Growing Up Too Fast

It seems like over the holidays William just had another growth spurt, both physically and mentally. Sometimes I find my self just staring at him and wondering how his legs got so much longer.

Comments like these really shock me---wasn't expecting this from someone who just turned two.

1. What's that? - is a favorite nowadays. Any object, picture that he doesn't recognize you could expect that he would point to it and get this question.

2. Mom - thanks to Phineas and Ferb (cartoon show), my kid is so cool and calls me Mom :)

3. Mom that's a helicopter not a plane when I pointed to one and called it a plane.

Kids nowadays are too smart for their age!

Baking

I think I've mentioned in here before that I have ZERO talent in baking and Ed's the more talented one in this arena. I can cook meals but baking, nah. I suck at it :)

So it's only appropriate that he will be the one to show William how to bake. I grabbed my camera to capture this precious moment. William was so into it and it looks like he'll have a future or some sort of talent in baking as well.

Our New Year's Eve

Welcome to 2010!

Personally, 2009 was a good year to us. Several blessings took place and we are extremely thankful. New Year's eve celebration has changed significantly post kiddo. To be honest, the last new year I stayed up till midnight was back in 2007-In a different country. One of the best new year's ever!

Ed and I decided on the last minute to have everybody over to our house for an early dinner get together. It turned out fantastic, we were surrounded by our dearest friends (miss Mike though who's in Australia).

Here's Ed and me, gleaming with joy!
The food spread---Yum!
My sister and Wynell (who is basically my other sister from another mother).The R family.
The P family. Soooo glad that they were able to make it! I know it's a lot of effort to take out a newborn this age. Hero(how cute is his name) is such a good baby and partied like a rockstar.
Omayra and RupelThe guys...who had a blast playing with our dino Crasher. Here's a photo of William with it, to give you a perspective on how massive this toy is.
William playing with Mohammad.Can't get the kiddos to all look at the same direction. But love the hats on them.Happy New Year everybody! This year will be an exciting year for us as we welcome the newest member of our family in May. I hope that peace and prosperity be with you in 2010!

{Christmas '09}

Content is the best way to describe my feelings on Christmas day. And it is not the contentent from all those heart clogging pork roast from last night. It's the feeling that I'm in the right place, at the right moment. Because I am soooo lucky enough to be surrounded by my family on this special holiday.

Christmas morning was special. William was so aware of what's going on. He woke up looking for presents from Santa :)

Santa didn't disappoint. He got William a Radio Flyer trike. How cool is that!
William is so big into Toy Story so Santa gave him a Buzz and Woody action figure. Plus he got the special rocket.

More presents from Mom and Dad Riley got a Christmas present as well. William picked up this stuffed beaver for him.
A quick family picture after we went for the morning Christmas service at church.

A sideview profile of me showcasing my ever growing belly!William chillin' and eating some of Santa's leftover cookie.William showing off his bike to Lola

Tita Susan and William
Cool kid on Christmas day.

Then it was off to Granddaddy and Grandmommy's house for Christmas dinner celebration.

My in-laws are extremely generous gift givers. This year, William had a Dinosaur theme gifts. He received this monstrous Imaginext Ultra Dinosaur. It was soooo neat! The adults loved it too. He received numeorous others gifts. William was definitely spoiled by his grandparents!

After dinner and the grandkids opening gifts, it was time for the adults to open theirs.The kids helped in handing out gifts. Like I said my inlaws are super generous gift givers! Ed and I got soooo many gifts---Keurig coffee maker, jewelry, ipod dock, etc. Too many for me to list!

Christmas went by so quickly, as it always does. We were so blessed to have Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas day with Ed's. I am still feeling sentimental and so grateful for the true blessings that we received -- being together, all of us was the greatest gift of all. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.

{Noche Buena '09}

Words can't even describe how much fun our Noche Buena was this year. I served a traditional Filipino meal to my family. It was very important for me to make this meal not only for my brother, sister and parents but mostly, it was for Ed and William to get know the Filipino Christmas celebration. My mom and my sis kept gushing that I nailed the food! Was so happy to hear that.

Here's our Noche Buena spread-Lechon (roasted pork), Buttered garlic shrimp, Pansit (lo-mein), Crab legs with coconut milk, Fresh Lumpia, Caldereta, Fruit Salad and Cake. Yum! Yum!

William showering Tito Nestor with kisses (because he has a present for him:))Sisters!William loved his hat and gloves from Tito Nestor.
My sister gave us Ray ban shades for Christmas.
William got his Toy Story beddings.
Mickey hat for my brother.
Big smile from my parents when they saw their Christmas gift from us...
an LCD TV. Dad was really excited!
Ed loved our gift from my brother. A folding cart. We've lived in the condo for years and very much need this.
Cool sweater from my parents.
My sister like her new Sonic toothbrush.
Yummy chocolate cake!
William in his jammies and ready for his Christmas morning.

Decorating our Gingerbread House

One of my favorite Christmas tradition is decorating our gingerbread house. It's so fun and we really get into it.

This year Publix was selling their gingerbread kit. The house is already put together so you are guaranteed a strong structural foundation :) Also, this gingerbread house kit actually smelled good and it was very tempting not to eat it. Most kits smell like cardboard. LOL!

Here's William with big smile and all. He was soooo excited for this activity. He loves candy cane so he was so happy when he saw them in the kit.

Father and son intensely decorating. For a toddler, William did so good with putting in the candies in line. I'm sure he got the OCD skill from his dad :)

Of course William just had to taste and test the candy.

Here it is....the Culler 2009 Gingerbread House.

Great job Ed and William! The house turned out really cute. Next year, there'll be one more helper to our Gingerbread house. If she's anything like her momma, she'll probably be just bossing yall and watching. Hahaha!