Sidewalk Chalk is not food

This past week was the start of what will be a busy month as Chad began long days with the opera festival. Luckily his dinner breaks last week worked out perfectly so that I could pick Riley up from daycare and then we could pick up or meet Chad for dinner. Also, thankfully, the festival went dark over the weekend so that another group could use the space, which gave Chad a much needed break so he could gear up for the next week. On Friday, Chad’s day off, he was able to get a massage and then went out to test drive cars. After I got off work Chad let me know that he had found a car he liked and would like to pick us up in it at home and then take it back to buy it. My dad went with us to the car dealership and that was a big help as he wrangled Riley while we were in “finance”. Shortly after 9pm we left the dealership in Chad’s new car: a black 2009 Jeep Liberty! I am very excited because it has four doors and lots more cargo space than his previous Jeep Wrangler. Chad is excited because it has a sunroof, Sirius radio (for 1 year free) and cruise control. (I’m also excited about the cruise control!) Here are some pics of Chad’s new car. Let me know if you can think of a good name for the car:

On Saturday I had a busy day planned. I am helping to plan my 10 year high school reunion and we had a meeting with my Aunt Tami to taste cupcakes and look at designs for the cupcakes she is baking for us. I forgot my camera, so I was only able to take pictures of the one that I brought home with me. Tami and her cupcake partner, Keisha did such a fabulous job. They even made little candies for the tops of each cupcake. Those is the little circles you see around this cupcake:

Tami is so sweet and even thought of her great-nephew Riley as she made him an Elmo cupcake for me to take home to him:

After cupcake tasting I had another meeting at the restaurant where we are having our reunion and then, after a quick manicure and pedicure, I headed to Dallas to celebrate my friend Caitlin’s birthday. Chad & Riley did not join me in Dallas and instead they went to the Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival, where Chad ate a turkey leg and some Dippin’ Dots, which he said that Riley enjoyed feeding to him. They also were so sweet and bought a new piece of art to go in mine and Chad’s bedroom.

On Sunday, before Chad had to go to an opera rehearsal we met up with Grammy, Nana & Papa at Lucile’s for lunch. Nana just bought an iPhone and she loaded it with new apps, especially for Riley. The first one was a video of ‘Wheels on the Bus’ with Nana’s voice singing the songs. The second was a piano app. Riley enjoyed them both immensely and played with them before he ate, while he ate and after he ate. Here is a pic of him listening to Nana sing:

And here is one of him asking Nana to turn it on for him:

After lunch we took Riley home for a nap and Chad left for rehearsal. After Riley woke up from his nap we played in our backyard in his sandbox, where I discovered that Riley misbehaves (i.e. throwing sand out of the sandbox, pouring water in the sand, pouring sand in the water, etc) when he knows I am watching to see what my reaction will be, but as soon as he thinks I am not watching him, he acts like a perfect angel! What’s up with that?!?!?

After cleaning up from the sandbox, we went over to Nana & Papa’s, where Nana showed Riley that she had bought gardening gloves for him. My mom and dad were planting new bushes and so both of them had on gloves. We put Riley’s on him, but mostly he just pulled them right off again:

Then Nana showed Riley that she bought sidewalk chalk for him to play with. Mostly Nana & I wrote on the sidewalk while Riley played with the chalk container, but Riley did a little sidewalk art also.

I drew Riley a picture of a dog’s head and I guess my parent’s dog, Kori thought maybe I needed to use her as a reference:

The opera festival and our busy schedule continues, so until next week enjoy a small taste of Elmo: