Dudley Happenings

Long time coming

2010-05-31T23:01:00.000-06:00

It's hard to believe how long it has been since I took time to post any kind of news. I think about it but obviously never get anything done. So here is what we've been up to in the Dudley household!

Rylan Roo turned two March 13th! I don't know where time went. Here she is showing off her new trike from Mommy and Daddy.

Rylan's party was butterfly/flower themed, so Mema made her these cookies and we all helped decorate. I hate decorating sugar cookies. I mean HATE. And now you know how much I love my little girl!

This year Rylan was really into opening presents-she thought everything she opened was just incredible!

Also in this pic you can see the newly opened kitchen. We love the feel of a big open area between the dining room and kitchen. Great job, Shaun!

She wasn't quite sure what to think of everyone singing to her!

One of her fav new toys is a coffee pot from Auntie Daunee' and Uncle Damion. It is stored out of sight so we don't go crazy listening to her ask for it. She makes a huge mess when she plays!

Rylan went to her first big Easter Egg Hunt in Sheridan. A local church sponsors the Hunt in the city park and it's awesome-different areas for various ages, the Easter Bunny and fantastic Christian rock music blaring. It was fun to run into my friend Michelle from High School/College there! Daunee' is "helping" Lucas gather eggs in this shot!

Another fun activity for Rylan was decorating eggs with Nana Carmen. She really got into it this year!

Checking out her Easter basket after a good dunk in the bath.

Aiden, Ella, Lucas and Rylan in their coordinating Easter outfits. We keep Children's Place in business!

Rylan adores, I mean ADORES her cousin Lucas. She asks to see him about five times a day and prays for him during bedtime prayers at least ten times. You can see why, right?

At this point, Rylan was over cameras being pointed at her. What a turd!

Echo, Daunee' and I

Rylan digging through the eggs with Auntie Echo after a hunt in Daunee's back yard.

I love these people. They're my favorite parents EVER.

And sadly enough, that concludes the pictures we've taken this spring. Well, there are tons more of the above events, but not one shot since then! Needless to say, I got slightly overwhelmed with my last six weeks of college classes. I even had to resort to taking a day off of work to finish projects. Bleh. I've finished 12 credits of 30 required, and I'm praying the remaining classes aren't quite as time consuming. I have the most amazing husband in the world, though, because he never once complained about the time I spent wrapped up in homework. And he picked up my slack in all household areas. He is so wonderful.

I had an opportunity to go to Women of Faith in Billings right after Easter with my friend Jody. We had a great time but I missed being there with my sister, mom and aunts. At the end of April Shaun, Dad, Daunee', Damion and I had the chance to see Kutless in Sheridan. They are probably one of my favorite Christian bands ever. They do the best shows and their music always speaks to me. Their acoustic set was fantastic. I just want to be back there again! We have the best Daddy who raised us to LOVE loud music-and it was he that led us as far to the front as we could manage. And he still jumps up and down and pumps his fist and screams the lyrics. He's that cool! Mom was back at the Kennedy's house, watching Ry and Lucas. She was just as worn out as we were!

Two weeks after Kutless we went to Rapid with Tucker and his girlfriend to see Skillet for the third time in ten months. Are we freaks? Yes. But the concert was worth it. We saw Red for the first time that night and they put on a great show. The best part by far, though, was the seven year old boy sitting next to me who knew all about Skillet and taught me about "acostic" (long o) guitars.

May brought the end of classes for me, the beginning of numerous projects for Shaun and peace for Rylan. She is most content when she is outside playing. Shaun was able to build a new fence with her in tow and Titus now has his own area of the yard. We are hoping to bring grass back so Rylan can really enjoy the backyard. This weekend she got a new sand table and she loves it.

She finally had her 2-year-old check-up this month and all is well. At least then it was! During April she had pink eye, the flu and a nasty cold/cough. Yuck! Anyway, at her check-up she was 34 inches tall and 28.6 pounds. That's 45th percentile for both. Two weeks after her check-up she is on meds for a case of tonsillitis. The fun just never ends for her!

I have three days of school left---woohoo! They are doing lots of work at school this summer, so I hand in my keys on Thursday and don't get them back until August. That breaks my heart. But not really.

It looks like a small group of us from school along with a friend from church will be getting together to do a bible study over the summer. I am excited and nervous about this opportunity. I actually had the privilege of leading a close friend at school to the Lord this month. It ranks right next to getting married and having a child as one of the most memorable moments of my life. Anyway, pray that I follow God's leading in what I say to my friend and for the study we all do together.

I'm teaching summer school in July but it shouldn't be too bad. I'll be in 2nd grade with my buddy Charity which actually could spell trouble. We shall see!

Plans for June include a trip to the Renaissance Fair in CO next week with my sisters, Mom, Carm and kids, Tennessee in two weeks, and hopefully a stay in IA with the Nebelsick clan. I can't wait! Hopefully we will take some pictures and I will update more about our fun times!

A Small Update

2010-03-10T22:51:00.002-07:00

I thought I should take a moment and update before the crazy weekend gets here. We're about to celebrate Rylan's 2nd birthday and planning a weekend of festivities with family and friends. Fun, but time consuming to think everything through for a party!

Our little girl is turning into a big girl very quickly. We've noticed a lot of small changes in Rylan lately that add up to lots of fun! First, she is a bit more, um...let's say...controlled now. She doesn't spend as much time dumping toys and being a tornado as she used to, focusing more on one thing. Her words, once just one or two at a time, suddenly come out in sentences. Sometimes it takes a minute to understand, but most of the time we get the idea. She is more into reading her books, though when she does she speaks another language! She is fairly proficient at dressing herself now and even wants to pick out her own clothes. We are on day three of no pacifier at bedtime or during car rides and so far, so good! I could go on and on about all of her changes but that would make this post a lot longer than it needs to be.

Rylan Renee's birthday is on Saturday. She recently found a party hat from last year and has been wearing it around the house declaring, "My Happy!" I've been doing lots of talking about her birthday, and she will finally say "My Happy Day." I think she's going to have a ball this weekend.

Life other than that continues to chug along. I'm on Spring Break from classes, thank goodness. I'm looking forward to them being done. It's officially state testing time at school, and who knew that even though I left the classroom I would still be stuck testing. Bleh. I'm filling in for a 3rd grade teacher who is on maternity leave. Leaving the Library is a pain, but I did get a chance to finish a book for one of my classes, so I guess that's good.

Shaun knocked a wall down in our kitchen, so I'll have to snap some pics of it when he is done. He has a deadline of Saturday! What a hard worker he is. Anyway, I'm catching up on some movie watching while Shaun works nights, so I'll add my pictures and be done for now.

Modeling the hat from last year's birthday

Wearing a hat from her her other coat-a true goofy grape!

Kind of a blurry shot, but I still like it-mostly because of Ry's cute pose!

An odd pic to add, I know. Last week I was listening to Tenth Avenue North's newest song on their website. Rylan came over and saw the middle guy and said, "Tu-ter!" (Tucker, our friend across the street who is still working in CO and hasn't been home for a long time). She blabbered on and on to the screen like it was really him, then kissed the screen and told him good night. It was hilarious!! And I think crazy-she truly hadn't seen him for six-seven weeks when it happened.

The outfit Ry helped pick out today. What a cutie!

I've been experimenting with straightening her hair. Probably sounds crazy, but it's fun to see how long her hair is without all of the curl!

Stay tuned for a birthday post soon!

We're still here...

2010-02-20T22:42:00.000-07:00

Yep, you read right. We do still exist. To say that life has been a little bit crazy would be underestimating things a bit. They started getting crazy when we left on our cruise. It was an amazing time and we had a blast! I have many more pics on Facebook, but these are my favs.

We're still in a winding line to actually enter the ship here. It was soooooo cold in Miami. I didn't get warm until Friday when we were in Mexico.

The cruise ship from the tender to Grand Cayman. This was the day of the earthquake in Haiti. Apparently there were tsunami warnings for the ship that we never knew about (Mom overheard staff talking about it).

Our last dinner on the ship. The dinners each night were probably one of my favorite parts. I loved getting to pick whatever I wanted off the menu and have it brought right to me every night! The best was a strawberry bisque. To. Die. For. Seriously.

And when we came home, life just went back into full swing. We were so glad to see Rylan again. I don't think I'll ever be able to leave her again for that long. Our internet bill from the ship was pretty hefty, as Betty Jo was awesome about e-mailing me and keeping me updated about all things Rylan.

I started another two classes for my endorsement in Library Media, and that is the reason life feels crazy right now. They take an obscene amount of my time and energy each week. I've struggled each week with feeling like I can't do it anymore and wanting to tell my teachers off. Everyone needs a Shaun in their life-he took over most of the household stuff while I got myself settled and in a routine of homework and reading. He's awesome. On his 35th birthday we went to Rapid to celebrate Aiden's 4th birthday(two days later) at Chucky Cheese's. Aiden has been doing pretty awesome lately. Lots less seizures and falls. He got into the Children's Center, which is totally exciting. They'll be working with him on some skills that have fallen away. They also just got a referral to do more testing down at Denver Children's Hospital. Your prayers in that area are always appreciated!

Rylan and Aiden on some kind of game. I don't think it's as cool as it was back when we were kids and it was Showbiz Pizza!

We started potty training Rylan. It was either that or work on giving up the pacifier. The latter scares me, so potty training it was! Most days she does pretty well at telling you she needs to go. She's mastered the art of taking her clothes on and off (and majority of the time she prefers them off)! She's also talking a ton. If you know her lingo it's pretty easy to understand. Today we played "puppy." She wanted me on all fours and then to ride around on my back. I kept telling her I was a pony, but puppy worked better for her! Oh, she got a cat! A one-year-old rag doll who is pretty awesome. Rylan named her Zoey and she LOVES her. It's one of the first things out of her mouth when she wakes up or when we get home from somewhere. Life with Rylan is never dull. We're starting to plan her (gasp!) 2nd Birthday party. It's just three weeks away. How can that be??

One of her favorite things to do still-play the piano.

Really, it's not right that she's getting so old. And so adorable.

I haven't been very good at reading blogs lately, since all I ever seem to do is homework, but tomorrow looks like a good day to catch up. We found out yesterday that Ry has RSV, so we're quarantined and won't make it to church. She's acting fine-just has a cough and major runny nose. Like I said, never a dull moment around here. I should quit rambling and post this thing already, or it might be another five weeks before I get it up!

We're out of here!

2010-01-06T23:05:00.000-07:00

My love and I are madly dashing about making last minute preparations for our cruise. Rylan will be in the very capable hands of some dear Aunties but I am so going to miss her!! Maybe once I'm on the ship I'll relax and quit worrying about how things will go while we're away....

Love this song right now-it speaks to Shaun and I at this time! See you in a couple of weeks!

Christmas in Pictures

2009-12-30T21:25:00.000-07:00

Once again, I'll let the pics do the talking. We had an enjoyable, fairly quiet Christmas. I LOVE that we get to do Christmas at home and then journey over a block and open presents with my family!

Christmas Day, we woke to new snow on the ground.

Aiden opening a present with Mema and Papa

Echo holding Baby Lucas, Paul and Aiden

Shaun got a new camera from Rylan to replace the one that died in April. We've been using the "big" camera since and he was dying for a new one for the cruise. I told him no! Ha. Here he is playing with the black and white action and caught Ella with her tongue out-just like her Mommy does!

Rylan wanted to help pass out presents-and thought they should all be for her! She got the table and chairs from her Mema and Papa!

Damion and an unhappy Baby Lucas-he's very quiet until he's mad!

Aiden had his helmet off for a bit-so Rylan thought she should try it on!

After Christmas at Mom and Dad's we came home for naps and Ry got to play with her new kitchen. She loves it!

I love to cuddle with a sleeping baby-it's the best!!

After Christmas dinner we played Bingo. Ry can spy a camera any time it's pointed toward her!

A semi-cute picture if we didn't look so exhausted.

The day after Christmas, the wind made 5 inches of snow feel like much more. Shaun borrowed the snow blower from Tucker's house since he's not home to use it. Thanks, T!

Out and about running errands in town

Getting to enjoy her favorite treat-blueberries!

I am thrilled that we are leaving for Minnesota tomorrow! Mom and Dad changed their travel plans so that Rylan and I can make it to our friend Lexi's wedding. Her older sister and my oldest friend, Andrea, is home from South Korea. I don't think I've seen her since before I was pregnant--so I'm excited to see her and introduce her to Rylan. It is going to be frigid-but I've packed us warm clothes and I'll get to break in my new Uggs-my present from Rylan and Shaun! It will also be a quick trip, as we will head to southern Minnesota after the wedding to see my Great-Grandpa and wish him a Happy Birthday then get back home for work on Monday. Grandpa Ringen will be 99 on January 4th! Stay tuned for pics of the coming adventure!!

December Stuff

2009-12-23T00:14:00.000-07:00

I can't even believe that I haven't posted a thing this month. Instead of lots of stories, I think I will post through pics, though there aren't many to choose from. We've been doing what I'm sure you are doing-making Christmas goodies, shopping and wrapping presents, going to Christmas parties and spending time with family!

I had my first Great Northern Book Fair December 3rd. It was the most successful one Conestoga has hosted! We had live music, hot drinks and yummy treats, and my boss read aloud Polar Express and had his train on display. I got over $500 in books for free off my commission!

I think my mom is laughing at something one of my friends-who were very helpful throughout the evening-must have been telling her.

I think Shaun took this photo on one of his many days at home with Rylan. Rare is the occasion that Titus gets to be in the dining room, so I think he's trying to be on his best behavior!

A couple of weeks ago Ry and Ella wore the same dresses that Mema got them to church. Rylan wasn't digging having her pic taken.

When we got home Shaun took a few more shots so we could get a Christmas picture ready to mail out. We opted not to do a family photo this year-too little time to get in anywhere.

Today I got to have my "cruise do" done. It had been over 14 weeks since I had been in for a color or cut so I was in sad shape. I almost had a meltdown last week when Tucker, who was in town for a wedding, texted me and said that my hairdresser was no longer at the place we thought she was. I was almost in tears-she's done my hair for almost six years and I don't know that I could trust anyone else. Shaun tracked her down at her new place, though, thank goodness! Anyway, I asked her to give me something fun and new for the big vaca-and I'm thrilled with the result. Although I don't know that I'll be able to duplicate all of the curls done with a straight iron!

That concludes this post. Stay tuned for more pics and what not after Christmas!

Oh, Echo created a Caring Bridge website for Aiden. She puts all the latest info and updates there.

