Lots going on!

I realize I've posted a lot this month, but we've been busy!  This is Riley doing yoga.  She loves to do yoga (or O-ga as she says it), or rather, she loves to do this pose under me when I am doing it.  This is the downward facing dog pose.

Now raise your right leg into the air...

The beginning of the cobra pose.  This is so funny to watch.

Riley's mamaw and papaw (memaw and pepaw as she calls them) got her this super cute dress when they were up to visit.  We tried it on her when we got home and she did not want to take it off, so she got to wear it for the rest of the day.  Her favorite part was twirling and watching the skirt twirl too.

I love this sibling-love they have going on right now.  Jude loves to pat Riley and grab whatever part of her he can reach, which is usually her hair.  She doesn't seem to mind when he pulls on it.

She gets into the loving spirit by hugging him and kissing his head or cheek.  He doesn't seem to mind this either, and sometimes he even plants a sloppy kiss on her cheek too.

Valentine's Day

Woody out did himself for Valentine's Day this year.  My favorite book as a child was "Frazzle's Fantastic Day".  He found it on amazon.com (with my mom's help), and gave it to me for Valentine's Day.  Pretty sure he's never gonna top this one.  I don't usually cry at gifts, but I definitely cried like a little girl who's beloved puppy just returned home.  What a wonderful husband I have (quite the understatement).

Tooth #2

After what seems like weeks of a fussy baby replacing my sweet Jude, we have a second tooth!  I noticed it this morning after breakfast.  WOOO HOOO!  In all reality, he was super happy this morning which is a complete contrast to what he has been like for the past 10-14 days.  I knew something must be up, so I wasn't too surprised to feel that second tooth right next to the first one.  I am so grateful that my happy baby has made his return.

Snow-pocolypse

We thought we had a lot of snow, then we got 18 inches.  This is the iglook which had collapsed.  After even more time spent out there trying to create a new one, I reasoned with Woody to leave it alone.  He was spending hours out there everyday (probably to get out of the house) and the kids would be out there for maybe 15 minutes. Not worth it.  So farewell igloo.  Maybe next year you'll get more attention.

That dog house is over a foot off the ground.  The snow was up to Bruiser's chest, and he's a big dog!

And Woody wonders why this grill is getting old and rusty.

Snow trails made by Bruiser and Calli.

I am done with snow, really.

Snow-mageddon

When did I move to a snowglobe?  Last week, we got several inches of snow on a Tuesday morning and another several inches Friday.  Woody was out of school for 4 days last week!  CRAZY.  I am tired of the beautiful white stuff keeping me from leaving the house.  I am ready for spring, which the groundhog promised would come early this year.  Whatever groundhog.  The picture above is out our front door.  Yes, that is a car, stranded, in almost the middle of the road.  It stayed there for 36 hours.  Woody helped them pull it out of the rutt they were in.  After 45 minutes of shoveling, manuevering, and towing, they finally got it down the street to it's home. 

Woody spent several hours shoveling snow off of our driveway.  Since it was in a pile, why not make an igloo?  So he spent another few hours packing the snow down, hollowing it out, and making it a perfect winter fort to play in.  Riley was very excited about it, although this picture is more of a smirk than smile.What she lacks in verbalization, she more than makes up for in personality.

Inside the igloo.  She could completely stand up in it.  Oh, and this snowsuit is from last year.  It's a 12 month size, but this is what we had.  Luckily her boots covered the part of her legs that the suit didn't.

I love the "73B" address and flags.  For a guy, Woody has some great decorating skills.

By Friday morning, we HAD to get out of the house.  This was just above the state line in Missouri.  Notice the nice, cleared road?

And this would be just under the state line in Arkansas.  I see a bit of difference in the road maintenance between the two states.

Now that school is back in session (most of them anyway), we will get just back into the swing of things before another round of winter parcipitation comes through on Wednesday.  They are predicting 3-8 inches.  Will it end soon or did I wake up in a twilight zone state of winter that will never go away?

9 months

9 months old!

Although he isn't crawling yet, he is very interested in it.  He goes from sitting up, to leaning over and supporting himself with his hands.  His legs get stuck beneath him and he doesn't know how to bring them around yet, but he is getting there.  I'm trying to enjoy these last days of having a baby that will be right where I left him when I leave the room.  

 

Peek-a-boo!  His favorite game right now.  He starts with his hands above his face, then throws them down and yells.  So cute.

We have ventured into finger foods and he is loving every minute of it.  So far, he has eaten Cheerios, steamed carrots, sweet peas, avacadoes, and pears.

Playtime!!!

