Oh Riley

I think Riley is choosing what she wants to be when she grows up.

I was looking for Jesse's shoe and I found a huge clump of hair.

At first I wasn't sure where it came from.

Then I found scissors.

Then I found 3 Barbie dolls all with short hair.

Then I found more hair, in the garbage and in the laundry basket.

When Huntley was little he had these beautiful curls.

Riley found some medical scissors and cut the curls off.

He just sat there and let her do it, not moving an inch.

His hair has been stick straight ever since.

The hair I found in the garbage was hers.

The day before she had informed me that she didn't want to cut her hair

anymore because she wanted it long.

She cut a clump out of the front of her and Jesse's hair.

With all of her practice I am sure she is going to be a hair dresser.

Flying queen

I never know what I am going to find when I walk in her room.

Sometimes she is up for a little while before she decides to go to bed.

Usually she has changed 2 or 3 times.

Or she puts sunglasses on and falls asleep.

We were playing outside today.  We had visitors over and they were playing with Riley and Huntley who were playing on the trampoline.  Then all of a sudden I saw Riley fly

and then next thing I know she was on the ground and a big yell/cry emerges from her mouth.

I picked her up and no broken bones just a broken spirit. 

She went to jump off the tramp in the arms of our visitor and he didn't know she was coming.

Honestly, I couldn't stop shaking for about 30 minutes.

It scared me and everyone around me.

I am just glad she didn't break any bones, just a few scrapes and bruises.

Imagination

These two are BEST FRIENDS except when they aren't

Huntley LOVES her...Riley LOVES him

She doesn't let anyone mess with him, however I have no doubt he can take care of himself

I looked out the window the other day to see her push him right on his face

she skipped away with a BIG smile on her face.  I went and had a talk with her and before I could even finish she ran away crying...and Huntley chased after her.

When I found her she had walked (with no shoes) on the rocks clear up by the flagpole.

I asked her what she was doing...she told me "I am walking to see my daddy" I said it is going to take you a long time because it is about 20 miles away. 

I asked her what she would do if a car came, she told me she would just put her

hand up and tell it to stop.

What would it be like to be a kid again?



Miss Independent

 At our house we are "really" into wearing boots...well at least the kids are

When she woke up this morning she rolled over and told her Daddy that today was the day she started preschool.  Then she asked him if he would take her to school....  Huntley kept telling us he wanted to go with her and then asked where she was until she got out of school.  When Seth pulled up to the school to drop her off he asked if she wanted him to walk her to the door...she politely said "No thanks I can do it myself." 

She is growing up way too fast and is a little too independent for my liking.

A little get away

Riley had been anticipating her weekend all week, you see she gets

to have some one on one time each month with her Granny and boy

does she LOVE it.  As much as I do not like the drive down to Globe

I am getting more use to it since I have been driving it quite

regularly.  After a short stop to get some of the BEST green

chili ever tasted and getting pulled over by a nice

policeman Riley was finally where she wanted to be.

Huntley and I spent the weekend in Phoenix where it was beautiful

weather and we shopped until we dropped.  Poor Huntley went in

and out of stores and car seat but he was a trooper.  We spent time

with Uncles, Aunts and Grandmas...and of course ate good food.

I called Riley one night and it was close to her bedtime and I can't

remember what I was saying but she didn't like it so she decided she didn't want to talk to me and pretty much 

hung up on me and said she couldn't hear me anymore.  She

definitely has a mind of her own especially when she doesn't

get her way. 



I love curls

 It was a nice spring like day, the kids had just gotten a long bath and were all ready for the day.  The kids were watching a movie in my room while I did the dishes and picked up the house before we ventured out to enjoy the day.  I had been debating for a few weeks now whether or not to cut Huntley's hair.  It was getting a little longer in the back and people were calling him a girl.  In some ways I didn't care because I loved his curls.  Riley never had hair like his until she was over 2 yrs old.



I walked in my room and the blankets were scattered all over, as I began picking them up I started noticing a few pieces of hair.  I turn to Riley and ask her if she cut her hair (as I am examining it) she says "No."  I ask a couple more times and her answer is the same.  As I was walking out she says Huntley's hair is cut and I see the scissors.  I look at the back of his hair and all of his curls except a few on the bottom are gone.  He has a hole in the back of his head and I seriously wanted to cry.  I asked her why she did cut his hair and she said "He needed a haircut."

