WOW! It has been awhile!

So i can't remember the last time I posted something so here is where we are now. Riley is currently loving daycare and learning a ton of new words. They are working on Spanish words with English so he now can say gracias, damme, aqua, and mas. He is 20 months old now and his favorite thing to do is throw, kick or chuck any type of ball he can get his hands on. Watch out it doesn't matter if you are looking or not. He has recently learned to swing a pretend bat so that is really crazy. There is no amount of baby proofing for that.

This last weekend we went to the pumpkin patch and he had a blast. He rode the train, played on bikes, jumped in the bouncy house, rode a pony and picked out one of the biggest pumpkins in the patch. We did not buy that huge pumpkin, but a smaller version that he was ok with.

Riley had a great time carving this pumpkin, but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of that because i was helping him and there was no one to take the picture. We waited until Mark got home from class to go trick or treating and it was so cute. Riley and one of his friends loved getting treats in their matching baskets. What a great experience. I can't wait until next year when he can say "trick or treat" instead of ease. The following are a bunch of pictures from halloween and the pumpkin patch. Enjoy!

Summer Fun

So since I have been out of school Riley and I have managed to bond a lot.  I enrolled him in a gym class that is three times a week.  He absolutely loves it.  He has been going for almost 2 months and he can now do a forward roll by himself.  Anyways, Mark was able to go to one of his gym class thanks to 4th of July weekend.  It was a great experience for Riley and Mark to be able to do this together.  I sat on the side and took pictures.  I can't wait to see what he will learn next summer when we go back.  

15/16 Months Old

OK it has been too long since I last blogged so this posting is about a month past due, but oh well.  We went to NC for a visit as stated in the last blog and Riley had a great time.  He was very anxious to pack is bag, or unpack.  Needless to say he was not much help sitting in the suit case.  Anyways we managed to get everything packed and get on the plan with no problems.  The flights were long and Riley hated them, but we managed to make it to NC in one piece.  Brian picked us up from the airport and when we got to Dean and Gatha's,  Riley wanted to go outside and play.  It was so great that there was a water table, bubbles, a slide and later in the trip a pool presented itself on the deck.  It was heaven for Riley and Hailey.  They played for hours out there.  

Mark and I had a wedding to go to so we ventured up to Pfeiffer while we were in the area.  It was really great to see the old school again and to take Riley to the baseball field where Mark had so many great memories.  The wedding was really hot and humid, but it was on a beautiful vineyard with a lake and pond.  We took some family pictures, but they didn't come out very clear.  Riley's were the best ones.  Over all it was a great trip, short but great.  We can't wait to go back in Sept. and see how much Mackenzie has grown and how much fun Hailey and Riley will have on the beach.  

15 months and into everything!

Since the last time I blogged we have been supper busy.  Riley went to Elmo makes music live and had a great time with the singing and dancing.  so much fun he didn't make it through to the end. He fell asleep with his hand moving to the beat.  Then since the show was in Tucson we decided to take Riley to the zoo.  It is never a dull moment there.  They were doing an elephant enrichment to try and get the elephants more people friendly so the doctor can work on their feet.  Apparently this is a big deal because they have really sensitive feet and if they get an infection they could die from this.  They are also ticklish on their feet.  Funny I know.  Anyways we were allowed to go right down with the elephants and touch their feet.  What a weird thing to do, but my brother will get us apart of what ever nonsense is going on at the zoo.  It was a great experience.  We also fed the Giraffes which is a favorite of Riley's. 

Riley recently discovered the piano and he loves to play, or bang I should say.  Either way he really enjoys it.  

The last few pictures are just some cute 15 month moments that were lucky to be caught on film.  The next time I post an entry it will be about our trip to NC and all the fun with Riley's great cousins.  Yeah

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Batman

So I was at Walmart and I couldn't pass up the batman pj's for Riley. He loves them and enjoys wearing sunglasses with his cape.  He is growing so fast it is hard to believe.

Riley is into just about everything.  He loves to talk and some of his new words are baseball, bubbles, please, up and foot.  We love hearing his words and can't wait to hear him start talking in sentences.  We have been really busy but school is out soon so I should be able to blog more and get some more pictures up.  The last pictures are of Riley playing with his sprinkler dog.  We don't have any grass and the hose wouldn't reach to the park across the street, so he is playing in the drive way.  He didn't mind he was have a great time.  He loves the water.

