Easter

We spent Easter weekend in La Crosse this year as this would to be our last trip home as a family of 3!  We won't head back until after baby #2 arrives, so we wanted to make sure Rylie got to see Great Grandma LaVonne since she won't see her again until June.  On Saturday afternoon we went out to Auntie Elaine's farm to see the animals.  Rylie was definitely very timid at first.  She didn't want anything to do with the baby cows, kittens or Marvin the cat that liked to follow us around.  But she eventually warmed up to the animals- petting them, feeding them, and talking to them.  She LOVED the little teeny tiny grey kitten that she named Bobby.  She has a little stuffed kitten of her own at home that she has been carrying around ever since.  

We were able to have Great Grandma over for dinner Saturday night and the Easter bunny paid a visit to Gamma and Papa's house on Sunday.  On our way home on Sunday, we stopped at Jerry and Trudy's to have a little egg hunt and Easter dinner.

Teeny tiny baby kittens

Feeding the big cats

LOTS of cows

Getting braver...

We had to learn to set the kittens down "gently"

Feeding a calf she named Bessy

Rylie and the family dog Yoshi

Not a huge fan of the vinegar smell this year

Typical

The bunny hid her basket in her play kitchen

New rain coat!

Mouth full of chocolate....at 9am

Very generous Easter bunny

Buiding new Lego Friends with Daddy

We colored eggs at Grr and Grr Mom's too

More Lego Friends! (with Daddy intently watching the Masters)

Ready for Spring

Only one post in March?  It must be that whole third trimester of pregnancy exhaustion thing slash the chaos of 100 unfinished projects going on in my house.   I can't believe it's already April!  We were loving the warm weather mid-March and can't wait for it to stick around longer.  It was so nice to open up the windows and Rylie played in her sand box several days in a row and loves to ride her bike.  This year she jumped on and suddenly knew how to pedal.  This was also a transition month for us.  We moved Rylie into her big girl bed.  The bed she is using, used to be Papa's and is one that I slept in as well as a little girl.  We freshened it up with a few coats of white paint and she jumped right in.  She does pretty good for the most part.  Getting her to actually GO to bed is a bit of a challenge, but once she's asleep, she stays put most nights.  Pictures of her room are below. 

We also dismantled the guest room and started on the nursery.  We have a ways to go in there yet...some dresser painting, window treatment and light fixture hanging, and partially moving Dan out of the closet :-)  We made a little bit of progress on the basement this month, but nothing noticeable for pictures yet.  We're finally to a point where we're ready to hang the drywall.  We have about 8 weeks until baby #2 arrives and it's going to be a busy 8 weeks! 

First night in her twin bed!

We're working on potty training...
the diaper changing pad will soon be moved to the baby's room

Hair long enough to french braid!
We have yet to cut it...it very badly needs a trim!

St. Patty's Day!

Fun in the sand in March!

I know how to pedal now!



Random pregnancy progress photo- 29 weeks (yes, it is just one baby in there...yikes)


We did take a little break from the work this past weekend and took a trip down to IKEA in Schaumburg, IL to purchase the wardrobes for our basement bathroom (aka...Dan's new closet) and spent the remainder of the day at Legoland Discovery Center with Rylie. She LOVES to build with legos! And I'm not sure why it took so many years to come out with some cute girlie ones, but she is starting to build her collection of Lego Friends.  Dan may have been just as excited to visit as Rylie.

First thing she did was walk up to this guy and roar....and then proceeded to pet him.

We're close to finishing up this round of swimming lessons.  Rylie is doing great and loves to jump in and show us how she climbs out all on her own.  The next activity- gymnastics!

Snow

This past weekend, we finally had some snow to play in.  Rylie has been out a few times while we're at work, but this was the first with Mommy and Daddy.  We haven't had much snow, but the few times we had enough to play in, we always seem to having something going on and it would melt before we got a chance to get out there.  Even though I'm more than ready for Spring, I was bummed that I didn't have any pictures of Rylie playing in the snow this year.  So I was happy to see it fall (knowing that it will all melt again this week!)The snow was perfect for packing and I think Dan was wishing he had someone to get in a snowball fight with.  Instead he made some Rylie-sized snowballs for her to throw. They made trips around the house in her sled and she went down her slide a few times and told me "it was really fast mommy"...thanks to her snowpants.  Daddy had her eating icicles too...she even brought a few in the house with her to have with her lunch :-)

February

So umm...where did February go?  I cannot believe that it's almost March!  But I'm loving this mild Winter and the fact that Spring is right around the corner. However, it makes me nervous as well because it means we are that much closer to baby #2's arrival and this house is no where near ready!This month Dan and I were able to spend a night out at the Eric Church concert in Madison.  We continue to work on our basement and other projects around the house.  Rylie just finished up Soccer Tots and started swimming lessons again.  Unfortunately for Dan, the lack of snow has meant no snowmobiling on the trails around here, so he headed up North with some guys for a four day weekend.  Which meant girls weekend here! My mom came to stay with us while he was away and spent a few days with Rylie while I worked and then we spent the weekend doing what we do best...shopping :)   We have been fairly lucky (knocking on wood) this Winter in terms of health.  Dan and I each had a bit of a cold and Rylie caught a stomach bug for a couple of days, but have been able to avoid the strep, week long illnesses, and pneumonia (unlike last year) that have been going around.

In March we're looking forward to BIG progress on the basement.  We have 76 sheets of drywall sitting down there in a pile. All of the insulation is there and the flooring is ordered.  Now we just need some installation. We're also converting Rylie's room to her 'big girl' room and setting up the nursery in our other bedroom.  We're going to make one more trip to Schaumburg, IL to do some more damage at IKEA and also take Rylie to Legoland for the day. Throw in a weekend in La Crosse and full time jobs for us and that's about all we can handle in a month's time!

Here is our month in pictures...

Sneaky sneaky.  Luckily she was putting on a show for us and hasn't tried it again. 
The transition to the twin bed will be attempted in March!

Rylie has become a regular at Menards.  She even sings the jingle from the commercials.

No hands!

And here we are being a two year old

Flowers from my sweetheart for Valentine's Day

24 weeks!

This is what we get to do when we behave in church (and when it's 40 degrees and sunny)

love

Tonight: Eating a girl scout cookie and watching the Daytona 500