Valentine's Part Two

Saturday morning we started with a trip to the car wash...Jason had tested out the Tahoe's off-roading skills the day before and it was MUDDY! Riley was so cute watching all of the cars go through and we had so much fun!

After the exciting car wash we headed off to meet up with all of our friends and Riley went to play with DiDi and Doc for the day! Jason and I were off to Oaklawn...the horse races in Hot Springs...with several other couples. We have been wanting to go ever since we have moved to Arkansas but just never have so we didn't want to pass up on this opportunity and it was SO much fun! We had no idea how to bet or what all of the terminology was but Jason learned quick and we actually did pretty well! We had lots of good food and ice cream and enjoyed a beautiful afternoon at the race track!

Amy, Andrea, and Owen...he was such a good baby the whole time!

Matt and Leslie
Derek and Tara holding Owen...with their second on the way they are getting excited about little babies!
All the girls...
After a fun trip to Oaklawn we went to Jason's parents house to pick up Riley and sneak in a few quick games on the Wii...it was so fun!

We then met up with the Burns family for a Valentine's Dinner...it was only appropriate that Riley and Kaleb share this special day together! Riley even gave Kaleb a sweet hug, but we're not sure if he even noticed! While we waited the kiddos played with some booster seats...Riley LOVES climbing so these kept her entertained most of the time. Kaleb was interested but he wanted to be walking / jogging through the restaurant so he was off!

We had a great Valentine's and hope you did too!

Lots of updating...Valentine's Part One

Well we have been busy lately but having lots of fun! Riley has been SOOOOOOOOOO much fun lately and we are just soaking up all our time together. Jason leaves next weekend for Squadron Officer School for 5 weeks so Riley and I will be on our own again for a short while. We are lounging as I type and watching 24...one of our favorite things to do together!

Friday night we went to a couple's night at our church and had a great Italian dinner and enjoyed the entertainment of Tim Hawkins, a Christian comedian! He was HILARIOUS! We had so much fun with all of our friends and Riley played in the nursery and had fun too!

Derek and Tara

Brian and Ashley

Kyle and Amy

Ross and Heather

Josh and Andrea...and Reed too!

All the girls...

An exciting weekend...in several ways

Well I'll start out by telling you that Riley has a new bed...not exactly a new bed but one that she can't get out of...let me explain! Friday night while I was away preparing for Andrea's shower, Jason and Riley had come home and gone to bed and sometime in the middle of the night Riley fell / climbed out of her crib! Jason heard a thump followed by a screaming baby and was terrified when he found her lying on her back next to her crib. He quickly checked her out and within minutes she was talking and wanting to play...the bottom line is that she is completely fine but we are not about to let that happen again. She preceded to stay up for several hours wanting to play and then finally her and Jason got some rest. I did not even know about these events until later Saturday morning...I was shocked but so thankful she was ok! Last night she slept in her pack 'n play because we got home late and today Jason lowered her crib ALL the way to the toddler bed level...there is NO way she can get out now. She went to bed pretty easily tonight so we'll hope it stays that way!

After we got her bed all put together we brought her into her room to show her and wouldn't you know she tried to get in...let's remember we did all this because she wanted out! Actually she just wanted her favorite bunny lovey and she successfully freed him from captivity!

So onto the rest of this weekend's events...Saturday I spent the first half of the day with Andrea's shower festivities while Jason took Gabi to her basketball game and had lunch with his family at On The Border. Apparently during lunch Riley noticed that everyone was dipping their chips in salsa and she wanted to partake. Jason would pretend he was dipping a chip for her but that wasn't good enough. He decided to give her an empty bowl and let her "dip" her own chips and she did just that! I have to say I am so proud that my little girl loves chips and salsa as much as I do...a true Texas girl!

We all hung out during the afternoon and Riley took rides on the scooter with her Daddy and went on a walk with DiDi and me. She also watched CJ shoot hoops and she really wanted to play with the basketball. She would hold it and then take it to the ground as if she was trying to dribble! It was so cute!

Saturday night was went to a UALR basketball game compliments of my work and enjoyed the game from a suite with lots of good food! We took Frank and CJ along with several of CJ's friends and they had a blast too...particularly at half time when the cheerleaders performed! Ha! Riley had a blast too...she had a cat nap on the way and at first she didn't quite know what to think but she sat in the seat and took it all in...

Once she woke up she really enjoyed the music and she danced along with everyone! She also did LOTS of walking...in the past few days she has really mastered walking and she is off and I feel like I'm constantly chasing after her...fun, fun, fun! Here's a picture of us with Sue...my wonderful boss and friend!

Showering Andrea...

After many showers this past year it was finally time to shower Andrea...the one who started it all! She is due with Reed who should arrive sometime in early April and we can't wait to meet him and see the Baker family grow!

We decided to have a brunch and it all turned out great! We had quiche, marinated cheese, bacon wrapped water chestnuts, lemon poppy seed muffins with raspberry butter, fruit pizza, and s'mores cupcakes! We also made a blue punch to keep up our theme and it was really good! Here's a pic of the diaper cake we put together...we had a lot of fun doing it!

Andrea got many great gifts and we played some fun games. We also surprised Andrea with a scrapbook we all put together and her Bob stroller...it was so fun to see her excitement...in the form of tears!

We had so much fun putting this together and it went great!

Pneumonia ain't got nothin' on me...

Well Riley has beat her case of pneumonia and we are SO glad she is back to herself! She is eating like a champ, sleeping great, and playing like a little girl should be!

Friday she spent a few hours with her DiDi so mom could get some work done and when I met up with them to take her home I found her trying to drive her DiDi's car...looks like a sick baby doesn't she? She did actually still look pretty pitiful, but it was great to see her having a little fun!

Her fever broke Saturday morning and she just started becoming more and more of herself and slept 12 hours that night which was glorious for mom and dad who were starting to become delirious!

We laid low this weekend letting Riley recover and attempted to try a new Mexican food restaurant Saturday evening...it was DISGUSTING! I'm not sure why we continue to give Arkansas a chance at having decent Mexican food...we just get more and more disappointed! We still had a good time as a family and didn't let the awful food "spoil" our evening! We were also so tired that we just wanted to get something in our stomachs and attempt to get a decent amount of sleep which we did!

Sunday we hung out at home again all day...we didn't want to get Riley out among other babies too soon so we decided to forego church and the Barnard's Super Bowl party just to be on the safe side! We had great weather which was totally refreshing so we took a run as a family.

We also took Riley to play at a park by our house and she had so much fun! In Riley's world there is no such thing as going down the slides...she believes whole heartedly that they are meant to be climbed up! She had a few temper tantrums trying to convince us she was right about this, but ultimately she also tried sliding down a few times as well!

She also got her first taste of a swing set and she LOVED it! She rode on her Daddy's lap and smiled in awe the whole time! We had so much fun together!

Since we didn't make it to the Super Bowl party we had our own little party with rides in the laundry basket...
and a delicious meal prepared by the one and only Chef Riley!
Actually we ordered an insane amount of food from Outback and pigged out! Riley does love playing in the kitchen and we had tons of fun watching her...I can already see tea parties in our near future!

We are so thankful Riley is all better...life is good!