Danny.Riley.Family

2011 In Video

2012-01-03T18:50:00.001-06:00

As I’ve mentioned a couple of times, 2011 was a big year for videos around our house so I wanted to try to get some of them together for a blog post of their own. Well I managed to get some of them edited and uploaded. Be prepared for two things, though. First, it will take a while to go through all of them. Second, some of them may require tissue so have that handy.

It’s amazing to see how much Amelia has grown over the last year. This first video is of some of the early stages of her development over the year, when she wasn’t even mobile yet. Again, this was only a year ago!

Moving through the rest of the stages she progressed through during the year, here is video of her eating solid food, crawling (or scooting really), and walking.

As you probably remember, our time with Sierra ended in February 2011. Here is some video of some of the last moments with her. Included is the kids playing in the snow with her, and them feeding her something special after we determined her days with us were about to end.

Roland and Kelsey continue to develop neat personalities. Here is a montage of Roland displaying his love for singing silly songs

And here is Kelsey preaching, singing, and teaching.

Definitely the saddest moment of the year for us was the sudden loss of my Dad. It’s something that me and many people in my family are still dealing with every day. Grand Paw Paw’s death at the end of October added to the loss. While we are happy that they are in a better place, we miss them terribly.

Here is some video from Dad’s memorial service. Honestly, I hesitated to post these videos, but I decided that it is a big part of the year for my family and this blog can only be considered a family blog if this type of thing is included.

First, here is video of the family members speaking at the memorial. I cut mine a little bit for the sake of time. Everyone else’s time is shown in its entirety.

And here are the friends who were gracious enough to get up and speak.

Back to some of the more fun moments during the year, here are some clips of the family hanging out and having fun. Notice how Roland progressed during the year from not wearing pants to not wearing a shirt.

Here is one of Kelsey playing "Plants vs Zombies" on our tablet computer and Roland’s emotional argument that she wasn’t paying very well.

Here is a few birthday party moments. The first is Kelsey’s announcement after everyone sang happy birthday to her and the others are some moments from Amelia’s first birthday.

And finally, some Christmas moments. The first is Amelia trying to figure out the whole tree with a bunch of toy looking items on it, and the others are the excitement of all the kids on Christmas day.

So as you have read over the year and can see in these videos, 2011 was a wild year around here. We have been through a lot of highs and lows. That we are so very blessed is clear though.

Thanks for taking the time to share our lives with us. We wish you a very happy 2012.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-01T10:22:00.001-06:00

The weather has been very unpredictable around here the last couple of months. We’ve had some snow, a lot of rain, some unseasonably warm weather, and some normal cold days. Fortunately, it was warm on the day after Thanksgiving so putting our yard decorations went really well.

Kelsey and Roland were able to help a lot this year. Maybe we will be able to make them do all the work soon.

We added a set of spiral trees and an angel to our yard this year.

That night, Maw Maw and Paw Paw Kesler and Uncle Mike and Dana came over to help us put together and decorate the tree. Amelia was able to help out a lot with that.

We gated the presents of this year so that little hands would not get into them.

Beverly and I opened our presents to each other a few days before Christmas as usual this year. We also let the kids open their stockings as we normally do.

Finally, Christmas Eve was here. Roland and Kelsey were very excited this year. GiGi spent the night with us that night. She slept in Roland’s room, which meant Roland slept in Kelsey’s room. They did not sleep much. About an hour after putting them to bed, I went up to check on them and Roland was looking out the window, hoping to see Maw Maw and Paw Paw coming down the driveway. They were both up a little after 5 am, but no one was going to be coming over until about 7:00. So they had a long wait. They handled it well though.

Bev and I didn’t have much to put together this year, so we were in bed at a decent time.

Hard to believe that next year at this time I will be showing you all four pictures like this…

Roland got a bunch of lego, star wars, and super hero toys…

Kelsey got some clothes, dolls, and other girly gifts…

Amelia got a toy grocery cart and a pony bike…

After patiently waiting for Maw Maw and Paw Paw to get here, Kelsey and Roland were finally able to come downstairs and check out all their new stuff. We were able to get them to pose for a few seconds for a picture.

They loved opening all of their stuff. Amelia went straight to her grocery cart and played with that while Roland and Kelsey opened their presents.

After everyone opened their presents, Bev and I cooked our traditional big Chrstmas breakfast. It was nice having Mike, Dana, and GiGi joining us this year.

That night, we went over to Uncle Mike and Aunt DeeDee’s house. Presents were everywhere! So. Many. Kids. And more on the way!

The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas flew by this year. I guess it always does, but it just seemed like a blur. Roland was not as destructive with the ornaments this year as he had been in the past. And Kelsey continues to be more helpful as the years go by. They both have learned a lot of Christmas songs, so it was neat listening to them sing them over the holiday season. Amelia didn’t really know what to think about it all. Next year will be big for her.

I’m planning to go through the rest of the pictures for the year and some of the videos for a big end of year post soon. Hopefully I can get that done within the next couple of days.

We hope all of you had a great Christmas and wish you a Happy 2012!

Roland’s 6th Birthday

2011-12-18T19:16:00.001-06:00

Last year for Roland’s birthday, we celebrated at Jump in Southaven. It was such a fun day that he decided that’s exactly what he wanted to do again this year. So he made it pretty easy. We also celebrated a couple of weeks before his actual birthday just like we do every year.

Roland is a big fan of Star Wars right now, so he and Bev did some research and came up with a really cool design for his cake. Bev did a great job just like she always does.

Jump was a lot of fun for the kids and some of the parents. They organize everything really well and take care of all of the decorations and cleanup. It is a great place to have a party, especially when Mama is 7 months pregnant.

We also had a very special guest this year. Chewbacca! He was nice enough to fly in for Roland’s big day. All of the kids (except Amelia) wanted a picture, and even several adults.

He also apparently likes to rudely put his hand on pregnant women’s belly.

We think the big throne that the kids get to sit on while opening presents is one of the coolest parts. Roland got a ton of new toys.

Roland has grown so much over the last year. He is doing great on his schoolwork and is taking on a lot of new responsibilities around the house. He loves both of his sisters and can’t wait for his new brother or sister to be here soon. He is really hoping that the baby is a boy so that Kelsey can have one baby and he can have another.

Roland has a very silly personality and he loves to make people laugh. He also has a big heart and is definitely a Mamma’s boy. He has been an amazing son for these six years and we look forward to seeing him continue to grow into an amazing man.

November 2011 Update

2011-11-11T11:35:00.001-06:00

My last update that wasn’t about a vacation or birthday or other family event was way back in April. I say “way back” because I have a TON of pictures to go through. So some of these pictures seem like forever ago.

After our new floors were put in, we decided to paint the living room and the hallway downstairs. We had been pretty tired of the paint that was in there for a while (flat paint and kids don’t mix well), so we decided to finally replace it, even though I was still sore from the crazy amount of painting we did on our upstairs last year.

Of course, Roland and Kelsey wanted to help. As you’ll notice, Roland now does not wear shirts. Last year it was pants, so I suppose that’s better.

We also added on to our playground this spring. We told the kids that Paw Paw Riley got it for them. First we had some rubber mulch put in…

And then we added on a big slide and monkey bars. The kids played on it a ton this summer. Some of their friends from church have been over to play on it also and they all think it is really cool.

For Easter, the kids got some fishing poles so they could fish down in Sardis.

We had two easter egg hunts this year. One at our house…

And another at Granny and Grandad Kesler’s house…

Amelia continues to grow and do new things pretty much every day. She is walking good now and is in to everything. She loves playing with her brother and sister and they are huge helpers with taking care of her. Of course, since my last family update was in April, many of these pictures were from before she was even crawling.

(her mouth is purple in these next two because she had thrush at one point and the doctor told us to swab her mouth with a medication that was very purple and left a huge stain. She did not seem to mind it though)

She is really small, just like Kelsey was. Evidence of that can be seen here with a picture of us sitting her on a doll’s chair at Target.

Beverly and I have really enjoyed having all three of our kiddos around. They still love to hang out and play with us also, which of course is awesome.

Beverly’s cousin Kristian got married a few months ago and they asked Kelsey to be a flower girl.

They also asked Beverly to make the cake. She worked really hard on it and it turned out great.

She also made several more cakes over the spring and summer…

Beverly’s pregnancy has been going great so far. Her belly does seem to be getting bigger a little bit faster than normal this time, which is giving her more back pain and making it harder for her to get around. But she and the baby are healthy, so we are more than blessed. We are still sticking to the plan of not finding out the gender this time around. That was very difficult during the ultrasounds.

In September, we took Roland and Kelsey to Disney on Ice. We already knew that Amelia was going to dress up as Minnie Mouse for Halloween, so we got her some ears.

The show was a lot of fun. Roland and Kelsey pointed out before we walked in that they were mostly too old for Disney stuff now, which of course broke our hearts. But they both said it was a lot more fun than they thought it would be.

Later that week, we went to the Mid South Fair. It’s still at the Civic Center, which is very close to our house. We’ve enjoyed going there the last couple of years. Kelsey and Roland are still too small for a lot of the rides, but they found several that they wanted to ride.

Kelsey also lost her first tooth last month. She was so excited. Roland was very excited about it too.

A couple of weeks before Halloween, the homeschool group at our church had a “field trip” at Cedar Hill Farm in Hernando. The kids did all kinds of things like ride horses, feed chickens, and pick pumpkins.

Speaking of pumpkins, Maw Maw and Paw Paw Kesler came over a couple of days before Halloween and Bev, them, and the kids carved our pumpkin and made some halloween cookies. We found a carving kit with some carving templates in it so we thought we would try something new this year.

It turned out awesome.

We decided to take the kids to Zoo Boo this year as their main Halloween activity. The place was PACKED. This will likely be the only year we attempt to go because of how crowded it was. Uncle Mike, Aunt Dee Dee, Jake, and Cooper joined us though, which helped us deal with the stress of the crowd.

Amelia was dressed as Minnie Mouse, Kelsey was a mermaid, and Roland was Darth Vader. Jake was a football player, which of course he is in real life also.

On Halloween night, Aunt BJ, Caitlyn, and Cody came over and we took the kids out trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. Kelsey decided to be a princess bride instead of a mermaid.

We decided to put an inflatable turkey out until Thanksgiving this year. So we have a Mickey pumpkin for Halloween, a turkey for Thanksgiving, and all kids of stuff for Christmas. We might have to start finding stuff to have out in our yard all year round.

We also joined the family car sticker club. Even added the baby, even though he\she isn’t here yet.

And on a sad note, a couple of days before Halloween, Grand Paw Paw Riley had a heart attack. He ended up passing away a couple of days later. So a lot of the family met in Nashville to go to the funeral and be together. It was a sad week, but it was great being together. We also got an opportunity to take a great family picture.

Please continue to pray for our family. It’s been a rough year. Grand Paw Paw, we love and miss you. Thank you for being a father and grandfather that put such a strong focus on family that allows those of us that remain here on Earth to get along and love each other the way we do. We know you are enjoying your time up there with Dad and can’t wait to see y’all again some day.

I guess that pretty much catches us up. I apologize for it being so long and for the Kleenex moment there at the end. Over the next couple of months, we’ll have Thanksgiving, Roland’s birthday and Christmas so expect more regular updates here during that time. I’d love to get a post together with some videos in it also. We’ve caught so many great moments on video. Hopefully I’ll find some time to do that soon.

Amelia’s First Birthday

2011-09-08T20:15:00.004-05:00

On August 31, Amelia turned one year old. So hard to believe that she is already one. We decided to do a family\friend get-together at our house on the Sunday before her birthday.

Beverly thought making cupcakes would be neat for this party. That way, Amelia could get her own cake.

Quite a few people came over for the party.

After everyone visited and the kids played a little while, it was time for cake. Amelia being our best eater yet by far did not argue one bit with that.

She was a little confused at why she had to eat with no clothes on and at why everyone was watching her at first, but she decided it must not be so bad and ended up tearing her cake up as expected.

After everyone had some cake and ice cream, it was time for presents.

And right on cue, after the last present was opened, she clapped her hands as a way to say thanks for her presents.

And then she and the kids hung out and played for the rest of the party.

So yeah, it was a small and simple party but it was perfect for her. She had plenty of time for playing, got to eat, and got a lot of cool toys. What more could a baby girl want?

Amelia has been such an incredible baby over this last year. Her ability to adapt to changes and her easy demeanor have really helped us all adjust to having a baby around.

She is still crawling, but is pulling up and walking around things a lot, so we expect her to be walking soon. She also can say “uh oh” and can shake her head side to side when we tell her no. She still doesn’t understand “no” very well, but at least she remembers to shake her head. It won’t be long and we will have a walking, talking, into everything baby. Time just flies by.

