Big 4 year old!

On Sunday, June 28, Riley turned 4. He is getting to be so big and so much fun. He really keeps me company all the time now. He still loves to be outside and is always active. He loves his baby sister dearly, although I do have to watch that he doesn't get too rough with her. He is growing so tall and in my opinion very handsome. We went in for his four year appt with 4 shots last week. OUCH! He did really well, although my heart just melted when he looked up at me with those sad eyes and the tears welled up over how bad they hurt. Afterward I rewarded him with some McDonald's. He is, of course, off the charts in his height. (44 1/2 inches tall) and 43 lbs. (90%). He just looks more like a 5 year old than a 4 year old.

On Saturday we had his big birthday party at the house. We had mostly family with a few close friends. He was very insistent on wanting a bounce house party. So we rented a bounce house for the backyard. Unfortunately it was so hot, that the kids didn't bounce much longer than 20 minutes. Riley did get in some extra bouncing time before and after the party. The rest of the time the kids were content, playing in the playroom or on the swing set.

Here is Riley & Jake playing on the swing set.

Jacob wanted to spend some time trying out Riley's old wheels!

Of course, the party theme was CARS! Kachow!

Bouncing!

The big 4 year old cake!

Blowing out the candles!

Opening presents. This one was a cool remote controlled car!

Mommy & Daddy bought him a bike! He has been wanting one! Now he really is a big boy!

Trying to smile into the sun! The bike looks a lot like Randy's motorcycle with a blue frame and fluorescent orange rims.

6/26/04-6/26/09

Friday Randy & I celebrated 5 years of being married to each other. Except that we have not really celebrated it yet. We had Riley's birthday party on Saturday. Then the kids left to spend the next week with Grandma Karyn & Aunt Kalee in Florida, so we will celebrate it a little later.
In honor of us actually making it to 5 years without killing each other, I wanted to think back to those early days and how it all started. Some of you know this story quite well, to others it will surprise you of how romantic my husband has the capability of being.
For starters, Randy and I met at A&M. I was dating a friend of his from high school. They were both in the corps and lived in the same dorm. We never dated in college, just did many of the same events and would see each other from time to time. After college, in Dec. 01, we met up again at an Aggie Happy Hour. My best friend, Teresa, and I were hanging out and talking with that same ex-boyfriend and his group of friends. Sean and I dated for 2 years in college, so I got pretty close with many of his friends. We were just hanging out, no intentions of getting back together with my ex, but I thought several of his friends were pretty cute. Here is a funny part, Sean and I were dancing and I asked him if his friends were still off limits to me. He said no, but Randy was! I never did find out why he said that. Long story short, Randy and I ended up hooking up that night and he called me the next morning. Aggie Happy Hours take place on Wednesday nights and we had stayed until the bar closed. Randy knew that he and I were the only ones of the group that had to be up that early for work. When he called me, he said, "Good Morning Beautiful!" The night before that song had come on and I told Teresa that I would marry the guy that said that to me. Well I guess I did.
We were together non-stop from that point on. In June, we decided to buy a house together. In July, we went to the Grand Canyon and Vegas together. I was really hoping that he would propose then, but he did not. Randy did not actually propose until Oct. 4, 2003, a full year later. By then, I was getting so frustrated and wondering if he was ever going to marry me. One of our big activities is the Rennaissance faires. That was opening weekend of the faire. Randy and Chuck, one of one Randy's friends from high school, had gone down to Houston to get set up for the faire early on Friday. Then Jenn, his wife, and I drove down as soon as I finished with school. The whole way there I complained that I was just going to leave Randy if he did not propose THAT weekend. Poor Jenn knew all along that he already had the ring with him. But she never let on.
Randy had really prepared it all out. He wanted me to wear my ivory colored Renn dress. I did wear it that morning. But then the shop owner that we bought Randy's armor from, let me borrow this women's armor piece for parade. I was loving the attention and didn't want to take it off. So we went to go shopping. We walked by the Renn Faire chapel just as a wedding finished. The chapel looked so pretty and I wanted to take pictures on the alter. The fact that Randy agreed should have been my first clue. So we took our first picture together and then Randy turned to me and said, "You know what is coming don't you?" I told him if he was messing with me, I was going to kill him. He wasn't. He got down and one knee and asked me to marry him. I started crying. I was so excited. The rest of the day became a blur mixed with too many Green dragon drinks. I was telling everyone I was engaged, even perfect strangers.

