Reilly-isms

If there is one thing Reilly does well, it's talk. He has a huge vocabulary, but like all kids he makes mistakes sometimes. He also comes up with things that just crack me up. Some recent examples...

-He calls the Insectarium the "excitarium". I guess he is really excited to go there???

-The Audubon Zoo is called either the Ottoman Zoo or the Dinosaur Zoo (because of the dino exhibit that is there right now)

-The other night he lookes at Forrest, who was all curled up in a little ball, sound asleep, and said "mama, Forrest is round like a shrimp"

-Driving home from the park the other night, he asked if he could suck his thumb. I told him no, because his hands were all dirty. I looked back at him a minute later and he was blowing on his hands. He told me "I am getting the dirt off my hands with the wind in my mouth"

-Last night we were at our neighbors house and her 5 week old grandson was there, asleep in a pack n play. Reilly insisted on singing him a lullaby...so sweet.

-I was playing with the camera the other day and took a bunch of pictures of a friends baby, including some close ups of her feet. When I showed them to Reilly, he told me "baby Regan has such cute feet, I want to tickle them"

Duck, Duck, Goose...

And some nutria and turtles too!
Living in south Louisiana, I try to spend as much time as possible indoors during the summer, since it's often unbearably hot and humid. This past week, we were very lucky and had some unseasonably pleasant weather. I decided to take advantage of the cooler days and take Reilly to the park to feed the ducks and play on the playground. We went 2 nights in a row, and had a lot of fun both times.

Calling the geese to come to him...it didn't work

A nutria, yuck! They give me the creeps.

I love the light in this picture



My little tree-hugger!

Just being cute

A Day at the Farm

We are very lucky to have several kids around Reilly's age who live on our street. Reilly's bestest buddy Grant lives just 2 doors down from us, and Elizabeth lives about halfway down the block. Elizabeth's mom Holly invited Reilly and I (Bobby was out of town) to take a little road trip on Sunday, to go visit her horse on the farm where it lives. We had gone to a barn uptown with her last month to see some horses, and Reilly had a blast, so I couldn't pass up this invitation.

We all piled into Holly's car and hit the road...across the Causeway to Covington, a quick stop at Raisin' Cane's for lunch, then on to Folsom and the farm. When we got there, we let the kids out of the car and Reilly just took off running to see the cows. He was so excited because they were mooing at him! There were 10 or so adult cows, 1 bull, and 2 babies. In another pasture, there were 3 horses and 2 donkeys. We fed the horses and donkeys some apples and carrots, petted them as much as they would let us, and just let the kids run and play for a few hours. By the end, they were both dirty and tired, but they had a great time! After a little stop for some ice cream, we headed back across the lake, and Reilly passed out in the car on the way home!

Thanks so much to Holly and Elizabeth for letting us join in on your fun afternoon!

Playing Hooky

A few weeks ago, I found out about a wave pool at Bayou Segnette Park, across the river. I decided that I wanted to take Reilly, but the article I read about the place said that there is a line to get it on most days, since only 100 people are allowed in each day. I figured that if I waited until school started back up, we would have a better chance of getting in. So this past Friday, I kept Reilly home from school and we headed to the pool, along with our neighbor Holly and her daughter Elizabeth, who is 4 months older than Reilly,

I was right about waiting...we were the ONLY people there! Reilly and Elizabeth had a great time. They didn't spend much time in the wave pool, but there was a nice splash area for the little ones, and a bunch of sand that they had a blast digging in. It did rain for a little while, so Holly and I took cover under an awning, but the kids just kept playing in the sand...it didn't bother them at all! I will definitely be going back to this place!

Making sand angels


waiting out the rain


going down the slide

splishing and splashing

Boys will be Boys

The other night, Reilly asked me if we could go outside and take a walk. Bobby was cooking dinner and Reilly was getting underfoot, so I agreed to take him out. For some reason, Reilly also insisted that we had to bring his wagon with us. Why? I have no idea, but he threw such a fit when I said no that I relented and let him bring it. (Hey, a mom's got to pick her battles!). As we were headed out, Bobby handed me the new camera and told me to take some pictures of Reilly. He didn't know it at the time, but that turned out to be a great idea!

