One PROUD Daddy

I think this past Monday was one of Jason's proudest days as a Daddy!

Riley had received a very nice gift card from Uncle Jim so Jason and my dad decided to get her all set up with a Tinkerbell fishing pole at Bass Pro Shop and they showed it to her Monday morning.

She loved it from the minute she saw it and just kept saying "Daddy...feeeeshing....Daddy...feeeshing"

She ran straight to the back door and wanted to go fishing right away but I convinced her to at least get dressed first while Jason went to get minnows and worms!

Once she was dressed it was time for her first experience fishing and she loved it and actually got the hang of it!
She reeled in and cast her cute fishing pole and even begged the feeeshies to "Eat eat eat their food"...those are the words from one of her songs from school that reinforces her use of sign language...it was so cute!

She was just in awe of her Daddy and loved sharing this with him...but I know his heart was about as full as it could get considering she was having so much fun fishing with him!

She even helped with the minnows although she wasn't ready to touch one yet!

And if fishing got a tad boring she would just blow some bubbles for a break and then go back to fishing!

She would have fished all day but we convinced her to take a nap and when she woke up she was still talking about fishing.

She took an afternoon boat ride with Daddy and JoePa...

and she captained the boat this time...hold on guys!

Later that evening it was time for night fishing!

First we have to put out some fish food...

and then we try and catch them! My parents have this cool underwater light that comes on every evening and helps for fishing...she was enamored with that!

Riley hasn't caught her first fish yet but we don't think it will be long and surely that will only make her love for fishing even greater with that thrill!

After a full day of fishing this little girl was just plain worn out!

Here's to many more years of fishing with her Daddy!

Birthday Girl Round Two

Riley has mastered celebrating her birthday over numerous occasions and there is NOTHING wrong with that!

Saturday after spending a few hours with Jason the girls headed to Houston for my work party and the boys headed to San Antonio for a Robert Earl Keen concert!

We stayed with the Roebucks, the sweet parents of my college roommate Dana, and had so much fun catching up with them.

Riley especially loved all of the fun Christmas decorations that Mrs. Roebuck had out to play with!

While the Roebucks, my mom, and Riley went out to dinner I headed to my work party with my lovely date Jenn!

The FramesDirect.com party was a lot of fun and I went home with a Borders giftcard so I plan to get a few books that I have been eyeing. We stayed out pretty late and when Jenn dropped me back off at the Roebucks I came in to find Riley awake!

She had gone to bed at 8 but woke up at 10:45 looking for mommy and just couldn't go back to sleep...so she played a little and watched some tv until I got home. Once I got there she acted a little like a crazy girl and then I was able to get her back down...until she heard me and my mom talking...so she slept with me...and I loved every minute of it!

Sunday morning we decided to have a little birthday bash for Cooper and Riley since they share such close birthdays and were both two and we were all in town together...so Chuck E Cheese it was!

Riley was so excited to see Cooper...they have been in TX since before Thanksgiving so it was a reunion for these two!

Cooper was not quite as excited and pretty much remained mellow the entire party...until Riley started playing with a game he wanted...and vice versa. These two are a riot...they would each play with something and move on but if the other one went to play with whatever they had just finished with...they were peeved and it was the "mine" game!


Here's Coops making his daddy proud as he wanted to ride the airplane!

Riley was pretty good at bopping!

She had a little chat with Bob the Builder!

And they both rode the Barney ride together and had fun!

Serious game player!

Cake Time!

This picture tells it all...Riley is blowing her candle out and Cooper is trying to touch the fire on his candle! Silly boys!

Riley got a baby doll at her party and she was so excited about it...she's quite the little mama!

Grammie, Riley, and Me...the party was over and we had two tired but wired kiddos on our hands!

I fully expected Riley to conk out in the car and she did...but only for 40 minutes! I was SO tired from the Friday night late drive to pick up Jason and the late night at my work party so Grammie took over the wheel and I tried to sleep with Riley in the back...not much luck. She honked my nose, patted my cheeks, and pointed out every facial feature of mine making it impossible to sleep. When I would lay down away from her she would put the blanket on me, pat (a.k.a. slap) my back, and then squeal, laugh, and sing songs. She was non-stop! I think I have learned that sugar now affects her...we must keep it to a minimum!

We finally made it back to the lake and the boys had a great dinner cooked for us. As an added perk we made it back just in time for the sunset...one of the BEST parts about being at the lake!

Riley was so excited to see Daddy again and play with him...you would have never known she only slept 40 minutes all day!

Daddy's Girl!

We ate dinner and I fell asleep on the couch at 8:00...Jason sweetly tucked me in bed and I slept until 7:00 this morning...it was some much needed sleep and I felt like a new woman!

Don't worry...Riley still has more birthday celebrations to come!

Birthday Girl Round One!

Well it was inevitable...my sweet baby girl turned 2!

It's official even though she has referred to herself as being 2 for the past several months if anyone asked her how old she was!

It's not that I'm not excited for her because I truly am...it's just that I want her to stop growing up so fast!

I don't even know where to begin to express my deep love for this little thang...she is such a blessing to her Daddy and I and we just can't get enough of her...even after we put her to bed we often reflect on moments of that day that we just fell more in love with her or were so tickled by her!

Happy Birthday Sweet Riley!

I'm not sure if she understood it was her birthday but she sang "Happy Birthday" all day long and I think she enjoyed the endless presents...who wouldn't?

