Cowboys and cowgirls

Stavia is getting old enough to interact with Ryker. They play together all the time. She crawls after him and he walks slow so she can keep up. He also has learned sharing. He shares EVERYTHING! We have some cowboy hats that he likes to play with. He puts them on himself and then Stavia.

Christmas Cookies!

Right before Christmas the boys and I made Christmas cookies for our family. Justys read the ingredients and Ryker and I poured and measured. In the beginning everything went really smooth, but by the end there was a huge mess. (The mess was mostly on Ryker's shirt.) We also made green Christmas tree cookies but they turned out less than picture perfect so I didn't bother turning on the camera.

Stavia is not quite old enough to help with making or eating the cookies, but she did help us eat our blueberry muffins for breakfast. She also made her shirt very messy. My wonderful husband does all of our laundry...I think I need to start being a little easier on him!

Mascara Mess

Every morning Ryker crawls into my bed to wake me up. I never really know what to expect. One morning he came to my bedside and said "here mom" handing me a sopping wet diaper that he had taken off himself, another morning I woke up to corn meal all over the carpet. But most mornings him comes straight in (before causing a mess) and asks for breakfast.

The other morning Ryker woke up VERY quietly and, again, decided to entertain himself for a while before he woke me up. When he came into my bed he said "Look!" He had mascara ALL over him...and our bed and when I got out to the living room I found out it was on our couch too. Ick! I was so angry...but laughing so hard. I told him "Ryker, mommy is VERY angry at you, go stand on the linoleum and say cheese!" I was laughing so hard it took a few tries to get a picture.

He ended up taking a LONG bath and we had to scrub and scrub to get that icky black stuff off of him.

Hello Again!

Stavia turned six months old on Monday. She also got a new cousin that day. Her name is Stella, hopefully they'll grow up to be great friends!

Here is the Birthday girl!She is pretty aggressive so she won't always be in her brothers shadow, but he likes to get his picture taken so he kind of steps in on occasion.

5 Week 5K

Last Sunday, my sister, my mom, and I ran a 5K here in Iowa City. One night Anna and I were talking and decided that we should start running and do a 5k. We checked online and found a 5-week training program and it just so happened that Iowa City was having a 5k run EXACTLY 5 weeks from the day we decided to check into training. We knew it was meant to be. We ran and ran and trained and trained. (Okay, it wasn't really that intense) Race day arrived, October 5, 2008. I didn't go very fast but I had a goal of finishing faster than 30 minutes and I accomplished my goal. Anna beat me by several minutes, my mom crossed the finish line approximately the same time as I did. So, I ran a 5k when Stavia was 5 months old, maybe I can do a 10k when she is 10 months old? How many 'k' is a marathon???

The week in review

Our week at Grandma and Grandpas house is nearly over. Here is a quick look at some of the fun things we got to do!

We went to Le Mars, IA for Blue Bunny Ice Cream.

Grandma helped Ryker try to ride his bike.

Stavia is working on her crawling skills. She tries so hard to get around.

We got to see the last operating steam engine in the US.

Stavia got to watch her daddy install a storage shed for our aunt and uncle.

Jed is putting the finishing touches on the shed.

Here is the final project.

Other things we did but didn't take pictures of: watched the cubs lose, toured the new Hom Furniture store in Sioux City, and visited with several old friends. Ryker also got to go to golf practice with my grandpa. He is a retired athletic director, but he still coaches boys high school golf. Ryker got to go ride around on the cart with my grandpa for a few hours of practice. When he got home he was so excited. He walked around saying, "golf,golf,golf,golf...." It was pretty cute.

Stavia's 5 month Birthday!

Stavia sitting in the grass. She kept trying to eat it. I guess grass can be listed as her 3rd food?



So last Saturday (The 27th) Stavia turned 5 months old. I took some pictures outside because the weather was awesome! And because it's the perfect time of year to take pictures that feature Iowa's beautiful landscape.

Stavia is so tiny I almost couldn't fit her and the top of the corn in the same picture!

I think this when she was actually sampling the grass to see if it was worth eating.

Here are the big brothers that will always have her back. (Can you believe I got a picture of all of them looking at the camera at once?)