Thanks to all that came out for the party. I’m hoping to put together another blog post soon that will catch everything up on the happenings around our home over the last few months.

Kelsey’s 7th Birthday

2011-08-02T19:42:00.001-05:00

Yes, I know. Kelsey turned 7 in the beginning of July. And yes, I know. It’s the beginning of August. Did I forget to blog about my baby girl’s birthday?!

Of course not! How dare you think that. Wait, did you even think that or did I make it up? I’m confused. Where am I?

I have a good excuse for this being so late though, which I’ll get to in a bit. Well, it’s later than my excuse would allow, but I’m still going to use it.

This year, Kelsey wanted a Barbie Rock Star party. Actually it’s more than just that. She wanted to have a slumber party first and foremost, and she already knew who she wanted to invite. Also, she wanted to go to the pottery place in town so she and her friends could paint something. And she wanted to eat at CiCi’s pizza.

(Keep in mind that we had told her beforehand that we didn’t plan to do a big party this year)

Since we were keeping the slumber party relatively small and still wanted to have some family over to celebrate her birthday, we decided that we would split the “party” into two nights. The first would be the family get-together, complete with a bar-b-q dinner and cake. Then a week later, we would do the slumber party, pottery, and CiCi’s.

So on the weekend before her birthday, we had the party. Beverly and Kelsey came up with this idea for the cake. Bev of course is a pro at these. Kelsey helped out quite a bit also.

We had all of the usual crew over for the party – the Brinkman (almost) four, Uncle Joey and his family, Uncle Jim and very soon to be officially sis-in-law Elisha and Parker, Maw Maw and Paw Paw, and GiGi. And of course, now that Aunt Beck lives in town, she was there. Uncle Mikey and soon to be new sis-in-law Dana were also in town. And Uncle Bobby, Aunt Gail, and their family.

We put a sprinkler out also, carrying on the tradition of having something for the kids to stay cool in while they played outside.

It was also at the party that Kelsey announced to the family that we were expecting baby number four. So it was a nice big family shindig, and a great way to start off her birthday celebration.

As I said, we planned to do the slumber party and everything else the next week. Well, that’s where things got a little crazy, and is the excuse I have for this blog post being as late as it is.

The stomach bug decided to give us a visit. Actually, we think it may have started with Kelsey the day before the family get-together. Amelia ended up with it in the middle of the night after the party, then Roland got it a day or so later. Then I got it the next night. Then Bev fought with it over a couple of days. The pregnancy made it so much worse on her than the rest of us.

So a couple of days before we were supposed to have the party, we told Kelsey we thought we should postpone it. We wanted to make sure the virus was out of the house as much as possible and to Lysol everything in sight before even thinking about bringing a bunch of kids into the house and getting their families sick.

She was ok with that, so we rescheduled the party for a couple of weeks later.

Finally, it was time for the slumber party. Bev and I picked up a bunch of Red Bull for us and Benadryl for the kids (just kidding, or am I? )

The kids did a great job painting and seemed to have a lot of fun.

After that, we caravanned over to CiCi’s and stuffed our faces at their quite good for the price pizza buffet.

Then we came back and Bev and all the kids made bracelets while I switched from Red Bull to Jack Daniels (ha! like anyone will believe that!). Then the kids had a snack and watched a movie.

And after that, it was time for bed. I think we had them down by about 10:30. They were up at like 6:00 though, and from what we were told later most of them took naps that lasted several hours that day. So their parents owe us.

Kelsey has grown so much over the last year. After Amelia was born, she has taken over a lot of new responsibilities and has really been a big help. She had some struggles with first grade for a little while, but has worked really hard and has caught up really well lately. There has been a lot of trial-and-error to figuring out how she learns best and her figuring out that hard work pays off. It’s been amazing watching her grow and progress in so many ways in just one year. We continue to be proud of the young lady she is becoming.

Baby News

2011-07-03T19:56:00.001-05:00

In October of 2009, after being certain for a couple of years at least that we did not want to have any more kids, Beverly and I both started changing our minds about it. We had always said that if we had more than two kids then we would want four and that the second set of two would have to be close in age. This is because we are so happy with how things have worked out with Kelsey and Roland and how much they adore each other as best friends.

So in November of 2009, we determined that we would try to have more children if the Lord saw fit to bless us with them. On January 1, 2010, we had a positive pregnancy test. Nine months later, Amelia Sue was born. Looking at her makes it so hard to believe that we ever thought we did not want more kids. Seeing her in our family and watching how Kelsey and Roland have welcomed her into their lives has been so awesome. She has brought so much happiness to our lives.

In March we decided it was time to start thinking about baby #4 if we were going by our original plan. Then in May we had started having talks that if Beverly was not pregnant by the end of the year, that our family was full enough and we would stop trying. We were very content with how things were with our family and didn’t feel like something would be missing if we did not have another one.

Well, little did we know, Beverly was already pregnant in May when we were having those talks.

So I am excited to show you the ultrasound picture taken last Wednesday. Beverly is about 7 weeks along now, which puts the baby’s due date in February.

We have decided that we want the gender of this one to be a surprise since he\she will (probably ) be our last one and we’d like to have that experience. So assuming we can handle it, we will not know if the baby is a boy or girl until February.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we go through this journey with our new little one. We don’t expect it to be easy, but we believe that God put this desire for four kids in our hearts for a reason. And we look forward to obeying Him and inviting a new baby Riley into our home very soon.

Destin Vacation 2011

2011-06-10T12:26:00.002-05:00

We decided that we would go back to Destin for our big vacation this year. It's been several years since the kids have been to the beach, so they were really excited about it. Of course, it was Amelia’s first time there. We also decided that since we are outnumbered by kids now that we would take along some other adults. So Maw Maw and Paw Paw Kesler went with us. It was also Maw Maw Kesler’s first time to see the beach.

We didn’t really have a lot we wanted to do for this trip. We knew the kids would want to swim a lot and we just wanted to get some rest away from all of the busy-ness back home.

We stayed at a condo at the Westwinds in Sandestin. The place was really nice. We were hoping it would be a place we would want to stay at for future visits. It didn’t take us long to decide that it was. The condo was a good size, the pool was heated (which proved necessary since the temperatures were a little bit cool for a good bit of the week), and the Sandestin area was overall a nice place to be.

Here’s the view of the beach from our room.

And some other pictures of the condo and the pools and waterfall outside the complex.

The first night after we got there, we took the kids out to the beach to try to find some crabs.

The next day was our first big beach and swimming excursion. So we packed up our crew and the tons of gear that was required, and headed out.

Amelia thought the beach was fun for about 10 seconds. She grabbed a handful of sand, looked at it, smiled, then put her sandy hand up to her eye. The fun was over then. She and Bev ended up going back up to the pool area, while Roland and Kelsey stayed down at the beach with me and Paw Paw.

We got out of the condo a few times to do some things around town. Like…

…take Amelia to get her first Build a Bear…

…feed the alligators at Fudpuckers…

…Putt Putt golf…

(Amelia wasn’t really much into that either)…:)

…We spotted a McDonald’s close to our resort that had a nice playground, so we went there one day for lunch…

…Ate at the back porch…

…Maw Maw and Paw Paw baby-sitted for us one night so Bev and I could go out on a date…

…and a mall in the area had a nice sprinkler park and playground, so we took the kids to that one day.

(Amelia couldn’t really do that either, but she was still happy)

Other than those things, most of our time was spent chilling out in and around the condo. As you can see here, Bev brought a puzzle with her that took over the coffee table most of the trip.

The rest of us helped her on it a little bit, but she did most of the work by far. She finished it by the end of the trip, and we bagged it back up and left it there for future guests.

Life around the condo was just like life at home. Kids doing cute and silly things. :)

As I mentioned earlier, one of the big things for the kids on this trip (any trip, really) was that they got to swim. So we spent time each day at the pool. Roland and Kelsey are doing very well with learning to swim. They will take some lessons in a couple of weeks, at which point we think Kelsey may be ready to stop using life jackets or any other type of support.

We also spent a little bit more time at the beach without Amelia one day and buried each other in the sand.

We took some family pictures down by the waterfall. As usual with our crew, it’s nearly impossible to get a good one without snapping a hundred pictures. :)

The trip was great all around. Everyone really seemed to enjoy it. And even though we didn’t do a whole lot, it felt like it raced by. Guess that’s how vacations usually work though. We have decided we want to stay for two weeks next time. ":)

Remembering Dad

2011-04-17T19:36:00.001-05:00

As all of you I’m sure know, my dad, Aubrey Riley, passed away last month. I have not been sure exactly what I wanted to say about it here, but I believe something should be written. So here goes.

Dad passed away on the day that Amelia had her baby dedication, which I mentioned in my last post. He was supposed to be there that morning. Jim and Joey both tried several times to call me as church was wrapping up but I was not able to answer. When I looked down at my phone after church and saw that I had so many missed calls, I knew something was wrong.

The events after that are mostly a blur. We spent a lot of time with family over the next week. I cannot say how grateful I am that Joey and Jim both live in town and that we all get along as well as we do. Dad’s death has brought us even closer, which has also been awesome.

The cousins all hung out a lot over the week. It took Roland and Kelsey a few days to get used to not having Parker, Caitlyn, Cody, and Jake around after the week was over.

Gigi came up Sunday night. She spent the week between Dad’s place in Sardis and Horn Lake. She took care of notifying a lot of family and making sure the place in Sardis was cleaned up (we were going to have the memorial there. More on that in a bit). She was a big help.

Grand Paw Paw came to town on Tuesday. Aunt Donna was vacationing in the Bahamas, which means Grand Paw Paw was in Nashville without her being around. I pleaded with him to come on in to town and thankfully he did. We all wanted him here, and he was a great help to me during the week.

Uncle Gank, Aunt Mindy, and Aunt Beck came in Thursday night. Gank and Mindy spent a lot of time with Joey and BJ. They have always all been close, and that week clearly strengthened their bond even more.

Donna had a rough week in the Bahamas. We all felt horrible that she had to be in such an amazing place and deal with the loss of her brother. She was finally able to make it in Saturday morning. She was worn out from all the flying and driving she had to do to get here, but we could tell she was relieved to finally be here.

Dad had always told us that he did not want his death to be a time of sadness and grieving. He wanted us to throw a party to remember him. Well, there was plenty of sadness and grieving, but we still tried to honor his wishes with the party. We decided to have his memorial at his place in Sardis, and to have a huge cookout afterwards. We got the word out that everyone was to bring whatever meat they wanted to eat and we would cook it.

We rented 100 chairs. Every one of them was full and many people were still standing. Dad loved and was loved by so many people and we were honored that they chose to come down and help us remember him.

I will mention here that after almost a week of Grand Paw Paw being in town, Amelia finally decided on Sunday that she would let him hold her.

The memorial went very well. I spoke first. I decided that I would give a somewhat formal eulogy with a few funny memories mixed in. I also presented the gospel. Honestly, I don’t know how I got through it as well as I did. I was brought to tears just about every time I thought about it throughout the week. All I can say is that a higher power than myself must have been with me that day. When it was over, I received some compliments that helped me know my message went over well. One person even called it a sermon, which I still can’t figure out if I should take objection to.

Joey spoke second. He had written some things down and we could tell he had a hard time with it. But he made it through also. And he did awesome.

Jim played a song on his guitar next. I was shaking so much throughout the day that I am in awe that he kept his composure so well and was able to play through it. It was awesome.

After that, Uncle Gank and Aunt Donna got up to speak. Then we played a few songs and asked the crowd to get up and say anything they wanted to about Dad. Several got up and told some great stories and memories. It seemed though that every time someone started to say something sad, the wind chimes on the porch would get louder and louder. It was as if Dad was telling us it was time to stop!

After the last person had spoken, we ended the service and Uncle Mike cooked the food. Mike was a huge help to us throughout the week. The food he cooked was award worthy. Seriously, I don’t think he’s ever cooked like that.

After just about everyone had left, the family hung out for a little while. Jim and Tony played a few tunes, which I know Dad just loved to see from up above. Gank and Bev got in on it some too.

As the night wore on, we decided it was time to spread Dad’s ashes. That was a tough time, but we were glad we did it with all the family around. The men in the family also got together for a picture.

Over the next couple of days, all the family went back home and Joey, Jim, and I and our families all tried to get back into our routines. It’s definitely been a struggle, but we are making it through as best we can. Joey, Jim, and I are speaking to and seeing each other several times a week now as we deal with Dad’s estate. It’s a lot to do, but it has been great that we are able to do it together.