There is a canal behind our house, and if you walk around the corner, there is access to it. Reilly likes to go see what is over there, so we headed in that direction. When we got there, there 2 boys already there. They looked to be about 12 years old, and they had fished a big turtle out of the canal. When Reilly saw that turtle, he was SO excited! We have 2 turtles in an aquarium in our house, but they are pretty small. This one was a lot bigger, and the boys were very nice and let Reilly look at it, put it in his wagon, and even hold it. They were very patient with him, and answered his millions of questions without getting annoyed. Thanks boys for being so nice!

After a while, the boys returned the turtle to the canal and rode off on their bikes. Reilly is still talking about that turtle 3 days later. What is it about boys and creatures???

I tried to put the pictures under the post, but I couldn't figure out how!!!

fun in the sun (and a new toy!)

This morning Reilly and I headed over to Woodlake for a birthday party. Our friend Kaleb is turning 3, and he had a swimming party. So after a meltdown because I would not let Reilly have a popsicle for breakfast (mean mommy!) we hopped in the car. Two minutes later, the skies opened up and it was POURING!!! But by the time we got to Kenner, it was sunny again. We had lots of fun splashing in the pool and playing with other friends who were there. Reilly had 2 hot dogs, more chips than I could count, and a "pupcake", and was a very happy little boy. Now I have a sunburn, but it's not too bad, I think I will live ;).

I got a new toy tonight too! Bobby and I are considering remodeling the kitchen so we went to Best Buy to look at appliances. While we were there, I was looking at cameras too. I had a little Canon digital that I liked, but it died a mysterious death recently. So Bobby bought me a much nicer camera, a Nikon D60. He had tried to talk me into getting a one a few years ago, but I said no because they are so big to carry around. But lately I have been seeing friends with similar cameras and the picture quality is just so much better, I decided to go for it! I can't wait to start playing with it tomorrow, once the battery is charged.

Just call me Martha...

As in Martha Stewart! I have been super-domestic lately, which is very unusual for me! I have been cooking (almost) every night, been going on huge cleaning and organizing binges, and even working in the yard. Last night Bobby told Reilly that I must be sick and should call the doctor. Of course Reilly was all concerned about me then, asking "What's wrong Mama?". My sweet boy.

On a totally different topic...
I have to say that I am so proud of what a big boy Reilly is becoming. I've really been thinking about this a lot lately. He tries very hard to control himself, instead of having a fit when he doesn't get what he wants...all he needs is a little reminder from me and the whining usually stops. He always wants to help out around the house - too bad that won't last through his teenage years, I'm sure! And he is SO smart, it's scary! The child never forgets anything he is told. Makes me glad we put him in a school that I know will keep him challenged for many years! I think he is going to be our only one, so I better get it right with him!

Hi, my name is Linda...

and I am a bad blogger. I try to remember to write, but then life gets in the way and the next thing I know, I've forgotten what I want to write about.

So, some highlights since last time I wrote...

Reilly turned 3! He had 3 cakes over 3 days, a really fun party, and his buddy Lily Grace came down from Oxford for the weekend, with her Mommy Sandra, of course. I think her being here was the highlight of his weekend.

I am finally (almost) totally recovered from my surgery! I never thought I would be able to say that, but I feel like it's true. Some things are still hard, like stairs, and I am not allowed to run or jump, and most likely will never be able to again...but I don't do much of that anyway. I have pain in my heel from time to time, and my feet start to hurt more easily than before, but I have been feeling great lately!

I also quit my job...kind of a long story as to why, but I am glad to not be going back to JPPSS. I was never really happy with them, and they are NOT employee friendly at all. So now I am job hunting (but not very hard). I would love to not work, but I really have no excuse not to, since Reilly is in school all day.

This summer has gone so fast. We went to visit my parents over July 4, then went to Destin for a week, and now the school year is starting again. I sent Reilly to camp for a month, then kept him home with me for a month. We both had so much fun...we hung out with friends we hadn't seen in a while, plus some new friends, one of whom lives right down the street. All in all, it's been a great summer!