That is what Riley was saying today, very excitedly, as he was riding around the parking lot just across the street from us. Grandma Barb still thinks he is a baby and is too young for this. I’ve told her many times that I was younger than him and he is NOT a baby… look at him, is that a baby??? No way, that is my amazing little boy (who is almost 5). Check out why he is so excited…

I was putting the boys down for a nap today and I had an interesting conversation with Riley. Matthew and I are leaving in the morning to go down to Battle Mountain, NV for a possible job opportunity that he has been offered… they are flying us down to take a look at the area and see what he thinks. Here is the conversation I had with him…

I told him that he and Tanner wil have to wake up really early to take Daddy and I to the airport in the morning… he asked why… I told him about Battle Mountain and he said, “mom, am I going to have do drive you guys to the airport?” It was pretty cute… No Riley we will be picking up Grandma Barb and she is going to stay with you guys for a couple of days. Then he went on to add… “mom, I want the BIGGEST house… can you guys get the BIGGEST house?” Why Riley? “Because if we have the biggest house we can get some trains.”

Here is what our yard looked like on Sunday after snowing for about 15 hours…

And this snow came after we went to the park (at 75 degrees) just days earlier… that’s Montana weather for you

I came across this video this evening and thought I’d post it on YouTube so that you guys can see it…

It is not a current, Riley actually reading video, but rather an old (Feb 07) video of the boys reading in Matthew and my bedroom. It is about 5 minutes long, so hopefully you don’t get bored… I had a lot of fun watching it again and seeing how far the boys have come in the last year

My favorite parts are about 20 seconds in when Riley says… “we’re not reading those to yet, we need to be patient.” And then about 2 minutes in when Riley says…”TANNER MICHEAL, that is not very nice of you to throw things.” You’ve got to hear him say these to appreciate the humor… also I guess you can tell that I’ve stressed that we need to learn to be patient and that we don’t throw things and how it is not nice.

I hope you enjoy

Riley has been practicing reading skills quite a bit lately… I have him learning “site” words… words that you essentially memorize and he has gotten very good at sounding things out.  I’ve been trying to read some of the books we have that are simple books lately so he can practice.  Well, Saturday night we read, “10 Apple Up On Top” and when I say “we” I should say Riley read it with a slight amount of help from me (very minor).  This is an easy read, but not a short book… about 60 pages (with 1 or 2 sentences on each page).

The best part, as usual, was his reaction… he was so proud of himself… SO PROUD of himself… you could just see him getting excited, hear the excitement in his voice… after each page he would stop, look at me with a big smile and give me this great big hug… it was a lot of fun… G0 Riley!!!

On Saturday we went to an Easter egg hunt at the local KOA (wow… nice KOA…I’ve never seen one with such a nice pool/waterslide/play area).  Before the hunt started, they did a race for each of the age groups.  Tanner (2 - 3 age group) was kind of afraid to run so Barb ran with him.  Then for Riley, Tanner and I went down to the finish line.  Barb told Riley to “run as fast as you can to mom.”  On your marks, get set, go… here he comes… he’s running as fast as he possibly can… and by about 2 lengths… it’s Riley :)  He won for the 4 - 5 age group (he won a stuffed bunny)… he beat out about 35 or so other kids… I guess our constant racing is paying off

We dyed some eggs on Saturday evening… the boys went to bed and the Easter Bunny showed up

We spent all day Sunday hunting for eggs and playing soccer and basketball… I’d hide the eggs and the boys would find them… Riley would hide the eggs and Tanner and I would find them… then Tanner would hide them and Riley and I would find them… and then again and again and again… they loved it!

Then today, Barb, the boys and I went to see “Horton Hears a Who.”  It was a pretty good movie… we all enjoyed it :)  This is the 3rd time the boys have been to a movie in the theatre and they are getting much, much better.  Tanner sat the entire time (oh sorry, one potty break)… quietly sat and watched the movie… I was amazed.  Riley talked to Gramma Barbie a decent amount, but Gramma was also talking (surprised?) so his conversations were partly him and partly her. All in all they did really well this time around!

That was our weekend… I hope everyone of you all had a good weekend!!!