Visit Aiden’s website http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/aidendowney
When you visit you’ll be asked to log in and enter the
website password, because I’ve chosen to keep the site private.
Website Password: aidendowney

May you remember the Reason for the Season this week!

Super Spiderman Lucas and other Thanksgiving garble

2009-11-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

This year for Thanksgiving, our family kept things pretty quiet. Shaun had to go back to work on the Wednesday before the big day. I was soooooo sad about that and I think I kept a hold of my sadness throughout the long weekend. In spite of my mood, though, Rylan and I loaded up the vehicle Wednesday night and once Dad was ready we headed to Sheridan.

Thursday was really very nice. Mom and I spent the morning getting food ready, and Daunee' helped as well. Dad had the very hard task of holding Lucas. So far, he's keeping his Mommy's work schedule of being up at night and sleeping during the day. We had a nice afternoon meal and then all took long naps.

That evening Echo, Paul and the kids came over. We kept things pretty quiet again in the evening, eating leftovers and lots of yummy pies.

Friday we all hung out at the house again. Echo and Paul did Black Friday shopping and then all of the guys went out to check out the guy stores (Home Depot, Shiptons, etc). This is the first year in many that I did not go out. We're so focused on the cruise in January that we're scaling back our Christmas shopping. It's so sad. I love to be out in the crowds and watch how crazy people will act. Oh well, there's always next year!

Friday afternoon, Rylan and I left the Kennedy's house for the first time since arriving to go to the Downtown Stroll. I LOVE downtown Sheridan. Most of the shops were open and there were several vendors offering free treats. We had chili, hot dogs and hot chocolate. It was a fun evening but tainted with Aiden having several small seizures. He fell in the street, then couldn't even eat his hot dog because he was having so many. It made for a sad close to our night out.

Paul and Echo left very early on Saturday morning to get Aiden back to the hospital for blood work. They will be looking to see if the medicine is damaging his liver then decide whether or not to add more medicine. I plead with you to continue praying for him and for the doctors to get his meds figured out. He gets so frustrated when a small seizure causes him to lose his train of thought or drop things.

In his good moments, though, he is as funny as ever. He calls Lucas "Super Spiderman Baby Lucas" and tells us that he is going to baby-sit him and play hide-and-seek. Too hilarious. Rylan wasn't too interested in the new baby, but she did tell him to "Shhhh" every time he started to cry!

Rylan and I headed home Saturday morning and have messed a bit with Christmas decorations ever since. She is totally into helping with everything and unpacking the tubs of decor. "Here, Mommy," she declares over and over as she brings me something to set out. Her work is too fast for me to keep up with! My family said several times that she's like a little adult. I never think about that, but I guess that will happen when you have an only child being raised by two firstborns. We probably expect too much out of her already.

I was moved to tears when I was unpacking the Nativity Set and telling her about why we celebrate Christmas. The weight of our task in rearing a child and teaching her why we celebrate Christmas seems pretty heavy. I showed her Baby Jesus ("Baby Geez" in Ry-speak), showed her His manger and told her it was His bed. Now anytime she walks by the Nativity Set she says, "Shhhh!" The girl makes me laugh. Anyway, here are some pics of our weekend. Hope your Holiday Prep is off to a fabulous start...and may you remember the Reason for the Season...the birth of our Savior!

Rylan wasn't sure what to think of her chair being packed to go!

Sweet Baby Lucas-he is a very quiet baby. See the new Kennedy Blog for more adorable pics!

Rylan trying to get her pic done like her new cousin

Papa, Ry and Lucas

Can you spy Rylan? She was playing hide-and-seek!

Maybe a little risque-but I couldn't resist sharing. Buck naked except for the adorable boots!

Auntie Z and her favorite nephews

Aiden, Ry and Ella all trying to squish in for a pic

Auntie Nee' and Ry

Daunee' and precious Lucas

Ella drinking her hot chocolate at the Downtown Stroll

Mema, Aiden and Echo

Mema helping Ry with her first taste of hot chocolate

Thank You Lord, for families to spend a Holiday with when my honey is hard at work!

Lucas Jeffrey

2009-11-24T23:28:00.000-07:00

Last Friday morning, Echo and I got to drive together to Sheridan to await the arrival of our new nephew. We knew we were having a nephew and that he was going to be big, but we didn't know how long we would have to wait for him!

Daunee' started the induction process at 5 p.m. on Thursday and was pretty heartbroken about having to do it. She so wanted to go naturally, but the due date came and went and her midwife was pretty nervous about the size of the baby. By the time we got to town Friday morning, nothing much was happening; and that was the case for the entire day!

I wish I had taken a picture of our family in the middle of the night Friday. Mom was stretched out on a loveseat and Echo and Dad were curled up in small chairs. Daunee' was only supposed to have 3 passes for guests, but in light of the fact that she is a nurse at the hospital and it was so late, no one cared that we were around. We took turns going to check in on her. She had an epidural so she was in pretty good spirits. At 3:40 a.m. Mom came to wake us up and told us Daunee' had been pushing for about 30 minutes. So we ventured off to finally meet our precious new package!

Mom, still smiling despite having little sleep!

Echo, on the other hand, could have killed me for taking a pic!

After three hours of pushing, we finally had a baby! Lucas Jeffrey was born at 6:14 a.m. He weighed 9 lbs. 4 oz. and was 21 3/4" long! Everyone was right about him being big, but all the nurses who bet Daunee' would have a c-section were wrong! Great work, Daunee'!

Lucas Jeffrey getting his first loves from Mema Wilson.

The nurses were so great-they held up Lucas for all of the flashing camera lights.

I'm not sure if you can tell, but Damion is thrilled to be a Father for the first time.

Damion's kind of a poop, though. He never wants to cuddle and kiss his nieces and nephews, but he announced how much fun it was to have a son to smooch!

I love this pic...Dad didn't leave Daunee's side until he knew she was all clear and the doctor had finished with her. But he is clearly staring intently at what is going on with Lucas across the room.

'Nae Rabbit was totally exhausted, but thrilled to meet her baby boy. She's going to be a fantastic mom!

Dad getting a peek at Lucas up close.

Once all the excitement died down, we left Daunee' and Damion alone and went for breakfast, then back to their place to take naps. I was thrilled that I got to sneak back in before I left town that afternoon to see and hold Baby Lucas for the first time. He is so heavy already! I'm pretty positive he'll be twice Rylan's size by the time he's a month old.

Already sporting a Harley hat and totally content!

It was a blessing to be together as a family for the arrival of our new miracle. Lucas' arrival came at a time when we have all been on edge with Aiden and his seizures. It was a diversion we all needed. Would you please keep praying for my favorite oldest nephew, though?? He continues to have small seizures (sometimes as many as 15 in 25 minutes), and so far the doctors just want to keep increasing his meds. Along with that, Echo and Paul got a letter from the insurance company stating that Aiden's stay at St. Luke's in Denver was not necessary and thus they wouldn't be paying. That is a battle they really don't need to fight right now. We know and understand that God is sovereign and that He will work all together for His glory. It's hard in the midst of the pain, though, to know how or when it will be all worked out.

Family is precious to me right now. I pray that in this season of giving thanks it is meaningful for you, too. Shaun goes back on days tomorrow so we won't get to spend Thanksgiving with him. That breaks my heart. We had a small dinner last night to make up for it but we'll still miss him! I hope that yours is full of fabulous food and great company!

Oh, and congratulations to my best friend Elizabeth, who welcomed her own Baby Lucas today! Now to figure out how Rylan will keep the new babies straight...

Finally Some Answers!

2009-11-07T20:16:00.002-07:00

Aiden's EEG shows he's susceptible to seizures. It's common for them to come on suddenly and close together. He'll most likely grow out of them. He's been having myoclonic & tonic-clonic seizures. Neurologist didn't want to diagnose him but everything says epilepsy. If she picked a type it would be benign myoclonic epilepsy. He's going to take Depakote 3x a day & if there are no more in 2 years he'll be done. He'll have to do blood tests to check for side effects but that will be better than the mood he was in from Keppra. He'll be limited in climbing without someone to catch him & riding bike only with a helmet but only for a couple months. Otherwise no limitations! He is out of the PICU also and won't be headed back. They're going to discharge him tomorrow but they will stay in Denver another night just to make sure all is well.

That's the latest report from Echo. Daunee's Facebook status said that 9 out of 10 children outgrow this type of epilepsy. We're praising God that we have some answers. However, can you imagine keeping up with that kid for the next couple of months?? It might be the best weight loss program ever-because there will be times we'll be running to keep up with him and his daredevil moves!

I think we have all been overwhelmed by the support of people through prayers and kind words. Mom was trying to count states of people that we had praying and I think she came up with 10+. That's amazing. The people I work with have all been awesome, too, which is good since I think I've been a bit out of it since this started happening. It was easy to just go through the motions at school while having Aiden constantly in the back of my mind. Everyone was compassionate and wanting me to keep them updated constantly.

One side effect to all of this that Shaun might appreciate is that I have grown to loathe my phone alerting me of a text. So many were from Echo and of a scary nature that my stomach turns every time it happens now! I might be done with my obsessive T9ing for a while...

Anyway, thanks for keeping our family in your thoughts and prayers! You are all awesome!

Aiden Torq Update

2009-11-06T04:47:00.005-07:00

I really should have said something earlier this week but I suppose I got wrapped up in life at school and home.

Aiden made it through last weekend pretty well. My sis and bro-in-law saw a local Peditrician on Monday who went over the EEG with them. There was nothing to be found, so he said that they needed to make an appointment with a Pediatric Neurologist.

Echo went throuh a time of phone calls not being returned and finding out that there isn't a neurologist in Billings; Denver does have one though. And Aiden, who was put on anti-seisure medicine, seemed a shell of himself but at least wasn't having the seizures.

That all changed Wednesday afternoon, when he had two seizures in a row. The ER increased his dose of Keppra and told Echo and Paul that they shouldn't bring Aiden back unless he had two more in a row. He had one that evening and another one early yesterday morning. Echo finally got a referral from the doctor to get Aiden to the Pediatric Neuraologist in Denver. The appointment is for 2 p.m. today. He had more seizures yesterday and they talked about increasing his medicine again and decided the best thing was to get him to Denver.

Echo and Paul left yesterday afternoon to drive to Fort Collins and stay with Paul's Uncle for the night. About fifteen minutes after arriving, Aiden had a fifteen-minute seizure and they took him by ambulance to the hospital where he was admitted for observation. I woke to text messages from Echo and Mom that he had another small one this morning. They are thinking about giving him valium to stop them until they can get to the appointment this afternoon. Mom said that Aiden didn't want to go to sleep at the hospital. He wanted them to fix him so he could go to Mema's house. He told her yesterday that he is freaking out.

Anyway, this is all really a plea that you keep that little boy, his parents, his extended family and the doctors in your prayers. Mom said something about thinking earlier this week that maybe our family is overreacting and making a big deal about something other people deal with daily. But the fact of the matter is that we don't know why Aiden is having the seizures. I've tried to stay strong this week and shut myself off to tears and been very peaceful that God is in control. I did break down last night, however, after coming home from Mom and Dad's. Shaun had sent me a text that said I needed to get sleep and leave Aiden in the doctor's and God's hands. He meant no harm, but it started me on a rant of what I "need." Why should I get sleep when Aiden can't get rest without his body "freaking out?" That only led to more why, how and what questions. After getting a few hours sleep the peace is back, but the questions remain in the back of my head. Please pray. I will try to update more this weekend when we know seomthing.

UPDATE: As of 9:30 this morning he is getting ready to be transported by chopper to Presbyterian/St. Luke's in Denver and they'll be putting him in the Pediatric ICU. He's getting Dilantin by iv right now. Echo and Paul have to drive to meet him at the hospital. He has had four seizures since 4:30 this morning.

Halloween Week

2009-11-01T07:39:00.009-07:00

This past Tuesday, Rylan, Aiden and Ella were able to do some Trick or Treating at the Conestoga Staff Trick or Treat. We did it last year and Rylan cried through a great deal of it. This year, all decked out as an elephant, she led the pack most of the way and when I asked her what an elephant said she was happy to oblige and demonstrate her noise!

I was thrilled that she kept the costume on so well-especially the head piece since she won't wear a hat much.

Rylan needed a bologna snack before she could do her treating.

Apparently lions and elephants aren't friends, at least not according to the elephant.

Heading down the halls of Conestoga. It was a lot darker and spookier this year, but the kids didn't seem to mind.

Daddy "volunteered" to hand out candy (as in Mommy said, "They need help handing out candy, so I told Charity you'd be there"). Rylan got to see him for just a moment before we were in the way of other kiddos and moved on.

The big joke when I took the job as Librarian was that I would have to change my wardrobe and hairstyle. I finally played along and dressed the part. This was my trial run on Thursday night. Friday I wore a huge pair of white earrings from Mom's 80's jewelry stash. I only had a few questions about what "type" of librarian I was from adults (not the "naughty" variety thank you very much) and the kids all seemed to understand the costume.

Yesterday Rylan wore her Halloween outfit to pass out candy. This mission was a bit hard for her. She thought she should also get a piece every time the doorbell rang. Despite what her Uncle Tucker said about indulging her a bit, we made it through without too much of a sugar rush. Most of our trick or treaters were former students now in Junior High, who often were calling out my name before I could get the door opened! We give out the good stuff so they aren't tempted to trick us with toilet papering or egging the house!

I can't believe how old she looks in the pic above. And it seems like in the last few weeks she has turned into a totally independent toddler. She knows what she wants to eat, helps get herself dressed and is asking to go potty. Sometimes she's dead-on when she asks and we celebrate with a Skittle or M&M. Rylan also wants to help with all kinds of chores, like sweeping, putting away dishes and folding laundry. I'm learning to let her have some of the tasks and let go of things being just the way I like them (kind of like I had to do when I married a first-born who had his way of doing things like I had mine)!

She finally had her 18-month check-up on Tuesday. She is a whopping 24 lbs., 4 oz. and is 32 in. tall. She was 50th percentile for both so I've let go of my eating worries for now. I'm a little sad to see her growing up. I feel like I'm going to miss everything if I blink and she'll be a teenager asking for the car keys. It seems to be going way too fast!

