Ashee Turns Two!

At first we were thinking of having a dinosaur themed party since Ashton's kinda into them... but then all of a sudden I remembered how much he likes 'momo' (or Elmo) so we went with him instead. 

 He is slowly outgrowing the tricycle handed down from Cait,

so he got a new bike for his special day...

which he loved.

 He was showered with presents at his party. 

All of the children helped him open which was totally fun to watch.

 He loved his Elmo cake and licked the figurines clean of frosting.

 After presents and cake were finished,

all the kids went outside to ride bikes around the turn around.

 I love love love this picture...I'm sure he won't some day... but to me it's PERFECT.

Thank God for older sisters.

 After everyone left and naps were taken, we rode our bikes to a nearby Starbucks.

 ... and enjoyed one of my new favorite treats...

birthday cake pops!

 On our way home, I stopped to shoot a picture of what looks like...

a hint of springtime.

Which is hopefully coming soon to Washington. 

 Then we got home and I was dying to try to get a family photo.  So I set up the handy self timer on my camera and shot about twenty pictures... most of them turned out like this...

(for those who don't know- this IS Caitlyn's and Ashton's smiley face)

 ... and one turned out like this.

Happy birthday, Ashton James Douglas Riggs!

I hope all your dreams come true!

Sweet son of ours.

You're 2!

you're too much fun

too lovable

too kissable

too stinkin' handsome

too huggable

too perfect for words

and I can't believe that you're two!

Your special day was celebrated with all your favorite people.

You are so loved!

♥

A Few of My Favorite Things

• watching my Nephew, Kellen
• asparagus
• my new phone
• my ten day vacay
• the fact that I napped EVERY SINGLE one of those days with my children
• my kitchenaid mixer
• oatmeal cookies
• the movie Tangled
• watching Caitlyn and Ashton ride bikes together
• Ashton's new haircut
• our new shower head
• my fleece sheets (I just put them back on)
• morning conversation over a nice cup of joe
• listening to Caitlyn sing her favorite song 'I love me mom, she's me best friend'
• words with friends (seriously... I'm addicted)
• reading
• our new church
• of course there's a ton more but this will do for now.

Stay tuned for an update on my little ones. I LOVE them!

Movies and More

We've really been enjoying the calm of our lives right now.

Ashton and Ash looked so cute cuddled on the floor...

I had to snap a shot.

On the same movie night I snapped a pic of the girls too.

You should've seen the pic right before this...

She was doing her 'Cocia Ksavera Smile'.

I love the self timer on my camera.

 We've had a tiny bit of sunshine these past few days,

which has geared us outdoors and inspired a few backyard projects.

The man and little man in my life really know how to level some blocks.

It was pretty sweet watching the two of them work. 

Everything Daddy did

Ashton had to try too.

 Same goes for Caitlyn. 

Any and everything she does he wants in on. 

Which is especially good cause Caitlyn tells him a few times a day that she is the 'line leader' (something she has learned at school and totally loves). 

Lucky for her, he'll follow her around for hours.

 Thanks to my friend Cody and her chickens, my family has experienced some fresh eggs.  Amazingly tastier than store bought and they have even been served as 'breakfast for dinner' at our house.

My kids think I am the best for bringing these 'Easter Eggs' early and for letting them eat them for dinner.

Well... this was my 300th post... and to be honest, I thought I would have thought of a fancier way to blog about it.  But this is my life... fancy or not... I love it!

Winter Pictures

Since I'm so incredibly ready for Spring... I thought that maybe if I recapped the Winter season in pictures...  just maybe the rain would dry up, the clouds would melt away, and maybe... just maybe... the sun would come out to shine. 

So here's my attempt to put the Winter behind us.

During the Winter....

We enjoyed a little bit of late snow...

Watched a few good football games...

... and a few 'not so good' ones too ;)

We had play dates with cousins

We've played musical beds...

which usually ends up with the kids snuggling eachother in our bed.

We hung out with Ung-King Jon!

I attempted to shoot with a 50mm lens...

Clearly... or... unclearly- I need more practice.

We wrapped up another session of swim lessons...

We witnessed a wonderful baptism...

... and became God Parents.

Ash and I played in a Wii Winter Olympics with my team at work

(This was such a fun night... I'm considering throwing a similar party)

We continued our game of musical beds

(another unclear pic... this one shot by Ashley though)

Caitlyn got a library card and has borrowed and returnd many books and even one movie.

We goofed off...

... and giggled.

I practiced again with my lens... this time while my children were bathing.

We played another round of musical beds...

and celebrated my mom's birthday. 

*A few other things that we did that weren't photographed, but I still feel need mentioning on the blog include:

-multiple playdates & mommy dates

-Ashton caught a pretty strong tummy bug

-I read a ton of really good books

-We visited with out of town guests

-I've been doing jury duty

-We began attending our new church

-We've had some good days and bad

(the bad ones usually came after a night of playing musical beds)

-My tulips and hyacinths began to grow...

