Off to Utah!

We were lucky enough to spend several fun-filled days in Utah with Aunt B (Matt's sis), Uncle John, Cousins Sarah & Lauren, Nana, Pop Pop, AND the 3 Yates dogs Madison, Bella, and Coco!  Riley came down with a stomach bug the night before we left (worst timing possible), but he was a trooper and pulled through by the morning so that we could fly to Utah without too much airplane drama. We all had a great time with all of the activities that Becky planned, and just enjoyed spending time with everyone!

The stroller basically served as a wagon for our luggage... luckily, Riley was there to help push :)

April and Zoe Fitzgerald (Matt's cousin) came for dinner and ice cream cake for Sarah's birthday the first night. It was so great to see them!

The rock star ice cream cake - happy 8th birthday Sarah!

Night #1 in the backyard with Pop Pop... check out that view!

The following day we were off to the zoo! Riley wore his Tiger shirt for the occasion.  The kids were so good in the back of the van.

 

Riley decided to pick the polar bears nose...

Thanks for the zoo souvenirs Nana and Pop Pop! We will always remember our fun day at the zoo!

After the zoo, we headed back to the house for some R&R, and then played in the Yates backyard. 

 

The kiddos all helped Pop Pop with some of his "projects" around the house

  Pop Pop was such a good sport when everyone dressed him up!

 

Next day on the agenda was a trip to Park Cities where the Olympics were held.  It was snowing pretty hard in the mountains so there wasn't much activity, but we were able to tour the Olympics museum. Pretty cool!

 

After all that skiing, Matt needed some time in the hot tub back at the Yates house.  He looks pretty relaxed, don't you think?

 

Riley was a little more hesitant to jump into the rolling bubbles

 

 The kids put on a fabulous show for everyone that night. They made refreshments and Lauren danced her heart out! Sarah did a puppet show, and Riley sang Old MacDonald and ABC's for everyone.

The next day, Becky planned a day at a farm and dinosaur museum for the kids! Both activities are RIGHT up Riley's alley.

And he wondered why the horse didn't want to be poked in the eye! ha!

They got to ride ponies... they were like pros!

 

We also rode on a horse and wagon around the farm. It was chilly, but beautiful!

Such a little man with his hands in his pockets!

 

After lunch, we headed to the dinosaur museum. They had several interactive exhibits for the kids, so it was a hit!

 

Thanks again for a great trip!! We love you guys!

Kick, Kick, Kick!

Riley is taking his first swim lessons every Saturday morning. We had our first lesson a few weeks ago, and he woke up the following morning with pink eye.  We had to skip the next week, and I decided not to use the changing area at the facility anymore.  He was pretty apprehensive the first time, but by the second lesson he was much more comfortable and actually enjoyed it! By the third lesson he was going under water! We're going to have a little fish on our hands by the summertime.

Look at all those pegs! They are his rewards for doing a great job in the water.

Sitting patiently with his classmates

At the end of the lesson, the kids get to slide down the slide. Ms Jean is such a great teacher!

Theme Days at School

Riley's school has different "theme" days each week.  We've had crazy hair day, crazy sock day, hat day, Texas Rangers day... all in the last few weeks! Riley loves dressing up for the themes, and it's neat to see the pictures that the school posts on their Facebook page of the kids all decked out. Here are a few recent ones from the Primrose page of our lil man.

Riley supporting the Hokies on Hat Day

Go Texas Rangers!!!

Dawson Visit

My Aunt Mary and Uncle Kurt came to Texas for some warm weather and family time, and we got the chance to spend lots of time with them.  They have 4 (grown) boys, so chasing Riley-the-Wild-Man was right up their alley! We had everyone over for pizza and backyard play on Friday night, and joined them at my parents house on Sunday for more fun.  Here I am, kicking myself yet again for not taking pictures... it's a hard thing to remember to do when you're in the moment, but I'm making a mental note to improve. :)

Riley sitting with MiMi on Friday night... he was off again seconds later

Josh is also so great with Riley, and Riley thinks he's pretty cool too. Side note - love our new backyard... we are finally able to spend time playing outside! YEA!

The girls are making a comeback!

That's right! The Weismann Family is growing, and Riley is going to have a baby sister this Fall! We are 13 weeks along, and (just like her big brother) the little lady is measuring ahead of schedule. I felt pretty crummy for several months, but love the better feelings that come with the 2nd trimester!  The baby looks great on her sonograms, and we can't wait for the new addition to our family!!

YIPPEEEE!!!! 

I asked Riley if he wanted to be a big brother. The answer was NO for several weeks, but now he smiles and says YES big Brudder!! 

I really couldn't get any good pictures of Riley in his big "brudder" shirt

Riley, look over here, c'mon over here buddy, hello???

Then it was time for lunch and the shirt got dirty, so that was the end of the shoot. Oh well, we tried and you get the gist!! 

Easter 2013

In preparation for Easter, we decided to spread out the tarp and dye some Easter eggs.  I'm embarrassed to say, that I never knew WHY we dyed eggs for Easter and learned all about it at Easter Mass this year... learn something new every day, right?? In short, the tradition started when Simon helped carry Jesus's cross and dropped eggs along the flowered path. The spring flowers changed the eggs to beautiful pastel colors, hence the colorful egg dyes! Anyway... back to the eggs...

Carefully dipping... look at those nice clean hands...

And tasting... he quickly learned that colored vinegar is not very appetizing.

Daddy had to show us how it's done

Look at all of those pretty eggs (and ignore the smashed casualty in front of Riley)

Tip: Notice the dyed hands? I thought they would be nasty for days, but I scrubbed them with Dawn dish soap and baking soda and it came right off!!

 Easter morning was very exciting because the Easter Bunny came to our house!!

 

He brought Riley one of his favorite things in the whole wide world, a firetruck!! 

(However, he pronounces the "t" in "truck" with an "F" and it sounds like a very bad word... this gift may help us practice!)

 

The Easter Bunny also hid lots of eggs around the house, and Riley found every single one of them!

 We got cleaned up and headed to meet my family at church.  I'm sad to say that this is the ONLY PICTURE I took of Riley all spiffy in his 3 piece suit, and I neglected to take any pictures the rest of the day.  We were busy with my family and were lucky enough to have our friends the Wollack's in town from Michigan. We spent most of the day poolside and dined on a delicious deli platter for lunch and beef tenderloin for dinner.  Happy Easter to all of our Friends & Family!!

Backyard Renovations

Our extremely-sloped-backyard has been a pain point for Matt since we moved into our home 5 years ago.  We even considered moving recently so that we could have a backyard conducive to swingsets and playing outside! We quickly realized that we love our home and neighborhood too much to move, so we decided to level out the backyard.  The estimated 2 truckloads of dirt ended up being 5 truckloads of dirt and lots of sod and labor (luckily, we hired people to do this!), but we are thrilled with the end product.  I see a spring and summer with lots of fun in the sun in the newly flattened backyard.

First step, the boys had to take measurements...

Step two.... two truckloads of dirt didn't come close to filling the backyard. We spent a week with a built in sandbox!

The final product... hooray!!