Oh so BIG!!

Riley is pulling himself up on everything. Doesn't he just look so proud? Guess it's time to drop the mattress down...

"Mom! He's Bothering Me!"

This is the new chorus around our house. It's not that Lily doesn't love her brother, it's just that the newness has worn off a bit. As you can see he is pulling himself up on things and wants to see what's going on with sissy....all the time. And, he's not always gentle. Having had her hair pulled a few times has taken the bloom off the rose slightly. They do still love hanging out most of the time though. Thankfully.

Party Time!

Dylan is turning 30 this year so I wanted to do something special to commemorate the occasion. A surprise party seemed like just the thing. Unfortunately he figured out that the party was for him. Oh well, I tried...here are a few pictures.Birthday Boy in his special hat....Lily picked it out :)

Papa and the kids playing with the water balloons. I think the water balloons were the best part...




The aftermath of the big water balloon fight. When the temp is pushing 104*, you do anything to cool down...

The best birthday gift of all...compliments of Donny and Melissa. Dylan and Melissa have an ongoing war to see who can come up with the worst picture of the other person and then exploit it. I can't remember how it started, but this is the best example to date. Just a warning Melissa, Dylan is planning payback :)
And finally, what kind of party would it be if someone didn't end up on the ground? :) Brotherly rough housing ended with Justin in the dirt atop a busted chair....whoops!

Even though it didn't end up the surprise I wanted it to be, and it was hotter than blazes, we still had fun. Thanks to everyone that helped out, I couldn't have done it without you!

Ummm, now what?

Hi, my name is Riley...I got myself up here and now don't know what to do. I was crying but then Mom busted out the camera so I put on the "curiously innocent" face for the picture.
I find it's amazing how quickly he can get down when there's something he wants (like the camera). He went from "Now what?" to "Puh-shaw, no big thing, I can get down no prob!". Cracked me up...

Then we had a moment of "MOM, GET ME!" crying...
Oh wait, never mind, I'll come get you Mommy.....I forgot you had the camera. Happy face, smile! On to the next thing....

Front yard project...

We've been working on getting the front yard whipped into shape. I am very excited because as soon as it's done I can start on the back yard. This a picture of the way it looked before with the boxwood hedge, rose bushes and camilla "tree".

This is how it looks now with everything gone but the tree. The cover is something Dylan bought last week. I'm not sure if I like it or not. It's not staying there, we just set it up to see what it looked like. Please ignore my pile of clippings....I ran out of room in the green can and didn't feel like making the trip into the alley. Anyway, it's coming along. The next step is removing the walkway, but I'm not ripping that out till we have a solid plan for replacing it =) What do you think?

Mom, it's bird food....

I'm not surprised that Lily thought the sunflower seeds were bird food. She loves to help my mom fill the bird feeders at her house. I thought I try saving the seeds and toasting them for a yummy little treat. I love pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds too (though this was my first time toasting the sunflower seeds myself).

Unfortunately, I burned them slightly so they aren't very good. So, now we have bird food =) Whoops! Oh well, live and learn for next time. It was fun anyway.

The 4th of July...

A few pictures from our Independence Day celebration.Dessert anyone? My famous American flag "Husband Tamer" (that is really what it's called). It's kind of a cheesecake...kind of. And oh so YUMMY!! I think it turned out very nice...

This picture is probably my favorite of the day. Dylan hates to have his picture taken, but I got a smile out of both my guys.

And then the girls...
Lily and her cousin Kelly get along famously. Can you tell?



Riley and his cousin Nathan were a little wary of each other. Nathan is one month older than Riley so I have a feeling we are going to have our hands full when these two monkeys get a little older :)

Kelly and Riley had fun chillin'...







And so did Lily and Nathan...
Fun times!!

Busy Boy...

Riley it seems is always on the move these days. Once again, he's coming to get me. The expression on his face cracks me up!!
This is one of his newer things to do...crawl under the Exersaucer instead of playing in it. He gets stuck on occasion and it's fun to watch him try and figure a way out. The simplest things are often the most amusing (this is true for both of us).

Betty Crocker I ain't !!

While I usually do a decent job cooking and baking, this time not so much. Dylan requested chocolate cupcakes so I said "Sure honey, I can do that". Well, lessons were learned this time around. ALWAYS, ALWAYS make sure your cupcakes are cooled completely before frosting them and sticking them under the cake dome, especially if it's summer and hot. Otherwise you'll end up with frosting that just melts. Thankfully that made them less appealing to me so I wasn't tempted to eat anymore than the one I had right after baking them :P There's always an upside! Dylan could care less. He puts his cakes and cupcakes in a bowl anyway and pours milk on them (weird I know). He just scraped the frosting off the bottom and ate them anyway. All for the love of chocolate....
Just to prove that I do have some skills with baking, here is a picture of Lily's birthday cake that I did last year. Not too bad huh?

For your enjoyment...

I know that I've been falling down on the blogging job lately! We were a little busy with Lily's dance recital. I somehow manged not to get a picture that night of Lily in her costume, so I'll have to put her back in the outfit and snap a few... Until then, here are a few pics to tide ya over.

Hi mom, hi mom, hi mom... I just imagine that's what's going through his head right now. Riley loves the camera. Every time I bust it out he smiles. And then comes chasing after it. Like most males, he is slightly obsessed with anything electronic. Cameras, remotes (especially remotes), phones etc. etc. His new "trick" is opening and closing doors on command. It is hilarious watching him crawl back and forth chasing the door so he can swing it the other way.

I caught this picture just moments too late. The kids were laying on the floor snuggling. The fact that they love each other so much just warms my heart. I know it'll probably change as they get older, but for now I'll just enjoy.