After talking to many people and hearing everyone say how big our little guy is, I decided to take a picture while he was in the bath today to show how much of a “puff ball” he is…

He is actually smaller than I even thought he was

Also, there have bee a couple of times in the last 24 hours when we haven’t been able to find the puppy. When we finally do, guess where he is??? Tanner’s bed…

I find this very interesting… I guess even he understands that it is Tanner, more than anyone else, who has made the puppy the biggest part of his world

And one more thing…

The boys officially decided on a name this morning… approved by both of them… his name is “Sodor.”

For anyone who doesn’t know, Riley’s love truly is trains and he kept trying different “Thomas the Train” names. He finally said Sodor, the island where all the trains live, and Tanner loved it. So, Sodor it is.

I guess it means that all our dogs have been named after something from tv and they all have unique dog names. We now have Maynard (from the 50’s television show with Maynard G. Crebs), Moki (from Fragle Rock) and Sodor (from Thomas the Train).

Wow… WOW… I am amazed! This dog has got to be the smartest dog I’ve ever met Ok, let me explain… 2 days in the house and only one accident… 1… WOW! He is even already telling me that he needs to go outside… WOW!

I got some more really cute pictures today, but more importantly I got a really cute video of Riley and the puppy that matches the one below from yesterday with Tanner and the puppy… so take a look at this one…

No, it’s not a baby not a human baby anyway

I have been really paying attention to Tanner the last couple of months because he has had an amazing growth… with his love for animals. We have two dogs, mature dogs, that simply don’t really like kids. They love adults and aren’t mean to the boys, but basically don’t want anything to do with them. So with Tanner constantly asking me to hold the dogs so he can pet them and watching him at Petco with the animals and just seeing how frustrated he was getting with how Maynard and Moki treat him (not that I can blame them, he has been pretty mean in the past), it was decided that we needed a puppy that could be the boys’ dog. One that would run and play with them, be as active as they are, play a little rough like boys do sometimes and just have fun together. So, introducing….

“puppy” - we don’t have a name yet He is an Australian Shepard (Aussie) and is 9 weeks old.

In this picture I was talking to my sister on the webcam and he decided he needed to get out of my lap and onto the desk…

When I went to get the puppy, Riley stayed home with Grandma Barbie and Tanner came with me. Here’s the first picture I got of Tanner with the puppy…

Here are a couple of pictures right after we got home with the puppy…

Riley only played with the puppy for a couple of minutes before he decided he needed to get back to his first love…trains This is exactly what I expected. Riley just loves his trains and while I know he will love this dog and will play with it, trains will still be his first love. Tanner on the other hand has a first love for dogs

I discovered another benefit to the puppy that I hadn’t even thought about… when Maynard used to (can’t anymore because he is blind) play fetch, Moki would get her play in by chasing Maynard (she never really played fetch on her own). Since Maynard no longer does this, Moki hasn’t had anybody to chase. She immediately took to the puppy and as you will see in the video below, she is already chasing him…

Here are a couple of cute pictures from outside:

And lastly, here is a really cute video I got of Tanner and puppy (and even Moki) this morning. Ok, in case you will be offended (then don’t watch it)… Tanner had just gone to the bathroom and hadn’t put his underwear on, but once he started playing and was laughing so hard, I didn’t want to tell him to stop right away. So you will see a naked butt. Also, I was talking to my mom on the phone while I was shooting this, so you hear me reacting to her a couple of times

I know it is a little too early to be too excited, but only one accident in the house today (the first time he had to go) and twice he whined in the kitchen for me to take him out… how nice is that!!!That’s the newest member to our family. The boys love him. It is going to be a lot of fun to watch them bond with the puppy… should be a fun summer But first things first, I guess we need a name

Tanner’s latest word/reaction is “Yay.” It is so cute… he asks me something and when I give him the answer he was looking for he raises his hands, jumps up and says, “YAY!”

“Mommy, can I have a cookie?” I’ll say, “yes you may Tanner if you eat all of your dinner first.” “YAY!” “Mommy, can I help you?” “Yes you can help me fold the clothes Tanner.” “YAY!!!” Tanner asks, “are you making my dinner mommy?” “Yes Tanner I am” “YAY!”

Or there are the times when I ask him a question and he gives the right answer… “Tanner, did you help mommy clean up today?”  “Yes, Yay!”

You’d probably have to actually hear him say it to understand how cute it really is but hopefully you kind of get the idea