What I know at age 4.....

I figured I better write this stuff down cause I doubt I'll remember it 10 years from now!!!!! :-) Where to start..... I feel like we have such a bright kid on our hands (who knows maybe all 4 year olds know all this stuff). She is really into learning everything she can at this age. I'm so thankful she loves to learn and play school to learn new things! Dennis is great in this department, he's a great teacher and has the patients (well most nights) to sit down and teach her new words, spell new things, read, etc! With Riliegh having the birthday she does we have the opportunity to hold her back or send her this year. We went back and forth and talked to several people about it. On one hand she is going to be a YOUNG 5 year old. We wasn't sure if she has the maturity to sit in a classroom setting all day. Although we knew she would love to go and learn new things, meet new friends and be a "big" girl, as a parent you want to do what's best for your child. It's not just now we have to worry about, it's in 5th grade when things get hard is she going to be ready, it's when she graduates High School she will be 17, will she be ready for college.....so much to think about! AND then on the other hand, we have a 4 year old that knows sooooo much and learns very quickly. We are afraid if we hold her back until she is 6 yr. to go to school that she's going to be very bored and getting into more trouble than a restless 5 yr old! We had a meeting with her pre-school teacher (who thankfully use to teach at Lascassas School where Rileigh will be going). She was very encouraging and helped us with our concerns for what's best for our child. After having a long talk with her we decided that its' best to let her go next year! After we made up our minds we knew we really need to work with Rileigh on getting her ready for school next year! So far she can spell and write 10 words on her own. She can count to 50 (with just a little help), she can write all her ABC and has been able to read her first book "Biscuit takes a walk" all on her own! When I see a 4 year old that can do all of this I know she's going to do GREAT next year in Kindergarten!!!!

Pre-school Graduation 2012!

Hard to believe just 4 short years ago we enrolled Rileigh in the Mothers Day out program at Northside Baptist School. We have been sooooo blessed with all the wonderful teachers, friends, and mommy's of all the kids. She has meet so many wonderful kids through out the years. Some that she started with on day one (Hughes Robert)then many other close ones started in the 2 year old class. Every year she has meet new friends that she will call a friend for life! I'm sad to say her journey there is over and a new one is about to begin. I can only hope and pray she has just as good of a time at Lascassas Elementary and that she meets some new wonderful friends that she will have another journey with. She is sooooo excited about starting KINDERGARTEN in the fall. Although as many times as I try and tell her she will go to school EVERYDAY and meet all new friends I don't think it's really hit her what is about to happen! Right now homework is FUN, hope she still says that 5 years from now!!!!MOMMY AND DADDY ARE SO PROUD OF YOU RILEIGH!!! We love you with all our hearts....xoxoxo

11-11-11

Happy Veterans Day! I wanted Rileigh to understand what Veterans Day is all about and why it's such a special day! She made "Thank You" cards to take to the VA nursing home to hand out to the veterans. She was so excited and proud of her cards!



This year at school she has learned the pledge of allegiance. Every time she sees a flag she stops and says it! (very cute) At the ceremony we attended they started out with saying the Pledge of Allegiance. She placed her hand over her heart and said every word--very proud moment for a parent! During the ceremony she kept asking when can I hand my cards out mommy!!! And why are there so many old people here..lol!

Of course we didn't make enough cards for everyone so I told her to look around and see who she wanted to give them too.. The people really loved them and put a smile on there faces! I hope one day she realizes what a good thing she did today! It was such an honor to be in a room full of people that gave us our freedom and risked their lives for us!

Picture Time!!!!

It's that time again, 4 year pictures!!!!! The last couple years my sweet friend Shannan has taken Rileigh's pictures. She's now got a 7 month old along with her own 4 year old so I felt bad asking her to take Rileigh's pictures! I wasn't sure what I was going to do!!! I looked online at other photographers work in the area but thought I'll try taking some myself first and see what I get! My brother has a really nice camera so I borrowed his (Thanks Uncle Jim & Aunt Jaime) and off we went!

