This One's For You!

Sethy

Happy, sad, happy, sad, --- Seth turned four! ... he requested a zebra pancake:

Doesn't Seth look like an angel? :)

Grandma and the boys once again amazed us with another lovely birthday cake ... Jeff provided the horns again as well ....

Yes! Cannibal!

Presents ... Seth has been asking for this firetruck for MONTHS. To complete the day we went ice skating! It was a lot of fun :) Sethy, you're amazing. I love how you always have an answer for everything, that your legs keep you up at night, that you never close the door when you use the bathroom, and the million little things that make you, you. What a wonderful little boy your are and are turning out to be!

I'll be home with bells on (ding-a-ling-a-ling)

For Christmas we got everything but the kitchen sink: Oh wait, we got that too!

Merry Christmas everyone!

p-p-p-private ...

I know I tried this before, but I think we'll stick with it. Blogs goin' private. Post your email if you want to keep 'a view'n. Or you can email me: rachael.k.ritter@gmail.com with your email Thanks!

Christmas Newsletter 2009

We've gone green! ... Well, actually our printer broke. .... So you might as well just sit back relax, -- visualize -- you have a steaming cup of hot cocoa (with little marshmallows) and a thick, crisp freshly printed paper to be read.... To access our Newsletter please click on the image bellow: And while you're here, the best of the Ritters!

Memorable blogs of 2009

Seth's Birthday Horrendous Official Victory! Girl Strong Man Summer Home Raya Levi's Birthday Halloween Jeff

Happy Christmas!

Raya Raspberry

Also known as Raya Paya, Sweet Girl, and Baby Girl (voiced in a rap fashion). The first thing people notice about Raya are her cheeks: She's like a little basset hound, I believe her cheeks droop lower than her chin. Ah, she's so cute. If you haven't guessed, this post is about Raya -- more importantly she turned 3 months today! After people notice how large she is, they next notice her smile. and spit: now you know why we call her Raya Raspberry :P -- 3 months: She's excessively playful, if you put your hand on her face she'll try and attack it. She knows the word "kiss" -- if you ask her "Raya can I have a kiss?" She'll smile and open her mouth wide and wait for you to kiss her. She has so many emotions, I don't know what to do -- she can fluctuate from happy to sad to distressed -- she can scream! like she will get startled and do a little jumpy scream. I don't think our boys have ever screamed like Raya has at 3 months. Incredible, boys and girls really are different.

Funny faces and a funny story

So... Seth sat at the dinner table for an hour and a half tonight. Mind you, we did not force him to, he could have left his plate and the table. The agreement was made: he needed to finish his soup before he got any ice cream! So he sat, and while he sat the rest of us did this:

FUNNY FACES!

Levi loves being Raya's horsie

Finally we gave Seth just five more minutes, and then we were going to clean up the rest of dinner. Homemade chicken noodle soup, and homemade bread -- poor kid. Such tantrums have never been seen. "Sethy, you need to calm down, or I'm going to put you back in the tub!" Yes, I composed such a sentence -- I had a moment, an insane moment, but a moment nonetheless, where I found myself in a parental situation and was like, "when did I get to this point in my life? Do I really have a four year old screaming for ice cream?". We had to dress Sethy in the bathtub because he was heaving and had already thrown up once. Maybe not so funny to some, but Jeff had a hard time staying composed -- ridiculous situations always make him giggle Seth has a melt down like once every 6 months, I consider myself lucky. But man does he ever get mad!

Oh Christmas Treeee... oh, Christmas Treeee...

..... (cont tune) .... you're so much better than a parking lot treeeee..... We cut down our Christmas tree this year! -- It was fun :) We were troopers, we hauled Raya in her carseat.

And the boys had a lot of fun doing this:Running through all the rows of trees

.

Hot cocoa and cookies; I just love Christmas time.

Jeff's Tarantula

Jeff got a tarantula for his birthday

Luckily for Raya, this is only his remote control tarantula. -- His real tarantula is in his office, on campus, away from our house. Her name is Hypatia. So, Jeff turned 26!

