Who doesn't love going to the beach?

Life has been absolutely nuts recently. Between Devin heading back to school, Riley now going to tumbling, me training for this half...we went on a weeks vacation in W Palm Beach FL and I just got back from a weekend in SF. Now that it is Monday and I am trying to settle again I have a few pics to share.

West Palm (Singer Island to be exact) was fantastic. We stayed at Marriott's Ocean Pointe which is beach front and the kids LOVED LOVED LOVED playing at the beach and in the pools daily. The weather was perfect 85-90 daily and 70s at night. The ocean was 84* and only twice were we not able to play in it because of jellyfish infestation. Now the jellies down there are not like the little discs in NJ. They are bigger than Frisbees and all sting. Those days we hung out by the pool and avoided the ocean. Dana flew up for a few days from STJ and Cookie came down as well to play with the kids.  I am, and will always be a beach girl. Ocean girl. Boat girl. Pretty much anything that has to do with the sand, water and sun. I could take every single vacation to a beach type place and never bat an eye with boredom. 

We got back Friday night and that Sunday I picked up my best friend Maria from a weekend bachelorette party she came in for with friends from OH. She stayed with us for two days and it was so great to have her here. I miss her so much and thankfully since she is not (yet) married and has no kids, she is able to visit us either in NJ or here once a year. Love her.

Riley talks up a storm now and I would say is a complete and uninterrupted talker now. It is funny how it all happens all the sudden. She was just saving up all her words for a bomb of 2 year old conversation. She is pretty clear now and gets super excited now that she can converse with Dev. Her 2 year old molars are finally breaking through! Hooray for that. She will be going to her first dentist appointment next week and I think she will be just fine.  She watched last week while Dev and I got our teeth cleaned and was very interested and intrigued by what was going on. As many times as I have seen it before, it is SO cool to see a dental xray of a child's mouth with all their baby teeth in and the second set waiting patiently below. This new dentist has a cool x-ray machine that takes a pic of the entire mouth by rotating around the head in a circular motion. Love technology.

Riley loves her tumbling class just as I thought she would. It is at our local community center and she actually did it last fall for a month. I did not like the instructor last fall so we never signed back up. One of Las Vegas' gymnastic centers sponsors the classes and sends an instructor and provides all the equipment. Riley loved learning to walk backwards on the beam and doing tricks with the bar. She tries her hardest to do a backward roll, but cannot seem to figure it out quite yet. She will get there. I am glad she has something to do with kids her age and release some of her crazy energy.

Devin and Riley have been able to play outside now after dark. It is still hot as ever during the day (average 97* for the next 10 days) but at night once the sun goes down it seems to be pleasant enough for them. Kids typically don't care about the heat like adults do.  As I sit and type, they are playing nicely out back and have only had one issue in the last 30 minutes which is not bad at all. I am glad they are so close in age and can finally play together.

Devin Matthew's update-and I will be running that half after all :)



at dropoff



Devin started school this past Monday. He is still attending Challenger School, and this year he is going Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He was very much looking forward to going back to school after we went to his orientation last Friday. He saw that he will have one of his teachers from his 3 year old class as well as some of the same classmates that he had last school year. Miss Cierra is great and I am glad that she will be one of his teachers again. Devin has 20 kids in his class, 2 teachers and one aide. I love that they have 2 teachers so the ratio is only 10 to 1 and they break up into two groups depending on skill and speed of learning. Kids who need a little more time are not rushed and kids who are ready to move on are not bored and waiting around for the other kids to catch up. Devin is one of the younger kids in this class since he is in the 4 year old group and most of the kids turn 5 through the school year when his birthday is not until next summer, but he seems to excel and keep up very well.

He is a little bummed that he has less time to "play with friends" during the week, but welcomes the extra time at school. He did ask if he could go every day instead of three days but accepts that he will go full time when he starts kindergarten. Full weeks at his school is over a grand a month and that is just way too much for preschool regardless of how good that school is! Granted the full day is based on the fact that they have safe key as early as 7am and as late as 6 pm with activities after the school day for kids who have parents that both work. Since that is not our case, he goes MWF ams for now.

We went swimming today at a friends pool and he loved getting to play with another friend's boys who was older than him. He whined and complained at first since the other kid was shooting him with a water gun but then he got used to it and started to shoot him back. Last thing we need is a tattling wussy kid. He manned up and actually made a game out of it. He has gotten so good at swimming despite the fact we never go to the pool anymore. I hope to get to the pool a few more times before this season ends. The kids love it and it definitely wears them out well.