The weeks ahead look to be busy ones. We should hear more about Aiden's EEG tomorrow when he sees his doctor. Please keep praying! Shaun and I are trying to plan a date night for sometime this week. It's been a while since we had dinner without trying to feed another mouth. Wednesday I'll be going to Ropes Course Training so I can join our 6th grade classes as a Facilitator. My Aunt Betty Jo and crew are coming Friday and we haven't seen them for a while so it should be a fun family weekend. Hopefully we will get to join in on the some of the things the church has planned with Brenda, a visiting missionary from Mexico. She did our cooking when Dad and I went down seven years ago and we're excited to see her again. Tuesday the 10th we are heading to Casper to see Skillet, Decypher Down and Hawk Nelson in concert. Woohoo! It's exciting because we LOVE Skillet and because Tucker will be joining us. This will be his 5th straight week working in Colorado; we've missed him around here. Of course, all of those plans could change if Baby Kennedy decides to make his grand entrance into the world! Daunee' has been measuring two weeks ahead, so she thinks it will happen sooner rather than later. She also thinks he'll come on Mom's birthday, which is Tuesday. We'll see if she's right! And now, in light of all the upcoming events, a girl ought to do some housework! Hope you had a safe and fun Halloween!

Aiden

2009-10-31T08:30:00.003-06:00

Aiden had another EEG done yesterday morning. They're not sure what the results will look like in light of the seizure he'd just had. And if the ER doctor is not in today, Echo and Paul won't get results on the test until Monday when they finally get to see their pediatrician. They also have plans to see a neurologist. They've heard there are some good ones in Denver, and I heard about a pediatric neurologist in Billings. They put Aiden on anti-seizure medication and hopefully that will help things.

Thanks for your continued prayers. I love that little boy like he's my own and it's scary to see him go through this. Hopefully we know something soon.

Keep 'em coming...

2009-10-30T10:54:00.004-06:00

Aiden was hooked up and ready for his EEG and had a third seizure. I am home again with the girls waiting for an update. He is going through the EEG again now. Please keep praying. Thanks so much.

Prayers for our family, please

2009-10-29T18:36:00.004-06:00

The last 20 hours have been trying for the Wilson family. And for about 8 of them I was in oblivion and had no idea what was going on. That's what I get for turning my phone off.

Last night Mom and Dad kept Aiden and Ella for a sleepover. Aiden even wanted to sleep in their bedroom, so they had blankets all set up on the floor. It was the first night Mom has heard Aiden pray out loud, and he did it for a long time, ending by thanking God for his Mommy and Daddy who brought him to MeMa's house. An hour later, Mom and Dad heard a clunk and when Mom got out of bed she found Aiden under her bed. She pulled him out and thought he was having a seizure. Dad called 911 and Mom, thinking he was gone, wanted to start CPR but his jaw was locked tight. My best friend Elizabeth's younger brother, Doug, was the first to arrive at the house. I have heard my mom say repeatedly today how Doug's calm assurances that what Aiden was doing was normal after a seizure calmed her down. That young man was a God-send to her last night. They rode in the ambulance (Dad staying behind with Ella) to the hospital. In Mom's rush she forgot her phone and couldn't call Echo until getting to the ER. The ER doc sent Echo, Paul and Aiden home when he found nothing "wrong" with Aiden and said until he had another one they wouldn't do any further tests.

I didn't know any of this until my phone came on this morning. Mom said she still wanted to have Rylan as she was watching Ella still and 3 other children from church. Things changed quickly, though, when we had another text from Echo that they were in the ambulance because Aiden was having another seizure. Rylan and I literally ran out the door to get to Mom's house. All I could "pray" as I was driving and bawling was saying God's name over and over. And then I asked him to help me pull it together so I could support my family and Mom, who was devastated. Dad came straight home from the mine, I called in to work and said I wouldn't be in for the morning and we waited by the phone for news. Once Dad was home, he and Mom headed to the hospital and I brought Rylan and Ella home to keep waiting and praying.

After spending the day in the ER and having a chest x-ray and an MRI, we only know that Aiden has a sinus infection. It could be that Aiden will be a child who has these seizures and we never know why. They will be back at the hospital tomorrow morning for an EEG and that might bring answers. We want them to find nothing, though, and for him to just be one of those unexplained cases. There are a lot of unknowns still.

What I do know, though, is that we serve a mighty God and He is watching. I also know that Satan wants nothing more than to use this situation to make us worry and forget to trust that God is in control. It is so tempting to give in to worry for my precious nephew but I am clinging to the peace God has given me today. I've been listening to Shadows by the David Crowder tonight, and they lyrics ring true:

Life is full of light and shadow
O the joy and O the sorrow
O the sorrow

And yet will He bring
Dark to light
And yet will He bring
Day from night

When shadows fall on us
We will not fear
We will remember

When darkness falls on us
We will not fear
We will remember

When all seems lost
When we're thrown and we're tossed
We remember the cost
We rest in Him
Shadow of the cross

Pretty awesome. Anyway, please be praying for the doctors, my sister and brother-in-law, my Mom and of course sweet Aiden Torq. And while you're at it, would you pray for my BFF Elizabeth? At 36+ weeks pregnant she has pneumonia and strep. Not the best condition to be in when you have 17-month-old triplets to run after.

I can't post something without another pic-it feels wrong. Rylan and Ella spent the day fighting and making up. I have a new understanding of what it would be like to have two children (ugh!) and stay home with them (double ugh!). Props to all you stay-at-home moms. This woman would struggle to do it!

Here's a pic of the girls when they were getting along this morning at Mom and Dad's house.

I will, of course, keep you posted on how things turn out tomorrow.

Look what came in the mail!!

2009-10-20T17:36:00.005-06:00

If you know anything about me, you know that I adore cake. Well, it's not so much the cake part that thrills me as much as some delicious buttercream frosting. And the prettier and funkier the cake, the easier it is for me to fall in love. I've already put Shaun under some major pressure to have an amazing cake made for my 30th birthday and it's two years away! And now you know why I was willing to boycott a wedding reception back in September. Cake is that important to me.

Imagine my delight, then, when through some other blogs I stumbled across the Cake Wrecks blog. For the past year I have spent nearly every morning checking the blog updates and laughing at the latest Jen has come up with. My day at school doesn't seem to get off on the right foot if I don't get a chance to read the blog. When she announced that she was having a book tour for her Cake Wreck book, I was bummed that I couldn't make it even close to any of the events. But, I remembered that I have a most amazing Uncle (more like an older brother) that lives in Seattle. So, I issued him a mission of visiting some restaurants that I'd seen on Food Network, and going to the Book Tour stop. I wasn't sure he'd actually do it.

However, on the night of the wedding reception that we nearly boycotted, I got this picture on my phone with a message that A.G. was there:

El yay! Yippy skippy!! I asked if he would get me a book and his response was along the lines of "Duh, that's why I'm here."

A few weeks have gone by, but I was delighted last night when I checked the mail and this was in the box:

On the inside is an inscription from Jen of Cake Wrecks and from the coolest Uncle ever:

The book is a lot different from the blog. It has more background about the blog and on the cake wrecks. I love it. I've been reading it before bed at night and intend to take it to school but keep forgetting! I had a miserable time at work last week but this definitely helped lift my spirits! Thanks, A.G.. You're the best!

Stay tuned to pics of Rylan from this evening's Conestoga Treat Street....

Happenings

2009-10-10T17:17:00.004-06:00

It's a chilly night and Rylan and I are hanging out while Shaun is working nights. The snow that fell this week means Shaun has to start his routine of calling and letting me know he made it to the mine safely each night. It looks like it might be a long winter. :-(

Last weekend I made it to Rapid with Mom and Dad to do some winter shopping for Rylan. I finally put away her summer wardrobe tonight, but haven't made it to putting away the new stuff. We have reached the point where hand-me-downs from Ella will quit coming-they are just too close together and everything will be the wrong season. I think I'm okay with that-the amount of clothes I put up tonight is outrageous!

School has been okay. It was a pretty stressful week with schedule changes and the authors Bill and Carol Wallace visiting; I was beginning to feel stretched to the limit and kind of dumped on by assuming teachers. But listening to Bill talk about never giving up when he got rejection letter after rejection letter was inspiring. And hearing him tell me how well prepared our students were and what a great job I'd done didn't hurt either! And by the way, he has great books that are awesome read alouds. And his wife writes adorable stories for kids ready to start chapter books. They made the whole week worthwhile.

After months of procrastination, we finally got plane tickets to Miami for our cruise in January. I feel like I can finally get excited! Come January 10th, we will be headed to Cozumel, Mexico, then Belize, Isla Roatan and Grand Cayman! Shaun still has to decide how many places he will scuba dive. It would be nice if he didn't leave me to hang out with the girls at every stop! Oh, and our Human Resource Guru approved my convenience leave request, so I will have the full week off with no pay dock days. That is awesome!

Rylan has been having a great time at Mema's house when Shaun and I are both working. She is most content when Mom has a houseful of other children. We debated last weekend calling the doctor about the fact that she was not eating. Then, all of a sudden this week, she started eating non-stop! We are grateful for sure. Maybe someday she'll get out of 18 month clothing!

Other than that, I'm getting excited to travel to Sheridan for Daunee's baby shower on Friday afternoon. Shaun is going to stay home with Rylan that night and they might come join me there on Saturday. The following weekend we've talked about going to Craig to visit Tucker, who is there working for the next 4-5 months. We miss him around the home front, Shaun especially. November 10th we are meeting him in Casper for a Skillet concert! We did see them at Hills Alive this summer but are totally stoked for the show!

The following pics are from our friend Nicole's wedding. It was fun to be together as a family that evening.

Our friend Katy with Nicole

Rylan loves to play dress up at Mema's house!

Hope you all are well and staying warm!

Pics and Updates

2009-09-24T20:34:00.006-06:00

Well, it's been two weeks and life has been super busy! Our routine this fall, though, seems a little out of whack without my involvement in the musical. It's strange to not be out three nights a week planning and preparing a show. I miss it when I think about it, but I think we're all enjoying getting to spend our evenings together. Of course, now I've replaced it with classes, but I've been able to take care of those after Rylan goes to bed.

Shaun has gotten to go scuba diving once the last month and is going again on Saturday. It's weird that this will be his last chance to go before our January cruise! We're getting pretty excited about that trip. I missed getting pics of him with his beard, which he sported for about the last three weeks. He had to shave it off to be more comfortable in his wet suit! I won't miss it.

Rylan is overdue for her 18 month check-up because her parents are slackers and haven't made an appointment yet. Oops. She has ten teeth now! I'm not sure she will ever get any other top teeth but she gets by just fine. Her favorite thing to drink are "shakes" (milk with a bit of chocolate). When she sees pictures of herself she will point and say, "Ry-Ry," and she loves to identify her other favorite people, too. Any picture of Tucker is "My Tu-Tu." I'm not sure where that came from, but she says it over and over because we laugh. She is also obsessed with crayons and making pretty pictures. One day after school I came home and asked her what she'd done with Daddy and she took me to the fridge to show me her latest artwork. When she is with her Mema they listen to a lot of music and play dress-up. From what I hear she really gets herself all decked out!

School is really busy but it is so nice to not have grades to do, or parents to call, or testing to worry about. Last week I went to Mallo Camp. I didn't go as a child, but I can guarantee you that adults have more fun than the students! I had a great Council and a super High School student to work with. We came in second in the tug-of-war, a little disappointing since my Council won the last time I went. 3 of my good friends were also there and we all got to be in the same cabin. It was too much fun but I was ready to be home for sure. There is still no cell phone service at Mallo-and only 2-minute conversations (due to long lines with other people and no free time) to check on Shaun and Rylan were hard!

The first day-cheesy and fresh! Wendy, Me, Charity and Lindsay

Charity and I hanging out in the lodge on our first night

Our Cabin-The "Haunted" Cabin 13!

Me, Charity and Wendy on our last day-pretty worn out and ready to go home to our families!

Last weekend Wyoming Machinery celebrated their 40th Anniversary with an Open House/Picnic at the new 60,000 square foot building. Since Dad, Shaun and Paul all work for Wyoming Machinery it was a family affair. We had fun checking the place out, climbing on the machines they all work on and eating yummy barbeque!

Ry sporting her new hat and walking around with Aiden.

Aiden and PaPa using a simulator to drive a scraper. He did awesome! My grandparents got to join us and they are in the background.

Ella and Rylan sitting with Papa in a dozer.

I'm not sure what Echo and Ry are so excited about-but Echo's face is priceless!

Rylan on the way home from the day-still sporting her hat!

I'm excited that Daunee' is coming for a visit tomorrow. Mom is out of town and Dad and Shaun are going early to Buffalo for their dive, so it's just going to be us girls! We are going to meet Echo for dinner and head to the Energy Bowl. On Saturday we are all going to our friend Nicole's wedding. I'm boycotting the reception though-no cake-which is a cardinal sin! Fall is shaping up to be full of other fun activities and hopefully I'll find time to post about them!

18 months old

2009-09-13T21:16:00.004-06:00

I have been telling everyone for over a week at school that Rylan was almost 18 months old. Then, on the actual day, today, I totally spaced it! Not until Shaun came home and asked me if I sang her Happy Birthday did I remember! It is crazy to think she has reached that milestone. She is for sure acting older and becoming more independent every day. Fully proficient at saying "Please" and "Thank You" now, she thinks those words will get her whatever she wants. Rylan has fallen in love with baby dolls. She has one from Mema that came with a bottle, paci and diaper bag. She loves to play with the baby and change its clothes.* She's getting pretty good at taking her own clothes off and tries hard to put them back on! We took her high chair out to the garage this week. It saves us room in the kitchen and she does much better sitting in her booster at the table now. I can't believe how much she changes every day-I thought it would slow down but it hasn't yet!

She found this hat in the cupboard the other day and will put it on at random moments. On this morning, when I asked her to get her shoes, she went for the hat first, and wore it all the way to Mema's house!

She's really in copycat mode now-since Papa was sitting on the coffee table at Auntie Nee's house, she thought she needed to also!

*No comments about how she must be ready for a sibling, please. She likes being an only child and her parents like it that way, too! She's just getting ready to welcome a new cousin in November!

Off to a great start...

2009-09-02T17:32:00.005-06:00

We are two days into the school year, and so far, so good! I am very quickly learning the ins and outs of library media. I saw my first groups of students today and really enjoyed all of them. It was a bit crazy schedule-wise (I only got a 15-min break for lunch) but that should iron itself out in the next couple of weeks. My feet sure hurt! I had my first phone call of the year yesterday morning first thing. I immediately assumed it was a parent calling about a book but instead the gentleman announced he was the author Bill Wallace! In case you don't know who that is, check here, and then believe me when I tell you that he is a BIG DEAL in Wyoming and at Conestoga. I read two of his books with my fourth graders every year and they always loved them. Anyway, he is coming to our school in October and wanted our fax number to send the contract. I pretty much made a fool of myself when I couldn't find the number, put the phone down on the desk (not on hold) and ran to the next room screaming for help. When I got back to the phone he was gone, but he did call back. During that call I told him about 50 times that we are so excited to have him and his wife (also an author) and how much I loved him. Oy. Mom says I should take a public speaking class so I can learn how to talk to people without losing it. Probably a good idea. In the meantime, though, I have started two classes for my endorsement. One is pretty basic and the other is going to require some effort. So far I have been diligent in getting homework done as soon as Rylan goes to sleep at night. Hopefully I can continue that pattern.

