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

Riley's New Cousin!

The highlight of our trip to Oklahoma was getting to meet our newest family member, Reece Marion Foster.  My cousin and Riley's Godmother, Cydney and her husband Matt are the proud parents of this beautiful baby girl who was born on 9/30 at 9:30pm.  Riley, my mom and I were so excited that we were able to stay a few extra days to meet the adorable little Miss Reece. 

Riley adores her new cousin.

Riley liked to point out Reece's nose for us

Riley and my cousin Ali, Reeces aunt.

Oklahoma!

Wedding season is in full swing for the Nelson's this fall.  Starting with our Maine trip at the beginning of September we have 3 out of state weddings all within about 6 weeks, so Riley is definitely becoming a little frequent flyer.  This past week and a half we have been in Oklahoma for a close family friend's wedding and also got in some much needed time with family while we were down there. 

Riley and daddy at the rehearsal dinner. 

Dancing with mommy at the "party" (aka the wedding reception)

Riley had fun dancing with this little guy until some of his dance moves freaked her out and she decided to go solo....

We stayed with my Aunt Judi and Uncle John while were down there and Riley had so much fun checking out all of cool things around their house. 

She especially loved Judi's bear collection and took a little one out to play in the backyard

Mostly she just had a great time hanging out with all of her great Aunts and Uncles and her cousins She could even call all most of them by name, we were pretty impressed.

Hugs with Great Aunt Judi

Jordan taught her how to roast a marshmallow for smores, but we didn't actually let her eat any of it.

 

Before you go thinking that we are mean parents for making her miss out on dessert, she did get to have her very first sopapilla after polishing off a bowl of quacamole or "mole" as she calls it. She was a green sticky mess after that meal.

Our trip to Oklahoma would not have been complete without a visit to my mom's hometown and a stop at Tom's drug for the best Cherry Limeade.  Instead of a limeade, little Miss got to have her very first scoop of vanilla ice cream.  It's not that she's never been offered ice cream before, but usually the delicious treat is met with pursed lips and a turned up nose (she definitely didn't get that from me) however, on this day she simply couldn't resist and she loved every bite!

We also made a stop by Shaw park, the playground that was just down the street from where my granparent's used to live so that Riley could swing and test out the merry-go-round

We capped off our trip with a stop by the Rice's farm and Riley got to go out in the field and meet some cows, she loved every second of getting to be right up with them.  I think she would have loved to pet one she could have gotten close to one, but instead they all backed away from her in fear.

Bye, Bye Summer

Riley has had so much fun playing outside in the sunshine this summer and has especially loved being in Gigi and Popdaddy's pool. With our warm weather about to vanish we decided to take advantage of the 80 degree temperature today and hop into the pool one last time this year.

Blowing Bubbles

Rapunzel

Okay, so Rapunzel might be a bit of an exaggeration, but Riley's hair has really been growing fast lately. With the growth spurt, I decided to try a new hairstyle on little Miss today and was really excited when I could get her hair into 2 full pigtails. Needless to say, it was a good hair day!

Pinocchio

Riley has really started to expand her vocabulary and it so much fun to hear her repeat words that she hears us say. This also means that we've had to start being pretty careful about our language around her little ears. We are so impressed with how well she can pronounce some pretty tough words and it's really cool that she is now putting words together to communicate her wants and needs to us. Gigi and Bop just got back from their European cruise and brought back a very cool Pinocchio marionette for Miss R. When we introduced her to her new puppet she actually repeated his name. She loves her new toy and it is the cutest thing to listen to her as she says "Pinocchio".

Maine

Last week, Riley and I got to take a trip up to Maine for my good friend Jada's wedding. Jada and I met my first year up at CSU when were paired together as roomates and what evolved from there was a really great friendship. I was really honored when Jada asked me to be in her wedding and also really excited to visit Maine, a first both me and Riley. It was a long plane ride up there, but it was so beautiful once we got there! As usual, Riley did amazing well with all of the travel and new places and people.

We got to stay at Jada and Jeremy's house on the lake and also spent a day our relaxing on the boat.

Eating breakfast in Jack's Bumbo seat

Jada and baby Jack

Riley really liked Jack's swing on the party barge.

The wedding was at a beautiful spot on another lake...there was alot of water up there. The day before the wedding we went to help set up for the reception and Riley had fun exploring, which meant that I was pretty much no help to Jada as I spent my day chasing after her.

Bear Hugs!

For the rehearsal dinner, they had a lobster boil with lobsters fresh off the boat, yum!

Riley didn't get to enjoy the lobster, but she did sport a plastic bib like the rest of us while she ate her dinner.

The wedding was beautiful and we had so much fun with Jada, Jeremy and Jack!

Play Ball!

Our friends the Nichols invited us to join them for a Rockies game last night. It was a perfect night for a baseball game with some great friends. By happy accident we were there for dollar hot dog night, so our night at the ballpark was made even better.

Riley had the perfect excuse to wear her cute Rockies gear and had a great time hanging out with her buddy James and his cousin Zephyr.

Riley loved going up and down the stairs and of course dancing when the opportunity came about.