Riley love continued!

Since daddy blogged last night, it is my turn to send our Riley some birthday love. If you look closely there are a few rollie pollies in Riley's hands that he caught while in the mountains. It is funny because despite all the legs on those things they move fairly slow. He loved how they crawled all over his arms.

Ok, so here is just a small list of things we just love about Riley :

1. He still rarely refers to his sister by her name...he just calls her "baby."

2. When we tell him we love him he usually responds with, "no, I love you more than you love me!"

3. The sound of his laugh is one of the best noises on earth.

4. He is so ticklish

5. He is just a dirt magnet (100% boy)!

6. He doesn't wear shin guards to play soccer he wears, "shin gardens."

7. By far he is one of the most affectionate kids alive. He usually greets even those he doesn't know very well with a hug and kiss.

8. He likes to match his clothes, and his definition of matching is wearing the same color from head to toe (it is so cute)!

9. His favorite singer is Chris Tomlin...I just love that!

10. And one of my favorites (and why my house is not all that tidy) he asks me to play all day long! It doesn't matter what we play with, he just wants to play. It is almost impossible to say no when he looks up at me holding his little race cars and says, "mommy, you want to play racing with me...you can have the green car, not the red car because the red car is my favorite, but you can have the green one." :)

I could go on and on. Happy Birthday little man...we love you!!

Riley turned 4

Wow, our son Riley has turned 4 years old today, September 10th. It seemed like overnight that he went from toddler to young boy as you can tell by the pictures. Sunday (the 9th) we had a party just with the fam. and it was great. Riley loved seeing everyone and of course he loved all the attention and gifts. It is exciting being a parent and watching your child grow up although we seem to like him just the way he is. As you can see Riley got spoiled. He rode his new bike all the way around the block by himself! He loved it but didn't realize how tiring it can be. It will work great to keep him in shape. The other picture is a 4 wheeler power wheel that goes 5 mph, which is actually pretty fast. He loves that as well, we've already made a track in the back yard. As you can see he graciously gave sis a ride. All in all Riley had a great birthday and I (dustin) was able to hang back and enjoy it with him today so it was good for me too. Next up for the 4 year old, t-ball, starting in a few weeks. He can't wait. c/ya

we are back!

A long overdue update is here...yea! Here is pic of us trying to pack for our vacation to Tennessee. Although they are by the far the most important things we take on the trip, the two of them would not stay out of the suitcases! And for those of you wondering if I in some way altered Callie Joy's hairstyle the answer would be, NO! All those curls are special thanks to Daddy. We had such a wonderful time on vacation and really got to enjoy some time away in the great (hot) outdoors. We did plenty of rock hopping in cold creeks, some hiking, shopping and exploring while in Tennessee. The kids had a blast once they realized fun could be had outside of the suitcases.