Shaun is back at work full-time, as in home with Rylan on his days off and then at his "day" job. Now that school has resumed we're like ships passing in the night. We miss seeing him! While he was off this last weekend he got to go scuba diving at De Smet with Dad. It was the first time since May he's had a chance to go, so I think he enjoyed it. We are still trying to figure out how to get him to Tennessee to pick up his old Jeep. He wants to get out there before much snow comes. We'll see what we can get worked out. We just found out we have a wedding to attend on New Year's weekend and that might change his plans for vacation time.

Rylan is finally getting into a routine. When I first started having to wake her up last week she would growl at me then roll over and go back to sleep. I felt like it was a flash of what the teen years will be like! Her first couple days with Mema were a bit hairy as far as routine goes, but she's in the groove now. Her newest word is "yeah" which makes life easier; she used to say "no" to all things-even if she meant yes. She had a screening a couple of weeks ago and passed the list for 15 months (she was 17 months) and got all but one thing on the 18 month list. I expected her to miss it! A "skill" at that age is to stack four blocks. We haven't worked on that at all. I woke up at 4 that morning and thought, "They're going to ask her to stack blocks today! Maybe we should cram!" We didn't, but she did get three blocks done. We learned that her feet, which she sometimes turns in, are just fine. The dental hygienist said that if the gap between her top teeth doesn't close by two we need to get her into a dentist. It might cause the other top teeth to have trouble coming in but hopefully someday she'll have a mouth full of pretty, white teeth!

I took the following pics of Rylan with my Blackberry and I'm still not great at using it. This is her using her "phone" (her Mema's calculator) at Olive Garden.

She kept the phone even while eating some fruit and olives the sweet waitress brought her.

When you ask her to smile this is what you get! Pretty good for being just up from a nap!

And she will do it anytime. She loves to sit at the piano and play. We don't have a piano bench so she will ask for a chair from the table.

Sometimes she's very sweet. Sometimes.

She has always loved shoes and recently has learned to put her shoes on (as well as a 17-month-old can) and her Daddy helped her get mine on the other day.

That's it for now. Rylan was anxious to get to bed tonight. She was trying to climb into her crib when we got to her room! But now that she's in bed it's homework time! Hope your September is off to a swell start!

The Library...Before & After!

2009-08-24T17:56:00.007-06:00

The school year is upon us and I am finally ready! Well, the library is ready. I don't really want to be back at work but I will be tomorrow whether I want to or not. In the afternoon we have our whole staff meeting and the part-time library aid Deb will be there. She hasn't been in at all this summer and I'm pretty excited/nervous to show her what we've done. She had a pretty tough last year with the old librarian and ended up moving her desk out of the library and doing all of her projects for teachers in the lounge. I hope we have a much different experience together! Here are the pics of how things looked when she left and how they look now.....

I posted this pic a while back-it's the view straight ahead from the check-out desk.

The view I have now! Ahead is the non-fiction section. You can see the coffeehouse area along the back wall.

This is what you would see when you looked to the left of the check-out desk.

What you see now is the last non-fiction case (marked #2 right now) and the beginning of the fiction section. There is a 10 foot space between sections. Enough room to still have a small group of students meet if needed!

This view is like you're standing between the maroon and teal pillars shown in the above pictures and looking at the check-out desk. The door open on the left is the storage room.

What it looks like now-this time the fiction section is on the right of the pic and the non-fiction is on the left.

Looking at the check-out desk head on. The middle three brown cupboards on the back wall will be removed (soon, I hope!) and several computers and a printer will be set up.

Looking at the check-out desk head on now. My friend Charity's daughter is sitting at the desk. I let her help me check-in some books but not too many because that's one of my new favorite things to do!

This was wasted space before-full of old stuff that wasn't being used.

Now it's going to be used by the Technology Assistant with a few computers. Steve (the principal) says she won't be around much as her job will be with the laptop carts around the building. But if she is, I get to work on practicing patience. She tends to wear on the nerves a bit. In the past she has browsed through my pics when working on my computer and today she was sticking her nose over my shoulder while I was checking a message on my phone!

If you were to turn to the right just a bit standing in this place you would see the space between sections and the check-out desk. The antique book poster says "Be Kind to Books Club--Are You a Member??"

The pillar on the opposite side. That old poster says, "September-Back to Work, Back to School, Back to BOOKS!"

This is a "classroom" area next to the fiction section. The desk in the corner is for the poor fitness instructor-because there's no where else for her/him to go. Not sure that will be the best place, but that's how it has to be for now.

This is the "classroom" area beside the non-fiction section. That's my old teaching partner and school Mama, Jeannette. She was setting up a jewelry party that Charity hosted in the new space.

Across from that area is the coffeehouse space. It still needs some tweaking and I'd like more funky furniture, but it will work for now!

This was my sweet find in Sheridan on Friday. The table and chairs sit behind the couch and will be a perfect spot for an adult to work one-on-one with a student!

I don't have any before pics of the storage area-but it's our office now and I love the space. Before it was piled high with junk and there was no space to move. We took out two sets of shelves on each side and I rearranged all of the "stuff" into new places. Mom helped me hem some fabric and I used velcro to stick up on the open cupboards.

Another teacher was getting rid of their computer table and I grabbed it right up! The right side will be for Deb to do projects. The left side is where my laptop will sit and I will do lesson planning. And on the very left, you see the server computer for the entire school which has to stay. Bleh. Beside it is a new Dell just for Deb to use-a treat for her since she used to check her email and such on the student computers! We are putting another computer table up there but Shaun said he needed a break from Conestoga and I agreed!

I am sad to be leaving Ry again but she will be in good hands with her Mema tomorrow and throughout the year. I don't have many pics of her lately, but I will have to get after that and post them soon. If you think of it, please be praying for a smooth start to the school year for me, my co-workers and our students. We have a big job ahead of us!

Mr. Potato Head Makeover

2009-08-18T13:17:00.002-06:00

Tired of using your Mr. Potato Head in a traditional manner? Looking for ways to spice up your play with his accessories?? Well, look no further. Just look at what you can do with his parts on a library shelf. The arranging and creativity never ends!

And when you're tired of using Mr. Potato Head, Mrs. Potato Head offers even more options for decorating a shelf! Let the fun begin!

At least she kept herself busy while her Mommy was busy working on books!

Fun at the Nebelsick House

2009-08-12T08:15:00.007-06:00

Life has settled down much and we are grateful! Shaun has had the last few days off and we've spent a good portion of that time working in the Library. I am happy to report that the shelves are all moved! All that remains now is the decorating and a bit of rearranging. I can't believe how stressed I was about moving the shelves. I'm so excited to make it a cozy place now. We have also done work in the storage room/office area. This space will be awesome, because as I've learned this week, everyone likes to stop through the library and chat! Having a place to work on plans or check email will be nice. Our library aide, Deb, will also have a place to work on the various projects teachers give her. I hope she likes all the changes we've made!

Rylan has done super hanging out at school both days. She follows us around and tries her best to help with books or moving things! We have a few more days off with Shaun next week, then it's back to spending her days at MeMa and PaPa's house or being home with Daddy.

Anyway, the title of this post has nothing to do with the Library, so on to some pics of our days at the Nebelsick house, which were totally enjoyable! It was the first time since getting married that Elizabeth and I have had a "sleepover." How fun to now include our children!

David and Rylan swinging at the park.

Levi and Aria getting pushed by their Mommy.

Rylan is trying to talk to Aria and Levi.

She slid up and down this bench several times!

Walking back from the park, and apparently David was all tuckered out!

On Tuesday night, Elizabeth, Aria, Rylan and I took a quick trip to Sioux Falls for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. We got to do a bit of shopping afterwards, too. So much fun!

Rylan, ever the helper, trying to give Aria her pacifier.

We had a super time and appreciate the hospitality of the Nebelsicks. Dan sent some yummy cucumbers, squash and zucchini from their garden home with us and we have enjoyed all of it this week. We are looking forward to another visit someday soon!

Iowa Trip Part 1

2009-08-08T04:53:00.004-06:00

We are home from another trip and had a super time! It was quick but great to see family and friends. Shaun, Rylan and I left last Friday morning after Shaun got home from working all night. The trip out was pretty uneventful. Ry has become a champion traveler, only getting fussy once in a while. I did get her a few small new toys and that seemed to entertain her. By the time we drove out of South Dakota we were exhausted and Mom called to say that we should just stop at my Uncle Dick and Aunt Mary's house instead of going on to my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Adam's place. It meant only another hour and a half instead of over two hours. Totally worth it!

Saturday Shaun got to go golfing with my Uncles and Dad and Mom, Ry and I went out to Debbie's. On the way we stopped at the Coffee Attic/Book Cellar, my absolute favorite coffeehouse. I don't know why I like it so much. Maybe because it was a happy place to visit friends and relax when we were back to see my Grandma Elsie one last time and for her funeral. They have good coffee and it's the place I picture when I'm thinking about my library coffeehouse. We spent the day visiting and made it back to Mary and Dick's for supper, then drove back to Debbie's again to stay the night there. Shaun put Rylan down and I sat around making s'mores at the bonfire. I'm not one to ever miss out on marshmallows and chocolate!

Sunday we got up bright and early and met my parents in Iowa Falls to go to church where their friend TJ preaches. It's also where we went to church when I was around 3 or so. I didn't think I remembered the place, but as soon as Shaun parked the car and I looked the scene over I had a vivid memory of skipping down the sidewalk in my fav brown sandals. It was fun to visit, a great sermon and Ry enjoyed singing with the music. Lots of people commented after the service that they could hear her oohing and aahing along!

Straight after church we headed to the Reunion picnic in Owasa. It's really strange and hard to visit that tiny little town and not see Grandma Elsie or stay at her house. I miss her. On the way to the picnic I was trying to tell Shaun which cousins I thought we might see and he realized we should have started the Nehring Family Tree education much sooner! I was nervous that I wasn't going to know who people were, but it wasn't too crowded and we had nametags so it was all good! That evening I decided to stick with Shaun one more night and we followed my parents up to my Great Grandparent's farm in Minnesota. My Grandma Wilson was in need of a ride back to WY and Dad thought it would be easier to just leave from there the next day. So 3 nights, 3 different places to lay our heads. Shoo! Shaun had never been back to Iowa or Minnesota with me, so I am grateful I got to show him the places of so many of my childhood memories, but again, it was hard and just didn't feel the same without my Grandparents there.

The next morning Shaun left with the 'rents and Rylan and I slept in a bit then went to visit my Great Grandpa at his nursing home. It took him a minute to process who I was, but I'm sure it would take me a while to remember faces if I were 98, too! We only stayed for a little bit (it's hard to contain an active 16-month-old in a small room with lots of "nos") and then hit the road again to Elizabeth and Dan's house. That trip and pics will have to wait for another post!

My second cousin Tanner was great with Rylan-she played with her all afternoon. At the bottom of the slide is my cousin Shelly, Tanner's mom, and my cousin Benita's son Jaylen.

It's hard to get Rylan to stay away from the slide once she gets started!

My Uncle Harry helping Rylan cruise the park

The merry-go-round is another one of Ry's fav things to do at the park!

Teeter-totter!

Mom and 5 of her 6 siblings-Dick, Charlene, Harry, Angie(missing), Debbie, Mom and Betty Jo. Angie was 20 miles away with a massive migrane. They took her to the ER the night before but she was still sick on Sunday. :-( We missed her!

Apparently Rylan is a lot like her Auntie Daunee' was-she prefers her own crib, complete with fan noise and a little music to sleep. I had to take her away from the action and fight her to get her to go down for even 30 minutes!

On the way to Minnesota-being a great traveler and playing peek-a-boo with Mommy and Daddy

Part 2 coming soon.....

Vacation Pictures

2009-07-29T19:01:00.005-06:00

We are finally getting caught up on chores and laundry and preparing to leave on Friday. Here is a taste of what we did on our trips to Hills Alive and Tennessee!

Mom and Dad bid on passes to Bear Country at a Hills Alive Auction and won them for $40, saving us about $80! It was HOT, but still fun. We went on Sunday morning before the concert started up again. Rylan is proficient at growling like a bear now and she loved to see the little animals up close!

Papa and his grandkids sitting on a bench that reads "Beware of the Bear." That would be him sometimes!

Aiden considers taking care of Ry a big job. He pushed her around and here he is talking to her about the otters and pointing them out.

I'm not sure what is making Auntie Echo laugh...

I had to include this pic-it's my new favorite band-Remedy Drive. We saw them in May at the Wright Town Hall and I LOVE them so we had to watch them again at Hills Alive. You should check them out. They're from Lincoln, NE and their music saw me through my somewhat darkish period in May. Good stuff.

We went to the Knoxville Zoo on a beautiful, not too muggy day last week. I think we might be looking at the elephants or maybe the lions. The elephants were for sure my favorites-and Ry and I love to practice our elephant sounds.

Rylan pulled herself as close as possible to the animals!

"Should I get out and join the monkeys, Daddy??"

Ry and Daddy looking at the red panda. She was enthralled watching him eat.

Auntie Paige feeding Rylan snacks

Mimi Sharon-perhaps giving her more food?

Mimi Sharon blowing bubbles-Rylan tried hard to blow into the tube to get bubbles out!

Aunt Vicky holding Ry while Uncle Glen tries to play with her-she was hesitant with him at first but quickly fell in love.

Ry and Uncle Glen playing with the clown that does "Pop Goes the Weasel." I think they look alike (Glen and Rylan, that is)!

Showing off her bottom two teeth. I thought she still had only four teeth. Yesterday when I told Mom that Rylan was running a bit of a temp and I was sure she was finally teething she did some digging around. She found 3 molars already through-one that has clearly been through for a while! How did I miss them? So, our dear daughter has 7 teeth.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this pic Shaun caught of Rylan laughing at Uncle Glen. We had time to print up a copy for Mimi Sharon and Kessie, and I can't wait to get one done to hang in our house. I adore it.

Since Shaun will be with over the weekend I will have some pictures, but I will have to try hard to get some during the week at Elizabeth's place. He is clearly the great photographer in this family!

Quick Check-in, again!

