Riley's First Wipe Out

Riley had her first major wipe out on her bike a couple days ago.  She did a somersault off the side of her trike.  It was in slow motion and neither Brett nor I could make it to her in time before she tumbled over.  Unfortunately, Riley is a dare devil and loves to ride her bike down our sloping driveway super fast.  Mommy at the top for a quick push and Daddy at the bottom to catch her.  This time she decided to steer and began wobbling all over the place before falling.  She didn't get her hands our in front of her and her head landed on the concrete before she flipped.  After a couple minutes of crying, peroxide, and triple antibiotic she was asking for outside again.  It's hard to tell in the pictures, but her forehead is banged up pretty good.  Poor baby!

Daddy's Birthday

We celebrated Daddy's 29th birthday this week.  Monday was officially the big day, but we started celebrating early on Saturday.  Grandma and Grandpa Murphy came over for some Hawkeye football, lasagna, and birthday cake.  We all had a great time until mid 3rd quarter when our Direct TV decided to quit working.  No worries, Hawks still came through with a win. 

On Monday, Daddy's official birthday, Riley and I went to pick out Daddy's gift.  This year, I let her loose at the Dollar Store (Uncle Nick's idea!).  Riley loved picking out Daddy's gift.  She picked the cutest teddy bear princess "Happy Birthday Great Granddaughter" card, a little dinosaur, and a cute flowery Happy Birthday balloon.  I wish I would have snapped some pictures.  She was so proud of her gifts and ran them to Daddy as soon as he walked in the door from work!  Later in the evening we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for pizza, beer, and pie.  Riley loved spending a few hours with her cousins!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

Raking Leaves

With our two big trees in the backyard we have lots of leaves to rake every year.  Riley loves to help out with her little pink rake.  She especially loves to "jump in the leaves."  Even more fun: sitting in the wheelbarrow with leaves piled on top of her.  Here are a few pictures:

The BIG Jump:

Riley's been inspecting the "weaves" every day this week to make sure there will be enough to rake this weekend.  Looks like we'll be raking leaves for the rest of October!

Center Grove Orchard 2010

Last Friday we decided to head up to the Center Grove Orchard in Cambridge, Iowa.  We picked Riley up from Hedy's house a little early and drove the 30 minutes north to the orchard.  It was the perfect day.  Because it was a week day they didn't have the hay rack rides or train rides running, but Riley still had a blast seeing the animals, jumping on the giant pillow, racing the rubber duckies, and eating apples. 

Beads!

When I stopped in to the fabric store to pick up supplies for the burp cloths I found tons of fun crafts for kids - and they only cost a dollar!  I decided to pick up a couple packages of bead and string to make Riley some necklaces and bracelets.  She absolutely loves them and wore them for three days straight.  She had a bit of hard time getting the beads on the tiny string, but loved picking out the beads and spilling them all over the place!

Blank Park Zoo 2010

With the summer being packed full of activities we found it pass without one trip to the zoo.  I was a bit bummed thinking that Riley would miss out on the zoo this year so Brett and I decided that Sunday was a perfect day to take her.  It was high 60s and sunny.  There weren't any lines or people running into us with strollers.  It really was the perfect day to be at the zoo. Plus, we had a buy one get one admittance coupon from our Entertainment Book.  Perfect!  It was so successful that we've decided our zoo trip will always take place in the fall.  Riley was so excited to go see all of the animals.  Although, the two animals she wanted to see (hippos and elephants) weren't at the zoo, she loved all of the other activities.  Here are some pictures.

The Jellyfish.

Feeding the giraffe, "Shawny," lettuce snacks.

Not as excited about feeding the llamas!

Of course we had to slide!

And last, the cute little dance she did for us as we were leaving!

Sewing Project #2

I decided to try my hand at making "decorative" burp clothes.  I had a good reason.  Our good friends, Cary and Ali, are having a baby.  Even more exciting they're having the first baby GIRL in the Coppola family.  She'll be joining her older brother and 4 boy cousins.  I tried three different styles before I found a winner.  I can't seem to find the link to the directions that I followed.  Anyhow, they turned out really cute and I'm going to work on some more for two more baby showers I have coming up.  They made such a cute gift.  Sewing project #2 = Success