Flesners 411

4th of July

2009-09-07T21:23:00.000-07:00

We had a great time on the 4th of July. We got together with some friends and had some hamburgers and set off fireworks. Ryleigh especially liked all the fireworks- she had picked out some special ones earlier that day (although she would have liked to take the whole store home with us!). It rained earlier in the evening but quit in time for a great fireworks show!

Ryleigh watching one of her fireworks go off.

Ryleigh loved the sparklers! She must have gone through about 6 or 7 boxes of them!

One of the great fireworks that Ryleigh picked out!

Even Danica enjoyed the fireworks. We put some earplugs in and she was good to go!

Ryleigh once again with a sparkler.

Big Sis

2009-09-07T21:18:00.000-07:00

Now that Danica is getting bigger and a little more fun to interact with, Ryleigh really likes to help out with her. Of course, she still doesn't volunteer to change any diapers! : )

Ryleigh helping Danica with her bottle.

Aww, what a couple of cute girls!

Cheer Camp

2009-09-07T21:12:00.001-07:00

This summer Ryleigh took a week of Cheer Camp. She loved it! During camp and for several weeks after she was constantly making up cheers as well as practicing those from camp. On the last day they had a small "performance".

Ryleigh at Cheer Camp.

Danica hanging out at Cheer Camp.

Danica's First Solid Food... well, almost

2009-09-07T21:05:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of July Danica was ready to start some solid foods, and we were given the okay by the doctor. So we headed to WalMart to get some Rice Cereal. She was very excited and held the box all the way through the store, out the door, and into the car. However, on the trip home she fell asleep- still holding the box- so we had to wait a little while before starting solids.

Danica in Shades

2009-09-07T20:59:00.000-07:00

Danica isn't usually very excited about wearing her sunglasses- she would rather take them off and eat them. However, she played along and posed for these pictures...

Riding in Style!

2009-08-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

When Grandma and Grandpa came to visit this summer they brought with them a motorized jeep for Ryleigh. Ryleigh has loved riding the jeep around the neighborhood. Her friend down the street also has a motorized jeep- so it is not unusual to see two blonde girls cruising through the neighborhood!

Swim Lessons

2009-08-05T11:01:00.000-07:00

Ryleigh took two sets of swim lessons this summer. She did an awesome job and really made great improvements to her swimming. She went from a kid who was afraid to put her face in the water to a kid who was actually putting her face in the water and take a few strokes! She can't wait for next summer to get to do more lessons!

On the final day of swim lessons the kids get a "Free Day". They turn on all the slides and fun water park stuff and the kids just get to play. This is Ryleigh coming down the big orange slide all by herself! That is a great improvement over last summer!

Ryleigh on the blue slide.

Danica kept herself entertained while Ryleigh took lessons. She loves her duck, Mr. Waddles.

This is Ryleigh coming down the blue slide. We thought it was a pretty cool picture.

Learning to Ride

2009-07-02T06:38:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago Ryleigh asked us to take off her training wheels so that she could learn to ride a 2 wheel bike. This was a big day! Jeff took off the training wheels, we got the helmet on, and got ready to go.

Jeff giving Ryleigh a few last minute pointers before starting out.

Okay, here we go!

Jeff ready to let go....

This did not go as Ryleigh planned. If you look closely you can see her pouting- she found out that bike riding is hard and that you don't pick it up on the first try. We'll just have to try again another time...

Camping in the Living Room

2009-07-02T06:25:00.000-07:00

Jeff and Ryleigh were suppose to go backpacking a few weeks ago, but the trip was canceled due to rain. However, so as not to disappoint the 5 year old, we set the tent up in the living room and did some "camping out" inside. Ryleigh had a friend over later that day and they watched movies, ate popcorn, and had a great time in the tent! She had so much fun we ended up leaving the tent up for two nights!

Here is the tent in the living room- if you look closely you can see Jeff and Danica (the gray mass by Jeff) in the tent.

Jeff, Danica, and Ryleigh hanging out in the tent.

