The Riley Family

Kate picked out a new booster seat this week. Of course it is pink with flowers, what else would we expect from Miss Kate :). This is the kind of car seat that uses the car's seat belt instead of one with a 5-point harness. It is in Paul's car for now (until we get my new minivan this summer) so that Paul and Kate can easily go to swim lessons without having to move car seats.

Kate and Paul had swim lessons on Saturday, and they LOVED it! Kate looked very comfortable in the water, and really had a great time. She was wearing a floaty belt, and with it would swim all around the pool. She wasn't quite up to putting her face under, but that will come later. Hopefully she will be ready to take lessons at our neighborhood pool (without daddy) in June.

Will has been trying to roll the past two days, and sometimes gets stuck on his arm, but today has made it all the way over from back to belly over his right arm!

Kate - has a princess-themed birthday party to go to this Saturday (seems a common theme with the 4-year old girls).  Her friend Emma has let Kate borrow her Barbie Island Princess dress, and Kate is always trying it on!  And when she isn't wearing it, it is carefully placed in the laundry room along with her shoes, earrings, and crown for the party! She went to bring a friend day at Clare's ballet class today and really enjoyed it.  We might look for a ballet class this summer. Jack -  continues to talk more and more, and likes to put together sentences.  Lately it was bye bye mulch guys, daddy home, and plenty of other things I can't think of now.   He is nearly obsessed with tractors, especially cranes and excavators.  He can say crane pretty clearly! Will - is ticklish!  He can giggle and laugh really well now, and he sounds exactly like Jack.  He is ticklish under his chin and on his tummy :).  We will be moving to size 3 diapers in the next few days. Paul and Anji...

We had a great time at Lake Geneva this past weekend.  The weather was supposed to be yucky - 55 and raining - but it turned out to be in the 70s and sunny!  We spent time at the water park, walked around the shops downtown, went to the petty zoo and pony rides, and checked out the lake.  Jack's favorite phrase of the weekend was, 'peek-a-boo lake."   Of course Kate brought 3 swimsuits - one for each day of the water park.   Pictures!

Kate and Paul are going to start swim lessons next week through the YMCA which is just up the street. Kate is very interested in taking classes, as many of her friends do, but she wasn't too thrilled to do it by herself. Luckily the Y has a 'Pike and Parent' class that she can take along with Daddy! If she enjoys this class she can either do a Pike class by herself next time, or take lessons at our neighborhood pool.

Jack - He had his 2-year check up yesterday, and it went well. Only 1 shot this time, and he didn't cry. We can move off whole milk now, but are going to switch the whole fam to 1% instead os skim (until Will starts drinking it, then he will need whole). Jack is talking so much more all of a sudden. He says please and thank you, and will say things like, "nemo [fruit snacks] please momma." He loves practicing saying hot oven, hot water, and clean up :). Kate - Only 1 month left of school. I think we will need to find some activity for her this summer, she really loves going to school. She is thinking about getting her hair bobbed for the summer, and we are trying to help her understand that it won't grow back right away if she cuts it short, but that it will grow back by fall/winter. She likes the idea of short hair summer, long in winter. Will - We popped him on the scale yesterday and he is around 15 1/b pounds. Not exact since he was dressed. He is quic...

Jack is 2! Amazing how fast the time has gone. It doesn't seem like that long, but we have lived in Naperville the whole time. We celebrated this past weekend with family and friends. Pictures! Jack received lots of great presents (thank you) and he is especially fond of his new Bob tools!

Deidre (Paul's cousin) and Russ recently welcomed a baby boy!  Grayson was born March 26th at 8:46 am.  He was 7lbs 11 oz and 20 inches.  Congratulations!

Anjie's cousin Trisha and her husband Jim welcomed their second child this week. Craig Ryan was born April 8th at 12:55 pm.  He weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 18 inches long. Congratulations!

Jack's birthday is this weekend.  He isn't nearly as excited as Kate was, but he is thrilled with his construction hat party favors!  Just like Bob the Builder :). Kate is happy to be back in school.  Spring break was nice, but she missed Mrs. Engel. Will is making the transition to his crib from his Moses basket.  Jack seems to like sleeping in his bed more now that Will is in the room too.  Hopefully that will continue! Here are some pictures from last weekend.

Here are some pics of new flower bed and the infamous mud-pit .

We have spring fever!  We have a ton of flowers coming up in our new bed, and tulips all around the front.  I have tilled the garden soil once, and will wait another few weeks before planting seeds. May 1, 2008: We planted today!!  The garden as well as a ton of additional flowers around the yard.   The garden has: okra (2 rows) radish lettuce snap peas beans soy beans peppers carrots corn tomatoes cucumbers we also planted four pots of herbs - chamomile, basil, sage, lavender

Kate - She loves to tell people how old she is now that she is 4!  This week was spring break from school, so we spent a lot of time together.  She is enjoying her new gymnastics class  (mites 1) with both coaches KJ and Luna.  This is her first skill based class, and they actually get reviewed and must be able to complete certain skills before advancing to mites 2.  Jack -  Wow, he can talk all of a sudden!  He can say some 2- word sentences, and knows when to say please and thank you.  H continues to be fearless - like deciding to try to go out the playhouse window last night instead of the door and landing on his forehead. Just a small scrape! We are still working on the potty, and now he is better at saying when he needs to go.  Not there 100% yet, but he does use the potty 3 or so times a day, and seems to like all the attention for using the big potty :). Will - Getting bigger and bigger!   Even some 3-6 month clothes are getting a bit small!  He has been sleeping very well la...

Jack was still quite hesitant about class at first, but he warmed up to the idea and really seemed to enjoy himself!  He jumped in the foam pit, bounced on the trampoline, hung on the bars... and tons of other things.  He was quite tired after class and fell asleep in the shopping cart at Costco while we were getting dino nuggets!   More pics.

We are finally seeing some nice weather, and are high temps are beginning to look like normal, instead of the 10-15 degrees below we had been experiencing just about all winter.  We will be outside a lot more now :).   More pics.