Big Blue...the weather outside is frightful!

Snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow.

That is what it does EVERY FREAKING day anymore. Today it started at noon and it hasn't stopped yet. When I left work I had six inches on my car. SIX INCHES! At work today we had 4 slip and falls because of snow, ice, and yuck. One guy broke his shoulder. I know everyone wished for a white Christmas but when will the madness end. Is God making sure we get our moneys worth out of Big Blue this winter. He was only $16.00 for hells sake. We don't need this much snow to get full use out of Big Blue.

Oh, by the way, Big Blue is the sled Riley got from Santa for Christmas. Unfortunately Christmas Day at our house looked like this.

Plus Riley had a cold. So for the first few days Big Blue was only allowed to play inside. I can't count how many trips each of us made up and down,

and up and down,

and up and down, the hallway each of us made.

Finally, the sun broke through long enough for Big Blue to make his outside debut! And Riley loved Big Blue even more.

Plus she looked smashing in her new snow suit. Nothing like showing off your snow gear to the neighborhood.

And playing with your best pal Roxi in the snow.

And running away from Mom in two feet of snow.



And now Big Blue sleeps in the garage. :) No more trips up and down the hallway. But, with the recent snow, that keeps falling, and falling, and falling, I'm sure Blue will make another grand appearance this week.

9 kids + One Small Playroom, LOTS OF FUN!!

Today was my family get together. We celebrated Christmas late and Preston's 2nd birthday. Today's festivities included 12 adults and 9 kids. That's a lot of people and I LOVED IT!

Riley wasn't so sure about having so many people here at first. She was pretty grumpy when everyone first got here. She then demanded she eat. She wasn't about to wait for the "Cheesy Potatoes" to finish cooking. After we got some food in her she was MUCH better. I think she actually had fun running around with the kids. BUT, she did not like seeing Mommy pushing Preston on her bike. We almost had a melt down over that.

I loved having my family here today. We ate, visited, the kids demolished the playroom and played WII. Thank you family for coming to play today!!!

Meal time - the kids bellied up to the bar:

Preston blowing out his birthday candles:

Miss Riley wanting cake NOW:

Preson unwrapping his presents:

Ashlynn and Parker fighting to get in on the present action:

Dee and Adam playing WII baseball:

Riley's playroom after 9 kids have had their way with it:

Miss Riley, with piggies (not a great pic but the best of the bunch), and crazy hair after piggies:

Lunch with Grandma Connie

Today has been a Saturday full of chores. My Mom's side of the family is coming to our house tomorrow for a late Christmas get together. That means lots of chores and lots of wash today. The house has to be clean for the family. We also hung the drapes we got for Christmas today. They look great! Love them!!!

Little by little I'm going to do updates of events that have taken place for the past few months. I'm actually starting with some of the most recent and working backwards.

On Wednesday Riley and I had lunch with Grandma Connie. Riley got her Christmas present from Grandma, an Elmo "live". Which she loves. We on the other hand might find him to be a little bit annoying.

Here's Miss Riley, drowning herself in ranch dressing, hey, sometimes it's the only way to get her to kind of eat something, sitting next to her new Elmo.



Here Miss Riley on the way home. Watching Backyardigans as usual. And, I broke in and let her have "Binky and Bunny" on the ride home since she was late for her nap. Typically she only gets them in her crib for naps and bedtime.

Family Pictures

We decided to give Shelly's Mom and Dad pictures of their three Grandkids for Christmas. We arranged for a professional photographer to take pictures of the three kids, as well as a few family pictures.

We ended up with beautiful pictures of the three kids but we also got wonderful pictures of our family, us with Riley individually, and adorable pictures off little Miss.

Here are a few of our favorites. Enjoy!

The three Grandkids:


Our family pictures:


Shelly and Riley:


Dee and Riley:


Riley signing "I Love You":

Riley trying to figure out how to get off the bridge and into the river:

Riley being bribed to smile and hold still with bubbles:

Misc. pics of little Miss:

Happy New Year!

It's 2009. A new year. 2008 was a great year. I hope, and plan to make, 2009 even better.

To kick off the New Year I'm taking the lead of a fellow blogger, 2 Moms, and choosing "One Little Word" for the year instead of a long list of New Years resolutions. I've searched and searched for my word for 2008 and keep coming back to the word she is using. This single word embodies everything I want to achieve and build my life around in 2009. That word is "Choose".

In 2009 I will continue to live life with choices.

• I choose to be present when I'm with Riley.
• I choose to continue to teach Riley about choices and consequences.
• I choose to be nurture a strong work ethic in an effort to be a positive role model for my daughter.
• I choose to focus on my health.
• I choose to incorporate exercise and activity into my families life.
• I choose to focus on our families finances and financial future.
• I choose to be a more caring and thoughtful wife.
• I choose to keep a journal of our lives "Raising Riley" (aka as blogging).

To kick this off, me the person who hasn't blogged for three months (which I'll write about why later) is vowing to blog every day in January to get me back in the swing of things. I may not have enough time to post comments on my blog friends blogs, which I still read every day, but I will blog about our life, even if it's brief. Here's to a wonderful 2009!

I didn't want to leave without posting pictures BUT for some reason I can't get anything to upload. I'll try again tomorrow.

Naked ET

Riley has added a new element to her bedtime bath routine. When we get her out of the tub she likes to strut around the house in nothing but her hooded towel. The first time she did this we were laughing hysterically because she reminded us of ET running around with a sheet on. Here's a few pics and a video of our little ET.

My First Hut!

Aunt Sarah came out to play with me on Saturday, 8/16, and she built me my first hut! And, it was in my crib, which is my favorite place in the world! Thanks Aunt Sarah! I love it when you come to play with me.