Notes and stories

Perhaps one of my favorite new things that Riley seems to be very into lately is writing notes and stories.  There are so many, I wouldn't be able to post them all, but I thought these were funny and sweet.  The two on the dry erase board were just spur of the moment notes that she decided to write one night while we were playing after dinner.  Each time, she wouldn't let us look until she was done with the note.

During that time (and to a slightly lesser extent now) she wants the new baby's name to be Evan.  I also love the artwork with the one to Brenna, especially the Star of David.  She had been drawing flags earlier and one was the Israel flag. :)

This story is something that she wrote one night while we were gone - she was home with the babysitter.  We saw it later and asked our babysitter if she had helped her at all and she said no!  She said Riley did it all by herself (I think it might have been while she was putting Brenna to bed or something).  It was in a challenge packet that her teacher gave her.  The instructions were just to write a story about something that happened in the fall.  Anyway, it was so funny to us that I have to share.

It says "Once upon a time there was a girl and her name was Riley and she loved her friends and what she wanted to do on halloween was go trick-or-treating and eat all her treats but her mom & dad didn't let her but only what she could do was cry and then she did and then she was so sad and then she went upstairs and then she went to bed and then the next morning she had one treat and her mom & dad thought that was a great idea.  the end."

Since then (this was done in November), she has gotten better at making her stories more than one long run-on sentence!  As part of her homework she gets the opportunity to write stories along with illustrations, which is great.  I love seeing what she comes up with (pictures and stories).

There go her tooth!

Riley went upstairs to brush her teeth before bed on Wednesday night (January 8) and I heard her yell down "my tooth fell out!!"  She was so excited.  The first thing we did was take lots of pictures!  This is the best one we got.  As Tagga brought to my attention, it looks a little like Jack Nicholson from the Shining!

So we made sure she didn't lose it, she finished getting ready for bed, and then she wrote another note to the tooth fairy.  She made sure to mention the sugar plum topping again. :)

It says "Dear tooth fairy, My ^sweet^ tooth came out.  Are you so happy to get it?  Love, Riley P.S. I prefer to have a candy cane with sugar plum flavoring on top."  

She made an envelope and put her note and her tooth in it and put it under her pillow.  She was SO excited when she woke up the next morning and got a note back from her Tooth Fairy (Toothitrudy), who gave her a candy cane minus the sugar plum flavoring (she explained that Santa used it all up!), and a coin to put in her piggy bank.  

Riley's tooth!

While at my Aunt Fran & Uncle Kevin's house on December 28, 2013 we discovered that Riley has her first loose tooth!!  I actually didn't notice it first, though.  While eating something, she told John's mom that her tooth was hurting so Gramie gets the credit for figuring it out!!

At first Riley was very upset about it but after a little while got used to the idea and got really excited about it.  She must have thought of the book Silverlicious because as soon as we got home she wrote this letter to the tooth fairy!  (*SPOILER ALERT* In Silverlicous, Pinkalicious loses her sweet tooth and ends up getting lots of candy from different characters!).  We thought it was pretty funny, especially since we have never actually mentioned the existence of the tooth fairy, or Riley getting anything from her.

"Dear tooth Fairy, I have a wiggly tooth and it's really loose. Love, Riley

P.S. I prefer to have a candy cane with sugar plum flavor on top"

As of today, it is still there but has gotten more and more wiggly. :)  We haven't decided what we are going to do yet when it actually comes out!

Sleepover

Riley and Brenna have been talking about having a sleepover for a long time so we decided to try it out tonight.  We figure if they are going to be sharing a room relatively soon, it might not be a bad idea to see how they do.

We ended up putting Brenna in her room after about 30 minutes because she didn't want to go to sleep in the big bed.  She just kept trying to talk to Riley and play with her.  I should mention that they were in the same bed and Brenna took a 3 hour nap today.  Also, we were out much later than usual last night so Riley went to sleep last night around 9:45 and then had a full day today (all day school, then her dance class, which had its "observation class" today and a little celebration afterwards).

Although they didn't go to sleep, it was really sweet to see/hear them.  I tried to write down some of the funnier things I heard.  This is in chronological order.

Riley: "Brenna, can I call you Bubba?"
Brenna: "No."
Riley: "Why?"
Brenna: "Because you can call me Gil, because I have a belly button"
Riley: "Gil, we need to get some sleep."

