To Age 3 Years and Beyond! Happy Toy Story Birthday, Riley!

Well, our little space cowboy decided months ago that he wanted a Toy Story-themed party for his big day! I was happy to oblige (especially when I started finding all kinds of cute party ideas on Pinterest and other places).  Here is Riley testing out a few of the photo ops I made out of posters and construction paper and he absolutely LOVED the Pin the Face On Mr. Potato Head game. We played it for a week before and after the party (just to make sure it worked!) :) 

 Riley's got to open two toys the morning of his birthday party (May 11th)--Talking Buzz Lightyear and Woody action figures!  They quickly became his favorites and he even had to sleep with them for several nights.

 The party menu consisted of these fun foods:

• Pizza Planet Pizza Bites
• Jessie’s Juice
• To Infini-TEA and Beyond
• Rocket Ship Fruit Skewers
• Buzz’s Intergalactic Space Balls (Meatballs)
• Woody’s You Have a Friend in Me Cake
• Mr. Potato Heads Spare Parts (Veggie Tray)
• Slinky Dogs (Pigs in a Blanket)
• Hamm’s Sausage Balls
• BullsEye's Carrots and Ranch

 I think Publix did a great job on the Woody/Buzz cake! This is the first birthday party that I really feel like Riley was able to enjoy fully and he started asking about what time he could eat his cake as soon as the party began at 3 pm. So we moved things along rather quickly and were eating cake and opening gifts around 3:30 and 4. Riley had some special helpers (Blake and Delaney) who really looked after him throughout the entire present-opening time. It was so sweet!

 Here we have a few of the party guests with their photo op props: Tripp, Callie, Jackson, Blake, and Delaney.  Liam, Riley, Faegan, and Eliza were too busy having fun playing in the yard to pause for a picture!








We were especially thankful to have my grandparents join us from Union for the day and Chris' parents drove down from Indiana for a quick visit as well! Our house was full of so many wonderful friends and family! We truly are so blessed!

 Blake gave Riley his very own Woody dress-up outfit and I must admit he's the rootin' tootin' cutest cowboy I ever did see! Another toy that got played with a lot that day was the "rocket ship" that I built out of a cardboard box that Maggie's car seat came in. A little dab of spray paint and it became an instant hit!


What I'll remember most about this darling boy's little party was how much fun it is to have so many of the people you care about under one roof to celebrate the life of someone you think is pretty amazing! To my dear Riley--may you always know how loved you are---to infinity and beyond my boy!

Happy 3rd Birthday! Your mom and dad are so proud of you!

Super Surgery, VIP Visitors, and "Egg"-cellent Easter Happenings

On Maggie's 10 month birthday, we woke her early (around 6 am) to head to the Carolina Surgical Center here in Rock Hill to have her first-ever (and hopefully last...for a really, really long time) surgery.  She got tubes put in her ears by Dr. Abrams at 7:30 am.  Even though the surgery itself only lasted 5-10 minutes, we were pretty nervous to have her experience anesthesia.  She recovered from it beautifully though and by 7:50, we had our little angel back in our arms. She was quite hungry, so she sucked down her bottle (in addition to the 2 units of Pedialyte that the nurses gave her in recovery). As far as we could tell, she was back to her happy, smiling self. Here she is texting all her friends that she is out of surgery and ready to head home to see Grandmama and Riley! 

 Maggie experienced her first Easter just a few days before her surgery.  The Easter Bunny brought her and Riley several toys, candy-filled eggs, and plush bunnies. It was so much fun watching them play together. Riley got a big kick out the Mr. and Mrs. Potato heads and has played with them every day so far. Riley became quite the "egg"-cellent egg hunter this year. Here he is finding eggs hidden by Grandmama and Papa on Easter, but he had more practice inside finding eggs earlier in the week with Nan and Pap and the day before Easter, he participated in an Easter Egg Hunt at church.  He shakes everyone to see if there is a "special" surprise in it and can barely contain his enthusiasm to sit down and start eating them.

