Spring is here!

So April has already been a very busy month so far! There is so much going on in April.  Easter, Kelly and Zoey's Birthdays *Happy Birthday Kel!*, Haven's Birthday, and Kim's birthday plus our anniversary is this month.  Rylee is now 20 months old, getting closer and closer to being 2. I still can't believe it except when I look at her I think you are toddler! You've grown so much. She continually amazes Josh and I. Her personality is wonderful. She dances, sings, and laughs constantly. Rylee has a pretty good vocabulary, she hasn't put words together yet really but has a long list of words she can now say. More and please are used the most. Her favorite songs this month are *Twinkle*Twinkle*Little*Star, and the bumblebee song. Her favorite show to watch is still Winnie the Pooh. Her favorite books this month is her Things That Go book, and If You Give A Moose A Muffin. Jim Gill still seems to be her favorite music though every time we are listening to bluegrass she starts dancing. Rylee also LOVES to play with babies now. She feeds them, puts them to bed, pats their backs, and tries her best to change their diapers. She's very caring. She can also be very shy. Rylee went to preschool for her first time at the end of March. It was just while I was at my MOPS group so it was only 2 hours long and in the same building I was in. The teacher said she did great, that she was very shy but colored and played well. I was nervous about bringing her (Josh was even more nervous) but as soon as we walked in the door she stopped paying attention to me and I went on my way. We had a wonderful Easter, beautiful beautiful weather. Haven and Jordan were here which she couldn't have been happier about. She loves them so very much and is just in awe of everything they do. They give her so much love and attention and she takes all she can get of it. We also got to go to the lake a couple times so far and enjoy some sunshine and family. Today we had another fun day. We went and met my friend Beth and her son Andrew and went to the park. They got to play for awhile and then we wound it down with a short walk through the wildflower trail. Which brings me to something else Rylee loves. Outside. We have gotten to spend a lot of time outside the past few weeks and hopefully like her mom and dad she will love being in the outdoors. She is a big fan of her bike, her sand and water table, her wagon, bubbles, and dandelions. I can't wait till it gets warm enough to take her swimming!

Rylee & Jordan

Haven & Ry

Trying to smell the flowers.

Easter Egg Hunt

Yum, jellybeans!

Ry and Sissy, and her present from them!

Yes, we wear beads in the bath.

We also wear our sunglasses inside.

Going on our afternoon walk.

Bubbles

O.k. not the best picture of the 3 of us

Rylee's first time in a boat. Papa thought she was experienced enough to help drive.

Rylee throwing rocks w/ dada.

New Rylee Pics

I'm working on it

So hopefully by the end of this coming week I will have uploaded the latest pics of Rylee. We have done lots of exciting things this week. I took Ry to the park a few times and then when Josh got home we all went together Saturday morning. It has been such an amazing weekend, sunny and warm! Rylee has also had a runny nose all week. She has been getting in a top tooth which always gets her nose running. Due to the cold temps and the dry air at the beginning of the week it just wasn't getting better. We took her to the dr. tonight and no infections. We also went up to beautiful Lake Guntersville today to look at Josh's parents work in progress lake house. First floor walls are up and I'm positive it will be beautiful. I'm very excited about being able to visit. Guntersville is beautiful and full of lots of things to do for someone who loves to be outdoors. I'm actually hoping Josh and I can get out there soon now that the weather is warming up and go on some walks. The part I'm most excited about though is for Rylee to be able to visit. I spent most of my summers in Northwest Wisconsin at my aunt and uncles cabin on Round Lake. I loved it there and am still so happy and grateful for all my time spent there. Maybe it is why I am so in love with nature today. We would catch crayfish (the northern way of saying crawfish), go to the fudge store, have fires, toast marshmallows and make banana boats, go tubing, and just spend as much time in the water as possible. A favorite story I've heard told about me again and again was that one day my Aunt Sandy's clothes line was full of my clothes b/c I would constantly just jump in the water at my cousins command fully clothed. I'm really happy that Rylee will be able to have a similar experience though maybe we'll just leave her in a swimsuit :)

Anyway, here are some old pics. I love looking at how much she has changed!

It's been such a long time...

