Riley was a little overwhelmed when we first arrived and snuggled with me or her daddy. Love when she does that. She usually seems to warm up fast that I don't consider her a shy kid, but it is interesting to see how she responds to crowds since I was that shy kid. She started to ease up a little when I asked her to help me take some pictures. She likes to put her face up against the camera while I click the button. We hope for the best and have taken some decent pictures together. She got this rather good shot of Grandma and Grandpa.
After taking a few pictures of the crowd she decided she wanted to hang out with her daddy.
Yeah, I'm not sure how to explain the above picture except that they were apparently flipping their "hair". You had to be there.
Riley decided that Grandma was cool and decided to walk off with her. There is a back room that has a coat rack and extra chairs and tables. The kids love this room and Riley was no different.
The other kids were playing hide and seek in this room. There really wasn't many places to hide, but they tried. As you can see the kid in the green is about to sneak under the chairs while there is a little girl behind the chairs, but in front of a mirror (behind Riley). Let's just say the kids were discovered pretty fast, but I don't think that mattered much to them. Please note how disgusting this floor is. All I can say is I am grateful Riley isn't a crawler anymore. Yuck.
Riley and Jackson also tried to play hide and seek. Riley really didn't know what was going on, but Jackson knew how to hide and asked for assistance from Jesse in getting to this awesome hiding space. No one found him except for Riley. That's my girl.
She had fun running behind these stacked tables and then sneaking up and scaring daddy by yelling "boo!"... over and over and over.
After playing it was time for food. Imagine lots of hot-dishes, meatballs, etc. Also imagine this table times two plus another table devoted to desert. Tons of great food.
Riley strutting her stuff in her Christmas outfit.
Jesse and his cousin, Tatum, aka. Tator Tot.
Sisters, Katie and Suzie.
Santa time! Jackson was really into Santa. Riley? Not so much. As you can see she's not sitting with the other kids.
Wait! Riley agrees to sit with the other kids... for about 30 seconds. I'll take it. Little by little she'll warm up to this guy. I'd probably be freaked out by a hairy guy in a funny suit with a big bag too if I were her age.
Some of the younger kids getting their gifts from Santa.
Riley's turn. Hesitant, but not crying.
Still, she won't be sitting in this guy's lap any time soon.
Hey, but it went over way better than last year:
Even some of the bigger kids got gifts from Santa. He's a generous guy.
Twins! Cutest. Thing. Ever.
And sometimes the adults even get in on the fun. Here, Jesse's aunt, Deb, gets something from Santa Tatum.
So Santa (aka Jesse and I) had picked out a different gift that Riley was going to get to open at this party, but apparently someone (me) grabbed the wrong one. No matter. She loves her camera and walks around with it saying "picture" in her cute little voice. It's actually a pretty cool camera. It takes pictures, videos, has games, and hooks up to the computer so you can upload your work, er I mean her work. She may not have the technique completely down, but she sure enjoyed it.
There we go... camera turned the right way and looking out the two eye holes. Now say "cheese".
Jesse's uncle Jeff works with Santa... at the North Pole, of course.
I don't know what was more dangerous... a couple of very young children or Jesse hovering over Koby's new Halo game pieces.
After a couple hours Riley started to get clingy again. I'm sure it was because she was getting tired, but I'd like to believe that she thinks I'm so awesome that she didn't want to let go of me.
Happy Holidays!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Love to see your comments.