While Daddy's Away, Let the Children Play

This past week was a little crazy with Austin out of town so the kiddos and I spent a lot of time outdoors and of course, at Chic-fil-a. A lot of our family went in together to by Austin and his dad a surprise ski trip to Breckenridge for their Christmas present. I really wasn't too jealous, even though I love to ski, until Austin sent me these amazing pictures from the top of one of the peaks.

Austin looks a little scary, but the scenery is absolutely gorgeous!



The kids and I managed to keep busy with Austin gone, but they sure missed their daddy. Anytime our garage door opened, Nate would take off towards it chanting, "Da Da." One night, Nate slammed a door on Sara Beth's finger and she would not stop crying for like 30 minutes. I was starting to get worried and I asked her why she was still crying and she told me that she really needed to see her daddy. That made me tear up a little, but also made me happy that she loves her daddy so much and find comforts in him.

Here are a few pictures of how we spent our time while Austin was gone:

playing at chicfila

Nate's preferred way of going down.

reading her favorite book right now

Nate at the park right before he falls back. :)

Sara Beth has not been sleeping very well in her toddler bed so as soon as Austin got back I was determined to convert her bed to a full size bed. I had no clue it would be so tall, so I am checking into getting shorter box springs.

One day while Austin was gone I decided I needed to clean out my closet a little bit. In the first box that I got off of a shelf I found some amazing prints and water color paintings that Austin had bought in Italy during our semester there with Harding. I decided since he has a birthday coming up next week that I should get them framed for him as a surprise. So the closet cleaning came to a hault and I headed to the frame shop. I have been wanting a gallery of pictures to go on an empty wall in our dining room and I decided these would be perfect. I was able to pick them up yesterday and I decided to go ahead and hang them because I couldn't wait until his birthday. I never hang anything on the walls without Austin's help because he actually measures and uses a level and I just eyeball things so I was hoping he would approve. Luckily, he did. :)

I know this blog is really random, but I kind of feel like that is how my life is most days, so I apologize that I am totally all over the place. I have to post these last couple of pictures. I heard Sara Beth having a conversation in her room yesterday so I peaked in to see her throwing this fabulous tea party for her "friends" as she said. She invited me to join and made me a plate. Is it bad if my plate consisted of chips, a potato, and corn? Maybe I need to start eating more vegetables! After making me a plate, she told me she forgot the ketchup, so she removed some food from all of our plates and added ketchup. I thought it was too funny, because Sara Beth honestly can't eat a meal without ketchup. I sure love her imagination!

I guess that's all for now! I've got to get busy getting things ready for Sara Beth's birthday party tomorrow. I can't believe she is turning 3. When I asked her what kind of party she wanted she told me all that she wanted was to wear her princess dress and have a tea party. So that is what we are doing! I'll post pictures next week! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Kat

Vacation and Valentine's Day

Austin and I were blessed to go on our first semi-vacation without kids since Sara Beth was born! We are so thankful for all of the family members who sacrificed their time to help take care of Sara Beth and Nate while we were gone for 5 nights!!

 We went to the International Builders' Show in Orlando. I had no clue what to expect, but it exceeded any expectations that I had. There were over 900 venders there with booths set up. We learned about a lot of new products coming out in the next few months. I thought I would get bored while Austin attended a lot of meetings, but I managed to keep myself occupied, mostly by the Vitamix booth. I'm not sure what Vitamix has to do with building houses, but I was very impressed with the blender. Too bad the show special price was still $450. Needless to say, I did not buy one. Sadly I only took 2 pictures of the whole trip. I'm not sure why I didn't take more. Some highlights of the show were the interesting people I was able to hear speak and/or meet. We were able hear Aron Ralston, the guy who had to cut off his arm to survive, tell his story. I was able to meet and speak with Paul DiMeo and Hutson from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. We talked about Joplin and I was able to thank them for the work they did there. I was also privileged to hear J.R. Martinez speak about an organization he works for that builds homes for injured soldiers.

one of my 2 pictures :)

I was also able to get a football signed for Nate by Daryl Johnston, who played for the Dallas Cowboys.



On the last day of the show, Austin was going to be in meetings most of the day so I took a trolly to an outlet mall that had about any store a girl could dream of.  It kept me occupied most of the day!

We didn't rent a car while we were there so at night we would either walk to a restaurant or take a trolly. I loved the added adventure! We found some really neat places to eat and even went to a movie for the first time in like 5 years. On Saturday, we met up with Autumn and Collin, and had a great day together. Again, we are so thankful for all of our family who made this trip possible for us.

Since I failed at taking pictures of our trip, I will add a few pictures of Sara Beth and Nate from the last couple of weeks. Some of them are a little blurry, because they were all taken with my phone.

Sara Beth loves her Jessie doll!

Nate not sure about getting his haircut.

They love to throw all the pillows and blankets in the floor and roll around!

Sara Beth would count and they would both slide down. Nate giggled every time he slid down!

I love her guilty face here. She loves to help bake or do anything in the kitchen for that matter.

Opening her gift from us.

I asked her to smile big. :)

check out this pose

I loved Nate's face here.

Two of my sweet Valentines!



We've Got Spirit, Yes We Do

I am brand new to this whole blogging thing. I am not a good writer by any means, but I would like to start capturing some written memories of this precious time I have with Sara Beth and Nate. I can't believe I have an almost three year old and one year old and the beautiful leather journals that I bought to write down all these precious times in have a total of TWO entries apiece!! So as long as I average more than one blog a year I will have more memories recorded than my current method of journaling. :)

It has been a very busy last few months for the Riley family. We moved twice in the months of November and December.  Thankfully all three houses are in the same neighborhood so the moves weren't too bad. I was glad to get settled in our new house before Christmas. I really wanted to decorate now that Sara Beth is really getting into holidays and with it being Nate's first Christmas. Christmas was so special and so much fun!

Shortly after Christmas we celebrated Nate's first birthday. I cannot express how much joy Nate has brought to our family. Nate has become known for his crazy hair, massive size, and his famous snort face. He is such a blessing.

Nate making his snort face after enjoying a cupcake on his birthday!

Sara Beth loved helping bake Nate's bday cupcakes!

Now that Sara Beth has started back to Carpenter's Kids twice a week I feel like we are getting settled into a routine again. Sara Beth absolutely loves going to "school" as she calls it and I am amazed at how much they do in just 4 hours twice a week. While Sara Beth is at school, Nate and I enjoy Ladies Bible Study at Downtown Church on Tuesday mornings and I have started going to MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) twice a month on Thursday mornings. I also enjoy having some one-on-one playtime with Nate while Sara Beth is at school.

I'm sorry this is such a long post, but I thought I should include a few things about my kids before I share a very fun outing I had with some of my girlfriends last night. A few of my friends and I decided we needed a night out without kids, and our husbands were kind enough to stay at home with the kinds while we went to the neatest little studio called Spirited Art in Little Rock. You are allowed to bring snacks and drinks to enjoy, and a teacher guides the group through a painting on canvas. In case you decide to venture to this neat little studio look up the address on the website and don't rely on google maps. We first showed up to the owner's house. :) She was super nice and said this happens frequently and she kindly told us how to get to the studio. We had a blast!

I am so thankful to have such a wonderful group of friends!