Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love,

Daniel, Virginia, Riley, Dakota and Lilly

More Pics...

Swinging with papa



Sunset overlooking Madrid



Green side of building

Pantheon

Coliseum...think Gladiator!

Madrid, Rome and Gelato

Sporting her new hat in the Bjorn


Teaching her the important food groups!



The family in front of St. Peters

Swinging in a local park

Riley and abuela

About a week ago, we returned from visiting Daniel's parents in Madrid, Spain. We had a wonderful trip spending time with abuela (spanish for grandmother) and pawpaw McNamee, tia (aunt) Maria and some new additions to the Spain Young Life team. We spent our time in Madrid relaxing, watching movies, going to the park, touring some gardens in the city and taking a long bike ride into the city. It was so sweet to spend time together as a family. During the middle part of our stay, we "hopped" over to Rome for 3 nights for more adventure and fun. Riley was such a trooper through it all. She loved meeting her pawpaw for the first time, traveling around in the baby bjorn for 6 hours a day and experiencing her first Italian gelato. She may have even picked up a little Spanish and Italian with all the sweet elderly people speaking to her. Thank you abuela, pawpaw and tia maria for such a wonderful stay and fun time. We can't wait to see you all soon!

7 months old already!

having fun in her jumper

thanks grandpa for my green bear!!

it doesn't take much persuading at dinnertime

It's Zoo Time!

A few weekends ago, Daniel, Riley and I headed to Columbia, SC to spend the night with some good friends, the Kellys. We had a great time seeing their new home, walking around the Columbia Zoo and catching up on life. Thank you for such a fun weekend!

Feeding the giraffe!

Snoozing lion...what a life!

Riley cruising in her jogging stroller

Daddy and Riley looking at the goats

This spider was not an exhibit...

the ladies

More pics...

Starting solids...yummy!



High Rock Lake

Riley's bean bag chair;o)

High Rock Lake Adventure

Trying out the jogging stroller for the first time!

Daniel, Riley and I spent the latter part of this past week relaxing at a near by lake called High Rock Lake. My parents rented a house for the week, so we packed up and headed up their way. We had a blast of playing games, swimming, paddling in the canoe, going on walks and of course eating yummy food. We even had a bon fire and smores one night. Riley slept quite well at night (7pm-7am), which made the time even sweeter! Thanks mom and dad for a great, restful vacation! Here are a few lake photos and some random shots from the prior week at Freedom Park.

Nashville Bound!

Riley and Wyatt already great friends!


Who are you?


Riley was exhausted after all the fun on Tia Maria

Sweet Wyatt...look at those long fingers!

Come on Wyatt, let's go play...zzzzz!

This past weekend we decided to drive to Nashville to visit family, including our new nephew! He is adorable and growing like a weed. We had a great time...thank you Katherine and Jeremy for the fun weekend. Riley did amazingly well, but by the end of the 7 hour car ride Sunday, she was letting us know she was ready to be out of her car seat!

Awaken!

Tomatos ripening in the garden


Watermelon, anyone?


Riley and daddy at the whitewater center


Riley reading the newspaper


Say cheese!

Awaken! This is how we've felt over the past month. Now, that Riley is almost 5 months old, we are really starting to live life "normally" again and feel like functional members of society again. We've enjoyed every stage, but it is so much fun to see Riley interact with her surroundings and respond to us. And of course, sleep is such a wondrous and beautiful thing again! She is "talking" her language, flipping from her belly to back (unfotunately she hasn't learned to flip the other way and hates being on her back for long!), sucking her thumb consistently, reading books and starting to laugh. What a genius!

Updates on the rest of the McNamee life include our growing garden, developing plans to visit Spain in October (should be interesting with a 7 month old!), working (Virginia works 2-3 days a week now) and traveling to various places this coming month (we promise to post more frequently!). Here are a few shots of what summer 2009 has brought our way.

She's growing!

It has been so much fun watching Riley grow over these past fews months. She will be officially 4 months old on July 8th. She is rolling over, smiling and cooing and really interacting with her surroundings more. She truly is a beautiful baby (I know I'm biased), and we pray that her inner beauty would develop as she becomes more aware of Christ's love in her life. Although many people initially said she looked more like Virginia, there are definitely some characteristics popping up that reflect Daniel...including her large thighs (check out Daniel's baby picture below)! So, come check her out...we would love friends and family to visit!

riley at 4 months

We can't believe Riley is already 4 months old. Her personality is beginning to become more and more apparent and it has been a joy to see her open up. She is mostly a "serious" baby with her furrowed brow looks, but with a little urging she'll smile away. Her favorite hobbies continue to be taking walks up the street with daddy in the baby bjorn, slobbering on everything that touches her mouth, rolling over, and her all time favorite: drinking milk, milk and more milk...


hanging out in dad's favorite shirt


whoah...what is that green thing?


already using her feet more adeptly than her hands


uhhhh...what are you doing?

Riley's First Road Trip

the family- virginia's grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary!


i dare you to change my diaper...

Riley Wearing Mom's Old Dress...