The Riley Family

Jack has been practicing on his bike a lot lately, and all of a sudden can ride it very well! And he likes to go super fast! We still walk around with him for now, but I am sure that soon enough we won't need to be so cautious. The bumps are still some concern, and the road of course - especially if he is going super fast down the incline and forgets to turn!

On Friday Kate started her new Irish dance class and really seems to like it. She has been doing "hop hop step two behind" over and over since Friday night after class and she never used to want to practice her steps very often. She was sad at first when I left, but luckily the student teacher from her old class was there, and helped Kate to feel comfortable in the new class. Her old class was all 5-7 year olds, and now this class is many of the older kids, 7+, although the class size is much smaller. There are 4 more weeks until a summer break, so we will continue through June and then see if she wants to go ahead and continue in the fall and maybe even get the special shoes and socks.

We put away Will's crib and got out his toddler bed! He had been trying to climb into the crib and we figured climbing out and falling were right around the corner! He is such a big boy all of a sudden. He can open doors, climb up and down the stairs (even with toys in his hands), and talk a ton! We removed the baby gates as he was just standing at them screaming when he couldn't go up when he wanted. He says some two-word combinations, like "bye-bye daddy" or "hi mommy." His words include mommy, daddy, dog, cat, bubbles, Jack, Kate. He still yells a lot when he wants something, but hopefully that will change. We have also started teaching him some sign language this week, and he can sign for bird, please, milk, and is learning thank you and some others.

And playing outside this weekend.

Here are some pics including Kate's music program, playing in the puddles, and new roller skates.

This is Kate's last week of preschool. Her last day is Friday!

Here is a cool idea for helping keep little ones safe at the zoo, park, or other place they might easily wander off into the crowd... Saftey Beads.

Here are pictures from April 3 - April 13. These include snow at the beginning of the month, coloring Easter Eggs, and the Easter Egg Hunt. Then we took a couple of weeks off from the camera, but did start taking some recently, so will post newer pics soon.

Many of you have already seen this and heard the story... On April 16th on the way to visit Grandpa Bill, I hit a deer on I-88. Luckily I just didn't see them coming, so didn't swerve or brake or anything that would have made me roll the car! Thank God everyone was ok (except for the deer). The van was in the shop for 2 1/2 weeks, but we finally got it back yesterday.

We wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been so kind and helpful during this difficult time. We really appreciate your thoughts, prayers and help. Thank you.