Riley and Maggie (and Chris and I) had to say goodbye to Mr. Marc as he headed up to Massachusetts for a new job. We sure are going to miss having their godfather and our special friend around, but we know he'll continue to be a part of their lives as they grow and we wish him the very best!

This action-packed week also held a visit from Nan and Pap! Riley and Maggie had a great time going out to eat, bouncing at Baxter's Bunch, checking out the animals at the museum, and dying eggs together as well as many more fun-filled moments. Riley asked them every night if they were going to sleep here and he and Maggie both loved the extra love and attention! Not to mention the sweet treats (like the cupcakes Pap brought home from the store)! :)

Beautiful Baptism and More "Mag"-nificent Memories with "Mobile Maggie"

 Every time I turn around, my precious little girl is another month older. Here she is at 9 months starting to crawl (still a little Army-style using her arms more than her hands and her right leg more than her left, but it gets her where she wants to go) and she can push herself back up into a sitting position. This little cutie is saying "Uh Oh" all the time now, in addition to her "Da Da".  She is clapping her hands and our favorite trick of hers to watch now is her spontaneous dance breaks where she rocks her torso back and forth when she hears music.  We LOVE it!!

At her 9 month check-up, she weighed 18 lbs. 7 oz. and was 28 inches tall which were all in about the 50th percentile.  Her head circumference is a little small now, so we just have to keep an eye on that development. Unfortunately, Maggie had another double ear infection at this well-check up (which means she's had one just about every month for the past 6 months).  She had to get a more aggressive antibiotic treatment that was given as a shot over the course of 3 days. She goes back in another week to get her ears checked again. If they haven't cleared or if she gets another ear infection this spring, than the doctor recommended seeing an ear, nose, and throat specialist to pursue tubes.  So we'll see what happens. I just want her healthy!

 Here we are this past Sunday, March 10th at our church (Philadelphia United Methodist) getting Maggie ready for her big baptism.  Godfather Marc and his fiance, Krista, were able to come up and participate in the service as sponsors. Carson was sick at home and couldn't attend, but sent her love. Grandmama, Mommaw and Poppaw, Aunt Jeannie, and our Sunday school group (including our friends and neighbors, the Casons) were also able to be there for this special day.

 Maggie was a little confused by her sprinkling, but didn't cry at all! She was the perfect little angel and it means so much to us to be surrounded by so many people who love her and promise to support her spiritually as she grows.

My Funny Valentines and Sweet Snow Bunnies

 Valentine's Day this year was filled with lots of love, candy, cards, and homemade fondue dinner. It sure was a delightful Thursday evening with my family!

 About a week later, on Feb. 23rd, we got our 2nd snowfall of the year and this one Riley actually was well enough to enjoy.  He and his buddy, Callahan, got to take sled rides down hills in the park and throw snowballs. We even made a miniature snowman.  We were going to try and make "snow-cream", but after naps the sun had come out and warmed up the ground so much that there was hardly any snow on the ground at all. We were thankful for the little bit that we had though to play in!

 I can't conclude without a few of my favorite Riley moments that have occurred lately.

• I made the comment one day that Riley was wearing camouflage  pants, and he quickly corrected me and said, "There's no camels on it, there's snakes on it!"
• Riley is really taking to reading books on his own now and he read The Very Hungry Caterpillar almost word for word the other night. The one confusing part was when the caterpillar made his "raccoon", instead of cocoon in the tree. :)

On the way to school each morning, Riley likes to tell dad all kinds of stories. Here's one--                               Driving past the apartment complex on Celanese near our house:

RILES:  When I get bigger and bigger, I want to go to that village.  They have wild animals in there.  They have polar bears, giant giraffes, and lions.  They will show their yellow eyes and their terrible teeth and their claws.

DAD:  Oh my goodness!  Their yellow eyes and terrible teeth?!  Will they say “Roar”?

RILES:  No.  They will say “Thank you” to me.  They are nice. 

The story went on from there, of course, but I was still knocked out by his description of the wild animals.  Smart little booger! 

