The best of friends...

Life is about the friends you have and we have been VERY blessed with our small group friends from church during our time here in Arkansas...we all started out as the young married couples with no kids and now here we are a year and a half later...4 babies out of the womb and 3 just waiting to make their arrival! I think we have such a special bond because we are all in the same phase of our lives and we can share all of these experiences with each other...and of course we have lots of fun in the process! This past Sunday our church lifted up Jason in prayer as he comes close to leaving and after church we had lunch with all of our friends at Jason's fav...PF Changs! As hard as this seperation will be I know that Riley and I will truly be taken care of in every way possible through this group of friends and I know that takes a burden off of Jason's shoulders as well...we love you guys and cherish our friendship more than you will ever know!

P.S. In case you are wondering Jason does have chopsticks coming out of his nose...this is normal so don't be too alarmed!

Tonight we ate dinner with the Burns family...the Burns / Purcell dinner club is a pretty regular thing but it has been over a month since we have had dinner together. We really have gone through life with Tara and Derek as Kaleb and Riley are only 10 days apart so we have done pregnancy and parenting right along side one another. Thanks for treating us to a great night with you guys as well as a delicious meal!

Pre-Babies...look at those bellies!

Post - Babies...look at those cuties!

We ate at Kobe...a hibachi restaurant and look at how intrigued Kaleb and Riley were with the chef and the fire...he told us to cover their eyes when he did the fire but they were in awe of it!

Showering Stella...

This past weekend we hosted a couple's shower for Tom and Sydney and Baby Stella...due to arrive in September. Tom and Sydney are great friends of ours and recently relocated to Northwest AR for their jobs...oh how we miss them! We decided to invite the boys to this shower so we could all hang out...and so we could make them play games that would entertain us...boy did that work out well! We had lots of help in putting this shindig together and Jason spent ALL day Saturday in the blazing heat powerwashing our entire house, taking care of the lawn, spraying for bugs, putting up Xmas lights, and setting up for the shower...he was pooped by the time the partying began but this was all stuff that we needed to do and this was our reason for getting it all done! Here are some pics from the shower...

We had a great spread of food...fajitas, beans, rice, watermelon, and cupcakes with Andrea's famous homemade chocolate ice cream for dessert...yummy!!!

The games were HILARIOUS! The first was a blindfolded diaper changing contest...doll has diaper on and guys have to remove "dirty" diaper, clean baby, and put on new diaper. Our contestants were Tom and Kyle...both Dad's to be and both never having changed a diaper! Tom did surprisingly well and even wrapped up the dirty diaper like a pro...Kyle on the other hand was pure entertainment for everyone. It's a good thing you have 5 months to master your diaper changing skills Kyle! A few things out of Kyle's mouth during the game include:

"I don't get it...where are the holes?"

"Okay guys we're going to be here all night" (This after Tom was already done and Kyle had the diaper wrapped sideways around the doll's stomach)

"Was that supposed to happen...well I think I will just tie this in a knot" (This after he accidentally ripped part of the diaper off and couldn't find the adhesive to secure it)

Needless to say Tom won this game hands down...great job guys!

Our second game was a bottle chugging contest...four grown men sucking 4 oz of water from a slow flow nipple bottle! They were all out of breath and it took them nearly 5 minutes to down these bottles...pretty funny and great job Bryan!

After all of the shower events we all scurried inside to escape the heat and the guys had RockBand out in 0.4 seconds...they had a lot of fun. We closed out the night watching the video that we all put together to honor (and poke fun at) Tom and Sydney before they moved...we had lots of fun and we can't wait to meet Baby Stella!

Family Lunch

So I am going to do a little catching up here on the blog...don't quite know where the time has gone but nevertheless here I am over a week since my last post...sorry mom! Last weekend we got to attend our first church service in our new building...AWESOME! We are already filling the new place and it is just great...the nursery rooms are in abundance and Riley's room is called the Flower Patch...isn't that cute? After church we went to lunch with Jason's family...a buffet and we didn't even warn the place that Jason was coming! We had a lot of fun and Riley played and ate very well...it is so fun to have her in a highchair rather than in her carrier. I love experiencing all of these new things with her...she is so intrigued to learn and do new things...such a fun age!

It was surprising that we did not get kicked out of the place for several reasons:

1. Jason flung an entire shrimp across the table and hit Gaby in an attempt to get all of the meat out of the tail

2. Christopher was running around with his friends even letting one of his friends (a girl) beat him with a rolled up piece of paper

3. We attempted to take a family picture four times and found out the "photographer" was taking video rather than a picture...which meant we posed a fifth time for the actual picture.

4. Gaby was socializing with her friends and when Jason started teasing her she said "I am going to get a lead pipe and hit you in your nutty spot"...where did that come from? Ha!

5. On our way out there were a bunch of pretty flowers so we plopped our sweet Riley in the middle of them and she was not very pleased about it...I promise we weren't torturing her!

So in short we had a lot of fun as always and there's never a dull moment with these kiddos!

Pics, Pics, and more Pics...