Please keep me and my family in your prayers. Pray that me and my brothers can continue to work our way through all of the business that we need to do and that we can do it quickly. Pray for our wives and children as they support us. Thank God that He has provided each of us with such a great support system at home. Bev, BJ, and Elisha, y’all are so good to us. Thank you.

Please keep Grand Paw Paw, Gigi, Mike, Donna, and Aunt Beck in your prayers also. I know that they are still struggling with the suddenness of Dad’s death, as we all are. Pray that God will give them peace and comfort as they continue to grieve. Grand Paw Paw, Gigi, Mike, Donna, Mindy, and Aunt Beck – thank you so much for all of your help throughout the week after Dad’s death and for the love you have shown us since. We could not imagine going through this without you. Thank you for being such an important part of our lives.

I’ll leave you with a few pictures that I had on my computer from the last 10 years or so.

Dad – you were so good to me, my family, my brothers, and everyone who knew you. I think we all wish we could have paid you back for all you did or shown our gratitude better. But that’s not why you did all that you did for us. Thank you for your love. I will carry your memory with me and hope that I can continue your legacy of love and kindness. I love and miss you and can’t wait to see you again some day.

Family Update – April 2011

2011-04-13T13:03:00.001-05:00

Wow. It’s mid-April already. Where does the time go. I have a lot to catch up on here. I was told that I needed to blog about something more happy after my last post about Sierra, so I will do that here. :)

Of course, I still need to put a blog together about Dad, which I intend to do very soon also. So no Kleenex needed for now. I make no promises about the next one though.

Winter wasn’t quite as bad this year as it was last year. We had a couple of decent snowfall events. But overall the weather wasn’t as cold, and we had a few times where the temperature worked its way up a little bit. I’m glad it’s spring again though.

Kelsey and Roland enjoyed the snowfall more this year than in the past couple of years. They played out in it for several hours the days that we got decent amounts. Amelia didn’t really know what to think about it and I don’t think she really liked being bundled up so much.

One of the other big events this winter was Jake’s birthday. It was at the Tupelo Buffalo Park. Even though it was in February, it felt almost like summer outside. It was a great day to be there for sure. Bev made the cake, which was an animal theme.

The park had a lot of animals that the Memphis Zoo does not have. We even got to go out and feed the buffalos. We could see why it is one of Jake’s favorite places.

Other than that, the winter was mostly uneventful. Roland and Kelsey played inside a lot. They have gotten along very well, especially considering they didn’t have as many activities to do as they do during the warmer months.

Kelsey is doing really well with school. She’s reading great now and loves math. Roland started in the home-school program at church also and has been learning a lot.

Amelia isn’t crawling yet, but is getting really close to being ready to do that. She is still a very happy baby, but we can tell she’s getting annoyed by not being able to get around like she wants to. She also is eating a lot of different types of solid food now. It’s amazing how fast she has grown. Sometimes I come home from work and she seems to look completely different.

She is still full of smiles. She doesn’t like to be held by other people much though. She' pretty much only lets me and Bev hold her. Oh, and Uncle Joey as long as I’m not in the room. She gets confused by us looking so much alike. :)

She loves Kelsey and Roland so much. Loves to watch everything they are doing. Kelsey and Roland are so good with her too.

Along with the cake Bev made for Jake’s birthday, she also has had the opportunity to make a couple of more for some friends. One for a friend who works at a company that does work in the Marine industry, and another over the hill cake for a friend’s brother.

We had Ameleia’s baby dedication last month also. She was able to wear the same dress that Kelsey wore to her dedication.

We also recently had all of our downstairs carpet taken up and replaced. The house was a wreck for a few days.

The living room and hallway floors were replaced with laminate tile….

And the bedrooms floors were replaced with laminate hardwood. We have enjoyed not having to deal with carpet any more.

As I mentioned above, I plan to put something together about Dad soon. Also Easter is almost here and we have a vacation in Destin in the middle of May. And Kelsey’s birthday in July. So I hope to have more regular updates during all of that. Things will be settled down a bit for the summer, yet they will be more busy at the same time. Funny how that works out. :)

Sierra’s Last Days

2011-02-20T15:09:00.001-06:00

As you may recall, about a year ago we noticed a lump on Sierra’s mouth that ended up being diagnosed as an uncommon form of skin cancer in dogs. We were told then that she likely only had a couple of more months to live, as the cancer usually spread very rapidly.

Well, a full year passed and she showed hardly any signs that she was even sick. Then last December, we saw another lump on her mouth. When we took her to the vet to get it looked at, they said that the cancer appeared to have spread to her lymph nodes. They said Sierra had already beat the odds, so there was really no way to say how much longer it would be before the cancer started spreading to the point where it was out of control.

After her surgery in December to have her new lump and lymph nodes removed, Sierra went back to life as normal. We had some good snows in January and early this month, and she had a lot of fun playing with all of us out in it.

Around the end of January, we started noticing a lot of new lumps popping up in Sierra’s mouth. It seemed like we were seeing something new every day. Last weekend, we noticed that she had bled a little bit while eating her dog food. We knew her time with us was nearing the end, but did not know exactly when we should make the final call.

On Wednesday, Beverly noticed that Sierra was whining a little bit when she was laying on the floor and had no reason to be upset. And also that day, she had gotten irritable with the kids and had growled at them when they got close to her one time. We made the decision together that it was time. I called the vet and made an appointment for Friday.

We told Roland and Kelsey Wednesday night about what was going to be happening. They had a pretty hard time dealing with it right after we told them.

Over the next couple of days, we gave Sierra some ice cream and treated her extra special. We also had some really great conversations with the kids about God and heaven that still continue. Bev said that Sierra has been an instrument of life even in her time of death.

Finally on Friday, it was time. We took Sierra outside to get a few last pictures with her and love on her. Bev and the kids said goodbye to her and I took her to the doctor one last time.

The vet took one look at Sierra and could not believe how bad her mouth and face looked, especially considering that she had not shown many signs of pain or suffering. She said that we were definitely making the right call. It was time to end Sierra’s pain and let her truly rest.

This experience has been so bitter-sweet. Sierra was a special part of our lives and we will never forget her. She was a great picture of unconditional love to us and our kids.

I’ll leave you with some pictures of our lives with Sierra over the last 11 years.

Sierra Riley. 10/22/1999 to 02/18/2011. Rest in Peace, Pup Girl.

Family Update–End of Year 2010

2011-01-01T17:53:00.001-06:00

Since the last couple of blog posts have been about specific events during the last month, I decided to put a quick entry together to catch up on the other things that have happened since my November general update.

During the fall, Kelsey and Roland took a PE\gymnastics class that a local gymnastics business put together for homeschoolers. Both of them had a great time. It was a good opportunity for them to get out some and play with some other kids.

When that and some of their other weekly activities ended, they mostly have been enjoying hanging out at home.

Kelsey and Roland are crazy about baby Amelia. We haven’t really dealt with any jealousy issues that we assumed would come up. They love watching Amelia as she has grown and are big helpers.

Amelia continues to grow more and more every day. She’s really growing way too fast in our opinion. She turned 4 months old yesterday and we can barely remember her being a little baby. She still sleeps really well and has a great little personality.

As I mentioned in my Christmas blog post, Uncle Mikey got to come to town a couple of times during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. All of the kids enjoyed getting to play with him.

Early in December, the homeschool group at our church put together a Happy Birthday Jesus party. They asked Beverly if she would dress up as Mary and let Amelia pose as baby Jesus while they told the Christmas Story. Maw Maw and Paw Paw Kesler came along to help out while Beverly did that.

The Ringling Brother's Circus came to Memphis in December. We had been anxiously awaiting it coming to the area because we really wanted Kelsey and Roland to get to see it. So we left Amelia with Maw Maw and Paw Paw Kesler for a couple of hours and made the short trip to downtown Memphis in the well below freezing temps.

We had an big time. Our program and popcorn came with a clown nose and hat that has provided many good laughs since then.

It’s so hard to believe that a year ago today I announced that Beverly was pregnant. 2010 was truly a year we will never forget. From going through the process of finishing up our house, to watching Kelsey and Roland continue to mature into awesome kids, to adding a precious little baby girl to our family, it’s just been a whirlwind. God has blessed us more than we could have ever asked for and more than we could ever claim to deserve.

I’ll leave you with probably the best video we took all year. One night in early December, Amelia decided that she was in a giggly mood. This is the most she had laughed up to that point and has not done as much since. Thanks to all of our family and friends for helping make 2010 a special year for us and we wish all of you a great 2011!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-28T15:48:00.001-06:00

Well, Christmas has come and gone about as fast as the rest of the year did. It was a big year for us in many ways. Obviously it was special because it was Amelia’s first Christmas, and we made some new memories with Kelsey and Roland too.

So before we had kids, I told Bev that I would never hang lights on the house. Too much work, I’m too lazy, etc, etc.

Well, like I said, that was before we had kids. Last year, we started a tradition of going to the stores on the day after Christmas to see what decorations they had on sale. While doing that, I decided I would try hanging some this year. So we bought some icicle lights and some clips that are supposed to make it easy to hang lights on gutters or the roof.

The week before Thanksgiving, the weather was nice so I decided to go ahead and hang the lights. It was pretty easy. I’m glad that I changed my mind now. Amelia made sure I stayed safe too.

The day after Thanksgiving is our traditional day to put the tree up and decorate the yard. It was a bit colder that day, so I was glad that the house lights were done. In last year’s Christmas sale, we also purchased an inflatable nativity and a tree that had dancing lights. So our penguin would have some more company this year.

I should also note that Kelsey was a big help this year. She took a lot of the pictures and did a great job.

Amelia stayed inside.

We did have one very uncool thing happen this year. Our penguin got torn up either by weather or by someone trying to be mean. Also, our tree and the blow up lawn ornaments got stolen. We made the best of it though and told the kids that maybe someone just didn’t have the money to pay for their own so they took ours. We got out on the day after Christmas and bought some things to replace them next year. It will be bigger and better.

Later on the day after Thanksgiving, Maw Maw and Paw Paw Kesler and Uncle Mikey came over to help with the tree, as has also become a tradition.

On Christmas Eve, we let the kids open their stockings, which is another tradition.

After that, we went down to Granny and Grandad Kesler’s house for the Kesler get-together. The kids exchanged gifts with Isaac and Caleb.

Then that night, it was finally time to set everything out. Roland was super hyped about it this year. He just loves to get presents. Bev says that’s his love language and I agree.

Santa made it really easy this year. Not one thing had to be put together. We just set a few things out and were in bed in no time. Our living room looks quite a bit smaller after being set up with presents for 3 kids.

We had the grandparents and Uncle Mikey get to our house at 6:30 in order to be there before the kids woke up. We woke Amelia up a little bit ahead of time so she could eat. Roland was barely up when they got there and we had to wake Kelsey up.

After getting the obligatory greetings out of the way, it was time for some presents!

Oh, I forgot about Sierra. We didn’t have to wake her up. And she loved her rawhide bone.

After all the presents were out, it was time for the traditional breakfast. A ton of bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns, and biscuits.

After we were all stuffed, we hung out and played with all of the new toys.

On Christmas night, we went over to Uncle Mike and Aunt Dee Dee’s for the annual Riley\Brinkman get-together.

We asked the kids if they were ready to open presents. Half a second later, this was their reply…

We all had a great Christmas this year. It’s really neat that we have developed so many new traditions in the last few years. It’s funny how those things happen unexpectedly sometimes.

I’ll end with a quick video of everyone playing with the Nerf gun that Roland got from Paw Paw Riley. Paw Paw thought we would be mad about it, but as it turns out the kids would rather us shoot them then them shoot us.

We hope y’all had a great Christmas and that you have a great 2011.

(You can see these and more pictures in this gallery - http://pics.dannyrileyonline.com/Family/Christmas-2010)

Roland’s 5th Birthday

2010-12-14T19:32:00.006-06:00

As is our yearly tradition, we celebrated Roland’s birthday a couple of weeks early since it comes so close to Christmas. And since Kelsey got to have a big party with an inflatable slide this year, we decided that Roland would get a big party too. Only this time it would have to be indoors.

Bev took a bit of a break from cakes after Kelsey’s birthday and through the remainder of her pregnancy with Amelia, but she’s back in her element now. Roland decided he wanted the theme to be Toy Story.

Roland’s party was at Jump in Southaven. They had two rooms full of inflatable bounces and slides.

Many family and friends braved the cold and wet weather to help us celebrate.

Roland even got to open his presents while sitting on an inflatable throne!

After the party, Kelsey decided that Roland still needed one more present to open. This one was by far the cutest.

It was a really fun day for everyone. It’s always hard to find a good way to throw a bigger party during the colder months of the year. The people at Jump were really nice and organized, and several of the parents talked about how they might have to throw a party there for their kids. So we were very happy with how things turned out.

