~ Home Sweet Home ~

It's official as of today 09/30/2011 Jeremy and I are official homeowners!!! It is the perfect house for us - not too big, not too small. It is 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, fenced in yard and finished basement. It's in an awesome school district to boot!! Jeremy and I feel happy, lucky and blessed to be the proud owners of this home.

If someone would have told me 13 years ago when Jeremy and I met that we would date, get married, have children and own a home I would have told them they were crazy!! We may not have done everything the most correct way, but eventually our hard work got us to where we wanted to be!

Buying a house - goal accomplished!!! Guess it's time to start working on a new goal.

Right on track!

This afternoon we went to see Dr. Rufa for Riley's 3-year well visit. What we found out is Riley is doing quite well (but we already knew that). Dr. Rufa read off some markers of what a 3-yearold should be doing:

1 - Can she identify at least one color? Ummm, quadruple check - Riley can tell you the colors of the rainbow and then some!

2 - Can she ride a tricycle? That would be a check

3 - Is she potty trained? Since she was 2 1/2 - CHECK!

4 - Can she throw a ball overhand? Yep!

5 - Does she know the parts of her body? Definitely!!

6 - Can she jump with both feet? That would be a yes - just ask her daddy who is constantly telling her to stop jumping!!

Looks like our little pre-schooler is learning and growing just fine!

Stats for Miss Riley Paige are simple:

Height: 37.5 inches

Weight: 34lbs

Riley did so good at the appointment and followed all of Dr. Rufa's directions. She even requested to have her blood pressure checked!! Dr. Rufa let her play with the cuff when she was done checking. I told Riley a few days ago that she wouldn't need to get any shots at this visit. However, I realized this morning that they may offer the flu shot which I would obviously want Riley to get. I gently broke the news to her on the way to the doctors and she agreed to have it done.

When it was actually time to get it done she sat on my lap, squeezed her bear Baron and cried for literally 5.2 seconds!! Such a brave girl. This was the easiest appointment yet!

And as much as we adore Dr. Rufa we hope to not see her again until next year.

And just a quick pic of the brave pre-schooler!

Happy Grandparents Day!!

The definition of grandparent:

noun /ˈgran(d)ˌpe(ə)rənt/  /-ˌpar-/ 

grandparents, plural

A parent of one's father or mother; a grandmother or grandfather


Today is Grandparents Day (and since I was a terrible daughter/daughter-in-law who forgot to send cards), I figured a blog dedicated to Riley's wonderful grandparents is even better than a card!!

Riley is lucky to have four grandparents that love her more than words can say. She has an awesome relationship with all of them. What makes this whole situation better is that all of the grandparents like each other and have tons of respect for one another. Riley can't help but feel loved (and spoiled) whenever she is around either set of grandparents.

This poem pretty much sums up how we feel about Riley's grandparents.

Grandparents are special people
with wisdom and pride.
They are always offering love and kindness
and are always there to guide.
They often make you feel so confident
and strong.
Their arms are always open
no matter what you did wrong.
They try to help out in every way
that they can.
They love all their grandchildren the same
whether you're a child, woman or man.
They are always there to listen
and to lend a helping hand.
They show you respect
and they try to understand.
They give their love, devotion and so much more,
that's easy to see.
Grandparents, what perfect examples
of the kind of person that we should be.

- Stacy Smith


Riley will always be one lucky little girl that she has been able to have her Grandpa, Juh-Juh, Babcha and Pop in her life!!