First Post

Well, after dragging my feet forever in starting a blog, I've finally given in. I love to read blogs when I have a spare moment, so perhaps now I will use spare moments to report on our family-Rylan in particular. We do have family near and far that it would be nice to update about in this format. So here goes!

Life has been pretty hectic in the Dudley household. Shaun had a temporary schedule change which has turned our lives upside down. Instead of being off on Valentine's Day he was working nights. I HATE it when he is on nights. I don't sleep well, even if I stay up until wee hours of the night reading or watching tv. He did make up for not being around by sending these to school on Friday:

Awesome, huh? The secretaries told me that Shaun won for the coolest arrangement. I was proud of him and LOVE them. Although one of the stems snapped when I was showing them to my students (I taped it up to take them home!) and that flower did not last through the night. Oops. We exchanged some other gifts as well that afternoon. The biggest non-Valentine's gift was the new Wii that magically ended up in Shaun's cart last week at Wal-Mart. The above mentioned schedule change means we haven't played with it much, but I'm sure it will be put to good use.

School has kept me busy. Only three weeks until PAWS testing starts, which means we are cramming everything in that we can. I bet right now my students hear the word "PAWS" about ten times daily. And I'm sure that every time they hear it they want to scream. This week, though, they are looking forward to a visit from a dancer (in a workshop format that they participate in), the UW Science Posse coming up for a full day of Science fun and two days of a project with our Kindergarten buddies. So relax, mom, there will be fun happening in our classroom this week. Oh, and I found out today that I get to go to a conference on Professional Learning Communities in Denver in July. I can't tell you much about the topic but I sure am excited to be getting out and learning about my profession more!

Rylan is....well, I don't want to start out a blog lying, so the truth of the matter is that she is exhausting. She is curious about everything and always on the go, ready to destroy whatever she can get her little hands on. She can now climb the stairs quite proficiently and is good at using her hand to say "come" when you get to the stairs and tell her to come down. Maybe that's our fault for once in a while joining her so she can go all the way up. Yes, we should pick out a gate. I just keep thinking she will eventually listen and not go for them over and over! Rylan also enjoys tearing apart the towel drawer and Tupperware cupboard in the kitchen. This battle I do not fight. If it means cooking dinner or keeping a clean kitchen I choose dinner. And if she is busy I can get something done! She is not quite walking but has taken a few steps here and there. She could do it if she wanted but chooses to crawl quickly instead. I think instead of blabbing I will just add some recent pics to show you what she has been doing. Shaun is the photographer in this family, so I am going to have to count on him to take some here and there!

Gotta love the tongue sticking out while she attempts to play piano!

See that adorable look? Wouldn't you let her climb the stairs, too?

I do not like this face she makes. If she knew what she looked like she would quit, I'm sure.

This has got to be one of my fav pics ever of Ry baby. Shaun said she picked up the R block all on her own. What a brilliant child we have!

She figured out how to do this on her own also. We have a dare devil on our hands! I think she is a bit like her Auntie Echo!

Showing off her Valentine's presents from Me-ma and De-da. In her right hand is a cookie in a tin and in the left is a box of sweethearts. Totally appropriate for an 11-month old! She did get to sample the cookie after lunch.

Rylan's Valentine's present from us was a Fridge Farm. She hasn't exactly figured out how to work it, but it's another thing to occupy her while we are in the kitchen!

After church and a carry-in dinner afterwards, Rylan was pooped. She laid like this for a good ten minutes while I changed clothes and brought all our stuff in.

So I think we're off to a good start here, right?? Now we will see how long it takes before I take time to post again. It might be a while before there is anything new to report! Stay tuned!