I Heart Shutterfly

One of my favorite things to do when preparing for the holidays is to design our Christmas cards. I love sending and receiving cards. Every year I keep the cards we get and look back on them to see how our friends and family have changed. This year I have looked at many sites to see what card fits our family. Shutterfly photo has the best designs and prices. I love the classic looks and the fun ones. Their site is very user friendly and lets you use your photos in many cards to preview. My favorite card is the flat 2 picture Peppermint Dots one. I love being able to use more than one picture. I have a family picture and a picture of the girls with Santa that I could use in this one.
Or maybe the Snow Globe card to use with our Fall beach picture.
I have purchased many photo books from them and love how I have scrap booked the year through the books. Their products are high quality. My pictures that I have mail ordered have had great finish too. This year I am also interested in the very affordable desk calendars. I know Josh would love this for his desk and it makes a great stocking stuffer for him.
And while we are talking about cards, I can't belive RJ's first birthday will be here in a few short months. I am excited about making her birthday card invitations. Can't you just picture her taking a bite out of her first cake wearing a little birthday hat on the front of the card?

Riley Jane is 3 months old

Riley Jane is three months old now. She seems very laid back and happy most all the time. We love our "Riley Roo," as Lydia calls her, so much. She weighs over 15 lbs and over 23 inches. She is long and quickly outgrew much of her 3month clothing in length. She sleeps very well at night about 10-11 hours each night. She takes short naps throughout the day. She smiles and likes to coo in unison with me. She loves watching her big sister entertain her and gets very excited to see her. She has made us so happy from the first moment we knew she was joining our life. Enjoy the pics of our precious Riley Jane.

Happy Easter

We were thrilled to attend a little Easter Egg Hunt at a nearby church in my neighborhood. Jack, Reese and Zoe came along for the Bunny Fun. Lydia found the egg with the GRAND PRIZE- a gift card to Toys R Us! There were sweet baby animals to pet- bunnies, pig, goats, lambs, and dogs. But Lydia's favorite part was hanging out with her new buddy, the Easter Bunny! What a fun Easter this is for us with our two sweet girls!

Welcome Riley Jane

Welcome baby sister and second daughter to our family! We love you so much and are so glad you arrived today on Tuesday, March 23, 2010. You weigh 8 lbs 7 oz and are 21 inches long! You have made your daddy, me and big sister so proud!

Granddaddy wrote you a letter today as he visited us at the hospital! Your whole family is so glad to you came today!

This letter is for Riley Jane Owens, who will need someone to read the words to her. She’s only a couple of days old. . .

Welcome to the world, baby Granddaughter.

There’s been quite a bit of excitement in our family since Tuesday. How have you been able to sleep through so much of it?

Your big sister was so excited to make the trip to the hospital that she didn’t eat all her bagel for breakfast. Your Grandmommie was so excited, she couldn’t keep up with one of her earrings. Your dad was so excited that on a scale of 1-10, he registered somewhere around 15. Oh, we were all excited!

Surely you’ve noticed the series of friendly faces that have paraded before you since you arrived. Several of the same faces appear and reappear, each time reflecting joy and love.

That’s us. We’re your family and friends.

We’ve been holding your reservation for several months. Now we are delighted to have you finally check in. Make yourself at home in the accommodations of our hearts.

We’ve counted your fingers and toes and recorded your weight and length. We’ve studied your appearance and imagined something of ourselves in your chin or the tilt of your face or shape of your profile.

We’re anxious to get to know you better and have you become acquainted with us.

I was holding your sister in my arms, and she was munching on candy while we were waiting to intercept you on your way to the nursery. (By-the-way, your sister won’t be 3 till next month, but she seemed to grow much bigger last Tuesday.) When the hospital speakers played the recorded lullaby, I told your sister that they were playing the melody in honor of you. I told her you would be coming down the hall very soon. Then she replied, “She’ll eat all my candy.”

Despite that quip, though, she’ll be happy to share with you.

In fact, we’ll all be happy to share with you. We’ve got plenty of love to go around and we’ll bestow lots on you.

We’ll help lead you through this wonderful experience of life. Perhaps by sometimes following in our footsteps, you will be better equipped to make your own footprints at other times.

Cut back on that napping as soon as you can, Little One. You’ll want to be fully awake to enjoy the experiences that are awaiting you.

Then, too, there will likely be some bumps along the way. You may fall off your bike—even with training wheels. You may indeed eat more than your share of your sister’s candy. Be assured, though, that we will be there to help you when you make mistakes.

The story of your birth came to a conclusion Tuesday. We’ll tell you all about it later. In the meantime, you’ve begun other chapters in your life’s saga.

I look forward to following all your adventures.

Love,

Granddaddy

A Quick Peek Into Baby Riley Jane's Room

I was excited to use the same bedding that Lydia had for RJ's room. I am looking forward to bringing her home to her new little room. Although we used the same furniture and bedding as we did with Lydia, we painted the walls a different color and used browns for the drapes this time. My cousin Kenzi painted the tree behind her bed. (**the small two squares on the wall are reflections from the mirrors)

Showers of Love for Riley Jane

We have been so blessed with great friends that have showered Riley Jane with lots of baby essentials. I have loved opening each gift and putting them away ready for her arrival in the coming month. Here are some highlights from a shower my girlfriends gave me and from another shower given by Josh's sweet school staff.

Melissa, Tonya and Valerie hosted my friends' shower. Valerie was unable to be there because she was at home with a sick little one. These girls sure do take care of me! I love them so much.

My mom, sis and mother-in-law are going to be a big help with the girls in the coming months!

Nana got Lydia a beautiful spring dress that she opened at the shower.

It was great to have my old college roomates Shannon and Kim to celebrate with me at the shower. Kim is also due in a few more weeks. I am so thrilled to have our two so close in age. Aiden will be a close buddy for Riley!!!

Josh's school showered us with a lot of gifts and a money tree. I have gotten to know the staff pretty well over the last two years that I substitute taught there.

One of the teachers made this beautiful cake for us!

Two of Josh's closest teacher pals, Sarah and Krystal hosted the shower at school.

Below are a few of the several teachers (Bethany, Sarah and Sharon) at AS who are also due this summer.

Lydia also enjoyed helping us open gifts for her little sister.

Getting Ready to be a Big Sister

We are all very excited to bring baby Riley Jane home from the hospital the end of March. I can't wait to have another little girl to watch grow and change. I know Lydia will be a great big sister. She loves talking to Riley and praying for her everyday. She tells me quite often what all Riley will and won't be able to do when she gets here. In preparation for her arrival, we took Lydia to the Medical Center's Big Sister Class last night. She was so cute holding her baby doll and listening attentively on our tour of the nursery, waiting room and mommy postpartum room. She also made sure she was front and center when the nurse talked about tips on helping with little siblings. She is so proud already of Riley and I can't wait to watch her beam the first time she sees her little sister!!! They will be best friends for life!