Ready for Camping

2009-07-02T06:18:00.000-07:00

Mommy found me this great chair for camping that is just right for me! Boy I can't wait until the family goes camping, it will be such fun!

Hey, look here are my toes!

Aren't I cute?!?!

Spring Dance Recital

2009-07-02T06:11:00.001-07:00

Ryleigh had her big spring dance recital a couple of weeks ago. She looked very cute in her bright green outfit and did an awesome job dancing! Ryleigh really loves taking dance and is very good at it. She is taking a break from tap and ballet this summer and trying jazz for 5 weeks. She will start back up with tap and ballet again in the fall, and we have a feeling she will try to get us to sign her up for jazz as well!

Her is Ryleigh after the recital with her flowers.

A close up of Ryleigh with her flowers.

4 Months!!!

2009-06-18T16:30:00.000-07:00

June 18, 2009

It is hard to believe but Danica turned 4 months today. I don't know where the time has gone. She is doing well and is such a happy, good baby! We went to the doctor today and he was very pleased with where she is at: weight is 14lbs 9 oz and length is 24 1/2 inches. Ryleigh actually weighed more (15 lbs) and was a lot longer (25 3/4 inches) at her 4 month appointment. Danica is getting close to turning over from her back to her front and is also working on the front to back rollover. She loves to sit in her highchair and pull herself up by holding onto the little tray in front. She is curious about everything and Ryleigh is finding out quickly that she loves to grab things and put them in her mouth! Ryleigh is doing well as a big sister and loves to help out holding her, feeding her, reading to her, and playing with her. Danica is fascinated with her big sister and usually smiles and laughs when she is around.

A March Snowstorm

2009-05-09T20:47:00.000-07:00

A big snowstorm came through in March dumping some snow and bringing horrible winds our way. We were excited to get some moisture, but the wind and the very cold temps weren't much fun.

Jeff snowblowing the driveway- the wind helped out a little, but we still had some major drifts here and there.

Ryleigh loves the snow and not just playing in it- she loves to eat it...

Ry and Jeff working on the driveway.

Ry hanging out in a drift.

Tired Girls

2009-05-09T20:39:00.000-07:00

Jeff snuck in to take a picture of us girls taking an afternoon nap. Apparently running errands just wipes you out! Plus the fire was nice a warm. The amazing thing is that the dogs didn't even touch the peanut butter and crackers that are on the plate while we were sleeping!

Reading A Good Book

2009-05-09T20:24:00.000-07:00

Ryleigh really likes to read to her little sister and Danica loves it when her big sister hangs out with her. Here Ryleigh is reading a little book about shapes while Danice is in her crib.

What a good big sister!

Just rocking and reading!

"Hey Blackie, isn't my big sister a good reader!?"

2 Month Check-up

2009-04-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

I still have more pictures to catch up on, but wanted to get the information out about Danica's 2 month appointment. We went Monday (last week) for her check-up and shots (4 of them!), plus she got her finger pricked to check her iron level. Her iron level was just slightly below where it should be so she is to continue on the vitamins for now and they will recheck it at her 4 month appointment. The doctor was very pleased with where she is- her muscle tone is great, she is a very strong little girl and she was tracking and doing all those things kids her age should. She also did quite well in the stats department: her weight was 12 lbs, 11 oz (95%); her height was 23 inches (85%); and her head circumference was 15 1/2 inches (75%). So there are no concerns in the growth department! We compared Danica's measurements to Ryleigh's at 2 months and, it is scary, but their weight was the exact same, Ryleigh was only 3/4 of an inch longer, and her head was 1/2 inch bigger than Danica's. Amazing!

A New Friend

2009-04-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

As many of you know Ryleigh loves the book character, Skippy John Jones. One day, after getting back from running errands, I left Danica in the carrier for a few minutes while I put things away. When I went out to check on her, Skippy had mysteriously appeared in the carrier with her. I thought it was pretty cute.

One Month

2009-04-24T19:23:00.000-07:00

On March 18th Danica was one month old! We have had her home for almost a week now and she is doing great!

