Party with People Who are Happy and Not-Happy Faces

Today during social group Riley created new artwork, was one of her most elaborate drawings, and it's creepy. She told me it's a "party with people who are happy and people with not-happy faces". 

On the bottom right is "Abby" who is having a party. In the middle is a "statue, and it's hanging on a rope, but it's real, it's not just a statue". And to the left is a girl who "almost fall over". And then there are people in the back. Sad faces. Happy faves. The figures were much creepier at first until she started reworking it and coloring more and more. In the end she added what looks like blood splatters across the scene. 

A close up of the statue that's real. (Looks like a clown piñata). 

Here's "Abby" enjoying her party!

For My Grandpa

As grandpa's 4th grandchild, I've only been alive for a smaller, and perhaps, more insignificant part of his life. I never got to experience grandpa's life in Costa Rica, Mountain View or even hear the lectures of his brother Walter that were so inspiring and formative for my parents' generation. I only shared a limited part of my grandpa's life. My 31 years are less than half of the 65 years my grandparents have been happily married. My memories of grandpa revolve around the silly things of grandkids; running rampant with cousins, bathing in their giant round bathtub, swinging our little cousins in blankets, going to zoos, water parks, and most notably, just enjoying the attention of our adoring grandma and grandpa. 
Being just 1 of 8 grandkids, I never felt far removed from the center of my grandparents' universe. A soft place to land and proud of any of our accomplishments, my grandpa and grandma are our loyal fans. Traveling up cumbersome roads to visit us in eureka (a 14 hr car trip back then) didn't keep my grandma and grandpa from participating in any minor milestones in my life: our 8th grade graduations, high school, college, holidays, weddings and special family celebrations - my grandpa was there, "with bells on"! Always proud to bask in the atmosphere of our tight-knit family and his high-energy and often awkward grandkids.
Not just a loving grandpa, MY grandpa is a unique person and shares many of the quirks I adore in my father. Always the scholar - with the largest vocabulary of any person I've encountered- Grandpa effortlessly uses words like "confiscatory" when a simple "unfair" may have sufficed.
One of my very favourite memories with grandpa was playing the board game Balderdash. Instead of just up silly, fake meanings to these obscure vocabulary words, Grandpa would ruin the game by almost always knowing the words and could regale us with the Latin or Greek roots for the words. My Grandpa's wide array of interests, knowledge and curiosity have inspired me to learn more in my life, expand my horizons and to network and learn from a wide array of people I encounter.
What really personified my grandpa was his graciousness. He was full of gratitude for any simple and heartfelt gestures. For instance, this last Father's Day,  I sent grandpa a simple photo postcard. It may have even arrived a few days late and featured a photo of me with my girls and simply said "We love you Great-Grandpa". The next day I talked to Grandpa on the phone and he exuded about the gesture, the photo, the sentiment and the joy it brought him. He told me "I wasn't able to sleep early this morning, but I was thrilled to remember your card again, sitting by my bed, when I woke up. I got up and went to the other room just to admire the photo of my gorgeous girls".
The admiration and joy my grandpa has for children is self-evident in the photos I've seen of him with all of his grandkids. In the photos I've combed through of Grandpa, he can be found looking adoringly at his great-granddaughters, fully immersed in their activity, their emotions and amazed at the gift of their existence and joy. I don't think I will ever be able to edit photos of my daughters without thinking about which photos I HAVE to share with great-grandpa. The girls have been blessed to have his love, affection and pride, that they've earned simply by being a part of great-grandpa's life.

The three great-granddaughters are intent on the strawberry-rhubarb pie and candles as we sang to Grandpa on his 89th birthday last April. 