As for me, I am officially training for a half marathon. Never in a million years would I have thought I would do this. I still have my doubts as to why I am doing it. I was cleared by my plastic surgeon to start working out three weeks ago (tomorrow.) The first day I was allowed to run, I got on the treadmill and ran three miles. I then decided to see how quickly I could do a 5k (3.1 miles) two days later on that Friday. Monday I wanted to beat that time and did and by Wednesday (one week out) I was ready for a new challenge. I set out to run 3.5 miles and was not tired yet at that point so went for 4 and still wasn't tired so went for 5. I was most definitely tired then so I stopped. Friday and the next Monday I did 5 ks again and Wednesday I challenged myself with 6 miles under 60 minutes and accomplished that. I did the same thing again Friday and Monday with 5 ks (keeping around 28.5 min) in addition to weight training for a half hour afterwards. I figure that since I am pretty much halfway to a half marathon (in the first two weeks of trying), why not try to train for one officially? I am switching my long days to Friday so I have a little more rest time. 7 miles this week seems a little daunting on a treadmill, but I will be bringing Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and Samantha with me to keep me company. Without them, I am not sure I could do it. Someone really should invent a usb port to the TVs at the gym that can transmit movies from your ipod to play on the screen. I have some weight to lose so this running should help me do that. I honestly HATE running. There is nothing fun about it. Since having smaller boobs and a super competitive personality I am hanging in there with this new endeavour. I guess there is a sense of accomplishment I will feel eventually....

Riley Mae's update-It's been forever



we since added the side rail



Riley is officially in her big girl bed. She moved in there 10 days ago and has had zero issues to report. She does take a little longer to go down for bed and of course uses the stall tactics all kids do. ( I have to go potty, one more hug, where's b?, she forgot to put her baby to sleep and so on.) She was super excited to get her bed. She still fit in her crib, but since she is potty trained it was growing more and more difficult (and annoying) to have to get up out of bed to get her out of her crib to go potty. We never went through this issue with Devin since he was kicked out of the crib at 19 months to prepare for his sisters arrival shortly there after. I still have to update her drapes now that I got rid of the valance that matched her cribbing and her bedding is now white not beige but we are getting there!

She is growing more and more independent and is loving that we are able to understand most of the things she is saying. There are times still that I have no idea what she is talking about but for the most part I can figure it if she repeats herself if she talks to quickly the first time around in her lil squeaky voice. She will repeat anything now and is always trying to say new words that were difficult before. For example, yesterday on the way to school I was reviewing what a cable car was in San Francisco (for his show and tell) and Riley was trying her damn-dest to say San Francisco.

She has grown in height too this summer. Since her 2 year well check she has grown a good 2 inches in 5 months. Now along with that she may have gained a few ounces as well. Haha, she is still a string bean and probably will be until puberty and I am totally fine with that. There are a few things I bought for her for this summer to wear that she will never get into because 24 month bottoms are just too big for her. She is still in 12-18 mo or 18-24 mo depending on the store for bottoms. Tops she is regular size for the most part unless its one that is a swing top or similar. Here is to hoping she gains a little weight for this winter so she can fill out her clothes.

I believe she will be doing gymnastics when we get back from Florida. We leave the first week in to the 6 week session and then she would miss the second week too and I have to find out what the policy is with joining late or missing classes (if we sign up now.) She is very agile and has some serious strength so I think she would do well with this. I was thinking ballet as well, but I think at this age she would do better with something that was a little more lax.



Those 2 year old molars still have not popped through. They have been gumballs sitting on her jaw bone but under the gum for weeks now. She wakes up now and then out of dead sleeps because they hurt her. Poor kid. I have no idea what is taking them SO fricking long to cut through, but let me tell you this stinks. She has three up now and the fourth is coming up. Hopefully they will pop through before we get on a 5 hour plane ride next Thursday without Daddy. There always is Motrin and orajel I guess :)



why does time fly by so quickly?

Riley is really just a little kid now and no longer my baby girl. She is talking like a normal little kid now, has been potty trained since the first week of April so over 4 months now, she runs around like a crazy kid with Devin. They ride scooters together out front, she attempts to ride his bike now and the list goes on. She has an opinion about everything...good, bad or indifferent- it is still a voiced opinion. It is crazy how it just happens so quickly. I miss my little baby girlie...thankfully Riley does still love to snuggle with me. Devin never really was one to snuggle. He likes to sit next to you but not cuddle like Riley does.