Happy hands!!

 I asked her why she painted her arms her response

 "Mom I want to  to be a gorilla."

 I asked her why she painted her doll she assured
me that she would look better with some makeup on.

I'm just going to check on him

Little Mr. Huntley doesn't take very good naps, he never has.  Every once in a while they play really well together (you know the kind where their isn't a yelling match over every little thing) and this day was one of those days.  Huntley was tired and so I put him down for a nap, a few minutes later Riley informed me she was going to check on him I said "ok" not thinking anything of it.  She didn't come out after a little bit so I went in and this is what I found.  Isn't it so cute?  Needless to say Huntley woke up 5 minutes later.

Making pies

After the laundry was done, the house picked up, dishes in dishwasher, floors mopped, clothes packed, and Huntley down for a nap little Miss Riley and I made a pie.  Mr. Gaston LOVES pumpkin pie and I am trying to perfect my pie making skills every time I make him one (which isn't very often since he is not a big SWEET person).  Having come from a mother and grandmother who are VERY good bakers/cooks it is hard to keep up at times.  I am proud to say I made a pumpkin pie all from scratch and I was a little nervous how it looked however Mr. Gaston informed me that it was delicious so it was a success. 

Riley informed me that she needed to make her daddy a pie as well, so she got on the counter and I gave her some flour, the rolling pin and she insisted she needed some sugar and she went to town.  She wanted me to taste it and I told her it was delicious and she was happy as a clam and entertained

for quite sometime.

Never a dull moment

What does 6:30 pm look like at your house?  Tonight it looked like this, Riley naked (no surprise there --however she has gotten better at keeping her clothes on) and stickers all over her and everywhere else she can stick them.  She loves stickers and how could she not, they are sticky and she can put them anywhere although trying to keep her little brother away from the fun is a task it usually ends in yelling or tears one of the two and he is always sad because she doesn't want to let him see what she is doing!!

I know her favorite part of every night is when she hears her dad walk in the door, for a number of reasons, one - she has his undivided attention, two - she can do pretty much whatever she wants, and three - he gets her so riled up playing and loving on her, how could she not like it?  Tonight she was jumping off the bed and he was catching her and she was soaking it up making sure everyone within a few hundred yards could hear her excitement...when all of the sudden she sat down, we asked her what she was doing, she said nothing, then we picked her up from off the bed and there was a BIG wet spot....aww to be a kid again, so much excitement going on you forget to pee in the toilet so instead you go on mom and dad's bed.

Update



My little man....I think he has the prettiest, biggest blue eyes ever.  I can't believe how fast this year has gone, it sometimes feels like I just had him and then I turn around and he is already 13 months old.  I wish for a moment time would slow down instead of speed up but it doesn't so I am just trying to soak in each stage that he goes through.  I took him to the doctor for his year check up and the doctor said he was doing well.

A few things about the little man:

He weighed in at 19.8 lbs

He measured at 28 1/2 inches long 

He is a Momma's boy

He REALLY likes his sister

He has the CUTEST smile

           When he wants you to pick him up he holds his   

      arms up and grunts

He is an animal LOVER he points and makes grunting noises everytime he sees an animal

He likes to mess with his sister when she is in trouble or if he is trying to get something from her...it is cute he gets what he is after then smiles and runs away.

He LOVES to be outside...everytime that Seth is getting ready to leave he follows him and cries if he can't go out.

He eats most everything (which is nice)

Before we went to the doctor Riley and I had a talk about Huntley getting his shots and what was going to happen but when we got in there and it actually came time to get the shots a side of Riley came out that made me smile.  He had to get 3 shots, one on one leg and two on the other.  He didn't cry for the first one, but started crying for the second and then when the third one came Riley tried to put her hand in the way and said "No more shots, quit hurting my Huntley" it was cute.  She may not act like it at times but she is VERY protective over her little brother and she likes him as much as he likes her :)

The sound of....