Even though I'm broken-hearted, I am proud of my close-knit family, of my loving and accomplished aunts, uncles and cousins. I feel that my Grandpa's love and lifetime commitment to Grandma and to our families has been a foundation for our successes and life's happiness. I hope to honor Grandpa's legacy of valuing education, hard work and to continue his ever-present gratitude and enjoyment of all the small and large blessings I life.
I love and miss you Grandpa and hope we meet again soon. Love, Kirsti

The girls goofing off on a Friday morning. Ali's teething and Riley is still in her phase of wanting to wear "princess" dresses exclusively!

What a difference a year makes

 So last year, on this day, we rushed Riley to her GI specialist in the bay area because she had stopped eating and drinking and was becoming seriously dehydrated. She wasn't able to eat much solid food and wasn't talking (at all) yet...A year later, I'm thrilled to report that she's doing so well! She no longer chokes on food, she can talk up a storm and she's thriving at school. I'm so grateful for the her speech and feeding therapists, inspiring teachers and to our friends and family for helping her blossom. She's such a bright and delightful child and I feel so blessed by both the struggles and successes!

"Hey, We Match!"

Both Ri and I have had a rough week. I'm not sure which of us is more pathetic, I think it's a tie. I think we are both on the mend, in the meantime we can at least spend quality time by napping together, we've taken tandem naps the last three days and today she crawled on top of me while I was half asleep and napped on my back. She is just the snuggliest!

Our girl's gone girly

A whole day of Disneyland and we kind of let Riley determine the agenda. She did splash mtn, space mtn, Alice in Wonderland, tea cups, thunder mtn, small world, etc. But she also got to meet Alice and the mad hatters and three different princesses. I'm not sure exactly how she got started on a princess kick, she adores some of these characters from movies she's never seen or had us talk about. But meeting the characters is always fun because for a minute or so they will make Riley feel like the most important person in the world. It's so fun.

Celebrating a 65th!

 Riley had been looking forward to a boat ride. We'd been telling her for days that we were all going on a boat ride and that she would see Grandma and Grandpa and Hannah and that she'd also get to see Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa, who invited all of us to join them for the day to celebrate a huge milestone in the family - their 65th wedding anniversary!

We drove down to Anaheim the evening before and moved into our hotel room (it is a serious move when you've got two playpens, luggage, bags of snacks and drinks and a nebulizer, packs of diapers). Sunday morning we got up bright and early (amazing for our slow-little family) and we drove up to Lake Arrowhead to meet the rest of the family.

Riley was a little unnerved when we arrived and out of her comfort zone, but as soon as she saw her grandma and Hannah, she was in a wonderful mood. She remembered her great-grandparents and was so delighted to get a very charming and adorable gift from Great-Grandma; a hand made pink stuffed elephant!

We ate lunch with family and got to talk to all my cousins (who are all doing really neat stuff) and then we hung out by the lake front for awhile. Riley played "ring around the rosies" with her sister and cousin and a kind stranger took a liking to Ri and gave her a bag of bird feed to give to the ducks. Riley (the ever-thoughtful-animal-nurturer) fed the ducks very carefully and taught Hannah how to give the food to the birds. A great teacher and a selfless share-er. Hannah looks up to her cousin "RiRi" so much and their relationship is just adorable. They have all the wonderful perks of having a sibling without any of the fighting or sibling bickering - it's truly precious.

The only downside to the fun was that with all my dad's family (nearly-almost) in one place, we were only able to start haphazard conversations with all our relatives and before we knew it, it was 4 p.m. and the girls were TOAST. We had to get them into the car and get moving so they could nap. I can't wait to have the girls see their extended families again, maybe soon they'll be contained a little more and we can actually catch up with my cousins, grandparents, aunts & uncles.

Cake and Tea for Breakfast, Of Course!

Ri, Ali and Grandma celebrate by eating the bottom
tier of the tiny birthday cake for breakfast!

Riley was so excited to have her grandma come over for a tiny, surprise birthday celebration. She wasn't the best at the "surprise" part. Telling Grandma what was in her birthday package,  and opening the card and telling her "and we have cake!". Ri also sang her rendition of "Happy Birthday" to Grandma at least three times and blew out the candle.

