18 Months Old Already

Riley is 18 months today. The past 6 months have just flown by!!

This is such a fun age!! Everyday he learns something new and says a new word. He is beginning to put words together which is so cool. He knows "Please" which sounds like "Peas" so he says "up please" a lot. And when ever he says something and he doesn't get it right away he adds "please" to the end. I'll write more soon, ( including Easter and other get togethers) but I just wanted to post something today since it's officially he's b-day.

It's been too long...

Oh, it's been way too long since I last wrote anything. I thought that after the holiday's, life was supposed to slow down but I've seen no sign of that. I started working part time at Pier 1 before Thanksgiving. They asked me to stay so I'm working about 3-4 days a week (12-16 hours/week). It's a fun job and nice to get out of the house.

As some of you might know, Nate and I are in the process of opening a wine bar/bistro and retail wine store. It's not a sure thing, we've just finished our business plan and are moving into the money stage of the game. If all goes well and we get the $$ we need, we hope to start construction mid June and open mid Sept. Keep your fingers crossed.

Riley is growing like a weed. He learns something new everyday. He is talking a lot and is always on the move. He likes playing with the dog toys more than his own and sometimes Gunner will steal the toys out of his hand. But the dogs are very good with Riley (as long as Bella doesn't feel cornered). Riley loves music and he has learned how to turn the radio on in the guest bedroom. He pushes the "sleep" button and as soon as the radio comes on he starts "dancing". We've also starting watching Blue's Clues and Jack's Music Show in the morning. Thank goodness for Noggin On Demand. Riley loves the music and is so interested in what they are doing. Riley's vocabulary is also growing daily. His word bank includes: Momma, Daddy, doggy, ducky, up, hot, see, outside, nap, ball and kitty. Plus a dozen or so words that he repeats when we say them. Riley also loves to "read" books. By "read' I mean, he loves to flip the pages and look at the pictures. He's not so interested in the store. We read every night and sometimes in the morning. Riley picks out what book he wants to read and hands it to me. All of Riley's books are on his toy chest next to his crib. It's become his route to pull his books into his crib after he's woken up from a nap and before I've gotten him up. The Very Hungry Caterpillar has become one of his favorite books and I often find him sitting in his crib with that book on his lap, open to the page with 4 strawberries and 5 oranges. This is such a fun age and we're excited for all the new discoveries in the future.

Christmas in Reno

This year we went to Reno for Christmas. We were able to stay a week which was so wonderful. I was able to get together with some high school friends and we spend lots of good, quality time with my family. In addition to celebrating Christmas we also got to celebrating my grandparents 62 wedding anniversary.
Riley had his first (of many, I'm sure) injury. Early in our visit, Riley fell and bit his lip. I was actually having dinner with some friends when it happened but I guess there was a lot of blood involved. He bit his bottom lip between his top and bottom teeth so he had puncture holes on the inside and outside of his lip. But it's amazing how fast his mouth healed. Despite the giant bottom lip, Riley didn't seem bothered by it and by day 5 you could hardly tell it happened.

We were treated to a white Christmas which was so nice and cozy. We didn't have to do much traveling since my grandparents live 5 minutes away so the few inches of snow was a welcome sight and made for a beautiful Christmas day.

I'm so glad that we got to spend so much time with my family. We had such a good time and it was hard to leave. I'm looking forward to our next trip to Reno in August.

8th Annual Girl's Gift Exchange

I think this is the holiday party I most look forward to (no offense to the other parties we attend). This is the time that us girls get together and eat good food and catch up. For some of us it's the only time we get to see each other. We were lucky enough to have both Simone and Betsy G in town but we missed the rest of the girls who couldn't make it. We started at Ari's for a potluck brunch and some good gift stealing. Everyone always brings such great gifts that you'd be happy to go home with any of them but don't think because we're all friends that there isn't stealing going on. The stealing started late in the game this year but one the ball got rolling, the stealing was in full motion. But everyone went home happy.

Then some of us headed to the theater to see the Girl's Only Show. The show was hilarious and really is for girl's only. The entire audience is full of women only and the 2 women show "is an original comedy that celebrates the honor, truth, humor and silliness of being female". The show runs until Feb. 15th.