2009-07-27T12:43:00.003-06:00

Well, we've finally made it home from our travels for a few days. We are home so that Shaun can work four nights and on Friday morning we'll be off to Iowa for a Nehring family reunion. Shaun and Rylan have never been to Iowa to hang with family, so it will be a fun trip! Shaun will leave with my dad on Monday morning and I'm headed to see Elizabeth and crew for a few days with Rylan. We're hoping we can somehow see Stacey and her kiddos while I'm around that area. That's what's to come; what's behind would take too much time to type out! I'll just leave a few pics for now with the goal of getting vacation pics uploaded this week!

I had a great time at my work conference in Denver. I learned a ton about being a success with students and about my teaching friends. We ate dinner at Cheesecake Factory for my birthday. It was delicious and my boss paid! I had the coolest birthday this year-7/8/09-and Carmen said I should take a pic of myself at 10:11! So my buddies helped me out-I'm using Missy's phone to show the time while saying good night to Shaun on mine.

My friend Jody is awesome and got tickets for 10 of us to see a Rockies vs. Braves game! It was lots of fun and the Rockies pulled out a win.

The weekend I got home, Rylan and I tried to be as lazy as possible. In fact, when I went into WalMart after church that Sunday she was so tuckered out that she slept through the entire store!

This is a taste of our work in the library (I'll post more pics when it is all decorated and gorgeous)! I think I'm trying to pull staples from the pillar here. The red, white and blue are all covered (what is shown times 4 walls and 3 other pillars-I was so tired of painting!) and we have started to rearrange furniture. I couldn't have tackled this HUGE project without lots of help and planning from Shaun. My friend Jody, Echo, Paul and Mom and our Pastor's wife and daughter also helped during the week. On the third night-very late-Tucker and another little mouse also helped finish it up! I am grateful to all of them!!

That week Rylan also had her first little haircut. Her bangs were in her eyes all of the time and Mom kept threatening to do a little trim work for me. We avoided that by letting Ry get a cut while I was getting my hair done.

We enjoyed having Shaun around the last two weeks and he took some great pictures of our shining star. I don't know how he does it-but just you wait and see how awesome he did! Yesterday was our 6th Anniversary! Can you believe it? We can't. On our drive to Nashville to catch our plane Saturday, Paige had a CD mix that included "Wonderful Tonight"-which Shaun sang to me at our reception-and "Your Song"-which played while I walked down the aisle to Shaun! I felt all melancholy listening to them. He was and continues to be my "true companion" (the song we danced to) and the love of my life. How blessed I am to call him my life partner. Thank you God for truly giving me my dream man! And now that I fixed all of my errors from earlier I think I will go enjoy one of my favorites of summer-a nap!

4th of July Weekend

2009-07-05T08:02:00.003-06:00

Well, luckily for you I am in the middle of a thousand things and have no real time to blab but I do want to keep up on my pics. Shaun would tell me I'm wasting time even now and we can't have that! I just got home from seeing My Sister's Keeper with, of course, my sisters. Good show, but not as good as the book. Tomorrow I leave for a work conference in Denver. We have fun things to do at night but I'm not looking forward to being away. Shaun is working his crazy 14-hour days, so Rylan gets to spend the week with her Mema and Papa! When I come home on Friday I might head to NE with mom and Rylan to see Carm and Scott. Next week, my cousin Chloe is coming to baby-sit so Shaun and I can meet a crew of teaching friends at school to paint the library. Friday we are having a HS reunion picnic. Saturday morning we leave for Hills Alive! Woohoo! We will leave from Rapid on Monday morning to hit the road to Denver and catch a plane to TN for the week and visit family and friends. So, no more lazy days for us and maybe no time to blog!

We did have a relaxing weekend, watching the parade, going to Ella's 2nd birthday party and watching fireworks. Rylan wasn't very thrilled that we woke her up to go watch them and she only stayed up for about half of the show. Poor baby. Anyway, off to pack some more. Hope your 4th was super!

Hanging out in Echo and Paul's newly redone backyard. It's awesome!

Ry can be found standing on anything these days!

I was trying to get a nice pic with her Mema but Ry refused to look at the camera.

Papa was playing drums and Rylan thought that was awesome. Echo is giving lessons out of her home now. We might have to sign Rylan up!

Playing with the ball the Roeslers gave Ella for her birthday

Rylan's daddy loves to taker her pic and then make it look fancy on the computer!

Doing what she loves-making music! She is truly a girl after our hearts and we love her to pieces!

Pea Pie

2009-07-02T12:19:00.007-06:00

Since I dedicated my last post to my trip to Seattle, it is time to have a post about our Pea Pie! I've been thinking lately about the things we call Rylan and wondering which will stick and if there are any we need to quit calling her. Like "Baby Girl." I'm pretty sure we will quit using it once she has a new cousin in November and she's not the baby anymore. But what if she ends up being called "Baby" like the girl in Dirty Dancing? That would not be good. We've also been known to throw out "Ry Baby," "Pea Pie," Ry Pie" and just plain ol' "Ry." I think I've only been pondering it because I've heard other people using them to address her. What if we're setting her up for future embarrassment? Just something that's been on my mind lately.

I could have titled this post 'The Screamer' as Rylan does a lot of that lately. She screams when she's happy and when she's mad at someone or thing. I think she's going to be a bit like me in that she gets really frustrated when she doesn't get something the way she wants. She used to jabber to herself about things not going right, but now she is starting to let me know when she's ticked. The other day she was trying to climb up her high chair and the lid wasn't attached so down on her bum she went! She screamed at it, then proceeded to walk over to me at the sink jabbering the whole time about it. Pretty funny.

Her jabbering lately has been out of control! Some of it you can understand, but most just sounds like jibberish. There are several things she says, though, that we do understand. She uses "no" to answer everything, even if she really does want what you have. We know that "Dad" is for her daddy and "Dada" means Papa Wilson (she calls it as we approach their house now, "Dada, dada, dada" even though often he's at work when we are there)! "Mom" is for her mommy and "Mama" is for Mema Wilson. She calls cousin Aiden "Day" but hasn't tried Ella. Maybe that's because the two of them hardly ever get along. Last week they were squabbling about something and Rylan started screaming. Aiden was blocking my view of them, so I calmed Rylan down and we went about our business. When Echo came she found a nice bite mark on Rylan's hand. That's what all the noise was about. Oops! She still says "What's that?" and "Who's that" though not as often as she used to. Her newest phrase is "some more," which she said to everything the other day. It got really old by bedtime! Let's see....oh, she calls Tucker "Tuhtuh" and once in a while she will call her daddy "Shaun." I swear I didn't teach her that one, but I encourage her to do it when she starts because I think it's funny! Shaun and Tucker swear that the other night as they were sitting at the table conversing Rylan said "I love you." She hasn't said it again, however, and I wasn't there to hear it, so I'm not sure it's true. She was eating a hamburger bun at the time and she ADORES them; maybe she was declaring her love!

Shaun took Rylan to her 15-month check-up while I was in Seattle. The little stinker is not quite 22 pounds, putting her at the 30th percentile. I can't remember her height but she was at the 70th percentile. The doc wants us to focus on more dairy products and making sure she gets a daily vitamin dose. Other than that, everything looks good. I hear that Ry got scolded by Dr. Ammari for jabbering on and on and not letting the doc talk to Shaun. When Ammari asked Rylan to wait she obeyed, so Shaun got to hear how she's not dumb and we need to make her mind!

Ahhh, making her mind. Some days she makes me want to pull my hair out. We tell people that she's very busy but someone close to us described it a little better: she's high-maintenance. The girl wants you to know that she is available to play and wants your full attention. She is pretty strong-willed about most things. This week, though, she has done a great job at picking up her toys and not throwing a fit when asked to do something. Echo gave us a Dr. Dobson DVD on discipline that we started watching. I have memories of my mom listening to him while doing dishes when we were little. I think we turned out okay, so I'm going to listen to what the man has to say! She is still ever the entertainer and loves to be out and about with other people. Getting to greet people in stores is still one of her favorite things to do and she continues to woo all she meets.

We are trying to fill our days with lots of fun activities and I am loving my time at home with Ry Baby. The next couple weeks will be very busy so the ones at home have been a nice treat. Rylan gets to spend most of next week at her Mema and Papa's house. I leave for a work conference in Denver on Tuesday morning and Shaun is on days starting Wednesday. We decided that instead of Shaun taking Rylan to my mom at 5 a.m. and picking her up at 8 p.m., it would just be easier for Shaun to stop and say hi to her when he is done working and leave her there for the night. I'm sure she'll have fun being spoiled full-time. And now, since Shaun and I are going to a late movie tonight, I'm headed up to join Rylan for an afternoon nap. I love summer. Hope yours is going well, too!

Rylan adores blueberries-but she's not great at processing them!

Aiden about to splash in our kiddie pool

Rylan kickin' it in the pool-she would have stayed out all afternoon if I had let her!

Shaun cleaning his garage-we got a lot of cleaning projects done last week. Woohoo!

We took Rylan to play at the City Park on a beautiful Sunday afternoon last week

"I'm going up these steps and you can't stop me!"

Playing peek-a-boo with Daddy

Hanging out with her cheesy Mommy

Eating a cupcake from the odd neighbors. They know when we have a baby-sitter or other company and that we spend a lot of time with Tucker. It's weird to hear about what you're doing from someone you don't talk to often--but the cupcakes were tasty (and we're not sick so they weren't poisoned)!

Rylan loves the song "The Right Stuff" by New Kids on the Block. She didn't do as much "oh-ohing" as she normally does in this clip-maybe she knew I was recording!

Seattle!!

2009-06-17T20:10:00.018-06:00

Well, I tried my darndest to get this blog done while I was actually in Seattle. A.G. and I spent a long evening at a coffeeshop Wednesday night but all I got done was pictures before we decided we needed to leave. So I will try to finally finish it up!

I flew in late Monday night and we spent some time chatting it up. The next day A.G. had to work. I knew he was going to leave at 7:00, so I made sure that I was at least up and downstairs to see him off at 6:45. He came down to let Beaux, his dog, out and showed me that the clock actually said 5:45. I assumed my Blackberry would change timezones like my old phone did, but no so. Darn it. Anyway, I ended up traveling with him on the bus since I was already awake and moving. He dropped me off at Online Coffee Company and I spent a good hour or two reading a book. At home my time to read is split between Ry and whatever other projects I most likely have going on. I lost track of time not having other things to distract me!

I made my way down to Pike's Place Market a little before 10. It was fairly quiet when I arrived and it was nice to have a chance to browse without tripping over a million people.

Sometime in the late morning I looked at my phone to discover that it was very quickly losing power. I called Shaun and he gave me some advice on putting it to sleep but I couldn't figure that out. At the same time A.G. was texting me and asking if I wanted to bring lunch up the hill to his office. I quickly called him and got some brief directions. In the end, though, we concluded that it would depend on what bus I was on and that I should just ask the driver where to go. So I grabbed some Piroshkies and got on a bus and asked the driver for help-and he didn't know what I should do! I tried turning on my phone to call, but A.G. didn't answer. I tried my best to recall what he had said and got off on a road he'd mentioned. So, after walking a block and then asking a guy for directions, it was just one more block away! I felt pretty excited about being able to find my way and not get lost. I hung out with A.G. in the afternoon in his office and then we went and had some Molly Moon ice cream. It was fabulous!

After ice cream we headed out an a foot journey to find some Mack and Jack, a beer Shaun adores and we can't find in WY. I promised him I would have one for him. Here, A.G. is "pouring one out for his homies."

That evening, A.G. had a client in his downtown office. I hung out a bookstore during that time and then his girlfriend Rebecca picked us up to go to dinner. A.G. has always been like an older brother in my world (we are ten years apart and he and my dad are thirteen years apart) and his girlfriend is my age. That is a little weird to think through, but it all makes sense when you see them. The two of them are pretty funny together. They goof off a lot and most of the time act like teenagers. It's great to see him so in love. Anyway, we went over to Alki Beach to eat at a Mexican place called Cactus. We stopped on the way there to get some snapshots of the city. On our way back we stopped at the beach to put our feet in the water per Carmen's request. It was a great evening!

On Wednesday I got to sleep in for real! It was after 9:30 (home time) when I started getting ready for the day. I can't remember the last time that happened. A.G. didn't have to work except to see a client in his downtown office. We thought we'd have time for breakfast but ended up only having time for a coffee and pastry on the go. As long as I have a coffee, I'm a happy girl! I did some souvenir shopping while he was occupied and took some time to take some photos since I had my real camera along for the day. Once he was done we went to the top of a parking garage to take some photos, then traveled to the top of another huge building that has an observation deck. I think we might have been on the 73rd floor or something crazy like that.

A church from the bus stop we were at on Tuesday

The church(towards the left) from the tall building

My feet-by Wednesday I had a nice sized blister on the ball of my left foot that was killing me!

A sign outside a flower shop-words to live by!

The Space Needle is between the buildings-this pic is from the parking garage.

A cool building from the parking garage-one of A.G.'s friends got married on the level near the pyramid.

The cool building again

View of Space Needle and other buildings from high above!

The road going over the water leads to home (I-90)!!

Cool little place we ate lunch at-but they were out of cheeseballs :(

Cool Uncle--and dog--Beaux goes everywhere with A.G. He is an awesome city dog. Climbs up high and walks along things, potties in well hidden places and is great at hanging out wherever A.G. ends up!

My fav Brazilian drink

Beaux didn't want any lovin'

After our late lunch we made our way back to his place, then set out on a trek to find some cupcakes at Trophy Cupcakes and do some blogging at a coffeeshop. On the way back to his place again we stopped for some salmon that A.G. grilled up along with asparagus and bread. It was delicious! I think we had 6 cupcakes that we (A.G., Rebecca, their roommate Megan and another friend) all sampled. I think my favorite was the good ol' chocolate vanilla. We need one of those places in Gillette. Of course, I wouldn't get to watch my girlish figure very well that way since I would add that to my stop after coffee.

On Thursday A.G. took my suitcase to work with him so I could go do some last-minute shopping. Then, after a quick lunch with him, I had to catch the bus to the airport. I don't know how I ended up cutting it so close, but my plane boarded at 2:30 and I got to the gate at 2:40. Thankfully the first officer was also running late so I had some time. The flight home went very quick. I was grateful that Shaun was picking me up in Billings so I could see him and Ry as soon as I got off the plane. He pointed me out to her when I was coming down the escalator and she called, "Mom!" and came running to meet me. That about made me bawl. I missed them both a lot!!

Since I took the camera I don't have any new pics loaded of our star, but hopefully this week we will get some! Aiden and Ella are coming to play with us tomorrow so that should give me motivation. Happy Father's Day, Shaun. Thanks for letting me take a trip away and being an amazing father! And thanks for being an awesome tour guide and showing me a good time, A.G.!

