Dad's 60th Birthday Bash

My Dad celebrated a very big Birthday milestone last month. Laura and I had planned a surprise party for Dad's big 6-0. We almost made it to the party without him finding out, but a little mishap let it slip the weekend before, oh well, we tried. Thankfully, Dad had no idea Riley and I would be there, so when he walked in he was still really surprised. Everyone had a great time and we had about 40 people show up to celebrate!! Thanks to everyone who helped, we couldn't have done it without you! Seeing everyone at the party from my childhood made me really homesick, but in a good way.

 Dad's Record Player Cake by Gigi

 Me, Dad and Aunt Cheryl (wow I hope I age as awesome as these 2!)

 Aunt Laura and Riley

 Me, Riley and Aunt Laura

 Party People!!

 Did I mention the Razorback game was on too?

 Uncle Ryan giving Riley a ride

 Can't go to Baba's house without getting your new cast stuck in the pool table!

 Bed jumping with Sooie

Bed jumping with Porkchop

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

We were suppose to go camping with some friends the weekend of Halloween, but it decided to snow.  Darn :)  I am trying to be more outdoorsy and like camping, but lets just say a last minute change of plans to go to Cleveland to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was awesome! Definitely something I have always wanted to do and as a rock and roll music lover, it's one of the coolest things to visit. Riley did so well, guess we will pass on the love of rock and roll forever!!

Pyramid = Rock and Roll, duh

Hot Dog from the Phish tour

Misc Hanging cars probably from another tour

Well, you get the idea

Riley posing with his future instrument

An up and coming Beatles's fan!

Hand-holding camera pose, not bad

Johnny Cash's tour bus

Halloween

I attempted to make costumes again for Halloween. 

Things I have learned during this endeavor:

• Procrastination does not work for costume making, so I ran out of time and didn't get to make my costume.
• I cannot sew well by hand, get a sewing machine.
• A hot glue gun is a good friend.
• Need an airbrushed abs onesie? Pittsburgh has 3 specialty air brush stores, who knew!

 Riley as.....SPARTACUS! (or a Gladiator for those who don't know Spartacus)

 

Trying out the double sword fighting

Batiatus and his slave Spartacus

 

Music time with Teddy

Ending the night hanging out with zombie baby

Rollercoaster Time!

Pittsburgh has it's very own amusement park: Kennywood. We got to all go this summer for Brian's company picnic. We were pretty worried that Riley would be too scared to ride anything. But, boy were we WRONG! This kid loved every ride and asked for more almost every time. Sometimes, we had a hard time getting him off the ride. We ended the day with a nice splash from the log ride (twice) - well just Riley (don't worry we waited as close as we could while staying dry). Here's my 2nd attempt at imovie, slowly improving my video editing skills...slowly.

Willie and Ji Young's Wedding Weekend Part 1

We got to go home last month for Willie and Ji Young's wedding. They decided to be crazy and asked Riley to be their ring bearer. So we got to be part of the wedding which was really cool for me. Willie and I have been friends since high school and I definitely consider him a close friend. Ji Young is one of the nicest girls I have met and I couldn't be happier for both of them!

Now, here's the thing: I had to ensure a 2 year-old would make it down the aisle (which he didn't) so we have no pictures of the wedding and then we realized we only had the video camera and not the camera - so no reception pictures either. I also had to stand outside with Riley for him to walk through the door and walk down the aisle, and then I had to run back inside and walk into the ballroom at the Peabody to see if he made it. Well, what do you think happened? I am not sure either, but in the 15-20 seconds I was gone Riley had managed to steal the show and stall the wedding. Apparently he did a partial walk with the flower girls and then decided it would be more fun to lay on the floor and try out a new dance spin/move.

Luckily it was funny to everyone (minus me who was hoping for a perfect performer, idiot mom.) and a great laugh. I did get to see the video, but blogspot won't let me post videos - any advice for that fellow bloggers? Anywho, I am learning how to get a still picture from video and that will have to wait until another post.

L-R: Ji Young, Me, Willie, Sylvia and Dao

Brian and I

L-R: Me, Shren, Muhammad, Sylvia and Dao

L-R: Ross, Shren, Muhammad and Me

The Caviness Clan (almost a Riley smile)

The boys

Dad and Riles

Riley's 2nd Birthday

Thomas, Thomas, Thomas. The theme for his 2nd birthday went off a HUGE success. Brian took on the feat of making him a train table and we got a bunch of new Thomas the Train tracks, trains, puzzles, bath toys, etc. etc. etc. I am going to bleed blue here pretty soon. I thought that Riley would be too young for the train table, but everytime he went down for a nap or bedtime he would ask me about choo-choo, and go running to the table to play when he woke up.

Laura, Baba (my Dad), Grandma and Shaelyn all came into town to celebrate his birthday. Baba and Laura hadn't seen him since November so it was nice to have us all together. I also learned for maybe the 10th time to NOT wake up Riley from a nap. You would think I would have learned this by now, but each time I say, maybe this time he won't be cranky.....WRONG. Oh well, he still had fun, just not without some mini-tantrums. Sorry Riley, that was my fault.

North Carolina Beach Trip - June

Riley and I got to go visit Grandma and Papa in Raleigh before I started my new job. Grandma was nice enough to take me (well more for Riley) to the beach for the weekend while we were there. I am a beach person for sure, while Brian is the mountain person. Riley which parent will you vacation with when you are older?

Riley LOVED the ocean. He pretty much loves water in general. We got him one of those swimsuits where he can float in the water and he has learned to jump off the edge and diving boards by himself now. Meanwhile his head isn't getting far enough away from the edge/board to ensure me that we won't be visiting the ER soon.

Anthrocon 2011

Riley and I were at the park today and ran into some interesting characters. There was a limo and out came about 5 people dressed up as animals (dogs, cat, fox, cheetah). They were playing with the kids and Riley was a having a blast. I asked someone what this was for and the guy said 'Anthrocon'. What is this awesomeness you ask? Direct from www.anthrocon.org:

"Anthrocon is the world's largest convention for those fascinated with anthropomorphic, which are humanlike animal characters"

Anthrocon 2011 is going in Pittsburgh this weekend. That was definitely NOT what I was expecting. It just made my day, and Riley's!

Playtime with Daddy

Since it has slowed down on the raining here, we have been exploring the city and finding great parks and water fountains. Oh yeah, and we found the Hofbrauhaus! Brian and I went to the one in Munich and were very excited to find one here in Pittsburgh.

A little 3-shot series of Riley getting thrown in the air.

And he's airborne folks!

Nothing like running through water on a hot day.

I think he could have done this for hours.

Cheers: Play hard, and get rewarded with 1 L beers, or water :(

Mother's Day

Another Mother's Day and it still feels weird that I am a mom. I do, however, enjoy the benefits of Mother's Day. Homemade brunch, massage, time by myself to go shopping. Oh yeah, I did spend some time with the kiddo too.

Crab cakes with hollandaise, seared scallions, poached eggs and toast
(someone please tell me the secret to proper lighting for food pictures)

Riley and I enjoying the fruits of Daddy's labor

Some park time with Janna and Teddy.
The boys had fun, but not willing to show us

Trying to look nice, before heading our for a dinner barbeque

Easter in West Virginia

Rob and Janna let us tag along on Easter to Janna's family get-together in West Virginia. We had just moved into town the weekend before so it was nice to have somewhere to go. What does a little country mean on Easter?

If you smile, you will get a present.

Ok, not too bad

Riley's first Easter basket/bucket

Tractors (Teddy steering)

Flowers on the hill

4-wheeling of course!

And Easter egg hunt, Riley made out with $8.60!