Happy Holidays

We decided to do an electronic holiday card this year.

Giving thanks for our amazing friends and family and hoping the new year brings you good health and good fortune.

Christmas Tree Hunting

This weekend we went up to Nate's family property up Left Hand Canyon, outside of Boulder, to find our tree. Chris, Tara and Koben came with us. (Riley was up in Estes with Dave and Pauline). We drove in and then took the rest of the road by foot. We walked all the up to Nate's uncle Chuck's cabin. Chuck built the cabin by hand and it has the most amazing view.

We had a great time looking for trees. We chose 2 that were next to others so we could thin out the little grove and give the others more space to grow. Chris, Tara and Koben even found time to make a snow man.

The Holiday Season

(I love this picture.
Riley and Gunner watching Nate while he put up Christmas lights)

The holiday season is upon us and our weather is finally starting to reflect that. We have most of our outside lights up and are starting to decorate inside. I'm very anxious to decorate this year. Maybe it's because last year I didn't really feel up to decorating since Riley was so young. We didn't even finish decorating our tree and the Department 56 scene never made it out of their boxes last year . But this year is different. I rearranged the living room furniture today in preparation for our tree that we'll be getting on Saturday. I think this year were going to put our tree in a different spot so we'll see how it works. I might start setting up the scene today or tomorrow. I love Christmas time.

(Just checking it all out)

Happy Thanksgiving, a little late

(Max, Koben, Riley (who wouldn't sit still), Emma, Hailey and Trevor)

Thanksgiving with Friends:
Every year the Keeney's host their friends, potluck Thanksgiving the weekend before. It's always a fun time to get together and catch up with our friends. This year we had 7 little ones running/walking/crawling around with 3 more on the way. Things sure have changed.
Thanks Tracy and Abbey for hosting a get together that we look forward to all year round.

Thanksgiving with Family:

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed a (hopefully) long weekend. We were in Colorado this Thanksgiving which means that Nate had to do some cooking. We hosted Thanksgiving "Dinner" at our house at noon for the Bustamante side of the family (Nate's mom's side). Nate made the turkey, stuffing and gravy and everyone else brought the rest. Everything was wonderful and it was great to spend time with the family.
Once everyone left our house it was time for Thanksgiving "dinner" #2 with the Vielehr side of the family. Although we really didn't eat a full second dinner, because we got there after everyone was already eating, I grazed on leftovers and we had dessert #2. Riley enjoyed having other kids to watch. Pailynn (Nate cousin Derek's youngest daughter who is 2 months older that Riley) was very interested in Riley and kept following him around. They were so cute together and it will be fun to watch their friendship grow as they get older.

Riley and Pailynn

Nate's cousin Ryan and his wife Mona were also in town from San Fransisco with their baby girl Selma, who is 6 months old now. Riley loves to bounce on the couch so getting him to hold still for a picture has become a challenge. He kept bouncing on poor Jack. Riley looks a little out of place, it's a very international family.

(The cousins (sort of): Riley, Jack, Pailynn, Tawanchai and Selma)

Ballet Nouveau's silent auction

I've taken classes at Ballet Nouveau Colorado for about 6 years now. They are a non-profit that offers community outreach programing (with dance) each year to kids at risk in the Denver area. Tomorrow evening is BNC's Nouveau at Night. This event is a charity dinner and silent auction to help raise donations for their events and outreach programming. This year I decided to donate 3 baskets to the silent auction. I took Shaklee's Get Clean Starter Kit (which makes a great gift by the way) and split it into 3 baskets: Household, Laundry and Dishes. I have always enjoyed creating gift baskets and I had a ton of fun putting these together and I think they turned out really nice. I hope they sell well at the auction.

Shaklee's Get Clean Starter Kit has the cleaning power equivalent of more than $3,400 worth of conventional products and it also protects the planet by:

• Eliminating 108 pounds of packaging waste from landfills
  
• Eliminating 248 pounds of greenhouse gas

Click here for more information about Shaklee's Get Clean Starter Kit.

I almost forgot...