I know everyone always says to cherish while they are small because it goes so quickly. I knew this would happen, but I just cannot believe my "baby" is no longer a toddler. She is a little girl. She's dexterous, athletic, agile, kind, outgoing, sassy and a doll baby. I knew I always wanted a girl to raise and she really is such a great little kid. She is funny and a blast to be around. She has her faults and definitely has a mouth on her when she gets mad...but all in all she is such a great kid.

Y'all must be thinking what about your first born son? I do love him too. It's a different love though. Yes, it is still love for my child...but he is a different kid all together and what we do is different. How we spend our time alone is different. He is very smart, very creative, artistic has great creative thinking skills and not to mention athletic. He has been able to hit a baseball by self pitching for about a year now. He can juggle a soccer ball, shoot hoops like no other and nail a golf ball with his iron or driver (yes he has real metal clubs.) He also can swim now. I know all this is taught and only comes with practice and dedication but natural athleticism is not. He has great coordination and patience when it comes to sports. He is like me and does not like mediocrity. Who wants to be "OK" at something? Not me, not him. He practices and practices until he does it well. Whether it is hitting the golf ball square or getting under the baseball....he concentrates and focuses on the task at hand. I cannot wait until summer breaks and fall starts rolling in in another 6 weeks so we can spend more time outside. Quote goes, "Anything worth doing, is worth doing well," right?

When Devin goes back to school in two weeks, Riley will be registered for something....not sure yet. Maybe gymnastics or ballet? My Gym and Gymboree are too expensive and the community center offers some great classes. I just hope they work out timing wise for us while Devin is at school. I am thinking Devin will also be signed up for soccer this fall too? Las Vegas also has tee ball and the season is Oct 8th through Dec something...I have to talk to a few of my mommy friends to see what they are doing with their kids and see if we can get them on the same team.

Other than that...just relaxing on this Sunday. It is about 105 again today and sunny....I have ZERO motivation to go outside other than going to our pool for a swim. Frank is golfing and I (should) go to the gym. I have gone 4 times this week and will do the same this coming week so today would be my 5th day. My shins still really hurt from running on the treadmill. The rest of me feels OK so maybe I can take today as a rest day and maybe swimming in the pool will help them to calm down? Pool will be good because I could use some sun on my skin....wishing my feet were in the sand as well. sigh.

Rainy day. grumpy kids. what to do?

It has been extremely humid here the last few days. It actually rained a bit on Friday and that made the humidity worse since it did not rain enough and the clouds stuck around. Yesterday was the same-hot, humid and on and off cloudy all day. This morning we woke up and it started to down pour around 7:30am. It only lasted about ten minutes but now at 8:30 it is raining again. I really wanted to go to the gym today and then take the kids to the pool afterward, but it is looking more like just gym playtime now. BOO.

Frank got to see Devin swim alone yesterday. Devin needs a little push and will do it, but if you baby him and do not make him do something he revels in that. Frank did not want to push him, but I did. Devin wanted me to walk him to the side, etc. I said no and let go of him in the pool and he just swam himself there. There was no turning back after that. Devin really loves to swim, but he knows that Frank is more of a softy than I am and takes advantage of that. I DO NOT want a wussy kid! I know he is more than capable of swimming, going to the bottom to get stuff etc. Frank now sees that. Devin has the confidence to do it and the know how and God help me if I baby my 4 year old. No way Jose! When I was growing up we were taught to do it yourself and that things were not done for you. That goes for swimming too. If you want your goggles, go swim over and get them. Mommy doesn't need to. He had a ball doing "jumps" from the side and swimming to me. He did a few cannon balls, kung fu, pencils and dragon warriors to keep him excited about it. Can I tell you how cute it is to see a 34 lb 4 year old try and do a kung fu kick as he jumps off the side of the pool?

Riley of course was wearing her little vest things and jumping in alone and swimming to the side. She did need help climbing up the ladder, but she kicks her little feet right on over to the side. She is such a good little girl. I would like to get to the pool more than once a week and hopefully we will be able to do that this month since we do not have any traveling going on. I have been wearing 30 SPF all summer as well, and it would be nice if I had a few days out in the sun to get some color before fall begins.

Devin's school orientation is Aug 19th and class begins on August 22nd. I am anxious to see who is new teachers are. His program is totally full with a wait list so I know that his class will be at the maximum capacity of 22 students. He will have two full time teachers and an aid in there so that is not that bad. He is very much looking forward to getting back to school and keeps asking me questions about who will be in his class, what classroom he is in and so on. I only know one student for sure named Giovanna from his 3 year old classroom. I guess we will see at orientation!

