Christmas #2 happened when Nana and Pappy showed up from Idaho. We saved out all of their gifts so we could open them all together. They arrived around 4pm on Christmas Day we opened presents and then enjoyed a yummy ham dinner together. The one thing Mom and Dad kept saying about Keeley was how gracious she was. She always said thank you and always wanted everyone to be opening something. She spent a lot of time diving out the presents. She is a very thoughtful child.
That was until she opened her big present. Then it was all about pushing her around the house so she could fill her basket with all the new toys. She loves that bike.
Christmas #1 was just the three of us and it was so much fun. That is the first we really have gotten to do it by ourselves. Keeley didn't wake up until 8 which gave me enough time to finish up the cinnamon rolls before we started. She was too cute about everything. She kept say Wow!! and TOYS!! I hope she never loses that Christmas joy. For Christmas she got lots of ELMO, building blocks, pots and pans, Thomas tent, a baby doll, clothes and a brown and pink chair. She couldn't have been more pleased. Little did she know that was just the first time the tree would be filled with presents. Here is Keeley handing Riddle her present! Thanks to everyone for making our Christmas so plentiful!!
After eating ourselves sick with food we took a little detour to see some Christmas lights. Keeley screamed the entire time in the car but other than that it was great.This was the coolest house! We got out to look at it and take a break for a few minuets and as we did that, Anna, one of little girls with us took off for the front door she was meet there by the sweetest family who invited us in for cookies and to see the rest of their displays. After that it was home to wait for Santa!
My parents gave Riddle to me when she was only 8 weeks old fifteen short years ago. The first three years of Riddles life her and I traveled to something like 20 different states. I showed her on the National circuit and she won her class at nationals two years in row. When I left for college Riddle stayed with my parents and that was the first time in 9 years we had been apart. But it didn't last long. As many of you know while I was attending school at Boise State I met a boy, no not Matt. We were very serious when we broke up I had a rough couple months. The word rough probably doesn't do it justice, to me it was nearly unbearable. That is when Riddle moved back in with me. She would run with me 3 miles every day at 11 years old. She slept on my bed and she never left my side when she found me in tears. To many of you this may sound silly but just thinking about it makes me cry again. Since then she has only not been with me the 1 year that I attended BYU-Idaho and was single. Matt says that when we got married he didn't know about Riddle and that I was saving it so it would break the deal. Shortly after we were married I begged to bring her to live (illegally) in our little 3rd floor apartment. Riddle was Matt's first dog, that made for some good times. He had to do all of his learning with her. The deal was if she moved in with us she wasn't to be on any of the furniture. I obliged his requests. That first night she was in our apartment I left the room to brush my teeth. When I left she was sitting quietly on the floor. When I returned just 5 minuets later I found Riddle snuggled up to Matt on our bed. From that day forward she had furniture privileges.Riddle became my baby as she got older. She was often sick. In the last 4 years she has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and has had surgery to remove parts of it, heart issues, allergies, asthma, arthritis that we treated with medication until she over dosed 2 years and was hospitalized for 2 days. Just after Keeley was born she suffered from a stroke that we didn't think she would survive, but she did and the only thing that reminded us of it was the slight tilt of her head. Most recently, I ran over her leg and she didn't even have a broken bone. Pretty good for her 13" statue. Everyone worried what she would do when Keeley was born. But she instantly took her in as part of the family. Keeley's poking and prodding has always been endured with a good attitude. We knew she wouldn't be around much longer so for Christmas my parents gave us a ornament to make with her footprint, I finally got around to doing that last Friday afternoon. That same night while we were out running errands she escaped though and open gate in the backyard. We were up until midnight looking for her and up again at 7:30 searching the neighboring developments. Riddle had started to lose her mind in the past few months often forgetting where she was or what she was doing so I am sure once she lost home it was a scary thing for her.
We have spent countless hours searching for Rids but nothing has turned up. We are pretty sure that someone picked her up and now has her in there home. We have fliers out to all the vet, shelters and on every door in our neighborhood asking people to call. But nothing. We all miss her. But me the most.
Since Keeley's birth Riddle has gotten much less attention than she use to when she was my "only child." However, what that doesn't change is our history. To me it is like losing a good friend. In fact other than my family she is my oldest friend. We have been through a lot together and she will always be missed. I pray she will come home and she can spend the remainder of her time with us.
Sorry this got so long I just needed to get it off my chest.
Things in the Roberts house are very good. We have been very blessed this year. Our Christmas cards won't be making it out for Christmas but hopefully will follow soon after the New Year.
To fall inline with Conner family tradition here is Keeley's Santa photo. I expected tears so the "get me away from this man" face was a nice surprise. She really was a trooper about the entire experience and even thanked Santa as she got down from his lap. I think she was just thankful that he was letting her go and wasn't going to stash her in his bag.
I found Keeley here one morning. If you can't tell she is in the dryer. I think she just wanted to dry off after a bath. After unpacking the Christmas ornaments she started playing with the tape. Leave it Matt to put it across her mouth. She liked all the attention it gave her though.
Keeley is continuing to grow but at a much slower pace than her first year of life. Her favorite words right now are star, Santa, snowman (said "noman"), look("yook"), stuck (yuck), and Daddy (finally). She adores singing, her favorite songs are Once there was a snowman, ABCs, Ring Around the Rosie, Elmo's World, and the ever classic song Aunt Karen wrote I love Shoes. It goes like this "shoes, shoes, I love shoes." We must sing it every time we put shoes on. I love this age. She is my little partner in all I do and nearly everyday runs over to give me a kiss or a hug just because. I have to hold onto those moments because at other times I can see the terrible twos are looming around the corner.
I, on the other hand, am growing at much faster pace than I would like but it is to be expected given the size I grew to with Keeley. I really think I am having a boy. Mothers instinct I guess. However, boy or girl it has the stubborn Roberts attitude and crossed its legs the day of the ultra sound. I guess it doesn't want us to know but that didn't make me feel any better as my pregnancy hormones set in and I cried as I left the office. I really didn't want a surprise but I am slowly adjusting to the idea as it has been a month from my ultrasound. I just can't justify spending $100 just to find out boy or girl when I know that either way it is healthy.
Merry Christmas everyone! We hope that you have a wonderful Christmas.
