Gut Busters

The other day Riley was watching Tom and Jerry cartoons and laughing so hard. It reminded me of when he was just a baby and would laugh hysterically when he would watch the beginning of The Fox and the Hound, though I could never figure out what it was about that movie he found so funny. Anyway, it reminded me that he is growing up so fast and will not always be so easily amused so I quickly ran downstairs and grabbed my camera, determined to capture it on film. His laughter was, of course, not quite as hard since I was filming him but I still enjoy it. So now, all of you can too.

A birthday surprise

A leprechan came to our house this morning. He left a birthday message
for riley and turned our milk green too!

Riley's robot

Riley told me he was going to build a robot tonight with coats and
shoes and spoons. Here are the finished results.

Proof of Genius... it must run in the family

Ok. I know that Dad says every mother thinks their own child is the smartest and most wonderful kid that ever existed but I am offering some video-graphic evidence that Riley may just be the smartest kid in the world. :) Just kidding, but I am incredibly proud of the fact that he can read and is not yet four. And though we work with him, Reed and I can't reasonably take any credit for it. He is just a smartie. I know that I have told you guys about it before but I thought I would show you a video to prove it. I love you guys! Enjoy, and be proud. I know I am. P.S. You will probably have to mute the music on the side to hear the video.

Riley Practicing his Name

He was able to do this all on his own. We didn't help him write the letters at all. He even knew almost all the letters in his name. When he got stuck we asked him to say the sound and then tell us the letter that makes that sound and he figured it out. He's such a smartie for an almost 4 year old. :)

Once there was a snowman...

Well we got dumped on by another storm here in Utah. Not so fun for those of us that have to drive in it or shovel our driveways but Riley has been having the best time. Riley woke me up this morning and told me that it was Christmas again because it was snowing and that we had to go into the basement and pull out all the Christmas decorations to put back up. Fortunately I was able to pesuade him that this wasn't the best idea. He sure loves playing in the snow. He followed grandpa around while shoveling, throwing snowballs at him. I tried to distract him by taking him into the backyard and building a snowman. Here is our attempt.

Grandpa didn't think that Riley would be able to look back on our measly attempt at building a snowman with pride when he got older so when the driveway was done, he came back and showed us how to really do it.
I have a lot to learn. :) But Mom assures me that Riley is young and I have many such winters ahead of me to practice. Love you all!

Riley's first game of Marco Polo

Feed the Birds... uh.... Ducks

The other day, Riley and I decided that we had not had a grand adventure in a while so we set out in search of one. I grabbed a half empty bag of bread, loaded Riley into his car seat (an increasingly difficult chore) and headed out to Salem pond. Now, while I have driven through Salem on a semi-occasional basis, I don't think that I had been to the pond in oh, probably 15 years. As I wind my way through the streets, praying that my memory is steering my correctly I come upon the south parking lot to the pond and I instantly remember the last time I was there. Rachel and one of her gymnastic friends (Allison?) who lived in Salem, and I had gone to some hair store in the Orem mall and bought temporary dye. I believe Rachel's friend died hers blue, Rachel did purple (which didn't really show up on her dark hair) and I had dark cherry and subsequently stained the shoulders of my white t shirt. The day after dying our hair I believe that I was on the Payson Community Theatre float for the Salem parade, which started in the south parking lot of the Salem pond... or ended there. It was 15 years ago, people.
Anyway, I digress. Back to the present, Riley and I pulled up. I scanned the water for any signs of ducks, but saw, perhaps 2 floating way over on the other end. Ok, I tell myself. It can still be fun, if we can get them to swim close to us. There was a pier jutting out a few feet into the water about half way around the trail that edged the pond that I thought would be our best bet to get them to come close. As we got onto the trail and just around the first curve, we stumbled into where the rest of the ducks were. Up on shore, resting in the shade of the trees. I am talking dozens. Riley was absolutely enchanted. We stopped about 15 feet back from them so I could juggle the camera in one hand and pull out a slice of bread for Riley and show him how to break it into pieces. He was so excited he kept hollering to the ducks, "Hang on, I'll be right there!" Once he grabbed the piece of bread he headed right into the middle of the herd. It made me a little nervous, even more so because I stepped back a few feet so I could get some pictures but on the whole they were fairly well behaved, except for one duck who raised up on its legs to grab a piece of bread out of Rileys hand and nipped his finger. Riley promptly labeled that one 'Grumpy' and we decided that the next time we come out to feed the ducks, we aren't going to give any bread to 'Grumpy'. Anyway, here is a video of Riley feeding the ducks followed by some pictures. Enjoy!

JUST ANOTHER SWEET DAY WITH ANDREA AND RILEY

One of lifes most important lessons is how to really enjoy graham crackers and milk. At our house the best way is to spread cream cheese icing on the cracker, then put another cracker on top making a graham cracker sandwich out of it. To top the process off you have to dip it in milk and then gobble it down fast. I think Riley's has got the hang of it. Obvioulsy Andrea is a good teacher.

This is the gobbleing it down really fast part. Good job Andrea!!

Yummy Yummy Yummy, I got love in my tummy.

Sugar Rush!

