Play Time

Rylie is tackling Jordan which is something she loves to do. Jordan sometimes thinks it's fun, but Rylie ALWAYS thinks it's fun! We love to see them play and have fun together.

Rylie is 1!!!!

Well, she'll be 1 on Monday anyway! Rylie is such a joyful baby, completely living up to her nickname "Smiley Rylie"! She totally knows how to have fun and we love hanging out with her. She's a busy, busy baby and does not know how to sit still or cuddle. She loves to wrestle, though, so that's how I can get my cuddles!

At 1 year old, these are some facts about Rylie:

• Only weighs about 18 lbs (around the 20th percentile--I think?)
• Is still using her baby carrier car seat (we'll get a new one soon, I promise!)
• Loves to clap and dance
• Can wave and say "bye-bye"
• Other words she can say at the appropriate times: ball, mamma, dadda, uh-oh
• Can walk holding onto whatever she can make move (like the chair in the pic below)
• Gets SO excited and crawls as fast as she can to see who just came in the door
• Is more of a mommy's girl than a daddy's (I kind of like that fact!)
• Eats better than I knew a baby could eat (nothing like her big sister). She'll eat anything you put in front of her.
• LOVES bath time and cracks herself up as she splashes as much as she can.
• Still grabs and puts everything in her mouth

Happy Birthday Rylie! You are such a sweet girl!

Easter Egg Hunting

Jordan didn't get to hunt for Easter eggs on Easter, so we did it today. She's got some crazy hair going on, and a huge smile! You may wonder why I don't post more pictures of Jordan, but it's because she won't ever let me take her picture. This smiling pic is very rare!

Good Friends

Tyler and Marie are good friends of ours that are moving from Wichita. This was their last week here, so we had one last party with them and some other friends. We got to spend some time praying for them as they start this new journey. We are going to miss them a ton, but we are also excited for what God is doing in their lives.

Beautiful Marie!

The guys tackled Tyler and eventually gave him a MAJOR wedgie.

Easter 2010

The Neill Grandkids. The Moody kids were a bit moody during this picture:)

The Neill clan.

Ornery Little Cutie Pie!

Rylie is eating big people food and does 100 times better than Jordan ever did! But, I posted this because of the look on her face...especially the last picture! Can you tell how ornery she is?

David's Goodbye

Well, the time has come for David to spread his wings and fly away from our nest. We couldn't have asked for a better roommate and adopted "uncle" for our kids over the past several years! David has become part of our family and we are very sad that he is leaving:( Here's a little history...David moved into the Scott House (that's our house) the weekend Justin and I got married in August 2002. We lived in another house for the first two years of our marriage, while we rented out our own house to a bunch of guys. Then, the summer of 2004, we moved into the Scott House, and became roommates with David and another friend, Evan. David lived here until August 2007, when he moved out for a year to work in the dorms at WSU while he finished his masters. Then, he moved back in August 2008 and has been here since. Here are some pictures of his time with us.

Starting off with the birth of Jordan--she doesn't quite look like she's enjoying this moment!

Much better, David.
Christmas/New Years time when Jordan was a baby.
David celebrating Jordan's baby dedication.
David has been a HUGE contributer to work around our house. He really treats it as if it were his. Here, he's helping Justin build our fence.
Looking up from under the coffee table.
Matt was holding him captive.

Going home from the park almost 2 years ago.
Justin and David together the night (or morning?) Justin left for Iraq.
David sharing his bread with Jordan. David did a great job loving on Jordan while Justin was gone.
Greeting Rylie home from the hospital.
Our first "family" vacation with David and Matt. On the way to San Antonio last summer.
Playing in the closet with Jordan in the hotel.
What a great person to go on vacation with...can you tell how fun he was!

Holding Rylie "Christmas" morning (when our family celebrated the day before).

Holding Rylie during my side of the family's Christmas celebration. I think David has a special bond with Rylie...maybe it's because of the anticipation of her birth while Justin was in Iraq and the scariness of me going into labor before Justin got home. He did a good job taking care of us girls!

Nine Months!

Rylie is growing up so fast! Here is a picture of her one of the first times she pulled up to standing. She started crying because she didn't like that I left the room to get the camera.

Other things she is doing:

• crawling all over the place
• getting into everything! very mischievous little thing!
• moving from crawling to sitting
• eating bits and pieces of grown-up food
• clapping

Sisterly Love

Jordan is the best big sister! She loves on Rylie so well, and Rylie loves her. Jordan is very protective of her, too. Twice Rylie almost toppled down the stairs and Jordan saved her by yelling "no Rylie!" and calling for us. Jordan even started crying after Rylie was saved by Justin (both times). I asked her why she was crying and she sobbed, "I scared Rylie (I'm scared for Rylie)" So SWEET!

There is a downside, however, to Jordan's protective nature. She completely goes overboard! If you know Jordan at all, she is scared of practically everything! Even those little springs that stick out from the wall so the door knobs don't bang into the wall...especially the one in the bathroom. If Rylie gets close to it, Jordan freaks out starts crying and screams at Rylie, "No, don't touch! Don't touch! No, Rylie!" Poor Rylie...Jordan is going to make her unnecessarily scared of things she would have never been afraid of!

Parenting at the tender age of two

Jordan is taking her role as older sister very seriously. Today, Rylie was sitting in her high chair with her sippy cup while Jordan was over playing with some toys. Rylie threw/dropped her cup on the floor...not the first time it has happened in a 10 minute time span. Without any prompting, Jordan let out this long sigh, went over to pick up the sippy cup and said firmly, "Now, don't drop it again...okay. Rylie, don't drop it." A few seconds later, it inevitably fell on the floor. "Rylie," she said with exhaustion, "I said don't drop it. Don't drop it again."

The next time Rylie dropped it, I took the opportunity to train Jordan in some basic skills of parenting:) "You already told Rylie not to drop it, but she dropped it again anyway, didn't she? Since she didn't obey, then we're not going to pick it up for her, okay?" So there it was left, the sippy cup on the floor.