Easter Time

We had a great Easter!  Riley didn't like the Easter bunny but he loved searching for eggs and then throwing them back.  We went to the Tucson Zoo for the annual Easter egg hunt and there were 500 eggs for the kids to find.  Each kid was allowed to find 10 eggs and then there was a gold and silver egg for prizes.  Riley found the gold egg and picked his prize.  It was great.  There were only 50 kids and Riley had a great time.  He found his friend Jaxon there and they both shared their eggs and Jaxon took care of any candy Riley had in his eggs.  Then we toured the zoo a little bit and we went home for Riley to take his nap.  He was exhausted and so was I.  The next day we went to brunch by the zoo so Jed and his girlfriend could meet us there.  It was a good brunch and Riley loved the waffles.  I hope everyone had a great Easter. How funny is the pictures of Riley last year and this year in the same chair and with the same bunny.  The time has flown by.

  

One is Fun pictures

One is fun pictures

Water Park and Flying a kite

One is Fun

Wow! I am sorry it has been so long, but we have really busy with every little turn Riley makes. Ok so I think my last blog was in February and a lot has happened since then.  Riley has been one busy little bee.  I will stark with our trip to the Westgate mall which has a great little water feature for kids to play in.  This was Riley's first adventure with water shooting out of the ground.  Most of the time he only sees it in the tub.  None the less he loved it.  He played with the other kids and fast walked through the water.  It should be fun the next time we take his because he will know what to expect.

We also took Riley to the park to fly his kite and he loved it.  He wanted to hold the handle and run after the the kite.  We think he thought it was a real bird since that was the shape of it, but either way he had a great time.  He picked the grass and it was a fun afternoon at the park.  It is really nice to have a park right across the street.  We are over there a lot. Riley love the outside.

Recently he has taken up racking.  Now the pictures you see are not of our backyard since we have not had to time to finish that, but it is Papa and Nani's backyard and they garden every weekend and so Riley has now joined in.  Nani was not getting much done because Riley wanted the rake, so she bought him his own but he insisted on having the larger rake.  He is not independent at all.

For my spring break my mom and I decided to go to NY to visit cousins and my aunt who was not able to make it to Tucson this year due to kimo.  We took Riley and despite his 104 temp and cutting six teeth he had a great time.  It was his first time in NY and he enjoyed all his cousins, especially Lucinda and baby Carter.  We thought since he was such a good boy the whole week we would take him to FAO Swartz in the city so he could play with all the great toys.  What an experience.  He loved the piano and all the toys they had out for display.  We spent two hours in there and then he fell asleep.  It was a great trip.   

This past weekend we were down in Tucson and we had another mile stone.  Riley got his first real hair cut. We took him to a barber shop and he was such a big boy.  He had so much hair that he got antsy towards the end, but he has a cute little boy hair cut and he looks so much older.  My little boy is growing up too fast.  

It was a great first year and he is only 13 months and already so many experiences.  We look forward to more wonderful times with him.  This weekend is the big Easter Egg Hunt at the Zoo so we are headed to that with 500 other kids.  UUUGGGGG!!!!! I hope it is not too hectic.  I will try to write more often.  Sorry this was a novel, but that isn't even the half of it.  I didn't even mention how Riley got bit in the face at daycare.  That is a whole other blog.  Now the picts.

Yeah Pasta!

Spaghetti anyone?  We are diving into new foods and pasta is number one on the list.  Riley loves his pasta.  He was so cute when we gave him this saying his MMMMMMs and AHHHHHHs and then shoveling more in his mouth. He couldn't get it in fast enough.  He even slurped a noodle or two and Mark and I would laugh because he is growing so fast.   It was a great moment and I will never forget it. 

 

Riley is 1

This past Friday Riley turned the big 1.  We had his party on Saturday at the Zoo in Tucson and it was a blast.  Riley was so great through the whole thing and loved the animals. He was able to eat his first cupcake and he finished the whole thing.  He loves sweats.  

Thanks to his Uncle Jed he was allowed to touch a hedge hog, a giant lizard thing and a chicken.  He loved the lizard and grabbed it's tail and wouldn't let go.  Uncle Jed took all his little friends (15 kids under 10) on a behind the scenes tour and we touched a Rhino, saw "Kobe the giant polar bear", "Cadabu the male lion" (eating his bone), and fed the Giraffes.  What a great day and there were so many people to celebrate this wonderful year with us.  Riley's Grandma and Grandpa Schleicher flew from NC and his Nanni and Papa Dodds were there with 50 others that joined us at the zoo.  

Riding with Daddy!

Mark and I really wanted something for riley to ride in when we got biking.  We both love to ride bikes and are going to try and ride in a bike-a-thon in october.  We are very excited and now that we have the bike carrier Riley is enjoying the wind and biking as well.  We can't wait for better weather so we can bike to the park and let riley play on the swings.  Stay posted for those pics.