First Bath

2009-04-24T06:10:00.000-07:00

March 14th: Danica had her first bath at home. She likes to be in the bathtub- she will even sit in it without water in her clothes. She also likes to look in the mirror- just like her big sister and her daddy!

Ohh... a naked baby!

Ryleigh loves to help us give Danica a bath.

Getting dried off...

All bundled up in her ducky robe.

Hanging Out At Home

2009-04-19T19:37:00.000-07:00

Danica loves this animal playmobile. She is getting pretty good at hitting the animals and loves to talk to them as well.

Ryleigh is a really good big sister and loves to hold Danica. She has even been known to rock her to sleep!

Here's Jeff and his girls hanging out in the chair!

She's Home!!

2009-04-19T17:27:00.000-07:00

Yeah- we finally got her home! Here are some pictures from our first day at home!

The Big Day!! We're Going Home!

2009-04-19T17:07:00.000-07:00

On March 12th, Danica was finally released from the hospital. We got to the hospital about 9 a.m. and completed all our paperwork. She then ate a little, we packed up all her stuff, and we were ready to go home!

Two days before she went home they brought in a new crib for Danica because she had outgrown the small crib they had her in. You can see the toy in the background- that was her "t.v." that helped entertain her since she was so alert and the nurses couldn't attend to her 24 hours a day! : )

Danica finally got to wear the new outfit that Ryleigh had picked out for her. Here she is unhooked from all the wires and lines and ready to go home. Were almost there!!

"Hey there- where are we going?"

It was great to finally be heading home with our little girl.

More pictures from the hospital

2009-04-19T14:45:00.000-07:00

I know that some of these are blurry, but we wanted to include them anyways.

Danica started smiling early on in the hospital. This is one of the first pictures we have of her smiling.

This was Danica's opinion of staying in the hospital. We shared her opinion as well!

Although Ryleigh didn't enjoy coming to the hospital all the time, she did like to see and talk to Danica.

Danica did so well in the hospital and was so alert that they asked us to bring in a bouncy chair for her. She really liked it and it gave her something to do/ look at when we weren't there!

Pictures from the hospital

2009-04-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

As many of you know Danica spent the first three weeks of her life in the hospital in the NICU. Below are some pictures of her during that time.

Jeff and Danica sleeping- they tried to get a little nap in together almost everyday.

Taken on February 25th- Danica is one week old!

Jeff and Danica hanging out- they are both actually awake!!

Danica telling Jeff a story. I am sure it is a good one!

Proud Big Sister

2009-04-19T13:32:00.001-07:00

Ryleigh was very excited that she was now a big sister and that her wish had come true and she got a baby sister!

Welcome Danica!!

2009-04-19T13:21:00.001-07:00

On February 18th we welcomed the newest member of our family into the world: Danica Lynn was born at 12:42 p.m. and weighed 8 lbs. 9 oz and was 19 inches long! Here are a few pictures from the first 15 minutes of her life!

Ryleigh's Room

2009-02-09T21:45:00.000-08:00

Here are some more pictures of Ryleigh's room. We finished it for the most part this past weekend. We are now just busy moving furniture from her old room to the new room and get things set up in the nursery. We are very excited for how well her room came out and she thinks it is "pretty".

We spent a day measuring and chalking straight lines for the outline of the castle. Jeff then came through and taped the whole outline so that he could easily paint it.

Jeff then painted the entire castle. We used a special paint that has a sandy texture to it to make the "castle look" more authentic. Jeff says it was not a fun paint to paint with- it didn't go on like regular paint and we had to use a lot more of it!

We then spent several days painting in black lines to make the bricks. It took a lot longer than we expected to paint all those lines!

This corner is going to be a magnetic chalkboard. That is one of the projects we still have left to do in Ryleigh's room. We are hoping to get it done this week.

This is the happy princess in her new room. We were able to get her bed moved in Sunday night so that she could sleep in her new room.