Of course I picked the HOTTEST day to go to the Greenway and take pictures! I don't think we were there 15 min. before we were all sweating to death!!!! Still got some cute shots but they look better in blk/wht. (hides the sweat!).











DAY TWO: After coming home and looking at all the pictures I took I wasn't 100% satisfied! So off we go again! This time we went to the new Gatway area! I was VERY pleased with this photo session!!!!!











As you can see I have the most BEAUTIFUL girl in the world!!!! Love you baby girl! xoxoxo

Happy 4th Birthday Baby Girl!

There are no words that can describe how lucky I am to have this little girl as my daughter! She's a smart,loving,caring,hard headed, stubborn sunshine of my life! I can't imagine my life without her!


When we started planning her b-day party I asked her what she wanted to do this year. She threw out several options but kept coming back to Strawberry shortcake. Everyone know's I'm not big into character party's so before I agree to it I had to look online to see what all I could do with Strawberry Shortcake! After SEVERAL hours of playing around online I told her okay she could have SS--she was SO excited! And the planning begins......



This year I decided to do somethings different: I didn't have a big cake, I decided I was going to do customize cupcakes. Rileigh also requested to have PBJ's for the food this year. At first I was hesitant cause I didn't want people to leave the party hungry so we timed it so it was after lunch and before dinner. Plus lets face it the party is for the kids and what do kids love...PBJ's!!!!!
I had a LOT of fun putting this party together, I made almost all the decorations myself(with the help of a wonderful friend)! I would go online and find ideas and then when I saw the price of it I thought hum...I can make that all it is is scrap booking paper! So needless to say I spent many of nights up late cutting! (Was not easy to do when R was awake cause she wanted to help WAY TOO MUCH)! It was all worth it when your little girl goes in the dining room where it's all laid out and screams out "WOW mommy, this is the BEST bday party EVERY"...made my heart melt. Totally worth everything we did!
Here are some of the decorations that I made!


Pom Poms

Buffet Tags

Flower With Strawberry Shortcake

Balloon Holders

Happy Birthday Banner

Up close Picture of the Banner!

Straws with all the kids names on them!

Rileigh's Artwork she made for her party! Of course she had to add some stickers to personalize it!!!





I want to add, all the pom poms around the lower deck was made by her daddy! Yep that's right he helped make decorations too(not much just the pom poms!!!) He loves his little girl!

Here are just some random pictures of her and her friends playing! She is very blessed to have so many great friends! Even though it was a 100 degrees outside the kids still had a great time playing in the bounce house and on the swing set! We had ton's of fans everywhere (really those were for the adults- don't think heat bothers kiddos!!!!)










So the group picture didn't turn out so well!!! Should of had them sitting with the sun behind them not blinding them!!!! This is almost all the 21 kids that came, some had to leave early! This is one sweaty group of kids!!! LOL BUT they were all having fun and that's all that matters! Thanks parents for being such great sports, Rileigh's day couldn't of been any better!

Presents: WOW is all I can say! She is so blessed with everything she got! I don't think there was anything she didn't get!!!! This year from mommy and daddy she wanted a ballerina doll she saw a couple months ago. We've been telling her she better start being good if she wanted it!LOL The morning of her birthday she comes running downstairs "MOMMY, DADDY can I finally get my ballerina doll it's my birthday!!!!" Needless to say when she open it she was ecstatic!









So I'm realizing we didn't get a lot of pictures of what she actually got, just her opening them so here are just a FEW of the things she got: Lot's of Strawberry shortcake stuff including SS House, SS remote control car, SS Bat & Ball, lot's of dress up cloths (Princess, Tangle, Barbie with matching outfit for her barbie) She got a cowgirl outfit for her baby doll and a carrying case for them. Lot's of cute cloths, Baseball Bat. Like I said these are just a few of the things.

Again, thank you everyone that made my little girls 4th birthday so special! She will never forget it! Happy Birthday Baby Girl- we love you more than words can describe!