Birthdays, Baptisms, and more!

What a week!! The weather has been beautiful and the kids have been on the go non-stop! Riley's new favorite song is "Ring of Fire" (remade by SCI) and loves dancing as a family to it over and over every afternoon. We aren't sure it is the best song for a 4 year old, but we have had our fill of Laurie Berkner! Kyle is speaking in sentences now and has out grown every pair of shoes he owns! He continues to be a little devil, however he is the cutest devil we've ever seen!

Tracy joined Riley on her field trip to the park this week. Riley loved having her mommy with her and Tracy is enjoying these days that Riley loves having her around (the teen years will come to fast!). Riley's teacher told Tracy that Riley is one of 5 "good kids" in the class of 25 and having her in class is a joy!

The weekend was packed! Tracy and the kids spent friday morning at Maymont feeding the animals and having a picnic lunch with friends. On friday night Bebe came over to play with the kids while Tracy and Eric went out to a local vineyard with friends. On Saturday, Riley played soccer and had much more fun than last week! Kyle had a blast too and already loves kicking the ball as much as Riley. Saturday evening Grandma and Papa came to town and Darcy and Lexa came over to play. E & T ventured out again on their own to celebrate their 6th year of marriage!!

Sunday was even more fun! Kyle was Baptized and after church we had friends over to celebrate his 2nd birthday!! Kyle LOVES all his gifts (and so does Riley!) Thank you everyone!
And to top off the week, Tracy and the kids spent Monday morning at the Childrens Museum with friends having a great time! Maybe May will slow down a bit... Enjoy the pix!

Kyle eating his birthday cake!

Time to blow out the candles on Blue! Baby Hanna is in the background - what a cutie!!

Riley, Taz, and Kyle

t-ball - thank you Bebe
Riley on her field trip

on the field trip

gearing up for soccer

Riley and Kate at Maymont

Kyle feeding the goats

Riley, Kyle, and Duffy at C-Mor

Kyle T'ing it up!

Happy Tutu Mama!

What a fun, beautiful week (when it wasn't raining!)! Riley still loves gymnastics and has now begun soccer as well. Soccer did not start off on exactly the right foot, but by the end of practice, things were looking up and we are all looking forward to next week. Kyle is quickly approaching 2 and is really starting to find his true personality! He now has opinions on what shirt he is wearing and normally insists that the shirt he wears must be orange and also has certain shoes that are his favorites - names an old ugly pair of lime green flip flops (and with this kids left feet, flip flops could make him lose a tooth!)! They are currently hid in the laundry room... out of sight, out of mind!

The weekend was perfect and we spent it outside as much as possible. Friday's playgroup was at Crump park for lots of running around and lunch with the geese. Friday night we met Bebe, Aunt Darcy, and Lexa at Toys-r-us so that Kyle could pick out his own birthday gift from Bebe. He instantly fell in love with a toy STOP sign that is about his height. Bebe couldn't resist and purchased the sign, a new helmet, and a very exciting t-ball set for Kyle and beautiful barbies for both girls! Thank you Bebe - the kids are thrilled with all their goodies! After the toy store, we headed out for a delicious birthday dinner in celebration of Tracy's 34th birthday.

Saturday began with a 10 mile walk for Tracy and then the entire family was off to soccer and then Kings Dominion with the Umsteads. What a fun day! The kids plowed through naps and we all had a great time! The weather was perfect and we are all looking forward to many fun days at KD this summer!

The kids first look at Kings Dominion this year

Kyle and Daddy

Kyle and Aunt Darcy on the new "Americana" ferris wheel

I'm not sure Tracy or Darcy will be riding that one again!

Kyle up over the tree tops

Best Buddies in shades!
They both fell asleep about 5 minutes before we got home - There was no waking Kyle!

Riley woke up after about a half hour on the couch.

Sunday lunch out on the deck.

Bunny Ears

Happy Easter! We had a great family weekend, when not spreading 10 cubic feet of mulch!
On Friday, Lexa spent the day with us running errands and playing with play dough. Late that afternoon, Aunt Darcy took over the kids while Tracy and Eric mulched until the sun went down! We out mulched the rain though!

Saturday was spent atthe Britts. We had a great dinner and with the help of all three of the wonderful Britt kids, Tracy forgot she had children for a while!

And of course the Easter Bunny came bright and early on Sunday. After church, we headed out to Aunt Darcy and Uncle Mikes for a delicious dinner and 2 fun filled easter egg hunts - one for the kids and a money hunt for the adults! Thanks Bebe!
Have a great week!