Since we were supposed to be taking pictures, it worked out perfectly that our friends had our camera in their hands. By the time we walked out of the chapel, all of our Faire friends were gathered at the back. Randy had told them all when to be there. I couldn't believe he had done such a good job of giving me a perfect story.

Our Honeymoon in Negril, Jamaica

I got a stomach virus on our honeymoon and was really sick. So the beer in my hand is actually staged. No drinking for me at Margaritaville.

In October 2004, at Randy's cousin's wedding in Florida.

Our bi-yearly passion is Nascar. Of course, our wedding reception was at the Texas Motor Speedway club. It started with us just going out on Sunday for the Nascar race. Now it is a whole weekend thing that involves camping out and a big party. Randy's driver is Carl Edwards #99 and mine is Kasey Kahne #9.

Playa Del Carmen, Mexico at Amy & Dion's wedding, April 2007

Our first major life change was Riley, our adorable redhead that was born 1 year and 2 days after we were married, I literally went into labor on our one year anniversary!

5 years after he proposed, we took pictures at the same spot in our new costumes.

Oh, how our lives have changed. Now we have 2 beautiful children, and barely make it once a year to faire.

At an 80's party in February 2009

This is how we do Faire now when we take the kids. No costumes. Just mundanes.

Chuck E Cheese

I think I am secretly trying to make up for working throughout the school year by cramming as much fun as possible into the summer for Riley & Alex. Yesterday morning after Alex's trip to the dermatologist, my parents and I took the kids to Chuck E Cheese. Let me take a side note, here. The dermatologist basically just told me to keep doing what I am doing and told me a different way to apply the steroid cream, but no magic pill to make the eczema go away. :(
So here is my kiddos having an absolute blast at Chuck E Cheese. Riley's favorite games still involve driving things and shooting things. He especially loved flying the jet fighter.

Future baseball player????

I did convince him to ride in the truck with his little sister. She thought it was lots of fun. Then he wanted her to drive. Here he is showing her how to do it. It was so cute. Another little funny story. Now I know all moms say that their kids said a certain word long before they really say anything, but I am pretty sure that Alex said Riley yesterday. We were in the kitchen and I said "Ry, don't step on your sister." She looked up at him and said "Ry, Ry" I am willing to bet her official first word is going to be Riley. She just loves him so much!

Shooting basketballs with a little help!

Alex really enjoyed riding Barney. This was her first ever "ride!"

And of course shooting the deer. Like Father, Like Son!

Worn out little girl!

As I was posting the pictures from our day at the zoo, Randy called me in to come look at Alex. She fell asleep sitting up drinking her milk. She was so worn out from the day. As an interesting side note to the day, her skin looks better tonight than it has in a long while. I am taking Alex to see a pediatric dermatologist tomorrow for her eczema. Since the summer heat has hit, her skin has gotten out of control bad. She is constantly broken out. We thought with her being out in the heat today, it would probably look really bad tomorrow and the doctor would see how bad it is. But of course, it looked better tonight. Interestingly, the other night I had read that the sun was something that would help the eczema. I'm curious to hear what all the doctor says tomorrow.

Zoo!

Today my mom & I took the kids to the zoo. Riley absolutely loves going to the zoo, so we brave the heat and have season passes so that he can enjoy the animals. This morning he asked me what the orange monkeys ate. We looked while we were at the zoo, but did not see them eating anything. I guess we will have to look closer next time. The thing I love about the zoo is taking the pictures of the animals. I could take pictures all day of just the animals, but I won't bore you with too many pictures of animals. Here was the black rhino that we saw today.

