What we've been doing...

This past week Riley has been at my Mom's house. These pictures are a little out of order, but I thought I would share some of the things that have been going on around here.
Here are some pictures of Riley and Samuels Bedroom. We still have a few things to do. We need to hang the border and we are getting a new crib some time this next week. I'm not quite sure yet if it will be Riley's or Samuel's though. In our apartment we can't paint or put up any type of wallpaper so we were trying to get a little creative with putting some color on the wall. We will hang the border in a way that we don't break any rules there either.

This is our new toy area! I love the buckets and the colors worked perfectly with our bedding. It didn't take Riley long to figure out how to drag things out. Now we just need to perfect the putting back in! I have a feeling that will take much longer :)


Here is our bedding. It is Alphabet Soup by CoCaLo. I LOVE it. The colors are great. This will be Sam's crib once he gets here unless I decide to let him have the new one. We will see.

This is our reading and rocking chair area. I put all of the books that are harder for Riley to destroy on the bottom shelf. You can't see, but right behind this area will be the other crib. It kind of makes a little sleeping area which is nice because it divides the room into sleep/play. Samuel will just have to learn how to sleep with big sister playing on the other side of the room and hopefully Riley will learn quickly how to sleep through little brother at night.

Here are Riley and Samuel's letters! My mom and I had such a great time painting them. It was hard for me not to put polka-dots on all the letters. I really wanted to put some on Sam's but I knew that daddy wouldn't like the "girly" letters for his son :) So we stuck with simple for Samuel.

Here is Riley pulling books off the shelf. She loves to look at books.

While my mom had Riley, Ryne and I were able to go out on a date. It was wonderful to get a little one-on-one time with Ryne before the baby gets here and our family of 3 becomes a family of 4! I am not particularly fond of this picture, but I figure that one day I will want to look back at this time in my life. Whew, Sam better come quick.

Mom, thanks again for helping me get some things done around here and for taking Riley to Clifton. She really enjoyed getting to visit with yall and the Bergren's. However, it sure was nice to have Riley home with us tonight. Riley was full of smiles and giggles when Ryne got home from class today. Maybe she missed us too!

MLK Flashback

It is hard to believe that just a year ago Riley was small enough to fit into this wooden cradle.

Wow! Look how much we have all changed

Me and my sisters! In one year so much has happened with each of us...

I was looking for pictures of Riley in this outfit and ran across this picture. I just love this picture of Riley and her Grandpa. That is the outfit that Sam will wear home from the hospital. I can't wait to have a picture of Grandpa and Sam in this outfit.

-Tonight I was looking through some old pictures on the computer and ran across some from MLK weekend 2008. It was really neat to think back to that time and what was going on. That weekend Hannah Bergren and Leah were playing at a Jazz Jubilee fundraiser. Hannah Blanton was serving and G-ma Anne even came down for the event. Sarah and her (then) boyfriend Mike (now fiance :) came, and The Bergrens and the Blantons all went to the fundraiser. Mr. Lee danced with my grandmother and apparently on one spin, well, she just kept spinning and almost ran into the band! That night Ryne, Riley, and I all took Caitlin out. I remember because we ate at TGIFridays in Waco. I never could have guessed that a year later we would anxiously be awaiting the birth of our son or that it would be months away from a wedding. I new that my sister Hannah would be graduating this year and that Leah would be a junior, but for some reason the fact that this year Leah will go to her first prom and the fact that Hannah will be going to college soon, just snuck up on me. I'm glad that I don't know exactly what the future holds, because the journey of getting there and finding out is much better. Ryne and I have been so blessed and loved on more than we ever could have imagined. I'm glad that I ran across these pictures from almost a year ago. I can't imagine what this time next year will hold!

Exciting Day

This is the only picture I could snag before Ryne left to go FLY!! That right! Today Ryne headed out to the airport for his first flight block. He (and his flight instructor) flew for 1.3 hours today. Ryne was so excited. He did everything by himself until about 100 ft from landing. Apparently there was a great deal of turbulance or something and his flight instructor landed. He got to talk on the radio to the tower and to other pilots and such. (btw, it is very possible that some of these details are just a little off. I am trying to learn all of this "pilot" talk really fast but most of it just flies right over my head haha)
Hopefully I will get some actual pictures of him out at the airport but it may be a few weeks.
-I am so happy for you Ryne. You have been working so hard. It is crazy to imagine that in just a few short months you will have your Private's Pilots Liscense!

Wow...

These past few months have just flown by. I remember anxiously awaiting Thanksgiving and the next thing I knew, Christmas and New Years had past by too. The longer I go without blogging the guiltier I feel about not writing certain things or posting certain pictures. Right now there is just so much that is going on in our lives it doesnt take long to get behind. However, I am going to attempt write down some of my thoughts about the past few months....
Thanksgiving was wonderful! I LOVE crowded houses, full of people that love each other and 20 different conversations going on all at the same time. I love listening to all of the younger cousins squeal and giggle as they play together and the sound of the adults saying "stay out of the kitchen!" This Thanksgiving was the first time in many years that my father and all of his siblings were together for a holiday. There are so many things that I am thankful for too. I am so thankful for my family: immediate and extended. I am thankful for my wonderful husband and daughter and that next year at Thanksgiving we will be a family of four. I am thankful for LeTourneau. I can't imagine us being anywhere but here right now. I am thankful for so many other things, but I thought I would start with that.
December came and went just as fast as November. I have especially enjoyed getting to create new Christmas traditions with Ryne as well as learning about traditions that we each had growing up. We enjoyed the time that we were able to spend with family over the Chistmas break and we missed and thought about those that we didnt get to see. This Christmas break I took a class to get in some extra hours, so in comnination with that and the fact that I am VERY pregnant, we didn't get to see everyone, but hopefully we will see everyone soon once Samuel is born. Overall, our Christmas was wonderful. I thought about Mary a great deal over the Christmas season and about how she must have felt giving birth to the King of Kings. Someone that I work with commented on how I was a perfect picture of what "great with child" was and it gave me a whole new perspective on how Mary might of felt traveling on the back of a donkey when she was so close to giving birth. Anyways, just some of my rambling thoughts...
So, I have tried to get atleast a little caught up, for now. I will hopefully have some baby updates of both Riley and Samuel soon.

Miss Riley Anne turned 1

I know that I am very late, but Riley turned 1 on December 12th! My wonderful friend Maryanne took some pictures of her in her birthday outfit. I am having some technical difficulties getting them up, but I will post more "tutu" pics as soon as I can.
Riley,
It is hard to believe that you are already 1 year old! It has been amazing to watch you grow and learn so fast. You are slowly getting the hang of walking. Even though you can, you prefer to crawl for now. You are still a good eater and an even better sleeper. You are loved by so many people. You are so very special. It is hard to believe that not to long from now, you will also become a big sister! We love you VERY much.
-Mom and Dad

December/Christmas 2008 in Pictures

Thanksgiving 2008 in Pictures