Such Love and beautiful dresses!

Lexa - adorable! and the best eater at the dinning table!! (this night anyway!)

Kyle and his favorite buddy, Uncle Mike

Kyle and Tracy

The kids on their easter egg hunt at the Umsteads

Riley and Tracy

Easter Baskets with new PJ's

More Bumps!

The kids had another great week with lots of outside time and a great visit with Grandma and Papa. On Friday, all four of us and Bebe headed down to NC to see Grandma and Papa. The kids did great on the trip down and made themselves right at home with Grandma and Papa.

The weather was perfect and we had lots of fun playing horse shoes, going to town for a street festival, and on the boat! Papa heard a lot of “MORE Bumps!” from Kyle and “Faster Please!” from Riley! We also celebrated Papa’s birthday and Tracy’s birthday as well. We love Spring!!

Riley also had a super fun play date with her buddy Caroline where they had a real tea party and painted with beautiful colors. Kyle was stuck with mom at the grocery store and talked the entire trip! His vocabulary has boomed! His favorite sentence is currently, “Mama, hold me now”… Tracy and Eric are not big fans of this new sting of words! J The kids also decorated eggs two times this week at home and are super excited about the Easter Bunny coming!

Have a great week!

Kyle & Grandma goofing around in down town little Washington

Riley and Bebe stopping for an icecream break!

The adults relaxing during nap time

Snack time!

Notice how Kyle is sitting in a booster chair... we have the same one that he refuses to sit in!

Heading out of the marina (Grandma, Ri, Kyle, Bebe)

Riley and Kyle at the bow

A new captain on board!

Bubble-hands

We have had an "Eggs"trodinary week which included not one, not two, but three easter egg hunts! The first with the Mom's club, the second through the county but out by Aunt Darcy's house and the third with Grace - the 1st Annual GCPC Easter Egg Hunt! (Tracy helped Julie (childrens ministry director) organize the event! )


School is still going great. Riley's "best friend" is no longer in her class but it doesn't seem to bother her and she seems to love and be loved by many others. She informed me this week there her boyfriend is "a boy" (picture her saying this quietly with a goofy little grin... Scary!)! We have still not met this boy but plan to seek him out when we are back at school Tuesday:-) Riley still loves to color and is writing words and adding well. She can subtract simple numbers as well.


Riley has always been a sensitive and very compassionate little girl but it was really apparent this weekend at dace class. One of the little girls in her class was upset about not being about to dance b/c she forgot her ballet slippers. Riley didn't have tights on her feet so she could dance barefoot and gave the little girl her slippers to wear without batting an eye. Aunt Darcy later rewarded her with a sucker:-) Later that day, another little girl at the egg hunt didn't find one of the "special" eggs that won you a prize so Riley gave her Kyles special egg (obviously Kyle didn't know or care!) and both little girls were beyond happy, which truly make Ri happy as well!
For a truly amusing story about Ri, click on the Umstead Update link to the right.


Kyle, on the other hand, is turning into a little devil but a darn cute one!! He has discovered the joys of throwing a tantrum! Granted his only last about 30 seconds, but no matter how long, they are hilarious! He puts his head on the floor and kicks his legs and then pops up and is over it! We did discover today that 3 out of 4 of his "eye" teeth (I have no idea what they are really called!) have popped though so maybe this new attitude will end once they finish coming though - but we are not holding our breath! The amount of words he is using has exploded and he is stringing words together a lot more often now as well - his favorite "my 2 orange shirts" - he is obsessed with orange shirts!


So now for the good stuff - pictures!

Kyle sleeping with "girl baby" and "boy baby".

He doesn't go anywhere without of them now a days!

Riley and Lexa with the Easter Bunny in Montpelier. Kyle only wanted to say hi!

Can you feel the love!?

Lexa and Riley off for eggs - at both egg hunts Riley followed Lexa everywhere she went!

Kyle finding eggs

Kyle asleep in a big boy bed at Darcy's for the 1st time.

(I love sleeping babies!)

Eating sweet treats after the Grace Egg hunt
Lexa and Riley looking for eggs at the Grace Hunt
New toy! We had beautiful weather!!

Kyle bonded with Uncle Mike all day at the Grace Egg hunt.
(notice "baby boy" is in his hand!)

Riley got a butterfly tattoo at the Grace Egg Hunt

we had face painting as well, but she still doesn't go for that!

Riley at her last dance class

No slippers b/c she had lent them out!

We pulled out the yellow play doe sheet for 2 hours of fun!!

I tried to get Kyles tantrum on video - there is a little leg kicking going on here!