New Arrivals

Cayden James Rine

7 pounds, 12 ounces, 20 inches

January 27, 2008 at 4:35 a.m.

Congratulations to Doug & Sarah Rine on the birth of their sweet little boy. We were able to go see him yesterday afternoon & he is simply adorable! Mommy & baby are doing great after a relatively fast labor & delivery. (Lucky girl! ;-)

Ryleigh wasn't exactly sure what to think. She was so excited to get to see "Baby Cayden". In fact, she even wanted to hold him, but quickly changed her mind when it came right down to it. She's still talking about "Sarah's baby" this morning. ;-)

We also want to congratulate Merle & Melissa Hoover on the birth of their daughter, Liliana Mae, born January 26, 2008 at 11:17 p.m. We also visited them yesterday, but I didn't get a picture of her because her proud grandpa was holding her!

Working on the nursery & other news

I haven't posted in a while because, besides being busy, Ryleigh & I have both been sick. Ryleigh still has a lingering cough & I'm still feeling pretty miserable, but I have managed to try to squeeze in some much-needed work on the nursery. Throughout the holidays, I told myself that I would "set aside" the month of January to work on it, because I know things are going to get even busier during February & March. However, much to my frustration, things have not slowed down as much as I had hoped, so I'm trying to get everything done in between doctor's appointments, baby showers (for friends who are due soon), church responsibilities, etc. Anyhow... here's the material we picked for the nursery & the crib bedding that I'm using for my inspiration.





I spent today brainstorming & cutting out coordinating pieces to use on the bumper pads. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, hoping that this project doesn't turn out to be more difficult than it seems. I'll post more pictures as things progress.

Christmas 2007

Thought I would post a few pictures of our Christmas in Kansas with Jeff's family....

Enjoying Grandma's cookies.

Watching while Uncle Joe & Carson play a computer game.

One of the rare moments when Ryleigh & Kaitlynn were getting along. We all went to a Chinese restaurant the day after Christmas. After holding hands to pray, neither wanted to let go!

The results of Ryleigh's Christmas photo shoot. I have not had good experiences with taking Ryleigh to "professional" photographers (i.e., Sears). The last time, she refused to smile for them because she didn't know them. I'm also not impressed with their lack of imagination for poses. SO... I decided that I could do just as well at home. However, this really caused me to get all uptight about getting the "perfect" shot. I have been having a hard time getting really good pictures of Ryleigh, lately, because she has this horrible habit of wiggling as she's smiling for the camera. The result is gobs of blurry pictures & very few that are as clear as I want them to be. Oh well. These are my two favorites.





Carson & Kristin

Ryleigh & Carson had fun making a snowman in the front yard.

Steve & Kristin

Kaitlynn & Ryleigh ride on Uncle Jon's back.

Carson, Kristin & Ryleigh in their new pj's from Grandpa & Grandma. We tried to get all four of the grandkids in the picture, but were not sucessful.

Ryleigh, Kristin & Kaitlynn in their matching outfits.

Nick & his new wife Teri were able to spend a couple of days with us. (Nick has been a good friend of Jeff's since high school, but they hadn't seen each other for several years.) It was really nice to see Nick again and to meet Teri for the first time. She's really sweet & fits Nick to a T!