The newest...

It was haircut time in our house (for the kids anyway)....Lily loves her new 'do! We hadn't cut it since Nov '08 and it was definitely time. It makes life so much simpler when getting ready for school...I don't have to hear "Ow, Ow, OWWWW" over and over again. Momma is happy, Lily is happy...
Riley actually did well with his haircut too (much to my surprise). It was just getting so shaggy, but not anymore. He's losing the "baby" and becoming more "toddler" every day. He's getting such a personality. What a crack up.

Lily is loving school...shocker! Riley is talking more and more every day. His favorite phrase is "whass 'at?" {to the un-mommy peeps, "what's that?" is what he's asking}. He's very curious, like Lily. He's doing great learning to follow directions...something that Lily seems to be forgetting how to do now. Haha! They are both learning and growing so fast these days. Lily is reading, and she's getting better and better every day. We've entered the stage where she reads to me at bedtime first, then I read to her. It's fantastic, I love it.
Oh, and Riley FINALLY started walking unassisted! Yay. Now he's a regular walkin' machine. He's also really interested in animals and loves to woof-woof at dogs (and the occasional cat). I also started introducing the potty to get him used to the concept. Now he pulls at his diaper and wants to sit on the potty after he does his dirty work...we're trying to get it before, but it hasn't quite clicked. No big rush though (he's only 16 months!).
So that's the newest....till next time.

Books & More...

I finally got my tush in gear and put together Riley's new book shelf. I think it's a great addition to his room. He loves his books and now there's a place to put them, instead of thrown in the toy box...
He also loves the drawer at the bottom {of course} since it's the perfect little "hiding spot" for his favorite toys.

OCEAN!!

We took a whirlwind trip to San Luis Obispo. Thankfully my grandma agreed to come along so Dylan and I were able to get out on our own for a few hours. Before coming home we visited the beach....which was so beautiful. Here are a few pictures.




Lily sitting on the pier looking out at the surfers....













Daddy and Riley. Riley was obsessed with the birds....and the dogs.















Searching for shells...
















And yep, a swing set on the beach. Lily loves swinging so this was perfect!







I love this picture! Many years from now we'll have this picture to remember our trip with grandma and the kids. We had such a great time and we're looking forward to more short jaunts in the future. One of the problems with Dylan's job is that he very rarely gets 2 days off in a row so weekend trips don't happen. Now I know that we can do it fairly easily and I'm going to push for more :)

Itchy, Itchy

It's hard to tell in this picture, but Riley was having an allergic reaction to something. If you look closely around his mouth you can see some of the redness and bumps. Thankfully Benedryl kept the reaction from getting too bad. He was still in good spirits though even though he was itchy. Happy, happy boy!

Gingerbread house

Last year I went all out on the gingerbread house. This year, not so much. I do enjoy doing them though, so I bought a cheapy kit at the store on impulse. I think it turned out okay considering what I had to work with. Next year I want to go more elaborate again but this worked too. Just thought I'd share. And since I'm so proud of the one we did last year, here's a picture of that one too.

I'll do it when I'm ready!

Riley is pretty laid back and snuggly. At 16 months old he is still not walking around unassisted. He's close though. I got him to take about 4 steps yesterday on his own so I know we're THIS close. He got a few things at Xmas to walk around with and that's helping his stability, but here is what he normally does....

Yummy....Paint!

I thought I'd try letting Riley finger paint. As you can see, he wanted to eat the paint and smear it all over himself. He does pretty good with crayons though. I need to get him some of the big fat ones to make it a little easier, but he likes to sit at the table and color like sissy. I think I'll wait a bit longer before I try the paints again.
Of course Lily had fun with the finger painting too. She normally paints with a brush, but because Riley was using his fingers, she thought she should too....
And for your enjoyment.....Miss Lily-poo back in the day. I think she was about 2 years old in this picture. And one more, just because it's so stinkin' cute! My how they grow...