Kindergarten!!!

Today was Riley Roo's first day of school at Excel Academy !!! We now officially have a Kindergartner on our hands! 

Last night was Back to School night and we met Riley's teacher, Mrs. Maugh for the first time, got to check out her new classroom and drop off all of her school supplies.  Her classroom had a huge monkey outside the door with monkey themed named tags and Riley told me on the way home that while she liked it, she wished that she could be the flamingo class. I asked her which classroom had the flamingos and she told me there wasn't one, she was just hoping for flamingos.  Aside from that disappointment, she loved seeing her name tag by her spot at the table and was really happy to see that her friend Sadie from preschool is also in her class.

She is most excited about getting to be at school all day and especially happy that she gets to eat her lunch there.  The only thing that could make her any happier would be if she could also ride a school bus.  A couple of weeks ago, Riley and I had a special day out together to pick out her new backpack and school supplies.  She picked a purple backpack with horses on it and a purple lunch bag with birds.  Of course we had to contemplate all of the backpack choices over some ice cream too. 

Miss R has been looking forward to the start of school since pretty much the beginning of summer break, but since the beginning of August this Mama wasn't sure that I was ready for her big day.  I love that I have been able to stay home with my girls and it so hard for me to believe that my little sidekick for the past 5 years is now going to be spending so much time doing her own thing.  Piper is likely to need some sort of sibling support group too, as I'm not quite sure what she is going to do with her best friend to play with all day.  While we now that we are going to be a little sad to see our sissy off on her first day of school, I am also incredibly excited for her new journey!
 

Happy First Day of School Riley Roo!

Mountain Vacay!

In mid-July we headed to the mountains for a little staycation with some of our Oklahoma family.  We found a big house in Carbondale that would fit all of us and we loved that the location had plenty of activities to please everyone. There was whitewater rafting, golfing, hiking, picnicking, gondola rides, swimming in the hot springs and playing in freezing cold streams, roasting smores on the BBQ and just having fun with our family.  It was an awesome getaway!

 

 Riley was soooo excited to have her cousin Reese here and the two of them had so much fun together! 

  This is was the first time that we had gotten Piper and her cousin Nate together since they were just newborns and it was so cute to watch them together.

We took a ride up the gondola at Vail and did some hiking around at the top. 

                Blowing dandelions actually ends up being more like eating them in Piper's hands....

We were so close to Aspen that we did a girls day while the guys played golf.  Our first stop was Maroon Bells for a picnic and a hike.  Riley and Reese's favorite spot was anywhere near the freezing cold water.

 

Piper loves, loves, loves water, but this was a little bit too cold for her taste.

 

And then into Aspen for a little window shopping



 

 

 Bunky Ry and Pop got a chance to take Riley out for one of their favorite mountain activities...fishing!  It was just too bad that the fish weren't cooperating that day. 

On our last day, we stopped to hike up to Hanging Lake on the way back down to Denver.  It has been years since I have been up there and I so wanted to go back with my girls and Kris.  So I hauled myself and my giant belly up the mountain while Kris and Ryan took turns being Piper's Sherpa and Riley bounded up the hill like a mountain goat with no problems.  Despite the fact that the hike felt like it might kill me at times, the payoff at the end is the gorgeous lake.  I'm so glad that we did it!

 

Clearly, it was an exhausting day for Pipey too, this is how our tired little hiker looked when we got down off the trail.



We are so grateful for our family and the fun time that we get to share with them and we are especially thankful for cute cousins who have so much fun together!

Piper Update

Okay, so clearly I am not nearly as quick on my blog posts as I used to be and Miss P is very deserving of an 18 month update, but it has become such a work in progress that we have moved into more of an 18/19 month post.  Piper is in such a fun stage right now and there are so many things that I want to remember about her at 1 1/2...here are few of my favorite things.

• HUGE hugs....and by that I am talking about the kind of squeezes where she bear hugs you with her arms and legs.  None of us can get enough!
• The way that she says "yeah" or "no,no,no" when we ask her a question
• She's my little helper and loves to be given a job to do

• Puddle dances
• Almost anything makes a good hat

• Good morning greetings.... "Hi Sissy, hi sissy, hi sissy!"
• The way that she calls for Gigi and Pop that sounds more like a command.
• Her messiness 
• That she already has a preference when it comes to her clothes.
• The way that she kind of scurries when she walks
• Her bebo (belly button) is her comfort thing, she looses her mind over crushed ice and she loves her baby dolls
  
  

Piper is definitely enjoying summertime and her favorite thing to do is get soaking wet.  She is guaranteed to drench herself is she can find an unattended hose, puddle or even a cup of water.  We've been spending a lot of time getting wet in the pool too, and we can tell the Pipey is going to a fish just like Riley someday.  It's not a huge surprise that one of our little daredevil's favorite things to do is jump in from side, but she also getting pretty good at kicking, splashing a blowing bubbles.

She is still a climber and she and Roo together are trouble.  It's easy to see the way that she studies her big sis and then tries to imitate the things that she does.  Roo likes to jump the last five stairs and Piper will hop the last one.  As for climbing, there seems to be no obstacle that she is not willing conquer and she can pretty easily rearrange furniture and toys to help her in her efforts. 

Pipey has continued to get more independence as she grows, but she is still a little shy and definitely a mama's girl.  We started a creative playgroup at the Arvada Center this summer so that she might start to be more comfortable around kids her own age.  So far we have discovered that she loves arts and crafts, especially paint, but really dislikes being in a class full of toddlers.  Her teeniness makes it tough for kids to respect her personal space, they want to hug and kiss her and hold her or try to pick her up, which she absolutely can't stand and so she comes running back to me to rescue.  She does much better in less structured environments with other kids, like when we go to the park or the library, but the classroom setting definitely freaks her out.  It's a good thing that preschool is still a long way away.  For now, her favorite person to play with is her sissy.  They get each other perfectly!

I can't get enough of our little peanut and we all adore the sweet little girl that she is becoming.  She is an adventurous eater, who gives awesome snuggles, sleeps like a champ and makes the silliest/cutest expressions.  We love her so much!!!!!