Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Checking out

Riley and Kyle had a great week of being spoiled rotten by Grandma and Papa! Tracy had surgery on her foot last week, so Grandma and Papa came to town to help out and play with the kids and they were ALL worn out! Riley was a wonderful nurse to her mama and helped out whenever possible, including holding Tracy's arm as she bumped from stair to stair on her bottom on her few ventures down stairs! Kyle wasn't sure what to do with mom laying down all day. At first he cuddled with her and then he tried making her get up by pulling her head upward. Eventually, he gave up and just enjoyed all the attention of his grandparents.

It was a cold weekend, so Grandma and Papa played inside a lot and took the kids to the mall to play. Riley got to see Madagascar and Papa even took Kyle out on his own for some quality guy time. Aunt Darcy was planning on taking Lexa and Riley to cousin Ians 2nd birthday party Sunday night, but Cosmo ended up at the emergency vet and of course Tracy was still in no shape to move, so the girls had to miss all the fun. Good news though, we found out today that Cosmo is doing MUCH better and the Umsteads hope to bring Cosmo home on Thanksgiving!! We are thinking about you Cosie!

A big and special thank you to Grandma and Papa for all their wonderful help! And also to Eric for taking on all the Tracy duties for the last week and for being such a great nurse:-) And to Bebe for all the wonderful food! And to all of Tracy's friends for their warm wishes, goodies, thoughts, and prayers! On the cusp of Thanksgiving, the Surratt Pack is so thankful to be surrounded by such wonderful family and friends!

And on to the few pix that were taken this week:

Riley & Kyle being silly!

Papa relaxing after the kids were asleep - with Taz -

Taz always finds the one person who can't stand cats!


The kids attacking Papa.


Riley and Kyle playing Honey Bee Hop!





Kyle playing independently (with Riley laughing in the background)



Sunday, November 16, 2008

Disney Days

This weekend Riley and Tracy joined Darcy and Lexa for Disney on Ice, Worlds of Fantasy! The show was wonderful and our seats were amazing (Thanks to Darcy!)! The girls, young and old, had a blast!





Preshow - that is the REAL Cinderella!


This is a typical Kyle dinner now a days - straight to the bath after dinner!


Riley also had a birthday party this past weekend at a dance studio! She is now ok with wearing her leotard and had lots of fun with her friends from school.

Although she now likes her leotard, she still isn't much on dressing up. So when the other kids dressed up in old costumes, Riley wore her friends fun pink dress!!




Thursday, November 13, 2008

The Zone

Happy Birthday Bebe!! Last Saturday we had a wonderful birthday celebration with Bebe and Mamo - out to dinner and cake back at Bebe's! The kids had a great time and enjoyed getting covered with chocolate. Happy Birthday!!

Tracy, Riley, and Kyle spent Sunday afternoon at Aunt Darcy's house playing with Lexa and Monday was full of errands and play. Tonight, the entire family went jumping at the Jump Zone - one last hooray for Tracy before foot surgery. Riley didn't hesitate and was on the equipment in a flash. Kyle was a little hesitant at first but after a few minutes he was invincible as well. The camera didn't come out much this week... we'll try to be better next week!

Happy Birthday Bebe


Kyle and Riley decorated Mamo with stickers. Mamo was a great sport as always!

Kyle covered in chocolate
Sleeping baby

One last birthday picture of Riley in the Birthday hat!





Friday, November 7, 2008

Fairy Lifeguards

Riley and Kyle have had an exciting couple of weeks! Due to technical difficulties, we were not able to post last week, so there is a lot to say!!

The 2 week period started with Riley's 4th birthday which we seemed to celebrate all month long! On Monday, her actual birthday, we a great play date in the morning and the kids made their own pizzas for lunch and that afternoon we had other friends over and the kids decorated Halloween cookies (needless to say, we couldn't see the floor of the playroom by Monday evening!) After Rileys pick of a taco dinner, we went to cold stone for an ice cream birthday treat! Cotton Candy ice cream with sprinkles as always!

Both kids had a great 2 days of school and Ri got to share cupcakes with her classmates on Tuesday. Thursday brought a few tears due to 4 shots for Riley and 2 for Kyle! They tried to be brave but in the end, the entire doctors office will agree that Riley should get involved in horror flicks! Stats are as follows...
Kyle at 18 months: 32.5 inches and 23.5lbs
Riley at 4 years old: 40.25 height and weight - a perfect square!
Kyle is still on the small side compared to Ri at the same age, but the doc says they are both doing great and a head of the curve as far as learning. We are confident Kyle will shoot up some day!

But all the excitement of the week lead up to... you guessed it, Halloween!! We spent Halloween morning at the Library for a special story time and activities just for our playgroup. Our friends Julie and Brad had their perfect baby Ben, so big brother John and big sis Ruthie came with us to the Halloween activities (ages 1.5, 2, 3.5, & 4). If ever there was doubt (which there hasn't been!), Tracy and Eric are very happy with just 2 children and bow before anyone with more than 2!! (in all honesty, it wasn't too tough but but only because all 4 kids are really good kids and it was only for 4 hours!)

Riley, Kyle, and Lexa had a blast trick-or-treating that night! The girls are braver than any prior year and nearly skipped from house to house. Kyle has a hoot! He'd push the girls out of the way and grab handfuls of candy!! Tracy found herself giving candy back when he wasn't looking! But even with his pushiness, he always remembered "thank you" and "bye-bye"! However, later that night while the kids were checking out their loot, Kyle would grab handfuls of Rileys candy every time she wasn't looking. It was hilarious! Luckily, Ri never caught on! The night ended with a 102.9 temp for Riley!! Luckily, when she woke up Saturday morning, she was back to normal - we are chalking the temp up to the shots.

But not only was last week Halloween, we also had Riley's birthday party with her friends! It was a princess and pirate theme and the kids decorated hats, wands/swords, and their own cookies on a stick. Riley had a great time (and Tracy and Eric were exhausted!) Thank you Aunt Darcy for all your help and Bebe for watching the little man, so we could focus on all the "big kids"!

After all that, the following week was pretty low key... however tomorrow is Bebe's birthday, so we get to do some more celebrating!


Update: With all the craziness in the last week of October, we forgot to mention the excitement in the 1st week of November! Not only did the Steelers have an awesome win on Monday night, we also get to celebrate an amazing moment in history - Virginia turned Blue and the election of Barack Obama as our new President of the United States of America!! We hope that everyone is proud of our country and looking forward to the years to come as much as we are! (no matter who you voted for!)
Have a great week!

Lexa, Kyle, and Riley getting ready for the party
Kyle as a pirate - I believe that he is soaked in drool as well as juiceRiley showing off her favorite dress and new party hat

Riley and Kyle eating the cookies they decorated at the party

Halloween night
Door number one...
Post trick-or-treating