Bon Voyage!

I'm going to miss this little stinker!!!  With this look I think she might give the grandparents a run for their money!!

Thankfully, we're only gone for a couple days and we'll have the beach calling our names!

Finished Product

So the patio is (almost) finished.  Brett finished putting down the pavers and we have just a few things left to completely finish the project.  We still need to grow grass up to the edge of the patio and cut a few pavers for the row next to the deck.  But, we are very happy with what we have now!

Busy Bees

The past couple of weeks have been soooo busy at the Murphy house. 

Last Monday we helped Great Grandpa Melvin celebrate his 77th birthday.  We all had a great time together!

We put in our garden, which Riley loves to help with.  Most recently, she helped me pull weeds by pulling out our onion bulbs.  She was very proud!

In the past couple weeks we've had radishes come up as well as our greenbeans sprout.  This year we decided to purchase some of our vegetables from The Homestead - a local organization the supports people with Autism.  It also is the place that I worked for in college.  I was happy to be able to support an agency that is doing great things.  So far, all of our plants are doing great!

We also decided that we needed another DIY project on our plate.  We decided that we should install a simple patio off of our back deck.  It hasn't proven to be simple at all!  Especially with the hot and muggy weather we've had the past several days.  Here's what the project looked like as of Saturday night.

(Don't mind the terrible siding.  That's a project that we know we can't DIY.  Soon enough we'll have all new windows and siding at the Murphy house! I'm waiting patiently.)  Sunday, we poured all of the sand down and then Brett got started on laying the pavers.  Not an easy task.  Each paver weighed in at 40 pounds!  So, we still have several rows of pavers to lay.  We're hoping to get it finished tonight.  I'll be sure to post pictures of our finished project.

Riley has been up to her same old stuff.  She has loved being able to play outside!  She cries anytime someone is outside and she's stuck indoors.  She also picked up a bad habbit and I am to blame.  She now says "oh, shoot" all the time.  Usually she points to her skinned knee (or any owie) and says "oh, shoot" and "hurt."  She also heard me say "oh, shit" yesterday as I dropped something.  Immediately she said "oh, SHIP" and laughed.  I guess we've officially hit the "repeat" stage!  Here's a picture of the stinker with her knew favorite food!

 

Now, my mind is focused on this:

Brett and I leave for Newport Beach on Friday night.  We're so excited to have a little getaway!  And so excited to spend a few days with the Mercers!

Visions Of The Future...

Riley's new favorite pastime!  This weekend Riley loved riding in the neighbor's jeep.  She would hop in the passenger seat and stay there until Gavin drove her around the yard.  So cute!

Riley Nicole At 1 Year, 9 Months

Riley turned another month older on Saturday.  Here's a glimpse into her life as an almost-two-year-old:

• She's still wearing her 18 month jeans.  Everything else she wears is 2T.  She's wearing size 5 sandals, but still fits into her size 4 tennis shoes.  She hasn't been to the doctor recently (whoohoo!) so I'm not sure what her weight is.
• She's learned to blow her nose.  However, she seems to forget that she needs a kleenex while blowing. 
• She loves "hoe-ses," or horses.  She talks about them all the time.  The neighbors have a horse toy in their garage.  She always points and says horse.  If you ask her if she wants to ride it she shakes her head no and responds with a very clear "nope!"
• She's grown out of most of her toys.  Thankfully it's been nice out and we've be spending a lot of our time outside in the yard.  Riley loves to play with the neighbor boys, Gavin and Landon.
• She can go down the slide all by herself now.


• She likes to listen to "songs" in the car.  They are children's songs and she's very particular about which song she wants played.  She usually screams no and shakes her head until she finally finds one she likes.  She seems to like the fast, jazzy songs best.  You know she likes them when she begins swaying her head left to right.
• We've adjusted her bedtime.  We are now putting her to bed at 8:30 pm instead of 7:45 pm.  We just started last night and it's working out perfectly! She was getting into a habit of waking every night and then getting up at 6:30.  Now she's sleeping through the night until 7am.
• She played her very first game of flashlight tag this weekend.  It was more of just running around witht the neighbor kids in the dark with a flashlight than actually "tag." She loved it!
• She also rode her very first power toy! She did great, except had no clue how to steer!
• We can finally get her hair into one teeny tiny pony on the top of her head!  She hates me putting it in, but it's too cute not to do it once in a while. She also has little clippies that are super cute.