I think Roland really did feel like a king for the day. And that’s exactly what he deserved.

Family Update–November 2010

2010-11-21T09:48:00.001-06:00

Life around our house has been a lot of fun the last couple of months. Of course it’s been very different with the adjustment of having a new baby around, but we are working into a pretty good routine now.

Amelia has done a LOT of growing since we brought her home. Everyone tells us she is so little but we tend to think she is getting too big. She still isn’t too big to want to be held though, and there are always people around who are happy to do that.

She has still been a really good sleeper too. She could probably sleep all day if someone was holding her.

She has started to develop a great little personality too. She’s definitely more noisy now when she is awake, and getting her to smile is as simple as giving her a smile.

Here is a quick video showing her cute little personality.

The Mid South fair has been at the Civic Center this year, which is really close to our house. We decided that Kelsey and Roland were probably old enough for us to be able to take them this year, so we all went one day after I got off of work.

Kelsey and Roland had a blast! They got their faces painted, rode a cool ride, and even got a special toy to bring home.

Aunt Nonna, Uncle Mike, Grand Paw Paw, and Callie came down over a weekend during Callie’s fall break. GiGi came up also, Paw Paw cooked some good food, and we all had a good time.

And of course, Halloween was a busy and fun time for us. Kelsey and Roland worked really hard on the pumpkin this year. One thing that we couldn’t believe was that Kelsey was okay with getting pumpkin guts on her hand, while Roland didn’t want anything to do with that.

They dressed up as Bat Boy and Bat Girl.

And Bev made a costume for Amelia. She was a stick of gum.

We also got a yard decoration this year. Of course, it had to be Mickey Mouse.

Since Halloween was on a Sunday this year, several of the area churches had “Trunk or Treat” events. We decided to go to a couple of them this year. Uncle Mike, Aunt DeeDee, and Jake joined us. Afterward, we did some trick-or-treat-ing around our neighborhood with the Brinkman’s and some other friends. We still have a ton of Halloween candy left.

A couple of weeks ago, we took a trip to the zoo. This was Amelia’s first time at the zoo. The weather was a little cool, but the sun was bright so we were warm enough. Here is what the back of our van looks like loaded up with three kids and all the necessities for a zoo trip. We are definitely filling it up.

We met up with Aunt Anita, (a VERY pregnant) Brandy, Cassidy, and Isaac also. Everyone had a fun time.

I’m sure it goes without saying that we are super excited about the next couple of months. Thanksgiving is right around the corner, then we get to decorate for Christmas, celebrate Roland’s birthday, and of course celebrate Christmas Day. We hope y’all enjoy the holidays.

I also wanted to mention that I subscribed to a photo service called SmugMug that has unlimited uploads. So I’ll likely be uploading a lot more pictures than I include in my blog posts. And I hope to have some time to upload some of our older pictures too. If you want to view the site, you can go to http://pics.dannyrileyonline.com

And for the album that has the pictures for this blog (and many more), go to http://pics.dannyrileyonline.com/Family/November-2010-Update

Amelia Sue

2010-09-11T14:21:00.001-05:00

Wow. Time has just flown by the last few weeks. So much to talk about. It’s been so amazing. So let’s get started…

About a month ago, Aunt DeeDee and Aunt BJ threw Bev a baby shower. DeeDee hosted the party and BJ made the cake and helped set up. Bev was pretty miserable at that point in the pregnancy so it was really good to be able to go somewhere and enjoy the company of all the friends and family that came.

Bev was scheduled to be induced on August 31st. She had a lot of contractions in the couple of weeks leading up to that, and we really did not think she would make it until then. But she did. One really good thing about being induced is being able to make sure that everything is packed up. One bad thing is that we had to be there at 5:30am! Bev slept well the night before. I don’t think I slept at all.

Social networking has really taken off since Roland was born. So we decided it would be cool to send texts out to family and friends and to update Facebook during the labor and delivery. Since Bev was a little busy , I took care of most of the updates. I wore down the batteries on both of our phones as the day progressed.

At about 9:30, the doctor came in and broke Beverly’s water. From there the contractions got pretty hard, so she asked for an epidural. The anesthesiologist put some awesome drugs in it, as you can see by this photo that was taken while contractions were still going really strong and she was dilating really quickly.

At about 12:30pm, they called the doctor. It was time to push. At 1:03pm, Amelia Sue was born. She weighed 6lb, 14oz and was 19.5 inches long. She got a 9/10 on her first health exam.

She was the biggest of our three babies, but it still felt like we were holding blankets.

Later on that afternoon, we got put into a regular room and Paw Paw and Maw Maw Kelser, Paw Paw Riley, and Kelsey and Roland all came to see the new addition to their family. As soon as Roland walked in the door, he asked where the baby was. He and Kelsey have been so excited about her finally being here.

We were in the hospital for two days. During that time, a lot of family and friends from church came to see us.

Finally on September 2nd, it was time to go home. So we packed up all of our stuff and the newest Riley. We were at Baptist Desoto this time, which is only about 5 minutes from our house. This proved to be an excellent choice. The staff there was excellent and took care of Beverly and Amelia better than we could have hoped. And the drive home was not near as stressful as the times that we’ve brought the kids home from the hospitals that aren’t as close to our house.

Kelsey and Roland were so excited that their baby sister was finally home and they could get to look at her and hold her more. Roland also wanted to make sure Amelia had all the toys she would need.

Since we’ve brought Amelia home, life around the house has simply been awesome. We’ve had some family come by to visit and have just been holding her and watching her change every day. She had her first doctor visit and everything was good there.

And probably the most surprising, great, and stressful thing all at once – she sleeps A LOT!! The first few nights, she slept at least 4 hours between feedings. Now it’s more like 6 hours and at times she’s even gone 8 hours! This is truly surprising because Kelsey and Roland did not sleep that long until they were like 10 months old. It is great for obvious reasons. And it is stressful because we can’t help but wonder if something is wrong because she sleeps too much! We’ve gotten pretty used to it now though and have enjoyed the extra unexpected sleep that we are getting.

As I said at the beginning, these last few weeks have been so amazing. God has truly blessed us more than we deserve. We’ve been surrounded by some amazing people during this time and it has made everything so much easier for us. Family has come by and helped in many ways. Church friends are bringing us meals pretty much every day for the next couple of weeks. I’ll be going back to work this week, which of course will be stressful on all of us but will be made much easier by the support we have here.

A year ago, we were certain that we weren’t going to have another baby. Since that time, our hearts have changed so much. I said in January that God laughs when we try to make our own plans. Now we are laughing along with Him. How could we have ever missed out on this? We are so thankful that He has blessed us with the opportunity to be parents to our new, beautiful baby Amelia.

Family Update–August 2010

2010-08-10T18:53:00.001-05:00

We are getting pretty close to “D-Day” with our new baby girl (more on that in a bit), so I thought I would put together a quick update…

The winter was crazy cold around here, so I guess we should not be surprised that the summer has been crazy hot. We’ve been breaking some high temperature records this year. As a result of that and Bev being very pregnant, a lot of time is spent in the house.

The kids are making the best of it though. Here they are playing like they are super heroes.

Beverly got a sewing machine for her birthday this year. So she decided her first big project would be a blanket for the baby.

And I realize that it has not been officially announced on here, so I will do so now. The baby’s name is Amelia Sue.

Beverly has also spent a lot of time getting Amelia’s room ready. It is pretty much all set up with everything we need. Just need a baby girl to put in it.

And for an update on Sierra. In a few words – she is fine. We still can’t tell that anything is different with her, so it’s very possible that we got all the cancer when we had the lump removed from her lip. No guarantees of course. We are still enjoying her as much as we can. The kids seem to be developing more of a bond with her lately, so that’s been neat to see too.

Here is a picture of Bev at about 32 weeks pregnant.

And here she is the other day, at 36 weeks.

And the kids giving Amelia some kisses…

So yes, 36 weeks along. We went to the doctor today and Bev has dilated 2 centimeters and is 20% effaced. Since Kelsey and Roland were both a couple of weeks early, it is very possible that Amelia will be here in just two weeks!

Please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers over the next couple of weeks. Bev is taking it easy, but is very miserable. We can’t wait to show off the new member of our family soon!

Kelsey’s 6th Birthday

2010-07-12T19:47:00.001-05:00

We celebrated Kelsey’s 6th birthday last Saturday. She is still very much into pink, girly things and swimming so this year’s party was very similar to last year. This year the theme was Barbie and the Mermaid Tale, which is one of her favorite movies.

As you can see, even being very pregnant did not keep Beverly from being able to make an awesome cake.

And since Kelsey’s birthday is in July and she loves to swim, we of course had to do something with water...

..so we rented a huge water slide!

All of the kids had a blast. We played on the slide for quite a while and when most of the kids seemed to finally be getting tired, we went into the house and opened presents.

And then of course it was time for cake.

I know I say this every year, but our little girl is just growing up way too fast. We love watching her grow and learn new things.

The next year is going to be quite different for Kelsey. First grade will present a lot of new challenges, and having a new baby sister will be fun and challenging for her also. She has a great attitude about life though, so we know that she will handle it all in a way that makes us even more proud of her.

Family Update – May 2010

2010-05-31T19:12:00.001-05:00

As I said in the last couple of entries, things have been crazy busy around here the last few months. Things are starting to settle down a bit now. The last entry was focused on all the work we did getting our upstairs finished. This one will catch up on all of the other things that have gone on since the update I put together in February.

In that February update, I wrote about Sierra’s cancer diagnosis. Since then, nothing has really changed. She still acts like a normal dog. The last time went to the vet, they told us that it is possible that we removed the lump early enough to keep it from spreading. So we are hoping that’s the case but are still prepared for the worst. As a matter of fact, we have noticed a new lump on her neck that we fear could be around a lymph node, which is usually what the doctor checks for. We will be taking her back this week for another checkup. In the meantime, the kids are still enjoying days with Sierra as usual.

Easter was as fun and eventful as usual. The weather was rainy on the day of the Easter egg hunt at church, so they had it inside.

But it was another beautiful day for the annual get-together at Uncle Mike’s house. There were a ton of eggs all over the place and all the kids filled up their baskets.

We went down to Granny and Grandad Kesler’s house on Easter Sunday after church. Roland, Kelsey, and Isaac got to hunt some more eggs there. Easter and Halloween are always good times of the year for filling up my candy bowl at work. :)

I posted an update in April with some ultrasound pictures from when we found out the baby is a girl. Grand Paw Paw was in town that weekend so Beverly thought it would be fun to make a cake so that everyone here would find out the gender at the same time. So if the cake was pink, it was a girl. If blue, a boy. If multicolored, twins! Ok, I threw that last one in there. I don’t think Bev had considered the twin cake. :)

At the end of April, after the work on the upstairs was almost complete, we decided it was time for a vacation. We had kinda wanted to go to the beach, but just could not get that organized without knowing how things would go with the construction. So we decided to go to St Louis since it was closer and had a lot of things the kids would enjoy. We wanted to reward them for being so good over the last few months, so we made it as much a kid’s trip as possible.

Our first stop was Sikeston. We met uncle Mikey there and ate at Lamberts.

After that, it was on to St Louis and to our hotel. I think I’ve mentioned before that we could pretty much stay anywhere as long as the hotel has a pool, so that requirement was the first on our list. And as expected, we swam every day while we were in St Louis.

We went to the zoo the first full day we were there. The St Louis Zoo has free admission, but they do charge for a few of their exhibits and attractions. They treat visitors to some of those for free if they get their early enough. One of those attractions was the carousel.

The weather was perfect that day. And most of the animals were out and doing neat things.

One of the big surprises was that Uncle Joey and Uncle Mike were there. They didn’t even tell us they were coming! They didn’t want to have anything to do with Roland or Kelsey for some reason. :)

Paw Paw Riley was there too. He was just chilling out. :)

We had read beforehand that there was a Build A Bear at the zoo, so we surprised the kids with that toward the end of our time there. Kelsey made a panda bear and named her Allie Sallie. Roland made a penguin and named him Happy Feat.

They loved them and didn't even mind carrying them the rest of the way through the zoo.

Our hotel was across the street from a mall. And around the corner from the mall was a Chuck-E-Cheese. Well, if this was really going to be a kid’s trip, we would have to go there for sure. So after getting back from the zoo, we napped and then headed to Chuck-E-Cheese.

The next day we went to the St Louis City Museum. If’ you’ve never been there, it’s hard to put into words what it is. They have something for everyone there. A lot of it was geared toward kids that are older than Kelsey and Roland. Like this huge metal structure outside…

And as we found out and captured in the second picture, this slide…

…But we still found plenty of stuff for them to do.