Brenna: "Knock, knock"
Riley: "Who's there?"
Brenna: "Mama"
Riley: "Mama who?"
Brenna: "I love Mama!"
Riley: "Awww, you love Mama, huh?"

Riley: "Knock, knock"
Brenna: "Who's there?"
Riley: "Brenna"
Brenna: "Brenna who?"
Riley: "I love Brenna"
Brenna: "Aw... can I give you a hug?"
Riley: "Yeah"
*hug*

Riley: "It's so late, it's time to sleep"
Brenna: "But I love the Christmas tree!"

Brenna: "Oh no!"
Riley: "What happened?
Brenna: "My feet fell off!"
Riley: "It's ok, we'll put the blanket back on.  Now let's have a good sleep."

Riley: "Bubba is a nickname for Gil"

Brenna: "What's happening? It's so dark in here!"

Brenna: "Should we go downstairs?  What do you think?"
Riley: "The clock is blue. We need to stay up here. When the clock is orange we can wake up."
Brenna: "We can wake up!!"
Riley: "Now get to sleep.  Close your eyes."

Brenna: "Where does the pig live?"
Riley: "On a farm."
Brenna: "Where do sea lions live?"
Riley: "They live in the sea"
Brenna: "And where do the pigs live?"
Riley: "They live on the farm.  And they play in the mud."
Brenna: "They have mud on them! Haha! Silly pigs!"

Riley: "Now lay down, close your eyes, don't talk, and get to sleep!"

[Brenna pokes Riley in the eye]
Riley: "Ouch, Brenna! I'm going to go downstairs and tell mom that you hurt me!"
Brenna: "Oh!  Downstairs!  Can I come with you?"
Riley: "No!"
Brenna: "But I love you!"

Brenna: "Riley let's play patty cake!"
Riley: "I do NOT want to play patty cake; it's time for bed."

Brenna Speak

Of course, I feel I need to post a Brenna picture too!  Although she has not made her own version of any Christmas songs yet, Brenna continues to crack us up with the things she does make up!  For example, calling Riley her "mommy" and asking her for help with things instead of me!  Also, she frequently insists on being called "Elmo."  Riley is usually Elmo's friend "Meghan" (not sure where that came from), I am Snuffy, John is Telly, and Maisy is Cookie Monster!  She will only refer to us by those names.  Sometimes Riley is "Elmo's mommy."

I also love her adorable pronunciation of certain words.  I still remember being sad when Riley would start to say words correctly!  I want to write down as many as possible with Brenna so we don't forget.  I think my favorite right now is how she says "Happy Burs-day" (especially cute when being sung!) and how she says "dayad" instead of "dad."  She is sitting watching a movie right now. Maisy came over and she said "Aw!  Maisy wants to watch wiss us!" She also likes to ask if she can wear a "skuut" (skirt) and "shuut" (shirt).  Riley told her that she was going to write her a note and she said "Aw! Sanks Riley!"  She also likes to say "Mama, will you read me anuzzer book?" at nighttime.  While she can now correctly pronounce "here ya go," she used to say "hee-lah-go" and we still sometimes say it that way. :)  There are more that I am probably forgetting and I will hopefully remember to write them down if I think of them!  But for now I am happy to have the chance to document these precious little pronunciations that we love.

As I am writing this I am reminded of when Riley used to say "salaping dressing" instead of salad dressing.  We also still say that sometimes.

Riley's 12 Days of Christmas

Riley's 12 Days Of Christmas

Here is a festive picture of Riley with Santa to go along with the Christmas post.  Brenna would not go anywhere near him!!

Riley's favorite Christmas song is the 12 Days of Christmas.  So today, she decided to make up her own version.  Here it is....

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me... a playground hanging out in the mulch

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me... 2 pregnant ladies and a playground hanging out in the mulch!

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me... 3 Christmas trees, 2 pregnant ladies, and a playground hanging out in the mulch!

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... 4 munching dog-las, 3 Christmas trees, 2 pregnant ladies, and a playground hanging out in the mulch!

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... FIVE TIRE SWINGS!!!!! 4 munching dog-las, 3 Christmas trees, 2 pregnant ladies, and a playground hanging out in the mulch!

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... 6 lamp posts lamping, FIVE TIRE SWINGS!!! 4 munching dog-las, 3 Christmas trees, 2 pregnant ladies, and a playground hanging out in the mulch! 

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me... 7 rope ladders roping, 6 lamp posts lamping, FIVE TIRE SWINGS!!! 4 munching dog-las, 3 Christmas trees, 2 pregnant ladies, and a playground hanging out in the mulch!