• She has absolutely no sweet-tooth, unless she's offered ice cream.  This just blows my mind since I would choose to eat dessert every meal if I could!
• She adores her cousins, Kennedy and Addie.
• She's finally interested in some animated movies.  Her favorite to watch is Tinkerbell.  But, she still prefers to watch "Back"(Backyardigans), "hot dog" (Mickey) and "Oso."

If Riley Were a Boy...

...This is what she may look like!

 Riley came home from Hedy's house in this outfit (plus a shirt!) one day last week.  I think she had gotten food all over her pants at lunch time.  So, I imiganed if our next child is a boy he may look like this - minus the pink sandles!

Oh, and today my husband and I celebrate our three year wedding anniversary!  Happy Anniversary, Brett!!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was a bit different this year.  I was lucky enough to spend the weekend away in Arizona for Aunt Libby's bachelorette party.  It was a blast!  She has a great group of friends and I had so much fun getting to know them and laughing at all of their great memories together. 

So, early Sunday Grandma Kathy and I boarded a plane to head back to Iowa.  We landed in Des Moines around 1:30 to learn that Brett was waiting with a pantless child who had just blown out her diaper and clothes.  Brett had the joy of cleaning Riley up without the use of wipes - which he forgot at home!  We ran home quick to change Riley and then headed back out to go to cousin, Kennedy's, 6th birthday party.  Her birthday is actually today! Happy Birthday, Kennedy!  Even though I was exhausted we had so much fun skating at Skate West.  It brought back some old memories of elementary school.  My brother and I each had at least one birthday party at Skate West. 

After the party, I crashed on the couch for a much needed nap while Daddy and Riley ordered some Chinese from my favorite Chinese place, China Star!  All in all, it was a nice Mother's Day!

My gift from Riley and Daddy!

Bubbles!

Riley's Trip To DC: Day 3 & 4

Day 3: Friday

Day three started early with a scheduled White House tour for Sarah and I.  We were sooo excited to be able to see the inside of the White House.  Brett and Riley hopped on the Metro with us in the morning so that we could join up with them for some more sightseeing after the tour. 

We arrived just in time and made it through security with just our phones, IDs, and a little bit of cash around 9 am.  The history inside the White House is amazing.  We were able to walk through several rooms on the main floor.  It was amazing to see where dinners are held, interviews are conducted, and government documents are signed.  The art works was amazing and in such great shape for being up to 150 years (give or take a few years) old!  In each room there were secret service officers who knew every last detail about the room they guarded.  One interesting fact:  Fresh flowers in every room.  In the state dining room there were flowers in a vase that was covered in dried apricots.  If only I had my camera!  We ended our tour by walking through the front doors of the White House.  Such a cool view!  Sarah and I laughed about how just a day earlier we were wondering why people were standing in the doorway to the White House and ruining our photo ops!  

After our 30 minute self-guided tour we took a 30 minute walk with several too many left turns and met up with Brett and Riley to begin the rest of our sightseeing day.  We decided to head over to the Smithsonian Institute: National Museum of Natural History.  The great thing about DC is that many of the museums and attractions are FREE!  There was so much to see in this museum and it was neat to see all of the school children there filling out worksheets.  Riley loved looking at the animals and was a bit terrified of the evolution of the man and ape heads on display.  Through most of this she clung to me and said "I scared." 

After the Smithsonian we decided to head a block down the street to the National Archives building.  Here we looked at all of our country's original important documents.  It was so neat to see the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Louisiana Purchase, among others. 

Next, we met up with the Mercer's for lunch before we had to leave the city to go and get ready for the Bookey/Baker Wedding Rehearsal Dinner.

We spent a lot of time traveling back and forth and ended up back in DC at 5 so that we could take the shuttle over to the rehearsal.  It was a beautiful evening and Riley loved looking out of the river and watching airplanes fly in and out of the airport.  We enjoyed a great Italian dinner and enjoyed listening to the wedding party stories and toasts to the couple. 

