School Pictures

 Riley had pictures at school and she was so excited about it!

We got up early so she could have her hair "long and straight" and she got to wear a new dress and boots!

I had volunteered to help with picture day...getting the kids in and out and keeping them entertained while waiting and I had so much fun.  

Riley's class went first and she took some great pics!

It was so funny...being a mom of only a girl...to see how the little boys behaved!  There are four classes in her preschool with the youngest ones being 2 1/2 and the oldest being 5 and it didn't matter which age group was getting their pics taken..."most" of the girls would sit in a row and wait patiently for their turn and there were always one or two boys who were pushing other kids out of their seats, wrestling, and just couldn't contain themselves.  Too funny!  We got those boys in and out as quickly as possible so they could go back to their classrooms!

Shopping Day!

 What's more fun than turning a day of having to go to Sacramento for airport runs and doctors appointments into a fun shopping day!

Nicki had to get her mom to the airport in Sac and then had a doctor's appointment later in the afternoon...since I was watching Will for the appointment we decided to just all go to Sac and make a fun day of it!

We dropped Will's Grammy off at the airport and headed to Roseville where they have great shopping and restaurants!

Will is pretty much in love with Riley these days...just smitten with her!  It's so cute!

They were both very good while we strolled through the mall!

 They were so good we let them ride the Fun Bus before we left!

We headed to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch...yummy!

It was a beautiful day and we got to sit out on the patio and enjoy it!

I got some cute pics of the kiddos before we ate!

See how he looks at her with those eyes?  The boys have all been after Riley lately...not sure if I'm ready for all that yet but considering that Will's not even two yet I think it's pretty innocent! ;)

Me and my girl!

Will and his Mama!

After lunch we dropped Nicki off at her appointment and I headed home with the kids...the goal was to keep them awake on the way home and then put them both down for naps!  I was successful with Riley but I could hear Will snoring about two minutes into our drive home...he was so tuckered out!  When we got home I was able to get him back down though and they both slept for a little bit!

It was a great day!

Two Silly Girls

 One Sunday afternoon Riley had her friend Izzy over to play.  This is the same friend she had her first sleepover with and Izzy had never been to our house so we invited her over!

The girls had so much fun and played so well together.  They only fought once and it was a miscommunication...neither of them were being mean.  You fellow moms will understand how great it is when your child has friends that they just play well with...makes it more fun for everyone!

I think there were approximately 35,456 wardrobe changes between the two of them but they shared everything so well!

I got to see some beautiful brides!

 I put the princess tent up for them in the playroom and they just had a great time.  I worked on some of my sewing projects and just let them do their thing...and I kept checking in and ease dropping on their conversations...so fun to listen to!

After a bit it was snack time.  They found a cute cafe where they could bring their sleeping babies and had some applesauce...I got to be the waitress!

 Then came the silly faces! 

These girls are two peas in a pod when it comes to silly faces!  Riley LOVES to make silly faces...apparently Izzy does too...they literally cracked me up!

 These are just a few of the many faces I got to see!

What fun girls!

Stamping fun!

 While I've been sewing I've been coming up with fun crafty things for Riley to do at the table with me.  I thought to bring out all my stamp stuff one day...it hasn't been out and used in quite some time and she loves getting stamps at dance class so I thought this would be fun for her!

She was pretty intense checking everything out!

 She doesn't look like she's having too much fun here!

 But this was her a few seconds later!

She had fun stamping and got her hands nice and covered in ink...craft project success!

Love the simple things and this smile of course!

Loving Fall

 I love the time of Fall...leaves changing color, cooler weather, pumpkin EVERYTHING...just love it all!

We didn't really have cooler weather yet and while some leaves change around here it's not like in other places but I made all of that up with the amount of pumpkin things I've been baking lately.  

Another fun thing about Fall is pumpkin patches!!

We met Janel and Madelyn at Impossible Acres...this great pumpkin patch for some fun!

My pumpkin

 I've been sewing a lot lately with all the projects to get ready for Miss Tessa's arrival and I decided to sew Riley a cute shirt for Halloween...it was my first one and I learned a few lessons and it has several imperfections but all in all I love how it turned out!

Riley was ready to be done with taking pictures because she could not wait to see the animals!

Unfortunately I didn't realize that they cater to school groups during the week so we had to kill some time before they just let anyone into the petting zoo.  She was not happy about that but got to see the baby goats through the fence and that held her over!

