Odds and Ends

Okay, allow me to brag on my 18 month old Ellie Dawn for just a little please. This girl continues to amaze me with the words that come out of her mouth: colors,trees, movie, elmo, cowboy, elephant, bible, Noah, potty, Hannah, Jonathan, Riley, Grandma, Papa. She's starting to put words together like: no please, want some, what's this, go bye bye. She attempts to do about anything Riley does, which usually means she is climbing up somewhere she shouldn't and falling off. And to our complete surprise she is interested in potty training and actually goes on the potty if we stay on top of it and help her with her pants. This is amazing to us because Riley isn't even potty trained. This morning she asked for a "nana" and she wanted to "hold it". So I gave her the half peeled banana and she proceeded to peel it, eat it and completely finish it off without any problems. It's a proud mommy day today.
The other night the kids came up to me and asked if they could put their coats on and go to the store. We weren't going anywhere but I played along with them. After their coats and hats were on they headed into Riley's room to go "shopping".


On his birthday I asked Riley what he wanted to do and he said, "Stay in my pjs and watch cartoons." So, that is what I he did. This is a picture of him before dinner. Still in his pjs and ready for some chocolate chip pancakes.
. For the boy who loves music we bought him a saxoflute, 16 pieces that can be switched around, lost all over the house and make extremely high pitched noises. He loves it and I love that he loves it.

THREE

My little boy is three (tomorrow actually, but I might not have a chance to blog tomorrow so I am posting while both babes sleep)! On this rainy day as I think about the fact my little boy is three it makes me sad. Where as the three years gone? It has flown by. I feel like I have missed so much, forgotten so much already. Over the Thanksgiving break I took time to put together three Snapfish scrapbooks, for 2008, 2009, and 2010. As Griff and I flipped through the pages of our 2008 photo album last night we were amazed as we looked back at our little man. My sweet tiny 4 pound 11 ounce Riley David. We had no idea the amount of joy, delight, laughter, frustration, excitement and concern this little man would bring into our life. I asked Griff what two words he would use to describe Riley, strong and musical. I too would pick musical but also smart. So, here is to my smart, strong, musical and also loving, handsome, particular, energetic, serious, curious and tender-hearted son. We love you Riley David Jones and we praise God for your three years of life and all you have added to our family.

Iowa

We got to go to Iowa for two weeks in November while Griff traveled for work and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. I rarely had my camera with me but I did catch a few fun pics. These first two were taken at my Grandma Henry's. Riley discovered he could fit into the dryer. They actually both fit in the dryer though Ellie didn't like that too much. We got to see some extended family in Iowa and Riley and Ellie just loved their cousins Morgan, Paige and Zach, so much so that Riley cried for 10 minutes and kept saying, "I want Zach."

The First Snow

At the end of October we got a very heavy wet snow. It delayed our trip to Iowa by a day but it gave us the chance to make a snowman, eat some snow and mow. Yes, I said mow. You can see in one of the pictures the little mower is setting on top of the snow in the driveway. Ellie tried to mow but didn't get very far in the heavy wet white stuff.

Sleepy Riley

I've always seen those pictures of kids that fall asleep in random places and wondered how that happened. I mean how can a kid be so tired they literally fall asleep at dinner. Today, I got my answer. A child falls asleep at dinner when they played outside in the leaves all morning. Then, after playing in the leaves and swinging on swings they decide to play during their nap instead of sleep. Funny story about that too...
I heard Riley screaming/crying in his room around 3pm. I rushed in to see what was going on and I couldn't find him anywhere. The three dresser drawers were open but there was no Riley in sight. The crying persisted and then, I saw it. Ten little piggy toes sticking out from the end of the middle dresser drawer! Apparently Riley had crawled into the middle drawer and was laying face down when the top drawer slid open, trapping him in the middle drawer. I couldn't help but laugh as I consoled my little non-sleeping two year old.

Peanut Butter

Riley loves peanut butter, whether it is just on a spoon, a piece of bread or a toasted bagel. But, of course with peanut butter comes a little mess. Ellie, however is allergic to peanut butter and may never get to taste the yummy amazing goodness. I'm praying it is something she out grows and someday down the road we can enjoy a bag of peanut butter m&m's together.

Don't Try This at Home :-)

Saturday night we were getting a little bored so what does one do when they get bored but figure out how to make your little tikes slide a little more exciting and slightly more dangerous. Riley just loved it and by the end he was going down head first.

Mary Poppins

Today is a cold rainy day, the perfect day to introduce my little man to one of my favorite movies, Mary Poppins. I was a little nervous the silly many laughing and floating in the air would scare or confuse him, or that the bird lady may freak him out but none of that happened. Instead the only things that even somewhat bothered him were the Admiral shooting the cannon at 8am each moring and the old crabby bank men. I love this movie because there is no way you can watch it and be sad. How can you possibly say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and not be happy, which is the very point of the word, to make people happy. Riley loves the dancing and the music, especially "Steppin' Time". He was dancing all over the floor kicking up his heels and Ellie would occasionally join in. She loves the little doggy the most. So, if you are stuck inside due to rain or just need a good smile I would highly recommend Mary Poppins.
This video was taken this morning while Riley was still wearing his unseasonal but warm Christmas jammies.

