Working at the Car Wash!

I think we have found Riley a new job! She loves washing cars, or at least getting people wet! Leon and Riley went out last night to get the cars ready for our vacation. We are heading to the beach today with my family from MO. Anyways, Leon said Riley was great help for about the first 5 minutes, until she discovered the water hose. I think Leon started it by spraying her first and I think he forgot that she is big enough now to get him back. She got him good and wouldn't stop. She just kept spraying him.

Mendy's back to work!

I just wanted to update everyone with the newest change at the Legleiter house hold. I went back to work a couple of weeks ago and I am loving it! I am the Director of Children's Ministry at All Saints' United Methodist Church. I feel so blessed that I get to stay home with Riley, but wanted to find some way that I could give back. We have joined a new start up church in Brier Creek that launched this past November. A couple of months ago after a long conversation with our pastor I felt like I had found the way that I could give back. So, after praying and asking for guidance this is where I feel that I have been lead to. I am volunteering right now, which is suppose to be 10-15 hours a week, but as most of you know me I have not been able to limit it to just that. I am loving the work that I am doing and can not think of a more rewarding job. I feel like my passion is children and this seems to be a really good match for me.

Pump it Up with All Saints'

Monday we had another summer outing with our church at Pump It Up. It is an inflatable jump house. It is crazy how many of these places have gone up in the area. I really liked this one as it was easy to keep up with your child, where some of them are not so much. I think the bigger the slide or jumper the more Riley loves it. She is not scared of them at all, which is a little scary to me. She is so little that she just flies down those slides so fast it looks like she could fly right off of them.

My friend Ann and I have been planning outings for the children of the church over the summer. We were both really pleased at the turn out that we got. After our hour of play we went over to the ministry center and every one brought a picnic lunch with them. It was great to have the place jumping with little ones.

Kidzu with Blake

Last week we got to catch up with Blake, for a playdate at a museum called Kidzu. It is a really neat museum in Chapel Hill that changes exhibits every quarter. This quarter it is more enter active with the kids I think. It was great with lots of stations for them to do things and play. There was a little area that was set up like a farmers market and Riley and Blake were both into that. Then they did some cooking together in the make believe kitchen. That is one thing that I have really noticed this summer and that is how much Riley's imagination has grown. She is really starting to make believe and play with her dolls at home. It is so funny sometime the things that she comes up with.

We then went out to lunch and got to get a special treat, ice cream!

Tree Frogs!

This was one of my favorite parts of Maymont. There was this huge old tree and it was the perfect tree for climbing. Riley thought she was pretty big stuff getting up in that tree. Once one went up, of course all 3 of them had to get up.

Maymont

On the second day we went to a place called Maymont that is in the heart of Richmond. It is a beautiful plantation that is in the middle of the city. It was extremely hot that day, but we still had a great time. They had a Japanese garden, a petting zoo, a museum, and waterfalls. It was really neat to see and I am so thankful that Riley and I got to go on this fun adventure.

I feel so blessed that I get to stay home with her and that we get to do so many fun things.

Off to feed the ducks

We spent the night with Ariane's parents who live just outside of Richmond. They live in a really neat subdivision and we went down to feed the ducks. We had a little surprise when we got down to the lake, geese. I have never heard geese hiss like that, but they for sure wanted the bread. Riley of course was not scared of them at all and thought that she was going to pet them. The kids had lots of fun feeding the ducks and the geese.

Paintings

One of the best parts of the museum was all of the art stations that they had. Riley had so much fun painting. As you can see in the pictures she only used her brush for the first half of the project. It soon became a finger painting. After she got her hands all messy she didn't think that was all that cool and wanted her hands clean. I don't know if that is just a girl thing or what, but she really doesn't like to have her hands dirty.

Children's Museum of Richmond

Last week we went to Richmond with our friends the Hamm's. We had a great time and went to a children's museum that was great. It had so many things for little ones. Some of Riley's favorites were the water table, pretend cave, painting and dinosaurs. At first she was a little scared of the dinosaurs, but she thought it was pretty fun to ride them.

New Bike

Riley got a new bike a couple of weeks ago and she seems to be loving it. She hasn't quite gotten the whole pedal thing down, but she is working on it. It is great that it has a push bar on it, so we can help her out while she is learning without breaking our backs. It is amazing how far bikes have come since we were kids. I feel like I sound like my parents saying that, but it is so true.

Swimming with Daddy

Riley has so much fun spending time with her daddy. They seem to have lots of fun together at the pool. She has gotten so brave this summer with her life jacket on that she really doesn't want much help at all. She loves to climb on Leon and have him do "Blast Off".

Riley and Reilly

We are learning that we thought we picked a unique name and everyone we meet at least knows a Riley. I got a chance to babysit for a new family and they have a little girl named Reilly who is 5. She is so adorable and played so great with my Riley. Of course Riley was so excited to get to play with other kids. They also had twin boys, and she thought they were pretty cool too. The girls were really into playing dress up and with their babies.

Chipwich

We had dinner with the Miller's and Ann exposed us to a new word, "Chipwich" She was so shocked that we didn't know what it was. Well, once she pulled them out, I was like yes I know what that is, my grandmother used to make them all the time for us. It was what I would call an icecream sandwich, but have learned that is not what they are called. It is chocolate chip cookies with ice cream in the middle. And, yes they were delicious. We had pizza and then the girls played outside and had a great time while we had our CHIPWICH! I love it and can't wait to continue with the name in our house and start a tradition that my grandmother had with me, but with a new and fun name.

Day with Ava and Luke

Last week we got to spend a day with Ava and Luke and which made Riley's day. She loves spending time with older kids and is Luke's little shadow when he is around. Luke got to go swimming with a friend, so Ava and Riley and I headed out for an adventure. We went to a story time, then had lunch at Chick-fil-a which is such a big thing to Riley. She knows that she can turn in her toy for ice cream, which she loves. And she also knows that there is a play space there which is a big treat to a 2 year old. Riley and Ava where into Riding bikes and of course Riley wanted to do everything that Ava was doing even though she wasn't big enough.

That night we got to go and watch Luke play tennis and went out to dinner and ice cream. So yes, the girls had ice cream twice that day. It is summer time, what bigger highlight is there than getting ice cream!