More pictures of Ryleigh's room

2009-02-09T21:34:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more pictures of Ryleigh's room.

Best Buds

2009-02-07T08:02:00.003-08:00

Our dog Jersey and Ryleigh are best buds, so it was no surprise when they fell asleep together on the couch!

Starting the room

2009-02-07T07:56:00.001-08:00

This is the start of Ryleigh's room- the blue sky. After this Jeff will paint in the castle. Ryleigh was excited for us to get started on her new room.

Two Weeks and Counting...

2009-02-04T21:41:00.000-08:00

The date has been set- February 18th at noon. That is when the c-section is scheduled for- so by this time in two weeks we will have a new member of our family. We can't wait- we are very excited. Of course, we still have lots to do around the house to get ready- but is one ever truly ready for the big day? We are busy getting Ryleigh's princess room ready- the castle is turning out great. I will post pictures soon of the progress we are making.

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and everything looks good. The baby has decided to move head down to get ready for the big day and I have "dropped" a little. However, the doctor seems confident that I will make it to the 18th. I have another doctor's appointment next Wednesday.

Ryleigh is getting excited about all the baby stuff we are pulling out of the basement. She already has great plans for helping with the baby in the "baby bathtub" and is excited that the baby will be in the carseat right by her! Let's hope that excitement continues after the baby is born! : )

Christmas 2008

2009-01-21T19:37:00.000-08:00

Below is a picture, as promised, of the new bed that Jeff's dad built her. The picture doesn't do the bed justice- it is a beautiful bed. Jeff and I are very jealous!

Here is how excited Ryleigh was about her new bed!

Every Christmas Eve we spread special "Reindeer Food" on our front lawn. The smell of the oats and the sparkle of the confetti lead Santa's reindeer to our house.

And of course we have to leave cookies and milk for Santa!

Ryleigh was the only 5 year old that on Christmas morning at 8 a.m. was still sleeping in her bed!! We had to actually wake her up to come open presents!

We had a great time on Christmas and Christmas Eve. Santa was definitely good to us all! We hope that you and your family had a wonderful Christmas season as well!

Getting Ready For Christmas

2009-01-21T19:09:00.001-08:00

Ryleigh loves Christmas- and loves to help decorate for it. She really loves putting the ornaments on the tree. The good news is that she really likes to help take the decorations back down and put them away!

Ryleigh decorating our big family tree. Below Jeff gave Ryleigh a little help putting the star on top of the tree.

Ryleigh with the finished tree. What a nice job she did!

Ryleigh has her own pink tree in her room that she also decorates. She has several favorite ornaments that she likes to put on it.

Again, nice job decorating Ryleigh!

Ryleigh's 5th Birthday

2009-01-21T18:52:00.000-08:00

A little late with these pictures as Ryleigh turned 5 in December, but thought we would still share them. We can't believe that our little girl is already 5! Where has the time gone?

This is Ryleigh the morning of her birthday listening to her new MP3 player. She was very excited to get it since it was full of Hannah Montana and Taylor Swift songs!

Ryleigh had a Hannah Montana birthday with her friends. This is the guitar cake I made for her party. She had a lot of fun. We had hot dogs, lemonade, and cake; played "Hot Microphone"; opened presents; and had a pinata!

Here is Ryleigh with one of the presents she got- a new Easy Bake Oven. Jeff is so excited for all the cookies and cakes she will be making!

Saturday, January 10th

2009-01-10T14:52:00.000-08:00

Ryleigh, Jersey, and Archie

Jersey and Archie

Today we had to put our beloved cat, Archie down. Archie has been with our family for 16 good years. In the last few weeks he started going downhill and after a visit at the vet today we realized that he was in a lot of pain and it was time. We will miss him greatly. Ryleigh was wondering when we might get to visit him in heaven. She was a pretty good trooper today and did a pretty good job of dealing with death for the first time. Thank you for all your thoughts, prayers, and advice over the last week as we made this decision.

Week 33!!

