Mamma Mia!

Riley has become so interested in being a big helper. Especially in the kitchen. What an answered prayer. She loves to set the table, help get out ingredients and the pots and pans and clean up. Her most favorite thing right now is to make pizzas. A few weeks ago Gammy was in town and I thought it would be a fun "first" to share with her Gammy. I could kick myself (and I could considering I am not sore from bootcamp - haven't been able to attend in over a week due to Jarrett traveling) for not taking pictures of them creating their pizzas.
Here is Riley teaching Daddy (cause she is the pro) how to make a pizza.

Now Daddy, you put the crust here...


Spreading the sauce, first with fingers and then
with a spoon (once I got caught).


Cheese please!!!!


Meat circles (pepperoni) all over the place.


Ta Dah! 3 yummy pizzas and 1 cute chef!

No more chocolate...but pickles and ice cream are ok!

This post has nothing to do with any cravings
driven by pregnancy, so don't flip out.

PDA at Lowe's. This affection lasted a good
15 minutes and the paint we were having mixed
took over 30 minutes to make. I opted not to
take pictures of the meltdown in the racing car
buggy. We made it thru every aisle in the store -
twice, until Daddy called to head to the car....
This car weighed a ton and was impossible to steer,
it was testing all my bootcamp strength.


For those of you who have not ventured out
to our house the front room/study was
chocolate brown. The goal 3 years ago was to
paint with a pale, dark olive. There was a mix
up with the paint and 1/2 thru the room we realized
the paint was not drying to olive, but chocolate brown.
I was so frustrated I referred to the shade of brown by a
word we are trying to prevent Riley from saying outside
of referring to a bodily function. I didn't want her to
read the blog in a few years and lecture me about using
this word, so its chocolate. Or was chocolate, my father-
in-law came over last week and Riley helped him paint
the room to a normal neutral shade. We are sprucing
up the house to put on the market. So if you know
anyone wanting to move to the prosper area - we have
an adorable house for them. minus the poo poo brown,
oops, chocolate room!



My mom uncovered a box of my favorite books
when I was growing up. The Sweet Pickles series.
All sorts of animals with funny stories about virtues
and making wise choices. Riley loves them, for
the pictures mainly (she can't read words yet).
Today on the way to school (its rodeo day in Riley's
class, didn't want you to worry about her garb
and her 10 gallon hat on the seat) she grabbed
2 books for the ride - Kelsey is pretending to read
too!! They just sit there and try to out babble each
other over the books...


I scream...you scream...Riley screams for ice
cream. And especially ice cream with Gammy.
Grace Fechner is one of Riley's favorite big
girls. She has handed down some of Riley's most
favorite things...the little table and chairs she is
sitting at and now this adorable set of bowls, plates,
spoons, banners and a little ice cream truck to use to have
dessert parties. Riley loves it. Gammy came in
town and we thought it would be fun to have a little
ice cream.
Riley is explaining all of the pieces to Gammy.


Daddy is serving the icecream. Kelsey and Samson
mosey on up to the table to see what the fuss is about.


Samson moved to Riley's side knowing she would
probably be the first to drop something. You can
see his little leg on Jarrett's left side. But where
is Miss Kelsey??????


She realized everyone was distracted and snuck
over to Riley's (off limits to Kelsey) Dora box full
of beads. Needless to say she was ok with Riley
having seconds.


Good ol' Samson. Always willing to be the
clean up crew. Thanks for your help buddy!

shades of pink...and green!

yes, i can barely type this due to bootcamp. still loving it. my knee and elbow are not however. im not quite to the worried stage. i think all sorts of parts are in shock due to working out, but im going to be super careful with these 2 spots.
valentine's day went by very fast. riley's candy is still lingering and this is one reason i need to stay in bootcamp.... the girls had matching valentines t-shirts and tights that they wore to their parties at clc. we made a little valentine's mailbox and riley and her daddy exchanged little notes daily. it was sweet.
here is some sister love to spread...

i love meeeee!


and i love my little sister.....



nope, we are not finger painting...its fun dip
that got a wee bit out of hand (literally). you
can see riley's "stash" on the table. it was so
fun to clean out of the tiny crevices in the table
and took a good bath to clean riley..



and a few brushings of the teeth too...



kelsey doesn't eat sugar so she made her best
attempt at a big green mess with broccoli!

TOOT....TOOT!!!!

nope, i am not referring to a train. i am tooting my own horn - not really (just yet) but i thought that would be a funny title. at the moment i don't think i could lift a horn to my mouth to toot right now. i started going to a fitness bootcamp this week. jay johnson's bootcamp to promote specifically. it kind of came up - i overheard some friends on saturday night and unrealistically and without thinking expressed interest and they took me up on it. like a "double-dog dare you" kind of invite. i can't pass up the double dog so i talked it over with jarrett, took a look at our budget and our schedule and the proximity to the house and (unfortunately?) it fit.
so i have made it for both workouts...5:30AM monday and 5:30AM on wednesday. the workout: brutal. exhausting. brink of puking, yet fun. my body: sore. exhausted. angry at coach matt. my knee is holding up. its actually fun and super challenging. i haven't done anything like this and anything close to it, i have not done in years, since 2000 to be exact. needless to say, there are all sorts of "new" muscles, the old ones have been hibernating for the last four years during pregnancies.
i have no pictures for this post and won't for future posts on this topic. that would probably be against blogspot rules to post such a site. this bootcamp is only for four weeks. so you can hold me accountable to the 3 days a week workouts for the next month. and you can give me a big hug or high 5 when its over - if you even recognize me!

