Pink Eye...yuck!

Ok so I woke up Wednesday and my right eye was swollen shut. So I went to the doctor and low and behold I had a nice case of pink eye and a sinus infection. I don't feel too bad just stopped up and I get to sport my glasses this week.

Sad news- our sister in law Maria's grandmother died today. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Warren family during this difficult time.

We had a great Easter. John's brother Kirk came down from Belmont, NC with his wife Kelly and his three kids Kaleb, Karson, and Kaitlyn. Kaleb is Riley's favorite cousin. She loves them all but she really stalks him. He is great with her. He is 10 this year and really watches out for her and she adores him. I will dig up pictures and post them later.

We had a rough week at school, and when I say we I mean Riley. She hasn't feel great with her allergies kicking into high gear. She is on medicine which makes her a little out of sorts. She apparently had a melt down and got sent to the office. Ms. Brenda (who is the director) had to hold Riley down as kicked and screamed for about 30 minutes. This is in part because of the not feeling good and the not feeling good is resulting in little sleep for all of us. In happier news we got a new big girl bike and is learning to ride. Pedals are a lot harder than one might think. She also got some flip flops today which are her first pair that don't have a strap on the back to hold them on. She loves them but walking in them is another story.

John and Riley got to take the day off today in order study for his upcoming test. He is getting yet another insurance delegation. CLU "Charter Life Underwriters" we think. Which means when he is done State Farm will pay for another vacation for us. Last September we went to Hawaii.

Well I think that catches me up for the week. I know I am leaving stuff out but I can always write more later.

March Madness!!

Well March madness is now in full swing. John is at home again today glued to the TV. This is his favorite time of the year. Riley is excited too because she has not had to go to school yesterday or today. This makes our mornings very pleasant.

We are looking forward to Easter this weekend. We are not doing anything special other than going to church and watching some basketball. I think Riley and I may dye some eggs and hide them. That should be an adventure. Oh yeah and we are going to dinner at Robyn's house on Saturday night to grill out. Maybe the girls can hide eggs together Saturday night.

Sorry we are not more exciting, but these are the days of our lives! Happy Easter to everyone if we don't get to talk to you before Sunday.

Tantrums

Well this morning was ugly. There was kicking and screaming the whole 9 yards, but the real kicker (no pun intended). Was when Riley kicked me and I lost my balance falling off the bed. (Don't worry I am totally fine.) I just don't know what to do with this morning rage that my daughter seems to suffer from. I have tried going to bed earlier. Getting up earlier so she has more time to watch cartoons. I just don't know.

On a happier note she has her Trike A Thon today at school to raise money for St. Jude. Everyday when we get to school no matter how terrible the fit has been at home and the whole ride to school is, she is the picture of perfection when we enter the school. "Hello, Ms. Norma" and then runs to hug all her friends, and then tops it off with a big hug and kiss good bye. Is it possible for her to already have PMS?

PS. Happy Be-lated St. Patrick's Day to everyone. We didn't even wear green yesterday, I am a degenerate!

Sorry, I haven't blogged much this week. Riley has not been feeling the best. My mom was here, and I am just a slacker.

My mom came in Wednesday night so she and John could watch all the ACC games. Props to the Heels on a very nicely played round of tournament games! Riley got to hang out with Pammy both on Thursday and Friday. She was thrilled not to have to go to school and even more thrilled that her Pammy was here. Riley has pretty bad spring allergies her eyes have been all matted shut and there was stuff coming out of her ears. The doctor assured me it wasn't an ear infection or pink eye just allergies. Just the same we were at the doctor's office twice last week. Somehow, with not feeling well and the excitment of Pammy being here Riley has mixed up her days and nights. Thursday night she stayed up until 5:30 am. Bouncing back and forth between our room and my mom's room and the living room. Then Friday and Saturday night it was like 1:30am or so before she would finally nod off. Last night she went kicking and screaming about 9:45pm. Hopefully once the allergies ease up she will get back to a more normal routine. The pollen here is crazy. Everything is covered in yellow dust.

Yesterday, we made it to the mall in our Easter finest to see the Easter Bunny. We were very excited. Last year we loved the Easter Bunny so much that we kind of stalked him at an egg hunt we attended. This year when we got to the mall Riley was waving and chatting him up from a safe distance and then when I mentioned getting on his lap she didn't want any part of it. After several minutes of small talk with the bunny she agreed to sit on a stool about two feet infront of the bunny. She told me later when looking at the picture that she was sitting on the toilet in front of the Easter bunny. I assure you it was a stool!

Thanks again to Pammy who let Riley stay home with you last week while you were in town. She really enjoyed your visit and already misses you. See you in a couple of weeks!

Easter Bunny!

March 11th

Well, sorry I haven't blogged in a few days. There hasn't been a whole lot to report. We are all just trying to adjust to the time change and it being dark when its time to get up. Riley spent the night at Nana and Pop Pop's last night. She had really wanted to go home with her Sunday night, but Nana told her she could spend the night last night. I am sure they had a wonderful time. I hate to say this because I did miss her, but I had a nice time last night watching grown up tv shows.

We had another good weekend. John brewed two more beers. The first was an IPA and the second was a porter. They are now fermenting and should be ready in a couple of weeks. We also enjoyed watching the TAR HEELS beat Duke this weekend. John gets pretty fired up when watching our beloved Heels although, now we have a wonderful two year old that will remind him to be quiet when he gets out of hand. Or my favorite is "Daddy be nice."

My mom who is also one of the biggest Tarheel fans I have ever met is coming down this week to watch the ACC tourney with John. They take off work and everything. They are hardcore devoted to basketball. Either way we are glad that Pammy is coming to see us!!!

Great Weekend

Well we had a great weekend packed full of low key fun times. Riley had a birthday party to attend on Saturday at our nieghbors house. Riley and Robyn have become quite good friends over the last year. Robyn turned 4 this weekend and had a fabulous party in her back yard, with bouncy things, corn dogs, cake, and pop corn. Riley was very eager to help Robyn open all her presents. We gave Robyn some Barbie make up. Riley loves "Make ups" as she calls it. I caught her stuffing some of the make ups we gave Robyn into her own pockets so that she could take it home. Needless to say I had to give her a pat down before we left to make sure she wasn't stealing any of Robyn's new make ups. I will post pictures later.

Saturday night we had our game night. John and I get together with a few other couples and we usually play some sort of game. We have done this three times and I am undefeated, and John sometimes cheats. :) This week we played Cranium, very cool game. This game night was hosted by our good friend David's parents. They had it at thier community club house which just happened to have an indoor heated pool. Riley swam until 11:30pm. She was exhausted, but didn't want to get out. Once I finally wrangled her out and into some dry clothes and got her in the truck she was asleep with in two minutes.

I was really worried that she would still wake up at the usual 7am and demand her regular peanut butter samach for breakfast. However, she slept until 9:15. It was wonderful. We went to church which was great. John plays drums in our praise band and always does an excellant job. During communion I noticed that Riley was singing along to whatever we were singing, and I could tell she was putting her heart and soul into what she was singing. Our song came to and end and it got really quiet and Riley at the top of her lungs is still singing her song and all I hear echoing through the church is "Q R S T U V". She is proud of herself and her new ability to sing her ABCD's as she call them that she burst into song at any moment. I LOVE happy Riley!