Princess Riley

Riley's passion for pretend play has recently evolved into full on obsession with all things princess.  Her favorite princesses are Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Belle and Snow White and we usually read each of their stories at least once a day.  On any given day, she is any one of these 4 princesses and if we make the mistake of calling her Riley she will correct us saying "No Mommy, I'm Belle."

 

Having listened to her princess stories and songs on CD and watched the movies, she has memorized most of the songs and loves to waltz around the house singing.  Our little princess doesn't usually want her performance recorded, so the only video I've gotten so far is a brief rendition of Princess Aurora signing "Once Upon a Dream". 

She can also very accurately recite lines from the books and movie, particularly Beauty and the Beast.  She will pretend to be Belle and spin around with a book on her hand and sing "there must be more than this Provincial life" and sometimes she likes for us to role play with her. 

Right now, she has 2 dresses that are suitable princess attire, one is the her Easter dress and the other is a butterfly princess costume that her Grandma and Grandpa gave her. She also has a pair of silver ballet flats that she refers to as her glass slippers.

Who doesn't love a princess dress that can slip on over anything you're wearing? 

 

Our sleeping beauty, sound asleep in the middle of reading Beauty and the Beast

And of course, in this house Bella is never exempt from humiliation. 

Spring Fever

We have had a few really beautiful days over the past couple of weeks that are starting to make me ache for Spring. While we haven't had much snow this year, it has been bitterly cold so on the few emerging warm days we have been trying to take full advantage.

Riley loves going to the library and we love that our new house has a library close enough to walk to or ride her bike and lucky for Riley there is a playground on the way too. 

One day she decided that it was way too nice to stay inside so she said "Mommy, I think I will read outside today".  She then went to her room to pick out a book and came to sit out in the sunshine and read.

 

Last week, we met up with some friends for a playdate with the animals at the zoo.  Riley loves the zoo and it was even better with her friends James and Audrina.   

This was pretty much the view that we got of our toddlers for most of the afternoon. 

Riley and James riding the carousel.  Neither one wanted to hop up on an animal so they sat together on a bench and were actually having more fun than they looked like in pictures.

Topping off our zoo trip with a big bowl of ice cream, perfect!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 Riley had a very sweet Valentine's Day and we hope that you did too!

 Riley's friend James came over for a Valentine playdate and the two dined on heart shaped calzones...



decorated cookies

 and of course ate some cookies too!

 Valentine frosting mustaches

Friends hugging with frosting faces

and the fun and sweets continued with my birthday celebration where Riley could not take her eyes off of the cupcakes.

Happy Valentine's

XOXO

Stock Show

The Stock Show comes to Denver mid-January every year and I think that Riley has been waiting for it to come back pretty much from the time it left last year.  So needless to say, she was really excited last week when I told her that the wait was finally over.  This year, I also took Miss R to the Stock Show parade which was a first for the both of us, but who doesn't love seeing 1400 lb steers running through the streets of downtown Denver?

In her horse shirt and cowboy boots, ready for the parade.

 Last Tuesday, we went to the Stock Show with Gigi and Popdaddy.  Riley got to check out lots of animals, some farm equipment and even went to her first Rodeo.  First things first though, she told us she really needed a cowgirl hat and rope, so our first stop was to suit up our little cowgirl.

All cowgirled up and ready to see some animals!  But she wasn't about ride any...she wanted nothing to do with sitting on a longhorn or Clydesdale for her picture not even if I did it with her.  Surprising since she before we got there she told me she was going to ride a bull :)

 Checking out the bunnies. 

 At the rodeo with Popdaddy. 

I'm pretty sure she got just about all of the Stock Show fun that she needed for the year, see ya next year livestock!

Merry Christmas!

I don't think that we could have had a merrier Christmas than the one that we celebrated this year, it was the best!  Christmas has always been my favorite time of year and having a child of my own to share it with totally brings out the magic of the season.  I think that Riley pretty much loved everything about this holiday, the tree, the ornaments, the lights, getting a surprise from her advent calendar each morning, baking and decorating cookies and of course eating the cookies, multiple Santa visits, Christmas books and movies and having a lot of our family around us for nearly 2 weeks. 

We were lucky to have had Ryan and Kelly home from Alaska for Christmas this year and their visit also drew some of our family from Oklahoma out here for a little pre-Christmas celebration the weekend before that actual holiday.  We had my Uncle David, Aunt Judi, and cousins Cydney, Matt and Reece here for a few days and it was great to have them out here to share in the festivities.

Riley and Reece in their new Christmas jammies

Checking out the train around the tree with Bunky Ry

Playing opossum with Nick

Flying with Jordan

Two little cousins in a tub

Riley gave Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Judi a little lesson on cookies...one of her favorite subjects :)

We spent Christmas Eve finishing our Christmas preparations and then we got dressed up for church and a night out with both of our families having dinner at the Brown Palace, a favorite spot for my family at Christmas time that has now become a fave for Kris' family too.  It was great to have both sets of parents and our siblings there together. 

Before we left, Riley wanted to put out her cookies for Santa and sprinkle some reindeer food outside, just in case she was too sleepy when we got home.

Just testing a small one first...

At the restaurant, they have a piano player and Riley could not take her eyes off of him.  She loves pianos and studied the players hands as he played.  We may have a future musician on our hands. 

After a great evening, we headed home to wait for Santa and on Christmas morning he did not disappoint! 

Riley completely bypassed her train table and went straight to the fireplace to see if Santa had eaten his cookies and drank the milk...

She was very pleased to see that he had eaten some of each cookie and drank all of the milk.  Rudolph had also nibbled some of the carrot she left out for him.

After that was settled, she moved on to being very excited about the presents that Santa had left.  She thought her new trains were pretty exciting, but she also really loved the guitar that he left, which she opened and then embraced saying "my very own guitar!"

This was pretty much Miss Riley's look for most of the morning...gaping mouth and big excited eyes

Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Nick came over to spend the morning with us opening presents and eating a yummy breakfast.

Playing her new guitar with Grandma

Riley Roo and Uncle Nick checking out Candy Land

Giving Grandpa a hand with his present

After a morning at home, we headed for Gigi and Popdaddy's for a 2nd round of Christmas fun.  It was a perfect afternoon spent eating chili, opening gifts and playing games. 

Opening presents with Gigi

Smooches from Auntie Kelly

The boys playing with Kris' new toy, a remote control helicopter

Riley was thoroughly spoiled with some really great new toys.  She got a new baby doll from Gigi and Popdaddy that she named LaLa.  This is also the name of her imaginary friend for those who have not yet had the pleasure of meeting her.  I'm not quite sure how we'll tell them apart now that there are 2 LaLas. 

Dancing with her new baby.  She loves to dance her dolls and stuffed animals.

On our way out, she was talking to our neighbor about all of the great presents she had just received and told her that she would play the piano for her sometime (a piano was one of the gifts that she had asked Santa for), then all of a sudden she turned to me with this horrified look on her face and said "Oh Mama!  But Santa forgot to bring me a piano!"  Well as it turns out Santa didn't forget, he just happened to leave a little something for Miss R at Gigi and Bop's house.

She immediately went and got the case from her new tea set to act as her piano bench so that she could play for us.

We had the most perfect Christmas and could not be more thankful for our amazing family and all of our blessings.  Merry Christmas!