Wednesday, April 30, 2008

My Baby is Growing Up....


So it has been slow going with Riley. We have done a lot of things backwards, but we're trying. We've never been parents before Riley. He is a work in progress. Anyhow.. So Riley is in his own bed now (yay) but we still had been lying down with him at night until he fell asleep. It really wasn't that big of a deal for us. Most of the time, I would fall asleep with him and thinking back my sleep schedule was really wacky. So last week Riley said he was ready for bed and I didn't want to lie down that night so I told him he was going to bed like a big boy tonight. Of course we had to hype it up and we sat outside his door for a freaking hour so he'd go to sleep.

Well one week later, he has finally come to terms with the fact we're not going to be in there with him and is going to sleep on his own. Tonight we did our normal bedtime routine, teeth, jamas, prayers, book and hugs and kisses. Then he crawled into his bed. Justin and I sat in the upstairs family room watching some tv and after about 40 minutes, I begged Justin to go by his room and check on him. So he did, and he was still awake in there, playing with his camera. He got up briefly to show his dad that the camera wasn't working. He set it down outside his door and crawled back into bed. On his own... Without a fight... and... He went to sleep...

Finally..... We really are trying with Riley. We want to raise a strong boy, who can make decisions for himself, but also is a good listener... Like I said at the beginning at this blog, He is a work in progress..... Please pray for us. Hehehe.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Riley's Big Day!!!



Riley was able to ride on the Bull Dozer with Uncle Ed this weekend for the first time. He had a great time. They spread gravel on the driveway and were pushing dirt around the front yard. Uncle Ed was so patient with Riley and let him ride for a long time! He was a little upset when the dozer had to be picked up on Monday!

Spring Cleaning......

(pic 1, from the deck looking down. 2.the yard flattened out a bit. 3. the walkway and my future flower garden! :) 4. the back where Ed dug out our hill--future retaining wall, patio, grassy area.)



My inlaws just left from a long weekend of yard work. Ed, my BIL is a contractor and very talented. He brought his big tractor over and we rented a bull dozer to straighten out some of our crazy yard. My FIL, Gordon and MIL Janice were here as was Justins sister Gwen.

My job was to keep Riley out of trouble which is a full time job.


Day one was yard clean up., Day 2 when the dozer came, they started excavating the yard/driveway/hill in back. Our driveway was refinished with gravel too. Ed, Gordon and Gwen made a beautiful stone walkway from the front steps that was made from the limestone (?) that was excavated from our yard. It turned out so pretty. Our driveway next to the garage had no retaining wall-which they fixed!!! YAY.. It too looks great. I guess I'll just post pics, since they can show so much more than I can say...

Friday, April 11, 2008

Happy 35th Justin


Today is my dear husbands 35th Birthday. We had to do our annual trip to Kids Castle-very brief trip as it started raining. We took granny and gramps for a quick visit to The Discovery Center and then it was home. Our gravel was being delivered so we had to rush home.


Justin got to enjoy some birthday cheesecake and later will have some Turtle Birthday Cake courtesy of Justins mom.....

It's wierd to know that I have known Justin over half my life now (and we've been married half our lives..)Crazy.....


Here's a pic of Daddy and Riley at the park today....

Happy Birthday Justin....

Flash Flood

This is how the creek usually looks....



This is what we saw when we went to turn down our road this afternoon. It had been raining pretty hard, Tornado warnings, hail and now flash floods. Mind you, this is the only way in to our house. The water receded within 10-15 minutes of these pics. It was very fast and there was some blacktop buckling under the pressure...
Normally this little creek has maybe a trickle of water in it.. Not today....





Monday, April 7, 2008

His first wedding...

Riley has been asked to be in his first wedding in July. His dad and I couldn't be more proud. My dear niece and Rileys cousin, Meg asked him to be ring bearer in her and Seths upcoming nuptuals. Riley is very excited about this, though how he will do remains to be seen.
So congrats to Meg and Seth-we are so excited for you!!!!


http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/view/co_main.aspx?coupleid=7776423214449687&MsdVisit=1

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Date Night



Last night Justin and I had a well deserved "date night". We went to one of our favorite Nashville haunts, The Bluebird Cafe. Our favorite writer in Nashville was doing an "In The Round" with 3 other writers from the Green Hills Music Group.

Let me start by saying, I LOVE THE BLUEBIRD. I love going there because you never know what you are going to get when you show up. This particular ITR was Georgia Middleman (our fave), Rick Giles, Steve Williams and Bob Regan. What a talented bunch of writers and performers.

Georgia sang one of my favorite songs by her "Table 32" and a great one that Martina cut "Do What You Do".

If you love music and have never been to a writers night, you need to check one out up in Nashville. Also, check out Georgia's website, http://www.georgiamiddleman.com/ or www.myspace.com/georgiamiddleman

Here is a performance I found on Youtube of Georgia at the Hall of Fame..

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SuX3uCJwhTc

Love to all. J