WW - Riley and her 'Oderant

Don't mind us - just a lesson on personal hygiene........well ok what really happened is she loves deoderant ('oderant) and managed to find this all on her own.........can't you tell by that onery look that she thinks she's getting away with something fantastic!

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A New Addiction

My hubby has a new addiction. People who've known him for awhile think it's kind of funny, since you know he bought a fishing license last year and used it.........not even once (ok maybe once but NO more than that I'm sure).

His addiction has something to do with theseAlthough the ones we use certainly aren't hand picked like this picture says - nope they come from a gas station (and do you know how much a dozen nightcrawlers cost - I'm really thinking about starting a worm farm - could it be a coincidence that there were step by step instructions in my Family Fun magazine this month, I think not).

And it also has something to do with these which he always hopes he catches, but never keeps. So if you want fresh fish (and to clean them yourself) go fishing by my hubby, he'll probably give them to you.

He's obsessed I'm telling you, but that's ok because I think this is a rather harmless addiction, this time of year it is rather hot when we go with him though, but if that's the only draw back, we'll let him keep this addiciton. Miss Riley did come home soaked from head to toe (seriously) and I'm pretty sure we were only out there around an hour........she's a sweatting machine.

I've been tagged

The creative Kelli at Writing the Waves of Motherhood has invited me to play this Four Things Tag and I'm excited because I can easily think of 4 people to tag........yeah! Let's see if they play along :)

Four jobs I’ve had:
*Babysitting
*Worked in Computer Lab at college for a couple of semesters
*Selling rubber stamps and accessories for Stampin' Up
*Work at the Corps of Engineers at our local lake - and I love it!

Four movies I can watch over and over:
*You've Got Mail
*Sleepless in Seattle
*Most any Julia Roberts movie
*Don't shoot me - I love Disney movies - still :)

Four places I’ve lived:
*Stockton, MO - on Vine street although the street number changed once but the house never moved (isn't that weird!)
*Bolivar, MO - in an apt right after Joey & I got married
*just outside of Bolivar, MO - in a subdivision that reminded us of the Brady Bunch, and we loved it!
*Back in Stockton, MO and so nice to be "home" for both of us!!
Looking at the list I realized that for the first 18 years of my life I never moved (unless you consider changing bedrooms a move) and since then I've packed up and moved 5 times if you count the 2 places I lived in college........hopefully we are settled and I'll have 18 years in this house........unless of course we win the lottery, which I always forget to play, and can afford to build our dream house!

Four TV shows I love:
hmmm......this is hard since I don't watch much and when I do I'm usually not in control of the remote
*I agree with Kelli - Full House is a great all time favorite and sometimes Riley and I still watch the re-runs
*I don't think it's even on anymore in re-run form, but I used to really love Mad About You
*CSI/NCIS - I like all of these when I get a chance
*Hannah Montana is pretty cute

Four places I’ve vacationed:
*Pensacola Beach, FL
*Gatlinburg, TN
*San Antonio, TX
*Eureka Springs, AR

Four of my favorite dishes:
*Mac & Cheese is one of my all time favorites!
*Chocolate in nearly any form (brownies, cookies.......the list could go on forever)
*Homemade bread
*Nacho Taco Chicken

Four sites I visit daily: (Does almost daily count?)
*Google reader - to check on all the blogs I subscribe too (by the way this is the coolest site, saves me lots of time!)
*Yahoo mail - gotta check my email :)
*Facebook - not daily, but sometimes
*Some weather page - I can't ever seem to catch the news so I end up checking online

Four places I would rather be right now:
*Hanging out at home with Riley instead of at work (yikes can I say I'm at work without getting in trouble)
*Somewhere tropical on a beach
*Best Buy - I'm really gonna have to make a decision on a video camera which I think requires I actually go to the store
*France - I've always wanted to go there, but can I be zapped Jetson style instead of the long plane ride please

Tag Four People:
*My bestest friend Jenelle at Mommy in the Woods
*My other bestetst friend Gina at Pray for Carter
*Sarah at Belle of the Ball who is a great re-united friend from high school and runs marathons (really like 26 miles all at once)
*Barb over at A Chelsea Morning - who I don't know in real life, but I enjoy her blog

FFF - Friends

I love FFF :)

Riley and her bud Colter (Jenelle's son)

Kissing her friend Emily's booboo (she knows three at least but this is Emily F)

Riley and "her" Steve

Cousins count as friends right - because this is Riley and her cousin Cayman

Helping baby Lucas - man how she loves him!

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One, Two, Ka-Pow

Watch out Olympic hopefuls because Riley Jean is a swimming machine (ha that rhymes). Riley has never been able to swim all by herself, even though she has wanted to, and she was incredibly excited at the fact that with her new life jacket (sporting Dora and Boots of course) that she could float, turn in a circle and swim with no help from mommy and daddy!

Doesn't she just look like a synchronized swimmer here

She LOVED that she could float "all by herself" - look no hands

One of her favorite things (well besides jumping off the side about a thousand times while saying one, two, ka-pow - and I'm not sure where three went or where she got ka-pow, but whatever I'm the mom so I think I'm not supposed to always get it) was rescuing her daddy. She would swim out (straight up and down in the water with her little feet running as fast as they would go) and haul him back to the stairs. It was precious, and while I didn't get a great video but at least it's recorded forever in history.

Wordless Wednesday - skinny dipping

Daddy's wearing clothes, Mommy's wearing clothes, but look who daddy let jump in the pool without any clothes (for breifly one minute until Mommy snapped a picture then out she came).