•  "Watch this trick!" When Riley says this phrase, you never know what you might see next from diving headfirst over the arm of the couch to trying to do a flip to jumping over items on the floor.
• Playing with his toy cash register and putting money in his pocket is a new game Riley loves. He'll check all his pockets and when he finds one that's empty, he'll say, "There's no anything in my poke-ket." 

Maggie Milestones and Riley Rewordings

 Our Two Little Loves!  These darling kids are growing closer every day! Riley makes sure to give "Mags" (as he calls her all the time now) a kiss good night and he's even getting pretty good about sharing toys and including her in his games. He's becoming more independent now (if that's possible) and wants to do and get everything himself. For example, when he has a "bless you" (a.k.a. sneeze), he runs and gets a tissue. He loved getting them so much that the other day, he went through about 12 of them in a 2 minute time period before we finally had to put an end to it. Crazy kid! :)  Another Riley rewording occurs when we ask Riley why he had a frowny face or okay face instead of a smiley face day at school (the new behavior system they've started doing at CPA) and he'll respond, "Because I do."  We investigate a little further and try to use the information we gather as teachable moments during dinner.

Maggie turned 8 months old on February 2nd! She's playing very well and able to entertain herself quite a bit now. We also just discovered that she knows exactly how to hold a bottle and has had us fooled for over a month now! :) Today, she fed herself the entire bottle with absolutely no help.  Just this week, she cut her first top tooth.  This brings the grand total to 3 little chompers now. 

 She's been putting all three of them to work trying new foods. This is a funny picture of Maggie trying Puffs (baby puffed cereal) snacks for the first time. So far, Maggie has had bananas, pears, apples, peas, green beans, squash, sweet potatoes, and rice and oatmeal cereal. In addition to her usual 4 bottles of formula a day, she also eats cereal/fruit mixture in the morning, vegetable near lunch time, and some sort of cereal/fruit/vegetable serving at supper. 

 Riley has let his imagination really start taking him places! For example, it was his idea to create this "train" out of pillows and make sure he went and got his conductor hat so that he could ride on it correctly! How cute. Pictured below, he's giving the green guy a haircut.

Holiday Ha Ha Ha

So I've been collecting more funny Riley sayings. Here's his most recent holiday edition:

• While driving to McAdenville, we were listening to a Michael Buble CD.  Riley's been very interested in Christmas music this season and always asks us, "What's that song?".  We responded with it's a Michael Buble song. A few minutes later, he makes the comment "I like this Microwave song."
• Some of his other favorite Christmas songs that we could recognize right off the bat are "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (to which he'll shake his hips and move his arms back and forth as he dances), "Little Drummer Boy" (where he air drums when he hears it play), "Away in a Manger" (he also has precise motions he learned for this and if you don't do them exactly right, he'll let you know), and "Let it Snow" (or because he can't pronounce his "s" sound all the time, it's more like "Let it 'Now").  
• In the car, especially on long drives, Riley has 2 games he likes to play. One that can get old really fast is when he likes to repeat over and over the phrase, "I want you".  As in, he wants us to hold him.  Our best method for ending this game is to distract him with another one. He likes us to think of silly things for him to eat or pretend to be.  This is a game he's loved since he was little. We'll name all kinds of things and he'll laugh and when we pause and don't say anything for awhile, he says..."Think about it!".  
• Riley got a doctor kit for one of his gifts from Santa and immediately started playing with it. He knew just about what every instrument did, but didn't have the exact language down pat yet. He holds up the pretend otoscope and says it's an "eye lash" and wants to look in your eyes, nose, and ears.  He learned to look and see if there are any "taters" in people's ears from his Pap.  While looking in his dad's nose one day, Riley commented, "Ooh Daddy, you have a 'boo'-ger!" One of the cutest misunderstandings so far is when he uses the stethoscope to check our heart"beep"!
• Riley usually wakes up every morning and typically states that he's ready for breakfast. However, the day after Christmas I go in to pick him up out of his bed and carry him downstairs (because he's still my baby) and he remarks without a moment of hesitation, "MORE PRESENTS PLEASE!"