Riley's 1st Christmas

We really enjoyed our first Christmas with Riley! The following video shows exactly how the morning started and makes us smile every time we look at it. She had the biggest smile on her face when she walked around the corner and saw the tree and toys. She did not stay interested in opening presents, but she liked having new toys to play with and she really enjoyed the paper, bows and ribbon. Santa was nice enough to bring Riley a toothbrush and toothpaste which is wonderful since she now has 2 bottom teeth. We are so blessed to have Riley and every experience is a new and wonderful one!

Christmas Morning

Santa Toys and Stocking Fun

What Santa Brought the Big Kids

At Matt's parents Santa always brings the big kids toys too; this year is was Nerf dart guns!


Riley wanted to join in on the fun.

Opening Presents

Playing with New Toys

The shopping cart came with real snacks!!


Riley could not wait for dad to get the toy out of the packaging - she had to start playing with it while he was still in the process.

Looking Pretty

Thanks Uncle Andy and Aunt Rhonda for my pretty Christmas outfit.

A New Approach to Opening Presents

Getting on top of the present seemed to be effective.


Playing with the toy!

Christmas Eve - Late Night (not for children)

Here is Matt "aka: Santa's helper". This is what Christmas Eve night will look like for years to come.

Christmas Eve

We had a nice Christmas Eve together. Here we are working on the Ginger Bread House (honestly, Riley and I did not help this year, but Matt did).

Mocha and Bailey

Mocha and Bailey went to the groomers yesterday and they gave them the little bear toys as Christmas gifts. They always look so cute after going to the groomers! Riley is really enjoying the dogs now, so much so that when we dropped them off yesterday and walked out of the shop she started crying. She did not understand why we were leaving them somewhere. Mocha still runs about 99% of the time, but now Bailey lets Riley pet her quite a bit. Riley is starting to be softer and she like to give her hugs and kisses, it is so sweet!

Finally Getting a Tooth

Riley is finally getting a tooth!! We are so excited that we will not have to buy her dentures for her 1st birthday. (Sorry the angle of the picture is a little werid, but I wanted to get the tooth on camera.)

A Day at the Park

We took Riley to the park today. She got to walk around, swing, and go down the slide. She is really enjoying being outside and loves to watch the other kids.

Decortaing the Christmas Tree

Cute Christmas Pajamas

We got Riley these very cute Christmas pajamas, they say "What Santa doesn't bring Grandma Will". (We tried to get a picture were you could read that, but she would not sit still.) Riley is doing great! She is walking all over the place and just a talking. She now says "Hi Dada" and man is it cute, we will work on getting it on video.

Wardrobe Mishaps

A little too high...

A little too low!

Playing with Nicole

Riley had fun last weekend playing on the trampoline with Nicole; she really wants to be one of the big kids!

Walking Girl

As you can see from this video Riley is quite the walker these days, it is so cute to see her go! She is always on the go and is so proud of herself. Man, they grow up fast!!

Christmas Lights

On Sunday Riley thought it was fun to help dad and grandpa put up Christmas lights...Well, she really just thought it was fun to play with the lights while dad tried to straighten them out.

A Day of Thanks!

Today Riley celebrated her 1st Thanksgiving and we definitely have a reason to be thankful. As you may know from the previous post Riley has not had a very good week...well, I think she is starting to do better FINALLY!! We made a trip back to the doctor yesterday because she still was not keeping things down, she threw up yesterday morning, and she was just not herself. The doctor said her ears were looking great so we should just stop the antibiotic since that is probably what is causing the other problems. This morning when she got up she did not seem to be much better, but as the day progressed so did she. By this afternoon she was smiling, laughing, and playing more like her normal self. The great mood faded rather quickly, but it was nice to see her so happy again. We are just hoping that tomorrow will be even better. While at my family's house Riley found a Christmas bow so we decided to decorate her:

She also got to meet her Great-Uncle Gordon from California for the first time! (I know this is not the best picture since she is trying to escape, but it was the best we could get - it was getting close to bedtime.)