May Catch up!

Playing catch up... in no particular order, the last month of Riley and Kyle:

Soccer: Kyle loves it! He would much rather play the game than practice

(which happens to be the absolute opposite of Riley!)

We have baby birds in a bush right off the deck! Spring is here!

We have all loved watching them grow! What a great experience!

This is a GIANT ball you roll inside of! Thanks Aunt Darcy!

On Kyles actual bday, we went to a May Day festival in Bebe's neighborhood. Below is a series of pix of Kyle dancing... he was nuts!

Below is Riley and Lexa doing the sack race!

Moon bounce!

Easter!

For Kyle's 4th bday party, we went to Jump Zone - insanity!

Batman cake! Kyle is not 36.5 pounds and 41.5 inches

He had soooo much fun!

Spring break was in the past month as well. We took the kids up to DC for the day:

The Butterfly exhibit at the Natural History Museum

The Washington Monument

The best part - the metro ride!

The ride there (they were up EARLY because they were so excited!)

random cute pix from church!

Such a cutie - enjoying a beautiful spring night!

Bring on Spring!

Wow, what a week - planting, egg hunting, and art! The weather seems to have gotten warm again...for now and we are loving it! Below is Riley working at the Ronald McDonald House with her fellow Daisy's. She has officially been slated to help with mulch next week! The girls helped create this beautiful planter - great job kiddos!!

In the early fall, we received a note home that Riley's Sock Eyed Salmon would be in the county wide Arts and Science Festival, which was held this past weekend. Below is her work:

Kyle started soccer and loves it just as much as he did last fall! And the shirts are his favorite color this year, jail-house Orange!!

Today was our 3rd annual Grace Easter Egg Hunt. We had a BEAUTIFUL day and about 70 kids. Since Kyle is now over napping, I now had Eric and the kids for set up and clean up duty! I love my bunch!! Overall, the hunt was a great success including face painting, tattoos, desserts, and family pix!

Kyle, Nate, and Izzy playing - I see trouble with these three for years to come!

Historically, Riley has NOT been a fan of face painting - however after giving it a shot last October fest with one of her buddies, now she is Down with face painting - well, painting all over!

We made the big kids hunt more challenging by hiding the eggs in the woods and making the kids find a eggs with individual letters on them spelling EASTER.

Happy Spring!

More catching up!

I was way to far behind on the last entry to fully catch up so here is more! Over all, everyone has been relatively healthy... Ri got the stomach bug and was out of school for 3 days - it almost killed her (being out of school, not the actual vomiting!) Kyle also had the stomach bug a few weeks earlier and after covering his room in vomit, he was so proud to then catch it all in the puke bowl! Kyle also had some respiratory issues recently, but is in much better shape now. We spent some time with the doc but as it turns out, it had been 10 months since his last sick appointment - I think he is finally outgrowing it!

Poor little sick Ri!

As I mentioned, Riley still loves school! She can read anything and so far, excelling in all areas! Each grading period, a child from every class is given an award. Riley received the "Responsibility" award recently and we all got to attend an assembly to watch her receive it.

waiting to be called up on stage... a little nervous!

I received an email from Ri's teacher recently - I was out of town so I instantly expected the worst. This is what it said, "Riley has had 2 marriage proposals today. Both children are fueding over who will get to marry her! So cute!"

Below is an example of her school work - love that kid!! Her teacher is wonderful and on valentines day, she gave the kids an icecream party (which was really a lesson in money! how cool!) I was able to go into class and help scoop - Kindergarten is FUN!

Kyle has had a couple parties too! His new teacher is by far the most creative person I've ever met! Our kids really have it good!!

Our Daisy troop has also been very active. We've attended World Thinking Day, renovated the garden at the Ronald McDonald house, and visited a nursing home.

There have also been a lot of fun parties - swimming, jumping, and pizza!

Riley's award said that she was being recognized for showing responsibility when, "she follows school expectations, completes work, and shows kindness to her peers each day. She also helps others whenever she gets a chance" (written by Mrs. Sullivan)

This is Riley receiving her award!

Catching up - Family update

I have plenty of excuses, including business and loss of pix due to my phone being flushed (again) but I won't bore you with the details and instead I'll do a quick update since out last post at the end of January! We have been having lots of fun and trying to enjoy the sporadic nice weather! The annual Irish fest in the neighborhood was as fun as always! Below is Kyle enjoying cake! At one point during the event, Kyle ran up to me with his knuckles all bloody and scrapped up. He was just showing me, not fussing about it. All I had to clean him up was a baby wipe, which typically hurts an open wound so every time I'd touch his boo-boo, I'd ask him if it hurt. Each time, he'd respond very simply, "no". Finally, he got fed up with my constant question, and said, "Nothin Huts Me!!" (you need to say that with a slight Arnold Schwarzenegger accent) He is so funny!! We have also enjoyed a bunch of fun birthday parties!

and fun times with our neighbors!

In late February, Kyle and Eric went to the Monster Truck Jam and Riley and I went to see a movie! Check out her little shoulder turn for the 3-D glasses pix!

Below is a pix of the kids playing together at a Grace playdate. They are so cute right now - they just love playing with each other so much and typically play exclusively together when we are out with a bunch of friends. I imagine there is a bit of a security there and it won't last for ever, but it is cute for now!

And of course, happy birthday to Daddy!! We had a bunch of celebrations for Eric, including a fun night out (not with the kiddos) to see a local band!

Riley has also been working hard to earn her fit for life miles! She and I run/walk a few miles each week and she has already finished her "marathon". Below is a bunch of kids from the neighborhood after running about 2 miles!

and it wouldn't be right for me to not mention the super sad loss of both the Steelers in the super bowl (pix below) and the VCU Rams loss in the final 4 championship! Go Team(s)!!

BURRRRR!!!

No mild winters here any more!! It has been COLD!! This morning the temp read 14 when I got up... we all wished we were still in bed... but as always, there is too much going on for sleep!

1st, Happy Birthday GRANDMA! What a fun visit we had with Grandma and Papa after their trips to Tenn, Tx, and then Cancun! We celebrated with the whole family at our house and feasted on mexican and gourmet cup cakes!



The past two weeks have also been HUGE for the Steelers, so obviously our household is pretty happy! Below is a pix of Riley on Spirit day - the friday before the Championship win! Today (monday after the win) she wore her black Steelers jersey to school! Speaking of school, in an email recently, her teacher said, "Riley has the wonderful gift of picking up on whatever's being taught. She's a great listener and retains information very well." My thoughts on that, "Yippee!!" One last thought on Riley - she is selling GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!!! Let me know if you are interested in buying a box! She is a first year daisy, so we are going easy on sales, however she is enjoying the sales part a lot more than I am!! (I'll try to post a Daisy pix soon!)

My Steelers Crew!
Justin got the kids Aqua Sand for xmas and they've been LOVING it! Look at crazy eyes below! LOL

Gymnastics is over for now - Riley enjoyed it but decided to take a break for a while.

She has the pink pants on (the gym is COLD)

Kyle is still our little sweetie - however starting to get more and more... personality! The other day we were all at the store and he was acting crazy. I got down on his level and told him that he was not behaving and needed to pull it together. His response, "I don't want to behave... I punch you!" With that he gently put his fist to my arm and then looked like he was going to bust out crying. We dealt with his attitude appropriately, however only after we pulled ourselves together so that he couldn't see us laughing our butts off!

Unfortunately, K started puking this past Thursday - all evening! After covering his entire room in vomit, I got him the blue bowl - around here it is known as the puke bowl. The next few times he threw up, it landed only in the bowl and he was soooo proud of himself! The Surratt family cherish the little things:-)