They also had an aquarium in the museum. Roland surprised us all by not being afraid to put his hand down in a fish tank where the fish would suck on it, or pet a stingray, or even pet a snake! Kelsey wasn’t really in to much of that, but she still had a good time.

We had a great time on the trip. I think the kids felt special by the time it was over, which is exactly what we were hoping for.

Beverly’s birthday was yesterday. Earlier this month we decided to get her a sewing machine for her birthday. One of the first things she worked on was a pillow case dress for Kelsey.

Kelsey and Roland both got to be a part of programs at church this month. Kelsey finished her book in the Awana Sparks program and got an award…

…and Roland finished Mother’s Day Out and was part of a program for that

Another big purchase we made this month was a new playground for the kids. The one we got for Kelsey’s birthday a few years ago is definitely too little for her and Roland. So we decided to go with something that would last them a while and still hold up for their little sister and any other children we decide to have in the years to come.

This one is even big enough for the biggest kids in our family. (I’m not sure if it has any warnings for pregnant women. Maybe I should check on that.) :)

Speaking of pregnant women, Beverly is still doing great. She is 26 weeks along now and her belly is still growing. The baby moves around all the time, which is always a lot of fun. She’ll be in her third trimester in two weeks. Time is flying by! Here are the last couple of pictures we have taken of her. The second was from today.

This year so far has been quite a ride! Being so busy has made it go by very quickly. We are glad for things to be slowing down now though. Kelsey’s birthday is coming up in July and of course the baby will be here not too long after that. Hopefully I will be able to keep this blog up to date better through the rest of the year.

Moving On Up (stairs)

2010-05-09T20:56:00.004-05:00

(Quick note - We have a ton of pictures and things to share from the last few months. I decided to split it up into two blog entries. The second will hopefully follow within the next few days. But for now…)

Ever since we moved into our house almost three years ago, we’ve known that we eventually wanted to finish out the space we had upstairs. It’s something we had talked about quite a bit, but never really considered there to be any hurry to work on it. Well, when we decided to try to have another baby, all of a sudden finishing it out became a lot more important.

So we decided in January to get a loan and work through the process. We had no idea where to start, but Paw Paw Riley and Uncle Joey got some folks they knew in the construction business to come over and give us some ideas and quotes. One of the funny things during that process was that when some people came over, they thought we were just finishing out a “bonus” area. And when they looked at what we were doing, they realized that we were really just about adding a whole new house upstairs! Here is what it looked like in January, when we were using it mostly as an attic:

The space added up to right at 1,000 square feet.

We went back and forth over several designs of our own but nothing really seemed to fit well. Then a friend of Uncle Joey’s drew up a sketch for us that we fell in love with. It included 3 bedrooms, a “closet” (which we decided would be a craft room for Bev), a game room, and a bathroom. We never imagined that we could get 6 rooms upstairs (and still can’t believe we did)!

So in early March, after what seemed like a lifetime of getting people together to discuss the project and do some early prep work, the walls went up. Uncle Joey organized the Heating and A/C work, Paw Paw Riley got an electrician friend to work on the electric, and we called a plumber that was recommended by the guy who worked on the walls.

I’ll also mention that we did not stop with just working on the upstairs. While the walls were going up, we also decided to do some work on the back flower garden. A close friend of ours named Mike Kyle said he could help us make it look better, so we took him up on the offer. He also did a lot of work on the flooding issue we have in our front sidewalk, and helped us make the front flowerbed look nicer too. Here is me, Roland, and Mike working on the back garden.

Here is what that looks like now. We are very excited about it.

And back to the upstairs. After the rough-in work was done, it was time to hang the insulation. Paw Paw Riley said he knew two guys who could do it. Turns out those two guys were me and him. :) We worked our tails off over a weekend and were completely exhausted when it was done. About halfway through I made a point to thank Dad for sending me to college. :) But it ended up looking really good if I do say so myself.

After the insulation, the sheet rock was put up. And after that, it was time to paint. Paint was the part of the labor that we knew we would be doing mostly on our own. What we did not fully appreciate was how much paint it was going to be. I mean, we knew it would be a lot, but it turned out being…well words cannot describe. I’ll just say that we still have things to paint. It was a ridiculous amount of painting. Walls, doors, door trim, floor trim, window trim. And several coats on each. Maybe some pictures will help get the point across…

Oh, this was FINALLY something the kids could help with. Up to this point, we had been doing our best to get them to stay out of the upstairs, so they were excited to get to do something. Note that Roland is not wearing pants. That's the new normal for him. :)

I rolled a coat over all the walls while Beverly mostly worked on the trim work around the ceiling. We got one coat done over a weekend and then a second coat throughout the next week. After that, the finish work was done on the electrical and plumbing, and “Uncle” Jon started working on the floors. We still had trim to paint though.

And that pretty much finished the project. Jon did an awesome job getting the floors and trim done for us. And we had some built in cabinets made by Aunt BJ’s uncle. Finally it was time to clean up and some minor finishing touches. Another thing the kids loved helping with.

As I mentioned we still have a little bit more painting to do. I repainted some walls today and we have to paint a couple of doors and closet shelves. We will get to it....eventually. :) It has not stopped us from moving stuff in. As a matter of fact, the kids started sleeping upstairs two nights ago. Anyway, here are some pictures of the (mostly) finished new addition to our house.

This is one bedroom, which we are using as an office\home-school room

This is the craft room.

This is the game room.

Looking down the hallway into Kelsey’s room

Kelsey’s room

And Roland’s room

And here are the kids enjoying their new space

So now the main thing we have to work on is the afore-mentioned painting and organizing and cleaning up some areas downstairs. And finally Bev can start working on the nursery, which she has been dying to do for a while now.

I have to close by spending a moment expressing our gratitude to Paw Paw Riley. He is really the one who did most of the organizing and planning on this project and we leaned on him heavily. Without him, there is no way this would have gotten done by now at the amazing cost savings that we realized. It’s been a wild ride, but being able to go through it with him has been an unexpected benefit. I think he and I spoke just about every day for the last 2 months or so, and we’ve spent more time together through this time than we probably have in the last couple of years. Dad, we cannot ever thank you enough. You’ve been amazing through this and I could not be more proud to call myself your son.

Ultrasound Pics – April 2010

2010-04-16T18:42:00.001-05:00

We’ve been really busy so I haven’t had a lot of time for updating this blog. I’ll try for a longer post within the next couple of weeks.

But I did want to send out our latest baby news. Beverly is about 20 weeks along now. She had an ultrasound last Thursday. For those who have not heard – It’s A Girl! Here are some of the pictures. The rest are a little…um…explicit….and that’s saying something considering they are ultrasound pics! So I decided it may not be the best idea to post them here. So imagine that it’s a girl and you’ll get the idea. :)

Things are all going pretty well. They couldn’t get all of the pictures they wanted because the baby wasn’t cooperating so we’ll probably have another ultrasound in a few weeks. Most of what they were able to see looked normal though. Thanks to those that have been praying for us. More later as time allows…

February 2010 Update

2010-02-27T19:14:00.001-06:00

Just thought I would put together a pretty quick update on how things are in the Riley household lately…

So I’ll start with telling you about Bev and the baby. Both are doing great. They are 13 weeks along now. Beverly was feeling pretty rough for a good month or so starting in the middle of January and ending here recently. She hardly felt like eating or drinking anything and was tired all the time. She is doing much better now.

Here is the ultrasound picture they took at our first visit on January 14. Sorry to all the folks who hoped we would have twins(and you know who you are!). Unless they are doing some type of gymnastics exercise and one of them is super limber, it’s just one this time. :)

Bev has started to show quite a bit. Here is a picture of her from the end of January…

and here is one taken today (February 27),

I know I’m not going to get much sympathy from those of you who are crazy enough to live in places like Montana, but I have to say this winter has been BRUTAL. The temps have been much colder than normal this year. And we’ve gotten snow and sleet several times. The first time was just a little dusting in the middle of January, but the kids still wanted to see what they could get into.

The second major winter event came in early February and was a doozy (well by our standards anyway). We got about 6 inches.

This one we all took full advantage of. The kids rolled around in in it a bit and we made a snowman.

After that, Kelsey decided she’d had enough of the snow, but Roland, Sierra, and I went out to the back yard and threw snowballs at each other. Well, Sierra mostly tried to catch them. We had a blast.

Speaking of Sierra, we got a bit of bad news about her in early January. We took her to the vet because she had a lump on her bottom lip. As it turns out, she has a pretty rare form of skin cancer. The vet told us that this type of cancer spreads really quickly and that we should only expect her to be around another couple of months. She did present some chemotherapy options to us, but those were very expensive and have a very low success rate. She said even with the treatment, Sierra likely would not live through the year. Beverly and I are pretty sad about it and have told the kids. They don’t really understand what it all means yet. We told them that we are all going to treat Sierra really special while she is here and give her extra treats and attention. And that’s exactly what we’ve been doing.

Roland even reads Sierra some stories occasionally.

It’s going to be sad to see Sierra go, but it’s a blessing at the same time. As I mentioned, the kids are pretty young and don’t really understand the topic of death a whole lot right now. So hopefully it won’t affect them too much. Plus Sierra is 10 years old and has had a great life and we have enjoyed her companionship.

Enough with the sad stuff. Let’s close with more happy topics… :)

Bev has had a couple of opportunities to make some cakes. One was for a Super Bowl party…

And the other was for Jake’s 6th birthday party. He wanted to have a GI Joe party. Beverly got a airbrush kit with some of her Christmas money, so this was her first time to make a cake using that.

She wanted to make it a camouflage design. She first make a practice cake to make sure that everything looked ok…

And here was Jake’s cake. As you can see, it turned out awesome.

I’ll leave you with a few pics of us hanging around the house. Like I said, it’s been so cold outside that the kids have been cooped up in the house quite a bit. So they’ve had to hang out with mom and dad and snuggle us. Poor, pitiful us. :) I guess there is at least something positive we can say about the cold weather (other than that it is almost over!)

A Positive!! New Year

2010-01-01T08:35:00.001-06:00

Yes, two lines means positive. Beverly and I are excited to announce that we are having another baby!

This is truly something that God has done in our lives. Just a few months ago, we were pretty certain that we did not want to have any more kids. And we had discussed options for permanent birth control, which we were planning to have done this year. But then God started changing our hearts. And all of a sudden we really wanted to have more kids. This just goes to show how God laughs when we make our own plans. :)

This test picture was taken today, so obviously it is very early. I will try to keep this blog updated as things progress. Please keep our family in your prayers.

And Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas 2009

2009-12-26T17:08:00.004-06:00

Let me start by saying that this one is very long (72 pictures and 2 videos!). So if you need to use the bathroom or get some coffee, do so now. :)

As is our tradition, we put up the tree and decorations on the day after Thanksgiving. Last year, we bought some new yard decorations after Christmas. So we got to put them up for the first time this year. We had some big ornaments and a Tigger inflatable. The kids love helping us set up the yard.

Maw Maw and Paw Paw Kesler usually join us to help with the tree. This year, we had extra help. Uncle Mikey, Paw Paw Riley, and GiGi were all in town. We made record time this year.

Paw Paw Riley crawled under the tree with me. Both of us needed help getting out. :)

Kelsey helped a lot with the ornaments. Roland, not so much. After he got his Mickey ornaments, he played with them the rest of the time. :)

We tried setting out the nativity this year. It didn’t last long. We were too worried it would break. As this picture shows, the kids had their own ideas about the way the sacred event went down. Apparently princesses and tools were part of it too. :)

Many of you hopefully got our Christmas card this year. If you did not, we’re sorry. We never seem to order enough to go around. Next year, we will make a better list. Counting in our head just never works. We were running a little bit late getting everything ready for it too. On the day we took it, I asked Roland to help me line the camera up, as we set it on a timer. I guess he helped. You decide. :)

I thought Kelsey might help some too. She did somewhat better.

And here’s the final picture that went out.

Kelsey was part of a Christmas play at church this year. She was a “shaggy, smelly sheep” (more on that in a minute). She did an awesome job and had a great time.

Here is a video of one of the songs. This is the “Shaggy Smelly Sheep” song I referred to earlier…

On Christmas Eve, we opened the stockings according to another of our traditions.

And finally, it was time to put the kids to bed so that Santa’s helpers could help set the presents out. It didn’t seem like it would be too bad this year…

..but as it turns out, the scooters had about a million and one pieces. And Bevery and I aren’t exactly what you might call, “handy”. So it took us a little while. :)

But we finally got everything together and set out. Ready for the big day.