2009-01-02T12:09:00.000-08:00

I had my latest doctor's appointment on Wednesday, New Year's Eve. Everything is looking good- good enough that my doctor doesn't want to see me back until the end of January. After that appointment we will then go to going every week until the new little one is here. We meet with the doctor at the hospital on the 16th of January to schedule the c-section. We are still hoping for somewhere around the 19th or 20th. The baby is still sitting across instead of up and down- which makes my rib cage a wonderful resting place for those little feet.

Ryleigh is still excited about her new little sibling and is still sure that it is a baby sister. However, when we were out for dinner the other night we were talking about registering for a new diaper bag and using the old one as our hockey bag. Ryleigh remarked, " we don't need a diaper bag for hockey, the baby isn't coming with us, it is staying at home." She didn't think the baby should come with us because it might cry a lot and bother her. Oh, what a fun adventure we will be starting in February!

We bought paint for Ryleigh's room the other night and Jeff will be starting on that project probably this weekend. Ryleigh is excited to have her new room done and move in, especially with her new bed! Ryleigh got a beautiful new bed for Christmas made especially for her by her Grandpa Flesner. We will post pictures of it as well as the rest of Christmas as soon as I get them downloaded to the computer.

28 Weeks!

2008-11-30T20:11:00.000-08:00

This past Friday we hit 28 weeks. I had a check-up at the doctor and everything looked good. The baby is growing like it should and the heartbeat sounded great- although the little one caused the doctor some grief while finding it: just as soon as the doctor would find it and would start counting, the little one would move and he would have to find the heartbeat again. Jeff is concerned that this isn't a good sign : ). My next appointment is at the end of December and at that time we will be scheduling an appointment with the surgeon for early January to talk about the c-section and schedule a date for that in February. It is all starting to go very quickly. Ryleigh is still excited about being a big sister and has even added her ideas to the name list: Sparkles if it is a girl and John if it is a boy. : )

Basement Update 2

2008-11-30T19:29:00.001-08:00

With the help of his dad, Jeff made a ton of progress during November. It is all starting to come together. We might be done before the end of the year!

Getting ready to tile.

Now that Jeff is done with the tile in the bathroom he is working on the hardwood floors in the main room. This went a lot faster than the tile did!

The bathroom is tiled and the sink and toilet have been installed. We just need to get the shower fixtures put in.

This is what will be Jeff's brewery. He should be able to store most of his brewing equipment in the cabinets and the extra large sink will be nice when he has to clean the carboys.

This is the main room. As you can see we still need to install the doors and have some cleaning up to do!

We are almost there! The trim is being put up and then it is a lot of little things here and there to get the room finished: painting the doors and door frames, putting up the blinds, putting the plates on all the light switches and plugs, and some touch up here and there. Jeff is hoping to have it all done by December 7th. We will then move everything down there and hopefully get started on Ryleigh's room. We had hoped to have that done before Christmas, but the basement took a little longer than planned and Jeff is a bit burnt out from doing the basement. We figure as long as it is done by the end of January we are good.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-30T18:10:00.000-08:00

Ryleigh was Tinkerbell for Halloween this year. It was nice that it was so warm that she was able to wear the wings for a little while before needing to put on a sweatshirt.

Ryleigh with the pumpkins before we headed out for Trick-or-Treating. Ryleigh went trick-or-treating at about a dozen houses before calling it quits. She wanted to get back home so she could hand out candy to the other kids!

Close up of our "Eagle's" pumpkin.

Close up of the baby pumpkin and the "moose" pumpkin.

Carving pumpkins

2008-11-30T17:46:00.001-08:00

On Halloween Jeff and Ryleigh set out to carve the 5 pumpkins we got last weekend. It was such a nice day on Halloween that we could do the carving outside!

Jeff and Ryleigh doing the "yicky" part- cleaning out the pumpkins.

Ryleigh working hard on getting one of her pumpkins cleaned out.

Jeff and Ryleigh carving an Eagle's pumpkin.

Ryleigh with the final products. We carved 4 of the pumpkins, including the baby one and then used a set of witch "pumpkin head" pieces on the fifth pumpkin.

