Riley's Best Friend(s)

The other day I could hear Riley under the table saying "Hi Best Friend! Hi Best Friend!", so, naturally, I peeped under the table and saw Riley petting Peyton. Um, how come Peyton gets to be her best friend??

So David and I decided to have a talk with her. We asked her "Riley, who's your best friend", immediately she responded "Peyton!"; so we asked "Can Bosco be your best friend?" and her response was "YEP!". So we asked "Can Daddy be your best friend?" and with the sweetest little grin replied "nope", and when asked "Can Mommy be your best friend?" we again got a "nope".

So... I have no idea where she learned about best friends, but, dog really is man's best friend. Er, Riley's best friend :)
Lucky Dogs!

Happy Birthday Riley Anne!

Today Riley turns two. My little girl is growing up!

Planning a party for a two year old was rather interesting, when we asked Riley what type of party she wanted to have she just said "KIDS!", and if you asked what she wanted for her birthday her first response was, again, "KIDS!" followed by "Balloons!". So a party with kids and balloons is exactly what she got! Elephant themed, of course...

So Riley had her birthday party on Saturday over at Smoochie's house- we had just over 30 people and the weather actually cooperated, at least for the most part. There were 8 kids and they all had a blast playing outside on the swing set, with the yard toys and even this silly bean bag toss game with an elephant on it! Chuck did an AWESOME job with lunch, we had brats, hotdogs, coleslaw and David's mom Hanne made fruit salad and her potato salad - YUM!

As usual Ry made out like a bandit, anything that kid could have wanted she got. We now have Zhu Zhu's, crayons, coloring books, clothes, elephant books, puzzles, Little People sets, Mr Potato Head, stuffed animal elephants, a sand box with toys and a power Quad (that Riley loves and got the hang of rather quickly) - just to name a few.


After presents we cut into Riley's birthday cake - ever made an elephant birthday cake before? I can't tell you how many times I heard the line from Steel Magnolias "How do you make GRAY icing?!" haha! The Elephant was confetti cake and the base was cherry chip, if everyone told the truth it all turned out okay :)


After cake each kid got some really cool favor boxes full of stuff, elephant shaped crayons, candy, windmills, bubble sticks, sidewalk chalk, balls, elephant finger puppets, a foam letter with their initial.... We made sure that each kid got to go home with some really awesome items and "share" Riley's party with her - they loved it!


More photos to come!!!!

Happy Birthday Riley - The coolest little girl I know! :)

Almost two!!

Riley turns two on Monday! Can you believe it??

We're having her party this upcoming Saturday, May 8th at Smoochie's house - photos and comments to come! I PROMISE! :)

About time for another update I'd say!

Well one thing is for sure, Riley keeps us busy! As if you couldn't tell from the decades appearing between posts!

She's 20 months old now, going on 4 years... She REALLY keeps us on our toes. Right now her vocabulary changes daily, she's learning new words and meanings constantly and won't hesitate to tell you that her favorite animal is an elephant (her favorite color is "elephant" too), or that EVERYTHING is either red or pink.

She is still one for adventure and we can't keep her from climbing anything, she has the will and has already found a way - it's just the waiting game to see when someone isn't watching :)

This last weekend David and I took Riley and I to the Stock Show so she could see real live farm animals - rather than just seeing them in books. She absolutely adored the petting zoo, she pet every animal (as well as another kid or two!), hugged the baby goats and sheep and thought the duck playing in the water was hilarious. She got to see lots of big cows, big and small horses, bunnies, alpaca's, guinea pigs, baby lambs... and even ponies. Riley got to go on her first pony ride and LOVED LOVED LOVED it. When the ride was over she was so upset and didn't want to leave the ring. With the promise of seeing more animals she bucked up and went on her merry little way - leaving us with great photos to share with you all!

Hope you're all well and I'll work on posting more often!

Fourth of July

Here are some photos from our 4th of July celebrations! First Riley, her cousin Gabi and friend Bostyn all rode together in our wagon for out neighborhoods parade, they were in their leotards dressed as the US Womens Gymnastics Team :)

The girls were so cute, they waved to all the neighbors and waved their flags in the air, and they beahved so well for the entire thing. The parade ended at a neighborhood park so all the girls got to play on the playground, eat ice cream and even check out the cop car that joined us in the parade.

A little catching up...

Yikes! Sorry I did it again! It's amazing how fast time flies!! I'll do my best over the next week to get ya'll caught up, it looks like I skipped the entire summer!

This summer has been a blast! Riley has gotten to do quite a few neat things and has grown SO much! She's definitely a monkey! Her favorite thing to do is climb, and of course explore EVERYTHING. A few weeks ago I put her to bed in her crib with a bottle and a binky then headed out to the living room where David was playing Wii, finally is quiet and calm. Three minutes later out walks miss Riley with her binky and bottle in hand. She must have actually planned this escape and thrown both her binky and her bottle out of the crib, then herself, picked up her items and headed out to Mommy and Daddy. I have to admit I was pretty proud :)

Riley has been in a baby gymnastics class this summer (parent & tot class), it has helped her motor skills extremely (which may be the cause for the crib escape....). Her instructor Mrs. Pam is awesome and Riley adores her, her favorite thing is the balance beam and has recently started to like the bars. She's actually strong enough to hold onto the bar and bring her feet up to touch it all on her own. They taught us a new song, a coocoo clock song, which has become a major favorite of Riley's - she LOVES to be thrown in the air so she gets so excited when you mention the song to her.

Ry's vocabulary has expanded tremendously! I taught her to say her own name on a Saturday and by the next day she already knew to say it when someone asks "what is your name?". For some reason she won't respond to "what's your name", it has to be "what is", goofy kid. She'll attempt to say any word you ask her to now but on her own her favorite is to ask for 'more' which she'll say and sign at the same time, she'll also sign please when she wants something. Aside from just words and sounds I've also had fun teaching her a few other things, if you ask her what 'Daddy says' she'll shake her finger at you like she's saying 'no no no' and (my favorite) when you ask her what Oma says she'll say "Raarrr" and bring her hand down like a claw. I know I know, evil. But fun!! :)

Riley helped daddy mow the lawn!

Riley had a fun filled day outside today, she helped Daddy mow the lawn, played in the sprinklers and even played at the driving range while Mommy and Daddy attempted to hit some balls with Papa Reed.

Riley following Daddy with her mower:

Trying to catch up to Daddy, but his legs are longer!
Riley's first real experience with ants, she thought they wer SO cool! Look at those chunky little legs in her swim suit: