at the park.




We attended our friend Ethan's super fun 3rd birthday party at the Houston Fire Museum.