HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY, RILEY!!!!

Here we are at Chuck E. Cheese's for Riley's birthday. Riley was a little shy and not too sure about the environment but as you can see she warmed up to the idea pretty quickly. She is not still about an inch too short to climb up this playground by herself so I spend most of the afternoon climbing up with her to help her get to the top. She had a blast.

Thank you Aunt Debbie for the princess cup. Riley is a real little princess.
Here we are playing skeet ball. This was just about the only game that she would play. That could be because Grandpa, Daddy, Mommy, and Uncle Rick were all playing too.

Here we are playing skeet ball with mommy's help. We all had a great afternoon.

The Past Two Weeks

Where do I begin. Our computer went down the night before Ben arrived here in Tennessee and we just received back yesterday 29 February. There is lots to share with everyone. I know you are all waiting to hear how the kids reacted to seeing daddy for the first time but during the past two weeks we had an anniversary, Riley's third birthday and a great visit from Grandma and Grandpa Ringman and Aunt Debbie and Uncle Rick. So here are a few pictures of the time we have shared with Daddy and family.

When I received the phone call from Grandma Ringman telling that I needed to pick Ben up at the airport Riley was already at day care and I was getting ready to take Brenden to the his 6 months well baby appointment. I was very excited and did not know what to do. Should I go and pick Riley from day care so all three of could be at the airport or do I leave her and have daddy go and pick her up at the end of the day? Well I left her at "school" because we were in for a long day with the wait at the airport and then straight to Brenden's appointment. Brenden and I were in the car all day long that day. When we arrived at the airport we made it just in time to see the guys walk through the terminal. Their flight was 30 minutes early and we arrived 30 minutes early to their arrival time. Brenden knew his daddy right away and was not afraid for him. He gave him a BIG smile and hug in the airport and then played together all night long. Ben picked Riley up at "school" and she was surprised to see her daddy. No she did not know that he was coming home that day due to the fact that I received the call after she was "school" that morning. When Ben walked into her classroom she smiled and acted like a little school girl who just received a kiss from the cutest boy in school. She was shy and full of smiles. It was great to see them together. We all had a wonderful time with daddy being home. His trip is coming to an end very quickly. We take him back to the airport tomorrow morning, 2 March. We will be sad to him go again but we enjoyed the time we had together. We will see him again in just a few short/long 10 months.

Computer Problems!

Ben made it home safe and sound, we're enjoying our family time. We had a short visit from Mom and Dad Ringman and Uncle Rick and Aunt Debbie. Just before Ben arrived home our computer crashed and so I haven't been able to post any pictures. It should be back in a few days.

The Waitng Game

Ok so today is February 11, 2008. Today is an important day to the Ringman Family because today is the day that we are waiting to hear from Daddy about the day and time he will arrive at the Nashville airport. Ben in currently in Kawait waiting to hop on a plane to Germany then to Altanta Georgia then finely to Nashville and home. We have waiting a long 5 months for this and cant wait to have him home to complete our family of four.


Knowing that this is just a visit will be hard too. Riley is excited to help daddy off the plan. She does not realize that he will have to go back onto that plan to go back to work for another 10 months at this point. I am hoping that rumors of a shortened deployment comes true but with the Army you don't hold your breath to anything because is can change at the last mintue.


There will be lots of pictures to follow in the up coming weeks with Daddy being home and Grandma and Grandpa Ringman being here with Aunt Debbie and Uncle Rick too. Then next Monday is Riley's third birthday which is hard to believe that she will be three years old. Time will is going fast for us with all that is coming up. Hang in there and we will have some wonderful cute pictures for you all to see and enjoy.

Oh My, 6 Months Old

Look at me I am 6 months old today. I am growing up to be a big boy. Here are some of the things that I have mastered in the past 6 months of my life.

• Sleeping through the night
• Holding my own bottle
• Eating three meals a day
• Eating baby food and cereal
• Playing with my feet
• Learning that I can pull out my binky and put it back
• Rolling over from my belly to my back
• Scooting across the floor on my back
• Sitting up with out support
• Reaching for the toys that I love to play with
• Pulling my Big sister's hair
• Making my family laugh and smile
• Playing in the bath tub - splashes with hands and feet
• Sitting in the bath tub
• Sitting the highchair to eat
• Drinking from a cup and holding it on my own
• I can stand holding on to mommy or sissy
• Crying for what I want and need
• Screams "mama", "ouch", and "dada"
• Laughing and smiling
• Giving mommy and sissy kisses
• Making kissing noises with my lips
• Giving BIG hugs to both mommy and sissy

I am sure there is more that I am able to do but right now these are all that me and mommy can come up with to share. I am growing up fast. I will get to visit with my daddy in just a few more days. We are hoping he will be here on Tuesday morning or maybe on Wednesday. I will share with you my height and weight when I go to my well-baby appointment on Tuesday afternoon. But I know that I am a big boy because mommy had to go shopping for me for some bigger clothes for me. We had a good time. Enjoy the pictures of ME!