Oh, I should explain this one. Since we ask the grandparents to come over and be a part of our Christmas morning, we have to tell the kids to stay in their room if they wake up before everyone is here. (Don’t worry, we don’t make them wait long. We asked everyone to be here by 6:30. Yes, that’s A.M. and yes, our kids usually wake up before that.) So anyway, we had to block off the hallway just in case they woke up early and decided they wanted to take a look.

Finally, the day arrived. As you saw, each of them got a scooter. Kelsey asked for a Leapster 2 and Roland asked for pretty much anything with Toy Story in it.

After they looked at the things we set out, it was time to open the presents. This is such a great time with family. The same ones that helped us put the tree together were in town for Christmas too. Everyone is there to enjoy watching the kids and they are never disappointed.

After we had all worked up enough of an appetite, I played the role of Waffle House chef and we had some breakfast.

The rest of the day, the kids got to play with their new toys.

That night, we went over to Mike and Dee Dee’s house for the annual Christmas gathering there.

So yeah, yet another awesome Christmas this year. We can’t think of a better way to enjoy this holiday than with our little ones. I’ll leave you with some video of Christmas morning. We hope you all had a great Christmas and that you have a great new year.

Roland’s 4th Birthday

2009-12-19T08:47:00.002-06:00

Yeah, that’s right. Roland is already four. Well, not quite yet. But we had his party early this year as we usually do since his birthday is so close to Christmas.

This year, Roland wanted to have a Mickey Mouse party. I’m sure that does not surprise anyone. :) Bev made the cake again this year, and, as expected, she did an awesome job.

We fixed chicken spaghetti for dinner and pretty much just hung out and let the kids play.

Roland was all smiles all day long. He had such a hard time waiting all day for his party. A big reason it was so tough on him was because he REALLY wanted the Mickey car that Bev put on the cake.

So after he blew out the candle, the first thing he asked was if he could have the car. He didn’t even want to eat cake!

As a matter of fact, the only thing that got him away from the car was the other presents he got to open.

After everything was open, we hung out a little bit more while the kids (and Uncle Joey) played with the new toys.

Roland has grown so much this year. He weighs more than Kelsey and is almost as tall as her. He’s been learning a lot in Mother’s Day Out and at home with the materials that Bev goes through with him while Kelsey does her school work. Next year, he will be homeschooled also. He’s definitely not a baby any more, which is difficult for Bev and I to remember sometimes. He’s growing up to be a really great kid and we are so proud of him.

I’ll leave you with video of Roland blowing out his birthday candle and grabbing the Mickey car. Hope you enjoy. Look for a blog post about Christmas soon!

Family Update – November 2009

2009-11-07T10:47:00.002-06:00

Wow, time really flies. I can’t believe my last blog update was in July. And that the holidays and Roland’s birthday are right around the corner. So it’s definitely time to catch up…

Soon after Kesley’s birthday, Beverly decided to get a head start on homeschooling. Kelsey is doing great with it. She amazes us on how fast she picks up on some things. Roland has his own school book too.

Roland is also going to Mother’s Day Out at our church this year.

Beverly has had several opportunities to work on her cake making skills. We also put together a website for her (www.cakedaze.com).

Thank You cake for one of her dad’s doctors.

16th birthday party cake. The birthday boy liked xbox and was getting his driver's license.

Birthday cake for Dee Dee and BJ (both have a birthday in August) that Bev made for them when they were all coming to our house for dinner one night.

Bev taught a cake-decorating class to a couple of friends. One of them got an order for a wedding cake soon after and asked Bev to help.

And here is the groom’s cake.

The kids got to have fun and make their own cake a couple of weeks ago.

Bev made this one for a women’s meeting at church.

And this was the first order off of her website.

On Labor Day weekend, we went up to Sikeston for a mini-vacation with the kids and to visit Uncle Mike who lives close in Poplar Bluff. Pretty much all the kids want to know is if the hotel has a swimming pool. This one did, so they were happy.

We asked Kelsey to get a picture of us. This is her attempt at it. Not bad!

We ate at Lamberts while we were in Sikeston. The kids loved the playground outside and ate great once we were inside.

Kelsey is in Awana at church again this year. Each week, she is memorizing two or three Bible verses. Some weeks, they have a theme night. This was nerd night.

The Memphis Zoo opened up a new exhibit in October that includes some new grizzly bears. They had a “breakfast with Yogi” on opening day so we took the kids since they love Yogi bear.

Beverly and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary in October. She spent many long hours working on this gift for me. It is a quilt with t-shirts that we have collected over the last 10 years. She did an awesome job and it is something we will be able to show off for many years to come.

For our anniversary, we rented a Mercedes (forgot to take pictures) and drove down to Destin for a few days. This was the longest we had ever been away from the kids, so we were pretty nervous about it. The week went great for us and for the kids though.

We stayed at the Hilton Sandestin right on the beach. Our room had a nice living area and a balcony.

We had great weather the entire week. And the beach was not crowded at all. It was the perfect time to be there.

They had a Starbucks in the resort so we took advantage of that every morning.

We spent a lot of time hanging out by the pool soaking in the sun and reading books. We felt very refreshed by the time we came home.

For Halloween, Roland dressed up as Scooby Doo and Kelsey dressed up as Rosetta the fairy.

We went over to Uncle Joey’s house for Trick-or-Treat with family and friends. This year the weather was actually pretty nice and we were able to get an early start since Halloween was on Saturday. The kids were tired of trick-or-treating before the parents were begging them to stop. :) There still came home with a ton of candy though.

And as I've tried to do in my recent blog updates, I'll leave you with a video. This shows Kelsey learning some math and Roland showing some of what he's learned while listening to Kelsey recite her bible verses for Awana.

Kelsey’s 5th Birthday

2009-07-26T09:14:00.001-05:00

It’s that time again. Another birthday for Kelsey. She turned 5 on July 8.

We decided since she was getting so big that it was time for her to graduate out of the toddler bed and into a big girl bed. We asked Uncle Mike to build it for her. It turned out awesome.

When we asked Kelsey what kind of party she wanted she said, “A heart swimming party”. So we decided we would set out the kiddie pool and some slip-n-slides for the kids. Decorating was easy – basically make everything as girly as possible. :)

Bev made her first “topsey-turvey” cake for the party and decorated it with hearts to go along with Kelsey’s theme. As you can see, it looked almost too good to eat.

Dressing up for the party was easy. Just a bathing suit and a tiarra.

Roland got Kelsey some flowers. He loves giving presents so this really made both of them happy.

Finally it was time for the party. A lot of family came over. Paw Paw Riley made some awesome Barbeque and everyone relaxed while the kids played outside.

Once the kids and food were wore out, it was time for presents. Kelsey got a lot of toys, clothes, and school supplies. So pretty much everything a 5 year old girl needs. :)

And finally, it was cake time. It may have looked too good to eat, but we managed to demolish it anyway.

I know, I say this every year around this time. I can’t believe how big my kids are getting. It really hit us hard this year. It just seems that turning five is a big milestone, since it means it’s time to start “real” school and everything.

Kelsey is maturing more and more as each day passes. She listens really well and says and does things that amaze us all the time. She loves to say big words and to point out letters and numbers on road signs when we pass by. God has blessed us with an amazing ~~little~~ girl.

June 2009 Update

2009-06-06T15:34:00.002-05:00

We’ve been a little bit busy since my last update. Mainly we are very glad the weather is finally warm again. It’s getting pretty close to Kelsey’s birthday, so I thought I would catch things up.

Roland gave us a bit of a scare a couple of months ago. He was running down the driveway after helping Bev check the mail and ended up running head first into our van’s door. He had a pretty big cut on his head.

But it wasn’t bleeding much so we just put some bandages on his head to keep him from messing with it as it healed up over the next couple of weeks. He still has a bit of a scar though.

Both kids are still a lot of fun and are doing new silly things just about every day. We never know what to expect from them next.

Both of them also like to help me pump gas. They get to take turns each time we go. I guess it would be nice to pump gas without having to care about the ever-increasing price. :)

Easter was much like last year. They did the egg hunt at church on a Saturday this year, so I got to go. There were a ton of kids. They had it organized well though.

On the Saturday before Easter, we went to Mike and Dee Dee’s for the annual egg hunt at their house.

We had great weather that day. Paw Paw got the kids some kites so we flew them for a while after the egg hunt.

And on Easter Sunday it was time for our egg hunt at home. Once again the weather was great and the kids had a lot of fun.

Bev has had several opportunities to make cakes. She has done an awesome job on all of them and everyone who has seen them has been impressed.

This one was for a baby shower at church.

This one was for a birthday party for a friend of ours who picked it up and then drove it three hours to the party. Which is why it is not stacked together in the below picture. If you want to see a picture of the entire thing after it was put together, you can find it on Bev’s Facebook profile.

This one was done for a baby shower for someone else at our church.

These two were done for her cousin David’s wedding. She planned for them for several months and spent the majority of the week before the wedding making them. It was a huge accomplishment for her.

And this one was done during a class she took on decorating with Fondant.

As I mentioned earlier, Bev has gotten some great comments on her cakes and has really enjoyed making them. She even put together and taught a class on how to decorate cakes for couple of our friends recently.

Grand Paw Paw came to visit in April. Dee Dee’s uncle Jake also came to town that weekend so we had a big get-together at our house. Several people there had never met but you would have never known it by the end of the night. It just felt like one big happy family, which we are of course.

We started Kelsey in Awana in February. Awana runs from September to May, so she got a very late start. However, she was still able to finish her book. Many weeks, she had to memorize three verses. She did awesome.

Here she is at the awards ceremony with the rest of her class. It’s pretty hard to see her in this picture. She is the really short one toward the middle of the line.

Kelsey also had her end of year recital for her gymnastics class a couple of weeks ago. She still really enjoys the class and has learned a lot.

They even let Roland participate that day and the next week. He had a blast.

Roland and I were in the wedding I mentioned above. Bev loved seeing us both in a tux.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this update, we are all really glad that the weather is warm again. So we have been trying to stay outside and enjoy it as much as possible. We bought some sprinklers and a slip and slide for the kids to play on. Sierra even gets in the middle of all the action too.

As a matter of fact, after I finish this update, we are going to be headed outside again to play on them again. So I guess it’s time to wrap it up. I’ll leave you with this video that shows our silly kids at their best…

And I’ll see you again in about a month with an entry about Kelsey’s birthday.

March 2009 Update

2009-03-27T21:10:00.002-05:00

It’s been a few months since my last update. Time to catch up…

Things aren’t quite as busy around our house during the winter season. Mostly we try to stay inside. Bev and I could really care less for the cold weather. It’s starting to rub off on the kids too. We actually got two good snows this winter. I think each time the kids stayed out for maybe 5 minutes and then were ready to come back in the house.

We are finally starting to get some warm weather. The kids enjoy that much more.

Roland and Kelsey are still changing all the time. Roland is losing a lot of his baby face.

He’s still a little character though. Here he is wearing Kelsey’s Minnie Mouse PJs.

And Kelsey is growing like a weed. She is in AWANA now at church and has to learn a couple of Bible verses a week. She is really good at it. She also is still in gymnastics.

Bev is still enjoying making and decorating cakes. She made one for our Super Bowl Party….

…and one for a get-together we had with our small group

Both were mostly to practice for a busy month she has in April. She’s been asked to make a wedding cake (and a groom’s cake) and a tiered red birthday cake.

On Valentine’s weekend, Playhouse Disney came to town. We had to go since the kids still talk about our Disney trip last year so much.

We have had a couple of chances to see family that we rarely get to see over the last couple of months. In January, Aunt Mary and Uncle Larry came up from Louisiana. Sorry about the lack of pictures Mary and Larry. Every one I had was at a bad angle or had someone yawning or had someone’s backside in the picture. :) We were really glad to get to see y’all and hope to see you again soon.

In mid-March, we drove up to North Carolina to visit Gank, Mindy, and Aunt Beck. The trip was 16 hours each way. Yes, that’s right - 32 hours of driving with two kids under 5 years of age. We must have been out of our minds, right?

Actually, the kids did awesome. All I have to say is thank God for portable DVD players and minivans that can pretty much hold everything in our house. :)

We split the drive into two day each way. It pretty much rained the entire way up there. Here is an example of the view we had…

The kids made the best of it though. At least they could pretend it was sunny with their sunglasses.

We made it up there with no problems though. We stayed at Aunt Beck’s house. Her house was great and she took care of us more than we could have expected or asked for.

Kelsey was just a few months old the last time we saw Uncle Gank and Aunt Min, so they had never met Roland. He latched on to Uncle Gank pretty quick.

And the kids found all the toys and made sure to spread them out good so they could make sure they didn’t forget about any of them. :)

Min showed Bev some tips on quilting. So I can see another hobby for Bev starting up real soon.

