Big Girl Room

Ok, maybe she's a little too young to have a TV in her room, but my brother gave us the TV and Grammy bought Riley a DVD player for Valentine's Day so.........what can I say? Riley loves it! She asks over and over and over and over to watch a "DBD on my TB". She likes us to change the DVD about every 30 seconds. She really doesn't sit and watch the TV for more than 10 or 15 minutes before she running around the house again squealing about her TV. She's a typical 2 year old and doesn't stay interested in one thing for too terribly long, but it is nice to have to occupy her for a few minutes while I get a few things done. Thanks Shane and Grammy for the presents! Riley is officially "spoiled"!

P.S. Clearly this room needs to be decorated! I love the color of it, but can't decide what to put in it. I'd hate to paint it. Any advice would be appreciated!

Still Growing....

These are pictures of Riley playing dress up at Aunt Janae's house. She loved putting on her cousin, Avery's, old dresses and dance clothes! She also liked dressing Mommy up a little too. Riley has grown so much over the last few months. I haven't been as good as I would have liked at updating the blog, but she won't let me take her picture. Usually, I would get a great picture of her and have to put it on this site for everyone to see and add a post with it. Now, I'm lucky if I can get her looking in the same direction of the camera!

One big move has taken place over the last few months. In January the Baby moved into her new BIG GIRL room! She is sleeping in a big girl bed all by herself. From the very first night she was perfect! She goes to sleep just fine and doesn't even try to get out of bed. In the morning she lays there quietly until one of us comes to get her. I could sleep 'til noon and she wouldn't make a peep! It's really pretty impressive. There's no way we'll get another baby that will sleep as well. She won't even get out of her bed. She just lays there and plays with her stuffed animals or blankie. We couldn't be more proud of her! I am a little happy about it because she finally looks small to me again. She looks so tiny in her big double bed. She was looking huge in her crib! It was killing me. Now she is my little, tiny baby again! However, I still feel tiny little pangs that my precious little angel is growing up so fast. I love every second with her and I wish this part could last forever!

Hi Fresh Beat Band!

Riley has a new show that she really likes called Fresh Beat Band. She rocks out the whole time it's on. This finally gave me a chance to catch her in action. Ohhhh, I can't wait for dance classes!!!

Happy Family

Believe it or not, this is the only family picture we took on our trip. I should be fired as the photographer!

Naples 2010

The Brozenic family just enjoyed our 2nd trip to Naples with Chris, Emily and Grady Stahl. Emily's family has condos there and is kind enough to let us come stay with them for a week. We had a GREAT time! The weather was pretty cold and we didn't get any beach time, but it was still better than being in all the snow here in KC. Grady and Riley didn't play together as well as we hoped they would but we figure their still a little too young for that. In fact, Riley actually pushed Gardy down at the zoo! I felt so bad for Grady. He looked devastated! However, I do think this the last (and only) year Riley will be able to push Grady around. Pretty soon Grady will be bigger than her and the tables will be turned. Riley was perfect on this trip and we really got a chance to enjoy ourselves. We went to a nice dinner every night and Emily and I got a chance to sneak away for some spa treatments this time. We had a wonderful trip and look forward to spending more time with the Stahl's. Thank you so much, Chris and Emily, for having us and the Hawkins family for having us for dinner! We have such a great time every time we are together.

Sliding Baby!

Thanks for the slide, Santa! We have no idea how you knew to get that for her since Riley can't write a letter yet and we didn't take her to see you this year. Man, you're good!

Christmas 2009

Standing on her table and chairs from Grandma and Papa Brozenic

Santa also brought Riley a tri-cycle to Grami and Papa McLean's house.

This was on Christmas Eve.

As expected, Riley had a wonderful Christmas! She got more than she could ever ask for. We all did! Christmas Eve started off a little shaky because of the weather. We had to cancel our annual Christmas Eve dinner with the McLean family. We ended up spending the evening at home waiting for Santa. I tried to get cute pictures of Riley in front of the tree and fireplace but she wouldn't sit still. We ended up with some cute pictures of her throwing a fit! We woke her up early on Christmas morning and, of course, she was in a great mood. I would say that Riley was a bit shocked when she saw her slide. She just stared at it as if it couldn't possibly be real. Once she realized it was really for her she went up and down the slide as many times as her little feet would let her. We did get her to open her presents from us and from Grandad and Mimi, which she enjoyed, but continued to squeeze in a trip down the slide between gifts. We packed it up shortly after that and headed to Grami and Papa McLean's house. The weather was pretty bad so it was nerve racking (for me) to drive over there. Riley got a tri-cycle from Santa there and TONS of other gifts. She got everything you could imagine! Clothes, shoes, toys, hair accessories.....the works! Dave and I also got some pretty great gifts from Santa. A new printer, luggage, and a TV for Dave's office (yes, he thinks he needs a TV in his office) along with lots of other great gifts. After several hours there we headed to Grandma and Papa Brozenic's house. Riley got toys to leave and Grandma and Papa's house and a new table a chair set for home. She loved the table and chairs! That will get a lot of use in our house. We had a wonderful meal while Riley napped (perfect timing) and then played the Twilight "Scene It" game which i should have won, but our nephew, Baline, took that victory. We got home around 5 and relaxed for the rest of the evening. It was a great day! Riley was in good spirits all day and had a great time with her grandparents and cousins. Another Christmas done! Thank you to all our family for everything you shared with us over this holiday. We feel like the luckiest people in the world to have so much family very close to us. We love you all and can't wait to do it all again next year! Thanks, also, to our family in Texas (Grandad and Mimi) and Oklahoma (The McFaddens) who sent great gifts for us! We miss you all and love you!