Sunday afternoon

Well, first of all, Happy Halloween from the Dojo! We are enjoying a quiet afternoon of basketball (at least the Brackemyre side of the family is). Riley is still calling it "football," but we are working on it.
The weather has gotten colder, so we are staying inside.
This is probably Riley's favorite shirt. If she's given a choice, she usually picks it out. It is size 18 months, so it's a little short. Riley doesn't seem to mind.
Today for lunch, we had pizza, as you can see by Riley's face and shirt. We thought we'd get a picture before we cleaned her up.
We should have pictures of both girls next week. McKenna arrives in 6 days!!!!

1st Day of Spring

Although, it does seem like spring has been around a couple weeks here in Nashville. We've been working in the yard, trying to enjoy this nice weather while we have it. Should reach 79 today!!!!

Riley does try to help a little, but mostly her attention is drawn to throwing rocks, chasing the puppies and playing in the dirt. Yesterday we picked her up some sidewalk chalk, I think she's hooked.






Every day when we get home all we here is "outside" "outside" "outside". She likes to go out on the deck or out in the front.



We also picked up some solar lights for the walkway. :)

Spring is here!

Spring has arrived at the Dojo. Jason has already started his outside projects. Riley, of course, is always a big help, and likes to be outside with her daddy. She monitored the rocks and made sure none got outside the perimeter.







Here's the finished product. Later, we (Jason) will add some flowers.




Riley keeps talking more and more. She has also started to sing by herself, and has even made up a song or two. She is counting to ten as well, but either leaves out or stops at four. She must not like that number. Here is her performance from this morning. (if you have a very keen ear you may pick up a little of the abc's.

Last, but not least, McKenna will be here for Spring Break in a couple weeks, and we CANNOT wait! It always feels so great to have both girls at home. I think it might blow Riley's mind. She's so obsessed with McKenna and her pictures, she may not be able to handle the real thing :)

Another Curtis Dojo Story

There are many times when people ask "why haven't you updated the blog?" The answer is simple, the dojo is fueled by comments of how cute the babus is. So if you want more stories you'd better become more active with the comments. Riley is very particular about what we post, when and also why we post.

Let's start with a little Valentine's day. I asked Krista if she wanted to go out for dinner but it being on a Monday this year it's just easier to cook in. I tried out a new recipe and nailed it. Bacon and panko encrusted tilapia, sweet potato mash, it was delicious. Krista said she liked it but she could do without the bacon. What? No bacon? pffft!




Of course Krista also received some flowers and plenty of candy for the occasion.



Riley looooooves the puppies! She cannot get enough. Raimo has started going to bed at about 5:30pm just to stay out of her way.



With the weather changing Riley comes home every day and wants to go outside. She loves to chase the puppies around the yard. This pic took forever to take, getting a dog and a child to sit still for a couple seconds in the same place at the same time is a minor miracle.



Here's the neighbors dog in our yard. This is the same neighbor who came over in the summertime to threaten me. I don't think that went as well as he'd planned in his head. :)
Anyways, these neighbors have complained about our dogs when we are one of only 2 family's who have the invisible fence. I took pics of their dogs coming in our yard over time and went down to have a little chat with him. They had a fence finally installed about a week ago.

What's New in the Hood

Wednesday, 18 degrees and snowing so bad it brought the city to it's knee's. Sunday, mid-60's and time to bust out the grill for the 1st time in too long.


Today we are grilling some Ribeye's and Pineapple. Ribeye's were marinated in some fresh blended pineapple, soy sauce, vinegar and some special spices. Pineapples were dredged through some buttermilk and seasoned up with a cinnamon and sugar mix. Let's bring those steaks to a nice 135 degrees for dad and 145 for mom. That's medium rare and medium for those non grillers out there.




Riley has been picking out her own clothes lately, stripes and checkers are some kind of fashion statement. Momma does not approve but daddy thinks she's doin just fine.

Here is the grill master now. Actually daddy is still on grill duties while Riley walks around and says "hot" and then blows on the grill. You can still see the remains of snow on the deck.





With the snow brought many day care closings. AGAIN! So we had a little daddy/daughter time on Thursday.

Riley is about ready for a new big girl bed and McKenna is looking to get out of the bunk beds in her room. So we took the top bunk out of McKenna's and gave it to Riley, 2 happy girls with 1 simple move. Here's Riley in her new spread!




The ceiling is sooooo much further away!


No day at home would be complete without torturing a puppy. Today's victim, Mikka. Actually Raimo has stayed out of harms way lately by going to bed about any time Riley is up. Poor pup has to hide out in his own home.

A proud day indeed

Today started off just like any other day, nice weather, pretty dark out when we leave for work. We dropped off the babus and headed on down the road. Work was normal, uneventful. Came home, stopped at the store for some milk and bread. Got home, made some tomato soup while Riley and Krista shared a grilled cheese sammich. (as Riley calls them) Afterward we sat on the couch to watch some DVR'd programming on the ole tube.
Riley was running a muck, causing the ever so slightest amount of trouble. She was climbing on the couch and messing around when I decided to tickle her tummy a little bit.
Now, this next part is 100% true, you can ask Krista.


As I was tickling her, totally unsolicited Riley pulled off a near perfect armbar. Typically we don't like to see the feet crossed because that makes the knees go apart, more space = not a tight arm bar. But Riley, almost instinctively pinched her knees together. That's genetics folks, not training.

Daddy was proud indeed!

snow ... again

We have another beautiful snow fall this morning. Riley's day care is open two hours late, so I'm waiting for her to wake up. I think the storm is about done, and we've gotten about 3 inches, which is the most so far this year.






Here's the front of the house. The tracks are from Jason's truck when he left.



We had some excitement on Sunday. Jason noticed several vultures flying around our property. I didn't get a final count, but it seemed like about twenty. The pictures don't really due it justice. I had a hard time zooming in and getting a picture. Jason, being the brave one, walked out there to investigate. He said there was some small animal that had died, but he couldn't tell what it was. The birds were very large, and Jason thought the wingspan was about 5 feet. They hung around for several hours.

Several landed in the trees, and hung out for a while.

One was showing off, but spreading it's wings for the others.

Luckily the birds went away, and didn't bother us. A couple flew over the pool, which was a little too close for me. Why do I live in the country??