The Season That 'Twas.

Christmas came and went....and apparently so did the month of January. Here are some pics from the whirlwind season that is Christmas.

Tania valiantly tries to hold Craig, Jeremy and my cousin Meg.



I take the easy route and just hold Craig and Jeremy.



Jeremy tried to open his first Christmas present. Fortunately, he has an older brother with present opening experience.



Craig had a blast opening presents. Each time you give him a present he always says "OOOoooooo!"




Craig plays Guitar Hero with my cousin Brandon. All Craig does is hold down the green button and strum....which scores more points than it should.



Craig stopped opening presents, so I had to fill in. And I got excited about it.



Here are most of the Mantia cousins sitting in our kitchen eating Cool-Whip. I don't remember whose idea this was, but we are all fortunate that the whip cream went in their bellies and not in our faces.



Here is Jeremy almost rolling over. He is still in the "stuck on my arm" phase of rolling over, but I saw signs of him crossing his leg over which will help the process along.



Also, Jeremy ate solids for the first time this week. He ate rice cereal and did pretty well! (film at eleven). Craig sings all the time, he will sing the theme song to all his PBS favorites as well as Veggie Tales. He also started singing even without music, which I found impressive. I don't know where this fits in the Milestones, but we love our singing little man.

Baseball training.

I've already posted blogs about Craig trying out golf and soccer. Well, Craig is a baseball fan too. Here is a poorly lit video of Craig taking batting practice of sorts. The setup is we were at Tania's parents for dinner and TV (I think the VP Debate was on). It was probably during the MLB playoffs, so baseball was on the mind. Craig had picked up a wiffle ball bat and was swinging it around a little too enthusiastically.

So I took Craig in the garage where he proceeded to take batting practice on a plastic apple that hangs from the ceiling so you know how far to pull the car in. We did this for almost a half hour. Good times.

Also, a blessed Christmas/Holiday season to all of you from Ricky, Tania, Craig and Jeremy!

Catching up with Jeremy

Jeremy is 3 1/2 months old now, and he has gone from a tiny baby with no neck to a growing baby who will smile at everyone. Here are some pics to catch up with our littliest man.

Here I am holding Craig holding Jeremy.



Tania was taking pictures of Jeremy in his "i'm new here" outfit and Craig had to get in the action.



Another pic of Jeremy in one of Tania's favorite outfits.



Dad and Grandpa are giving Jeremy a bath. It took a little longer than expected.



This video proves how smiley Jeremy is. He does this to everyone, and we love it.

The most awesomest cookie cake.

This is the cookie cake that makes Mrs. Fields cry in a dark corner. Tania baked it for Craig's birthday. I am still eating it. It represents the good in all things considered cookie and cake. Bask in its awesomeness!

Trick or Treat! Now gimme your candy.....

There is nothing more entertaining than a two-year-old trick or treating for the first time. The whole time I was wondering what was going through Craig's brain: "Hmmm...it seems every house has an excess of candy and they want me to take as much as I can. Score!" (Craig has a great vocab apparently)

Our day started....with my car getting worked on. So we took a trip to the mall. Since it was a long day, I dressed the kids up and put Craig in the Gator costume to start.



Jeremy in his stroller. He was a pumpkin. I guess technically a jack-o-lantern.



Here is Craig as a Giraffe. I think the antler nubs make the costume.



Here I am with Craig. Tania wore a football jersey a student gave her. I went as a soccer player, which looks nothing like what I wear on Saturdays.



Our strategy for trick or treating was to have Craig 1) walk on his own 2) Ring the doorbell 3) Say please 4) Accept candy and move on. Well, he did great walking. And ringing the doorbell.



As for the saying please and getting candy.....well the video will speak for itself.



I'm not sure what Craig was planning on doing inside the house. Also, if there were a few kids at a house Craig would just walk up to the bowl and help himself! It was awesome, something his parents and grandparents will not forget.

Poll: Which Halloween Costume do you like better?

Halloween is around the corner, and we have 2 super-awesome Halloween costumes that Craig could wear. So we thought we could get your opinion on things. So, do you prefer Craig as:

A Gator?



Or a Giraffe?



Jeremy already grew out of his Pumpkin Halloween costume (he is 13 pounds already!) So he might just have to go as Captain Adorable.



Let us know your thoughts!

FORE!

I checked all the pics and videos we have, and I need to get a move on! So here is a video of Craig playing golf in the backyard. Remember, he is only 22 months in this video! Which (of course) makes him the next Tiger Tiger Woods Y'all.