Friends from Ruidoso

For those of you who have more than one child, you know how difficult it can be to capture a good picture of all the children together in the same picture. Jeremy and I have some good friends that live in a beautiful place called, Ruidoso, New Mexico. Our friends, Connor and Kaylee Bryan, are just like us and decided to have kids back to back. Jeremy and I had 4 kids in 4 years. Connor and Kaylee had 3 kids in 3 years.

We tried to get a good picture of our 7 children, ages 5 and under, a few weeks ago when they came to visit, on their way driving through town. This is what were able to get. In the back row are Thatcher and Finn. In the front row are Tripp, who is holding his brother Truett, Seven, and Piper, who is holding Rilian.

We weren't able to capture one picture where all 7 of the children were looking at the camera. Oh well! We tried. They are good pictures, though. And adorable children!

About 3 years earlier, our same friends came to visit us. They only had one child at the time and we only had two. Other friends, Shane and Sara McWatters, also came to visit with their two children. This gave us the challenge of capturing a picture of 5 children, ages 2 and younger. Starting on the left, you have Tripp, who is being held by Piper, Keegan, who is being held by his sister Avari, and Finn. The challenge wasn't any easier a few years ago!Tripp probably weighed just as much as Piper and they both fell over! Piper thought it was funny, look at her smiling.

Finn noticed that Piper and Avari were holding babies and he wanted a baby to hold, but there weren't anymore babies for him to hold.So we let him "hold" Keegan, who was just about as big as Finn was, if not bigger. Finn was so happy!

Rilian's 1st Birthday Party

Rilian LOVES balls! If you have ever played with him, with a ball, you understand just how much he loves balls. He will play for hours with a ball. He will pass it back and forth to you. So, when I started thinking about his 1st Birthday Party, I thought a ball party would only be fitting. Jeremy did a good job making his "cake". He made cupcakes that looked like balls. It was funny to hear Seven call them pancakes. We had to keep reminding him that they were cupcakes, not pancakes. I love when young children get words mixed up! The birthday boy chewing on his toothbrush that his second cousin, Rex, gave him when Jeremy paid a visit to him for some detal work. It has become a toy to Rilian. Don't worry, he does have a toothbrush that we brush his teeth with everyday.
Singing Happy Birthday to Rilian. While we were singing, he saw the "balls" and really wanted one. Do you see him reaching? He could barely wait for us to stop singing!
I don't think Rilian knew what to do with his "ball" at first. He was just sitting there looking at it. He didn't realize what sweetness was sitting right in front of him.I am one who does not like for my baby to have sugar before his or her first birthday. In fact, I have a story to tell about that. I think you will think it rather funny...We were used to dogs before we had babies. We have 4 Siberian Huskies. Well, most responsible dog owners know that chocolate is bad for dogs. This is what we knew going into having babies. So, trying to be good parents, we did not let Piper have anything sweet or chocolate for her first year of life. When it came time to have Piper's 1st Birthday Party, I wanted to have a chocolate/vanilla marble cake for her. Her one year check-up came before her actual birthday party. I asked her pediatrician, "When can she have chocolate?" He looked at me and almost shockingly asked, "You've been withholding chocolate?!?" To which I replied, "Yes." I thought I was being a responsible parent and not giving my baby girl chocolate or any other sweets. I bet that was the first time her pediatrician had ever heard that question. I am sure he had a good laugh about it later on. I don't know. Maybe he put our picture on the wall and labeled it "model parents."

Curiosity takes over....Hmmm...What does it feel like?

And then, into the mouth, like everything a baby gets his hands on.Mmmm...he likes it and must have more!
Let's try the other hand now. I didn't realize Seven ate his "pancake" like this until I saw the picture.
Piper and Finn enjoyed the icing off their cupcakes. Piper and I can share cake because she really only cares to eat the icing. I only care to eat the cake.
Look how messy I am, Mommy!
And a close-up of exactly how messy Rilian was. It was on his face AND his hands AND his arms AND his shirt! But he sure was enjoying it!