Who says the Cozy coup is just for one?  Riley sure doesn't think so.  Millie didn't seem to mind either.

We needed some play time between snows! 

Even the boys got into the action.  Woody put some beers in the igloo for he and Bryan to enjoy, then he got out his lantern.  I'm pretty sure it then became a grown-up fort/playhouse.

This is with no flash.  Bryan wasn't too sure about getting in there.  But Woody talked him into it, if only for a minute or two.

Jesus

We pray before dinner each night.  Riley puts her hands together, closes her eyes, then whispers "Jesus.  Amen."  Then she claps her hands.  Precious.

She and her daddy pray together every night when he tucks her into bed.  He tells me that while he is praying, she says "High chair.  Head down.  Eyes closed." while he is praying.  Words cannot describe how much I love this.

Fast Friends

Alex got Riley this super cool alpha-word toy for her birthday.  She loves to dance when it sings to her.  As I was cooking dinner a few nights ago, Riley was playing with it.  Jude was very interested in what she was doing, so I put him down next to her and he knew just what to do!

What a precious moment.  They played together like this for about 20 minutes!  This made cooking dinner so much fun for me, and them.  I'm so excited that they are actually playing together and not fighting (yet). Soaking it up.

Snow days

This amount of snow netted us 2 snow days.  Woody took most of the snow from the front yard to make this snowman.  But we would soon see much more snow than this...  We clothed him in a scarf, hat, sunglasses, and blueberries for a mouth (which either fell out or were eaten by an animal).  He lasted for about 5 days.  I went to check the mail on day 4, and his head was missing. At first I thought maybe he had been decapitated, but after further investigation, he melted enough for his head to roll off his body, down the yard, and into the ditch.  What an undignified way to go.

Even with snow covering the ground, Riley would not let us take off the swimsuit.  Don't worry, she only stood in the doorway long enough to snap the picture.

Life is a Highway

Riley's Nonna and Poppi got her this car for Christmas.  We opened gifts on Christmas Eve with them and got finished right before bath time.  She got into the car (which was not assembled and was only the red shell of the car) and cried when she was forced to go bathe.  While she was getting clean, her Poppi and Alex were putting her car together, so it was ready to drive after bathtime.  She was delighted!

So now, over a month later, she looks at her car and tells us that Alex and Poppi made her car.  "A-ex and Poppi build car."  What a smart little lady!  The other day we found these gloves in her toy box. Notice her fabulous driving form, ten-and-two, she means business.  A nice drive through the house just isn't complete without a purse and gloves.  Is she going to be a throw-back to the old southern ways?  By the way, tea time is at 4pm sharp.  Do not be late.  Only those dressed appropriately will be invited in.  We will be serving our latest version of tea with cream and sugar, as well as some tea cakes.  These staples have been provided by Riley's Mamaw and Papaw in the form of a precious tea set that we use everyday.

New Favorite foods

Blueberries, a trusted favorite, featured in this picture.  Our latest favorites are cherries, ground turkey with garlic mashed potatoes, and split pea stew.

Jude has been eating those baby puffs for a couple of weeks now.  This excites me so much because that means we are on our way to finger foods!!!!  I love watching him intently pick up a puff with his little hands, then try so hard to get it to his mouth.  He is getting so good at it, with rarely a miss!  I'm also happy about this because it means I will be spending less time in the kitchen cooking, pureeing, mixing, and mashing his food. Which results in less time cleaning the kitchen and more time playing with both kids.

Speaking of less kitchen time, I recently had the revelation that I could buy Jude's baby food rather than cook it.  I had a coupon, so I bought 5 jars of Gerber baby food.  I was so excited about this!  My master plan was to continue making some veggie and meat purees, but let Gerber do the other stuff.  This was going to free up lots of time for me and I was very excited when I started to feed Jude from the first jar. Who wouldn't love macaroni and cheese baby food?  I'll tell you who, Jude Ryan Woody.  He hated it.  He closed his lips so tight and turned his head every time the spoon was close to his face.  Drat!  My plan has been thrwarted by this food snob, or 'foodie' as I would rather call him, I have created.  Now, part of me was irritated that I must continue to make the food.  But a larger part of me thought this was sweet in a weird way.  Jude loves my cooking!  He must know that this is a labor of love and I would only do it for him (and Riley when she was this age), right?  This is a boy after my own heart. But I have more strategies up my sleeve....

Last night we had tilapia with steamed rice and steamed peas and carrots (so healthy, I was proud of us).  I put a few of each item on his tray and he ate every bit of it!!!  Oh my goodness.  Could this mean that there are about to be meals when he feeds himself the whole thing?  I think I might be creating a new master plan!