February 2016 - Riley is 7!

 Time for presents for the birthday girl!

 Micaela chose this Darth Maul figure as a gift and Riley loved it! Micaela knows what her sister likes.

 Balloons, Darth Vader place setting and a waffle breakfast for her birthday.

 Time for cake!

 BB8!

 Riley had been begging for Minecraft, a computer game, and she finally received it.

 A special visit from Uncle Earl; he even brought cupcakes!

 Superheroes reading books

 Waving goodbye

 These 3 crack me up

Micaela

 Logan

 Tristan

 The second Wednesday of every month is "late start" at the elementary school. We use this time to do science.

 Our walking water rainbow experiment was very pretty

 Working together, Amy and I made a pretty awesome Star Wars cake

 The whole family is dressed for the Star Wars party; this is the best picture we could get

 Darth Maul holding his double lightsaber and a candle (turns out it was a bad idea to put a candle in his free hand...more about this later)

 We brought 10 girls to the bowling alley for a Star Wars Bowling Birthday Party

 Daddy threw a few balls, too

 This happiness is why I love birthdays

 Micaela with Aunt Amy and Uncle Kevin; without their help this party would have been impossible

 Soon after lighting these candles Darth Maul caught on fire, oops! Thanks to Daddy's quick reaction we didn't catch the entire bowling alley on fire.

 An awesome group of girls

 Blocks with Uncle Kevin

 The boys love to make each other laugh

 Siblings

 February was a good month for Riley, she also received a class achievement award this month

 "Riley is always ready to start the day with a positive attitude and a welcoming smile. She always does her best and helps others. It is a pleasure to have Riley in our class."

I'm so glad we can celebrate her achievements together.

Riley had an awesome 7th birthday. On her special day we ate her favorite food (pizza) and enjoyed her requested chocolate icecream cake. She was thrilled when Uncle Earl came to help her celebrate with cupcakes and the fun times he always brings along. She received some great presents. Micaela picked out a Darth Maul (from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace) action figure that Riley loved. She also got a Star Wars lego set and Minecraft, her first video game.  

Riley loves all things Star Wars right now, so we hosted a Star Wars bowling party for her friends. Aunt Amy and Uncle Kevin came to help us throw the party, for which we were very grateful. Keeping track of 10 little girls at the bowling alley was a lot of work! Everyone had a fantastic time. It was entertaining, helping the girls learn to bowl and watching them have fun together. Amy and I spent a lot of time crafting a pretty awesome Star Wars cake. I'd say the only mishap of the party was when we put the candles too close to the plastic Darth Maul figure and it caught on fire. Quick-thinking Chad blew it out right away; I'm glad we didn't catch the bowling alley on fire. I was very impressed with the cool gifts Riley received. Most of the girls hadn't even seen Star Wars but they chose things like a Darth Vader microphone (it changes your voice to sound like Darth Vader; the adults had fun with that once the birthday girl went to bed), a storm trooper necklace and even a Star Wars skirt. Her friends know Riley very well and helped her have a great day.

As if February couldn't get any better, Riley received the class achievement for her 1st grade classroom this month. It makes us so happy to know that Riley is recognized for her positive attitude and trying her best. We are so proud of our little girl. She loves to make people laugh and can be very silly. She is passionate about science and knows what she likes, even if its not popular among other 7-year-old girls. I love her confidence, her sweetness, and her creativity and curiosity. She continues to grow into an amazing girl.