Pumpkin Farm

2008-11-30T17:25:00.001-08:00

The weekend before Halloween we headed to a pumpkin farm near us to pick out a couple of pumpkins.

Jeff and Ryleigh are headed out to find the best pumpkins.

Ryleigh seems to have found what she thinks is a great pumpkin! Now if she can just get it to the wagon!

Ryleigh found another pumpkin that she likes. Just how many pumpkins do we need?

Pumpkin Farm, Part 2

2008-11-30T17:12:00.001-08:00

Jeff and Ryleigh looking for yet more pumpkins.

Looks like we found one more. Apparently we had to get one more for the new little one.

Here Ryleigh is with our 5 pumpkins. Hopefully that will be enough! That is a lot of cleaning and carving.

Oh, but wait, Ryleigh has found yet another pumpkin she wants. What do you think Dad?

Looks like Dad won out on this one and Ryleigh decided to put the pumpkin back with its "friends".

Ryleigh asleep

2008-11-30T17:10:00.001-08:00

Ryleigh was so tired the other day that she couldn't make it all the way up the stairs before she fell asleep. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to sleep wherever?

Basement Update

2008-11-30T17:00:00.001-08:00

Jeff made a lot of progress in the basement during the month of September and October. It is starting to actually look like a room and a bathroom.

We hired the neighbor to come over and tape and texture both rooms. It was worth paying someone else to do that part.

This is the paint in the bathroom. Jeff picked it out all by himself! Nice job, Jeff!

Here Jeff is painting the main room. We painted it the same color as the rest of the house.

Brew Day at the Flesners

2008-11-29T21:52:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of October Jeff decided that he needed to brew some more beer. Ryleigh, wanting to hang out with her dad, decided she would help.

As you can see, brewing is VERY hard work!

Ryleigh engaging Jeff in a conversation while the beer is boiling.

Camping in September

2008-11-29T21:30:00.000-08:00

We went camping with some friends for a weekend in September. It was a nice last "hurrah" before parking the camper for the winter. Ryleigh had a blast- she loves to camp and can't wait until we can go again next summer.

Jeff and Ryleigh hanging out around the campfire.

This picture was taken by Ryleigh of me in the camper.

Ryleigh climbing on some rocks near where we were.

The First Pictures of the New Little One

2008-10-21T17:03:00.001-07:00

We went for an ultrasound a couple of weeks ago. Everything looks good- this one was much more cooperative than Ryleigh was during her ultrasound. We even got to see a great shot of the heart with all 4 chambers! We also found out that we are only having one- no twins- and that our dates were off by a couple of days (which helps explain why I measured a little bigger at my last appointment). Ryleigh was able to come along with us but wasn't always really sure what she was suppose to be looking at. She did like the part when you could see the feet moving around a bunch. We didn't find out if it was a boy or a girl- we are waiting to be surprised. Ryleigh is still determined that it is a baby sister, but has said that she can "deal" with a baby brother. We have another check-up next Thursday to see how things are going.

Here is a profile shot. The head is in the upper right hand corner and the butt is towards the bottom-center of the picture.

Another profile of the baby, just a little closer up.

In this picture the baby is looking right at us. You can see the outline of the skull and the hollow area where the eyes are as well as the nose and mouth.

Here is a picture of his/her little foot. Isn't it cute?!?!?!

19 Weeks

2008-09-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

I had another doctor's appointment yesterday. They tested my blood again and found that my blood count didn't make much improvement from June. A blood count of 32-34 is considered anemic- my count in June was 35 and yesterday was only 36. So I now have to take two iron pills instead of one a day. Hopefully this will help me have a little more energy. Otherwise things looked good- the baby's heartbeat was 145 and we have an ultrasound scheduled for next Wednesday. We won't be finding out the sex of the baby, as we want to keep that a surprise, but it will be great to finally get a peek at the little one! We scheduled it so that Ryleigh will be able to go with us. She is very excited to "see" her baby sister (Ryleigh is still determined that she is having a baby sister).