Fight Club

Today we caught the neighborhood toddlers operating an underground fight club. The police were called, all the kids scattered on their tricycles. Riley's parole officer is worried about the three strike rule but since the first rule of fight club is don't talk about fight club we are hoping that there will not be enough evidence to prosecute our little slugger.
In truth, Riley came in from playing today with this. We don't know how it happened. We think that he either fell or that one of the neighborhood kids threw a rock. This is his first major bloodshed. Poor kid. I'm afraid that with as rough and tumble as our little boy is though, that while this may be the first it most likely will not be his last.

The Lure of the Older Woman

I am finally getting around to posting pictures of Riley's best friend. And yes, its a girl and she is five. Sierra lives in our culdesac and a day doesn't go by without Riley asking where su-sarah is.(the best he can do with pronunciation, which is better than what he was calling her when they first met. Dana. Don't ask us why.) When I took this picture of the two of them on the swingset, Sierra asked if she could see it. I showed it to her and she said, "Oh, I look really good." It was SO funny! I believe this friendship could last a while. They were playing the other day on his swingset and I took him to go buy some sandals for the summer and as he was leaving he said, "Bye, Su-Sarah. I love you." To which she replied, "I'll wait right here for you Riley." Kids are the cutest.

Ray Ray
Here are the pictures from the Disney on Ice and the Birthday Party that you requested I hope that you enjoy them as much as we have.

The Curse of the Mommy!

When Riley and I were in the bathroom the other day as I was doing my hair he had started to play with the toilet paper so I decided to help him out a little bit and wrap his head up like a mummy. Except Riley calls it a mommy. I hope that isn't a reflection on me. Hmmm...

Riley's Birthday

St. Patrick's day has come and gone. And with it Riley's third birthday. I can't believe how big he is getting. Three years has flown by faster than I c0uld ever have imagined. It is so fun to watch him grow up and getting to experience things for the first time through his eyes. For example, the afternoon of his birthday, we went with Momma Lynn, Grandpa Brad, Annie, Casey, Zach and Austin up to the Farm at Thanksgiving point. Riley had the most wonderful time getting to see so many farm animals, getting to feed a few and even riding on a pony. He absolutely loves whenever he gets to be around Zach and Austin. He lights up whenever he sees them and follows them around in heaven getting to be one of the boys. They are so good with him too. On the way home, we stopped to pick up his play set (his birthday present from me and Reed, which he has not stopped talking about. We are setting it up this Saturday but Riley asks every 20 minutes if we can set it up now.) In Casey's truck on the way home Zach and Austin fell asleep and Riley just sat between them grinning like the big kid he was looking back and forth at them just happy to be there. That evening Reed's family came over once Reed was home from work and we had cake and ice cream and opened some presents. Riley got a remote control car that he absolutely loves and chases Duke around the house with it. The next day was the cherry on top of the cake. Momma Lynn and Grandpa Brad took us to Disney on Ice. The incredibles took a family vacation to disneyland with the normal amount of potential end of the world chaos that seems to always follow a family of superheroes. Riley loved it. And he has asked several times since then if we can go again to 'disney ice'. It was a great birthday, over too quickly but filled with some great memories. - Heather

It's Someone's Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH! RILEY AND I MADE YOU THIS SIGN TODAY SO THAT WE COULD WISH YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I HOPE YOU HAVE AN ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL AND FANTASTIC BIRTHDAY! IF YOU HAVE NOTICED THAT I AM EXCLAMATION POINT CRAZY IT IS ONLY BECAUSE THAT IS HOW MUCH I WISH FOR YOU TO HAVE A GREAT BIRTHDAY!
LOVE YOU! - HEATHER, REED, RILEY

The Fun of Being a Kid

We spent the afternoon playing in the park just up the street from Momma Lynn's house. Riley had the best time. It is finally starting to be warm enough that we can add outside activities back to our routine. Here he is trying to climb all over, mimicking some of the bigger kids at the park. This was about as high as he could go without making Mommy nervous. Fortunately he still listens to me, so he climbed down when I asked him to.

Here he is going down the twisty-tube slide. This was the one he would not go down last summer. This year, we got out there and he eyed it for a minute, then seeing other kids go down and come out okay he decided he needed to try it. It wasn't long before he was going down on his tummy, having the time of his life. He would squeal happily half way down then use his hands to stop himself. Then he would call out, "Where's Riley?" And he wouldn't go again until either Reed or myself would go "I don't know. Where did he go?" Then he would come out the bottom with a big grin on his face. If you look closely at this one you can see his hair starting to stand up from all the accumulated static he built up from crawling all over. Whenever he would touch us we would feel a small shock of static electricity.

It was a really fun day.

Heather

The Fun of Being a Kid Cont...

I was downloading pictures off of my camera today and I found some that I had taken of Riley from when we got back from Las Vegas and were unpacking our suitcase. It just reminds me of how much fun it is to be a kid, with all the spaces and things to explore.

Where did Riley go?

- Heather

Here is a picture of Riley with Momma Lynn on her birthday. That kid sure knows how to have a good time with some cake. What do you say Rachel, when we get to Vegas next weekend are we going to get a picture of you like this? Can't wait - heather