We spent part of our Christmas Eve baking cookies for Santa, and Riley loved every minute of it. As you know, she loves to be a help in the kitchen, so this was right up her alley. Thanks to our friends Ashley and Paul for the cute baker's set; she looked so cute all dressed up!

She lost attention after the cookies went in the oven, so no pics of the icing, sprinkles or final product! But, she was excited to put the plate of cookies out for Santa and it was one of the first things she checked on Christmas morning!

We've been extra busy around here these days with lots of holiday fun (making cookies, wrapping presents, visiting family) as well as lots of yucky colds. I've got a few posts in the making but can't seem to find the time to get them done. In the meanwhile, enjoy this beauty!


p.s. I am loving my new camera! You'll be seeing a lot of pictures here in the next few days.

Last night I was surprised by some of my closest friends and family - a 30th birthday party! And believe me, I was completely surprised! Josh, Riley and I had gone to Arlington for the weekend to have Christmas with family, and upon returning home Sunday, we went over to my parents' house for dinner. When my mom had mentioned on Friday (before leaving town) that we should just plan on eating at their house on Sunday night, I was like "oh good, I won't have to cook"! And really, we get together frequently on Sunday nights, so this was not out of the ordinary to me. Of course, having traveled in the car most of the day and getting very little sleep while out of town, I was not looking my best on Sunday night. My mom had told us to be at her house at 6:00, but by 5:00 I was ready to go b/c Riley was being very cranky and we needed a change of scenery. Josh was "busy" working on something and we managed to leave just before 6:00...little did I know that he was stalling me so we wouldn't arrive too early!


Thanks to everyone for making this such a great 30th birthday! I was hoping to just bypass the whole thing and move on to 2009, but I had such a great time that it made turning 30 not so bad.

We took Riley back to the doctor yesterday (I swear that place is starting to feel like a second home) and she is now on her THIRD round of antibiotics for the ear infection we've been fighting since October.

ENT specialist...here we come.

Despite all of the sickness she's been feeling, Riley is actually in good spirits. She's had a fun week at school with Christmas preparations and a party this afternoon, and she's been looking forward to a trip to Arlington this weekend to see her cousins. Let's hope this round of medicine knocks out the infection so we can have a healthy Christmas!

Just wanted to share some of the pictures that our photographer captured a few weeks ago. These are holiday photos, although her outfit isn't very "Christmassy". I never could find one that I loved, so we ended up with the "winter look"!

I know I'm biased, but isn't she cute?! These pictures capture both sides of our girl - her shy, delicate self as well as her bubbly and fun personality.

Another great moment captured on video! Here's Riley singing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Please excuse the background road noise; we were on our way to Arlington for Thanksgiving.

Can we say drama anyone? I think we've got a bit of a diva on our hands!

I was going through some pictures tonight and couldn't resist sharing! My mom took these pictures a couple of weeks ago, and I just had to laugh at how Riley was posing! I guess she has become an expert on "the stance" after having her school pictures taken about a month ago.

I warned you there may be an overload of videos! Here are some videos of the singing sensation in our house who also goes by the name Riley.


"Jesus Loves Me" & "Itsy, Bitsy Spider"

So I finally figured out how to upload videos from the video camera (yay me!), and wanted to share my first upload. Since we have been capturing lots of cute things Miss Riley has been doing lately on video, you'll probably be seeing more of these types of posts in the near future!

In this clip, Riley is playing with her new camera, saying "Smile guys" as she's taking the picture. You may not be able to hear it, but at the end when she's looking at the camera, she's saying "oh, that looks pretty"!

2008 has been a really tough year for us, and so many times lately I have found myself secretly saying "I can't wait for this year to be over and start afresh". However, today I have been finding myself thinking the opposite. I actually have so much to be grateful for, and Thanksgiving was the perfect reminder of that. Here are some of the things that have been on my mind today:

• Josh and Riley, who give me so much joy
• My sister for always being my biggest advocate
• Our family...we are truly blessed with such a great family.
• My amazing friends who continue to provide love and support, even though distance separates so many of us
• Red wine (seriously!)
• Good health

From our family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

Since Riley has recently begun a new fascination with Elmo and Sesame Street, we decided to brave the "Sesame Street Live - When Elmo Grows Up" concert that made its way to SA this weekend. We weren't really sure what we were getting into, but it turned out to be a fun outting for us! Riley did get a little restless about halfway through (total 90 minute program), but by the end, she was standing in the aisle, dancing and clapping!

All tuckered out after the show

As a follow-up to my post last night, here's what I heard at 6:52 this morning over the monitor:

"Mommy, come get me!"

I know it seems so simple, but that was a hugely satisfying moment knowing that she actually does listen! To back up a bit, last night after she took the plunge and I was rocking her, I told her that next times she wants to get out of bed, instead of jumping out she needs to call out for one of us to come get her.

And she actually listened!!

Of course she also made me laugh when I walked in her room and she was standing there in her crib with a huge grin on her face and said "I jumped!" like she was so proud.

After a horribly long day, we finally got Riley into bed at about 9:30 tonight. Just as I was sitting down on the couch, I hear it...THUMP.

Super woman decided to take the plunge and jumped out of her crib.

Thankfully she is okay, just shaken up.

Time to really get serious about that big girl bed.

Early Sunday morning, the guys got up and headed out for a day of fishing. Not long after that, Riley woke up (always wakes up extra early when we are out of town), and upon realizing that her daddy was not there, cried hysterically for her daddy (I mean sobbing), therefore waking up the rest of the house (Granny, Paige & Dalton). Since we were up bright and early, we had a yummy breakfast and headed over to Corpus for the Texas State Aquarium. Not a lot of great pics but here are a few:

And the sea crabs

Watching the dolphin show

And while we were dealing with cranky toddlers, here's what the guys were up to

Due to Hurricane Ike, our weekend at the beach was postponed to a couple of weekends ago. It was definitely worth the wait, though, because both kids had such a blast! Riley had all of the words down before we got there (beach, ocean, sand), although I'm not really sure she knew what she was getting into!

WARNING: LOTS OF PICTURES!

About to knock over Uncle Jeff's masterpiece