I am SO ready for SPRING!

He's still the one

(You're still the one)

You're still the one I run to

The one that I belong to

You're the one I want for life

(You're still the one)

You're still the one that I love

The only one I dream of

You're still the one I kiss good night

♥

This song might sound a little corny, but it was one of my favorites when we first started dating.  {I even found a musical card that played it and gave it to him.}  I'm not gonna bore all my readers with all the reasons I love Ashley... just know that I still do today and I will even more tomorrow.
We celebrated last weekend alone in our home and in the evening we enjoyed way too much wonderful seafood at Stanley and Seaforts.
I am so blessed to have him in my life and to still be in love.
I l♥ve you, dear!

New Bloggers

I'm proud to post that both my sisters have joined the blogging world.  Simply click on their names below to be connected to their blog or click on their name under my blog buddies list.

Ksavera

&

Hana

I, personally, am super excited to have yet another way to be connected to them.

Love you girls! 

20 years of LOVE!!!

♥ ♥ ♥

 Every year since 1991,

my family has celebrated Valentine's Day at Sakuras Steakhouse.  Here we are 20 years ago. One big happy family... celebrating the day of love with no one else but eachother.
♥

 1992

Not sure which is classier... our corsages or the neon restroom sign in the background. Jon and I were rocking almost the same hairstyle except my bangs were a tiny bit longer. (My cousin Jamie lived with us at the time, so she got to experience our  LOVEly tradition).

♥

1993

our picture is missing (sad face)
♥

1994

Was apparently when grunge and chokers were in.

♥

1995

 I'm pretty sure my Mom got a 'buy 2 of the same hairstyle cuts, get the 3rd for free' cause Ksavera, Jon, and I had the exact same hair.  Hana clearly opted out cause she preferred the 'tucked behind the ears' look.

♥

1996

Must've been the year I learned to apply lipliner and lipstick... way too dark.

♥

1997

My cocia Sonja was in town.  She and my parents had to of gone somewhere tropical cause they are far too tan for Washington.  Jon looks like he is having way too much fun this year.  Ksavera and I are clearly best buds, and Hana must've known this was the last year the cake came with the photo.

♥

 1998

My Grandma was in town and even the cook joined in for our family photo.

(This is the same cook that lost control of the fork one year...

it hit Hana on her forehead).

♥

 1999

Was the year I graduated from HS which is crazy to think about.  Alicia lived with us at the time... and Hana is still sporting the same hair but with a tad bit longer bangs since the 1st picture.

♥

2000

The year my Dad decided to class it up a little by wearing a suit jacket over a T-shirt.  Hana I think decided to try the profile view so we can't tell that her hair is exactly the same... tucked behind both ears.

♥

2001

Who's the blonde chick?!?

Oh... it's Ksavera.

I bet it took me over an hour to place those bobby pins in my hair...

and Hana!!! She changed her look.
♥

2002

Was the year... hopefully... our awkward years were left behind.

♥

2003

The year we mastered the perfect tripod pose.

♥

2004

An attempted but failed tripod pose repeat.

♥

2005

Someone LIED to Ksavera when they told her bangs were in.
♥

2006

Ashley's 1st year at participating in the yearly tradition (the 7 years prior he didn't get an invite cause we were only dating).  He looks so happy to finally be included.

♥

2007

Who's the creepy mustache man in the background?!?

Oh... it's just Jon. 

Ash must've seen the picture from 2000 cause he totally copied my Dad's sweet style.

♥

2008

Our group grows as Caitlyn has joined our family.

♥

2009

There are 3 things to comment about in this picture.

1- That's not our Mexican exchange student... it's Ksavera!!!

2- I didn't gain 20 pounds from eating at Sakuras all these years... I am 7 months pregnant, and

3- The cook had to be included in this years pic in order to help Jon hold my Dad up after he enjoyed a few too many large hot sakes.
♥

2010

Another new addition... Ashton!

Who looks like he is still in shock from when they lit the grill on fire.
♥

2011

A year of 2 new additions...

Ksavera's husband, Jason and 4 week old, baby Kellen!

Thanks to Cocia Ksavera... Caitlyn thinks this smile IS her pretty smile.

♥

So that's how the Rychlinski/Riggs/Thompson family

celebrate the day of LOVE!
♥ ♥ ♥
Thanks Mom & Dad for an amazing family tradition.

Family is Forever!

Slightly embarrassed...