Halloween... I almost forget to post a picture of Riley in his monkey costume. I must say that he was the cutest monkey that I'd ever seen. The weekend before Halloween we went to Jess and Amy's pumpkin carving party. All the little ones were dress up. It was great to catch up with my friends from Grad school that I don't get to see very often. On Halloween night we just stayed home and handed out candy to 60-75 kids.

I'm a blog slacker

(Riley, Emma and Max playing with Legos)

So I've been a slacker lately and I apologizing for not keeping up. The past few weeks have been full of watching Riley in amazement. I guess we can officially say that he is walking now. He's usually takes 5 to 10 unstable steps and then falls to his knees or butt and cruises on the floor the rest of the way. It's been so fun to watch him go further and further on his feet everyday. Stay tuned for videos of Riley walking.

This past week Riley and I went to the Denver Children's Museum with Abbey and Emma, Deanna and Max and Cassie and Jon and their little one's. It was our first trip to the Denver Children's Museum (I'm sure this will be the first of many) and it was a lot of fun.

Since the residential landscape season is winding down, I decided to get a part time retail job. I'll be starting next week at Pier 1 Imports. I'm actually looking forward to something different and am excited to get started (I just wish the pay was better, but that's retail for you). So that's life in a nutshell.

The Pumpkin Patch

I have been wanting to go to the Coal Creek Farm for pumpkins every year for the past 5 years or so. This year, we finally went. We went Saturday morning and it was a beautiful day. Riley enjoyed pointing at everything. We came home with 4 pumpkins.

Happy Birthday Riley!!!

Oh my gosh! How can Riley be a year old already? He is always on the go: standing, walking along the furniture, crawling. He is also very vocal and is always "talking" about something.
This past year has been more fun than I could have ever imagined. I'm so thankful for the ability to stay home with Riley and watch him grow and learn. I can't wait for all the adventures to come.
Thanks to everyone that was able to celebrate Riley's big day with us. We had a full house of family and friends. Riley had lots of fun playing with the other 8 little ones.

On Tuesday (Riley's actual birthday), we decided it would be fun to go to the aquarium. My mom, Pauline and Dave came with us to see the fishes. It was a lot of fun to see Riley reach to the different things to see.


See all the photos here.

A whole new world

Riley is now seeing the world facing forward in the car instead of facing backwards. Two weekends ago we decided that it was time to update to a "big boy" car seat. He had just about out grown his infant car seat and I just couldn't carry him around in it anymore. It's so fun to look at the backseat and see him smiling back at you. He also holds on to the little arm rests which is really cute.

Long live Shaklee

I love this old bumper sticker. I think it speaks for itself. Long live Shaklee.

Girly Day

This past Saturday was a ton of fun. It was all about dress shopping and then it was off to the Ballet. Saturday morning Betsy, Tara, Sam, Kylene, Jasmine and I met Ari, her mom and her sister, Emily for a day of dress shopping. We started at Emily's house where we started with some fruit and muffins while we waited for our ride. Ari had arranged for a limo to drive us around for the day from store to store. It was so much fun. We all got to chat and catch up and not worry about driving and parking. We found a couple great options for bridesmaid dresses and Ari tried on some beautiful dresses for her. It was such a fun day.
Later that evening Ari and I met for dinner and then we went and say The Colorado Ballet's Triple Crown. They preformed 3 of the most popular pieces. It was a lot of fun and a great way to end the evening.

11 months old, that's crazy

Again, I've fallen a little behind. I can't believe that Riley is 11 months. I think I say that every month, but time really does fly. It's weird to think that this time last year I was wrapping up my projects at work and getting ready to go on leave (forever). Every day that I'm home with Riley is a blessing. This past month, Riley has gotten really active. He pulls himself up on everything. He still loves the bath. He has learned how to stand at the edge of the tub and drop his toys over the side onto the floor.
He is starting to walk with support and he still talks and babbles up a storm. I don't realize how old he is starting to look until I see a picture of him. He is looking more like a little boy and less like a baby everyday.
We finally baby-proofed the office for real with a permanently installed fence/gate and we also invested in a short fence to keep him confined in the living room so he can't crawl over and put his hands in the dog's water bowl. I love the gate in the office. It's actually looks pretty nice and it works great.

