Wordless wednesday - Fun at the park

Mommy had a little lamb

Riley was the cutest lamb ever for Halloween this year. I wasn't sure if she'd like wearing the hood part of her costume, but after only trying to pull it off once she decided she liked it. I think she knew it was drawing more attention than usual...she's such a little ham!














Trick or treating for the first time! She loved carrying around her bag.





I love our neighborhood, especially this time of year. For Halloween each year we have a block party in one of the cul de sacs, then all at once the kids race to each house trick or treating. Our whole street and likely neighborhood pulls out the chairs and sits out in the front yards passing out candy. Fun times! (Growing up in the country we never had many (if any) trick or treaters and so Mom, Dad and Kristi love to get in on the action of passing out candy. :)

Wordless wednesday - Expression

Gramps' Bday

A few weeks ago, Clay's family came over to celebrate David's (clay's dad) birthday. It took Riley a little while to warm up but in no time she was running, playing and laughing with the Grahams.








Yes that is a jar of peanut butter. Riley LOVES this stuff and cannot get enough of it. Anytime she finds the pantry door open she will help herself to the jar and carries it all around. Foolish is the man (or mom) who tries to take it from her. :)

Wordless Wednesday - Our little pumkin!

Enough with the pictures Mom!!!

To nana and pawpaws we go

Two weeks ago, we headed up to the DFW area again! Clay was invited by a friend/client to go hunting at an awesome hotel/ranch which just so happens to be where my parents live. I never pass up an opportunity to visit my family, I love being around them and they are so so helpful when it comes to Riley! It is also really relaxing to be out in the small town country-side. And Clay never (well hardly ever) passes up an opportunity to go hunting! While Clay was hunting we spent most of our time playing with Riley outside, enjoying the weather, relaxing and there was in a little shopping (browsing) thrown in the mix. One day I even braved the pool for all of like 1 minute, no polar bearing for me. Riley and I decided the hot tub was way more fun.



I got a few opportunites to photograph Riley. I am still just soaking in everything I can about photography. Sometimes I feel as though I take one step forward and 2 back with my pictures. But I can also be really hard on myself, however I do think I have a few in here that I can really be proud of!

15 months

Clay and I continue to be amazed at how much Riley is growing, changing, and learning! She has such a fun, sweet, yet determined personality. She is also one very busy toddler! Her new favorite thing to do is run sprints. She will start usually in the kitchen and run as fast as she can into the living room and sometimes around the ottoman. This is so funny and she is quite fast for such a small thing. I love when she flings her arms behind her in an attempt to get even faster.

Riley had her 15 month appointment with Dr Shuman on Friday. Dr Shuman thought she looked great, she is gaining weight still (slight as it may be), she is developmentally where she should be and she has lots of "spunk" as the Dr says.



And here's her measurements for my record keeping: 31.5 inches long (75-90%) and 19lbs 13oz (10%). She had 3 shots and despite the ear-piercing scream she took them pretty well, nothing long hugs with mommy couldn't fix. :) A couple of weeks ago Riley also got 6 more teeth all with in a week and a half of each other. Grand total is 10. 4 on top: two front and two molars and 6 on bottom: 2 front, 2 beside the front, and 2 molars.



She has picked up so many words over the last month, before 14 months she would hardly say anything. Her words are: momma, dada, nana, pawpaw, ridy (for aunt Kristi), wawa (water or waffle), bubba (for Scout), wow, up, uh oh, yum, nak (snack), ba (ball or bath), buhbye, ni ni (night night), and her favorite baby. She picks up a new word or sound all the time. I think her next word might be no :( She has heard it quite often lately and has tried to say it a few times.



Probably our favorite thing she does is make her animal noises. It started with elephant. Clay can make a really high squeaky noise with his mouth just like an elephant and Riley tries to make it as well. She will even lift up an arm just like the elephants truck. She will pant for a doggie sound. Bah for sheep, Ooh ooh ah ah for a monkey, mmmmm for a cow, and she pops her lips for a fish sound. I have tried to get her doing this on video and will hopefully post it soon.



Riley you are such an amazing, fun little girl. You amaze us daily with new discoveries and developments. Your hugs and kisses are the best! We are so blessed. We love you!

I'm famous!! Sort of, kind of...

Okay not really at all, but I am so excited because Pioneer Woman picked me!! For those that don't know who or what I'm talking about, I like think of the Pioneer Woman as the Oprah of blogland. Ree Drummond (her actual name) is wildly popular, a great writer, an awesome cook (or so I assume because of the amazing recipes she posts), and she is a self taught photographer. She has hundreds of thousands of readers, followers, and fans. I usually only subscribe to her food blog but a few days ago I was checking out her photography blog and I saw a contest she was hosting.

She posted a picture she had taken as was asking for any edits of the photo. The picture was of her brother in law riding a horse. You can see the original contest post here. I hardly ever participate in stuff like this, but this one intrigued me. I knew that I would never get her attention with just a simple edit of the photo. So I let my creativity run wild and my odd sense of humor took over as well, below is what I came up with.



So the Pioneer woman usually posts groups of her favorite entries (she will usually have thousands of entries per contest). Each group has around 10 or so entries. Well I made one of her groups for this contest. Did I win, no, there were such good edits and some other really creative funny ones too. But I am just excited to have been recognized!!!

Here is the link to my group.

Fun fun! Oh and interestingly enough this was her first editing challenge, most are photo challenges.