 We decided to go to the hay maze and let's just say it was so much fun!

I would hide and jump out and got this reaction EVERY time!

 Riley and Madelyn...sweet girls

 I love this picture of her..it captures it all...the joy, the energy, the fun!

 Janel and Madelyn

 Me and my girl

 We spotted a super furry caterpillar and the girls had fun checking it out...Riley was all about touching it and trying to pick it up!

 At last it was our turn to see the animals...we started with the baby kittens and they were so cute!  This was Riley's favorite and she talked about this for days...she even named this little guy Butterscotch!

 Chit chatting with the bunny!

 Running around in the pig pen!

 Giving Kisses, the miniature horse, some love.  The sign said he was grumpy because of an injured back so I just let her pet a few times!

We never even made it to the pumpkins to pick any out before it was time to go..the girls were having too much fun with the animals and the hay maze!

I had a doctor's appointment to get to and this was the first one Riley was able to go to.  The clinic I transferred to off base is FABULOUS!  I can't say enough great things about them and the care I am receiving.  They encourage you to bring your kiddos and I knew Riley would love it!  She took her Ariel doll in with us and pretended that was her baby.  Jennifer, the midwife I saw, let her help get the doppler in the right spot to hear Tessa's heartbeat and Riley was in awe.  She asked me if it hurt because it went "boom boom boom"...so cute!  I love getting to take her with me and seeing her wrap her head around all of it...she always has great questions and they always have great toddler appropriate answers!

Dinner Date...

 When Jason's gone we try and keep busy...and we especially try to keep busy with our friends whose Daddy's are also gone!

We met some new friends through FitMoms, the weekly mom/kiddo exercise class my friend Ashley teaches that we go to every Friday.

Janel, her hubby, and their sweet little girl Madelyn just moved here last Spring and it's been fun getting to know them.  She also works part time from home (for a different company than me) and is pregnant with her second...a baby boy...and we share the same due date!

Madelyn just turned two and she looks up to Riley and loves playing with her...Riley loves her too!

Janel's husband left for training about a month after Jason and they both come home about the same time so I invited them over to play and have dinner with us one night.  I made some enchiladas I found the recipe for on Pinterest (I'm addicted to this but I think it's a "safe" addiction if I can actually do/make the things I pin).  

The girls were having fun slurping the juice from their oranges and giggling!  Speaking of I'm so glad they started making these fruit cups with 100% juice...I never let Riley drink the juice from the syrup ones so now she loves to drink it and I'm ok with it!

Silly girls!

 The girls did lots of playing and us moms got to chat and relax...it was a great night!  

Riley put all the jewelry and hair accessories from her Little Mermaid jewelry set on her Ariel doll...so fun!

Long straight hair!

Riley seems to live in a princess world these days..it's just her thing!

She was born with her mama's hair, thin hair but lots of it and curls!  Everyone always loves her curls and wants to touch her hair and some people even ask me if it's natural...duh!  Who would take their child to get a perm at this age and do people even get perms anymore?  Yes it's natural, and naturally she would want straight hair...just like her Mama!  That's the thing with us girls...it seems we're never happy with what we have!

I had never thought of blow drying it until about a year ago when she had her first hair cut and Christi blew it dry...on my gracious it was so cute!

I blew it dry a few times after that but it was a constant struggle...every brush stroke hurt, the dryer was too hot, and she just didn't have the patience!

Now, though, since our trip to Disneyland she has realized that if her hair is blow dried straight she looks like she has "princess hair", mainly like Aurora's!  So every now and then if we have time she asks me to make it "long and straight" and I blow dry it for her.  She is now very well behaved and very patient so it's not too big of a deal!

The thing is she looks SOOOO different when she has curly hair and straight hair...I think it makes her look older and it adds about 4 inches to the length.

One morning we blew it dry for school and she said "my friends will think I'm a new friend"...even she recognizes how different she looks!

The good thing about our hair is that it's easy to blow dry...and I just use a round brush and blow it dry and it makes these perfect curls at the end...so cute and so long!

She's just like me too in that she likes to put her hands through it when it's blow dried...she also loves to run around the house and make it "fly" meaning that it bounces off her shoulders...such a girl!

I have already warned Jason that if we end up with three girls in this house that have curly hair and prefer it straight he's going to have to learn how to blow dry some hair or we'll NEVER be anywhere on time!

She still has great curls though and I love them too!