Riley

Riley is 11 and in the 5th grade. We adopted him out of the foster care system just after he turned 5. He was in foster care for a year prior to the adoption. He's a very loving young man who enjoys basketball, baseball, football, playing his DS and the Wii and making other people happy.

Riley & Grandma Connie

He decided that he needed chocolates and a stuffed animal for his girlfriend on Valentine's Day so I took him shopping.

We ran into my parents at Walmart.

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Riley is on a basketball team this year. He's wanted to participate in the past but we felt like we needed to keep a closer eye on him and that he needed more practice with following directions/listening/paying attention before we allowed him to be on a team.

It might be argued that a team would have been good for him but my reason was that we live in a fairly small town. I didn't want him to be labeled as a troublemaker while he was still learning and we were still teaching him to make good decisions. In the past, I would attend events, like children's choir, with him so that he could participate. I would spend the whole time with him, coaching him on appropriate behavior so the teachers wouldn't get so overwhelmed with him and he wouldn't get so overwhelmed with the situation but he could still participate. I don't need to do that with him anymore but it was helpful for him at the time.

Anyway, here is his first real basketball game.

It's been really good for him and he likes it.

He's in the far bottom right in white.

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Riley loves anything to do with the military. He runs around the house and the yard dressed up like this and sneaks around with Anthony or his friends. I've instituted a "no shooting mom" rule and they stick to it. But everyone else is fair game! The sisters hate this game!!!

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If I'd let him, Riley would be content to play video games all day.

Here he is with the new 3D DS he got from grandma and grandpa for Christmas.

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Riley is also in band this year. He's chosen to play percussion. He's already had two years of piano so we signed him up. He has a snare drum but in school they begin their percussion lessons with bells,

which look like a xylophone to me.

At home, the kids create their own band. They even let Sophia play! She's on the bells, Taylor is playing her viola and Riley is banging on his drum.

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Riley still has issues a bit in school but not with academics exactly. He's a whiz at math and science and all his grades are good but we still struggle with staying focused in class and getting work handed in on time. He's had to serve a few days of "in home detention". He says it's much worse than school detention! I think I finally got through to him when I equated his situation to the military. I said that if his sergeant told him to get all his equipment together and get out to the battlefield, he had better have all his things with him and ready on time. If there were enemies coming and he was supposed to grab his grenade and throw it, was he going to grab for it, realize he didn't have it and then tell his sergeant that he'd bring it tomorrow?!

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Riley is one of the best big brothers ever!

He adores his little sister and is always so kind and patient with her.

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So that's a little bit about Riley's world.

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