A walk down memory lane.

This is my beautiful grandmother!

I have had plenty of time to blog this week because we are visiting my grandparents. They LOVE to play with my kids all day and they are willing to wake up with them in the mornings so I can stay up late and play on the computer. They spoil me and the kids. (I really appreciate it guys!)

Anyway, one of my favorite pass times at my grandparents house is to look at old pictures. This week I've been working on the never ending project of labeling all of them. I was able to visit my great grandparents and great great grandparents gravesites today. I went with my grandpa and his sister and they gave me some helpful and fun family trivia.

One thing that I found interesting is that my grandpa has triplet cousins. The part that makes it crazy is that they had one son, Bob, and then 10 months later had triplet sons....4 kids under a year old in the same house!! Then a year later (Or 2) had another child. I'd be pulling my hair out. So to continue the craziness...all the triplets are 82 and all still alive and living in the area where they grew up and the other two siblings are there too. So today when we went to the small town of Kingsley, IA to check out the gravesites we stopped in at Ed's Cafe...the local coffee hot spot. And SURE ENOUGH my grandpas cousin was there. Not one of the triplets, but Bob the oldest. So we got to chat a little and that was really cool.

So in honor of my day of labeling and learning history I decided to scan in some old pictures for any family members that follow my blog. These are for you:

My Grandma and Grandpa Lyle on their wedding day. They are a super cute couple to this day. This year they celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary.
Here is my aunt Lori, homecoming queen!

This one is much more recent. My grandma, my cousins, Katrina and Erica, and me on piano...or organ or whatever instrument that is. As you can tell, I kept up on my musical talent.

"Mom-Life Crisis"

So, I'm too young to be suffering from a mid-life crisis. I'm only 25. But the other day I thought...I really need to do something that will prove that I'm not old (I call it my mom-life crisis). I am a stay-at-home mom and the job is amazing, BUT it really forces you to act like a grown-up, you have to be mature and teach your kids important lessons like: dessert isn't first EVERY day. To prove to myself and others that I still crave spontaneity in my life I decided to go through with a crazy idea I had. I got a wild hair to get some wild hair. Now brace yourselves, this is REALLY not what most people would expect from me. I got highlights...bright ones. Red ones. I didn't think I was really a person that liked to draw attention to myself but apparently I'm not that afraid to.

I have to include a disclaimer on this post. I'm NOT a good photographer, especially when it comes to self portraits (It doesn't help that they were taken at midnight.) I think my hair looks a little better in person, that, or I have some AMAZING mirrors. Unless I get positive feedback I'm not going to disclose the name of my stylist. I don't want her to get any bad press. I think she does an amazing job!

Ryker's Birthday!

So I'm a little slow on the draw, but when haven't I been on this blog? Here are some pictures of Rykers Birthday and party.

This is a picture on his ACTUAL birthday.

Anna made a cupcake cake for Ryker again this year. She makes an amazing homemade frosting!! We went to Hills park to have the party. The weather was amazing that day!

This is Anna's boyfriend Matt. He got Ryker an Iowa Hawkeyes sweatshirt. It's SUPER cute. A little big, but I like that because he'll be able to wear it next year too. Go Hawks!

I'm going to give you an example of how organized this mother is. He got a new bike for his birthday. I collaborated with my mom...she got him the helmet. So it seems like I thought it all through right? Wrong, notice how I took the picture without the bike... He got a bike, just no picture with the bike. Oops!

Cute little Stavia, slept through a lot of the party. It was so nice outside that I kind of wanted to spread a blanket out on the ground and join her!

I'm terrible!

So, I was just looking at a bunch of "Peer" blogs and realizing that I'm really bad about blogging. I wish I would just sit down and make myself do it more often but I don't. So for any of you who care, I'm sorry! 

I am prepared to update you on our lives right now. I'm sacrificing my Friday night to do so. Actually being a mom...it's not really a sacrifice because even though the rest of the world looks forward to Friday nights to be able to go out and be social, I enjoy my weekly mini-hermitage. I get a few hours to myself and stay up a little later to get those hours to myself. 

