Riley and Avery

We did go with Kelly, Caitlynn, and Courtney (our neighbor and her girls) to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo today. We had a whole lot of fun. For once, we actually went to the Will Rogers Shrine to the Sun, which is included with zoo admission. The views were absolutely breath-taking. We live in a very beautiful city and we're lucky for that. We actually saw the tiger this time, and about three feet away through a chain-link fence. That was awesome.

Riley and Avery attended their first birthday party for Elijah at Pump It Up. They ran around like crazy people for 90 minutes and then chowed down on pizza (minus cheese for Avery) and strawberry cake. The 90 minutes of playtime was just enough. The kids got all of their energy out and didn't complain about leaving to go eat pizza and cake.

Riley and Avery both got new pairs of shoes recently. I felt so bad that when we measured Riley's feet, she's a 9 1/2 and the shoes she was wearing were an 8. The downside is that she's not in toddler shoes anymore, so gone are the days of super-gaudy girly shoes. Avery got her first pair of shoes at nearly two years old. She got your typically mid-height Stride Rite shoes, white with embroidered flowers around the top. Avery absolutely adores her shoes and must wear them everywhere. I'm relieved because I was scared that she wouldn't like them and refuse to wear them like the other Stride Rite shoes we bought her. She won't go outside anymore without her shoes on and she wants to use them too, walking instead of being carried or pushed in the cart or stroller.

Since we taught Riley to do things by "magic", like close the car doors and start the car, Avery has learned to say "hocus, hocus, pocus, POCUS!!" It's really very cute how she says it, pointing her finger. She is also saying "please" and "thank you" and "sorry." Her sentences are getting better, too. When she bumps her head she says "hurt head look kiss." So we're making progress there. She also is showing great interest in learning her colors.

I wanted to upload more pictures but need to recharge the batteries, so I'll have to post more later today...I realize that none of the ones uploaded so far have Riley in them.