Ya-Mon!

We are literally heading out the door in an hour for our next adventure, so I thought I'd better tell this adventure before we leave!!

This past week Grandma came and hung with the kids while we were in Jamaica with a bunch of great friends! The kids were wonderful and LOVED having Grandma watch them (and missed Papa so much - who is in Albany with FEMA) Grandma spoiled them rotten, including throwing them their very own tiki party (see pix below). They walked and hit the park daily, went to Red Robin (with Bebe too! what a treat!) and McDonald's and even got to watch the Squequal again! (Alvin and the Chipmunks for those of you who aren't up on kids films!)

The BEST part about this trip (aside from the TONS of fun we had), we didn't have to worry at all and knew they were loving every moment of time with Grandma!!
Enjoy the pix - since we were away, I only have one of the kids that was sent to me on my phone while we were away!!

Tiki Party!

Last day at the resort

Our view from our room - YES, this is what our patio looked at all day, every day!
Also our view!

The last evening - thank you Stephanie for all the great dresses!! This was my fav!

Day one at the resort - on our patio

Again, our view -

however if you look close, you can see Eric having a drink on the floaty thing in the middle!

The entire group - SOOOO much fun! time to plan the next trip -

anyone interested in joining us??

Oh how they grow!

We have had all sorts of bunny commotion... but those pix won't load, so that story will have to wait till another time when the computer doesn't want to hate me!

However, I realized after my last post that Kyle had a complete update, but I haven't discussed all of Riley's growth and new discoveries in the past 4 months!

She, like Kyle, has shot right up! I'm not sure how much she has grown, but everything is way too short and our rolly-polly little girl is no where to be found. Riley has discovered that she loves to bike (with training wheels still, but not for long!) roller skate, jump rope, and play tennis! She is still taking dance class and loves it but misses gymnastics more (so we'll be back at the gym come the fall). She is also reading, adding and subtracting proficiently, can tie bows, and work the seat belt (finally!). She is still super sweet and nearly too compassionate and is the mother hen to both Kyle and Lexa as always!

We had kindergarten registration recently and Riley (and me!) are soooo excited about going to school! She loves the idea that school is 5 days a week instead of her current 2!

My favorite Riley quote of late: I was taking her temp - she had a quick virus, nothing to worry about. When I looked at the thermometer, Ri said, "Does it say I'm not going anywhere?!" She cracks us up!

Riley at the strawberry patch

Riley and Kyle at 3 Lakes Park

Ready for a ride (this was back in February - look how cute they are with teeth... I'll get to that story some time!)

Monkey!
at the strawberry patch

Costumes came in today! Riley still doesn't enjoy play dress up, so as you can tell, this is very much a forced smile! We are very excited about cousin Danny getting married this summer in Vermont! however the wedding is the same day as the recital, so this may be Ri's only costume wear (which she is totally fine with!!)

Happy 3rd Birthday Monkey-man!!

The Surratt Pack is BACK! After a 4 month break we have decided to come back... I'm not sure what happened... I got busy, got bored, got sidetracked... but either way, I was tired of detailing out the craziness of our weeks. We stay busy. That is a fact and I got tired of writing the blow by blow of our weeks when really, what I should be doing is detailing out all the GREAT stuff the kids do and say - so they can come back to this some day (or I can!) and remember all the super sweet moments of their little lives. Which is why we are BACK! I went looking for a specific pix the other day on this blog and got sucked in on all the memories... the kids have grown soooo much even since we started this blog and thats what this blog is all about - watching Riley and Kyle grow and turn into amazing people!

So... Happy Third Birthday little man!! We can't belive you are THREE!!! You are amazing! Fearless (which is why you have no teeth, I'll get back to that story!), loving, sweet, compassionate, and sooo full of life!

Kyle is now in the 75th % for height (38.25 inches) and 50th % in weight (33 lbs). I was worried about this balance (Kyle falls ALOT - also back to the teeth story, which I'll get to in the coming days!) so I asked Dr. Chun about it. The Doc had kyle do a bunch of tests (jumping, balancing etc) As it turns out, Kyle is more agile and more daring than he should be for his age (and THAT was the diagnosis!) Kyle is also speaking beyond his age and his comprehension is excellent (we, the parents, are not sure we believe that one... his listening skills with us is not where we'd like it!) Not long ago, Darcy asked Kyle, "do you ever have a thought you DON'T say out loud?" Kyle paused, shook his head and replied, "nope!" and kept on running!

All in all, K is a love bug and we are not sure how we got soooo lucky!!

K looking oh so serious!

Pinata - remind in future years NOT to get a pinata!
Kyle sporting his new CARs shirt!
Kyle and the Lightning McQueen cake

The CAKE! Months back, I helped organize the Thumbs Up Ball in honor/memory of CJ Reynolds, a 4 year old little girl in our area who lost her battle with cancer. At the Ball, we had a GREAT silent auction. And as we all know, Grandma LOVES silent auctions. Grandma bid on and won a cake (an expensive cake!) from Cakes by Favi and this is what we asked her to make! It definitely surpasses the racetrack sheet cake I was going to make but thats what is coming next year:-) Thanks Grandma!!

We had a little close friends/family party for Kyle. It was hot so there was lots of water play, pizza, icecream sundaes and of course cake!

Here comes the slip-n-slide! Lexa and Aiden were CRAZY on this thing!

Look at where Ri is... beyond the slide... Look at Lexa's face... we ALL know Riley being covered in mud and wet grass is NOT going to go over well:-)

Post party play!