riley loves her doggies so much - both toy & real.

she puts them on the potty when they need to go.

and even wipes them clean.

she checks on her real doggie and tells him its time to come inside.

what a good dog mommy!

babies + cupcakes

last friday angela and ellie came from milton to spend the day with us. it was angela's 29th, so it was a day-long celebration.

i met angela 10 + years ago in the dorms at western. we were roommates and she was the one who introduced me to tyler! she loves to remind me of this too :) some of us girls took angela to fairhaven to celebrate her 19th birthday and it turns out we ended up in fairhaven last friday - 10 years later. except this time we had two cute girls in tow.

two cute girls who loved their babies so much they had to bring them everywhere we went and fought over them all day long. we enjoyed a cupcake at this cute new shop, played in the toy store and hopped, skipped and ran on the village green. after the lunch and nap routine, we took our party to the patio, and were joined by ang's hubby dan, and our friends claire and doug. tyler soon came home from work and we had a ball-throwing, sandbox playing, bbq'ing kind of evening. more cupcakes were eaten after ang blew out her candle and everyone was on their way. what a fun day! we miss our long-time old friends living here in bellingham. hope to see you soon...

death cab - - - tulips

last wednesday night tyler and i had a great date night ~ out for a late dinner, a drink then sat 11 rows back at the death cab concert at the mt. baker theater. they put on a great show and it was fun to be kid-free and pretend to be young again. okay, we aren't even 30, so we are still very young. but being a parent really takes its toll! i had to sit down a few times throughout the concert as my feet were sore from working out and a long day of mothering. and every time i sat down, i would nod off. in a rock concert, ha!

the next morning riley and i loaded up in the car with lynzi and paetyn and drove south to the annual tulip festival in mt. vernon. we had great weather, so enjoyed taking our time walking through the tulips and even had a picnic lunch out in the field. riley and paetyn are quite the pair together - they are a good match as far as personality goes and they seem to really know who e/o is. riley calls paetyn "P", which is so cute to hear. we had a hard time getting either of them to look or smile at the camera as they just wanted to touch the flowers and were distracted by the tractor, the airplanes overhead and basically anything else other than us. gotta love toddlers.

does this picture make anyone else laugh? or is it just me and tyler? not sure exactly what she's doing, posing for the camera, i guess. it's so fun to catch the different expressions of riley. she is full of them! and in the very last picture riley is waving goodbye to the tractor.


thats all for now. in the next few days i'll put up the pictures from angela's birthday. enjoy this last week of april!

i've been neglecting my camera lately - - - but boy, have we been busy! lots to talk about, but not a lot of pictures.

last week we had a visit from this special friend and her dear little gal. they stayed for two nights and we chatted the days away while playing in the park, eating yummy food and caring for our little ones. i don't have one single picture from the whole time they were here. still waiting for pictures to come my way kristen!

this past weekend was so wonderful - it was a mix of productivity, resting, playing & re-connecting. tyler and i have been going in different directions lately - him out of town for work and me caring for riley and the house. it feels good to re-connect with your significant other, doesn't it? we had a family bike ride to fairhaven, finished painting our bathroom (finally!), worked in the yard and even took a sunday afternoon nap. oh, it was so lovely. and so necessary. we are rejuvenated and ready to march forward with our busy spring.

and today. what a day! my bro andrew received wonderful news today. another body scan revealed that his tumors are continuing to shrink. we have been smiling and giggling all day!

check out these cute pictures from this morning too - - we had breakfast at the bagelry before tyler went to work. riley is such a big girl lately - sitting in her own chair, talking up a storm and just being her usual fun self.

and here is what our bathroom looks like now. we are thrilled to finally have it finished (yes, we remolded it 3 months ago).

tomorrow night we see this band in concert at the mt. baker theater. we are so excited but hope that we can stay up that late. the show doesn't start until 8:45pm...yikes. then on friday the mcdonalds & claire come for a visit to celebrate ang's bday. we are hoping for sunny weather so we can utilize our new backyard and throw dinner on the grill.

that's all for now. hopefully i'll start taking more pictures again!

weekend wrap

laid sod in the backyard - instant new grass!



played in the sink


visit from grandpa - went out for dinner and ice cream



found first easter basket


and finally feasted on easter dinner at our house with grandma, great grandpa, cousin henry and all the aunties

31 years and counting

wishing my big brother a happy 31st today. he is sunshine in my life and shows me each and every day how to live a full and meaningful life. love you andrew xoxo

Ten on Ten

This fun photo project is back. I actually forgot about it until part way through the day - so I decided to just take ten pictures of our backyard. They are all "before" shots, as Tyler is laying topsoil for the new sod tomorrow as I write. Since the sun is coming out and my little one is active, I've been itching to have a backyard with a nice plot of grass to spend our sunny days on. Doc has been master of the backyard for too long - so we are confining him to a long dog run on the side of the house. And the rest of the yard will be ours for a little veggie garden, some beds but mostly just lots of bare feet and giggles! These pictures are less than interesting, but hopefully will be a good comparison for when we are done.

Goodbye old trees and bush and hello to a new bed!

Site of the future veggie garden

Soon to be a small bed next to the patio and the ability to actually open the gate and enter w/o being attacked by mud, wood chips, poop and Doc

Possibly a new fence this summer, to split with the neighbors

Doc's new cat spying territory

Doc saying goodbye to his mud pit, holes and general manager and protecting duties of the yard and alley

towel fetish

as all you mothers know, things go in phases with our little ones. this past week riley has had a thing for towels. she runs into the kitchen, grabs the tea towel off the oven and runs into the living room. she sometimes will just carry it around or cover herself up - but she mostly uses it as a doll blanket. this is her practicing her mothering skills:



in this shot she is actually saying, "shhhh, shhhh" while she takes a peek at her baby


and here she is with her bath towel. she grabbed the towel from me after the bath and ran into the living room. she is a quick one!

and i had to include this one because it is so sweet. doc's daily goodnight hug from riley. also note: check out the cute hot pink cloth diaper she is wearing! we finally made the switch after months of debate and are enjoying it so far. no more diaper rashes, yeah!