These giraffes have become one of Riley's and my favorite stops since the babies were born in the spring. I love watching how the babies are growing. This giraffe baby was about 6 foot tall when it we first saw it. I believe it was about 6 weeks old when we saw it.

Riley was very insistent that not only would we feed the birds, but HE wanted to do it this time. Luckily we found a few birds that would come down low enough for him to feed them.

He is growing up soooo fast!

While we fed the birds, Alex decided to take a quick nap. Of course it helped that Nana kept the fan on her to keep her cooler.

While we didn't spend much time watching the real kangaroos, we did pose sweetly with the statue one.

The first time we tried to ride the train, it was closed. Riley was VERY disappointed. While he loves the animals, nothing tops getting to ride the train. Here is Nana & Alex waiting in line. Alex decided that she would rather eat the fan, than feel the cool breeze.

Then we finally got a shot of me with the kids. When the camera is in your hands all day, it is hard to get pictures with you in it.

Happy Father's Day!

This is a picture of the first Father's Day card that Riley picked out on his own. It, of course, is a race car. Would it be of anything else??? For Father's Day, we did nothing but eat! First of all we got up and went to church. Riley sang again in the 11:00 worship service. At first, he shied away from being up front. So we told him he did not have to sing. As we got ready to leave, he turned and said that he wanted to sing. This time he was front and center. He smiled, did the motions, and sang the words to most of the song. I was so proud of him! Why didn't I bring my camera this time??? After church we went to lunch with my dad & mom at Macaroni Grill. This is one of Randy's favorite restaurants & my dad's too.

After lunch we came back to the house to mow the yard and clean house. No rest for this daddy! Then we went to dinner with Richard, Karyn, and Kalee at Uncle Julio's. Randy would never admit it, but I think he was really excited to get to spend Father's Day with his dad. It has been several years since he has got to do this. Then, no dinner with the Farris' would be complete, without a little Landstar work. So we all loaded up and went to check out a job prospect. Well I guess you could say the Farris men were doing what they love the most!

VBS Camp Edge

Last week was an especially adventurous week. We went to Camp E.D.G.E. (experiencing & discovering God everywhere) or better known as VBS. Riley was in the Pre-k class and this year I was a shepard for incoming 2nd graders. Monday was perhaps the worst day. I started by dropping both kids off in the nursery. They were supposed to come get Riley as his class started. Then I proceeded to the fellowship hall for morning Assembly. We weren't 15 minutes into the assembly when they came to get me, telling me that Alex was SCREAMING! I quickly hurried down to the nursery to find Riley still in there, nobody had taken him to his class, and Alex indeed screaming her head off. I had a sinking feeling that this was coming because lately she refuses to stay in the nursery on Sunday mornings during Sunday School. So we went to backup plan. Since my parents were out of town and Randy at work, I had to take Alex with me throughout the day. Let me also share with you, that I had an especially trying child in my group this year, quite a smart allic. She wanted to know just why I had a baby with me when the baby was supposed to be in the nursery. Thankfully I had my baby bjorn in the car. The rest of Monday was spent with Alex attached to me. Part of the time our children's director and our shepard leader took her to give me a break, and of course she went right to them. Tuesday I called our usual babysitter to see if she could take Alex the rest of the week from 8-1. Tracey graciously agreed. I think she really like the idea of just getting to see the kids again. They are in such good care while I work. She loves them ALMOST as much as I do.

The rest of the week went pretty well... until Thursday. I tried to cram too much fun into one day. After VBS we went over to my teammate Dorothy's house for some swimming. We all had lots of fun, but Riley did not fall asleep on the way home like I expected. So VBS, swimming, and no nap, and then we had to be back at church at 6:30 for the performance. Riley was tired and grumpy from the beginning. He did not want to go to his group. I should have known then... But I just kept thinking he would snap out of it. The preschoolers performed first. Riley wanted no part of this and just sat down on the steps. Several people, including Mommy, told him to stand. Even Mrs. Debbie, our children's director tried to make him do the motions with her while sitting on the steps. None of it helped. He refused to do anything.

These pictures were taken Thursday night. The expression on his face, says it all.

Watching all the big VBS kids perform.