Ahhh....Stress is lifted

2009-06-13T17:53:00.005-06:00

Well, summer is officially here in the Dudley household. Shaun says that I am almost back to normal! It was a difficult end to the school year. I was pretty stressed about getting out of my classroom by the last day of school. I had to spend a few late nights at school just to get it all done. My last day was especially hard-knowing I won't have my "own" students next year is weird and sad. This year's bunch, though, cried with me and went out the door only after giving me a ton of hugs. It will be fun to work with them again next year, in the Library and at Mallo Camp in September.

Before the last week of school came we had our weekend apart. Shaun is now certified to scuba dive. He had a pretty good time and is really looking forward to going on our cruise now. Mom and I had an excellent time in Scottsbluff with Scott and Carm. On Saturday Carmen took us to one of her fav new places called Paradise. It is the oddest combo of businesses. There is a carwash, dogwash, tanning beds, a sign business, and then the cafe! I loved it-the environment, my yummy baked potato salad and my tasty frozen mocha! We went to a show at the college that night. Rylan did really well considering it was her bedtime. I think the music helped-she loves it. The next day after church Rylan had her first ice cream cone. Sadly, those are the only pics I got of the trip. Not any of Ry wondering through the Nikont's awesome yard, or my mom and aunt making me pee my pants laughing while we attempted to play bocci or my pouty face when they taught us to play the card game Push. I'm thinking about giving up all card games. They make me really angry.

Rylan and her first ice cream cone-the best way for mommy to get a taste and share some calories!

I taught her how to dip her fries in the ice cream-which is what we do with Frostys from Wendy's. Yum!

The last week of school wasn't all stress-we had our teacher performance at the Annual Talent Show. I didn't want to do it this year-we were just lip synching-but it ended up being a lot of fun. The students LOVE it when we are up there making fools of ourselves. This year we did "Move Along" by The All-American Rejects. I borrowed one of Tucker's bandanas, and my glasses and headset from other teachers. I think I looked pretty awesome as I played the keyboards. And I'm not ashamed to admit that I spent some time giving autographs to my students at the conclusion. Too fun.

The Sunday after school got out Shaun and I had planned to go to the cabin for a few days. Sadly, though, we had been getting non-stop rain so we had to cancel those plans. We waited until Monday and spent the day and night hanging out in Rapid City. We had a great time shopping, eating and seeing a movie. Oh, and the previous Friday we got to join some of my co-workers at a going away party for our Librarian. We have really appreciated getting some time to reconnect. Thanks, Kaeleigh and Mom!

Shaun at a coffee shop downtown. I like getting ideas for the library and the coffee was great!

The night we returned was my last Esther Bible Study. I have grown so much through this Beth Moore Study. It saw me through some pretty heavy transitions. I haven't been able to but the book away yet. I am still opening it and pondering the things I've learned. For our last night a couple of the girls made us crowns. They are a great bunch and we enjoyed ourselves so much that we are going to do LPM's Summer Siesta study. All thanks to you mentioning her blog, Kristen. Thanks! I'm really excited about still getting to meet with these incredible women. And I love that three of them are my grandma, mom and sister. It's so awesome to have family in town to share with!

The past week I got to spend time with Elizabeth and her brood. We got a few evenings to ourselves to watch movies, eat ice cream and of course chat it up. I really wish we lived closer to each other. I miss her! Rylan was a bit overwhelmed when we first got together with the kiddos. But it didn't take long before they were all interacting and having a good time. Both days we were together Rylan had already eaten lunch but she was a mooch when other food came out! After looking at all the times I have mentioned eating in this blog it's not hard to see why! We are looking forward to their trip back for our HS reunion in July and then our trip to see them in August.

The boys checking out Rylan-there may have been some encouragement from the moms for Rylan to give David a smooch but I will deny it if asked. Only Elizabeth might have evidence on her camera.

Ry and Aria chatting it up. I think this is a pic of things to come. I pray it is, at least!

The boys were going crazy that their cousins were in the other room and Ry wanted to know what all the noise was about!

It has been a good first week of summer. I am starting to get really excited about my trip to Seattle. I leave on Monday!! A.G. has mentioned a few things we get to do and it's going to be fun. I'm thankful that Shaun is supportive enough to be staying home with Rylan! Pray that all goes well for him. Hope your summer is off to a great start!

The Climber

2009-05-25T19:32:00.007-06:00

This past weekend Rylan spent her time doing a lot of climbing! She thinks she is pretty cute when she masters climbing up to something on her own. I tried my best to capture her little adventures around the house. She is pretty independent (but only at our house, I guess, because my mom says Rylan wants her MeMa close all the time at her house). She wonders off to do her own thing a lot. We try to give her a few moments to herself before checking in on her. Here are some of the ways I found her this weekend.

Sunday night I was working in the kitchen and knew that Rylan was in the TV room but wasn't quite sure what she was up to-she was so quiet. Turns out she was vegging on the couch. I asked her if she wanted a nap and she said yes so we took a 30-minute power nap.

Later on she felt accomplished for using her dog to get up in the rocking chair. She loves to sit with us in that chair and watch what is happening outside.

Rylan did not want to eat dinner on Sunday, but she did think she was funny when she got up to her daddy's chair after I took her out of her chair. She loves cheese and will say it now, even when I ask her to for a picture!

Monday I found her playing in one of her toy baskets. We love having this shelf in the living room for toys now and Rylan is getting into helping pick up at bed time. Yes!

To get on the entry way bench she pulled her diaper bag onto the floor and used it as a stepping stool. She was really proud of herself for getting up on this one!

Later in the evening, on the other couch in the TV room.

I am pretty thankful that we had Monday off. Ry and I needed some time to recover from a quick trip to Casper to see my cousin Kellie get baptized (woohoo!). We got lots of laundry done, the house picked up and vaccummed and even got to school to pack up half a cupboard. By we I mean mostly me, with some good and not so good help from Rylan. At school she undid most of the piles I was trying to make. Ugh. But she really is trying to help pick up messes. Oh, you probably don't know that my boss announced on Friday that anyone moving rooms needed to be out and into new territory by the last day of school. That means that in between finishing up grades and dealing with kids ready for summer that I have to find time to pack up my room by June 4th. I thought I was leaving a lot behind, but then cleaned out that half of a cupboard and had covered my counter in stuff I want to keep. I am trying to not be a pack rat but that Wilson blood runs deep, huh, Grandma?? We did get approval to use students to help with moving the last week of school, and while it's not the last week I am already putting them to work. Go me.

Our summer is shaping up to be really busy and totally exciting. The thoughts of all to come gives me motivation to put 9 and 10 year-olds to work packing boxes. This coming weekend Shaun and Dad are going to Utah to do their open-water dives. After much debate we decided that Rylan didn't need a ten-hour drive on Friday and another one on Sunday, especially since Shaun is not sure what time he will be done Sunday; it could be late afternoon before he heads back to WY. Sooo, mom, Ry and I are heading to Nebraska to see my Aunt Carmen and Uncle Scott. That will be fun! I might even take Friday afternoon off to go.

Once school is out Shaun and I have a weekend at the cabin planned. We seriously don't think we've had a weekend together since before Rylan came. Our trip to Coldplay was without her, but we were with my sister. The next week I am headed to Seattle for a few days. That's right-just me! I am totally stoked to spend some time with my Uncle A.G. and meet his girlfriend. And Seattle is one of my fav places in the world, so it will be the perfect place to get away and rejuvenate. The end of June we have friends coming to visit on their way to Mt. Rushmore. We haven't seen them since the summer after we got married and are looking forward to catching up.

July-holy cow-if we survive the month it will be a miracle. I am gone to a conference in Denver over my birthday. There are 14 people from school going and many are my good buddies. I got nominated to drive as long as I don't text. I never do that so we should be okay. The next week I get to see old friends from high school at a 10-year reunion picnic and the following day we are headed to Rapid for Hills Alive. It will be good to see old friends and good bands. I am really looking forward to Remedy Drive-they played in Wright last week and I L-O-V-E-D them. I plan on imitating the lead singer in our teacher performance at the Talent Show next week. He played a mean keyboard. The day after Hills Alive we are driving to Denver to catch a plane to Tennessee! We found cheap plane tickets and couldn't resist, especially since Ry flies for free still. We told Mimi Sharon it was her birthday present. Hopefully that was good enough-since her birthday was two weeks ago and the card is still on the piano!

In August life should slow down. I am trying to get a trip to Iowa planned to see my mom's relatives and spend some days with Elizabeth. I'm not sure we'll get to visit much with four children running around but we are going to try! Hopefully by then I will also have gotten some library projects done. The boss man is buying paint and I am taking advantage even though the library was just done in red, white, blue and tan a few years ago. Wait 'til you see what I have planned. The colors laid out are teal, lime green and purple for the "classroom" side, and purple, maroon and brown for the "coffehouse" side. I also have some prints picked out to hang throughout the library. Things like this and this. It's going to be awesome!

And that about sums it up. I really planned on just posting the pics of Rylan but I get so caught up thinking about summer that I spilled over onto the keyboard. The last pic is Rylan and her Daddy at the Remedy Drive concert. She is a girl after our hearts-already enjoying rockin' out to a good band!

Fun Stuff

2009-05-17T08:49:00.003-06:00

I feel a little vain devoting part of this blog to my hair. However, I told Elizabeth I would send her some pics of the new color that I was so proud of, so I figured I'd just put them on here. Shaun thinks that I've lost some of the blonde already but I still love it. I didn't realize that having lots of blonde on top and dark underneath would make my students comment like they have or I might have done it sooner! I've heard that it looks much better and I look much younger. Ha. Gotta love 4th graders-they tell the truth no matter the consequence (I took it all in stride, though, and laughed at each comment)!

My sister Echo was pulling her hair back like this years ago and I am just catching up.

It's not quite as extreme as this look I sported back in '96 but I'm trying not to be boring!

Shaun loves it when I have my hair pulled back or wear it curly. Curly doesn't happen much since I hate the frizz that comes with.

Last night I was putting away Rylan's clothes and she decided that it was time for bed. She took her blanket and crawled up in the rocking chair with her devotional book that we read from every night. She is saying "men" (amen) now when we finish praying. So sweet. When you lay her down in her crib she waves and says "Bye!"

Shaun is a saint and stayed awake this morning so I could get ready for church. He gave her a bath, got her ready and then they fed Ry's new fish that live in the office. She calls them "sh."

Such a goofball

I love this pic Shaun got of her when I walked in the room.

So there you go. Fun stuff.

A Post with Pictures!!

2009-05-13T17:35:00.005-06:00

We were pretty busy this past weekend with family and lots of activities. Friday night we went into Women's Resource Center (where my sis Echo volunteers as the Education guru-she is awesome and I am proud of her work!) so that my Aunt Betty Jo could do an ultrasound on Daunee'. We got to see the baby move all over the place! I wish I had pics to share. It was fun to see the new baby and I can't wait to find out if it's a boy or girl so I can start shopping!

Saturday morning after causing a serious back-up in the Starbucks line with a seven drink order we got to watch my cousin Kellie play AAU Volleyball. I feel so old watching her. When I lived with her family in college she was three!! I think her team ending up taking second but don't quote me on that. She is a super player and it will be great to cheer her on when she is playing for Kelly Walsh against the Camels.

That afternoon Rylan hung out with my cousin Chloe while I worked on my skit for church the next day. Then my sisters, Mom and I got to see a movie. We went to "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past." It was cute and we enjoyed some time together. In the evening a couple of my girlfriends from work and church, along with my sisters met up at the Bachelor Auction to be Tucker's cheering section. It was entertaining for sure. Echo left with one of her friends and Daunee took off with my vehicle before Tucker was auctioned off. I was in the restroom when Daunee' called to say that she had been pulled over in the Pilot for not having her headlights on. I've been getting grief from my fam for not having them in "auto" mode, but it's just one of my OCD things to turn my lights on and off. Anyway, Tucker wanted us at the auction to save him if he thought things weren't going well and had money with so we could bid. His signal was going to be putting his hand on his chest (later when I asked he said he chose that because it's how Rylan says please)! My friend Wendy didn't bid on anyone but she was brave enough to email a Math teacher who was in the auction and she got herself a free date! It was a fun girls night out. Oh, and Tucker wasn't thrilled with who won the auction and said eye contact should have been enough signal for us to raise our paddle and save him. One date won't kill him, though.

Sunday at church I performed "The Invisible Woman" by Nicole Johnson. It went really well. I had the script next to me on a stand and the one time I looked at it I realized I had been right on, but still tripped on my tongue. Oh well. Hopefully God used the drama to touch some mother's heart who feels like no one sees the work she does. The boys grilled lunch for the family and mom had lots of other goodies prepared. We got to have some yummy cake to celebrate Daunee' getting her Bachelors in Nursing. She spent the last year working nights full time, taking classes online and getting clincal hours in. I'm not sure how she managed to not lose her mind but we're proud of all her hard work!

While we were busy running around Saturday, Shaun, Damion and Dad were at home working on the sprinkler system. Sunday after lunch they worked on it some more and just about have it done. I can't even tell you what Shaun has left to do, but it's close to being fully operational. Now on to his other projects!! I think our family is going to travel with him to Utah in a few weeks when he and Dad get their open water dives done. He's getting his hair cut tomorrow! Woohoo!! It hasn't been short since last summer--so the curls are getting out of control. I can't wait to see him with short hair again. It will make my day.

Rylan is turning into quite the independent little girl. She can follow some simple instructions now, like finding her shoes and coat or getting a diaper out. She thinks she needs to sit like a big girl in her booster at the table instead of in her high chair. I don't think we will ever have to doubt what she wants as she gets older. We had to go to Sturgis yesterday so I could visit the dentist and get a temporary crown put on and she did awesome traveling. She spends her time talking to everything she sees out the window or taking her shoes and socks off and laughing hysterically at her accomplishments. I really thought that after she reached a year old we wouldn't notice how she changes as much, but she continues to amaze me every day. We are so blessed to have her in our lives. We are blessed, too, to be surrounded with close family and friends we can share the adventures of life with!

Kellie taking a break from her games

Mema with Aiden and Rylan

Chloe hanging out with Rylan

Shaun, Tucker and Damion working on the sprinkler system

After church-with no shoes and playing with Daddy's tools-what a good mom she has!

Trying to get the camera from Mommy

Chillin on the deck with Daddy and Titus

Two of her favs: Her cell phone and her rocking chair

She treated the cup like a microphone and sang into it for a long time!