Riley the Monkey

Riley is officially mobile. Scooting, crawling, climbing, standing and walking while holding on to objects. There is nothing he won't try and pull himself up on. He has also learned how to break through the barricade by knocking the diaper box or suitcase over and crawling right over it. He hasn't been able to crawl over the toy bin yet, but he has been trying. I captured one of yesterday's many break threws on film.


After he knocked the suitcase over. He tried to crawl between the toy bin and the suitcase. When that didn't work then he decided to crawl over the suit case.


It's time to get a really baby fence and baby proof the rest of the house. Oh, we're in trouble.

Labor Day Weekend

Although we didn't go out of town for Labor Day weekend, we managed to pack it full with activities and get togethers. Tara and I started off the weekend by taking Riley and Koben to the pool on Friday afternoon. This was the last weekend that the pool was going to be open and we had been talking about going to the pool together all summer. Better late than never I guess. Riley and Koben had fun splashing around. Riley loves the water but he hates his hat. Although the coverage is great, as soon as it get's wet it flops in his face and he can't see. Nate also thinks it looks a little girly. Half way through we had to switch to his other hat because it got too wet and floppy.
Saturday evening was Ari and Jared's engagment party. The party was hosted by Ari's parents and was held at her sister Emily and Roger's house. The party was a great time. Great food, good company. It was a perfect night. (Side note: Earlier in the summer I had done a landscape plan for Emily and Roger's yard. They worked all summer to implement the plan and get the yard ready for the party. The night of the party was the first time I had seen their yard since they had begun work. I was very excited and proud of how it all came together. I need to go back during the day and take pictures.)
Sunday morning we meet Nick, Kathy, Chris and Tara for breakfast before Nick and Kathy flew back to Seattle. It was great to spend more time with them. Sunday afternoon we headed to Ari and Jared's for a "Mini Baby Shower" for Kylene and Tony and to watch the CU/CSU game. Ari, Sam and I all missed Kylene's official baby shower so we decided to have a little one of our own. We thought the game would be a perfect excuse to get together. Of course we couldn't get together for the game without making sure that the twins where ready to show their CU spirit.
Monday we finished up the holiday weekend by doing chores around the house and I caught up on some landscape design work that I had been putting off. It's hard to believe that it is already September. Where did this summer go? I'm glad to report that our summer experiment, our garden, is doing well. Just about everything grew and most things did better than imagined. Our tomatoes are thriving and we have jalapenos coming out of our ears. And after more than a month of our zucchini plant blooming like crazy but producing no zucchini, we now have 2 little zucchini growing. Now I need a compost bin and lots of worms. Hope everyone enjoyed their summer and their Labor Day weekend.

You can't help but to smile!

Riley is so much fun! He is always doing something to make me laugh. He has started crawling the traditional way on his hands and knees although he still army crawls on his belly sometimes. He loves the water. He loves to crawl around in the shallow end of our pool and put his face in the water.
When I come into Riley's room when he has woken up from a nap, he is always sitting up in the corner of the crib closest to the door with his bear in between his legs. I call it "Baby Jail" since he is usually holding on to the vertical slats of the crib.
Riley has learned how to pull himself to his feet and he loves to stand. Although he's not much of a walker, I know it's just a matter of time. My baby barricade is still in use, although he breaks through it at least once or twice a day. He either crawls over Pooh or he empties all his toys out of the small green bid and moves it aside.
I think that it's time to invest in a real safety "fence". Luckily he is still entertained by most of his toys. He loves to pull the bins over and pull all his toys out of the bins. I can tell when he is getting sleepy because he has started to snuggle his face on all his soft stuffed animals. It's pretty darn cute. He says "Mamma" all the time and I'm pretty sure he is saying it on purpose.
Riley loves to eat and he'll keep opening his mouth as long as you have food. We are starting to get more adventurous with the finger foods. He'll eat just about anything. It's been fun to feed him different things that we are eating and see how he likes it. We discovered at Mark and Amy's BBQ that Riley likes corn on the cob.