My Little Helper

Riley wants to help around the house these days, which I'm hoping lasts through the teenage years! If he spills something on the floor, he's off to grab a rag and clean it up.  He'll yell "I do it!!" and take care of the situation himself, all the way through putting the dirty rag in the hamper.   This kid loves to clean!

 

Not only does he like to clean, but he has been a big help in the kitchen as well! My Aunt Susie sent us a recipe for bean dip, and Riley took control of the entire recipe.   He stirred the black beans, salsa, corn, cheese, and refried beans... no, I was not allowed to help him!

Any chef knows that it's important to taste your masterpiece to make sure you didn't leave anything out!

In true chef fashion...

Yummm... yes, it passed the test!

Reunion

We had a reunion with Riley's old teacher Mrs. Kristy and his good buddy Matthew from his old daycare.  The boys jumped in right where they left off and played their hearts out all morning.  They were both excited to see their favorite teacher, Mrs. Kristy, when she walked in because neither one had seen her in 2 months! She couldn't believe how big they had already gotten in such a short period of time, and we all had a great time catching up. 

They started out playing cars (notice the somewhat clean playroom at this point...)

Then it was on to actually riding on cars. It's much more fun when you have a friend to push you!

More cars (I'm noticing a theme here)... now on a ramp

Then it was time to take a break for lunch. 

Lunch was pretty short lived, and then they were off again... now it's time to slide!

Starting to get silly!

Here is the "after" picture. Obvious fun had by all!

Thank you for coming to play Matthew and Mrs. Kristy! We love you!

Date Night

We were lucky enough to go on a long overdue date night last weekend, and Lib & Josh offered to babysit.  With the cost of babysitters these days, how could we turn down a free night out!? They are both so amazing with Riley, and he had an absolute blast.  The highlight of the night was their trip for frozen yogurt!  Thank you to Lala and Josh for a nice night out! We ate sushi, and then went furniture shopping for Riley's "big boy" room (yes.... I just said we went furniture shopping on our date night, and LOVED every second of it!).  We topped the night off with some dessert and cappuccino at a French restaurant... couldn't ask for a better night!

2 Year "Stats"

 We had Riley's 2 year checkup with Dr. Thai and he's continuing to grow like a weed.   I actually plugged Riley's information into a "height calculator", and it estimates that he'll be 6' 4" when he's 18... we all know that he gets his height from me! HA! Riley is picking up new words everyday, and is starting to talk in three word phrases ("I did it", "It right here") and sing songs like the ABC's and his new favorite.. Ba Ba Black Sheep.  He's still as active as ever, and we are convinced that he'll be playing some sort of sport very soon.  He's getting very good at identifying all of his shapes and colors, and he's loving his new school! We are still working on expanding our "picky eater's" diet from the current staples of string cheese, yogurt, fruit, and granola bars... so in the meantime we are incorporating gummy vitamins and an iron supplement because he's bordering on being anemic.  Riley is still a BIG fan of his Daddy, and loves copying everything that he does. He also gives his Mommy lots of hugs and snuggles, and just melts my heart. We love you, Sweet Boy. 

Daddy was taking some measurements, so Riley went and found his measuring tape to help

My Guys 

Celebrating the big "2", Cowboy Style!

We had a full day of Cowboy fun on Riley's 2nd birthday.
What better way to start the day than by feeding the EIEIO's?? They race towards us when they see us pull up now, and Riley is such a pro at feeding the horses.

Then we headed to the mall so that Riley could play in the play area, eat in the food court, and ride on the carousel.   We took him to ride on the carousel last year on his birthday, and I think we have a new birthday tradition.

After a nice long nap the Birthday Boy was ready to party!! We had Gigi, Grandpa, Lala, Uncle Johnny, and Zack & Matt Wollack over for the celebration.  

 

Riley is such a pro at opening gifts now. He kept saying "Ha-bir-day-Riley!!"

I think he likes his new cowboy hat

 He also got his very own horse to ride at home!

Yee-Haw!

 Lala got Riley a special tent, and they both loved playing in it!

He also got an easel, and was checking out all of the markers and paints with GiGi.

He got this cool dinosaur  train table from GiGi and Grandpa. He's one spoiled 2 year old!

After a yummy Texas BBQ dinner we decided it was time for the best part... the cupcakes! Riley knew what to do!

YUMMM!

Being silly with Uncle Johnny

I think the sugar was starting to kick in at this point!

So, what better way to work off some sugar than to have a dance party?!

Thank you to Matt and Zack Wollack for coming to the party too! They gave Riley the coolest play food for his kitchen. He LOVES it!

Our little cowboy had to end the evening with his hat on. Happy birthday big boy!!

Lots of Love for Texas Winters

We have been lucky enough to enjoy some pretty amazing weather this winter in TX. Last weekend was especially sunny and warm, so we took full advantage of it and spent the majority of the weekend outside.  We met the Loeffler's at the Heard Museum where there was an outdoor dinosaur exhibit.  We walked the trails and saw all of the huge, loud, roaring, moving dinosaurs.  Both Riley and Caroline found them to be pretty scary, and I don't blame them one bit! Then we went out to a yummy lunch which happened to be near a sandy play area, which the kids insisted on visiting before we left! We took a nice long walk on Super Bowl Sunday, fed the ducks, played at the playground, and enjoyed the sunshine. We attended a Super Bowl party at our neighbor's house that night, and it's always a fun time with our neighbors!

Riding one of the friendly dinosaurs

This one was roaring and moving behind them...

Riley's not too sure how he feels about being so close

They got the run the trails on this beautiful day!

Another "friendly" climbing dinosaur

Just thought this sign was hilarious... stay back, dangerous deer!!!

Playing at the Fairview "Beach" after lunch. Caroline was so sweet to Riley, even though he constantly invaded her personal space :)

Sunday at the park, cheeeeze!!!

Riley and Gavin were in charge of the Super Bowl squares.

Gavin won the 1st Quarter - Go G!

TGIF

We had a pizza making party at our house two Fridays ago to celebrate a successful week at Riley's new school. GiGi and Grandpa went with me to pick Riley up from school, and then we came home and made personal pizzas and played with puzzles on the iPad. What a great way to wind down the week! TGIF!