The Latest...

2009-05-06T12:57:00.004-06:00

Well, my mom needs to know right off that I'm not going to include any pics in this post, just like I didn't in the last either. And like she needs to see them--she sees the main subject nearly every day in person!! Stop reading here, mom!!

Here's the background on the job for the rest of you faithful readers. I have spent the past year of my teaching job feeling unsettled and unmotivated. One problem right off the bat was that I had too many irons in the fire. A few days before spring break I got over my wimpy self and resigned from doing musicals. I will greatly miss working with Marie to put together a show, but this fall I was not a good assistant, or a good teacher or a good mom/wife. It was too much!! With that off my plate, I tried to get enthused about how nice the fall would be. But the truth is, I still wasn't excited. My job this year has been tough. Managing 22 students with multiple needs in a high stakes world drags a girl like me down. I've felt like a failure every time I see test scores (and we do a lot of it nowadays) because of how "low" things would turn out. I've had some psycho parents this year that have caused me to about lose my mind. And I've felt like a failure as a mom every time I have left a sick Rylan home with her Mema or Daddy. It should be my job to be home with her! Instead when I am home I find myself on the phone with said psycho parents, grading papers or planning lessons.

My new job will entail starting a new program-teaching Library Skills to every class, K-6. I will still have the opportunity to work with students that way. I will also be working with my first teaching partner again as she is the Technology teacher. We'll hopefully piggy-back some projects across all grade levels. Steve has also said that I will be involved with reading interventions in the primary grades. the most exciting part for me right now, though, is visualizing and planning how to rearrange the library. I envision setting up different areas-one for media, one for small group learning and my favorite one-a coffeehouse type area, complete with a couch, bean bags, music, and maybe the occasional drinks! I'd love it if our library had a place for teachers to bring their class for small lessons or poetry coffeehouses.

Shaun also has a couple of exciting things going on. First, and the biggest, is that he is working on getting his scuba certification. He has completed half of the classwork and his inside dives done (am I saying that all right? Not sure). Next he and dad will be headed to Utah to do their open water dives. Then next January he will get to scuba dive in Belize when we are on our 7-day Western Caribbean cruise! Mom's youth group is getting together to celebrate turning 50 and children were invited. I didn't hesitate to take them up on the invite! And hey, being a librarian means not having to write sub plans for a week! Haha!!

He will also be installing sprinkler system with our brother-in-law Damion's assistance this weekend. That project is long overdue and he's pretty excited about it. He also has plans this summer to build a fence across the back yard so Titus can have his space and we can bring back what Titus and Sadie have ruined the last four years. We're also going to tear out the deck, as we know there is a concrete pad underneath to work with for now and the deck is so gross and nasty. Fun stuff!!

Rylan continues to woo the world wherever she goes. God finally got through to me that I need to be on my knees praying for her future and how He will use her somehow irresistible little personality. I don't get it. I mean, I think she's cute as can be and all, but I can't figure out how or why she is able to draw others in. My friend Lindsay recently told me that she is "addictive." Weird. This past weekend a lady at Walmart told her she was just as adorable as her mom. I'll take that compliment! Mom was helping me shop at Maurices the other day for an interview outfit and Rylan let out a loud toot in her Mema's arms. She held up her hand, waving it back and forth, and said, "Stinky!" (her version of the world at least). Ahhhh, a girl after her mommy's heart. I'm so excited that there are only 4 1/2 weeks of school left. I am ready to spend the days playing with her and having great adventures.

Finally, I think it's safe to reveal that we are going to have a new niece or nephew in November. We are so excited!! From what I hear Daunee' is starting to show a bit and just glowing. I can't wait to see her and spend time with her and the Reynolds this weekend. Daunee', Echo and several girls from school and I will be going to the Bachelor Auction on Saturday night to cheer on Tucker. It benefits the Relay for Life and should be a blast to watch!! Hope this post finds you all enjoying beautiful spring weather and happy times!

New News!!

2009-05-05T21:40:00.002-06:00

Here's the email that just got sent to all staff at Conestoga:

We interviewed 3 very strong candidates for the Library job at Conestoga and I am pleased to announce McKenzie Dudley will be our new librarian.

Steve

Steve would be my boss. And I could say lots more but I have to watch Idol and get to bed, so more about this exciting news and the rest of what we're up to at another time!

Rylan's New Present

2009-04-30T11:33:00.002-06:00

For Rylan's birthday my mom ordered her a rocking chair. Ry loves the rocking chair mom has at her house that my sisters and I used when we were little. She and her cousin Ella already fight over it. Whoever is sitting in it gets a smack and a "no, no" from the girl who wants to be in it!! The chair mom picked ended up being on back order for a long time and she finally cancelled out on it and chose a new one. It finally came on Tuesday night. Mom picked it up in town after bible study, which I had missed because Rylan and I were both feeling cruddy. She had thrown up for the first time ever during dinner. Lovely. When mom came by with it that evening Rylan was already in bed. I told Shaun I was going to wake her up so she could see it and he didn't want me to, but I did it anyway! It was well worth my rebelling--she got the biggest kick out of it. She would sit in it, then get out and go love on her Mema, then go squealing back to it. It was pretty funny. The pictures aren't great as Shaun took them with his new BlackBerry and hasn't quite figured out how to use it. Anyway, enjoy the pics or Rylan and her new chair. Oh, and Rylan was still pretty sick yesterday but her daddy was home to take care of her. From what I hear today she is still wanting to do lots of cuddling and cat naps but is on the mend!

Tennessee and Easter

2009-04-19T19:42:00.009-06:00

I'm not even going to try and write out all that has been happening in our lives the last couple of weeks. It would take forever to type and you would fall asleep trying to read it all! We had a great trip to Tennessee-beat the weather and then enjoyed some great days visiting family and friends. We were there until Thursday, spent Friday at home catching up on laundry and went to Sheridan Saturday! We gathered at Daunee' and Damion's house to celebrate Easter and had a super time there, too! Rylan woos people wherever she goes. Waving and saying "hi" is her favorite thing to do anywhere we go. She gets a response a great amount of the time thus leading us to meet a plethora of people and hear lots of stories! She is a full time walker now. Her attempts to run, though, aren't working out and she bites it when she tries. We are back in the swing of things at home now with work and finally enjoying the Wyoming spring weather. Hopefully it sticks around. Enjoy a sampling of the oodles of pics we took!

Shaun and Rylan on the walkway at DIA

I love how blue his eyes look in this pic

Rylan has the same eyes!

Playing with Shaun's best friend Brad

Rocking at Kessie's (Shaun's grandma) house

Blowing kisses to Auntie Paige

Auntie Paige listening to Rylan tell a story

Rylan, Paige and Mimi

She loved all of the musical instruments her Mimi has!

Having a swig of Dew from a glass bottle-the best!

Meeting the pet bird at Mimi's work

Trying out the bench and being checked out by the kids!

Daddy and Ry hanging out in the yard

"I love being outside!"

Stopping to smell the flowers

Blowing raspberries

Gotta love our faces in this pic!

Uncle Glen, Ry and Shaun

In Sheridan at Damion and Daunee's place

Rylan trying to play with Ella while Auntie Echo looks on

Auntie Daunee' and Ry blowing kisses

Ry dying an egg blue-she got her entire hand in the cup! Aaaggh!

She got a bit of her head wet trying to get in the bucket!

Digging into her Easter Basket from Mema and Papa

Our first family photo in forever!

I don't think anyone ever got a pic of them all smiling!

Seth, Aiden, Ella and Rylan

1st Easter Egg Hunt

In the basket they go!

Blowing bubbles with Great Aunt Angie

Now that life has slowed waaaay down I probably won't be taking many pics, so maybe I will add some others of our trips another time!

Leaving on a jet plane...if the snow doesn't stop us!

2009-03-31T22:16:00.002-06:00

This week we are hastily preparing for our upcoming trip to Tennessee. We are heading to Denver Friday right after school (to hopefully beat what they say could be another round of snow) and then flying to Nashville Saturday afternoon. From Nashville we will rent a car and make the three-hour drive to Knoxville. It will be a long day but well worth it. Rylan hasn't seen her Mimi and Auntie Paige since she was 3 months old! It's hard to comprehend all of the changes she's gone through since then. I'll just let the pics below from their visit last June speak for what a different little girl she was then. Shaun is looking forward to BBQ and I can't wait to go shopping. It will also be fun for Rylan to meet her other Tennessee relatives and for us all to meet our friend Brad's girlfriend. Just writing about it makes me anxious. Children's Place Outlet here I come!

Sharon and Paige at my parents' land-poor Sharon didn't like the heights!

Paige got to see Devil's Tower for the 1st time!

Auntie Paige helping Rylan sit up

What we did for a lot of their trip west-played with Rylan in the living room

Mimi and Ry outside in cool Wyoming weather. They enjoyed the break from humidity!

Blizzard of '09

2009-03-26T20:06:00.004-06:00

Well, we have finally recovered from the blizzard we had at the start of this week. I had to actually go back to work today after being off for three days--it was not easy!! I felt sort of out it all day-but at least it's Thursday and tomorrow is Friday! My students said they missed being at school so they were ready to back in the swing of things. I missed being there, too, actually. Spending time with Rylan and Shaun was a blast-but I would rather do it in June when the weather is nice! I think we will be in now until June 4th. Boo hoo.

So, our three days weren't terribly exciting but that's how snow days are supposed to be, right? The school district has a phone system that calls us now-only I have yet to get a phone call and no one is sure why. My friend Lindsay from school called at the same time I heard the radio announce the cancellation Monday morning. We lounged around the house for the morning and dealt with a cranky Rylan. She started running a fever on Sunday and kept it until Wednesday. Hopefully it was just teeth, as she never had any other symptoms. As long as she had Tylenol or Ibuprofen in her system she seemed to be fine, but when it wore off, watch out! Shaun made breakfast (steak and eggs-mmmm) for us and Tucker, who had just returned from being out on his snowmobile. He claims that riding his Harley on Saturday when it was in the 70s and then being on the snowmobile on Monday in the middle of a blizzard was heaven. I strongly disagree, but to each his own.

Tucker and Rylan-and her dog-taking a morning nap

The deck starting to get drifts

View from our front office window down the street

View across the street

Titus after being outside for ten minutes!

That afternoon we took a long nap which, of course, was great! I also did some reading of the third book in the Twilight series which I'm addicted to right now. After our naps we trekked across the street to Tucker's house for the evening. My snow boots were in a great place-school-so I had to wear a pair of Shaun's. That, along with the uh, fairly obvious drifts and Rylan on my hip, made for an adventurous walk across the street! Tucker and I worked on a song we are going to do at church someday and then he and Shaun played with the electric guitars. Rylan entertained herself by chasing the cat all over the house. She still thinks Foxy says "woof" like her dog Titus! After dinner and visiting we came back home, knowing that there would be no school or work for anyone again on Tuesday.

Oh, wait, Rylan didn't know that school was cancelled and she got up at 6:30 Tuesday morning! Way too early even for a normal school day. We had a good breakfast again and then got to work on the house. I actually got all of the laundry done! That hasn't happened for a while. About noon Shaun made his way outside to start shoveling us out. The sun was out and lots of the neighborhood guys were out and about getting stuff done. Shaun was aided in his quest to dig out our driveway using Tucker's snowblower, but a good chunk of it he did by himself. He was pretty sore that evening! I took Ry out to see daddy while he shoveled and she was pretty ticked the entire time. She truly is a girl after my own heart. We will not be doing any snow activities in this family if I can help it! After naps that afternoon we ventured out in the truck. I did not enjoy this little trip. The roads had barely been touched by plows and the drifts were higher than the truck in many areas. We went by school and then looped back around to visit mom and dad. Rylan had a great time in the truck and visiting her Mema and Papa. While we were there Lindsay called to say they had cancelled school for Wednesday. I was ticked at first, but I had just seen how bad school was still covered so it made sense. They wanted to give the city and county workers time to unearth life again.

Across the street Tuesday morning-Tucker's car is buried!

Down the street

Five of the guys from the neighborhood chatting it up in the middle of the street

Rylan-sitting on the deck where the snow had not piled up. Rockers barely visible in the background

Ry and daddy sitting on a drift in front of the house

Not thrilled to be on her own!

So Wednesday morning all of the roads were opened and we decided to head to town for a Walmart and Starbucks trip. Town wasn't too busy and produce was cheap! The rest of the day we worked on more home projects-Shaun started packing for our Tennessee trip (he is REALLY ready for the trip after the snow we experienced this week) and I cleaned out my closet. Our new bedroom furniture will supposedly be here next week so we are getting rid of junk and old clothes. It's been nice to downsize a bit. I finished my book and then made some yummy chocolate chip cookies. I needed to give those to mom and dad since they barely beat us in Biggest Loser this week. I heard the bag I gave them has already been polished off, so hopefully that works in our favor on Monday!

And now Shaun is waiting for me to watch The Office. He can't play it while I'm typing because I need to concentrate on laughing! These last pics were taken by one of our secretaries who lives right across the street from school. My classroom has already sprung leaks from the snow that melted yesterday-so when spring shows up again we will have a real mess on our hands!

The front of the building

Parking lot

Side of the building-most of those drifts are still standing and blocking the hall windows.

We are over the snow and ready for spring to come back. Hurry warm weather-we miss you!

Rylan Renee' Turns One!

2009-03-22T08:25:00.014-06:00

Well, she really turned one over a week ago, but life has been crazy since then!! I am in the middle of PAWS testing at school, and when I wasn't consumed with how miserable that is going I was busy planning a Women's Tea for church. It was an exhausting week. But thankfully the Tea went well and the coming week holds no testing. I feel like I have a load lifted from my shoulders!

It is amazing to me how much Rylan really does seem like a toddler now and not our baby. The week she turned one she decided she wanted to walk. She has been taking steps her and there for over a month, but never more than one or two at a time. Now if she has nothing in her way she will make her way across the room. It's pretty cute to see her moving upright. I had been selfishly wanting her to be walking by the time we go to Tennessee and I think we will be okay. The idea of putting her down on the floor to crawl at an airport grosses me out.

On Rylan's birthday she and Shaun came to school at lunch. My teaching friends are awesome; when Rylan comes they greet her like they see her every day, and she loves the attention they give her. She pulled out all of her tricks and was quite the little show off. My boss has heard me say how difficult she can be sometimes, but he said after seeing her be so cute he won't ever believe that she's not always an angel. After lunch we went to my classroom and Rylan shared some brownie bites with my students. She got very shy when they sang Happy Birthday and buried her head in daddy's chest. But man , did she love getting some chocolate. She also fell in love with some stuffed animals on my girls passed down to her. And she is enjoying using the crocheted doll blanket another student gave her. They were tickled to present her with gifts and we had a fun time!