DC Vacation Continued

I love this picture of Riley. He was completely out while we were navigating through everything at Arlington National Cemetery.
Watching the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was ______. I don't know what to say. It was sad to walk through this cemetery where so many have given their life for me, my family, our nation. It was inspiring at the same time, by their selfless acts of giving their life. It was humbling too. I wander what some of these fallen soldiers would say about the state of our government today. Rows and rows of headstones, all white, some more weathered than others but all a small stone of remembrance of one that gave his/her life for the betterment of many. I'm truly thankful for them.
Ellie's turn to take a nap while on our way to The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The World War II Memorial. It was so much bigger than I remembered it.

Epic DC Vacation - Day 1 & Day 2

Oh, dear blog following friends, our DC family vacation was quite a trip. My side of the family joined us in DC for five days in our nations capital. It turned out to be much more than we expected. On day one, Griff got into a car accident just .3 miles from our vacation rental (he was picking up Shannon, Nicole and Tyler from the airport). On day 2, we lost the only set of keys to the rental car (we got the rental because of what transpired day 1). The car was conveniently parked between a cement wall and a cement pillar in the Ronald Regan International building parking garage, which required Griff, my dad, my brother and some valet attendants to physically move it in order for the tow truck to be able to tow it. Day 3 was full of rain, wet kids, wet adults and an exhausted Ellie and Mommy. Day 4, praise the Lord an uneventful tour of Arlington National Cemetery and I got a date with my Hubby. Day 5, was full of tears good-bye.

That is the short of it. Day 1, possibly the longest day ever, wasn't my favorite day but I'm glad everyone was okay. We didn't get to do anything the first day except talk to AAA, tow truck drivers and get situated in our house. It was a great house with plenty of room for all of us and a great price. If anyone is ever looking for a place to stay in Alexandria, Virginia let me know.

I know you all really just want pictures so here you go, starting with Day 2...


The start of our day, happy kids, happy adults and the National Mall awaiting us.
A great family photo in front of the Lincoln Memorial. (We are happy because we haven't yet discovered the keys are missing.)
Isn't this a great photo! I don't want to brag, but I will. Our three kids were so well behaved and such troopers. We hauled them all over town well past nap time and there were only a few little mini meltdowns.
There were three Chinese ladies at the Lincoln Memorial that just LOVED Ellie. They wanted their picture taken with her. She didn't like them holding her so Griff held her while the women took turns posing with our cutie.
The newly constructed but still undedicated (due to hurricane Irene) Martin Luther King Memorial. It really was beautiful. It over looks the Potomac River and the Jefferson Memorial.
Wrapping up our walking tour. It was about 2pm, the kids were doing great. It was just after this that we discovered the keys were missing and the next saga begins.

Ellie's Owie

Ellie hit the 15 month mark on the 28th of August and to celebrate she decided to trip over a toy, hit her head on Riley's barn and take her first trip to Urgent Care. It was quite a Monday and not at all what I was planning, but are trips to Urgent Care ever on the agenda? She barely fussed about the gash over her eye which made it hard for me to know if I needed to take her somewhere and get it looked at or let it go. I sent a quick picture text to Griff of the wound and he thought I should take her. So, we piled into the van, adrenaline pumping, and headed off to Urgent Care via the McHugh's house so Riley could stay there and play with Owen while Ellie got stitched or glued.
Ellie was an amazing trooper. She really didn't cry and even when we got to Urgent Care she was talking to the receptionist and nurse, blowing them kisses and saying, "hi". The doctor brought great news that she didn't need stitches just some glue and before you knew it she was glued up and happy as could be. The doctor and nurse couldn't even believe how good she was. We didn't have to restrain her or anything. :-) I like to think she gets this easy going temperament from me but any trip to the ER I've had involved a lot of crying.
So, here we are now, a week later, back at home doing just fine. It doesn't seem to bother her at all, except when you ask her where her eye is she points to the owie instead.
This Labor Day weekend has been a good one for us. We have tackled a couple home improvement projects, the big one being repainting a bedroom. It is a calming shade of blue called "Morning Jog". It doesn't' make me want to go for a jog but I do love the color. Last night we blew the air mattress up in the living room and the kids have loved playing on it. This morning, since it was misty outside we stayed put and watched "Up". Ellie loved laying on the bed and relaxing as you can see.

The Great Outdoors

Of all the areas to play in our yard the kids seem to gravitate to the front flowerbed, which isn't much of a flowerbed at all. Ellie loves to chew on the rocks. Riley likes to "plow" the dirt with a mop. He got quiet this morning when he was playing around the holly bush and I got nervous he was eating them. When I got close I asked him what he was doing and he said he was cleaning the bush, pulling all the holly berries off! Sure enough, as I looked at the ground it was covered with little red berries.