So we had our photo shoot last Saturday morning...it was hot already at 8:30 in the morning! The first set we did was the patriotic dad/daughter pics and Riley was not in the best mood as she was apparently super tired...it was a little earlier than normal for her morning nap so I was caught off guard. We had little flags for her to hold which was fun for her and kept us busy as she would want to put it in her mouth or come close to poking it in her eye...at one point we pulled it out of her hand to do something and that was when her meltdown began...she's still so cute even when she cries! We managed to still get some cute shots despite her little sleepy self!

After the first set of pics in Heritage Park we packed up and drove over to the playground and guess who fell asleep on the 2 minute drive over there...Miss Riley! So we let her sleep and I was praying for a "power nap"...after about a 20 minute nap we gently awakened her and she was just as happy as can be...many many more smiles for the second set of family pics! We had a lot of fun and Megan did an AWESOME job and so did "blanket man" or her husband Dave whichever you prefer...we were pulling everything out of the hat to get smiles out for the first set but she didn't make us work nearly as hard during the second set! Here are a few of the funniest ones with some comments and then all the pics are below on two slideshows...hope you enjoy! I love them ALL Megan...thanks again for sharing your talent with us!

"Daddy, please don't go"

"Rock On...God Bless America"

"Please don't vote for Obama"

Here are all of the Father/Daughter pics in a slideshow...

Here are all of our family pics in a slideshow...

Riley meets Papa John!

Needless to say this past week was a little rough as I battled with being sick...a cross between a sinus, allergies, cold, something or other...I have been sick for literally a week and am just now feeling like myself...I was home half of Thursday and all day Friday trying to just rest and get rid of whatever I had...luckily Jason nor Riley seemed affected! I am the type that NEVER gets sick and already this year I have had my first migraine, food poisoning, and now this! I hope that is all for this year...I am done!

Despite being sick...life goes on! The benefit of being off work a little was that I did get to spend time in my home....that sounds funny but I realized that we had not spend one day at home since June...we have been gone a lot! Saturday morning Megan took some photos for us and I have seen a sneak preview on her blog but will get all of the tomorrow and they are GREAT! I will share them with you when I get them and also about the photo shoot experience! After we took pictures we were off to the airport to pick up Jason's dad, John, from Tampa! This was his first chance to meet Riley and boy is he smitten with her...he was so good with her and took advantage of his short time with her...he even held her at 4:15 this morning while she was sleeping to get his last fill in before he headed back home!

While Papa John (this was the name Jason picked for him for now) was here we went to eat at Gauchos...a place Jason has been wanting to eat at since we moved here! This is a man's restaurant...a Brazilian steakhouse where they bring as much meat as you can eat...they didn't know they would lose money on these two! Needless to say they were full and I resorted to some pasta which was really good too. After lunch I was wanting ice cream so we drove through Shake's for my favorite Heavenly Angel! We had several Shake's in College Station so the Heavenly Angel and I go way back...we hardly make it to the Shake's here which is probably a good thing. When we got home I napped and we watched a really dumb movie, Semi Pro...like I said I napped! Jason and his dad went to hit a few golfballs and we just stayed in for the evening...stuffed from lunch! It was so great to see Papa John and we enjoyed every moment as I know he did too!



A few milestones for Miss Riley...she now has a second tooth and you can kind of see them in this pic! The second one just kind of appeared so she handled that pretty well!



Clappy Clappy! Riley has figured out clapping and she LOVES to show off her skills!



Waving...JoePa was working on waving when we were down in Texas and she has it down...it is so cute!


Sitting in a High Chair! We have one of those big pink flowery floppy seats that fits into the grocery cart / high chair and she is so cute in it. I love going to the store with her sitting up like a big girl...she just hangs on and looks around at everything! At restaurants it is much nicer having her sitting at the table with us rather than in her carrier all cooped up...I think she is enjoying this new freedom too!

Wedding Fun...

We had a great time this past weekend going to Dallas for Jordan and Ashley's wedding. We headed out early Saturday morning and Riley and I both took naps on the way. We met Chris and Ashley for lunch at a great burger joint in downtown Fort Worth and then headed to their house to get all fancied up for the wedding!

The girls...Riley, me, and Ashley

Me and my handsome hubby!

Riley did great at the wedding...her new favorite toy is her little pacifier holder which is essentially an appropriately sized purse for her...what else does she have to carry around other than her binky? It is so cute to see her playing with it and that kept her entertained during the ceremony. The ceremony was great and of course Ashley was a beautiful bride!

Me and the Bride!

We got to see several of the Gator 2 buddies and Riley got to meet MOST of her uncles...they were so cute with her!

Uncle Matt...after this picture he said "So what are you supposed to do with these things?" HaHa!

Uncle "D"...in the video below you can see him teaching her his oh so famous dance moves!

Hilarious!

Uncle Chris...and of course Ashley...Riley found a new fascination...TIES!

Uncle Mike...Riley found his nose! She was so intrigued with Mike and he with her as well!

Here she is with all the Gator 2 Buddies!

When we got to the reception Riley was pooped and she took a nap to get ready for a night full of dancing and being passed around.

Here she is peacefully sleeping in her daddy's arms...no better place to be!

