Never a dull moment

It's never good when your little guy is downstairs and when you ask over the balcony 'what are you doing', he replies with 'I don't know'. That was how my morning started as I was trying to get dressed. Tripp eventually came upstairs and said:

'Mommy, we need to buy more eggies'.
'Why?'
'Because I made a mess'

At which point I went down to the kitchen only to find the eggs broken and splattered on the kitchen floor. How he got to them in the fridge, I'm not sure since they were on the upper shelf but he told me he was making breakfast like mommy and when he's on a mission, there usually is no stopping him. Maybe I shouldn't try to involve him as much when I cook moving forward?

...and off to the store we go.

The answer to the gas crisis!

Grammy sent another shirt (I don't know where she finds these things) and this one is definitely confined to the house. Tripp loves to wear it and there isn't a whole lot I can add since it definitely speaks for itself. Thanks for the shirt, Grammy!

Learning to Give

Mommy has been teaching me about others who don't have much or aren't as fortunate as we are (fortunate is mommy's word. Come on folks - I'm only 2 1/2!). She told me all about Hurricane Ike and how so many families lost their homes, food, clothes and even their toys! We decided to go to Costco (we love Costco - especially the free samples) and put lots of things in our cart to take to the church. I hope it helps and makes some people feel a little better.

My school is also having a school supply drive because mommy says a lot of kids don't have pencils or backpacks or fun alligator lunch bags. That makes me sad. We went to Target and got lots of things for other kids. Here are some pictures of our shopping adventure.

It makes me feel so good to help others!

Another Tripp-ism

Tripp: "Mommy, I'm going to school and chapstick today!"
Mommy: "Chapstick? What is chapstick"
Tripp: " I sing, read stories about Jesus"
Mommy: "Do you mean chapel?"
Tripp: "Yeah"

School Days

Tripp loves his school and I'm amazed at the things he comes home with each day. He especially loves his teachers, Miss Patti and Miss Mary Lee, and I have to say that I've been equally impressed with them. They communicate constantly with the parents and keep us updated on what the kids are learning and they're just overall great with our kids. Last Thurs in chapel, Tripp went right up to Miss Patti and sat in her lap the entire time. That says volumes! Here is an example of what the kids have been up to lately:

'This week in the Purple Room, Both MWF and T/TH will welcome Fall with colorful leaf prints and Juicy Apples! With the "official" change of seasons, you will see our room transform over the next few weeks to reds, yellows, golds, along with apples, pumpkins, bats and scarecrows! (hopfully the actual cooler weather will follow!) We will have an apple tasting to decide which we like best: Red, Yellow or Greens. Watch for our chart to see who like which one best! We will measure our apples, weigh our apples, even test them to see if they will float! No doubt your little ones will come home chanting some new "apple songs and poems".

We continue to talk about the different shapes in our world.... this week we will continue with circles and things that are round. We will take a nature walk to see how the trees and plants look now. In a couple of weeks, we will go again and see the changes. In our MWF class we are starting to practice our tracing and scissor skills In our T/TH class we are working those fingers with tearing, and using our pincher grips to get those fine motor muscles ready for tracing and scissors later in the year.'

Thank you, Miss Patti and Miss Mary Lee!

Today's Tripp-ism

For those of you familiar with the children's book 'Is your Mama a Llama' by Deborah Guarino, you may understand this a little more.

At 38 weeks pregnant, I like to refer to myself as a moose these days. The little guy pays attention a lot more than I think about and when I mentioned the book and said 'Is your mama a llama?', he said 'no, my mama is a moose'.

Wal-Mart Update

Many have asked how I handled the stolen m&m's situation. Well, it was too far to take the m&m's back so I did the next best thing I could think of and called the store manager to explain what had happened and see what I could do to make the situation right. At this point, I thought it was pretty comical but she was not amused. She instructed me to send a check or money order made out to "Wal-mart" and make sure to include the UPC code on the check. Yes m'am! My $4.00 check went out to Wal-mart last week. :)

Messy Monday

I had a dr. appt this morning so daddy agreed to 'watch' the little guy while I was gone - no more than 1 1/2 hours. I came back to the house and it was trashed. Tripp's bathroom had the blue toothpaste all over everything, including my nice towels, and liquid soap covering the countertop. Maybe he was trying to clean up? As I walked through the house, the kitchen was a mess with all of the drawers and cabinets opened. Tripp had taken all of my pots, pans, spoons, etc. and taken them in the living room to 'cook'. I heard him running from upstairs once he knew I was home and I asked him what he had been doing while I was gone. In a t-shirt, blue-dyed mouth and nothing else, he answered 'Ummm......singing, watching pooh bear, pottying and making a mess.'

Lucky Hair?

