A typical night around here usually consists of the following:

1. Rushing home and arriving about 5:15 after leaving work and picking up both girls.
2. Rushing to make dinner ready between 5:30 and 5:45- yup, that is right- I have about a 1/2 window before the natives start to eat their own!
3. Eating dinner, usually with Todd and Riley both talking to me about everything and Annie grumping and wanting to get out of her seat. Occasionally, if I make something she likes, she will eat it, but usually dinner consists of me trying to get her to eat and her saying nah, nah, nah.
4. After dinner, Todd brings both girls upstairs and suddenly they are all happy again because I usually hear screaming and laughing while I get a few minutes to myself to go on the computer.
5. About 6:15 I head upstairs and sometimes do some laundry, set out the girls clothes for the next day if I haven't already and start baths.
6. One or both get baths- this is a fun time because Annie is happy!
7. PJs on and head to the bonus room to watch Yo Gabba Gabba at 6:30. Watch and play, mostly play and then Annie gets ready for bed about 7.
8. She gets a book and rocked for about 2 minutes now, and then I lay her down and she goes to sleep.
9. Riley has her snack and gets to watch her movie until about 7:45, when she then uses the potty, brushes her teeth and goes to bed.
10. Todd reads her a book while I collapse into bed and either read or watch tv...

Here are a few pics from our night tonight:

Forgot about Roxie- she joins us in the family room on her couch. Sometimes she is annoying and tries to play with the girls but she smells and they don't like it :)

Annie watching Yo Gabba Gabba

Riley in her pj's and ready for bed

Ducks

Annie had a day off of school last Friday so Ms Donna came to stay with her in the morning so I could work. I got home around noon and she was asleep, but she didn't stay that way for long! So, we played in the yard and went for a nice walk around the neighborhood, and then picked up Riley and went to feed the ducks at a nearby park. They weren't too hungry, but we did see a cool bird sweep into the little pond and grab a fish- it was pretty cool. Annie was so excited when we pulled up- she could see the ducks from her seat and she was screaming and laughing....very funny!

I had to hang onto the hood of Annie's coat so she didn't walk into the pond and she had a few little "episodes", but other than that, we had a fun time and it was nice to soak up some warm sunshine after a long time without it. We are really, really looking forward to spring!

Goofy Annie

On Monday, Riley had a b-ball makeup game from the snow day, but Annie and I stayed home because I had a horrible headache and she was pretty grumpy (usually is on a Monday- Mondays are tough around here), so we played a bit and then put on our pj's. The camera just happened to be up here, so I took some pictures of her since she likes to see them. These are pretty goofy:

Annie and Mama- making a silly face

And this is what she does now when you say smile- Take ONE

Take TWO

Take THREE

Fun outside

Last weekend was beautiful- warm and sunny and just perfect. We had no plans at all, except for Riley's game Saturday morning, so we spent pretty much the whole weekend outside and it was wonderful. Todd put together Annie's Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa and we played with it and went on walks and played with some neighborhood friends.

Birthday, part II

So, more pictures from Riley's party. We went to Hearts of Clay, a paint-your-own-pottery place and the girls had a fun time. We decided to just have the girls of my girlfriends from work (and Bryce, but he couldn't come), so it was sort of low-key and relaxed, which was nice. Riley painted a princess box and Annie did a bowl and they both came out really well.

Then they let Riley put her handprint on the birthday wall, which was cool, and we did a handprint plate with all of the other girls (even Annie's) thumbpreints! Cake was good, Riley got lots of presents and both girls were tired when we came home!

Grandma and Grandpa Buckley came back to the house and we all played for a bit, and then off to bed...in all, a very nice weekend.

Riley's new nightgown with Princess and the Frog

Her hand print

Annie's plate- actually came out much better than I thought it would!

Cookies!

The cake came out great! And it was yummy, too!

Morgan painting

More little tidbits on the girls

Don't have a whole lot of time- life and work super super crazy right now, but then again, when is it not????

Two quick things I want to get down, and then when I get a little more time, I will try to get the rest of Riley's party pics up....

1. Riley has now begun going to the first grade classroom 4 times a week for several hours at a time, at least according to her! Sometimes we get some interesting stories, but I think this is accurate, for the most part! So, we are wondering, is she really a kindergartener anymore...not really sure! Hoping to meet with both teachers at some point to figure out what all of this means. Also- the school participates in something called 100 Book Challenge...the students have to read lines in books each day, and the goal is to read 100 books over the course of the year. Well, we have not been recording lines, but total books instead. So, on every line, she reads a book...anyone want to guess how many books she has read, to date, this year???? 500....YES, 500 BOOKS already read, completely by herself, this year.....WOW!

2. Annie has a lovey! She has attached herself to Nestlee, a dog that is actually Riley's given to her by Grammy (my grandmother). She has taken Nestlee to bed every night for months now. Well, the other night I went out with the girls, so Todd put her to bed. When she got up in the morning, she had Nestlee and another little dog that came with Riley's vet kit. And since then, she has to sleep with both doggies...it is the cutest thing to see her walking around with one dog under each arm! I need to try to get a pic of it! Also, she has started to not want to sleep with her sleepsack (a kind of wearable blanket)- not sure why suddenly she does not want it- maybe she is hot at night? Probably better for her to make this change now, since it is a fleece one and we would need to give it up soon when (if) it finally starts warming up here....

That is it- longer than I liked, but good to get this stuff down.....later!

Riley's birthday party

I finally have the pictures off the camera from Riley's party. Not sure if I can get them all up in one post...but I will start at the beginning.

Since Riley's birthday is so close to Valentines Day, and we had to wait to do her party until Auntie Karen and Sophie left, we decided to do it on V-day and have a heart party, which made it easy for me to decorate!! She wanted a heart cake and I was lucky enough that Karen already had a pan, so we were ready to go.

We made a heart cake and heart cookies and they both came out great.

This is what Annie did while Riley and I did the cake. She was mad....and shortly after this, we took our eyes off her for seconds and she took a big bite of the heart cake. Luckily, I was able to save it!

Cakes before frosting: