Happy Halloween!

We started our day of Halloween fun with a parade.  Our friends Katy, Tim and James live in Longmont, which is home to many fun holiday festitivies including a very cute Halloween Parade where costume clad families and kids parade down Main Street.  Since we didn't have anything quite so fun here in Arvada, we decided to join our friends up there.  Riley being a part of the celebration! 

James the Dinosaur got to ride his trike in the parade and later gave Riley a turn.  She absolutely loved the bike and did not want to leave it, so it's a good thing that Christmas is coming soon because I definitely see a trike in our future.

Miss Riley with her pumpkin creations. 

Painting the little pumpkins has been on of her favorite things to do lately

The little chicken and the rooster (aka Bella). 

It would not be Halloween if we did not attempt to dress-up/torture our kitty with costumes

Trick or Treat!

Free Range Chicken

For some Halloween Eve fun, Riley got to dress up for a costume party at her My Gym and bring along some of her best buddies, James, Alec, Audrina and their moms. 

Cute toddlers in costume

  Just a quick hug before we leave for the party!

Playing in the ball pit with Audrina

Singing the Hello Song with her buddy James

Watching puppets with Alec

4 little jumpers

Our little chicken demonstrating one of her newest skills, hanging all by herself

Riley must of worked up a big appetite running around her in costume because she managed to put away 3 slices of pizza, which is more than we have ever seen her eat of anything. Riley is so lucky to have a such a good little group of friends who all play so well together, she had so much fun!

Snow Day!

It's been feeling a bit more like winter than fall for the past couple of days.  We have had non-stop snow for past 48 hours and after being cooped up inside I decided it was time to bundle Riley up and plop her out on the patio for some fun in the snow! 

Getting all of the clothes on proved to be a bit of challenge and then keeping her on her feet with all of those clothes was even more challenging.  But once we got outside it was all worth it.  She loved every second of it!

"where did the snowball go?"

Later that night, she got to help her daddy clean our pumpkins for carving.  She was such a good helper!

"the seeds go there daddy"

18 Months!

Riley Roo is one and half!  We have seen such changes in our little Miss over the last 6 months...our baby is definitely not a baby anymore, she's a little girl.  She is a constant source of overwhelming joy in our lives and we love each new phase of her life. 

At 18 months, Riley is a smiling, happy little person with energy overflowing (more than she or I know what to do with most of the time).  Since we past her first birthday, Riley has gone from a baby crawling around to a toddler who now runs practically everywhere she goes.  She has also recently added climbing to her list of skills and has yet to find and obstacle that is too great for her (read: she doesn't back down easily from a challenge so we are constantly watching her as she can mount a chair at the speed of light).

While she has practically been trying to speak to us since birth, her vocabulary continues to amaze us.  She adds more and more words all the time and can now string two or three together in a sentence.  At this point, it probably easier to keep track of the words she can't say as that is probably a shorter list. She uses her words so clearly and correctly to communicate with everyone and everything around her and she even catches us by surprise with some of the things that she can identify. 

Her favorite songs that she likes us to sing are Itsy Bitsy Spider and Miss Mary Mack, she will tell us which one she wants and the other should always come after, she helps on the hand gestures.  .She has also started to sing her ABCs and while she can't quite get all the way through, we can see/hear her determination to go all the way.   We can hear her on the baby monitor practicing in the middle of the night as she is trying to fall back to sleep.

One of her favorite activities is still reading, but she has also started to like to draw and paint.  She gets everything all spread out and goes at like a little artist, it's a good thing that we have wood floors and that crayon wipes off pretty easy.   She has started to be very imaginative as well and loves to cook up things for us to eat from her kitchen..  She  also loves to socialize with her friends and delights in giving hugs and kisses.  She also loves to say "hi" to everyone we pass and "bye bye" with big smile and waves to anyone we see when we leave.  I love how engaging she is with those around her.

As for her physical growth, Riley is still petite growning at a pace that perfect for her.  We saw her doctor for her well baby visit today and her 18 month stats:
Weight - 19 lbs 0 oz, a little over the 3rd percentile
Height - 31.5 inches, 45th percentile
Head Circumfrence - 18 1/8 inches, 50th percentile

We are so lucky to be parents to this beatiful little girl and are so thankful for the blessing that she is.

Chattanooga

Last weekend we traveled to my Chattanooga Tennessee for my cousin Matt's wedding.  Tennessee was a first for not only Riley but Kris and I too so we were excited to get to explore a new state.

Being the expert flyer that she is now, Riley did really well on the plane and also in the car on the 2 hour drive from Nashville.  Lucky for all of us, there was lots of fun to be had once we got there.  Alot of our family made the trip too, so Riley was also excited to spend the weekend surrounded by Aunts, Uncles, cousins and Gigi and Popdaddy.  We spent the first day checking out their world renowned aquarium and Riley loved that all of the tanks were at eye level and she could get right up close. 

The wedding was really pretty and the reception was held at a very cool art gallery.  Riley had a great time daancing the night away in her party dress!

Riley and her cousin "Maddy"

On Sunday, we got to spend the day checking out some of the other Chattanooga attractions, including the longest pedestrian bridge, a sculpture park with a very cool carousel and a riverboat called the Delta Queen.

Riley's first carousel ride. 

She was not too sure about the whole thing, but it was an experience none the less

The Delta Queen was retired from operation about a year ago, but now it's a hotel.  What fun place that would to stay

Rocking on the Delta Queen

Checking out the view from the bridge, it was a long way down

Brrrr....mommy and Riley walking across the bridge.  It was really, really cold that day!

What a beautiful place to visit, we had a great time and we felt so lucky to get to be there for Matt and Ashley's wedding. 

Pumpkin Patch Playdate

Last week, Riley and I joined a few of our friends for a playdate that included a trip to the pumpkin patch.  Unfortunately, we had an early 1st snow this year which meant that alot of the pumpkins had frozen and were not in great shape to pick and take home. But all was not lost, because Riley had a great time running with her buddies amongst the big pumpkins and we got some cute pictures.

As you can tell, Riley loved huggin punkins!

Our attempt to capture the little ones as a group...complete failure

After we left the pumpkins, we headed to Katy and James' house in Longmont for lunch and some mini pumpkin painting.  So, we stripped down the little Picassos and let them have at it, Riley managed to get more paint on herself than the actual pumpkins...thank goodness for drop cloths.

Riley and her buddies