The ramblings of a 2 month old

That's right, Riley Moon has something to tell you!

For those of you concerned about her seating arrangements, I assure you she's safely placed in these videos!

Just a Saturday

Saturday I had a baby shower to attend at McDuff's Tea Room, which was awesome by the way.  More on that later.  

It's located in downtown Fayetteville.  The International Folk Festival was going on, so David decided to go along and walk Hannah around downtown while I was at the baby shower.  

What they ended up doing was heading to Twisted Jeweler to make some birthday presents.  This is where they were when I met up with them.  

Here's the necklace David made me along with the bracelet Hannah made me.  Hannah also made me a matching necklace, with a cross on it.  

Then we all walked over to Greg's and spent a few hours there.  

It took me forever to talk David into painting something.  He kept bouncing back and forth.  Finally, I just demanded he paint it for my birthday.  

If you look at this picture you can see the margarita glass, two coffee mugs, plate, 

owl piggy bank and cookie jar that was painted.  We get to pick them up this Saturday.

I also popped in Sweetbottoms to pick up some prefolds, which I got a great deal on. 

We all had such a good time.  I picked up some Chocolate Mint Tea and some Birthday Cake tea, along with a cup and loose tea leaf diffuser set.  I chatted with the owner, who was incredibly nice and helpful.  She let me sniff an endless amount of tea.  The Tea Room has tea time every afternoon, from 3 to 5.  You have to call the day before and make a reservation as the chef prepares everything fresh daily.  I can't wait to go back for tea time.  The set up is so classic, with 3 tiered trays filled with cookies and biscotti and beautiful glass teapots so you can see the tea leaves.  

I look forward to taking Hannah back to Greg's, we'll make some more Christmas gifts.  And I'd like to make some jewelry.   

As we walked back to the truck Hannah exclaimed "this is the best city ever!"  I must admit, downtown Fayetteville has come such a long ways from what it was when I was a kid.  I hope it continues to improve.  

Video Problems

Here's the two videos in my previous posts that for some reason just stopped working.

Hannah Ballerina

Last night was a hit.  Hannah was so excited and did a great job.  She's the smallest, and youngest, in a class of 4 girls.  The teacher, Ms. Kristin is really good with the kids.  She instructs and still gives them time to have fun.  In short, Hannah is

hooked.  

Here's a short (48 second) video of my ballerina.

She had a little trouble with balance and using the right/left leg 

appropriately, but she's only 4!  And this was her first class so I have faith 

that'll improve the more she goes.  

She did an excellent job with the pronunciation of the steps.  After doing each step the

teacher has them repeat the name of the step, and then again at various times 

throughout the class.  

Here we see the bunny hop.

She also had a little trouble with her shoes, they kept slipping off!  They were 

the smallest ones I could find.  

Ready to do horse gallops, which Hannah picked to do.

Riley and me, watching Miss Hannah.

Getting ready to spin.

At the end of class they do some light stretching and then have freeze dance.  Hannah loved it and wants to continue doing it.  So this is our new Monday night thing.  David got home about 30 minutes after us.  Hannah was still in her ballet outfit, demonstrated 4 different things she learned.    

Riley Moon: Two Months

That's right, she's two months!!

Hannah's Ballet Moves

We've been watching ballet videos on YouTube to get ready for ballet class.  The other 

day, Hannah threw on her ballet outfit to dance along with the videos.  I can't wait to see how she does in a structured class.  Let's see, we watched Swan Lake, Giselle, La Sylphide and Snow White.  

A 40 second video of Hannah's ballet moves

Studying, taking mental notes

Posing.  I think she's ready!

The BIG Letdown

Last night was supposed to be Hannah's first ballet class.  I had been telling her about it for days.  I called that afternoon, to make sure we had everything we needed for class and got the information to enroll her, which I would do at her first class.  David was off early, which meant he would get to go to her first class.  At 5 pm, we all loaded in the truck, with Hannah looking like the perfect ballerina, complete with a white satin bow around her pony tail.  We arrived at Hope Mills Recreation Center only to find a note on the door that said class had been canceled for that day.  Hannah turned her back to the door, stood there, threw both hands to her face and started sobbing.  It was awful!!  I hurt so bad for her and we didn't know what to do.  I held her for a little bit and explained that something had probably come up with the teacher, and she just wasn't able to make it.  I assured her that she would still be able to do ballet, we just had to wait until next week.  We scrambled to find something to make her happy.  After running through a list, and then running through it a second time, she decided that going PUTT PUTT golf would make her happy.  So that's what we did.  Interjection here - when did mini golf become so expensive!!  Why is it only $1 cheaper for my 4 year old to play than a 29 year old!  Anywho, she had fun and that's all that mattered to us.

Smashing the alligators

My personal favorite, skee ball

Deal or No Deal.  For the record, Hannah made a good deal.  She choose 

to get 11 tickets from the banker and her case was for 3 tickets.

Ticket counting for prize retrieval.  She opted for an

air head, a candy necklace and a care bear.  

Pocahontas

Hannah gave this to me the other day.

I don't know why I can't get this picture to turn!!

Here you can see her inspiration.  I like how she even copied the square outline 

around Pocahontas' head.  

I try not to save too much.  It's hard to throw your kids stuff away but I just don't

have the space to keep EVERYTHING.  But this one is a keeper.  

Real Smiles

It first happened on Saturday.  She was sitting in Grandpa Cernock's lap when he commented that she was smiling at him.  David responded that it was only gas, but Grandpa just didn't agree.  Later that day, while changing her diaper, I bent down, smiled and said something to her.  She returned my smile!  Since then, I've been catching them here and there.  She did it again this morning, while I was changing her diaper.

Here's the start of one:

Riley's Morning Activities

The last four days or so Riley has become incredibly alert and active.  She's awake 

for multiple hours at a time.  This morning I put her in this chair from her Great Aunt Debbie, and propped her in front of the back door so she could look outside.  

She sat here, happily, for at least an hour.  

Grandpa even cleaned the window for her.  

Kitty Love

Rare Moments of Happiness between Domino and Lucky

Hannah, the P90X pro

I know, I'm behind the power curve on the p90x craze.  I got it for Mother's Day, last week I finally pulled it out to see what it was all about.  I wanted to watch the video's before I started doing them.  Hannah decided to work out along with the video.  I must admit, it made me feel warm and fuzzy inside to see her mimic the movements.  

Stretching

Side lunges

kicks

jump squats

She did pretty good.  And she last about 20 minutes.  She's well on her way to being my little exercise partner!