Some random stuff and a trip to Tyler

Last Wednesday we had small group at Allison and Justin's and Riley thought he would come out and "play" for a little while. This was his second time to small group and he did get a little bit more adventurous. The first time he was no fun and slept in his carseat the entire time.
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Here is Riley with Alli. He is sitting/laying on top of his future best friend Jake and his future wife Mallory. They are supposed to come out and play on August 15th. Riley can't wait to meet them!

Last week Russell was busy with a football camp from about 12:00 to 4:30 everyday. So on Thursday I asked Aunt Rachel if she could come over and watch him in between feedings so I could get some laundry, cleaning and packing done before we left for a week. Aunt Rachel never turns down a chance to play with Riley. and as you can tell by this picture they played so hard they both needed a nap! I got Riley a new bath thingy last week and I think he likes it a lot. He had a bath on Saturday before we left for Tyler and he was pretty much like this the whole time.
If you haven't figured it out by now this is not Russell blogging. Russell is gone for the week on a golfing trip with his dad and some other people. They started this tradition the summer we got married and Russell looks forward to it every year. Here is Riley and Daddy before they headed out on Sunday. Since Russell was going to be out of town all week I am staying with my parents in Tyler. My sister and her kids are still in Texas and so we are having a great time! Here is Riley sleeping in his bed at Nana and Poppy's. This was Caleb's old bed and bedding.

Riley has gotten to spend lots of quality time with Aunt Bekah. Here they are at church on Sunday. I think she has the magic touch when it comes to getting Riley to sleep.
Since there are a few of us at my parents house Caleb and Hannah are in one room while Bekah, Riley and I are in the other room. Here are Aunt Bekah and Riley cuddling before bed one night. She is such a great sister to not only share a bed with me, but she even stays up late with me for the late night feeding and even volunteers her help for the middle of the night feeding and early morning feeding! Thanks for being such a great help sis!
Here is a close up of how much Riley likes cuddling with Aunt Rebekah.
My sisters kids are totally obsessed with cousin Riley. When we got here on Saturday they asked is Riley had missed them and had cried because they were there. They love to hold him, kiss him, pat his head and talk to him. Hannah is only 4 years old and she already has a great talk to baby voice. I think I will try to get a video of it before we leave it is just adorable. Here are Riley and Hannah laying on Granny's bed. We have been here since Saturday and I don't have a picture of Caleb holding Riley because I always seem to be taking a nap when that happens. I do happen to have a picture of Caleb holding cousin Norah though. I think Saturday was the first time I had seen Norah's pretty eyes.
Here is Riley getting a bath from Aunt Bekah and her fabulous assistant Hannah!

Since both grandparents live in Tyler Riley got to spend some time with his Grammy yesterday on her day off. Aunt Rachel came into town as well since Annette is all on her own this week with Randy on the golfing trip. I failed to get a single picture of any of the festivities. We had lots of fun though. We went and ate Mexican food for lunch and then we came back to house I got to take a nap and Riley "played" with Grammy and Aunt Rachel.

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Ok now here is the funniest part of the whole post...Last night after we put my sisters kids to bed and Riley had eaten my mom, Bekah, and I made a quick shopping trip to Kohls to make good use of a coupon that was going to expire. I left Riley and Poppy watching the Rangers. I figured Riley would be ok with that because he was probably going through Rangers withdrawal since daddy wasn't home for them to watch games together. Well, when we got back they were pretty much in the same spot that we left them in. All you need to do is look in front on the snuggler to see how Poppy handles a diaper change when the women are not around. Now let me give you a close up. Poppy couldn't find the changing pad or should I say didn't know there was one in the diaper bag so he improvised with some newspaper. Luckily he found the diapers and wipes and I didn't come home to find my child wrapped in a dishrag or something. My sister asked dad if he was trying to paper train Riley.
I would say over all Poppy makes a great babysitter.
Since we are only halfway through our stay in Tyler I am sure there are more great tales to come!