riley rae turns TWO?

how old is riley rae..... "I'M TWO...."

i cant believe she turned two. time flies. it is amazing.
i wish i could have more kids, but the reality is, i cant. so now i watch my kids grow up so quickly and i realize it is moving along faster than i want. i wish they could be little kids for longer. we so enjoy the things we have gotten to do with them, but as they grow older we only have more possibilities of the things we can do. having a hysterectomy was no walk in the park. i am still very much recovering. physically as much as emotionally. we took a vacation up north. i will post pictures as soon as i upload them. we went for a family reunion. we ended up having a blast together. we went in to San Francisco, toured petaluma and sebastapol, went to Lafayette and met Eric's cousin Alissa and her daughter for breakfast and found an amazing children's book store there! went to vacaville, concord, Clayton and stayed in san ramon. it was about a 6 day venture. we really needed the time away to enjoy the kids and each other as much as to see family.

anyhow, here are pix from Riley's BIRTHday.... AUGUST 14TH.... I'LL POST MORE LATER WITH OUR VACATION AND SUCH.... DON'T FORGET YOU CAN BOOKMARK THE WEB PAGE AND CHECK IT ANYTIME. WE TRY AND UPDATE IT WEEKLY. AND YOU CAN ALSO CLICK ON ANY PIX TO ENLARGE THE VIEWING QUALITY...

caelan is a neat little girl. riley likes to dive right in to anything....

we started a tradition when caelan turned one year old.... cupcakes for breakfast on your birthday.... cupcakes for everyone! its a fun thing and a treat to enjoy and a way to start the day off right by celebrating who's birthday it is.... and the birthday person gets to pick what kind and what to have on the cupcake.... so..... riley picked devils food cake with sprinkles inside then topped with chocolate frosting. can we say sweet! wow. but looks like it was a hit for the girls. they were very happy eating them!

my sister came over in the morning for cupcakes too. she lives right down the street now so its easy to just stop by for a treat!

we also went to yogurt land... our favorite place! mike and mary joined us since she is not working and he works close by.... so they joined us before commuting a long way home...

Eric's sister katie and her husband sent riley a tea set. katie had given one to caelan on her 2nd birthday so that was neat. the girls dove right in and started to play with it!

.... moving right along .....

lucy luna.... she's become quite a great little dog. emphasize on the little. she is 3 lbs. and totally snuggly. we are loving having her around! she fits right in to our quick get up and go life. she has traveled lots and loves to go places..... shes the best!

caelan has lost her "baby" look and is really turning into a young girl. it is amazing watching her expressions... she has many of them....

riley rae is all potty trained. i bought a book when caelan was 18months and we potty trained her very easily with the book, so we tried it again with riley.... although caelan was 20 months which worked great, we werent far behind in age when it came time for riley. we did it august 10th.... and the book i have is amazing. and it only takes a few days..... i am glad it is over. erics parents helped the first day, which was great since i was still re-cooping from my hysterectomy... thanks to them it was smooth sailing from there and then off to vacation my parents helped while we were with them up north, and not once did she have an accident! yipppeeee all done with the diaper stage. glad for that cause its gross and quite expensive at that!

throwing the diapers away.... its all part of my theory mixed with the books! works together well to process what is about to begin! no looking back once it begins!

... ellen moves to brea ...

after living in whittier for 5 plus years ellen moved to brea.... she was living in a house she was renting and the gentleman wanted to sell.... so it was time to hunt for a new place. she moved with her friend stephanie and their two dogs into a condo in brea. it is walking distance from the mall and close to birch street where there are tons of shops and restaraunts. it is an adorable place and they have done a nice job at making it home already. ellen is very artistic and has a great eye so there are a lot of neat elements she has added to her place. i hope she will love it there and build great memories!

ellen and her dog down the street at the "birch street" center...

... caelan is now writing words...

we were sitting outside the other day and Caelan said, I'm going to write your name okay... i said okay, thinking, what is she going to come up with.... low and behold, she got it.......... i said, "i didn't know you knew how to spell mom......" she said, "well mom, i know my letters silly....." i then proceeded to ask how she knew how to spell it, she said "it just sounded like it, cause mom starts with m ya know...." okay then...... she then started sounding words and writing letters all over the sidewalk..... it was fascinating.... simply amazing the child's mind..... now she has work books for kindergarten already started that Mary bought.... she is writing words and letters and putting mazes together. it has been so much fun working with her and watching her mind develop!