2008 is the year of the 3

My sweet Jarrett just turned 30 and Riley will
be 3 in August. But we are not talking about the
latter, it makes me sad to see her grow so fast.
But YEAH for Jarrett. He has finally entered my
decade. I am so excited for him. It has been so
cool to see the growth, changes and excitement
of his 20's, so I can't wait to see what his 30's hold.



I threw a little surprise party for him and it
was great. I thought for sure he knew, but he
had no clue. In fact, he worried that I may be
stressed about making it a big deal, so he called
and requested no parties, no group gatherings,
no gifts, no hoopla, just recognition and some
love from his 3 girls would make him happy.
Of course I wept because this was 2 days before
his party. It was a great time and thank you to
all who showed up.


The "men" pondering on if the Kimbo Slice
flight was real or not...hmmm.


Riley enjoying some of Daddy's yummy cake
and her bud Taylor watching.....


Jarrett is proud, but my child is holding a sawed-
off shotgun and pretending to play this hunting game.
I feel like all my 2-1/2 years of child training has
gone down the toilet. Sweet Riley holding a gun -
what's next?

If you want to be a pirate say ARRGH!!!!

For those fans of the Backyardigans, you know the song..... Riley loves the Backyardigans. Jarrett was watching the girls for a few hours so I could go to a Starbucks and read. When I came home, sweet Kelsey had fallen asleep on her hippo mat. So I ran to get the camera and Riley thought it would be funny to make her a pirate. And she told her, "Kelsey, if you want to be a pirate say "Arrgh"". Kelsey was not too happy. Nor did she say "Arrgh". Love my girls.

memorial day at the pool

So I know Memorial Day was like a month ago, but we had a very fun day and pics must be posted. Our neighborhood has an amazing pool (two actually, but we tend to go to this particular one because of the slides and the toddler friendly pools and sand box). The Coles, Koubas and Rylanders mooched off of us, I mean came over to swim and play before lunch. Our total count was 8 adults, 5 toddlers, 1 nine month old and 3 babies.....and we were the first ones at the pool. All the kids had a blast and the dads took the bigger ones down the slide. Riley loved the Rylander's potato shoe string snacks and was stalking them for some all morning. The three little ones pooped out early and took their naps in their carriers. Kelsey and Cole are up on the table and McKenzie is in a chair next to them. They were all so cute in their tiny suits. Naps were huge that afternoon. We had such a great time - they can mooch off our pool anyday.

Girl talk

I have so many pictures to post, but I want to spread it all out so you will keep coming back for more....
Riley's friend Reese turned one. Her parents are Nick and Meredith, our very good friends. Reese had a playground party in her neighborhood. And Riley was dying to be the first one there. You can bribe Miss Riley to do just about anything by saying "playground" (or Dora sticker or marshmallow). Needless to say, she helped clean the house and was in the car waiting for us to go at about 9am and we still had an hour to go until the party started....
Once we got there Riley was all over the playground, but when the pizza arrived (us Stephens always stop what we are doing to eat!) it was time to share some pizza with her buddy Taylor (her parents Ryan and Amy are also our good friends). I couldn't wait to take their picture eating together but as I got closer I could hear them having a conversation. It was hysterical. Dialogue from 2 year olds about the zoo. They were comparing notes about their own trips to the zoo. They were asking and answering questions from each other. It is so amazing to see them be little adults and chat about boo-boos and hippos at the zoo. Its so cute to see their social skills budding.
After the zoo chat, Riley was off to the playground again and then topped the day off with a cupcake and her first pop-ice popsicle. She loved it! Needless to say she had a huge nap after the party. Happy birthday Reese and thanks for inviting us!

Our pup...

This is our little man, Samson. He is about 7 years old. We "inherited" him from some friends. We dog sat for them when they had their baby. We fell in love with him and the rest is history. He was fixed and potty trained and new some tricks so it was an easy transition. I did want to change his name to "Cowboy" cause his coloring makes him look like he is wearing tan boots, but it never stuck. And I am in to clever pet names. Our first pet when we got married was Uno, a hamster. That little sucker bit me all the time. But he loved to play in his exercise ball and roll around the apartment. Uno passed on suddenly and it was tragic to me....Don't ever bring up Uno to Jarrett, I assure you the only reason he allowed me to get him was that we were in the newlywed stage of life.
Samson is a miniature pinscher. Contrary to popular belief, the miniature pinscher came first and then they bred up to the bigger doberman pinscher. At least thats what I was told. I had never seen one before Samson. I grew up with mini dachshunds. They are awesome. "Min pins" are like a dachshund on stilts, same peanut body shape, paws and cute little faces. He is about a foot tall and weighs around 12 lbs. I love that his ears are not cropped and one folds over and the other stands tall. Min pins are super duper smart and therefore have tons of energy and tend to bark a bit. So that can get on your nerves after a while. Samson loves Riley, especially at meal time. He is the perfect vacuum and mop. He is a cuddler too and will fight tooth and nail to get under a blanket with you. Every so often I will catch him laying next to Kelsey during her tummy time.... Samson loves to be in pictures. So you may see his ear or the top of his head in the corner of some of pictures....