I turn 30 in three weeks from today. I am not happy about this, nor am I ready.

no more Mom and Dad, Frank and Shannon?

For a few months now Devin has been calling me Shannon as a joke. He will also call me by first name if I take to long to acknowledge him. He does the same thing with Frank. I thought it was funny and still do because he still calls us Mom and Dad 98% of the time.  Riley now calls Frank by his first name. What? She is just over two. I reminded her that Frank is Daddy and not Frank. She just smiled and sucked her thumb. Is this normal? I know my other friend Tina's daughter started calling her by her first name at this age.....but how do you stop it? Everyone else calls us Frank and Shannon so I could see why they do it....

Not much going on here. Just trying to stay entertained in the heat. We went to the pool today with my friend Mandy and her (almost) 2 year old Mia. The kids lasted about an hour before being bored and hungry. Not bad considering they were up really early and they went to the daycare at the gym before the pool for an hour and a half while I worked out. Devin is doing well swimming, but today was not really in the mood. He was cranky and whiny and apparently hungry because he ate almost the whole time we were there. Riley was such a good girl at jumping into the pool all by herself. She loves to be in the pool and splash around. It is funny to see how she amps herself up to jump in and then once she takes the plunge she cannot wait to do it again.

Riley loves to sing and does it all the time now. She is also talking so much now. Full sentences and although it is in squeaky 2 year old voice, it is not as high pitched as some little ones. She is so proud of herself when she says something or asks for something and I understand what she says fully. I knew it would happen overnight and I am just glad to be in this place now that she and Devin can communicate to one another and not want to kill each other the whole time. Devin was starting to get pretty inpatient with her since she was not able to talk back to him when he would talk to her.

Devin starts school 4 weeks from today. I am very excited about this. First, I am glad to have him in a structured class that challenges him. Second, I love that Riley and I will get some one on one time again. It also gives me a chance to run to the supermarket without both kids as well as other errands. He is excited to go back as well and see his school friends again. We have been playing with a whole lot of friends this summer, but not really the ones from school. He does love learning and I know he had a great time there last school year. I am also looking forward to the fall so we have better weather. Las Vegas in the summer is the pits. Las Vegas as a whole is the pits...but summer is the worst. (esp since I was in northern Cali-aka Heaven just last week)

Riley wants a job in a magic show

I flew back in yesterday from a 4 day away trip with my sister Kelly and one of her best friends named Kerri. We had a blast in Sonoma County CA and San Francisco. I am not going to bore you all with what we did....but let me tell you this, I would move there in a heart beat. Either place....San Fran is a lil cold, but what a great city. Windsor/Healdsburg were beautiful! Love Love Love it all....

I get home and did the kids laundry first. Mind you, I was away 3 full days and a half day so not even 4 days. Riley had apparently changed so many times that I had to wash 17, yes 17 shirts. 8 pairs of shorts, 5 pairs of pajamas and three bathing suits of hers alone. That did not count any of Devins laundry. I asked Frank what the heck happened and she apparently is practicing to try out for that show "Quick Change" from America's Got Talent. Oh well it was fine. I told him NO Janie and Jack while I was away and told him to try and avoid her closet all together. He did do that, but she did empty her dresser and half of Devin's. I am thinking about putting safety locks on the dresser drawers. She just messes them up and throws clothes all over the place. I am super organized and have both kids drawers seperated by type of article of clothing and then subcatorgized even further organizing it. This is starting to drive me a little insane.

Devin is teaching her all sorts of bad stuff. LIke how to put a step stool up to our knee wall and drop things over top. UGH. I dont worry about them climbing over or falling...but I am waiting for something to shatter on the tile below. He has also expanded her vocabulary with all sorts of 4 year old boy talk. Eg. poopy stinky butt....then a giggle or anything really with poop in it. I have threatened him that if he talks with a potty mouth he will get his mouth washed out. He does not do it more than once after I hear him. I have had a bar of soap in my mouth as a kid, and it was NOT fun.

Being away from the kids was really a nice break. I tried not to call but once a day. It made me miss them more after I talked to them...so by not talking to them I was able to not think about it as much. I have been away from them once before (two days with Frank to US Open) and to be honest, it was very refreshing and relaxing. Frank has traveled for work (a lot) and for pleasure since becoming a Dad so he knows this feeling...Call me a bad mom, call me what you want-but I liked it. I of course was anxious to come home after a few days and see Frank and the kids but the few days to rewind were awesome. After a lot of laundry and some grocery shopping-we are back in the game.