So happy to be eating chocolate!

That evening we had a house full of people for the party. Later I did hear that I'm not much of a host; sorry for that, folks. Most of our crowd was family-and the friends that were present I consider family. In other words, you know where stuff is and you can get it yourself! We had eighteen people (including children) over throughout the night and it was good to see everyone. We didn't get started on presents until after seven and Rylan was getting really grouchy. She was definitely not into presents like she was at Christmas. She did, though, get some great toys that she has been having a blast with! Then we tortured her and made her sit in her high chair to go after cake. By that time she was really over all of the people and events. She was shy during people singing again and dipped just her fingers into her frosting. She did stick her lips right on it once. And about ten minutes after trying to get her eat cake she was asleep in bed! The rest of the evening found people visiting in one room and playing Wii in the other. I think there were people up in the house until around 1 am! Oh, my favorite thing from that night was the "Happy Birthday" plate everyone signed for Rylan. I think we will get it out each year and put her cake on it. The messages everyone wrote will be fun to look at in the future.

Watching Auntie Daunee' play with Aiden

"Am I okay, Aiden?"

Trying to decide which of the Nebelsick Triplets to play with first!

Playing catch with Uncle Tucker

Elizabeth and I and the kiddos-I just can't call them babies anymore!

"Please don't sing to me again!"

"I'll just use my fingers."

Yummy cake

The next morning we got up way too early to head to Rapid and get Rylan's pictures done at JcPenneys. We've tried Sears and JcPenneys and have liked what they did with poses and prices better. This time, though, our daughter just wanted to be on the move and not sit still for anything! I was shocked that we got any decent poses to choose from. Thank goodness we won't have to do them again for a while. I get very stressed out when I don't think things are going well!

Monday Shaun took Rylan to the doctor for her one-year check-up and shots. She weighed in at 20 pounds, 4 ounces and is 28 inches long. She is our petite princess!! We are grateful that she made it over the twenty pound mark so she can turn around in her carseat now. We think it will make a difference for her to be able to see us and the world in front of her. Anyone who rode in a vehicle with us for the first year of Rylan's life was subjected to some pretty awful crying at times, not making for enjoyable rides anywhere!

Let's see...what other things is Rylan doing? She loves, I mean loves her cousins. She and Ella don't always get along--they spend their time fighting over Mema and the small rocking chair from my childhood days. Anything Aiden does Rylan is enthralled with. I am looking forward to watching them grow up together. I have no doubt that Aiden won't let any boys near Ella or Rylan as they get older!

Rylan also loves seeing her friends at church. She uses worship as her own personal "pass me around" time. This past Sunday she made her way from me to her Papa, Mema, Auntie Echo, Uncle Paul, back down the row to Uncle Tucker, then spent time with Gary, Kenna, Ben and Teddie Rose. She was very busy!! As I've said before, she is a huge blessing in our lives and we are so thankful to have her. Each day she does something to make us laugh and enjoy each and every moment. I can't wait to watch her grow and change over the next year!!

Showing off one of the blocks from the Downeys and her new pigtail look!

Reflections!

2009-03-12T22:58:00.004-06:00

In just an hour and a half Rylan Renee' will turn one-year old! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. It's hard to believe that we have been parents to such an awesome little girl for a year. It hasn't always been easy, but God has been faithful to see us through every moment and we are grateful that He chose to bless us with her. I just found a journal entry tonight from October of 2006 where I was asking God if He was ever going to let be a mom. That he is graceful enough to see past my selfish pleadings is overwhelming. He clearly had a plan all along and shame on me for doubting. Shaun and I are going to try and do a John Waller song on Sunday called While I'm Waiting. It was used in the movie Fireproof and the words perfectly describe the journey we have been on. While I did have times of weakness and heartache, above all we sought to glorify God in our wait for a child. And in June of 2007 when Dr. Marshall told me that the clomid had not worked and I would need to see a specialist, I was at peace. We still hadn't received an answer about what to do (see the specialist, give up, look into adoption, etc) when my mom told me she thought I was pregnant. She was right! I love to look at Rylan and let my mind drift back to that morning I saw the words "pregnant" on my first of six pregnancy tests. All there was to do was fall on my hands and knees and cry out "Thank you!" over and over to my most gracious Lord. He is so good to us and we are blessed beyond measure. And now on to pictures of a year ago today and some of my favorite pics since I waited so long to start a blog!

My sisters visiting me while I was in labor. I'm sorry girls-and mom--and Shaun-for being such a poop head! I was mean to everyone and they will probably not be present at another birth!

My first time holding my precious daughter. I still could not believe she had arrived!

I love this picture-I'm cuddling with my daughter and looking young!

Miss Rylan has always adored her daddy!

Rylan's first big trip to the North Shore with my family-June '08

Standing: Daunee', Damion, Shaun & Ry, Kenzie, Echo & Ella, Paul

Crouching: Aiden and Mom, Dad

Rylan sporting her daddy's hat at Hills Alive-July '08

Rylan's Dedication-August '08. We were thankful to have lots of family present!

First Christmas present!!

Last Sunday before church-she's not doing so well at looking at the camera anymore!

We are so excited that we get to celebrate Rylan's first birthday with family and friends tomorrow night (or tonight here in a few moments)! The decorations are all set out and ready to be put up, the cake is waiting in Uncle Tucker's fridge, and the fixings for calzones and salad are waiting in our fridge. Yum! My students have begged and pleaded for me to let Rylan come to school so they can sing Happy Birthday to her. They even offered to have their moms bring treats! I think Shaun is going to bring lunch in for us and then we will have some brownies with my students. They will be thrilled, I'm sure. And all because we love you so much, Rylan Renee'!! Happy Birthday!!

One year ago today....

2009-03-06T17:26:00.003-07:00

...was my last day of work before Rylan came into the world! We knew that Rylan was already around 8 pounds so Dr. Marshall wanted me to be induced on Wednesday the 12th. My gestional diabetes and high blood pressure were making it so that I had to get hooked up to monitors twice a week to check Rylan's heart rate and make sure she was doing okay. I also had to give myself a shot of insulin in the belly every night and check my blood sugars after every meal. After two months of that I was ready to enjoy a "real" coffee or coke or pizza again. And we were most certainly anxious to meet our miracle baby and see if God was going to bless us with a little boy or girl!

Friday evening we went to the hospital because I had a killer headache, which I got frequently throughout my pregnancy. I had experienced one a week prior and the doctor was upset that I hadn't let Shaun bring me in. I can be stubborn sometimes! So I was hooked up to the monitors again but all was okay and I got to enjoy a few days of rest and last minute projects. While we were at the hospital Friday I had the nurse that was with me through delivery the next week. I can't remember her name now but if I ever get to have another baby I want her to be around!! She was awesome. Anyway, here are some pics of a year ago and today!

My last day at school. I was really ticked at Cheryl for making us take a pic-it even made into the yearbook. Rylan was one of eight babies born to a Conestoga staff member during the 2007-08 school year!

The last ultrasound pic of Rylan. I think this was the Tuesday before she was born.

Our little pea pie today! We are so very blessed to have her. I can't believe that she will celebrate her 1st birthday in one short week!!

Busy times!

2009-03-01T21:30:00.007-07:00

Well, it's been two weeks and I have yet to find time to post a new blog. We have been busy! It started with Rylan getting sick. She started running a fever on Monday the 16th so we took her in to the doctor Tuesday. It had been 103 steadily. Every few hours after tylenol or ibuprofen it went back up. They found no ear infection, so they did a strep test which was also negative. Then we got to go to the hospital for a lovely chest x-ray and rsv test. Rylan screamed bloody murder when I was holding her down for the x-ray. It was miserable. My worst moment as a mom thus far. Anyway, those tests also showed nothing. So Wednesday she got to have blood drawn to check for any kind of infection. On Thursday at another doctor appointment we still did not know what was wrong. Finally on Friday morning Shaun sent me a text that said Rylan had broke out in a rash all over her upper body. Another call to the doc revealed that she had roseola! The symptoms pointed to that all along, but without the rash who knew?? I am sooooo very thankful that we have mom to take care of Rylan. She kept her Monday and Tuesday and Shaun was home the rest of the week with her on his days off. I was able to stay at work, which was a hard choice to make but I don't have much time off. I used a few sick days in January when Ry was last sick and am down to 3ish. It's still a long 3 months until school is out so I'm trying to preserve them. I felt like a terrible mom but I am blessed with wonderful support! The high point of all the doctor appointments was Thursday when Rylan showed Dr. Amari her speaking skills. For a while she has had some two-word phrases and recently added a three -word phrase! She says "What's that?", "Who's that?" and now "Look at that!" So while the doc was talking, Rylan pointed at her and said, "Who's that?" Dr. Amari kept talking and just interrupted to say, "Dr. Linda, honey." Then she stopped and looked at Rylan when she then pointed at a poster on the door and said, "Look at that!" The doctor was a bit shocked. Probably not a great sign that she is talking so soon. I can just hear the other teachers at school having to tell me about motor mouth Rylan in class. Not good.

This pic isn't great, but demonstrates a bit of the rash she had.

We are thankful to have her back to her old self again. She lost about 14 ounces being sick and she is already petite. Hopefully she gains the weight back quickly!

Shaun was so busy taking care of Rylan and working his wacky schedule that he still hasn't had much time to mess with the Wii. One night when Tucker (or Uncle Tucker as we call him around here-our neighbor and good friend) stopped by after work Shaun convinced him to try it out. They had a good time and Rylan and I enjoyed watching. Shaun and I have not yet found time to play together. I'm chicken. I stink at video games and am very competitive. Not a good combination.

The next day Rylan was clearly feeling better! My cousin Kaeleigh came to baby-sit while I was at a Women's thing for church and Shaun was painting our bedroom (I will post pics and words about both those things at another time)!

After a long week of work for both Shaun and I, we had the opportunity to make a trip to Sheridan to see Daunee' and Damion and had a great time! I was really looking forward to a shopping trip in Billings on Saturday. So much so that I had a dream on Thursday night about shopping for Rylan. I was going through racks and falling in love with the adorable new clothes. Then I went by Children's Place-my fav place to shop for Rylan-and the gate was down but there were about ten women inside getting to preview a new line of clothes. I was ticked! And then the phone rang and Shaun woke me from bliss!!

The actual trip was almost put off by stupid snow. I am so sick of winter I could scream. I hate it that we have to plan out of town excursions around what is coming out of the sky. And living in Gillette makes one crave getting out of town! We did make it Friday just as planned. Shaun always worries how I will react if our plans change. I like things to always go the way I see them happening in my head! We had a good meal out at a new place in Sheridan that night and headed out bright and early Saturday morning to enjoy a fun day of shopping! Since dad was working, mom decided to ride along. Shaun and I really enjoyed a trip where we got to get cozy together in the backseat of Daunee's Yukon and play with Rylan while she was awake!

After a couple of hours of shopping we went to my Aunt Angie and Uncle Jim's house for lunch. They just retired and moved to Billings from Seattle in November. It's exciting to have some of mom's family closer and hopefully we will get up there to see them again soon! They have a gorgeous house and she fixed a yummy lunch. Food is always a highlight of any trip or moment in my life.

Aunt Angie playing with Rylan. She wouldn't give her up and helped feed her lunch and everything. That was fun.

Rylan and Auntie Nee' practicing walking. She still just takes a couple of steps at a time.

I have an incredible husband. He is so good with Rylan and an awesome daddy. Multiple times during the day he would take off with her so I could get some shopping done alone. I wasn't just shopping for fun and had some serious things to find! We are traveling to Tennessee to see family and friends in early April right before Easter. The weather in Wyoming will probably still require long sleeves but we are thinking TN weather will allow for some short sleeves and maybe capris. I wanted to get Rylan a new outfit or two before we left. And I always like finding cheap cute things that I can wear to school. It was a great day of finds and we ended it by having another great meal, this time at Olive Garden. Rylan had done so well all day. She waves at everyone she meets-even if they aren't looking and says, "Hi!" It's fun to watch people who were engaged elsewhere start smiling and talking to her. She made friends with a little girl who was also from Gillette and born the day before she was! The grandma had a bottle in her hand and Rylan kept signing "please" (instead of rubbing her hand on her chest she just smacks it!) over and over. It was hilarious. And speaking of signing, she does "please" all of the time and does "more" and "all done" as well. It can be a bit exhausting to figure out what she wants when she is saying please and you don't know what she wants. She combines it with "Uh, uh" repeatedly. I guess it is nice that she is telling us what she wants!

Meeting a new friend. Maybe someday they will go to school together!

It is getting a lot easier to be out and about with Rylan. Especially now that we can feed her table food pretty easily. She still prefers to snack more than eat a "normal" meal. She really enjoys getting sneaks of tasty things like cookies from her aunties and MeMa. I just turn away and don't watch!

Playing with Auntie Nee' who has an awesome toy chest with lots of fun things for Rylan to do!

We came home this morning so we could be home for church. Mom had Children's Church and Shaun hasn't been able to attend much with his work schedule. We were back early so Rylan got to mess around with the steering wheel. She thought that was just awesome.

After church we enjoyed a good lunch out with friends. Yep, we spent our life savings eating out this weekend. But every bite was well worth it! And the fellowship was great! We have a bit of a tradition to eat out when Tucker's work schedule allows him to make it to church. And he did buy which was much appreciated!

Rylan cuddling in with Uncle Tucker at lunch. She adores him. He is my saving grace in church when Shaun is gone and my family is busy with the other kiddos. She is always happy to escape my arms and hang out with him during worship. I don't know that he knew what he was in for when he became a part of our family and got the status of honorary Uncle!

This post has taken up most of my evening and I have to work tomorrow! I'm sad that the weekend has come to an end. Our family is starting a Biggest Loser Couples competition and that is supposed to start tomorrow. Good luck to you all but I plan on winning! My husband better be prepared to work his tail off!! And pray that I stay committed to it for real. I would like to eventually have this baby weight off. A year is too long. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

One more pic for you to enjoy...Rylan playing with her scooter thing. She can get on and off pretty easily now!

In training...

2009-03-01T21:24:00.003-07:00

In this very quick little video Rylan demonstrates her mic skills. She has obviously spent her 11 months of life seeing how mommy uses the mic singing on the worship team. It was much cuter earlier when Shaun was playing guitar, but each time she saw me open my cell phone to video she would stop, so I had to start talking and try to ignore her. We have a singer on our hands!

First Post

2009-02-16T20:58:00.009-07:00

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!