… yes, that’s how I’m feeling for not blogging lately. I haven’t been ignoring my blog… in fact I view it frequently from my phone in order to keep up with all my other blogging buddies. This January… and February has been a little bit busy for us here in the Riggs’ house. Not only have we had a gazillion things going on, but my children changed leaps and bounds just these past few months. For example:

ASHTON

Ashton: began jumping out of his crib, therefore the change was made from crib to day bed and with that transition my used to be wonderfully sleeping son changed into one that is not interested in sleeping in his room or bed at all. Hm… not that big of a deal you might think, but need I remind you that we just transitioned Caitlyn into not only sleeping in her own bed but sleeping through the entire night. So Ash and I were determined not to bring Ashton into our bed… thank goodness our bed is NOT what he was interested in. Instead he wishes to sleep with his big sister {so stinking cute}… all was going well… for a few days then our house got hit with a few viruses which brought havoc to our new sleeping routines and last night I ended up sleeping downstairs on the couch with Ashton after an hour or so of trying to calm him down, Ashley slept in Caitlyn’s twin bed, which left our bed {with our extra comfortable and almost addicting fleece sheets} all to our cat, Roger. Ashton is still trying to get his last four canine teeth which will probably start coming in the same time his two year molars start to come in… just because that’s how my children like to teeth- late and all at once.

Also new with Ashton- he began his first parent toddler swim class without his sister Caitlyn {she’s in a class all her own now-without us swimming with her}. The first day, I’d say maybe he was just a little interested and since then his interest in swimming in his class has declined and his interest in swimming with Caitlyn in her class has increased. Since the beginning of this year we’ve bundled our kids up and packed their swim bags each Tuesday and Thursday and I hate to say this but I’m happy that tonight is our last night. I look forward to having a few more nights during the week of just being at home and relaxing.

More that’s new with him… he had his 1st and probably not his last visit to the ER after deciding to dive off of his chair and into our coffee table he ended up with a few stitches to his bottom lip. That was an experience I’m sure he’ll never remember but I will never forget.

What else is new… he is speaking very well… and singing! He and Caitlyn line up piles of bubbles on the bathtub ledge and sing Happy Birthday to each other every night and then blow away each pile of bubbles {another thing that is just too darn precious}. He’s also working at potty training {in fact, he just woke up from a nap with dry pants and then went on the toilet}. We’re still far away from being a diaper-less family… on a good day he goes on the toilet once or twice.

Despite his change in sleeping habits, being sick, and teething, Ashton continues to be a sweet little guy… He definitely has a huge spot in his heart for his Mommy and his Babcia… and of course his Dad and everyone else too, but right now especially for just the two of us.

CAITLYN

Caitlyn is also growing leaps and bounds. Just yesterday, she turned 3 ½!!! Her preschool class celebrated her half birthday {something they do for the children with the summer birthdays} and I brought cupcakes. The teacher asked what kind of crown Caitlyn wanted to wear on her birthday. A cow crown is what she wanted and a cow crown is what she got… who knows… but still totally cute! I had my 1st ever parent/teacher conference yesterday and Caitlyn seems to be learning at the appropriate speed {she needs a little work when it comes to clean up time though}.

Like I stated above Caitlyn graduated from the parent toddler swim classes and started the independent swim lessons. Watching her swim and pay attention in her class has been amazing. I occasionally get to sit out and watch Ash swim with Ashton and Caitlyn swim with her class and when I do I feel so proud of all of them.

Caitlyn LOVES to sing. Her favorite song is Jesus loves me, second is jingle bells, then Happy Birthday {She’ll even sing Sto Lat in Polish}, then twinkle twinkle little star, then her ABCs. Oh then of course she makes up songs too, her best songs come to her in the bathtub and they usually all have a line about her being a princess and loving polka dots.

She finally sleeps in her bed almost all through the night. Maybe 1 night a week she’ll come into our bed in the middle of the night.

She has a star chart which we have learned to LOVE… since after Christmas, Santa headed back to the North Pole and we couldn’t use him to get her to listen to us anymore. We needed something to entice her to sleep in her bed, do her chores {like make her bed and brush her teeth and the knots out of her hair} and… well… just to simply behave. So far, it’s working really well and she’s earned herself a pillow pet and a trip to the movie theatres to see Tangled {the sweetest movie I’ve seen in a long time}. Age 3 ½, I think, will be my favorite!!!

Ash and I keep busy… nothing actually new with us. Still working and keeping up with the daily routine of having two of the most precious kiddos on earth while also keeping each of us in love with each other.  A challenging task, I think, when we’re running low on sleep fumes… I don’t mean that I love him any less {in fact-I love him more each day}… but I wouldn’t be surprised if he asked me for a guy’s night out soon... Despite our lack of sleep... we're considering adding a 3rd little one to our family.  I pray every night for guidance toward the right decision.
Ash really is the BEST husband, friend, and partner in parenthood… in the World!!!

I promise I’ll get back to blogging regularly.