Big girl chairs....

One of Kelsey's gifts was this cute chair with her
name on it. She got it from her aunts and uncles
and loves it. Big sister has a big pink chair and
they can sit together and share a snack - yeah right!


Yippee my new chair!!!



Oh the woes of being a little sister, I didn't have
to learn to share, I was born into it! Even though
Riley has her own chair, this is her favorite.....grrr.



Ahhhhh.....finally. This is the life. A drink, a snack,
no pants, and the chair to myself!

Sob...Kelsey...sob sob...turned...one! Sob...sob...sob

Kelsey's birthday morning. My baby girl turned one. One year old. Wow. It flew. Riley's first year - a 747. Kelsey's first year - a jet! I woke up early. Got my grieving and reminiscing over with and then we got the party hats, pancakes and eggs ready (this is our birthday tradition now) and went to get Riley up 1st. She could not wait to put on the hat and sing to Kelsey - as you can see below.


Not sure if she is unhappy about aging. Join the
club. Or maybe it was us barging in and singing
happy birthday. It was after 8am. We are not
that mean.


Morning Daddy and Riley!


Morning pretty mommy and birthday girl!


After dinner, it was time to introduce sugar.

Yum... cupcakes from Elizabeth's Cakes.
What a great "1st". Not many crumbs were left
when she was done. The icing left stains far
into the next day (when we had to see a Dr. -
see below).


"My birthday, my hat now!"


The night of her birthday, Kelsey had an ear infection which was not diagnosed until the next morning. Mother's intuition told me it was her little ear - I was right for the first time. We were at the ER instead of church. I am not a happy camper when I miss church, but I knew I couldn't bring my fever-y cutie to the nursery... It would have been a nice, lazy morning except she was very uncomfortable and super duper fussy!
So, her original birthday party was to be on the Monday after her actual birthday. The night before literally 5 out of 8 familes bowed out due to illness and one to injury. The next morning another family dropped out, I wept. I was just bummed. Knowing this would crush Kelsey. More like my pride. We pushed it back one week.
We had her party at the Wiggly Play Center. I highly recommend it - if the kids attending are 2 yrs. and above.... They have a baby play room with great, low, soft things for them to crawl on, except that morning (MLK holiday) it was packed with a few babies and all their older siblings. Not appealing. And its tough to monitor more than one of your own kiddos. Kelsey tried to drive the car (you will see Anna Kate in it below) but she kept sliding out and running over herself. Funny to all but her, each time. It wound up being a great party. Both grandparents were able to make it (and one aunt). I heard it helped stage some great naps that afternoon too. I didn't have to lift a finger. The "party attendant" set up, served, and cleaned up. We were in the Dorothy room - she is a pink dinosaur or octopus - I feel bad, but we never watch the show. It comes on at 6am. That I don't feel bad about.

Birthday girl and her Papa!


Beep beep. Anna Kate's behind the wheel.
Thank goodness she drives like her
Mama!


Gammy and birthday girl!


Ava and Riley riding the simulated roller
coaster. Riley - hands up and yelling.
Ava - look at her sweet face.


Panning the table to see all our friends
pigging out on pizza and juice.

"Who are these silly men on my
cake?"


"Wiggles cake - not so bad, but I prefer Elizabeth's
Cakes' cupcakes".... Kelsey is dainty and
delicate and chose not to smother herself
with the cake, but picked at the icing
and morsels...


Riley has hit the "silly faces" stage.
Thank goodness it was after Christmas
pics were taken!


"Don't let go of me, Riley doesn't know
how to drive this horse!"

Christmas catchin' up.....

To keep you on your toes, this entry is written backward (chronologically). So scroll to the bottom and read up.... I wanted to spice things up, plus I downloaded the pics forgetting about the order and didnt want to spend an hour rearranging them.


Riley (being into princesses and dress up) got
a purple renaissance-ish gown she affectionately
refers to as Princess Jasmine. My offer of Princess
Grape was not an option she said. She also got this
pink car to drive at Gammy and Papa's. They have
this super long driveway (like my grandparents did)
that is perfect for lots of long drives and strolls.


New Year's was a blast. We were at Jarrett's
parents all week. The only family member not present
was Samson. Riley had her first experience
with firecrackers and loved them. Aunt Michelle and
Riley playing with sparklers in the backyard.


Kelsey and Jacob battling over a lion push toy.
Jacob was chivalrous and allowed her to steal
it every time.


Jarrett with Riley and Jacob (our nephew).


Snow White got a princess tricycle and absolutely loves it.


Daddy and his girlies. Kelsey is riding on her new
Zebra toy that "whinnies" and makes horsey noises. I haven't
spent much time around zebras, but aren't they fairly
silent?


One of Riley's gifts was the Snow White outfit. It
came out of the box, went on her body until we went
to Nana and Grandad's hours later. It likes to make
daily appearances now. Needless to say, she is in the
"Disney princess" stage. Kelsey got this little play
table that keeps her pre-occupiedfor hours. She is
our dancer. The table has brought her rhythm out
and it is hysterical. Snow White joined her at
the table to make a quick call.


One day I will remind sweet Riley how excited she
used to get over princess jammies - ahhh the simpler times.


A little breakfast before church (Sunday before
Christmas so they were sporting their matching
Santa dresses)


Kelsey loves shoes (we went with the black pair
to match mommy and sister)