BIG Sister, little Mommy

Riley loves to take care of her brother (always has) but now that he is bigger and more independent it's harder for her to hold him. There are a few rare moments when Brenden loves to be held and when he is sleeping he does not care who has him. Riley had helped me put brenden to sleep and held him and sang to him. His favorite song is "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". It's the cutest thing to see them together like this and watch them bond closer and closer.

One last hug before we took Brenden back to his bed.

New Kitchen

With my new kitchen complete Riley and Brenden received a new kitchen too. Thanks to one of the wives down here we were given this nice kitchen set. Not only did we receive the kitchen set but all the dishes and food that was with it. It was very nice to receive this set. Riley was very happy to have her own kitchen to cook in too.

Chef Riley is in the kitchen. She loves to cook for all around.
Here she is cooking and look at her serious face.
Brenden enjoying the lunch that Riley had cooked

Siblings

Riley loves to play with her Trains. She likes to watch the trains race around the track. Thanks to her Dad, she will add about five trains and watch them crash. Not all the trains go at the same speed with or without new batteries. We have one train that seems to run the track. The others I think would move a little faster if we added new batteries. Brenden enjoys playing with the trains too. In fact he does a good job watch and cheering on the trains. Until.............

......he feels the need to crawl into the middle of the track and be the monster who picks the trains up and places them anywhere around him. Sometime he does a nice job at placing them back on the track.
He gets in the middle and turns around and his butt hits the trains and knocks them off the track and thats when Riley gets upset. Tonight she told Brenden, "Why do you have to this very night." She does not like it when Brenden cuts her train playing short.

FUN, FUN, FUN

Riley is learning to take some great pictures. She is learning to hold her fingers out of the way and make sure that the person/thing she is taking a picture of is in the middle of the screen. The first two pictures were taken by Riley. I am so proud of her and her eagerness to learn new things.

Mommy and Brenden
Riley having fun telling stories about her baby doll Molly.
The kiddos enjoying a popsicle on a warm evening.
My baby falls asleep with his puppy dog and shows off his Tigers shirt.

Countertops Are Complete

What a Difference!

So here is the difference between the before and the after. It's huge. I love the new look vs the old. Having an updated kitchen makes me want to be come Betty Crocker. We are still not a complete kitchen just yet. I still need to have my sink installed. So with new cabinets/cupboards and countertops we are a step closer to being complete.

I love my new Kitchen. Its was money worth spending. I love that everything matches. Nothing stands out more then something else. This is my kitchen. More picture when we have completed everything including the painting touch-ups that need to be done and when we have installed the sink. I am sure it will all be done by next weekend. Thank again to my mom and dad for all your help and to mom and dad Ringman for helping with the kiddos while they stayed in Michigan. Your next visit you will come to a whole new house.

Camping with Uncle Poco

Riley has come to love marshmellows. We had just bought some at the store the night before. The next morning Uncle Poco (Jeff) and Aunt Songya came over and Riley has asked to open the marshmellows. Uncle Poco opened them and after eating a few Riley stated that they were camping. Uncle Poco stop the dramatic play for a moment and went to the kitchen to get some "sticks" to roast their marshmellows with. He came our with toothpicks. One for him and Riley. Brenden just watched and received a few from Uncle Poco. The yellow balloon was the campfire. It was cute to watch the three of them get so excited about camping in the livingroom.

Uncle Poco and Riley roasting marshmellows on their campfire

Having fun and Brenden joining in on eating marshmellows too.
Oh no it was HOT! Riley then told Uncle Poco that he has to blow on it to before he put into his mouth. That way it would be cooler.
The kids loved playing with Uncle Poco. He is so funny. He really gets into his role playing. He even acted out the fact that his marshmellow was on fire and had to blow it out with Riley's help. Riley was sure to tell him to be careful.

Growing up too fast!

Today we went to Brenden's 12 month well baby appointment. It was very busy and the doctor to no surprise to me was behind by a good 45 mins. Once we made it back to our room things moved along. First Brenden was stripped naked and weighed. Now for those of you who have seen Brenden lately you know he is no small boy. When the nurse went to pick him up she had to get a second grip on him. She told me that she did not think that he was going to be the heavy. I replied "he is about 24 lbs." Brenden went with the nurse and was weighed and when they returned she shared that Brenden weighed in at ............. 24.7 lbs. Yes that is right my 12 month old is 24.7 lbs. He is a big boy. Next on to his height. Know that he has two short parents I did not have a guess for this one. His height was 31 1/4 inches. He has grown a total of three inches in 3 months. The doctor was floored by how much he has grown. I was surprised but knew he had grown a lot because he out grew all of his clothes. We had our iron checked and found that it was low. This could be from the transition from formula to milk. So we headed to the hospital to have another blood test taken and will learn the results tomorrow or Friday. This is a easy fix. He will be put on iron drops until his levels are higher. His development skills are where they should be along with his language. Brenden is a problem solver and will do something wrong just to see what happens. He follows Riley around and tries to copy her and do what she is doing. For the most part he has accomplished everything with very little help from me or Riley. He is very brave and independent. Over all we had a good check up and will return in a few months for our 15 month well baby.