She was certainly tickled by this Mickey Mouse card!

She had fun unwrapping presents and we had fun watching her method...she would tear one tiny piece off, wad it all up, and hand it to JoePa for the trash...one little piece at a time!

Her first present of the day was this cute piano...she can play it or it will just play music for her...a win win situation for all!

I loved watching her intently play the piano..

and then break out in a crazy dance!

After her first round of presents she got to dive into the yummy Pumpkin pancakes Grammie made her...that's my girl!

Later on in the morning Riley played with Sadie for a straight hour...putting the blanket on her and putting her to bed and even adding hair accessories to her...Sadie was such a good sport!

I thought I'd give Sadie a break and let Riley open a new present...a microphone...so we had our own little concert!

And after that there was one more big present...a tricycle from Grammie and JoePa that she can keep here to play with when we visit!

Even with an adjustable seat and pedal extenders she still can't quite reach the pedals so she needed some assistance!

Our little bike rider...she had fun helping Grammie put it all together and then riding up and down the driveway until it was time for a nap!

That evening we had her second annual red velvet cupcake to celebrate her 2nd birthday!

I iced the cupcake and did the sprinkles myself this time as to not have a super huge mess but when it came time to eat it she had total freedom!

We tried to get her birthday hat on again but she was not too thrilled about it!

Let's get on with cupcake time!

I think Riley had a great birthday and the celebrations will continue!

Friday I went to work in Austin for the day and missed my Riley so much. When I got home I pulled off my boots and this is what happened!

They are like full leggings on her...she's stylin'!

One Happy Girl

Riley has been one happy girl since we got to Texas and she's been SO.MUCH.FUN!

JoePa can't wait for her to wake up in the morning and a few times he's actually had to wake her up...

Riley wanted JoePa to have breakfast with her and they were making silly faces!
He worked on showing her how to show that she's 2 years old...tomorrow is her birthday and I just can't believe it!

She's getting the hang of it!

Monday after I was done working we took a ride on the boat...Riley had been talking about the boat since we landed in Austin...she LOVES being outside and she LOVES the boat!

So excited!

Love this grin!

Happy Girl!

She always gets to drive the boat with JoePa and honk the horn!

After the stressful job of driving the boat she decided to chill and have some milk!

After the boat ride we roasted marshmallows in the fire pit and it was so much fun!

Riley was in awe of the fire but didn't mess with it at all...she helped blow the marshmallows out!

She chowed down and was hesitant to share with anyone!

She was one busy girl running around in between eating marshmallows!

Riley ended up completely squishing her marshmallow in her hand holding it so tight in fear of anyone trying to steal it..she wouldn't even share with Sadie!

She was desperately in need of a bath after the fire...one sticky girl but she had so much fun!

Yesterday us girls headed to San Antonio for the night...my mom had several things to do and I just worked a half day so Riley and I ran a few errands and she was so well behaved...we were in and out of the car and in and out of shopping carts and she was just happy for it all!

We then headed to the Hanlons house to see Mad Dog Mama (Patrice), Whitney, and Pat...Riley took a 3 hour nap while I worked in the afternoon and then it was time to play!

She had fun checking out all the Christmas decorations, especially this little bitty tree that Patrice made!

She LOVED playing with Kasey's old doll house...the funniest part was when she tried to sit on the furniture and get in the car...she didn't quite realize that she was WAY too big!

Whitney, Riley, and I went to Alamo Cafe for dinner...had to get our fix and it was so yummy!

When we got home Riley demanded that Pat sit down and drink some milk before he went off to bed...I tell ya...little girls sure can get men to obey. Pat was saying goodnight and trying to get a hug from Riley and she just smacked her hand on the floor and said "sit down"...she can be a little bossy!

After Pat went to bed we had a girls party to celebrate my mom's birthday which was last week!

Patrice made a FABULOUS chocolate cake and we all partook...Riley had a one track mind once she saw that cake and that was to be the first to get a piece!

Smooches from Grammie!

We all "cackled" as Patrice gave my mom her gift which included a beautiful platter that had a disclaimer on the bottom "Do not use to serve food. Will poison food." Awesome!

Me and my mom...Happy Birthday Mom!

Today was a super fun day for Riley! Whitney wanted to decorate cookies with Riley so she baked them last night and this morning was time for decorations!

Whitney and I

Check out Riley's face as she realized she was going to get to sprinkle the cookies!

She had so much fun and made a huge mess...some of the sprinkles containers had very big holes so the sprinkles came out in abundance!

She made sure to do quality control and check her work before she put it on the plate..anyone want a cookie?

So the red sprinkles got slightly out of control and this is what Riley looked like!

Notice all the sprinles on the cookie sheet...can you even see the cookies under the sprinkles?

That picture is priceless...trust me there is no blood involved...haha!

She had a blast and didn't even nap today with the sugar high from all the cookie decorating. We headed back to the lake at what would normally be her nap time thinking she would snooze on the way...not so much! She was non-stop talking, singing, clapping, and a few times she even screamed at the top of her lungs! She was so happy and after we made the trip back she went to the grocery store with Grammie and behaved so well.

I am still astonished at how happy she was and that we had no meltdowns today with the lack of a nap but she was just having too much fun! She was ready for bed early and went down without a peep.

She has to get a good night's sleep so she can celebrate her birthday tomorrow...we can't wait!