Riley Goes To The Apple Orchard

We thought we would take advantage of the beautiful weather (fearing that it may be one of the last) this past Sunday and take Riley to the Center Grove Apple Orchard.  We heard about this orchard from the Coppola's who went a couple weeks ago.  We also took Riley's cousin, Kennedy, because her sister and mommy were both sick. 

Riley and Kennedy loved all of the activities, especially the corn pool, jumping pillow, and petting zoo.  Unfortunately we weren't able to pick any apples which Kennedy was really looking forward to.  Here are some pictures from our trip.

First we made our way through the corn pool. 

Then we milked cows.

We went through the petting zoo.

Visited the three little pigs.

Jumped on the monster jumping pillow.

Slung apples at the apple sling shot.

Posed as pumpkins.

And let everyone know where the party starts!

Peek-A-Boo

Changing Seasons

Fall is officially here and the Murphy's are loving it!  We have so many leaves in our yard it is rediculous.  The tree in our front yard has been losing leaves since early summer and we've just been mowing and cutting them up as we go along.  I finally made Brett buy a rake so that we can play in the leaves this year.  Plus, I have great childhood memories of filling pumpkin and ghost shaped bags full of leaves each fall.  We will have plenty to fill this year!

I came home from work last night and Brett had raked some into a pile and Riley was picking a leaf out of the pile one by one!  Here is Riley raking and playing in the leaves!

Beep, Beep

Riley has a new favorite toy at Grandma and Grandpa Burch's. She loves climbing in and out of this car. We may have a new toy idea for Christmas! Watch out WDM!

Tomatoes!!

Riley was playing with a tomato the other day at Grandma and Grandpa Burch's house and this is what we ended up with...

Riley At 13 Months

Riley is officially 13 months old (a few days late). She has changed so much over the past month. I can't believe how things seem to be picking up so quickly. She was just starting to really walk a little over a month ago. Now, she seems to run everywhere. She just learned to walk backwards. She'll stop and start concentrating, then slowly move backwards. It's so funny to watch. She also loves soccer! This makes her mommy very happy. We have a nerf soccer ball that she dribbles all around the house. Daddy got it on video, but I don't know how to upload from the video camera.

We had to take her to the doctor this week to get checked out. She had a pretty nasty cough and congestion. Turns out she had a virus and had to get a cortisone shot. She weighed in at 19 pounds, 8 ounces. I thought for sure she'd be in the 20s by now, but all this walking seems to be keeping her weight down. They didn't get a good measurement on her height, but thought it was somewhere around 29 inches. Because Riley's been sick there haven't been a lot going on at Murphy household.

Riley's new skills:

• running
• walking backwards
• Dribbling a soccer ball.
• Two more teeth - one of them a molar.
• Being "gentle" with Sam, the cat. After a year with Riley, Sam has finally come to the conclusion that he must allow her to pet him if he wants any attention at all. Now, they are the best of friends for about 3 minutes a day. As soon as we walk in the door Sam is in front of us stretched out on the floor. Sam also becomes very anxious when Riley is up crying at night (like the last five nights! ugh.). We'll hear him meowing downstairs and then 10 seconds later he's walking around Riley's room checking out. We've also noticed him sleeping in her room a lot more these days. He's coming around slowly.
• Stealing any remote in sight and and always finding the power button, volume button, or record button. Never fails.
• Identifying cats, dogs, horses, cows, and sheep.
• Hugging. She loves to hug her bunny (which she now loves to carry everywhere!) and her dollies. She also loves to follow Mommy around everywhere.
• If you are laying on a pillow - move over because Riley is going to join you. She loves to lay down and roll over on pillows.
• "Jumping" onto her ladybug beanbag. Daddy taught her this.
• Running around the house naked at bath time. She runs straight to the tub when you say "bath" and proceeds to try to get in on her own. She loves water!

Fight, Fight, Fight For Iowa!