Sunday, September 23, 2007

Howdy Ya'll!

Apparently we haven't lost all our Texas roots...


Saturday, September 22, 2007

Climb Every Mountain

We recently had some friends visit us and on one of the days they were here we drove to a nearby mountain (Mt. Eerie). You can drive close to the summit and then hike around a bit! Rylie especially loved it and the views were amazing!


I honestly don't remember what Madison was crying about (she's 2...that's enough) but I thought this was a sweet pic of "sisters to the rescue". Taitlyn was trying to comfort her by stroking her hair (or maybe it was more like pulling her hair) and Rylie tried by showing her the really cool caterpillar!




We have nicknamed Taitlyn "Joe Dirt" because she LOVES to play and eat dirt...seriously! On this particular day she actually layed stomach down in the dirt (as you can see from the pic) and made "snow angels" in the dirt with her arms. It was hilarious!




Madison picking a pine cone off the tree



Where's Waldo? Can you find Philip in this pic?!?!?



Taitlyn clueless to her surroundings! Rylie enjoying the view


Rylie showing off a caterpillar she found

More random pics

Here are a few more random pictures that don't really fit in anywhere else!
Madison "disappeared" the other night but soon returned dressed like this!


Rylie and Sam doing their hand stands


Rylie and Sam in their "jammies" getting ready for bed


Daddy was trying to watch football but Madison had other plans!

Roller Derby

The school that Rylie is going to does lots of fun "Family Nights" to help create community within the school. The first one for this year was a Skate Night at a local roller skating rink. Rylie has roller skates at home (Barbie ones!) but this was her first time on "real" skates at a "real" rink! Daddy strapped on some skates to help her around the rink. Before we knew it though she was doing it herself and looked like a pro! She had a great time and Madison and Taitlyn both had lots of fun watching!

Posing for a picture after the first lap around


Madison watching...if you look real close you can see Tim and Rylie across the rink


Taitlyn just having fun


Getting some refreshments from the snack shack!

We miss the CG Band

One of the things we miss most is the CG Band and their incredible spirit of worship (something we realize now we took for granted)! Anyway...Taitlyn was wearing her CG Band shirt the other day so we had to take a picture of it! I know it's hard to tell what the shirt says but we had to share it anyway!

Fun with Friends

I know I haven't posted in a while but we honestly haven't been doing much that "picture worthy"! We've been spending lots of time with neighbors and friends but not necessarily in ways where we would be taking pictures. We did have 5 of our neighborhood friends over the other day after school and we took a few pictures so I decided to post some of them!



Monday, September 10, 2007

Welcome our new nephew!

We have a new nephew and we wanted to share his beautiful pictures with all of you! He was born on August 31st and after a few rough days (long story) everyone is doing well! His name is Drew Alan!



Thursday, September 6, 2007

First day of school!

Rylie started Kindergarten today which was a huge milestone in our lives...one I really never expected to actually arrive! In fact, I have been kind of dreading this day for a couple of months now but I have to admit the anxiety leading up to today was much worse than what I had anticipated. Rylie did so good! She walked bravely into her room and went to "circle" time when it began...although she did have a few tears at that point. I had promised myself I wouldn't let her see me cry so I kept my promise. A friend of ours though, whose son is in her class, did start crying when she saw Rylie get teary-eyed! She did great though we left soon after that. When I picked her up she said she had a great time! She has a wonderful teacher who is a great match for her personality. I don't think the day could have gone any better! It was emotional but not in a sad way...in a way that we were able to celebrate this next phase of life and I can now look forward to all of the memories to come!

Rylie talking to Mimi on the phone before school


At home before school...showing off our new backpack and lunch box!


Standing in front of Rylie's cubby


Rylie putting her things in her cubby


Rylie's teacher, Mr. Ingalls, starting the day off

Twas the Night Before...

We decided to make the night before our first day of kindergarten a special day as well so we spent family time together last night and did lots of fun stuff. I let Rylie pick our "menu" for the night and told her we could have whatever she wanted...pizza, McDonalds, pasta, etc. She picked "pasta" which was actually spaghetti, broccoli and mandarin oranges!!! It was great and she ate a ton which is very rare! Maybe I should let her pick our menu more often! After dinner we took baths and then I did the big girls' nails. They chose sparkly nail polish...of course!

Here is a picture of the meal


Madison eating everything but broccoli (see it pushed off the plate!)


Rylie eating really well...which is a rare occurance!


The finished finger nails! You can barely tell, but if you look close you can see little sparkles!


All done!