Spring and Birthdays

It has been several months since we've posted last. Spring has come, finally, and the kids love to be back outside again. Ryan likes to put on his shoes because he knows that means he gets to go out. He started walking. For the first few weeks he would walk with both arms stretched out for balance, one arm further than the other. He looked like superman. He is getting around very well now. We celebrated his 1st birthday in March. Meghan turned 7 at the end of April. Levi, Jenny, and the boys were in town for her birthday and stayed for a week after. We all enjoyed spending time with them. This past weekend we had a banquet at our church honoring some graduates. We all got dressed up for the occasion. Of course, the girls were excited as they are always looking for an occasion to dress up.





Ryan and Mommy after Mommy finished decorating Ryan's 1st birthday cake.




Ryan testing out a piece of his cake.



The kids enjoyed a ride in the wagon.






Amanda was kind enough to pull them around.





This has become a favorite hat to put on Ryan.



This goofy hat was compliments of Brandon after he returned from Europe.




Ryan and Daddy hanging out.




Marcus and the girls awaiting the beginning of Meghan's birthday party.





Meghan reading one of her many birthday cards. As Levi pointed out, she is now able to read better than most NBA players.





Meghan is now 7. In case you can't tell from the picture, her theme was strawberry shortcake.




Ryan joins in with the girls playing on their new doll house.




There was a formal banquet at our church honoring some graduates. We all enjoyed getting to dress up for the occasion.




Meghan and Kaitlyn with some of their friends.

Ryan enjoyed more than just food at the banquet.

Meghan and Kaitlyn after coming home.

The girls wanted to show off their pretty hair.

One of the pictures Meghan took of us. Not bad for a 7 year old!

Kids Portraits

Mommy is away at Bentley this weekend so we decided to take some pictures and surprise her when she gets home. (We assume she won't check the blog before she gets back!) The girls and I took some pictures while Ryan was napping and when he got up he was so happy we decided to try some with him. He did GREAT! Looking at these pictures you'd think our kids are always happy! Come stay with us for a while and you'll see that's not always the case. :)

These past few months

As you can see by the lapse in pictures, we have not posted anything in quite some time. It has certainly not been for lack of pictures but rather lack of time to get them on here. I will try to briefly describe what has taken place over the last couple of months. We enjoyed a quiet Christmas at our house. After opening presents, we decided to go sledding as there was just enough snow to make it down the hill. Being Christmas morning, there were not many people there so we enjoyed the hill to ourselves (for the most part). It was Ryan's first time sledding. He wasn't as excited about it as the rest of us were. During the holiday break we enjoyed getting to meet Mike's friends, the Springfields, from Minnesota. They spent a couple of evenings with us playing games and visiting. A few weeks ago we had Brandon's friend Sara and her niece, Emma to stay with us for the weekend. Emma is a year younger than Kaitlyn. We all enjoyed having them for the weekend! Ryan is continuing to try out new things. He finally started crawling and is now all over the house! We have to keep a close eye on him as he is very curious to check everything out. One evening, we were all cleaning up in the kitchen and Ryan was playing with the magnets on the fridge. No one noticed that he had wandered off. The next thing we heard was bump, bump, bump, bump and him crying. Seeing the stairway door open, I raced over there and sure enough he was laying at the bottom of the stairs. We don't think there was enough bumps for him to have rolled all the way down so the only thing we can think that happend is he may have crawled part way down the stairs and then rolled the rest of the way. Since we have an open sided stairway most of the way down, we are very thankful that he didn't fall off the side of the stairs. He ended up only having a bruise on his cheekbone and some rug burns on his head. Praise the Lord! The other night, we had a candle light Valentines dinner. We all got dressed up, had our pictures taken, and enjoyed the meal. Deann and Amanda are on their way to Bentley so we had our Valentines day celebration a few days early. We hope everyone enjoys the pictures.


We all enjoyed going sledding on Christmas morning.



This was Ryan's first time down the hill. He was not all that impressed with the ride.


Mommy and Meghan preparing for a ride down.


Amanda and Kaitlyn making their way back up the hill.


The kids enjoyed making a pyramid with the Springfields.


Meghan put 2 of her dolls in Ryan's lap and called them his nieces. After all, they are her "daughters".


Ryan likes to put balls in his mouth like a puppy.


Meghan and Kaitlyn enjoying some coloring with their friend Madison.


Ryan is eyeing the fun...


...and now he is joining in on the fun!


Ryan is able to walk as long as he holds on to something or someone.


Meghan dressed up Ryan with a shawl.


Brandon (aka horse) giving the girls a ride.


The girls enjoyed their visit with Emma.


Ryan's battle scars from his fall. It actually doesn't look that bad. It could have been much worse!







We all enjoyed dressing up for Valentines day. Daddy enjoyed getting to have his picture taken with all the "ladies" of the house!


After pictures, we enjoyed a candle light Valentine's dinner.