I made the lovely cheesecake, it was the most fattening thing I've ever created ... besides maybe my children, but food, food definitely the most fattening. It didn't need a crust it was so firm from the various forms of lard. It was good :) Jeff made the most of his birthday, he stayed up until 5:00 am, had a large breakfast in bed and got quite a loot: scarf (and hat), book, cd, tarantula, cage, cricket cage,crickets, and remote control tarantula. We had a game day and ate a lot.

Seth eating Jeff's cheesecake. Levi loved being at Grandma and Grandpa's house, can you tell?

Jeff and I took full advantage of all the responsible adults and acted like we were 17 again. I think the earliest we went to bed that week was 1:00 am. I'm still recovering.

Happy birthday sweet!

(us when we were 17)

oh no! on ho!

a blogworthy memory: I (Rachael) stumble into our home, exhausted after two hours of errands ..... I stumble into our home, unfortunately wearing Jeff's surprise (but not a surprise anymore) birthday beanie! (What was I thinking!) Jeff: "I've never seen that hat before, when did you make it?" Rachael: gasp! "Oh, no!!!" Jeff finds huge amusement in situations like these. Smile like Nile. --- I just kind'of crumple into a hug with him, exasperated with myself telling him it's the hat I've knitted him -- and how I've had been working on it durring the day and have been trying to keep it a secret. Bah. Oh, well. Happy birthday Jeffrey! :) Also, in Ritter news, Raya is two months! ... like a week and a half ago ... but anyways, she weighed 14 lbs 4 ounces! Yikes, Holey Smackererl, Ay Caramba and a bunch of other garbaley gook.

but isn't she cute?

Angry Raya has disappeared in light of Raya the Amiable. She coos and laughs, and smiles like she's roaring. Ah, love it. She's just a teddy bear.

Leviiiii Las Vegas

So.... Levi turned two... like October 27th, here's some pictures: Why hello Mr. Pig. We had a pancake breakfast (or pancakies as Levi and I like to call them :P)-- and yes, he did eat the entire thing. Levi loves pancakes!We had Jeff's family come for Levi's birthday. We had eight extra adults in our 1,100 sq ft. home (yah, I know) and Levi LOVED all the attention. He was marching around the house, hands in the air yelling, "It's my birthday!" We went out to lunch at Levi's favorite restaurant, Cougar Country and played at the park with his uncles and aunts, after nap we did the birthday thing: Grandma, Seth and Levi made this beautiful cake: Jeff made the horns, what a thoughtful daddy .... ahh... and here's Levi immersed in presents: Levi loved his presents especially: Marble Works, "It's Ninja Wheelie Time!" motorcycle, and his little Tikes boat ("Michael-wave"). Levi still talks about his birthday. Last night we asked, "Levi what do you want for Christmas?" Levi, "My birthday party!" Levi you are such a character. You are incomparably funny and make us laugh even when we shouldn't, love, love, love you!

swanky

I love that word -- swanky, anyways ... look what I knitted! My first ribbed hat.

swanky

And for giggles, awww's and oh my's here's my cute little bunch:

When did I become a mother of three?

Help! Help! Saaaaaaaaaaaaave us!

There has been a FIRE!!!! CALL THE FIREFIGHTERS!!

Firefighters to the Rescue! So brave ... So strong ...

And we're saved!

Good Work Team!

Where they're at -- they got two turn tables and a microphone

Hm. Seth: Let's see... he's read his first book this month -- he read three books that contained about 30 words or so. It's amazing. He told me where Machu Picchu was (I didn't even know that), -- really, really into geography lately -- learning continents, countries, major world landmarks (Great Wall, Pyramids at Giza, Eiffle tower, Sydney Opera House ... etc) -- He loves learning, I just wish I had more time to give him. His writing has improved, today he tried to sound out and write "Raya Abigail Ritter" by himself and was impressed at how close he came "Raya Abigal Rittr." Levi: Let's see... he knows his letters and sounds and he's really trying to write the letters (like his big bro). He'll make an "H" or "F" -- or other letters sometimes, but I don't know if he can do it consistently -- lower case "l" and "o" he has down :) and likes to show me a whole page of "l"'s. Loves to sing and run. Likes to make up his own words and laugh heartily afterward. His laughter is contagious and he makes everyone around him smile. Love my boys!