My Riley, you are THREE!

Looking for mice at Cheam Wetlands.
My sweet darling boy, you are three and I just don't know how it is possible that you have only been in our lives for 3 years. It seems impossible that the amount of love we have for you has only accumulated in 3 years, because it feels like a lifetime's worth.
If I was asked to choose ONE word to describe you, it would be JOY. You are just.full of it...joy and other things, to be honest, but joy is the big one.
Riley, you make me smile, you make me laugh, you make me want to be the best that I can for you.

My favorite Riley words these days are, "Mommy, I want you to lay with me." "Can you play with me, Mommy?" "I love YOU, Mommy." "I love you more, Mommy." You call toys and boys "tays" and "bays," and it is adorable. You bring me Layla's baby monitor when it is beeping and say, "here is the thermonitor Mommy," and I just can't bare to correct you.
Darling, when Mommy hugs you for a little bit too long, you tell me, "that's a good hug Mommy. Mommy, that's good." But you tell me so gently, and so kindly.
When you were running around today with a small balloon looking for the "ball hitter," you made your Mommy melt, and your Daddy was only slightly disappointed that you didn't know the name of a "baseball bat." If we could continue to call it the "ball hitter" until the end of time, it would probably fill your Daddy with joy.

Harrison Lake with Mommy and Layla


You love to bake with me, and especially like to crack the eggs, even if that only means that I crack them into a cup for you to pour into the bowl. You love to play with cars, and you are the #1 fan of Blaze and the Monster Machines." You are becoming a fan of Transformers and especially love Bumble Bee and "OPTIMUS PRIME!"
You are adored by the staff at the Super Valu, and you are so good at pulling the basket and balancing the heavy things so that it doesn't tip. You like to put all the groceries onto the belt with the greatest force you can muster and you balance the basket dangerously ontop of your head trying to get it to the top of the pile. You look for Dennis every time we walk in the doors and are usually too shy to say more than "hi Dennis," but then you talk about him the second we get out the door.

Sledding at Manning Park

You adore your sisters in very different ways. You love to welcome your sister into the room when she has woken up in the morning or from her nap, and when you say, "Hi Waywa," it's all I can do not to crumble to pieces. You love to kiss her and hug her, but you don't yet love to make eye contact with her. Daddy thinks that you might find it a little weird how she is always looking at you and smiling, but never doing anything." But that will change.
Ava on the other hand is your friend. You want to do what she does, you want to be where she is, you want to say what she says. You are her biggest fan and she adores you in return. Sometimes you don't give Ava enough space, or enough time to herself, and she gets frustrated, which makes you work even harder for her attention. Ava loves pretty dresses, and you have come to love them too. The morning of the Agassiz craft fair, you wanted to wear a dress that twirled, so we found Ava's best pink twirling dress and off to the craft fair we went. You got lots of interesting looks, but darling boy you didn't notice, and I hope you never do.

Your pretty dress for Ava's tea party.


Our first snow on boxing day, Hope Bike Park

Sweet boy, you are a trampoline loving boy, who could bounce all day and night. You love it when Kai lays under the trampoline and "punches you up," so you go flying. You adore your cousins, and your love for them rivals your love for the rest of us. I think Kai is your best friend (besides your sister of course!) but your love for Austen, Nico and Lizzie comes close.
You love nothing more than a good mud puddle and you can not and will not ever avoid one, and nor should you. We ALWAYS leave the house with a clean set of clothes, and during our rainy months, you use them every day. When we go down to the river, we know you will fall, you will get muddy, and you will walk just far enough into the still water that it goes over your boots and cools your toes. And we won't tell you no. Today, you found special sticks for Gramma, Grampa, Kai, and Nico, and they, along with rocks, are your greatest gifts to the ones you love.

Fraser River


Darling boy, if you could live on chocolate milk, cookies, squeezies and yogurt drinks, you would. This Christmas you took a liking to snowflake ritz crackers, cheese and garlic sausage and egg nog. Every time we visit Gramma and Grampa, you sneak into the kitchen, slide open the drawer where you know the snacks live, and proudly run into the living room with cookies, or cheezies, or pretzels.

Sweet boy, Auntie Christine and Uncle Marc bought you bungee cords for Christmas, at our suggestion, and you LOVE them. You love to hook things onto them and pull them around the house, and are an even bigger fan or setting up trip wires for your family to wipe out on.
Riley, you have just turned 3, with your birthday 5 days after Christmas, and this was our best Christmas with you yet. You were ready for Santa to come, you were AMAZED that you got what you asked Santa for (a Little People airplane), and you could have helped people rip open presents for days. The wonder of Christmas was made all the more special in seeing it through your eyes.



We celebrated your birthday with all of your favorites.  You woke up to Blaze the Monster Machine decorations and balloons galore and it set the tone for your day. You were filled with excitement and darling boy, your joy is just contagious. You love nothing more than "chucking rocks," so we headed down to the river to do just that. We are so lucky to live in a town so close to the river and mountains...a place that you just consider your home without realizing the beauty of it. After your nap, your Gramma and Grampa, Nana and Papa and Austen and Uncle Derran came to celebrate you with cupcakes, a Trolls Pinata and a trip to the bowling alley. This was your first tmie bowling, and darling bowl, as always, your joy spread to your famiyl. You celebrated knocking down the pins with jumping, dancing, twirling (of course, it naturally follows both your dance moves and karate chops), yelling and an abundance of high 5's.

Kilby Park


Darling boy, I feel so blessed to be your Mama and can not wait to see what another year brings us. I love you sweet boy.

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