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... 8 napkins dancing, 7 rope ladders roping, 6 lamp posts lamping, FIVE TIRE SWINGS!!! 4 munching dog-las, 3 Christmas trees, 2 pregnant ladies, and a playground hanging out in the mulch!

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... 9 ladies dancing, 8 napkins dancing, 7 rope ladders roping, 6 lamp posts lamping, FIVE TIRE SWINGS!!! 4 munching dog-las, 3 Christmas trees, 2 pregnant ladies, and a playground hanging out in the mulch!

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... 10 advent calendars adventing, 9 ladies dancing, 8 napkins dancing, 7 rope ladders roping, 6 lamp posts lamping, FIVE TIRE SWINGS!!! 4 munching dog-las, 3 Christmas trees, 2 pregnant ladies, and a playground hanging out in the mulch!

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me... 11 yummy pancakes, 10 advent calendars adventing, 9 ladies dancing, 8 napkins dancing, 7 rope ladders roping, 6 lamp posts lamping, FIVE TIRE SWINGS!!! 4 munching dog-las, 3 Christmas trees, 2 pregnant ladies, and a playground hanging out in the mulch!

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... 12 disgusting pickles, 11 yummy pancakes, 10 advent calendars adventing, 9 ladies dancing, 8 napkins dancing, 7 rope ladders roping, 6 lamp posts lamping, FIVE TIRE SWINGS!!! 4 munching dog-las, 3 Christmas trees, 2 pregnant ladies, and a playground hanging out in the mulch!

Happy New Year

As I sit here New Years Day I realize that I have not been good about keeping up this blog.  So in true January 1st spirit, I want to update in a positive and optimistic-about-the-new-year sort of way.

As a preface, I want to address reality for a moment.  Let's face it, parenting is hard.  Our library frequently has parenting books on hold for me (and for John).  It seems that kids are hardwired to do exactly the opposite of everything we say, but we certainly don't want to be telling them to do all the wrong things.  There are so many evenings when I think I need a frontal lobotomy, or at least a bottle in front of me. :)  Every day it becomes more clear why there are so many parenting books out there for us to check out: there just aren't any easy answers.  Yes, we all love our children an immeasurable amount but how do we convert that love into good parenting?  I guess that will perpetually be at the root of every challenge.

But back to being positive... While I certainly don't want to ignore our parenting challenges, I want to focus on the positive for purposes of this blog (or at least for the new year post!).  This year brought a lot of happy memories for us.  We spent a lot of time with our family despite the fact that we are scattered along the east coast (Buffalo counts as east coast, right?!).  This included lots of visits from family and trips we took to go visit them.  Riley absolutely loves seeing her out of town "friends."

Brenna was born on August 2, which makes her almost 5 months old already.  She is such a wonderfully happy and sweet baby; she smiles so much and has recently started laughing a lot.  She can roll over from her belly to her back and is almost sitting up on her own.  We are hoping that the new year will bring some longer sleep intervals overnight.

Riley has changed so much in the last year it's incredible.  She makes us laugh (and makes Brenna laugh!) all the time.  She really loves Brenna and is very sweet with her.  She likes to do impressions, reenact scenes from her favorite movies and shows, and find new and interesting ways to sing the word "no."  At some point in the middle of the year we realized that she can read and she really seems to love it.  Her favorites are Pinkalicious and pretty much any Dr. Seuss book.  She also loves to color, draw, and give check-ups with her doctor's bag as "Dr. Riley."  As for other activities, she still loves dance and more recently seems to want to swim and ice skate.  She really seems to like everything we sign her up for, which makes it hard to decide what to do.  The only thing she didn't really like that much was soccer!  She talked about it as if she liked it, but when it came to going out on the field to play in the cold weather, she was frequently unhappy and just wanted to play on the playground.  She still talks about it, though, and we will most likely try again this spring.

I hope that is a good enough update on the girls right now.  I also hope to have the time to update more often this year.  Wait, I'm being optimistic, I AM going to update more often!  As I reflect on last year, I can't help but think of how blessed we are to have these amazing girls and amazing family and friends. 

Lastly, you know I couldn't blab this long without a picture or video so here is a quick video taken recently that I think is cute.  Riley was reciting The Night Before Christmas (I think it actually was the night before Christmas, too) and Brenna was laughing so we turned on the camera.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone reading this!  I wish you all the best in 2012!!