Cousin Campout

We had a nice time at the cousin campout. It was great seeing so many people. Riley's cousins, Cheyenne and Brayden, have grown up and changed so much, getting sweeter every day. They were both so gentle and cute with Riley. It was a seven hour drive for us so Riley was a bit tired. We forgot to bring her travel crib so she wouldn't sleep at all during the day. Oh, boy, you can probably imagine that one! Just the weekend before we had driven to Spokane to finish up some transcript work I had. Poor girl. She was a real trooper though!
On the camping trip we took a walk down to the beach, took Riley to the playground area and ate entirely way too much food! Riley enjoyed sitting in the pool and blowing bubbles. Isn't it funny how she puffs her cheaks out trying to get those bubbles out!
Unfortunately we received some bad news while camping; Jason's grandpa, while fishing in Alaska, had some heart problems. In the beginning we were told he had only a short time to live and nothing could be done to help him, but then found out from Daniel and Brent that, while it was very serious, he had some choices on what avenues he could take and it looked positive. So hopefully he can start feeling better and get back on his feet soon. We will sure be thinking about him and wishing him well. He is a very sweet, gentle man who definately leaves an impression!
This last pic is our tent hooked up to the jeep. It was pretty funny to see people stop their cars driving by to look at it. Probably wondering what in the world we had done! Crazy campers.
 

RILEY'S PROFILE FOR JUNE 2006

Favorite Color: Red! She came home from daycare with red paint yesterday as she was fingerpainting. Her hands looked so funny. This morning she colored her colorbook page all red so I am assume she must be partial to this color!

Favorite Food: Peas, Peas, Peas!!! She runs around the house yelling "P-P-P." This is not to be confused with having to use the potty since she is not yet potty-trained.

Favorite Dessert: Any fruit. She loves it. I bought her frozen blueberries for teething and it's one of her faves. She also loves Jello.

Favorite Song: "The wheels on the bus" We sing this in the car all the time and will put a cow, kitty, dog, et cetera on the bus and do their sounds and she thinks it's hilarious. I love hearing Riley do sounds of different animals. She likes to mimic a dog, kitty, bear, tiger and cow. It's very funny. "You are my Sunshine" is her other favorite song. It makes her very sleepy as it is a song she hears right before bedtime.

Favorite Read: "Snuggle Puppy" and "Pajama Time" by Sandra Boynton. These are the cutest books and she has so much fun with them. She loves any books that has animals in them.

Hobbies: Chasing Chloe around the house. She is "constantly" chasing her. She will go up to chloe and lay her head down on her. Chloe is not too crazy about this! Right now Riley loves so many things. She is really good at putting puzzles together and loves them. She loves coloring. Her favorite thing to do right now is standing on objects and then running down. She will do it over and over and over. Last week she stood up on the couch and jumped! It scared me so much because I had never seen her do anything like that before. It looked like it hurt. She pitched the biggest fit when I wouldn't let her do it anymore. It's so crazy how children this age have no fear. Terrifying actually.

Pet Peeves: Anything that requires confinement, i.e., diaper changing, clothes changing, et cetera. It actually takes two people sometimes to hold her down. Her favorite words are "No-no-no." (She is in daycare with a two year old you see)

New Words Riley is Saying: Kitty, dog, pea, "vroom" whenever she sees a car, "whadda" (what's that?) She always says, "Oh, no," when she drops something or something isn't working right for her. It's funny because she tries repeating words you say now so it's hard to do this list, but this is a list of her favorite words, the ones she says the most.

New Accomplishments: (or maybe I should say activities) Where to begin... Riley has changed so much from twelve months to fifteen months. It's pretty spectacular how much they change in those months. She doesn't walk, she runs -- everywhere. She doesn't want help doing anything. When I try to help her she pushes my hand away and says, "No!" She feeds herself well with a fork or spoon. She is able to climb up on just about anything.

Funny Moments: While camping one of the children took a toy that Riley wanted. Riley had been around cousins and was ready to fight for the toys she wanted! As a complete surprise to us she all of a sudden put her hands up, open handed, and went rooooaaar! (the sound that we always do for a bear!) It was so funny and we are not quite sure why she did that. I can only surmise that from playing at home and doing the "scary bear" she thought perhaps this would scare her cousing into giving her the toy.

We were in the post office two days ago and she saw a bear (those pink breast cancer bears) hangin up for sale. There were about fifteen people behind us in line and when she saw the bear she turned around to the line of people and, again, did the hands up and the "rooooaaar" Everybody thought that was pretty funny.