6 Months Old!

Ready to eat. Loves to sit in the highchair.
Watching sissy climb up the kitchen chair to see Brenden.
Loves to eat. Look at that Green Bean face.
Showing off his new skill of drinking and using a big boy cup while sitting in the highchair.

Ringman Look-alike Meter

Who would have guessed this when Riley was an infant. She is growing up to look more and more like her mommy. We will have to try this again in a few months to see if there is a difference in the meter.

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family pictures - Search for family tree for free

Ringman Look-alike Meter

Who would have thought. Little Brenden looks like his mommy. I am sure this will change as Brenden grows up and becomes a little boy. We will have to do this again in a few months to see if it changes.

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

The Surprises of a Home Owner

Well let me start with a story. My water bill was higher then normal for the past few months so I called the water company and they told me that I have water running somewhere. So I look around and notice that the water hose will not turn off and that is where the water is running. I dont know how long this has been going on but long enough that it caused me to have a few huge water bills. So I called a plumber and I received on quote that was around 500.00 to replace the outside hydrent. My mouth hit the floor but he was very nice and gave a name of another company to call. I called them and they gave me the quote of 175.00 so I had them come out to fix the water leak. Here comes the surprise. Just last night we had very havy rain and nasty weather that we all made it through safe and sound. The plumber went to go into the crawl space to get to the pipes to replace them and it was full of.....................WATER!!!! The crawl space was flooded with water to the point that we might have to put in a sumb pump to empty it all out. They tried to pumped it out but there was too much water for the littel pump they had on hand. The plumber had to crawl through the water and sit under the house to fix my pipe while sitting/kneeling in all that water.

I am not happy to hear this since we just moved in to this house in April. I am trying to get a hold of the realitor who sold us this house. I am trying to find out if we have some type of warrenty that will help us with all this that has happened. Today has been an emotional over all. The only good news from today is that Ben will be home next week.

Being a stay at home Mom!!

Being a stay at home mom for the first time in three years, is a different experience. One that I like after day one. The things you are able to get accomplished throughout the day is great. I think the house is going to look better now then it has since we moved in here last April. Brenden has adjusted well to staying home with mom too. He seems to be happy and a little more outgoing. This is a huge difference from Riley at this age. She loved "school" and still does. She is still enrolled and we are trying to make it work out. We will see in the up coming months. More pictures of the kids and the family coming soon

In about 6 days. But I am not counting.

COUNTING DOWN!!!

8 DAYS, 8 DAYS, 8 DAYS, 8DAYS, 8 DAYS, 8 DAYS

(But who's couting)

You maybe asking 8 days until what? Well we have 8 more days to wait to see daddy, my husband, Ben. Time is flying. Which is a good thing since we are all looking forward to seeing him. So look forward to seeing lots of new pictures of our family of four in just a few short days.

8 DAYS, 8 DAYS, 8 DAYS, 8 DAYS, 8 DAYS, 8 DAYS

LOVE

Moments like this are worth sharing with everyone around me.

Riley is reading the story of Franklin. We have found that Nick Jr. shows cartoons in the evenings and Franklin is one of those stories so Riley loves to share the new found stories with Brenden. Brenden who also loves books, has learned to sit and listen to Riley "read" her version of the story.

Riley

Mommy and Riley bonding. She loves to take pictures. So we sat down together and took our own picture. She loved it.

Playing in the snow at Chirstmas time in Michigan. She talked about playing in the snow a month before we went for our visit.
Jumping and learning that you can throw snow balls or kick the snow and it would fly. She had a great time. We had snow here in Tennessee the other day but it did not hang around for long.
Playing dramactic play at Nana's. She is wearing her back pack and her new pink gloves.

Brenden

Brenden is learning to use a cup. He has not yet mastered holding it on his own but as you can see he is very close. He loves to do things independently. He is just like his sister. Oh, boy watch out. Two in the same house will be fun in a few months.

Brenden loves to be up where he can get his own toys. The three of us were sitting on the couch and Brenden wanted everything that Riley had so she gave him a few toys and he loved it. He played on the couch for a good 15 minutes before he got tired and fell over.
One of the toys that Santa Claus brought Brenden was this Panda Bear. When he first opened it he was not to fond of it. But now he loves it. Brenden can move the panda's head to make it click and move his legs to make more noises.
He is moving the legs and feeling the different textures too.
Once again we are at the stage that everything goes to the mouth.

