The Green Monster

Latest kid news:
Kyle battled a green marker today and lost. He is still mama's boy but is also very independent, therefore every time he is asked to hold an adults hand in the street, it is a throw down. Kyle is also now climbing to the top of the playground and coming down on his own.

Riley loves preschool and loves playing with her brother. Her new favorite thing to play is "school", where either Tracy or Eric is the school teacher to her favorite dolls and stuffed animals and she is the mommy. After she tells us what the lesson for the day should be, she leaves us to teach while she goes off to school. Eric enjoys this game b/c this allows him to watch sports center, where Tracy would prefer Riley "teach" with her:-) Tracy tried talking Riley into teaching with her earlier this week by explaining that she can be a teacher and a mommy. Riley paused while thinking about the suggestion and told Tracy, "hold on... I'm thinking about it..." The final decision was that she would be a mommy and a student. At least she was in the same room now!
Enjoy the pix!

Riley at the park with buddy Aiden

Kyles very green face

close up of the Green! This pix really doesn't do the damage justice!

Kyle going down the slide like a big kid!

Welcome Fall!

We have had a great week! This past weekend, Grandma and Papa came to visit and watch the girls awesome soccer skills!! Riley and Kyle loves having Grandma and Papa around all weekend. Riley and Grandma played school a LOT while Kyle continued to tackle Papa. Sammi (Grandma and Papas puppy) loved playing with Buster and surprisingly, Buster loved playing as well.

Soccer is going great - both girls are surprising us with their skills and they are having a lot of fun! Kyle's 9th tooth has finally broken through (a molar!!) This explains why he has woken up in the middle of the night 4 of the last 6 nights... too bad Tracy & Eric didn't figure out the waking was a result of the tooth earlier - now Motrin keeps him happy through the night!

School update: Kyle has also moved up to the toddler room at school. His transition has been great and he loves playing with the big kids. Riley had her first field trip this week and Tracy joined her. She had a great time with her friends and loved having mommy there to play as well!

Visit to the lake with our neighborhood friends - the ducks were being crazy and the kids couldn't get enough!

Riley's 1st time on the school bus on her way to Maymont Park for her 1st field trip!

(sitting with BFF, Brianna)

Can you see the Two Bears?!
Riley's preschool class (Riley is on the ground on the right)
Lunch with BFF, Brianna. Ri got to use her new Hello Kitty lunch box (who knew Hello Kitty was back in fashion?!)

Go Steelers! Kyle at soccer practice - its finally cooling off in the mornings! Riley's fancy footwork!
Poor Kyle - being dressed up in Rileys nightgowns already!

51 More Weeks

Hanna and Ike were no match for our family! We spent last week at Emerald Isle and had beautiful weather and a GREAT time! We spent hours on end playing in the sand and water and even found time for putt-putt, bumper boats, race cars, the aquarium, ice cream, and delicious dinners every night! Papa and Eric even found time for golf! Aside from our regular motley crew, Aunt Becky from Cali joined us - it was great seeing you Aunt Beck! Thank you Grandma, Papa, Bebe, and Mamo for such a fun week!

But most importantly, Happy Birthday Aunt Darcy! We celebrated Aunt Darcy's birthday at the beach and we are looking forward to the same next year!

The kids had a blast - Kyle now says "fut-ball" and throws his arms in the air when anyone says touchdown and Riley can't get enough of the surf! Soccer started for Ri when we got back from vacation and we'll have tons of pix of that in the future! Both Riley and Lexa were Much better than we thought they would be:-) We took over 200 pix, so no stories, just pix this week...
(for a ton more pix, check out Aunt Darcy's blog - http://umsteadupdate.blogspot.com )

The annual matching clothes picture.

Kyle and Lexa in the baby pool on the beach - the water was ROUGH so the baby pool was a great alternative. Notice the monster sand castle in the background!
Eric and Riley in the water.


The Rodrigues crew (plus husbands)

The Surratts (minus Tracy)

Pigs may now be flying... Bev is using a computer!
Birthday Girl in the Birthday Hat!
Emerald Isle Butts!
Eric being swept to sea with all the kids
Grandma tickling the girls on a night time walk
My favorite picture - Touchdown!
(Grandma, Kyle, Papa)

Riley's 1st soccer practice

We did a lot of singing and dancing to Mama Mia this week - here is just the beginning of Kyle getting into his moves...

Another cute doll!

We've had a busy week and the camera never came out... but here are some old ones that I stumbled upon...

Riley last week (3 years 10 months old)

Riley 2005 - 11 months old

Riley at one and a half years old (I'm not sure whats up with the hair!)

Instead of saying "me-ow", she would say "ow-me"... so cute!