Easter

What a blessed Easter we had! We enjoyed time with family, time outdoors, and time worshipping our Savior.



Digging into one of her Easter baskets, Sunday morning.

We hunted for eggs after church. I was a little surprised Riley knew exactly what to do and excitedly went after each egg. (Now she had practiced once or twice before but even those times she seemed to know what was going on)




Riley thought Great Grannie needed Scouts bone. We were so glad to have Great Grannie in town from Mississippi!






The funniest squirl decided he needed some candy too.


He really got after the Reese's Peanut Butter cups. I don't blame him, I might eat through plastic to get to one too.



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One day the grave could conceal Him no longer
One day the stone rolled away from the door
Then He arose, over death He had conquered
Now is ascended, my Lord evermore
Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him
From rising again
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lil miss marks-a-lot

Riley has discovered that markers and crayons can be used to draw on things other than paper. Oh a joyous discovery this has been. :) My very light couch is now streaked with orange and purple crayon but I am so so grateful that when she discovered blue permanent marker it was just on her own person. :)

obey

Several weeks ago, Clay and I decided it was time to start disciplining our sweet girl. Before this point we were disciplining, but were just using verbal discipline "no, no" and distraction to stop unwanted behaviors. This worked great for early toddlerhood. However, as all toddlers do Riley started to push bounderies and limits a little more each month. So with some great advice from my small group (thank you girls so much!!) and Clay's business partner we decide to step up our disciplining.

I don't remember exactly what Riley had done but basically I asked her to stop doing something. She continued and did so with defiance, so I firmly and calmly told her she had to "obey Mommy and because she didn't, now she would get a spanking". Spanking, crying, hugs and loving words "but Riley needs to obey Mommy" followed. Later, that evening I was giving Riley a bath (Clay was out of town) and when it came time to get out of the tub Riley flops down on her back, flips to her stomach and just splashes around, laughing the whole time. (Oh and of course this was the funniest thing the first oh...10 times she did it but not anymore.) So again, I asked her to stand up 2-3 times. More splashing. Another spanking and quick obey talk followed. I wiped tears and brushed teeth and sang a song and all was good again. UNTIL, as I was carrying Riley into her room to put on her pj's she looks at me, laughs, hits my arm and says "Obey Mommy". hahaha I tried my hardest not to laugh. Later the next day, I was carrying Riley to change her diaper and she said "no Mommy that way" pointed in a different direction, and when I did not go where she wanted, she again hit my arm and said "Obey." Ha!


And more photos just for fun!



And to blackmail Clay...

flying high

Riley's newest game!








Getting more brave?...

To Nana and Papas we go x2

Clay had a few business meetings in DFW, one at the end of March and one mid-April. We took advantage of his travels north and visited my parents.

Riley has gotten so much better during car rides. Thanks in large part to Elmo dvds.












During our second visit, we found a great patch of bluebonnets! It was amazing!





We also found a cool birds nest in one of my dads rose bushes.

We heart our neighborhood!

I really do love the sense of community our neighborhood has. Some of you may not know but I don't actually live in Houston. Now if you were to look on the map you would think I live in the heart of Houston. But no, I live in a small city within the large metroplex of Houston. Our small city has its own police, shares fire and ems services with a few other small "villages", has its own taxes, elections, etc. It really is a great place to live. I know probably 75% of my neighbors within our big block. Many of which I know by name.

One of my favorite times of the year is spring and this is partly because of the fun events held on our block. First, was the Boys Club (term loosely used for a bunch of men) BBQ. Tons of people come each year and this year was no exception.


No block party is complete with out a princess bounce house. Don't worry there was a boyish one across the street.

Riley playing nicely with her sweet friend Hollyn.

a year of pictures

For the first 12 months of Riley's life I took a monthly picture using these awesome stickers found online at Etsy. They were the perfect way to document her growth. But I never really displayed many of the photos until a few months ago, when I received this beautiful thing in the mail...I love it and think it was the perfect way to show off her monthly pics.


It is a square canvas, with fun pink stripes on the edges. Now where to hang it??

21 months

Riley is fast approaching her 2nd birthday!! I cannot believe how big our girl is getting!

Riley now repeats everything we say and she picks up on words so quickly. She can be very vocal, but can also be somewhat shy when around new people. She loves to sing songs together, her current favorite is the ABC song. She will chime in about every 5th letter or so and makes sure to end with "nex time." Riley can identify quite a few letters and associates certain letters with people. For example K is for Kristi. She can spell her name (see the last post.) She will count to 10 but not consistently "1,2,3,4..8,9 10!" She can identify almost all the basic colors, red, pink, orange, blue, black, etc. Her favorite color right now is yellow. She loves to see yellow cars, trucks and school buses when we are driving around. She likes ponytails now and it isn't a struggle to put them in her hair anymore (we are still working on bows :)

Riley just loves Elmo and gets so excited when its Elmo day (Friday). She is also pretty obsessed with bubbles and requests them each time we go outside. Riley still loves to go see "more babies" and does very well when dropped off at Sunday school. Although a few weeks back Clay went to pick her up and she was crying and upset. Apparently she had her first tiff with a friend. Haha. It was over a chair :)


Riley is just such a precious gift from God and we are so thankful to be trusted with this gift! We love you Riley!