After her restful nap she was up until 10:30 when we saw Jordan and Ashley off for their honeymoon...what a fun girl! She danced with lots of people and had a good time taking everything in!

Sunday morning we introduced her to the "hot dogs"...these are Chris and Ashley two weanie dogs, Heidi and Jasmine! They were so cute with Riley and she wanted to pet them and pull on their ears and they wanted to lick all over her!


We then met the gang at Blue Mesa Grill for lunch...this place has the BEST Sunday buffet I have ever had...there is so much food and I wanted to keep going back but my stomach could not handle it...how sad! We had a lot of fun catching up with everyone and miss you guys already! Until next time...
Here's Derek and Lori with Riley!

7 Months Old...

Today Riley is 7 months old...it seems too soon to be writing another month milestone blog! I feel like this month has been a big month of changes...Riley is just taking in everything like a sponge and she is so much more interactive and mobile...what a fun age. Here are some things Riley is doing at 7 months of age:

• Sleeping 10-11 hours at night...she will still moan for the binky some nights but we are trying to make her work through that...it's funny because she never wakes up in that process...it's like she dreaming of binky land!



• Touching everything with extreme interest in figuring it all out...what it feels like, what it sounds like banged up against something else, and her favorite is what it tastes like!



• Moving and shaking...she is sitting up completely on her own and likes to play this way...there have been times when I sit her up with a few toys to play and go into another room and when I return she is not on her belly rolling around...we have to keep our eye on her! She has not made too many strides towards crawling yet but when she's on her belly she pushes her legs so she knows what's coming!



• We have been working on the crying when someone leaves the room issue and she is getting much better at it! She is starting to understand that we will come back and we are starting to understand what her winy cry sounds like!



• She is eating 3 baby food meals a day consistently and has dropped her bottle intake to 20 oz a day...she eats rice cereal mixed with fruit and apple juice for breakfast, a veggie mixed with fruit for lunch, and a meat and veggie meal for dinner...she is a great eater and nothing has bothered her so far! The last few days have been fun feeding her because she is much more involved with her hands and tries to bat down your hand as your feeding her...I think we could feed a small country from her bib these days!



• She feeds herself her own bottles...in the morning Jason has been laying her down on the boppy, covering her little legs with a blanket, giving her bottle to her, and turning on some cartoons and she drinks her bottle and watches the only TV she sees all day! It is so cute and has become somewhat of a morning routine for her...this will be great when I am doing this whole parenting thing solo so I can get ready while she is "eating breakfast"

• Talking up a storm...lately she says "ah-ga", "tha-da", "da-da", "thhhhheee", and "ga-ga"...she is saving the best for last..."ma-ma" that is! She loves to bang her toys and talk...it's so fun to sneak up and watch her play when she doesn't see you there...just wonder what is going on in that head of hers!



• We are working on clapping hands and she gets it...she does it very slowly, but she does it nonetheless...she also like to wave with one hand but I don't think she realizes what she's doing quite yet, but it's so cute to see her little fingers move in the waving motion!

See? A lot has happened in one month! Riley started her big girl class on Monday (the 6-12 month old class) and she is one of only 3 girls so she is going to be tough! When I took her in there were three little boys just waiting for her to get out of her carrier and they were patting her and petting her on the head...she just looked at me like she was saying "Mom, where are you leaving me?" There is a little boy named Eli in her class that is a total flirt and I couldn't keep him away from her...he then proceeded to take her little bunny and cuddle up with it...Riley handled it well...so I set her down to play and she just had this look the whole time like "Ok...I'm not sure what is going on Mom but I will just go with it." She is such a sweet girl. This class is very different from her last class and I know she will learn so much so fast...she just watches everyone and takes it all in...they have this table that they all sit at and it's so cute to see her...this is really the age where this kind of interaction is so good for them! I can already tell her talking has increased just since starting this new class and I know crawling will be here shortly because she is one of the younger ones in the class and she sees everyone else moving around! So as I went to leave the classroom Eli would stop just hugging my legs...the teachers say he is a big flirt...even with the moms I guess! He is such a sweet little boy! I am so thankful for all of the great ladies that take care of Riley during the day...they do a great job!

Riley helped do some of the driving on the way back from Texas...we were tired, what can we say?

Here's some jumperoo video...this little girl LOVES to jump and even if you are holding her and letting her stand in your lap, she is jumping!

So I finally unpacked my bag from our vacation only to re-pack it since we are headed to Dallas this weekend for Jordan and Ashley's wedding...we have known Jordan and Ashley for about 6-7 years and had many fun times together in college...here is a picture of the four of us at the lake in 2003...we had just gotten Hank and had him at the lake with us.

We are excited about this trip because we will get to see a lot of our college friends and they will get to meet Riley...this will be her second wedding to attend and she's ready to dance again! I was helping pull together some pics for a slideshow for Jordan and Ashley and had fun reminiscing on the good 'ol days of college...I miss it so much! It was truly the best 4 years of my life and I have some great memories and lots of funny stories!

After this trip we are going to settle down for a little bit and enjoy our time together before Jason leaves...he received all of his deployment gear today so now it is in our house and it has become more real to all of us.