Saturday Mornings!!

Riley has got Brenden hooked on watching Saturday morning cartoons. Our favorite channel is the Disney channel with the Higgle Town Heros, Mickey Mouse Club House, and My Friends Tigger and Pooh. She watches these shows every morning before "school" and then on the weekends. I think the pictures explain themselves.

Love to watch my children bond. Riley has been the greatest BIG sister. They just love each other.

SCISSORS

Our first hair cut came for the hands of Riley Elizabeth Ringman at the age of 2 years and 10 months. Yes that is right Riley has master the use of scissors very well. She loves to cut paper into little squares and after I made Brenden a bottle I walked into the living room where she had the scissors up by her head. They were opened and she has running through like you would a brush or comb. I did not think she had cut her hair until I ran my hand through her hair and this is what was in my hand. I was not able to catch it all but most of it is here in this picture. We had a long talk about scissors and what they are used for and what will happen if she cuts her hair again. So you want to know what her hair looks like now. Fine it was not that noticeable. I notice it when her hair is up in one pony more because I can't get it to stay up or out of her face because of the length. I know that Riley learned her lesson because now she tells me that we don't use scissors on our hair. We use them for paper.

News!!!

On Saturday the kids and I had a video conference with Ben. It was great to see him and be able to talk to him in real time. We were at the Military Intelligence building on post. We had 20 minutes to talk. There were three other families that had the same opportunity. This was the first time we had anything like this available to us during deployment. It nice to see him and for Ben to see how much the kids have grown. He could not believe the difference in both Riley and Brenden. He told them to stop growing. It was great to watch Riley react to seeing her daddy. Now she can't wait to go to the airport to pick him up. She thought we were going to go right after we talk to him. I had to explain that we will go in a few weeks and you will be able to give daddy a hug and kiss. She was so excited to talk to her daddy and show him her purse, "lipstick", and ring. She also shared with daddy what she wanted for her birthday. So we will be on a hunt for the birthday gift when he gets home.



The good news is we learned that Ben will be receiving R and R around February 11th. We have been told that he should be receiving 18 days so we will see when the time comes. Ben will be home for our 4th wedding anniversary and Riley's third birthday. It's going to be a great month.

So CUTE!!!

Here is a video of my two children playing at Nana's house. Don't worry no was hurt when this video was taped. Just watch and listen to how happy they are playing together. Brenden loves that his sister will jump on him or around him when she is playing. It won't be long before I hear the two of them jumping and shouting at each other. I am going to enjoy these days of little giggles while they last.

Crazy Weekend!!

It has been a crazy weekend of cleaning house and getting things organized around here. We have lots of children's clothing that we are going through to get rid of in the next couple of months. Riley has about 5 tubs full of clothes that she can not wear any more. I think she has more clothes then any little girl needs at this point. Next week we are going to move on to the toys. Both kids have too many toys. With Christmas and birthdays we need to make room for the new toys. Riley had some many toys from living in Michigan that they were saved and passed on to Brenden who received more toys for Christmas and now we have rattles coming out of our ears. I guess that just shows that my children are spoiled by those who them.

Riley enjoying one of her many books. She loves to read.
Brenden showing us how BIG he is.
Not another picture, Mom.

5 Months Old!!!

Look Who is 5 Months Old!!!!

Brenden showing us that he has found his feet. Look at that smile so cute.
My Big is learning to get into his own toy box.
Learning to stand before we can sit. With the help of Nana.

The things that a little person learns in just a few short months is amazing. Here are a few things that Brenden has learned to do.

He rolls over from his back to his belly.

Holding his own bottle when he wants too.

Eats rice cereal off a spoon and fruit.

Sitting with assistance. Either his bumboo seat or boppy.

He talks with his sister and knows her voice and face.

Plays peek-a-boo with everyone.

Knows how to get his way by crying and smiling BIG.

Brenden is learning to say "dada" and a few other words too. I am hoping that by the time Ben is home on R and R he will be able to say "dada" so Ben can hear him. Brenden is growing up so fast that is it crazy that he is 5 months old all ready.

Siblings Bond

Riley and Brenden bonding on Nana's couch. Riley loves to see Brenden smile. She will talk to her "Big Guy" in her mommy voice that is high pitched and watch Brenden smile and laugh. Here are a few pictures of Riley and Brenden talking and smiling at each other. Siblings are a great thing to have. They help each other through those rough times and push you down when you need a reminder of who is the boss.

The joys of being the mom of these two. This is an every day things. Riley and Brenden learning from each other. Smile, it only gets better.