Davis is 3 years old!

Happy Birthday Davis! Davis turned 3 last Sunday, September 21st. He had a very fun birthday party!




We brought our jump castle for the kids to play in. I think it was a big hit.

The kids gathered around the bubble machine like it was the coolest thing ever!

Time for cake!!

Davis had a Pablo (from the Backyardigans) pinata. It was cute to watch the kids try to break it. It looks like Riley is trying to poke it rather than hit it.

Davis knows how to do it!

The kiddos ran to pickup all the yummy snacks that came out of the pinata.

Davis got a new John Deere cap for his birthday. He was so excited since he loves caps lately...and he always loves John Deere tractors!

Davis, Abby , and Riley try out one of Davis's new toys.

And here's the three stooges trying to get all of the air out of the jump castle. :)

(I am not real sure how to turn the picture around) Truett had all the birthday excitement he could take. He quickly feel asleep in the swing after all the activities.

Miles Cotton Festival 2008

Of course we attended the annual Miles Cotton Festival. This year we had lots of fun because Papa and Daddy drove old fashioned tractors in the parade. Daddy pulled a cart with his tractor that we all could ride on. Lacy, Davis, and Truett came down to ride in the parade with us. Abby and Emily Baird ended up riding with us as well...even though we could not talk their mom into riding! We had lots of fun, and we are ready to do it again next year! Later in the day, Riley got to go play in the bounce houses in the park, which she loved. We had to cool down after that with a snow cone. Riley went home with her Papa to Winters so Josh and I could enjoy the rest of the day child free. Here are some pics of the parade. Oh yeah...check out Riley's new pink boots! She did so good in her boots that day. I thought she might not wear her boots very long since she has never worn boots before, but she did great!


I swear Riley looks just like her Papa!

Here we are waiting for the parade to start. Truett is still awake at this point. For some reason, Lacy and I look like the only ones having fun. :)

Keith and Kory were right in front of us in the parade with their tractor. Isn't that a cool seat that they rigged up for Kory to sit on!

Here we are passing the Opera House. Truett was already sacked out! We kept telling the kids to wave, but I am not sure they were into waving. Riley would usually waved when I told her to. I think we need to have waving lessons before the parade next year.

And here we are finishing up the parade. What a handsome driver! ;) We all had a blast, and the kids did so good!

Papa, I think you found a new tractor driver!

Riley always wants to do what the grown-ups do. What a big girl!

Yoyo and potty time

Daddy is trying to teach Riley how to yoyo before school one morning. There is a story behind this yoyo. We went to the Buffalo Gap Historic Village one Sunday afternoon. Riley saw the yellow, wooden yoyo and just had to have it. All she could really do with it was swing it around, but she thought it was pretty cool. She will eventually learn how to work the yoyo all by herself!

Okay, so more on the potty training... We haven't officially started potty training yet, but Riley likes to sit on the potty. She never goes in the potty, but at least she is not afraid of it. So, if she ever tells us that she wants to sit on the potty we will let her, hoping one day that she will actually use the potty for its intended purpose. Riley likes to read daddy's farming magazines on the potty! Just look at all those cows in the picture!!

"Hey! Can't a girl get a little privacy around here!"

What a good sport!

We could not have asked for a better stray dog. Big Dog (I think that is his official name now) has been so good with our other dogs, and great with Riley. I think he finally realizes that this is his home. He has stopped running off for days at at time. He has started jumping over the fence to be in the backyard with the other dogs during the day. Anyhoo, here are a couple pics of Riley and Big Dog playing together.

Riley doesn't have brothers or sisters, so she has to play with the dogs. She is trying to play peek-a-boo with Big Dog by covering him up with her blanket.

Goodbye paci, hello teddy bear

Yes, that is right...goodbye paci!!! What a momentous occasion! This was really a sort of spur of the moment decision. I has talked to Riley's new teacher about when they will take away her paci at daycare. She only gets it at nap time, but the teacher said that Riley usually just chews on it. So, on Friday Riley's teacher, Cassie, decided to try putting Riley to sleep without a paci...and it worked!! When I heard that, I thought that surely if she doesn't need her paci at daycare then she shouldn't need it at home. Josh and I decided not to give Riley her paci on Friday night at bed time. That was tough, but it needed to be done if we were going to go through with this. Riley crawled around trying to find the paci's in her bed. She even checked her stash in the corner. She was laying in her bed in a tired cry saying "paci, paci, paci, paci, paci" for about 5 minutes. 5 minutes...very doable, right? Yes, but it was a hard 5 minutes for all of us. I knew it would not take her long to fall asleep. She didn't even wake up and freak out in the middle of the night to discover that her paci's were not there. Although, I do think the late sleeping habits may come to an end on the weekends. Anyhoo, she did real good on Saturday until we went to Abilene. You see, Riley is VERY accustomed to getting a paci while riding in her car seat with me. She cried about half of the way to Abilene. And then she asked for a paci a couple of times as we got back in the car from leaving a store. Luckily, Riley was exhausted Saturday night and she fell asleep without needing a paci. I was worried that church might be difficult without a paci, but much to our surprise, Riley was really good. If we would have known that taking the paci away was going to be this easy, we would have tried it a long time ago! Okay, so, on Sunday afternoon Nana and Papa took the grandkids to the fair. Riley had a blast! She got to stay out until 10:00pm! She rode lots of rides, played games, and saw some animals. She came home with a teddy bear that Nana and Papa won for her. Riley has never been attached to a stuffed animal, but this one was special! She insisted on taking it to bed with her that night! She hasn't ever slept with anything else in her bed either. I guess the teddy bear is like her new comfort thing. She has slept with it every night since then! It is so cute to see her hugging and kissing her bear. So even if this is her new crutch, it is much cuter than her sucking on a paci. Here is a picture of Riley and her new bear before we went to school today.

Daddy's little helper

Riley is starting to talk so much, and she watches every move we make! She has become quite the copy cat. On Labor day, we went to see Jon, Lacy, Davis and Truett. Davis is potty trained, so Riley thought she needed to wear underwear like Davis. Lacy let her wear some of Davis's training underwear. I thought this would be an interesting experience since we had not even started potty training yet. She went a couple of hours without an accident and several trips to the potty without going. She went into the bathroom and said "potty", but I was busy helping Lacy hang pictures, and I thought this was another false alarm for the potty...not this time. She actually went teetee...not in the potty of course, but she was in the bathroom. I felt bad that I did not listen to her. Anyhoo, I guess we might try to start potty training soon. Riley has learned to say "NO" this week. She used to just shake her head for no, but not anymore! Everything is NO. I think she is learning a lot of new things at daycare since she gets to hang out with the big kids more.

Riley is helping daddy fix a motor for the auger.

Riley and mama cheesin' it up on the back of daddy's pickup. Notice the pliers in Riley's hands...such a handy helper!

Helping daddy "organize"his parts...

Riley sporting her new backpack and travel bag that match her new suitcase.