That same day (never a dull moment) I was in a hurry to get to the post office as I had to have some work out that day. I gathered Riley up not realizing she had somehow gotten a hold of a bite-size Reeses cup that we had taken camping. I put her in her car seat and when I went to get her out of the car at the post office, low-and-behold, she was a chocolate mess! I was shocked at first then realized what had happened. I wonder what the people in the post office thought of a little toddler with chocolate all over her face and clothes roaring at them?!

Everyday there is a funny story. Riley is a character. This is such a fun age for parents because they are changing so much and really starting to have their own independent ideas on EVERYTHING! I love it - well, most of the time.

Sooo Funny!

I took Riley to Fred Meyer's yesterday. Riley always tries to turn around in the cart so she can see everyone. As we are going through the store Riley is saying (yelling actually) to everyone while waving "hi - hi - hi - hella - hella - hi - hella - hi" all through the store. This is her favorite thing to say now. Jason brought her to me this morning in bed and when she saw me she said, "hi - hi - hella......

These Baby Hands, Written by Thena Smith

Some day these precious baby hands will clutch a bride's bouquet, will wear a wedding band of gold, will wipe their own babe's tears away.

Some day these tiny baby hands May know of pain and sorrow. But for today, I will treasure each moment and train her for whatever will be tomorrow.

 

Butterflies

Today was a good day - surprisingly. I took a deposition and was very nervous about leaving Riley at daycare "all" day. She had only been left at daycare for three hours at a time and I was worried it would be difficult for her. Little did I know, I would be the one who would have more of a problem than she did. After my deposition I had a great sense of independence as I was cruising down the freeway and, for the first time ever, didn't get on the wrong freeway, take a wrong turn, et cetera! I realized I was feeling very anxious about picking Riley up and had to really watch my speed. That's where the butterflies come in. Just like the feeling you feel before that first date with someone really special. The thought of seeing Riley actually gave me butterflies in my stomach. I just couldn't wait to see her. We always have such a good time in the car on bright sunny days. Riley loves to have the windows rolled down and the music on. She sits in her seat and bobs her little head and smiles as the wind hits her face. It's hilarious and I love it. We had a great ride home and Riley had a very good day at daycare. What more can you ask for?

Back to Daycare

Riley started daycare on the 15th of this month. I dropped her off at 9:00 a.m. and was there to pick her up at 12:00. Three hours that lasted a lifetime! She was okay the first day. Keep in mind, Riley and I had been visiting the week prior to get her used to the new family that she would be spending time with. She thought it was just another fun visit! She did very well. The next day, however, was more difficult. When I got to Ginger's house (the care provider's name), Riley was sitting on the floor with her favorite bear, Snuggles, and her favorite blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Oh, it could break your heart! I worked very hard in finding good care for Riley. I went to several daycares and interviewed three different families. I couldn't believe how hard it was. The daycares just had a feeling to them that I didn't really care for. I was about to give up and figured we were just going to have to do something else and wanted to cancel this last interview. Jason talked me into "one more". So off I went. As soon as Ginger opened the door, I felt a glimmer of hope, just a small one though as I had had this glimmer of hope at a few of the other prospects. There was Ginger holding a little baby in her arms and a very adorable little girl, Mya, hanging from her leg. Riley instantly liked her and Ginger wanted to know everything about Riley, likes, dislikes, et cetera. Mya took Riley's hand and rushed her into her bedroom and took out every toy she owned and scattered them on the floor. Ginger used to be a nurse and now has two young ones and wants to stay home with them for right now. She wants a play partner for her two year old, Mya, so she is taking in a child to care for. Much better than the one-to-seven ratio that you see in the daycares.

Happy Mother's Day

Riley loved playing in the field after the Mother's Day brunch. You put this little girl outside and she is constantly on the go and hard to control!  

Four Generations

What a great Mother's Day! We started off with gifts and cards. Grandpa Zain gave all us girls beautiful corsages. We then went to the Skamania Lodge for a wonderful brunch. Seafood, prime rib, omelets...Oh, we all ate way too much, but it was all so good. We had a little play time at the lodge and then we were off to Uncle Myron and Shiela's home for a nice visit. I love this picture as it is of the four generations. That is so special. My mom actually got a much better one, where we're all looking at the camera and smiling!  

Hey, it's working!

Oh, good, it looks like my blog is working finally! I have been able to post but am not able to see my posts, even though others are! I am also not able to look at my Mom's blog, but can look at other people's blog just fine. Is that wierd or what?