So, here is what's new. Ryker turned 2 on Wednesday. He walks around everywhere saying "Hi, I two" it's pretty funny. I should get some b-day pics up soon. We're actually having his party this weekend so that's why I don't have any yet. He did have his two year doc appointment today. He's 37 inches tall, that's over the 95th percentile. That's crazy! I've heard that if you double your childs height at 2 years old, you will get their adult height. That would make Ryker 6'2". That'd be pretty sweet as long as he still listens to his mama. 

Stavia is almost 5 months old. I still say 4 1/2 months because I won't wish away her babyhood. Until she is actually 5 months, I don't really want to acknowledge how old she is. I like that she is my little baby... 

Anyway, she started rolling over about a month ago. Interestingly, she rolled over from her tummy to her back one day and the next day learned to roll from her back to her tummy. Now she is rockin' at sitting up. She sits and sits and sits. For a 30-40 minutes at a time sometimes. I thought it was good when she got up to 5 and then 10 minutes at a time. It's amazing how strong she is! 

Now that Stavia can sit up, Ryker doesn't call her "baby" as often. I think he realizes that he's going to be able to play with her soon. He has gone from calling her "baby" to calling her "babia." While she sits, Ryker brings her toys and hands them to her. Then he proudly proclaims, "Mom, I sharing Babia" When she finally has a pile of toys that is taller than she is, he says "Babia, share Ryry" and starts taking the toys back. Ryker is great at making Stavia smile and laugh. I know they'll have plenty of rough times, but right now I'm just looking forward to how well they will look out for each other. 

The other new new's is that Stavia had her second new food. I know that you can start feeding your baby rice cereal when she is 4-6 months old. I waited until Ryker was six months old to feed him and intended to do the same with Stavia. BUT, at the beginning of August we were fortunate enough to have so super fresh smoked salmon straight from Alaska. Ryker, Grandma and I were enjoying the fish and Ryker wanted to share. Unbeknownst to me, he took a bite to Stavia...all of the sudden I heard a loud cry and she had a mouth full of salmon. I had to quickly get it out with a "finger sweep" (thanks 7th grade cpr.) I hope that this doesn't ruin her taste for really good fresh food. 

Last week, my husband, a great father, was holding his crying baby while he was eating watermelon. He generally has GREAT judgement when it comes to parenting. However, on this occasion he was feeling really bad for his crying baby. His crying baby who happened to keep reaching for his bites of watermelon...so he thought "maybe she wants some..." So, I walk around the corner and see a happy baby sucking a piece of juicy watermelon, juice dripping down her chin and elbows. Instead of getting angry, I grabbed our handy dandy video camera and shot some footage. May I suggest that everyone keep their video camera on their kitchen table at all times. I know it's kinda out of place to have a video camera as a centerpiece but it comes in super handy. Our kids do so many cute and funny things every day. I want to capture as many candid moments I can while they are little. 

More to come soon!

Just a couple quick pics.

Here is our latest family picture taken on Stavia's 3 month birthday. Gehman Photography does an awesome job! Thanks guys!

Here is Stavia with Little Connor Dill. A friend of mine from way back in the day had her son in February and then Stavia was born in April. Stavia is a chunk, she is nearly 3 months younger than Connor and they look the same size!

They played together for the first time when Stavia was almost two months old. Here are the results! They look like they are trying to hold hands!

Here is Connor protecting Stavia from Ryker.

And then it turned violent.

PS I have to let you know that the pictures of Connor and Stavia are from Connor's mom. I am not a very prepared mother, I have to depend on other people taking pictures of my kids so they will know their past. Thanks Sue!

Long Time, No Post

For those of you who have not given up on me...here's to you!

I have more pictures to add and finally have the time to do it. 

It truly has been a LONG time since I added anything on here and a lot has happened. We have added to our family. We have a little girl named Stavia Trudy. She was born on April 27, 2008.

Ryker is a great big brother and runs to her rescue almost every time she starts to cry. He gives her a hug or a kiss or tries to rock her. He's great! (And so is she)

This is how the kids get ready for bed: they gather around daddy and he reads them Bible stories.

Sometimes we don't get home before it's time for bed.

This is our little Stavia sleeping on mom's lap. This is when she is one-month old. So sweet!

More to come!