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We were outta town baby..............

Doesn't my girl look so big here..........man time is going to too quickly!

I was kind of on a blogger vacation last week - we were in Omaha and there was just simply not enough time to fit in blogging. Ok, so now you are thinking, loads of fun stuff in Omaha? I know it may not be at the top of any super cool places to go brochure, but man their zoo is AWESOME - it really is in the top 10 for the nation..........then of course there was a pool in our hotel and a Chuck E Cheese in town so yes, there was just far to many things to fit in.

Daddy being silly - his specialty

My hubby was pretty sceptical of taking Riley to the zoo - they just really aren't his thing - but since everyone kept telling him how awesome it was, I finally convinced guilted him in to taking Riley................fast forward 8 hrs...........my hubby was so excited about the zoo that they just had to take me after I got off work..........yes he wanted to go back, voluntarily, with no hinting at all from me (even though I was prepared to whine a bit if needed).

Riley watching "her" Polar Bear

Riley loved the Polar bears and he was pretty cool because he would swim right up to the glass and nose you........well really nose the glass, but you know what I mean. She also loved the Cheddar Chex Mix that her daddy bought her too :)

Daddy and Riley by the Sea Lions
(I love that she is saying cheese but totally not looking at the camera)

Daddy's favorite was the monkeys (because he is one haha). They were HUGE, like way bigger than a human being and quite entertaining. They would play fight with each other, bang on the glass, all kinds of fun things.........I really don't think I've ever seen monkeys quite that big though, if I met one in the jungle I would have definitely run away screaming!

Checking out the cuteness that is Riley (look it up - cuteness is a word hehe)

Riley's on the hot seat

Hmm........this post could be about a lot of things........could it be my girl has done something she shouldn't have and is in trouble? Could she be a contestant on a show that I've really never heard of called HotSeat but google said existed at one time?

Nope, she is in fact sitting literally on the hot seat of a MOTORCYCLE and she was SOOOOO excited! Can't you tell by the way she has her fingers in her mouth - she just can't decide how to show this excitement!

It was my cousin Dan's motorcycle, maybe I should call it a Harley since that sounds cooler, although they kept telling Riley it was a White Horse which even further confused her because she was looking at it and it certainly was not a horse or a Harley, it was a motorcycle silly people!

WW - Riley's bling

Riley flashing a peace sign with a "bling" necklace she played with at my class reunion

Check out more Wordless Wednesday posts here or here

I'm old!

I'm in denial that my class reunion was last weekend, surely there's been some mistake and I haven't been out of high school for 10 years, because it doesn't feel like I'm 27 years old, it doesn't feel like it was 10 years ago that I was standing in that hot and humid gym waiting to switch that tassel from one side of that silly mortarboard hat to the other (why do we have those crazy hats anyways, they really are quite bizarre don't you think). But I guess since I did recognize all people as my classmates, I must be that old.........I mean a grown-up.

The only pic of me from the night
because I totally forgot to take our family photo
Me, Jessica, Mike, Natalie

But then I see all of our children - and since we didn't have any when we graduated, I guess we have aged a few years.........but 10, I'm just not sure.

Jenelle & Colter - such a silly, fun boy!

It's funny that age really doesn't bother me, I'll happily turn 30 in a few years, yeah I guess, it really will just be another birthday, but it will be a nice round number, but I don't think it will stress me out or anything.

Jenelle, Colter & John Woods

But for some reason, having a 10 year reunion did kinda make me feel old..........Oh well, I guess everyone has them :)

Riley making a Play-Doh tower, and then not sure about sharing it

My friend Katie, her hubby and four children (yikes her hands are full!)

FFF - Horray for the Red, White & Blue

Sarah's theme this week was all about the 4th of July and this year's celebration was by far the most fun for Riley! Huge Castle Bounce house, daddy in the dunk tank, water balloon fights toss game, yummy food, sno cones, friends, fireworks (which after every single one she said "that one was my favorite" - what's not to love?

Daddy giving a big grin in the dunk tank

Riley giving baby Lucas some love in the bounce house

Riley's favorite Steve

My dear friend Gina's little boy Evan - a little unsure of the loud fireworks
(but only for a minute because he settled right in!)

One of her favorite parts of the holiday was that she was able to do a few fireworks herself, since she's 2 1/2, and she was REALLY excited about picking out which ones we were going to buy (although I had to do a little convincing on the smoke bombs since she kept saying "I don't like smoke"). She loved the little snakes, just like I remember loving them - although I must say looking at them now they really do look kind of like a pile of big poo, and the parachutes and sparklers were a hit too.......somehow I'm thinking next year I won't get away with $5.92 at the fireworks stand, she's realized they really are pretty cool and only come around once a year.

The most fantastic part of the evening though was when Riley held her own sparkler (with mommy hovering very close because truth be told I was a little lot nervous about this!) When there was only one left, I asked her one last time if she wanted to do a sparkler and she said the cutest thing! "I think I'm scared of that" but she did it, she didn't even drop it and run away like I thought she would, she held it like a big girl, oh I'm so proud of her!

Wordless Wednesday - Wedding fun

Our good friend Pat got married this weekend - and man was it a hectic weekend, the extra day off definitely did not buy me any extra relaxing time andI was ready to get back to work on Monday so I could relax......man I hate admitting that - and while it was literally the shortest wedding ceremony I have ever seen, it was great fun!

Kisses for the best man - Daddy

And she was done...............
well until the 4th of July party that night at our
church where she got her 3rd or 4th wind for the day :)

Check out more WW's here or here