Dan's Birthday and Rylie's New Play Space

Dan requested "wings and beer" to celebrate his 33rd birthday. So we met the family at Buffalo Wild Wings on Friday night where he ate wings and drank beer. Birthday wish fulfilled.

Rylie and the birthday boy

Rylie and her Godmother

The NASCAR cake

Rylie and Sophie sharing their dinner

Dan's gift made by Michael

Bobby (Christa and Tommy's little guy) can't take any more!

The Play Room:
What started as our dining room when we bought this house has now served 3 purposes for us, which is the most of any room. When I was pregnant, the office became Rylie's room; the dining room became our office and the den became our dining room. It became obvious, after Rylie's birthday party, that we need a play area for her. The toys had taken over our entire living room. We're trying to make the best use out of the space we have in this house, so we made another change. The office has now become Rylie's new play room. We moved the desk downstairs, which works out well because on days that Trudy is watching Rylie at our house and Dan is working from home, there are less distractions for him.

The dining room (making wedding invites)

The office

Finally, the play room

We think she likes it!

Rylie even helped build it

Labor Day Weekend

I decided to take the week after Labor Day off work. I had hoped to take a week sometime in August to catch a little more of the summer weather, but it didn't work out. We headed to La Crosse for the weekend as we have the past couple of years to celebrate our Anniversary with dinner at the Freight House and spend a night out together. Rylie and I decided to extend our stay since I had the week off and spend a little extra time with Grandpa and Grandma since she won't see them as often this time of year.

Things we did at Grandpa and Grandma's:

Walked and walked and walked. Rylie had taken several steps at a time the past few weeks. Just this past week, she started walking all over the place. And often had to be carrying something in each hand...not a little something...a big something.



Rocked and rocked and rocked.


Climbed the stairs over and over to mommy's old bedroom to look at all the books in the toy bench. Had a fashion show of mommy's old clothes...and some of Grandma's bead necklaces.

Went to visit Great Grandpa and Grandma Jenks and Great Grandma Kearns while daddy and Grandpa mowed both of their lawns. Then saw Great Grandpa and Grandma the next day at Sloopy's...and did some dancing there.

Rylie pretty much eats anything we eat now and isn't really interested in being fed with a spoon, unless she can do it herself, which is a crazy mess.

She went for a couple walks through the neighborhood with Grandpa on a fussy day, which we later found out was due to one of her top front teeth popping through.

She did a lot of playing with rocks...filling a container and throwing them back out.

Reaches for everything she's not supposed to have. Makes the cutest little face while holding out her hand and reaching for what she wants.

Wanted to do "this little piggy" over and over again. Grandma did it once while she was sitting in the rocking chair and every time she sat there, she pointed at her big toe.

Helped Grandma fill her wine cork holder.

The best picture of the weekend...captured by my mom. This is about 10 minutes (if that) after we got home from our big date night out. We are clearly out of practice.

Hopefully he wasn't drooling on me.

Girls Weekend!

Dan and the guys went to Bristol, TN last week for the NASCAR race; his mom and the Carpenter family were in Indiana; and Auntie Beth and her family went up North for the week, so we were daycare-less for a few days. I had already planned on taking a week off work over Labor Day and didn't want to use more PTO if I didn't have to, so my mom came to spend a couple days with Rylie. Everyone left Wednesday afternoon, so my mom watched Rylie during the day Wednesday and Thursday while I was at work. They made numerous laps walking around the yard, with Rylie leading the way, and picked up all kinds of pine cones...and played in a little dirt too. It was a short visit though as my mom had to head back to La Crosse on Thursday after I got done with work because they already had Larryfest/camping plans that weekend. I took Friday off, so I got to have all kinds of just Mommy and Rylie time from Thursday evening until daddy got home on Sunday...and I LOVED every minute of it. We went shopping, had a play date with Carter, went to the park to swing, went for walks and just did a lot of playing. Here are a few pictures from the her play date and the park.

Walking

I'm not sure how/if these can be rotated...so they are both sideways. The first one is from my cell phone, so it's a little fuzzy...

I'm not sure if she was mad that she had to walk all the way to her toy...or if she was mad that I was taking a video of her doing it.

Grandpa's last visit (for a while)...

Grandpa starts his busy football season at the end of August, followed by his really busy basketball season, so it was the last weekend he'd be able to visit for a while. My parents hadn't been to the zoo since Patrick and I were younger, so we decided to spend a day there.

More parties...

Michael turned 6 at the end of July, so we all went to his final baseball game and then over to Chris and Leslie's house for the party. We look for excuses to put Rylie in a party dress...just so she has a chance to wear them all at least once before the end of summer...yes, that is how many she has!

party dress

the 6 year old

all the kiddos


We also attended my work summer party at the WI State Fair. They reserved Saz's Hospitality Tent for the event. Lots of great food in the tent, which kept me from eating anything on a stick.

Ry and her buddy Carter

checking out the cows


one week old baby pigs

the cutest little lamb ever



The UH mommys:
August 2009

One year later...

Everything I want to catch on video...

The video camera comes out...blank stare. Kind of like when she's talking away and you put the phone near her so grandma can hear...blank stare. One of these days, I will sneak up on her to catch all of this on video.

The last couple of weeks, Rylie has been taking steps on her own. She started with a half step a couple weeks ago and is becoming more and more daring each day. She has gone as many as 10 steps on her own so far. The strangest part about this-she has to be carrying something in her hands to do it. Today...it was one of grandma's sandals in each hand...not flip flop sandals, but heavy sandals for someone as petite as Rylie. SO, I'm waiting for that moment where I can catch her walking on video.

She LOVES exploring the yard on her feet...it's a whole new place for her. She didn't really care to crawl on the grass, so she hadn't made it very far before.

In addition to her old tricks of clapping, waving and "so big", she also shows you how old she is, shakes her head no, shows you where her nose is and points out her ear, hair, teeth- with an "ahhh" sound- and her bee-bo (if you know the Sandra Boynton books, you know this is her belly button). She also likes picking up mommy or daddy's cell phone and holding it to her ear...remote controls work for this too. I'm pretty sure I witnessed and actual conversation once. SO, I am also waiting to get most of this on video and hope to post it soon. In the mean time, there are some new pictures coming.