And I have to mention The Fox…aka The Wolf….aka Gank and Min’s 10 lb Pomeranian Zeus. As you know, we have an 80 pound Labrador. Even with that, the kids are pretty scared of most other dogs. Well, Roland was scared of Zeus pretty much the entire trip. One minute Roland was scared of the fox. The next he was scared of the wolf. He just would not accept that Zeus was a dog.

We had a great visit. Gank and Min took us to several places around North Carolina and Virginia and fed us great food every night.

Oh and if you are wondering why Gank didn’t get a picture with both kids. The day before we left, he was walking over to Aunt Beck’s house for breakfast and thinking about our wild youngins scared him so much that his leg muscles gave out on him. Min had to take him to the hospital and he was being wheeled around the house in an office chair the rest of the trip. So apparently 8 years in office can age a president by 20 years, and 3 days around our kids can age an uncle by 50 years. :)

(By the way, last I heard his leg was doing much better. I assume we would have gotten a bill if it got any worse. :))

Since the kids were so good on the trip (well, except for the crippling Gank part), we decided to take them to Build a Bear when we stopped in Knoxville for the night on the way home. Kelsey made a unicorn and named her Allie. Roland made a turtle and named him Urtle.

And I think this is the first time I’ve drank a Starbucks latte without bouncing off the walls.

I think this is right after the latte. Bev was happy that I was finally awake enough to stay in my lane. :)

Fortunately, the trip home was much clearer.

Here is a quick video from the trip up there as we went through the mountains. As you can see, traveling with our kids can easily be enough entertainment to pass the time by.

A couple more things to mention…

- As you can see, my blog address has changed to family.dannyrileyonline.com. If you have a bookmark for the old address, it will redirect here but you may want to change it anyway.

- Bev and I are both on Facebook. There is a link to my profile on the right of this blog. From there, you can find Bev easily also. If you are on Facebook, be sure to add us as friends.

The next few months will be pretty busy as things continue to warm up and several people in the family have birthdays. I’ll try to update more frequently during that time.

Merry Christmas 2008

2008-12-26T11:28:00.001-06:00

Well I’ll just start out by saying we had an awesome Christmas this year. That will be very obvious to you as you read through this super-sized blog entry. Hope you enjoy…

Last year, the kids loved looking at all of the inflatable yard decorations that have finally reached a price that allows more people to put them out. So we decided to get one this year. We went to the store and Roland fell in love with the penguin. Our tradition over the last few years has been to decorate the house on the day after Thanksgiving. This year, the penguin was the first thing we put together.

And then it was time for the tree. The kids were a really big help this year. That is, until we got the ornaments out. After that, Roland decided he’d rather play with them instead of putting them on the tree.

Oh, and Mommy had to take a quick break in the middle of decorating too.

The next day, Roland’s ornaments were in the hospital.

Later on, it was time to try to get the Christmas card pictures together. No less than 100 shots were taken to get the picture that most of you received in the mail. Here are a few that were taken along the way.

Somehow the coldest day of the year always manages to fall on parade day in Southaven. Oh well, that’s what they make coats for I suppose. Mike and Jake joined us this year. We completely filled up our bags with candy. More than Halloween even. In a fraction of the time. And we just stood there and waited for it to come to us! Next year, we may tell the kids that trick-or-treat is illegal. :)

We hosted the Christmas party for Bev’s family on the Saturday before Christmas. Unfortunately, several in the family had the stomach bug that’s been making the rounds. But we still had a great time and got to see some family that we rarely get to see.

I will also mention that we had the annual Christmas Eve get-together with more of Bev’s family. But they all hid from the camera every time I got it out. Um, which was none. Oops.

After we got home from that party, we opened up the stockings and mine and Bev’s presents – a tradition we started last year.

Sierra is such an easy kid to buy for. We got her a gift that basically said she has bad breath and she still loved it. :) After getting the kids to bed, it was time to set everything up for the big day. Has anyone else noticed how much more time the elves are spending on packaging lately? Pretty soon they are going to have to include instructions on how to open the packages.

And finally, it was time. The moment Bev and I had been waiting on since last Christmas. Paw Paw Riley and Maw Maw and Paw Paw Kesler came over early again to help us wake the kids up and watch them open their presents. It was so awesome that I had to put the video on YouTube. Here it is. If any of you have trouble viewing it here, try going to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSt6kE4JvKA

As always, time just flew by. Why is it that the moments you wish could last forever always do just the opposite?

Needless to say, the kids loved their presents. They played with their new toys all day. Roland even said his Donald Duck toy was his best toy ever. After a few hours of playing hard, we were watching one of their new movies and Roland tuned to Bev and said, “Thanks for all my presents Mommy”. So yeah, there might have been a few tissues used on Christmas day. :)

When it was time to try to find a place for all the toys in the kids’ rooms, Roland started crying all of a sudden. When I asked him what was wrong, he said, “I want it to look like Christmas”. So here is our best attempt at that.

Kelsey was all about being a princess all day long.

We thought that nap time would be impossible. It ended up going just fine. Here is why…

After naps, it was time to go over to the Brinkmans. More food. More presents. More fun. Are we sure Christmas can only come once a year? :)

So as I said above, Christmas this year was awesome. The kids are at that perfect age for moments such as these. Beverly and I have talked a lot about how we wish they didn’t have to grow up so fast. We are holding on to these memories in every way possible. God has truly blessed us more than we could ever express.

We hope all of you had a great Christmas and that you have a happy new year.

Roland’s Third Birthday

2008-12-20T10:33:00.001-06:00

I’m sure it will be as hard for some of you to believe that Roland is three already as it is for us. But it’s true. He officially turns three on the 23rd. As in previous years, we scheduled his party a couple of weeks early since everyone is so busy as it gets closer to Christmas.

Roland is into everything Disney this year, so he decided he wanted a Cars party.

You may recall from my last blog entry that Beverly took some cake decorating lessons earlier this year. She made Roland’s birthday cake. As you can see, she did an awesome job.

We had a full house this year. Roland’s favorite food is “sketti” so we made a big pot of it.

He was all smiles all day long. He even helped sing his own Happy Birthday To You song.

And of course, he had a great time opening his presents.

Our big present for him this year was a Car bed. Beverly and I put it together earlier that day. It was good that we did because it had at least a thousand stickers. :) But as you can see here, it was pretty darn big when we brought it into the house. So we ended up having to take it apart again to get it into his room.

The car does take up quite a bit of space in Roland’s room also. But it has a lot of room around the mattress for toys so he can put his toys around it and play in it during the day.

I’ve mentioned before that we put together a slideshow on the TV for the kids’ birthdays. Roland’s slideshow had over 400 pictures in it this year. The show took at least 20 minutes to cycle through completely, but the memories within them will last us forever. He is such an amazing little boy and we are so blessed to have him in our lives.

Family Update - November 2008

2008-11-01T10:59:00.001-05:00

I know it’s been a while since my last update so this blog may be a little bit longer than some of the others. We’ve had a lot of fun over the last few months. The kids continue to grow and do new things every day, and overall we are just really enjoying life right now.

Even though we cannot fathom the idea that one of our kids would get taken from us, we know that it is a good idea to keep recent pictures of them in case it does happen. Beverly took some “ID photos” a couple of months ago. As is pretty evident in my previous entries, getting kids to stand still and smile is always difficult. But they did pretty good this time.

Kelsey and Roland continue to grow closer every day, both physically and emotionally. Roland now weighs more than Kelsey, but is slightly shorter. And they both make comments about how the other is their best friend. During times when one of them is away somewhere, the other doesn’t really know what to do. They have really formed a close bond.

Roland started “school” (the Mother’s Day Out program at our church) in August. He was in the program last year, but they didn’t really do much more than babysit because of his age. This year, he is in the same program Kelsey was in the previous two years where they learn their letters, number, and colors. He seems to enjoy it and it’s been good for him to be around other kids.

Beverly has started homeschooling Kelsey. Kelsey loves it. We have learned that the curriculum for the program we chose isn’t all that great so far, so we’ll be likely looking for something else next year. But overall, Kelsey pays attention well and is learning quickly, which is really the main goal we wanted to achieve for pre-kindergarten.

Kelsey also goes to a Dance\Gymnastics class every Friday. She loves to dance and sing, so we thought this would be perfect for her and that it would give her a good chance to interact with other kids.

Beverly continues to work hard at losing weight and it has been an overwhelming success. She has lost over 70 pounds since Roland was born. About 30 pounds of that has been this year alone. She looks great and feels great too.

As for me, well I guess I can say that I’ve lost a little bit of weight and a lot more hair. :)

Beverly took some cake decorating classes a couple of months ago. She had a good time with the practice cakes…

…and has already had a chance t0 make a cake for her dad’s birthday party…

…and BJ’s baby shower.

Last month, we went to Sesame Street Live. Paw Paw Riley joined us, as did Dee Dee, Jake, and their neighbor Tanner.

We also went camping with Paw Paw Riley that weekend. Paw Paw was able to get us a camping spot right by the playground. The weather was perfect.

After such a big weekend, the kids were wiped out as expected.

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. Our church had a “trunk or treat” a few days before Halloween. Bev decorated the van in a 50s diner theme. And the kids got a lot of candy.

Kelsey dressed up as a princess for Halloween. We thought the dress we bought her at Disney was pretty expensive, but between wearing it there, on her birthday, and for Halloween, we’ve gotten way more than our money’s worth out of it.

And Roland was even easy on our wallets this year by choosing to wear the same Cat In the Hat costume that Kelsey wore last year.

We went to a Fall Festival at a local church early in the evening with Mike, Dee Dee, and Jake. They had a lot of games. And again, the kids got a lot of candy.

After that, we went over to Joey and BJ’s house for Trick-or-Treat-ing. Caitlyn’s friend Ryan joined us, as did his parents, Caitlyn’s grandparents, and Paw Paw Riley and Kay. Paw Paw Riley brought a 4-wheeler and a trailer and drove us around the neighborhood. That proved to be a great way to Trick or Treat. And once again, the kids got a lot of candy.

So as you can see, things have been really busy and really fun for us over the last few months. And of course, the fun will continue with Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner!

Kelsey's Fourth Birthday

2008-07-13T13:55:00.001-05:00

We celebrated Kelsey's 4th birthday yesterday. As you may remember from our vacation a couple of months ago, she is pretty big into Princess stuff right now, so the choice of theme was easy this year.

She even got to wear her princess outfit and makeup.

We didn't leave Roland totally out of all of the fun though. He got a new Batman outfit to wear on the big party day.

We had a fairly small party this year. Caitlyn, Jake, and Caitlyn's friend Cadence came over to help us celebrate.Kook the clown even stopped by for the party. We have not seen her since Kelsey's first birthday, so we were glad she was able to make it. She made each kid several balloon toys and also painted their faces and arms. The kids loved it.

Next it was cake and presents time.

And finally, the big reveal of her present from Mom and Dad.

Jake and Caitlyn brought their cars over, so all the kids got to ride in the cove for a little while at the end of the party.

Everyone had a great time. Kelsey didn't have too much trouble at all getting used to driving the car. She didn't scare Roland at all. :)

One tradition we have kept going for the kids' birthdays is to put together a photo slide-show and display it on the TV during the party. Looking through Kelsey's collage was bitter-sweet. It's so great that she is growing and has learned so much and that she is such a good little girl. But it is sad to think that she is already four years old. It's so amazing how fast time goes by.

Disney Vacation 2008

2008-05-10T09:44:00.001-05:00

We scheduled our Disney vacation way back in September last year. So as you can imagine, we thought the day we would go would never get here. Well, it finally got here. We left for Orlando on Sunday and got home on Thursday.

This was the first time the kids have been on an airplane. They did great! I don't think they would have even noticed the plane was lifting off or landing if we did not tell them. We hit a little bit of turbulence on the way home which scared Roland to the point that he wanted to hold my hand. Other than that, all went really well.

There are so many stories from the trip. Way too much for this blog post. So I'll try to summarize some of the main themes and events...

Dining

We bought the dining plan along with our trip. I'd compare it to buying an "all inclusive" package or going on a cruise. Meaning you get a ton more food than you can imagine. Each "meal" included an appetizer, main course and side dish, and a desert. The portions were huge. The kids loved it though, because they figured out really quickly (like after the first meal) that desert came with every meal and that Mom and Dad weren't making a big deal out of kids eating all of their food. Combine those two facts and you end up with kids who eat a lot of junk. Another big part of eating for the kids was that pretty much every restaurant gave them crayons to color with, so they were never bored.

One of the most special meals was the one after Kelsey's trip to the boutique (more on that soon). It was in Cinderalla's Castle. All of the princesses came out and visited us (and more on that soon als0).

Another special meal was at the Sci-Fi theater. We ate in a car and watched various clips from movies on a big screen in front of us.