I know, I know...I am awful at keeping this updated. But, Rylee is worth the wait. She has grown so much since my last post. Here is a quick update:
*Rylee will now feed herself with a spoon. The only real mess is on her face and bib and I think that is pretty good!
*She says "please", "more" (She definitely knows the meaning of the word more!!) and can sign "I Love You". She says "ho ho ho" if she sees anything with Santa on it. And, she says "Bye, Bye" every time she sees car keys or a coat.
*She calls herself "Yi, Yi".
*Ry loves dancing. We are constantly listening to Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Jim Gill, or The Be Good Tonyas.
*She loves falling down on her butt.
*She loves standing on the first step and jumping off onto the carpet.
*Her current favorite songs to 'sing' are the Baby Bumblebee song, 5 Little Monkeys Jumping On the Bed, and Teasing Mr. Crocodile.
*She loves Ring Around the Rosie but I'm not a big fan ever since I learned the morbidness of the meaning.
*She loves going down slides.
*She loves chasing Houser with her popcorn popper and recently they have actually started interacting. It's fun to watch them play together.
*Ry loves "My Friends Tigger and Pooh". Josh and I have decided that we are cool with Pooh. At least it's not Barney! Plus the turtle looks like the Terrapin Turtle and plays the banjo. Josh also swears that one of the background songs is an instrumental version of Sugar Magnolia.

Ry and Josh sharing a candy cane.

Christmas Eve

The look she had when she first saw the tree lights was priceless!
















Her new chair and her new friends!





















For Christmas Ry got Josh a book called 'I Love You Daddy'. One of the pictures in it is a daddy bear and a baby bear sitting on top of a mountain looking out. That picture, along with the others, made me think of Josh and all the things he loves. I know one day he will be able to pass down his love for those things to Rylee.



















Christmas morning. Look at that face!

Stirrin' it up in her new kitchen.

Thanks mom!

Being silly, again.

December is finally here and what a busy month it has been so far! We started off the month by taking Rylee to visit Santa. That did not go so well as you can see from the photo. Josh and I both thought it was pretty funny. Maybe we'll have a scrapbook full of screaming Santa photos!

Then we went to Maryville to see Jordan play his clairnet at his Christmas Concert. We laughed at ourselves for driving over 5 hours with Rylee (who was cutting a molar at the time) for about 40 minutes of music but it was definitely worth it! We are both amazed at how quickly Jordan is learning to play instruments (clarinet and piano) and how great he sounds! He definitely comes from a family full of musician's! We are looking forward to his spring concert at the end of the school year but this time we might stay overnight. I couldn't get a good picture of him playing though, they all turned out fuzzy b/c of the zooming. Hopefully he shows up good on the dvd! We also woke up to a dusting of snow covering the ground that stayed for the whole day! I was SOOOO excited about it, I just love how pretty snow can be when if first falls. I hate how cold it is in Illinois but I do miss the snow. I just can't imagine growing up as a child without going outside and playing in the snow for hours with your friends having snowball fights, making snow angels, making snow forts, and sledding. Then coming inside with frozen snow chunks in your hair, it taking 10 minutes to peel off all the layers of clothes you have on, and finally gaining feeling back in your nose! I'm happy we get some snow because I really want Rylee to be able to have those memories.

So after our big snowy day Rylee started saying 4 new words. Pear, tree, booboo, and shoe. She is trying to repeat things now all the time. It's amazing how all of a sudden something just clicks and now she has 4 new words. So far she can say:

Mama

Dada

Papa

Bubba (what she calls J.T.)

Cracker/div>

Shoe

Tree

Pear

booboo

We also got our Christmas tree last week, Rylee loved it. We put the lights and decorations on while she was taking her nap and when it got dark out we turned it on and her jaw literally dropped. She's a big fan of the tree and all the presents under it. Between her and the cat I'll be lucky if there are any bows left on them on Christmas day. That's about all I can think of for now. Here are some random November pictures that I never put up b/c I am awful at blogging!

Halloween

Rylee was a Garden Gnome for Halloween. After seeing the costume at Wal-Mart I couldn't resist it, the best 18.00 I have ever spent! She was the cutest. After putting her outside in it she really looked like a real little Garden Gnome walking around.

Nothing too exciting going on otherwise. I was thinking today that there are not really too many more Auburn games left and realized how close we are to the year being over. Thanksgiving is almost here and then it seems right after that is Christmas. Ry sure has had a wonderful year. I'm almost afraid to say this but she hasn't had a single issue yet. She is currently (still) getting in her top molars and another tooth on the top which has been giving her some trouble but we have been so lucky otherwise. Thank You God! She has recently been playing with her babies more. She puts them in their blankies and carries them around with her. She has also started to carry around her purse with Josh's old blackberry in it and an old wallet of mine. It's so sweet, she walks up to us with this big purse over her shoulder and one of my shoes on her foot and she just wants to make sure we know she's a big girl. I love that she is starting to pretend. I'm just so thankful I have the chance to be here to watch her grow. Here are just some more random pictures.