Day 4: Saturday

Saturday we woke up, said our goodbyes to the Mercers', and headed back into DC.  We had to change hotels for a second time so that we'd be in the city for the wedding.  It was kind of gloomy day so Brett and Riley hung around the hotel while Sarah and I did a little shopping around the DC. We stopped in Macy's, H & M, and a souvenir shop.  I found some jewelry for the wedding since I forgot every single piece of jewelry that I owned.  We also picked up a Christmas ornament to hang on our tree this year.  Of course, almost all of our souvenirs include a picture of Abe! 

Saturday night Brett and I ventured down to the Willard to attend our friends' Natalie and Mike's wedding, while Riley and Sarah stayed back at our hotel.  It was a beautiful event.  Unfortunately, just as the wedding began we received a text from Sarah saying that Riley was totally freaking out and I may need to come back.  I ended up taking a cab back 30 minutes later.  Poor Sarah!  Riley was freaking out and the neighbors were even pounding on the wall!  Not good.  So Brett enjoyed the rest of the evening and finally made it back to our room around 12:30 am feeling pretty good!  All in all it was a great trip!!

Riley's Trip To DC: Day 2

Day 2:

Thursday morning the weather was beautiful and we woke in hopes of getting started early and heading into downtown DC to start our day of sightseeing.  We had a few roadblocks and had to change hotels due to our original hotel being overbooked.  After changing hotels and taking the Metro downtown it was already after noon.  Once we finally reached our trolley destination we met up with our friends Sarah, and Cooper and Bergie. 

We decided to take the Old Town Trolley around DC so that we could see all the sights and not have to worry about transportation.  It was a great idea until in the chaos of getting started we realized that we had taken the blue line instead of the green line.  Instead of getting right down to seeing the monuments we took a longer route out to the Washington National Cathedral.  This picture isn't the best, but it's the only one I've got on my computer!

It turned out to be a good stop and we were all glad that we were able to take a look around.  The architecture and stained glass windows at the Cathedral were beautiful.  There was a ton of history in the cathedral to enjoy.  Riley's favorite part was hearing her voice echo inside the Cathedral.  One little known fact.  See the circle on the middle window?  How tall do you think it is?  6 feet! 

After the Cathedral we hopped back on the trolley and stopped in Georgetown for lunch.  Georgetown was so cute.  The row houses were great and there were a ton of little shops.  Unfortunately we didn't stay to do any shopping.  We decided to eat lunch and go.  Riley decided to sleep and go...

Riley was pooped.  Who can blame her...it was a long morning!

After Georgetown, we decided to stop and see the White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Memorial, and World War II Memorial.  This is where Riley's obsession with Abe Lincoln was born!  I can't even describe how awesome of an experience seeing these memorials was.  Just the meaning behind them leaves me speechless.  But, to see and feel the pride in our country and its history that these monuments represent was awe inspiring! I don't know how many times I said "this is so cool" and "I can't wait to bring Riley back here when she's older." 

The White House

World War II Memorial

View of the Washington Monument from Lincoln's Memorial.

Some pretty flowers.

The outside of the Lincoln Memorial

So, here is where I'll begin the story of Abe and Riley:

The minute we got into the Lincoln Memorial Riley's eyes were glued.  She kept saying "wow!" and in every picture that we have she's turned around looking at him!

She was so sad to leave Abe.  This is the look she gave us!

Needless to say, we left Abe and heard the echoes of his name for the next two days.  Let's just say that Riley is STILL talking about him.  I found the perfect souvenir for her to bring home with her, The Story of Abraham Lincoln! We read this book every night while Riley yells "ABE" and "wow."  Not only did Riley love seeing Abe's Memorial, she loved all photos of Abe.  So much so that she asks to look at "Abe" every time she sees the camera.  Not only does she look at the pictures, but she gives Abe kisses.  Kinda weird, I know! 

After our day of sightseeing we all headed back to the hotel.  The girls decided to head out to find dinner.  After a stop and a quick margarita we headed back to the hotel to eat with the kids and the guys.  We had fun hanging out at the hotel chatting and watching the kids play!