Happenings – Riley's First Blog

Christmas Eve hike

sage — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 00:15:10 +0000

Lemonade stand

elise — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 02:23:45 +0000

Riley made $4.50 in about 20 minutes selling lemonade outside our house before we ran out (will buy more lemons next time). I’m not sure our business was very cost effective, but man, people were really happy to buy a cup of lemonade on a warm Sunday evening and Riley was thrilled with her loot. We set the price at 50 cents per cup figuring people would give her a dollar and be happy they were giving such a big tip (we were right). We met some neighbors we’d never seen before too. Overall, I’d say it was a success for all involved!

Eating a carrot

sage — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 04:22:15 +0000

My cats

riley — Sun, 27 May 2012 17:55:57 +0000

I have 3 cats. One is named Turbo. One is named Mia. And one is named Leo. Turbo and Mia are kittens. I got them on my fifth birthday. Turbo and Mia fight a lot. Turbo is black and white. Mia is only black. Leo is black and very big. I love them very much.

Devastated

elise — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 04:49:53 +0000

We’ve been reading a lot of Fancy Nancy books recently. Damon loves them – mostly because they are Riley’s books. They’re actually great books, despite the title. They are about a girl who likes to be “fancy,” but she lives with an ordinary family, so she has to be creative and fancy things up with all sorts of random things, very much like Riley actually. The brilliant part of the books is Nancy uses “fancy” words, which are just big SAT type words. Totally tricks the kids into expanding their vocabulary! Damon’s favorites are devastated, heirloom and ecstatic. If anyone within earshot says devastated, Damon will hear and start running around singing about fancy Nancy being devastated about knocking over the Christmas tree. His daycare teacher was pretty impressed when he told her the kids were devastated about a toy being broken. The combination of Damon and big words that are probably inappropriate for a 2-year-old cracks me up every time…

Speaking of inappropriate… heard the following from Riley a few weeks ago…
“I went out to check the strawberries yesterday and there was a big one that was almost ripe. But when I went to check on it today, shit damn! it was gone!”

She’s been throwing the f-word into conversation from time to time recently too. She totally responds well to the explanation that swear words are special words that kids aren’t allowed to use and that they are supposed to be saved for really serious situations. And that the older you are the more you can use them (which is why Grandma gets to use them the most). Guess we need to start watching our mouths around here…

Uncle Eric

elise — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 02:02:36 +0000

Eric just finished his first year of law school and is living with us for the summer. He has a job with the city attorney and is doing research for his professor, but he says the real reason he decided to come to LA is to spend time with the kids and get to know them better. I was a little surprised, honestly, but it’s worked out really well. There is nothing more important to me than family, so it was really nice to see that Eric feels that way too (I think everyone in my family feels that way).

Celebrating Eric getting an A+…

We did a lot of celebrating this summer. First for his good grades, then for the law schools he was accepted to for transfer. Always somthing to celebrate with Eric around.

Anyway, Damon is a big fan. He would come home from daycare saying “Wrestle with Eric!”

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Sharing cookies and telling secrets…

Playing basketball…

Riley is a fan too. Eric is (very patiently) teaching her how to play chess. He even lets her win most of the time.

Reading a book with Eric and Kylene (she spent a lot of the summer with us as well… through the computer)

Jungle gym…

Last week Eric left for the east coast to finish up law school at NYU and live closer to Kylene. It was really sad to see him go, though we all know this is certainly the best move for him. The kids miss him terribly already. I suppose we’ll have to make due with video chat, and try to convince him to come out and visit again soon…

Siblings

elise — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 04:18:42 +0000

Recently Riley and Damon have been squabaling A LOT… mostly because Damon wants to do whatever Riley is doing and Riley wants him to leave her alone (sounds familiar to anyone who is an older sibling I’m sure). Anyway, I put these pictures together to remind myself that they really do love each other…

Tea party…

Reading on the stairs before school…

Damon’s birthday (update)

elise — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 03:55:00 +0000

Just an update to the birthday post… At two years old, Damon weighs 31 lbs (75%) and is 2 ft 11 in tall (50-75%)… which means he is rapidly gaining on Riley. His check-up was uneventful, he seems to be a happy healthy boy with an exceptionally large vocabulary.

Some birthday pictures…

The cornbread mini muffins Riley and I made…

Everyone gathered around to watch Damon get a dinosaur temporary tattoo (he wanted the first one on his leg, then one on each arm)…

The kids running around being crazy…

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Wouldn’t be a party without balloons…

Back at home…

Blueberry picking

elise — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 03:48:25 +0000

We went blueberry picking recently…

To be fair, Sage and Riley did most of the blueberry picking while Damon and I sat under the bushes and did most of the eating. We managed to pick enough to make little mini blueberry crumbles, which were quite good. Damon likes to help with baking, especially the taste testing part. He kept sticking his little finger into the extra blueberry filling (to freeze for another time) and licking it. I turned around for a moment and when I turned back he was literally covered in blue. I wish I’d gotten a picture of that…

Farmer’s market

elise — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 02:16:23 +0000