We had so much fun eating cake for breakfast and it's so adorable that Riley now loves the tradition of signing to family on birthdays. I can't wait to celebrate more special occasions with the girls!

Sunday Bounce Fun

Ali enjoys trying out a new bouncy toy.

We had so much fun going to a bounce house place last Sunday. Rather than devoting our day to the usual errands and house work, we got out at Dad's urging and we went and had a blast at an indoor bounce house place. Riley was brave enough to go down the tallest slides and she even learned to climb up the "climbing wall" so she could get to the top of these slides. It was a great work out for all of us and a really good deal as Riley was the only person we had to pay for.

Riley enjoyed free falling
down the tallest slides

After we were bounced-out, we devoured a lot of food at Chipotle and headed home to rest for the evening. Riley took a pretty solid nap after burning ALL her energy.

She looks pretty pleased now
that she's reached the bottom!

Ali prepares for hurricane-force winds,
she's not pleased

Matt is totally enjoying playing with Riley too!

The Third Year's a Charm!

Riley loves the multitude of balloons
her grandpa picked out for her!

We had the best time at Riley's 3rd birthday party! It was a gorgeous and relaxing event thrown by her grandparents, my parents made her cake so we literally did nothing. We showed up and had a good time!

Ri loves cars and is especially in awe of firetrucks or "byah-buh!" She loves the bright red color and I surmise that she loves the loud sounds and lights that often accompany the firetrucks in our area, which are always on the go near the hospital.

Although she hasn't accepted her age (She still insists on being "two"), we know that being three will turn out to be a wonderful thing for her. If the party is any sign, then it's going to be a great year!

Happy birthday to our spirited girly!

Up, up and away. The balloons were almost strong enough!

Riley's grandparents made this adorable custom cake!

First candle extinguished!

Doing what firefighters do best, getting rid of flames!

Ri shows off just how delicious the cake is that "Gamma Gamma" made!

Ri gets a tutorial on the capabilities of her new truck!

We still cannot believe how gorgeous Riley's dress up set is. Beautifully handmade items
from Aimee that allow Riley to don a colorful owl costume or a custom tutu with
ample style and a slightly edge grunge. Ri shows us here that an outfit made from the
whole combo is a showstopper!

It's the Day Before Christmas...

 It's Christmas Eve and Ms. Riley can be found frantically unwrapping presents. Unphased by the names written on the presents, she tore into any package with her greedy paws. We put up with her uncontrolled mayhem for a little while before putting her down for a nap. She napped for almost 4 hours!

Meanwhile little Ali spent her second Christmas enjoying a good book and the attention of her grandpa. She will do almost anything to get attention from her grandpa when he's around. She preferred to watch us open her gifts, rather then tear into them directly. Maybe by her third Christmas she will finally want to do the opening herself!

Photo Circus

 How on earth did we expect to get a quick photo for my parents' Christmas card?! Take a last-minute, evening photo session and add three tired girls, all of whom are wearing fancy silk dresses. Mayhem ensued!

And, I didn't even include any of the photos where Riley is sucking her thumb (who knows why she did that) or where all three girls are screaming and crying. I have a lot of those photos too.

Ri shows me a "touchdown"

Here's the final Christmas Card photo

Early Christmas Cheer

Riley meets Goofy and is pretty thrilled, not as shy as I thought she'd be!

Ali is so happy about meeting the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland

Riley fell in love with all the Halloween lights in our neighborhood this year and even snuck out of the house once to see "more lights". So when I saw a billboard showing a photo of Disneyland all lit up for Christmas.....I completely fell for the advertising.

So we celebrate my birthday (and Riley's a little early) by spending long and fun days doing everything at the park, that was allowed with Riley's diminutive height.

The Castle lit up for Christmas

The Santa parade thrills this onlooker

Riley LOVES the Small World lights