We went to the A&M vs Miami game over the weekend with my Uncle Rob and cousins, John and Thomas and my Aggies took a beating. I was cheering them on and singing the war hymn, but it didn't seem to be enough. I even wore some crazy 'lucky' hair and that didn't even work. Oh well, I still had a lot of fun watching the band and eating lots of yummy, unhealthy food. Maybe next week we'll have a win against Army.

At the game with daddy, cousins John and Thomas and Uncle Rob
Here comes the corp of cadets!
Being silly with cousin, John
Do you think my crazy hair is lucky?
Sawing Varsity's horns off with cousin Thomas, daddy and Mr. Andrew

The Enforcers

Tripp started 'Just Imagine' today which is an afterschool enrichment program where the children get to dress up and act out stories, characters, etc. Today Tripp was a bumblebee.

While waiting for my 'bumblebee' to finish up, I talked with his teacher about school and how he's adjusting. She said he's doing great and that 'Tripp and Emmylou are the enforcers of the classroom'. I asked what she meant by this and she explained that Frick and Frack like to tell all of the other children what to do and what they're doing wrong, even though they're doing whatever it is wrong too. In fact, after sharing this with Ellie's mom while waiting, she told me that Ellie came home last week and said that she wanted to play with a puzzle at school but Tripp told her 'no' and that she had to go sit down. Glad to know Frick and Frack have the class under control.

With that, I think I'll just continue to eat my stolen m&m's and let them all work it out.

Baby Bean Update

I had my dr. appt today and Baby Bean is scheduled to make his/her appearance on Oct. 2nd at 2pm.

It's hard to believe we're about 2 weeks out! Still not sure if we're welcoming a boy or girl and the 'old wives tales' aren't helping one bit. It's said that if the heartbeat is above 150, it's a girl and below 150 it's a boy. Well, the past few weeks have been 156, 134, 160,130, 160. Hmmm.......baby isn't playing fair but I guess we'll know soon enough. Better decide on a name!

It's always fun taking a toddler to a dr. appt but especially during the last few weeks before delivery day. Today when he had to go potty, he wanted to 'tee-tee in the cup like mommy' and when mommy said no, he had least wanted to try and help. Always fun. He also wanted to be weighed and help determine mommy's blood pressure. Peggy, the nurse, was accommodating but I'm sure she'd rather not have help from the little guy. I brought lots of things for him to do while the dr was checking mommy but he was oh too interested in everything going on. Maybe he'll be a OB/GYN somewhere down the road.

The First School Project

I have a long 18 years in front of me. Last week, Tripp came home with his first pre-school homework project due this week. The teacher cut out a cardboard house and we were assigned to decorate it with pictures of family, etc. Simple enough, right? Well, I couldn't decide on which pictures would be perfect and ended up with about 40 pictures printed so that we would have enough options for his little house collage (a little overkill). I think I stressed more over this project than any other when I was actually in school. I hope Tripp gets an A!

The finished project

Tripp posing with his projectI hope Miss Patti and Miss Mary Lee like it!

I am a Munchkin Olympian!

Today, daddy and I participated in the Munchkin Olympics at Emler Swim School. I've been taking swim lessons for quite awhile and am doing really well in the water. I love to swim!! Emler was having a competition today for the 2 and 3 year olds and it was so much fun. I not only won a medal but got a cookie as well! Here are some pictures from the fun event today.


I am an Olympian!

Swimmers get ready!Pre-race pep talk from 'coach'.It was a great swim! Now, where is that cookie I was promised?

Watch out, David Beckham

Today was my first day in Sportball and we were introduced to soccer. We learned balance, kicking and stretching and we also had fun with an obstacle course. I can't wait until next week when we get to learn about another new sport. Maybe football? Hockey? Baseball? Who knows but I sure had a lot of fun. I'm the youngest in the class but I showed them that I can hold my own! David Beckham - watch out!

Roar! Here come the dinosaurs.

Conditioning is very important. We have to stretch and touch our toes!
Coach Moe is so funny.
Wow! What a kick!
Starting the obstacle course.

A strong finish!

Still going strong

Still no accidents! We went to Target today where he was so excited to pick out new big boy undies - Cars and Pirates of the Caribbean. He looks too cute in his undies!

I'm already seeing a bit of what's in store for me in the future. He was on the potty for quite awhile this afternoon when he hollered - 'Mommy, I need a candle'. He wasn't kidding either. Wow! I'll be investing in some very fragrant candles for my 2 1/2 year old's bathroom very soon.

I know, I know - enough potty talk.

Drum Roll Please......

Tripp slept through the night in big boy undies and NO accidents! Yeah!!!

