Riley Anne

At 17 months old Riley Loves...

• To be a big sister! She is constantly trying to put Sam's paci in his mouth or help me "burp" him. She tries to pick him up when he is crying and everymorning when we get up she will look at him and say "ssssssssss" and blow him a kiss.
• To play outside. The girl would stay out there all day if I would let her. It is usually a small battle to get her to come inside.
• To help me "cook". She has very quickly learned that her role is to play with the utensils and then lick the spoon.
• To take a bath.
• To sing around the house. I love it when we sing together.
• To play with her magnetic numbers on the fridge. We can even count to three!
• To read! We read books almost everynight, but daily I find her in front of her book case pulling all the books out and looking at the pictures. Right now her favorite books are: "Look at me", "The Cookie Monster", and "Polly Pig" (that one makes sounds)
• Her daddy!! She loves to wrestle and roll around with Ryne. She will jump on top of him and bounce around. Her eyes light up everytime he comes home.
• To ride her bouncy horse. She loves how when she rides really fast, she can scoot the horse across the room!
• People. She is constantly saying hello to everyone. She is so friendly.
• To put on mommy and daddy's shoes.
• To talk on the phone. Of course!
• To close things. She can not stand for something that should be closed (a drawer, a door, etc) to be opened. She has a new tent in her room and at first she would scream and cry because she couldn't stand for the tent to be opened so she would zip it closed, but then she could not get in therefore would cry. It was so cute.

End of the Semester Cookout!

This semester has been quite exciting. This semester Ryne started to fly, our wonderful son was born, and we have even made some new friends! So, our friends Joseph and Kayla had us over for a end of semester celebration, and what better way to do that than some food on the grill. We all had a great time. We finished the night of with lots of conversation and even some rock band and dutch blitz! (my new favorite card game) I can't wait to do it again.

Saying Goodbye

Tonight we had a dinner get together with our friends Josh and Maryanne and their boys and Tommy and Desi. Tommy and Desi are moving and even though we have known for a while, somehow things still seem to sneak up on you. So tonight we grilled, talked, and laughed one last time. It is a little bit weird having them leave because these were the first people we met and became friends with here at LeTourneau. It doesn't seem as if we have been here that long, but then again, this summer we will have been here two years! I am sure we will say many more goodbye's and have even more hello's before we leave Longview, but for now I just want to say. We will miss you guys, and we miss you the very best!

What a Week!

Riley discovered that the fridge magnets stick to her door too!

Sam loves to smile and coo!

I let Riley play outside in the muddy water after some rain early last week. She loved it! She liked to hear the echo in the tunnel and splashing in the water.

This is Sam's sad face.

Mohawk!

My little man looked so handsome at church last week. I just had to share!

We have started attempting to "fix" Riley's hair. (pigtails) She loves to play with all the clips and hair ties!

Riley also loves to put on everyones shoes and try to walk in them.

You know that if my child decided to sleep instead of eating her dinner, she had to be tired!

This past week was overall a good week. With the exception of course that yesterday morning I woke up about 4:30 with my very first kidney stone! (and hopefully my last) My momma wasn't lying when she said they hurt worse than labor pains! However, today I am doing much better. Our good friends Joseph and Kayla came over yesterday. Kayla watched the kids while Ryne and I were at the ER and when we got home Joseph and Ryne studied and worked on homework all day. Thank you SO much for watching my kids yesterday Kayla! You're the best!

Samuel and Riley

So much has happened these past couple of months. There is no way that I can hit all of them but here are some pictures from the last couple of months and some things that have happened!

• We celebrated our first Valentines day as a family of four. (Neither one of the kids wanted to take valentines day pictures)
• Samuel had his 1 month (left side of bear) and his 2 month (right side of bear) birthday! He is now 14.6 lbs and is growing so fast!
• Leah came to see me and we went to see a Newsboys concert with my friends Kayla and Angie. We had such a good time! Thanks for coming to see me Leah!
• Riley discovered markers
• Riley had her very first haircut. She did a great job and I just love going to the Pink Salon!
• We flew to Phoenix to visit Grandma and Grandpa Scott and Grandma Washburn. That was after we missed our flight, right in the middle of everyone's spring break! The picture of the kids in their jammies is us at 3:30 in the morning trying to catch a flight on stand by. Despite the rough beginning, we had a great time! Thanks to Ryne's parents for letting us be a part of that trip.
• Oh!! I almost forgot, in Phoenix I (Rebekah) was the gold champion winner at horseshoes, shuffleboard, and the overall Gold champion at the Bergren Family Olympics!!!
• We got to visit G-ma Anne in Detroit where the boy cousins, Aunt Della, Uncle Jeff, and Aunt B, got to meet Sam for the first time.
• Riley and I (and Sam and Kayla and Ang) went to the first, of hopefully many, Canton Trade Days!! We all had such a good time.
• RYNE HAD HIS FIRST SOLO FLIGHT!! He did such a good job and is almost done with completing the course for his Privates Pilots Liscense.
• Ryne has started and almost completed his application for the Marines. If all goes well, he will go to Officers Canidate School this summer.
• We got to go to GG and GGP's new house in Atlanta for Good Friday. Samuel got to meet them and Aunt Debbie, Uncle Jimmy, and Jamie, all for the first time. I am so happy for GG and GGP and their new home. We loved it and are looking forward to creating many new memories in that home.
• Oh and did I mention that the night we got there we all spent about the first hour in the hallway due to a tornado?
• We got to celebrate our first Easter as a family of four. It was the first Easter that I haven't spent with my mom, dad and sisters. It was bitter sweet. I missed my Dad's Easter Sunday Service, but it was so wonderful to be able to worship with our new church family here in Longview. The kids hunted Easter eggs inside due to the rain. All the kids love Riley, but Isaac, a little boy at church, always is so kind. He went around helping Riley collect eggs and then gave her all the eggs that he had in his hat. It was so sweet and such a good example of giving to others. (we will have better pictures of the kids in there Easter outfits soon, hopefully)

Well, things have been good here. It was extremely hectic at first but I am finally starting to get the hang of having two little ones here at the house. Riley is a wonderful big sister. Anytime that she hears Sam crying, she either tries to burp him (by "hitting him" just like mommy) or bring hime a paci, or a bottle or even a burp rag when he spits up. Every morning when we walk past Sam in his crib, she reaches out to kiss him and we tell him hello. I love how much she loves him already. I know that they are going to be the best of friends.