Christmas at the Ritters

"Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.


It all changed in a blink of an eye when it was time to open gifts.




We had a wonderful Christmas. Little Jack (not pictured above) was sick, but was a great sport by opening his presents and flashing that brilliant smile once in a while. Brooke was her usual darling self, so happy for Christmas Eve to have finally arrived. Scotty was wide-eyed and excited on his first Christmas. He caught on to ripping open wrapping paper pretty quickly. It was great to have Geoff home for a couple of weeks and for Megan and Ty to spend so much time at our home. We felt lucky to have Stephen for our Christmas Eve feast knowing that he was working both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We also were so grateful to have Lyndsy and kids all afternoon and evening on Christmas Eve. They headed to Washington on Christmas afternoon. Amy is growing up so fast, but she still was very excited about Christmas and all of the surrounding traditions. Thanks family for a fabulous Christmas, especially to Scott who truly is the leader and anchor of this family.

Fear Not-Good Tidings of Great Joy

Luke 2:8-16. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.












And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them;


and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid.


And the angels said unto them, "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger".


And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly host praising God, and saying. "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."


And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another "Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us".


And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.








Shepherds: Jack (15 months) and Scott (9 months)
Angel: Brooke (nearly 4 years)
Mary: Brooke (nearly 2 years)

Christmas Will Soon Be Here!!

Can you believe how quickly the Fall came and went. I am amazed that it is December 10th and I still haven't put up all of our decorations. I usually do this the day after Thanksgiving, but not this year. I was hoping to move the piano down to the family room and rearrange the furniture in the front room so that I could put the tree up in the bay window like we did before we got furniture. (Wow, talk about a long sentence.) The piano is soooooo heavy that I will have to hire professional piano movers, so we will have the tree in the corner again. Maybe next year! After I came to that conclusion, I began the tree decorating, but I have only set up the trees and put lights on it. Tonight perhaps I will finish both trees and maybe put a photo on this blog for all to see the BEAUTIFUL Christmas trees I created. Until then, Happy Holidays

Time for a Break

For those of you who are involved in education (student, instructor, or parents), the first part of this video reminds me more of the first of the school year (instead of Friday) and the second part feels more like now (instead of Monday). In other words, I am ready for Thanksgiving break and shortly after, Christmas Break. Can anyone relate?


I am looking forward to a delightful Thanks-giving with the family. Megan, Ty, and Scott James will be here. Lyndsy and Stephen will be working on Thanksgiving Day, although we will have Stephen here in the morning and early afternoon, Lyndsy will join us in the evening, AND of course Brooke and Jack will be here all day. Geoff will come home from BYU (all the way from Provo-HaHa) bringing his appetite and one of his roommates, Nozomu, with him. Nozomu is most recently from Kentucky, but a native of Japan. Bottom line-Amy will be so happy to have her siblings, their spouses, and her nephews and niece here for the day and so will Scott and I. Sometimes it feels bitter-sweet because I miss my childhood Thanksgivings with my siblings, parents, and home. We always had such a great and happy time together. The tide has changed and now I am the main cook and OUR home is the gathering place. It is my childhood memory that sustain me and make it easy to create fabulous new memories, along with my husband, for our children, "adopted" children (Ty and Lyndsy), and Grandchildren!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OF YOU.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

Growing up I never understood how come dad and Steve got to have flags put up for their birthdays, but I didn't. Now of course I understand the reasons they do. so with that. Thank you to ALL that have served the United States of America.

This year dad isn't even home for his birthday. I think for a punishment I think he should give me all of his presents (good thing I ended up getting him the Taylor Swift CD ;) )

Well..

Happy Birthday dad!! I hope you have a good one even though you are off to the field. Thanks for everything!! I LOVE YOU!!!!
-AmyKatherine!

A Blast from the 80's

Dallas Robert's hair school had a fashion show last thursday. They asked my fashion team to do a routine as a filler in the show. We had the big hair and the major amounts of makeup. It was a lot of fun though. Of course being the girls that we are we took about 200 pictures. Here are some of the 200:


of course i had to have some fun with my look afterwards.
me and kristee again.
me and whit.

me kylee and karlie!!

urban outfitters.

Whit and me getting some food.
Kristie and me. 

getting ready.





okay so these weren't from the fashion show but i thought maybe you would like to see how i looked exactly one week after I got my wisdom teeth out. My cheeks were huge. Cross that- ONE cheek is huge, the other is just big.

With Love:
AmyKatherine.

More Fashion Photos of Amy

As promised here is a sampling of the rest of Amy's Fashion Team photo shoot.






Amy is at the top right side with the scarf.


Amy is third from the front on the left.


Good Friends. 


Carla, Ana, Kellie, Whitney, Amy, Jenessa and Naomi


Sitting on the tracks.


Whitney, Amy, Kellie.

Halloween Night

It's always fun when the grandkids come! Brooke was a beautiful butterfly. Scotty was an adorable bear, and Jack was a darling giraffe! They came to our home and we went trick-or-treating together.

Brooke, Scotty, Grandma Kathie, and Jack ready for fun.


Grandpa Scott and Jack the Giraffe!


Jazz Megan and Jazz Bear.


Scotty the smiling Bear!


"Come on! Lets stop taking pictures and get going!"


Brooke loves pulling faces!


Once in a while she will give us a beautiful smile.


"Hippie" Amy giving Scotty a "Bear" Hug.


Amy and Brooke satisfied with the "treats" that were secured that night.


Amy and Jack after a long night.


"Look at our awesome Pumpkin! It looks great with candle light."


"I'm not sure what happened tonight, but I have a big bag of candy and mom's letting me play with it and eat it and that is cool!