Crawling when we arrived in Michigan.

Walking independently when I returned to Michigan!

Development growth and reaching a huge milestone inwill they do next?
just a matter of weeks. It is amazing to see my children grow and learn.

Update

Well after having a crazy month of remodeling and visiting family in Michigan we have a few pictures to enjoy. Here is my new kitchen without its countertop. Which will be here in the next couple weeks. After a long wait I can almost you my kitchen to the fullest.

Looks like a kitchen again!

Party Time!

Riley is getting ready for all the birthdays. She could not wait to wear a birthday hat so the night before Brenden's party she was wearing her hat. But when the birthday day came she did not want anything to do with a birthday hat. Surprise, surprise.

Brenden loves Diego so his 1st birthday theme was Diego. He is getting ready to play pin the bage on Diego. It was cute to see him. He knew what to do. I guess when Riley is watching her cartoons he is watching too.

Brenden is pointing out were to place the bage.

Time for Cake!

Brenden was not that interested in his cake. Like is his sister he wanted to use a fork to ear. I tried to show him how to use his hands but that was not happening for him. He loved being the center of attention for his birthday.

Brenden's cousin John noticed that Brenden wanted the M&M's instend of his cake. So to help Brenden eat his cake John added M&M's to the top of the cake. His idea worked because Brenden then enjoyed a little more of his cake.

Grandpa Ringman and Brenden wearing matching party hats. Next year we can add one more Ringman to this picture.

After having such a crazy few weeks in Michigan Brenden has been tired and falls asleep anywhere. Brenden was playing while I was in the shower and when I finished getting ready I looked over and this is what I saw.

He has found a puppy dog that he loves and he goes everywher with him. We are trying to get back on schedule now that we are at home.

Home Sweet Home

The kids and I made it back home after a long visit in Michigan with everyone. We had a chance to celebrate lots of birthdays while we were home. It all started with Daddy's then Grandpa Ringman's, Brenden's, Jackson's adpotion birthday, and then it ended with Uncle Homey's. Lots of fun and good times with family and friends. I have some pictures that will be posted later. I am still trying to get the house put together with the kids and the new toys.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY

Happy 1st Birthday, Brenden!

Over the past 12 months Brenden has grown from a little baby to a cute toddler. He has learned so much. He has learned to walk. This being the largest milestone he has crossed. His language has grown into two and three word sentences. Not that he talks like that all the time. But he says, "GO, GO, GO", "I want", "Bite", "More", and many more but I have writers block. Along with the walking he has learned to stand up after falling. He no longer needs help from stationary item. He is on the move and loves to play with Riley. More pictures of his birthday party will follow in the next couple days. After our well baby visit on the 20th we will learn how much he has grown too.

HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY

Happy Birthday Grandpa Ringman!

We love you. Hugs and kisses.

Love - Riley and Brenden

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY

Happy birthday, Daddy.

Work Continues

We continue with the remodel of the kitchen. It is coming along. We have run into a few challenges as we were setting the bottom cabinets. Since I did not lay a new floor we had to work with the way floor was laid before we bought the house. We the floor was done they ran it up to the old cabinets and then finished it with a quarter round. They did not glue the floor. So we had to do a little extra work to make the new cabinets fit.

All the cabinets are installed.

Today will be the last day for the kitchen cabinet work. We are going to install the range/stove, hood (the vent for over the range), and the dishwasher. Then we will get ready for the countertops. They will be done when we return once again from being in Michigan.

Work Begins

Yesterday was the first day of work. This is what my kitchen looked like after all the cabinets/cupboards arrived early Friday morning. It felt like Chirstmas morning when you have all those packages and you can't wait to open them to see what is inside. Well I could not wait to see what all those packages would look like up on my walls.

Once Home Depot arrived yesterday at around 800 we started to open each and every box. Then is was time to marks the walls and read the blue prints for each cabinet/cupboard. After just an hour of work we have three cabinets hanging. We are off to a good start.
Once the ball was rolling it was all down hill. Things moved along and we had all the cabinets up on one wall well I guess you could say two walls because of the wall with the window.
Picture without the guys in the middle of it.
We are on the move.
After a days work this wall is completed. The crown molding is up and this is what the finished product will look like throughout the kitchen. Countertops will come in after the cabinets have been set. But you all get the idea of what things will look like in just a few short days.