Last weekend Riley went to her second cousin's (Lauren) birthday party. It started off at Gymboree and Riley was thrilled. Her favorite part of the whole thing? There were balls everywhere! She was in heaven! Notice in every picture she has a ball. She would not let them go and during every activity the kids did she insisted on holding a ball through it.
The next day we were off to Lauren's house for part two of her birthday. I was so curious how Riley would react to the clowns I knew were going to be there. Riley didn't notice anything different about these clowns. To her they were just like everybody else! Never mind the pink hair, big round noses and feet that were two feet long. You gotta love that!
Riley loves outings like this and keeps busy enjoying 'everything'. Nothing slows her down.  

Vvvrooom!

Riley loves riding around on her car. When she wants mom or dad to push her she will sit on it and make the noise Vvvroom! How can you resist that?  

So Wierd!!

This is so unusual! I had done this Easter Post quite a while ago and was extremely annoyed as I didn't see that it had posted. Whenever I pull up my Blog I do not see it. However, today when I got on, what do you know, it was there and people had even left comments on my pics. I was so surprised. I wonder why this would happen? Oh, well, I am just glad that it's there.

Riley and her new rain coat

Riley had her shots last week. This was the bad one - measles. Luckily we haven't had a breakout of measles as we were warned might happen. Evidently breakouts are seen more with redheads. Riley's height is in the 50th percentile along with her head size. Her weight is below the 50th. I figured it would be as she doesn't sit for a second. She is constantly running through the house. Anything where she has to sit for too long is of no interest right now. The weight isn't a concern as she has been very consistent with her weight gain for every appointment. Does make a mom feel a little guilty though! So glad the one year shots are done, now we look forward to the 15 month shots!

We had a great Easter weekend. Riley's Grandma and Grandpa Marchant visited. We started off on Saturday with an Easter egg hunt. Riley got to visit with the Bunny for a while and then was off for the hunt. She got several eggs and we all enjoyed the candy inside! In the process of getting eggs she realized that if she stomped on them real hard they would open. She was thrilled with the discovery. After the egg hunt she was off to visit the bear. She shared one of her eggs with the bear, which she was sure to get back before we left the park. We then went to dinner and visited with Chuck E. that evening. Riley didn't eat much, she never does when we go there, but she had a great time. She really enjoyed the time she got to spend when Chuck E. came over to do some singing and dancing. Riley was singing and dancing and having a great time. We then went home and colored some eggs. Riley's favorite part of that was getting to climb up on the ladder to get to the eggs! Nevertheless, we got it done without a disaster.
On Easter morning Riley started off with an egg hunt at home. She did a good job and was able to find her eggs . We all had a great Easter. It's amazing how one little girl can make the day so special and keep everyone laughing all day.
 

Riley and Mom on top of the World!

 

Happy Birthday to you, Grandpa Hoyt!!!

 

Oh, it must be nice...

To brush your teeth without a care
in the world,

To be able to brush your teeth in
the sink,

To look cute, even with drool down
your chin,
 

Always on the Go!

Riley is always on the go - always a
task that must be completed!  

Riley and Snuggles

Riley loves taking Snuggles on her walks. It makes
it difficult at the park, however. She never wants
to leave him in the stroller so she is trying to do
all her activities while holding onto Snuggles. Fun!
 

Good Hair Day

Now that Riley likes to sit and brush
her teeth I can put a little something
in her hair. Granted it only lasts for
as long as it took me to put it in!  

In Memory of Eric

Thanks grandma and grandpa
for the flowers in memory of Eric's
21st birthday. They are beautiful. 

Nature Girl

Riley enjoys ANYTHING outside - rocks, trees, grass, flowers, soda cans..... 

The Simple Things in LIfe

Riley just loved this dandelion and
it kept her content for quite a while! 

A Fun Day at the Park

Riley doesn't enjoy anything more
than a day at the park. Her favorite
things to do at the park are the slide.
She really loves playing with other
children.  

Teething

Riley was miserable as she got her new teeth. She cried inconsolably. It started out as a normal day and the first sign was a very "scary" looking (and smelling) diaper. And we were off. I must have went through fifteen diapers that day - maybe more. Riley reminded me of a doll I used to play with that had a bottle and as soon as any water went in the doll's mouth it came out the other end. That was Riley. Riley muddled through two days of this but was extremely miserable. The next day was the same. I was very worried about her becoming dehydrated, but she kept filling up her diapers and had a great source of tears coming out her eyes. She was quite a trooper.

Finally - teeth!

Can you see Riley's new chompers?

Riley "loves" brushing her teeth. When
I even mention "toothbrush" she is headed
off into the bathroom - with or without me.

Mom and Riley getting ready for bed.