Welcome Baby Luca!

We were trying to get up to Hoboken today to see the new & improved Palaitis crew...but I've had a terrible head cold for over a week now and Jim's got it too, so we're bailing. I'm bummed as I really wanted to meet baby Luca in person (and of course, post some pics), but I suppose the two I stole from Karen's blog will just have to suffice.


The one good part is now that we can practice saying "Luca" with Riley since he calls him "dookie".

We're off to see the Wizard...

Well, not the Wizard, exactly, but we are off to AC for the night. Wooo hoooo! As I type, Riley has just hit the road for a couple of days with my p's in Cranny! Wooo hooo. So, for Jim (currently at the bank cashing in our change jar)and I, it's The Tropicana or BUST! In other exciting Spring Break news, we had a visit with Auntie Michelle, Dylan and Mia yesterday (Thanks for driving up to see us!!!). Since I have been home or Spring Break this week I've realized that although I do love teaching I have been missing seeing our friends and their kiddies during the week for playdates. I also took Riley to his gym class this week and I'm looking forward to swapping the role as "Little Gym" parent with Jim for the summer. Summer can't come quick enough- I'm ready, even if it means having to wear a bathing suit, hee hee.

Anyway, here's some pics of our playdate yesterday:


Riley hugs...


Couch "fun"...the next set is all trying to get the three kids to look halfway decent in one picture (it didn't happen)

Here comes Riley Cottontail..

Since Riley is sleeping in, I might as well double post it on up! So, we hit up the annual Point Pleasant Easter Egg Hunt last Sunday (we tried to go the year before but it rained) and it was kinda 'bleh'. There was a HUGE line, which wasn't really an issue as all the parents and kiddies get on the sand before the egg huntin' begins, but seriously, Jenkinson's needs to get on the ball and hide more eggs. There were at least 50 or so people walking around wondering if they hid any eggs in our digging section. We never found one, nope, not one egg. We did wrangle two from the sidelines (there was a guy with a trashbag handing out eggs) and then some lady begged us to hide one for Riley so he could "find" at least one- it was nice of her and her kids to give up one of their eggs. She said it's like that every year, never enough eggs so they're smart and pack a few on their pockets to hide when their kids aren't looking so they can eliminate the "I didn't find any eggs" tantrums! I'm not saying we wouldn't go back, but I would've been irritated had a driven a great distance for it...since, we live 10 mins away, it's a good free, fun activity. Plus, Riley just thought it was fun to walk around with all the people and dig in the sand, so he was none the wiser that the Egg hunt kinda, um, sucked.

Here's some pics (*and a video!!) of the fun:

This was how long the line was for 0-4 hunting eggs set:


The Countdown:








Okay Mom, can we just go and get some Khor's custard now? This is kinda lame.

Oh, we did win a "free spin" on the Candy Wheel in the egg, so that was kinda fun. The other two eggs we scored had some little plastic toys in it, which we had to chuck since they were choke-worthy...but Riley LOVES playing with the plastic eggs so again, he didn't miss the prizes!

Some recent pics

Pics from the Star Wars Exhibit & hanging out in Philly last weekend! I wish I got some pics of Riley scarfing down his Vietnamese dinner- seriously, this kid loves Asian food (Japanese, thai, Vietnamese) almost as much as his parents!

Stairway to the Exhibit *by far the coolest part of the whole show!





ha ha, Jim and Riley playing on a gigantic colon:


....Riley is still sleeping, which is insane! He's so not a late riser- must be all the excitement of his new "class" at school since he transitioned into the toddler room like a champ this past week. He's even sleeping on a mat (WHAT???), which is crazy, but hey, it's been working. The only bad thing is that I guess he also transitioned to one nap a day this week...I'll miss his 2 solid 1.5 hr naps. In great news, I started my Spring Break yesterday and in greater news (I'll post an extended post later when I get some pics), Riley got a new friend yesterday as Karen, Dave, and Deville welcomed a baby boy into their crew! Luca Van! Woooooo hooooo!

He's all growns up!

We've been busy...school has been nuts (pre-Spring Break is chock full of extra-curricular teachers and as non-tenured teacher, I pretty much am "forced" to be a chaperone) and Riley has been a nutball, but he's doing great! He's now on an allergy medication that he takes daily and seems to have helped a great deal with his respiratory issues. He had a weird virus a few weeks ago, "weird" b/c he didn't have any fever or hieney issues but he was a vomit machine...anyway, that and his excessive thirst led our pediatrician to run a few tests, which was nerve-racking, to say the least. So far, he seems to be a-ok, his blood sugar was good (our doc was mainly concerned about diabetes) and all seems to be well otherwise.

Riley has been a word-learning animal- he know points to everything and wants to know what it is. This morning, he slept until 7am (hallelujah), he poked my belly button for a good 5 minutes, trying to say belly. It was coming out "baby" and I was thinking he knew something we didn't, but oh no, there's no baby in this belly! During his breakfast, he finally got the "ll" sound rolling and he can now say "belly"! Now, we have to work on the "button" part so he doesn't offend anyone by pointing at them and saying "belly". ha ha He also loves to sing- he can sing a few unintelligible lines of he favorite tunes: Twinkle Twinkle, Sweet Caroline, and Old MacRiley (Our version of Old MacDonald).

This Monday, Riley moves up to the big boy room in daycare! The infant room is just that as all of his "friends" have moved on to the 18 month and older set. The caregiver in the infant room feels he is bored since he mostly interacts with a few girls who are much younger than him so he's on his way to the big leagues!

Hmmm, not much else is too new and exciting- although we did spend the day in Philly yesterday with Uncle Woobs. We had a long day, but it was great since we went to see the Star Wars exhibit at the Franklin Institute and got to go out to eat at a great Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown (Greg lives right across the street from The Troc for those who know Philly). Anyway, some recent pics below! (More to be uploaded later today, if the weather holds out and we make it to the Point's Easter Egg Hunt this afternoon)

Welcome Abram David (Erika and Mark's new little guy!)


Riley and Jim at their first briss


Michelle, me, Abram and Riley



More pics to follow as Sir Riley has just beckoned to be removed from his throne (the swing) as he is done cavorting with his television friends (Elmo & Cookie Monster)!