Basement Update

2008-09-28T10:36:00.001-07:00

With the new baby coming we are finishing the basement so that we still have a spare room when people come to visit and Jeff has somewhere to store his brewing materials. A lot of work has already been put in over the summer, but we still have a ways to go. A big thank you goes out to Heather's dad for all the help he gave us this summer. Below are pictures of our progress.

Jeff and Dad spent a morning cutting and removing the cement and the dirt so they could work on the plumbing in the bathroom. It was a giant mess- we still have some cement dust lingering in the air.

Drywall in the bedroom. Notice the crack in the drywall by the ladder- Ryleigh was using this as a "mailbox" and was mailing small piece of scrap wood through it.

Here is a picture of Ryleigh's mail. We left it in the wall and put the drywall over it.

The bathroom floor with a new cement floor.

Big News

2008-09-27T12:06:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that Jeff recently received his diploma from a local community college. After working hard over the last three years he finished up the last of his classes this past summer. He saved the best for last- Calculus, ugh! However, as usually he did great! His degree is an Associate of Arts degree in Liberal Arts with a Business Transfer. Jeff is taking a semester off before starting back at it. He is planning to get his degree in Business Administration. At the next school he can do his entire degree online, which will be really nice. He figures it will take him about 3 years to finish up the program.

1st Day of School

2008-09-22T19:23:00.001-07:00

Ryleigh started her second year of preschool this year (since her birthday is in December she has to wait another year for Kindergarten). Her first day of school was August 18th, so I am a little behind in getting her pictures from that day up. Ryleigh goes five days a week in the mornings. She loves school, but also enjoys hanging out with her dad in the afternoon.

Ryleigh The Baker

2008-09-22T18:57:00.000-07:00

Ryleigh loves to help out in the kitchen. The other day she asked to make sugar cookies, her dad's favorite, so we got out her baking kit and mixed up a batch of cookies.

Ryleigh mixing up some ingredients in the mixer.

Mixing up the dry ingredients.

Rolling out the dough.

Ryleigh was excited about using her cookie cutters!

Here are the cookies before they headed into the oven.

Ryleigh did a great job and made some yummy cookies!

16 Weeks

2008-09-08T16:40:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I hit the 16 week mark. I am feeling much better these days- the "all day" morning sickness has gone away for the most part. I am still struggling with the tiredness though. Some of that has to do with being back at school and working all day, then coming home to a 4 year old that just wants to play, play, play. Our next doctor's visit is scheduled for the 29th of September and at that time we will probably set up the ultrasound visit to get a look at the little one. Ryleigh was able to go with me to the last appointment and hear the baby's heartbeat- she thought it sounded "crazy"!

Steam Engine

2008-08-31T08:33:00.001-07:00

This steam engine train came by not far from our house. Ryleigh really wanted to go see it, so we headed down to the tracks and waited. As you can see we were able to get really close to the tracks. Ryleigh loved it!

Wow! That train is loud!

The American Flag car was Ryleigh's favorite.

The Days of Summer

2008-08-30T20:41:00.000-07:00

The boys cutting firewood while camping.

Ryleigh having a snack while camping.

We also went to see the "Four Heads" (what Ryleigh calls Mount Rushmore) on the Fourth of July. It was hot, but we still had fun. Jeff and Ryleigh take a moment to pose in front of Mount Rushmore.

While in South Dakota, we rode the 1880's train in Hill City. It was one of the things that Ryleigh really wanted to do. She had a great time!

Ryleigh at dance class.

Ryleigh doing the back float at swim lessons.

We had lots of fun this summer. Our 9th Annual BBQ was a success. We had about 45 - 50 people show up and the beer and food went quickly! We are looking forward to the 10th Annual next year! At the BBQ, Ryleigh made the big announcement that she is going to be a big sister in February! The rest of the summer was busy with swimming and dance lessons for Ryleigh, a trip to South Dakota, a camping trip, and lots of work in the basement.