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE this little girl?  A LOT....her personality and vocabulary is just coming out lately and today was no exception.  We had our Primary program in church today (you know the one where the whole sacrament meeting the children teach us)?  Anyway, Huntley was over tired and wiggly on top of that so I walked to the back of the chapel to stand with him.  The kids finished a portion of their parts and the "Follow the Prophet" song comes on...a song mind you that Riley has sang a lot of lately and when she sings she doesn't sing in a nice pretty voice she BELTS it out.  There is 9 verses to the song (which she knows hardly any of the words) but the chorus she knows well.  After a few of the verses she starts singing and entertaining all the people sitting in the vacinity of us (I know Seth was thinking should I be mad or laugh -- he tried to keep her quiet but she is a determined little girl when she puts her mind to something)....I could hear her in the back where I was standing and I was trying not to laugh but she was just

so proud of herself how do you get mad?

We went for a drive today (me, Seth, my mom and the kids) up by Sunrise to see the changing of the leaves...they were beautiful and didn't disappoint however I wish we had more vibrant red and orange than just the bright yellow.  We decided to attempt to take some family pictures and as we stepped outside and started climbing the hill Riley says "Mom, where is your jacket it is cold, or better yet where is my jacket?" 

A daily dose

I was in the computer room when Riley walks in and says "Mom, I cleaned the tv....see" (as she is holding a bottle of windex and a rag, this isn't a good sign since the last time she was spraying it in Huntley's face and continued to do it because he was laughing) I notice she is naked (which seems to be the norm around here) I ask her where her panties are and she said she took them off because they are all wet, I said why are they all wet she said she peed in them (she had just used the bathroom)  come to find out she went in the bathroom, closed the door and proceeded to pee on the floor with her panties on.  As she is leaving she asks "Mom, are you going to spank my butt?" 

How can you not laugh?

 It had been a long day and little Miss Riley had not had a nap.  I had just sat down from putting the kids to bed when a few moments later out walks this beauty....I couldn't help but laugh...then I got the camera...then Riley says "I cute mom"?  Followed by "I lobe you", and a kiss because she got to stay up a

few more minutes longer.

Riley's moments

Have you ever had one of those days that by the end of the day you just want to go in your room curl up on your bed and cry?  I have had a few of those lately, but then she comes up to me puts her arms around me and tells me how much she loves me...

she really knows how to pull on my heart strings. 

She was playing on the trampoline the other day and I went out to check on her and I noticed she was naked (which is not unusual with her these days) but she was doing something odd.....

peeing off the bench to get up onto the trampoline....

Where do they come up with these ideas?

A little water to help spray it off

There is nothing like walking out back to find this.......

I couldn't help but laugh.  She thought she would hurry out back and get a quick spray from the sprinkler before I caught her.

How can I not smile when I have a child like this?

Do you smell that?

 See this little girl.....cutest little girl I have ever seen.  Have I told you she has boycotted using the potty?  I thought it was temporary but she would rather wear a pull up than go on the potty, I have even bribed her but nothing seems to work , she was having more and more accidents so I gave up.  Last night Seth and I were laying in bed, actually I was asleep and he woke me up saying "do you smell that" I was like no then I took another wiff, and it hit me.  I see little Miss Riley out of her bed and her pull up was off.  I thought oh no, I looked and there on the floor was her pull up and it was filled with poop, I cleaned her up began to put her back in bed when she started protesting and telling me there was poop in the bed.  I turned on the light to examine it further, (it was too late so no pictures) and this is what I found, she had smeared poop in the side of the bed and there was poop inside the bed on the blankets and on some of her toys.  Sweet....what a way to end a beautiful day.

New Pole

Isn't it a wonderful thing to know your child has an imagination even if it is playing in the toilet.

Just breathe

Do you ever wonder where kids come up with their ideas?  I do, maybe she got it from watching me or something she saw, who knows.  I was in the other room seperating laundry and I come out and this is what I find, she had taken the whole bottle of cinnamon and nutmeg and dumped it on the floor and in the peanut butter.  I guess she wanted to see how it tasted in peanut butter since she likes it so well.  A few moments before she had gotten Huntley's sippy cup that had juice/water mix and dumped it over the top of his head....I asked her why she did that her response was I was washing his hair mom.

Morning

It was a good morning, Riley woke up before Mr. Gaston had to be at work and so I went to get her out of bed and to my surprise she didn't want me, she wanted her dad.  He is so sweet with her how could she not want him?  It broke my heart when he got ready to leave and she started to cry and clung to his leg telling him not to go to work, he loved on her and then took her in the truck for a ride, then he left and she cried again, came inside and Huntley was sitting on the ground so she wrapped her arms around him and began to tell him how she missed her daddy and

she "lobed him" Huntley just smiled.