Meeting the Disney characters

One of the main reasons we wanted to bring the kids at the age they are now is so that they would recognize and care about seeing all the Disney characters. One way that Disney World makes this special is by placing the characters at various places around the parks and having them sign autograph books. The lines for these were typically longer than the lines to rides. And of course, the kids were scared of the characters. But we got some great pictures anyway and the kids forgot about being scared as soon as they walked away, so their memories will likely be more of meeting them and getting their book signed. We waited in line for one character at a time for the first couple of days and then found a spot at Epcot where several of them were in one room.

And, as mentioned above, several of the princesses showed up at our lunch in Cinderella's Castle. Both kids were so excited about that. Roland got several hugs and a kiss on the cheek by Belle, which explains the big smiles on his face.

Princess Kelsey

On Monday, we had a reservation for Kelsey to be turned into a princess at the Bippidi Boppidi Boutique. She decided she wanted to be Sleeping Beauty since everything was pink. They dolled her up big time by fixing her hair, putting make-up on her, and painting her nails. And she got a new dress, shoes, crown, and scepter. She loved every minute of it. And I think Beverly may have had an even bigger time watching!

She even had her very own paparazzi moment. :)

Kelsey wore her dress and crown on the last day for the trip home. She got a lot of comments, which made her feel really special.

Strollers

I have to mention the strollers. Thank God for whoever makes strollers for Disney. They were like not pushing anything at all. And when you walk a hundred miles a day with two small kids, you really appreciate a good stroller. The kids enjoyed them too. So much that they never wanted to walk. But at least they would take naps in them in between stops.

Parades and Shows

We saw several parades during our trip. The first parade was at night at the Magic Kingdom on the day we arrived. A ton of lights and very unique. The kids enjoyed it, but it started at 9:00 so they were quite tired.

The other parades were during the hottest part of the day. I don't know how all the people involved handled it as well as they did. We were completely exhausted just watching them. They were all great though.

We saw a lot of shows on the trip also. Went on a few rides too, but mostly shows. The kids' favorite was the Playhouse Disney show. This is probably because they watch Playhouse Disney a lot, so they recognized the characters and the stories very well. Plus it was very interactive with singing and dancing.

Buzz and Woody at our hotel

We stayed at the All Star Movie resort. We were on the Mighty Ducks end. On the complete opposite end was the Toy Story section. The kids thought that was the coolest thing ever, so we spent a lot of time over there.

Family Time

The most important and special part of the trip was how much time we spent together as a family. There were a lot of really special moments. And a few stressful ones too. Beverly and I think this trip really made us closer as a family. The kids slept in the same bed for the first time and also were introduced to a lot of new things together. Through the long walks for me and Bev and the long rides in strollers under the hot sun for the kids, we had no choice but to depend on each other and compromise what we may have wanted to accommodate someone wanting to do something else. Whether it was stopping so the kids could get a 30 minute nap or asking the kids to walk a while as we waited in a line or made our way to our bus, we all had a major role in making the trip special. And that it definitely was.

As I said earlier, there is so much more that could be said about our trip to Mickey's house. I uploaded a lot more photos than what I have posted here. You can see them by clicking on this link...

http://picasaweb.google.com/danny.riley/DisneyWorld2008

Also, Disney World has a "Photo Pass" site for pictures that their staff takes of visitors. You can see our pictures at this link...

http://www.disneyphotopass.com/photoshareviewer.aspx?share=b9368563-6f05-4520-b8dc-7542e38d820b

Happy Easter 2008

2008-03-28T19:20:00.001-05:00

This year Easter was a lot like last year. Lots of Easter egg hunts. The first was at our church. Bev. Maw Maw, and the kids went to that and had a picnic afterwards.

The big family shindig was on the Saturday before Easter. We had it at Uncle Mike's house. The weather was a little chilly, but with lots of sun.

I think we had about 100 egg hunts that day. As you can see, getting pictures of all the kids proved as difficult as usual.

Especially the big kid in the back of this picture. He was a handful. :)

During the downtime between hunts, Roland decided he needed to be taxied around so he could plan his route for the next hunt.

On Sunday, we went to church and then to a matinee of Horton Hears a Who. After naps, it was time for the kids to open their Easter baskets. Kelsey got a princess outfit and Roland got a new movie. And of course, each got a ton of candy.

And then it was time for the last hunt. This one proved the most difficult of all though, since Sierra decided to lay some smelly brown "eggs" of her own in the backyard. So it was a mixture obstacle course and Easter egg hunt all in one. :)

And finally, Roland decided he wanted to dress up....

...like Uncle Joey! ...

Sorry Joey, that joke was going to be about Uncle Mike, but I ain't gonna pick on him too much since he has started a family photo blog of his own. For any who haven't seen it yet, here is a link.

http://brinkmanfamily.blogspot.com/

Family Update

2008-03-09T16:10:00.001-05:00

A friend sent me an email the other day to tell me that she had looked at this blog recently and was amazed at how big the kids are. It reminded me that I've been needing to work on an update for a while. So I took a few minutes today and got some pictures together...

Since Christmas, things have been pretty busy around here. On New Year's Eve, we went over to Joey and BJ's house. Their neighbor puts together a show in his front yard with a ball much like the one at Time's Square. So we went over and played some games while the kids all played in Caitlyn's playroom until midnight. Kelsey and Roland are early risers, and New Year's Day was no different. Both were up by 7:00.

Sierra has had a rough few months. For whatever reason, she licks her front paws constantly. To the point that they become infected. So we've had to get out the "lampshade" again. It seems that as soon as one paw heals well, she starts licking on the other one.

Kelsey impresses us daily with the things that she says and does. She is fully potty-trained now. She basically decided one day that she didn't want to wear her "paper panties" (pull-ups) any more. We told her if she could keep them dry all day and all night for a couple of days, then she could wear her "big girl panties" all she wanted. Sure enough, she kept her paper panties dry and we haven't hardly put them back on her since. It's funny how everyone told us not to worry about the potty training and that they'd be ready when they are ready. Of course, we still worried over it a little bit. And of course, Kelsey was ready when she was ready. :)

Beverly and I have decided that we are going to home school our kids, starting with Kelsey in pre-school this fall. She already teaches Kelsey quite a few things during the week and Kelsey picks right up on it. They are both very excited about home schooling on a more scheduled basis.

Kelsey also went to the Dentist for the first time. She did really good. She got a little bit scared at one point during the teeth-cleaning part of the visit and had to sit in Bev's lap. But overall we couldn't have been more proud of her.

Roland continues to grow and do new things all the time also. He is almost as big as Kelsey now. He is talking all the time and has started trying to potty some too. We no longer have him eating in his high chair, so we all sit around the table for dinner and "family time" as Kelsey calls it.

Roland has also decided that he doesn't like to wear clothes. We pretty much are only able to get him to wear clothes when we go out and when he goes to bed at night. Otherwise he says, "Me wanna run round naked."

Roland has also definitely started the "terrible twos". He basically has decided he doesn't have to listen to us until we spank him (am I allowed to say we do that in public?) or put him in time out. So, needless to say, it's been quite an adventure with him lately. He's learning his boundaries though.

He is a very active boy too. And very strong! One day he was climbing on our rocking chair (again, he's learning boundaries, not learned) and it fell over. Without missing a beat, he grabbed the chair and put it back upright. It amazed us.

Kelsey and Roland continue to develop a very strong bond. They are definitely best friends and Beverly and I are so happy about how well they get along. They have their moments of course, just like any other brother and sister. But when one of them is gone, the other doesn't know what to do.

We got our first good snow of the winter the other day. About five inches of it. It came in on a Friday afternoon and was melted off Saturday afternoon. Doesn't get any better than that. The kids loved it. We got out while it was coming down on Friday and then again on Saturday morning.

Of course, we get Roland to wear clothes and he decides to eat snow right off of their picnic table. Such a typical boy! :)

So as you can see, life in the Riley household is as fun as it can be. It's hard to believe that our kids are both so grown up and getting more independent every day. There are days when we can go for a couple of hours without being fussed at or demanded something by our kids. We actually almost miss it and worry about them.

Well, almost. :)

Merry Christmas 2007

2008-01-01T10:00:00.001-06:00

Beverly and I were very excited about Christmas this year because we knew the kids were both old enough to really get into it. And we were not disappointed.

As is the usual tradition, we put the tree up on the weekend after Thanksgiving. This was our first Christmas in our new house, and we looked forward to having more room for the tree. We decided to put it up in the foyer. Kelsey and Roland helped out a lot. We even put the train together this year (the first time since Kelsey was born).

Roland decided it was easier to throw ornaments in the tree instead of trying to hang them on branches.

Kelsey and Roland had their own little "Angel Tree " with several little ornaments that represented the nativity. Roland did figure out how to put ornaments on this one, but he had to show it who was boss first.

The weeks between setting the tree up and Christmas were exciting for the kids. Every time we left the house, Roland would say "San Caus" or "No Man" so we would remember that several people along the path of our trip had decorations in there yard and he wanted to see them. Kelsey learned the words to Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer and didn't bother to show us that she had done so until we were at a family get together on Christmas Eve. We were as surprised as the rest of the family was!

We also recorded just about every Christmas show that was ever made onto our DVR. The kids watched them pretty much all day every day. Also, Roland continued to forget that the ornaments were supposed to be left on the tree. Several ornaments made the ultimate sacrifice this Christmas. They will be missed. :)

Finally, Christmas Eve arrived. Beverly and I unboxed a few presents (you'd think the elves would do that) and got the house ready for the big day.

On Christmas day, MawMaw and PawPaw Kesler, PawPaw Riley, and Gigi came over at the crack of dawn so they could see the kids as they woke up and saw their presents. The timing was perfect. Roland had started to stir right as PawPaw Riley and Gigi got there.

The kids had a blast opening their presents. There were so many of them that they had a hard time taking it all in. Afterwards, our living room looked like Toys R Us.

That afternoon, the adults relaxed and read while the kids took a nap.

Oops, I may have gotten that last statement backwards. :)

On Christmas night, we went over to Uncle Mike's house for the traditional potluck dinner and the gift exchange for all the cousins.

As I said at the beginning of the post, we were very excited about Christmas this year and it was everything we hoped it would be. It's amazing to me how much more joyful the season can be when there are a lot of little ones to celebrate it with.

Kelsey and Roland still talk a lot about Christmas this year and ask when Santa Clause, snowman, the lights, and the presents will happen again. We tell them it will be a long time. It will probably seem like forever to them, but I know it will fly by for Beverly and me. It won't be long at all and I'll be sitting right here putting together next year's Christmas entry.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and wish you a happy 2008!

Roland's Second Birthday

2007-12-04T19:00:00.001-06:00

Roland's Birthday isn't until December 23, but, like last year, we decided to have his party early since December is typically really busy for everyone. We ended up having his party on December 1. Of course, Roland doesn't know any different at his age, and even if he did, I doubt he would complain about getting to have his party early.

On a shopping trip a few weeks ago, we went to the party decoration aisle and showed Roland the choices they had and asked him what he wanted for his party. He said, "Treks", which is Shrek in 1.9 year old language. :)

As you can see the cake barely survived the trip from the store to home to the fridge. But it still looked and tasted great.

The party was over lunch, and Bev cooked a Mexican feast. We had a lot of people and a lot of food.

Roland had a big time with presents. Every time I sat one down to get another one, he would climb out of my lap to look at it some more. I might also mention that I am enjoying the benefit of having a son who is now getting some toys that...um...older boys...can play with too. :)

I know I say this a lot, but I still can't believe how fast our kids are growing. It definitely doesn't seem like Roland should be two already. But at the same time, I can't imagine our lives without him.

Happy Halloween 2007

2007-11-03T09:46:00.001-05:00

Halloween this year was really busy. The kids got to dress up on Monday for school and then again on Wednesday morning for a Trunk or Treat at our church and of course again for Trick or Treat with the family. Kelsey knew what she wanted to dress up as for Halloween this year. Cat in the Hat. She watches the movie all the time. We found a pumpkin outfit for Roland that we thought would be perfect for him. And it was.

For trick or treat, we went over to Caitlyn's house for a pizza dinner and trick or treat afterwards. We had a pretty big crew this time around too. There were 8 kids and an assortment of parents and grandparents. (I won't attempt all of the names here because I don't want to get them wrong).

We all had a great time. Kelsey, Caitlyn, and Jake are getting more into it each year. They were able to keep up with walking pretty much the entire time and remembered to say "Trick or Treat" and "Thank You" really well.

One really nice thing for me is that our kids aren't quite old enough for some of the hard and really chewy candy, so I got to take most of it to work with me. Now I get the "Trick" part of "Trick or Treat"! :)