Smells and Smiles

We haven’t been up to anything exciting lately.
Hence the lack of interesting posts.
TJ is back in school,
which means Riker and I don’t get to see him as often as we would like.
When TJ pulls himself away from his books,
Riker loves to spend a few minutes bonding with his dad.

TJ and Riker were helping me decided which Scentsy scents we wanted to order.

TJ vetoed some of my favorites…
and Riker just tried eating all the samples.

   

Riker is so active these days and loves playing with anyone who will pay attention to him.

Ignore the mess in the background.
We had to sell our tv unit…
I was tired of picking up all the dvds multiple times a day.
Time for something taller…with doors.

This weekend is Labor Day…meaning TJ gets a day off school.
We are looking forward to a fun relaxing weekend!

Rubber Ducky

Rubber Ducky, you’re the one

You make bath time lots of fun

Rubber Ducky I’m awfully fond of you

Doo doo de doo

Go Baby Go!

Riker is officially on the move!

He's a pro at the army crawl.

It takes some good motivation for him to do it,

but when he sees something that he wants

he goes for it with full determination.

This is exactly the motivation TJ and I need to buy a new TV stand.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

There is no exhibit C...

I put the camera down and moved the little bugger before he pulled all the dvds out.

Again.

For the third time.

And now,

for your viewing pleasure,

a video of Riker crawling.

Let’s Party Like It’s 1985!

August 19, 1985.
The day I graced this world with my presence.

August 19, 2010.
The 25th anniversary of my birth.

August 20, 2010
The greatest 80s party ever.

(Also, my mom’s bday. Happy birthday mom!)

To celebrate this milestone of a birthday,
I decided I wanted to party like it’s 1985.
I imagine our outfits were similar to what my parents were wearing the day I was born.

Oh yeah, that is supposed to be my Rubik’s cube birthday cake.
I wish I could blame the bakery for making something so ridiculous looking.
But alas, it was all me.
What’s that? You don’t think it looks that bad.
Here’s a close up:

Yep.
First time and last time I ever used fondant.

Despite the awesomeness of the cake,
the party was totally rad!
Time to start brainstorming for the next party!

7 Months

Riker is 7 months old.
He’s wearing 9 month old clothes.
Lots of rolls to love.
Here’s what is up with Riker at 7 months:

He wears glasses.
Ha, just kidding.
Riker doesn’t really wear glasses.
But whenever TJ has his glasses on,
Riker tries to yank them off his face.

 

Riker eats anything and everything he can reach.
Not joking.
If he can reach it, it goes in his mouth.
Things he has tried to eat but really shouldn’t include:
*shoes
*keys
*hair
*cell phones
*the rug
*bottles of lotion
*etc 

Riker is very active these days.
He rolls from back to tummy.
And tummy to back.
Then back to his tummy.
Lots of rolling, but still no crawling.
He managed to get himself wrapped inside his play mat.
He loved it…until he decided he wanted out.
Then he got mad because he couldn’t figure it out.

This is Riker’s eating position.
He sits in his Bumbo,
leans back,
and opens his mouth as wide as it can go.
Eating is probably Riker’s favorite activity.
{hence the chunky cheeks and thunder thighs}

Other things about Riker at 7 months that I don’t have pictures of but want to remember:
*his bottom two teeth are coming in
*his hair is growing in and stands straight up
*he growls at me all the time
*when he smiles, he’ll scrunch his nose and squint his eyes
*he has started to copy us
{example: if we bang our hand on the floor, so will he}
*when he’s excited, he flails his arms in all directions
*he loves to be outside regardless of how hot or humid it is

Moral of the post: Riker is adorable.

Because It’s Funny

Riker wiggles all the time.
And when we are trying to undress him,  he wiggles a lot.
Sometimes he fights so much, I just give up and laugh.
This was one of those times.

Clearly this did not make him happy.

 
But for some reason, this did.
Oh, do you see the teeth?!
The bottom right tooth just barely popped out.
But the bottom left is out.
New teeth are super fun.
Fussy Riker is less fun.

From Failure To Success

Once upon a time,
when TJ and I were first married,
we invited the Bishop and his wife over for dinner.
I used this recipe:

Unfortunately, when I served the chicken, it was raw.
RAW!
Not like super raw.
But definitely still kinda pink.
To make matters worse, no one said anything.
They just kept eating.
I was mortified and too scared to say anything.
With visions of food poisoning dancing in my head,
I politely picked at my chicken and kept a smile on my face.
When that evening was over, I vowed to never serve chicken to guests again.
Also: to avoid any phone calls from the Bishop over the next few days.

Why am I telling this story?
Well, tonight I finally decided to attempt this recipe again.
Since it was just for TJ, I could always toss it if it was raw.
To my surprise, it turned out great!

 
I was aiming for taste, not presentation.
(Clearly)
Since I didn’t actually eat any of it the first time around,
I was excited to finally taste the fruits of my labor.
And it’s yummy.
Everyone should make this for dinner tomorrow.
And if it turns out raw, I feel your pain.

(Recipe card created by yours truly…inspired by this blog)
(Recipe comes from kraftfoods.com)

Hiking Hocking Hills

TJ and I have vowed to experience more of Ohio while we are here.
I’d heard many good things about Hocking Hills, so today we decided to check it out.

Our dear friends and neighbors, the Martindales, came along.
They are glowing because they are awesome.

Riker was clearly so excited for our hike.
He actually really loved it and enjoyed being outside all day!

This is at the “Lower Falls”…
I’d call it more of a trickle, rather than a fall.
We’ll have to come back in the spring after the snow melts to see if it’s more impressive.

 

TJ, of course, felt the need to climb (or at least attempt to climb) everything in sight. 

    

Riker was a happy boy all day long, despite missing his nap.

    But by the end of our hike, he was exhausted.
It was a great day and definitely made us even more excited to discover more of Ohio!

Needs

We arrived back in Columbus safe and sound.
TJ has 2.5 weeks left before school starts.
We have a lot of things that we need to do before then.

We needed to go to campus to prove that we are Ohio residents.
Yup, we are officially residents of the Buckeye state.
After we turned in all that paperwork,
we took a mini walk around campus.

TJ needed to take a picture with Riker in front of this artillery cannon.

And he needed a picture of me and Riker/the stroller in front of the Shoe (aka the football stadium)

  And he needed this picture of Riker sitting inside the stadium.

And he needed a family picture in front of the field.

Perhaps if I tell TJ that I need (not want) to go to the mall,
he’ll be more willing to comply.

Family Pictures

Sometimes I have really good ideas.
”Let’s take family pictures!”
Sometimes my good ideas come at really bad times.
”Let’s take family pictures…outside…in the middle of July…in Arizona!”
Regardless of how bad this idea might sound,
our pictures turned out super cute!
       

Photos taken by Framed Memories Photography.
Thank you! We love them!