We also had him in big boy undies all day today - throughout church, errands, naptime, more errands and again bedtime. NO accidents and he's been very proud of his Thomas choo choo big boy undies. Tomorrow, we're going to try to find some more for him and he's saying he wants pirate undies. Uh oh - hope that's not a deal killer if I can't find any!

Way to go Tripp! Mommy and daddy are so proud of their BIG boy!

It's Potty Time!

Today was a big day around the Riley household. We've been working on the potty training thing for a little bit now and Tripp has done really well. I haven't really tried to transition him from diapers because 1) I've been being lazy and 2) haven't felt like changing his clothes 20x a day - which points back to reason #1 and 3) everyone says he's a little early at 2 1/2. He's been in big boy undies around the house but I'vev always put the diaper back on when we leave the house or he's sleeping.

Well, we decided it was time to try and he's been in big boy undies all day - including nap time and outings- with NO accidents! Yeah Tripp! He even likes to stand at the big boy potty instead of his little potty which is quite a site. Sorry, no pics for this one.

He's now down for the night in big boy undies so keep your fingers crossed!

Today's Tripp-ism

When Tripp woke from his nap, he was still in his bed jumping around and being silly. Wes started asking about his day and Tripp said:

'Don't talk to me daddy. I'm being silly right now'.

His other new phrase is when asked to do something he says:

'I can't right now. I'm too busy'.

My first day of school!

Today was my first day of preschool and I couldn't wait to go meet my new teachers and friends! Mommy and daddy took me to school and followed me around like the paparazzi - which was a little embarrassing - but you know how parents can be. My teachers are Ms. Patti and Ms. Mary Lee and they had so many fun things for us to do today. We painted, played outside, read books and so much more! Emmylou, Sofia, Ellia and Patrick are in my class so I'm excited to be surrounded by familiar faces. Mommy and daddy dropped me off and I walked right in and made myself at home. I think it was hard on them. I tried to tell them that it's just for a few hours twice a week but I think they're still having a hard time accepting that I'm growing up. Poor mommy and daddy but I think they'll do just fine -- it'll just take a little time.

My first day of school outfit and alligator lunchbox.
Emmylou and I love flowers! Here we are outside our school.
....and this is outside our classroom. We're the purple class.
Painting is so much fun!
Mommy and her little guy.
Kisses for mommy.
Daddy and his little guy!

Mommy's note - when I picked up Tripp today from school, he didn't even look up. In fact, when I said his name, he said 'what?'. So glad to know we were missed today.

Wal-Mart, the alligator and the M&M's.........

On our way home from La Grange today, we stopped by the Wal-Mart (not lots of options in La Grange, TX - 1 hour or so from Austin) to look for a lunchbox since Tripp starts pre-school tomorrow. I ordered the cutest little embroidered pirate lunchbox weeks ago and was told yesterday it's still on back order. Since I can't send my little guy to his first day of pre-school with a boring brown paper sack, I had to find a substitute until I find another lunchbox for him. Target in Austin didn't have much and since we were there, I thought I'd look at Wal-mart. Tripp was in the cart and conveniently enough, Wal-mart chose to put the lunchboxes on the same aisle as the candy. Tripp wanted M&M's and I told him 'no' and we would get a treat sometime after dinner. He said ok and I didn't hear another word about it.

Fast forward 1 1/2 hours later when we get home. As I unloaded the Wal-mart sack, I was cutting off the lunchbox tags and opened the lunchbag to take out what I thought was a cold pack. Low and behold, there was a large bag of peanut M&M's in the lunchbag. TRIPP RILEY!!!

I tried to have a stern 'we don't take things that don't belong to us and we have to pay for things at the store' conversation with him but he would just look at me and return the 'evil eye'. I couldn't stop laughing and therefore don't think my conversation was effective.

Mandy - I will be calling you to go to the Wal-Mart and pay for a bag of M&M's!

Your Honor, I present Exhibit A:

Your Honor, I present Exhibit B:

Happy Birthday to Drew!

Today, mommy and I went to La Grange for Drew's 4th birthday party. It was so much fun and the theme was 'Thomas the Train'. I love Thomas! Mommy and Drew's mommy have been friends since they were 8 years old.....wow, they're old! Pics to come since mommy forgot her camera.

Meeting Baby Eden

Yesterday, mommy and I went to Tristan and Carey's house to meet baby Eden. She was only 10 days old and so little! Ms. Tristan let me hold the baby and I was very sweet and gentle with her. That's the smallest baby I've ever held! Come to think of it, she's the ONLY baby I've ever held. I think it's good practice for when my baby arrives! She pooped when I held her though and I thought it was froggies (my code word for 'toots'). When mommy told me it WASN'T froggies, I was ready to give the baby back....quick.