Until it started to fall over and land with the icing part down. Rilian was very upset when the cupcake part was up and not the icing. He did not like the idea of not being able to eat the icing. He fussed until I turned it back over for him. I guess he will be an icing kid, like his big sister.

Time for presents!

Can you see Rilian smiling behind the big ball we got him for his birthday?

This was Rilian's favorite birthday gift! And the cheapest one we have ever bought. Look how happy he is!
Rilian had more presents to open after he opened the one containing his ball. We kept trying to get him to just look at the other ones, but he was too interested in his ball. I think he got annoyed with us and turned his back to us. I should have known not to start with letting him open the ball.
One of the other presents was a book with pictures. I pointed to the ball on the cover so maybe he would be interested in the book. No luck...

At least he looked at the book. But he wouldn't dare let go of his ball.

Rilian is 1 year old!

I, just like alot of moms, am wondering how the first year of my baby's life could have possibly flown by so fast! How can my baby boy already be 1 year old? Wasn't he just born yesterday? Believe it or not, Rilian Fre Voss turned 1 year old on February 2, 1010, otherwise known as Ground Hog's Day.


I am not sure why this picture is darker than the rest. I guess the flash, for some reason, decided not to work. Well, here Rilian is on the dragon blanket. It was really hard to keep him on it this time for his photo shoot. I have alot of blurry pictures, that won't be posted, of him. You can tell he was moving, because the lion that he was holding is blurry.

This picture is lighter and he is holding a different toy. I thought since the lion didn't really keep him still, I would try this block. It seemed to work a little better.

A close-up...Look at Rilian's beautiful smile! And all of his hair! Let me reassure you, Piper didn't even have half that amount of hair when she was one. I think it is just mother nature. Maybe she allows boys to have better heads of hair as babies, because usually girls have longer hair when they are older. All my boys had good heads of hair when they were one.
Rilian is not walking by himself. I tried to get a picture of him standing with his toy he got for Christmas, but everytime I walked away and aimed the camera at him, he started to get down and crawl towards me. I had to be quick to get this picture of him sitting there before he started to crawl towards me! He can walk holding on to things. He cruises around our couch alot and can walk behind this toy. He doesn't have very much confidence in standing by himself. I can stand him up and if he doesn't realize he is standing on his own, he will stand for a few seconds. Once he realizes it, he plops down on the ground. Oh well. Each child is different. Piper walked at 10 months. Finn walked at 13 months. Seven walked exactly a week before he turned 1 year old.
Last month, I posted a picture of the curls on the back of his head. Some days he has more curls than others. This day he had quite a bit! I think they are cute! None of my other children had curls.

Gifted and Talented

I am so proud of my little kindergartener! I knew Piper was smart, and not just because I am her mom. But it is always good to hear that someone else can see how smart your child is. I have already bragged about Piper in Pre-K, last year. So, I will try not to repeat myself too much. Sometimes, it is hard not to brag on your children!
When we had the first six weeks Parent/Teacher conference with Ms. Clonch, Piper's kindergarten teacher, she reminded us how smart Piper is. Ms. Clonch started off by saying she didn't have any other words to describe Piper than "marvelous" and "magnificent". I was a proud parent, listening to Piper's teacher describe her. Ms. Clonch said she is the perfect student. She is very attentive. She does her work. She stays focused. She gets along with everyone. Then Ms. Clonch said, "But you already know this, don't you? You're not surprised, are you?" I responded by saying, "Actually, I am." I had hoped that she would continue to be the good student that she was in Pre-K. I am glad that she has continued on this path as a young student! But I wondered how, my Piper, could be that way at school and not at home. Don't get me wrong, Piper is a good child, but she is a "little" different at home than how she is at school. I am very thankful that she is a good student and that she is good for her teacher.


Ms. Clonch informed Jeremy and I that Piper and another student, who happens to be Piper's best friend, get pulled out of class to go read at their level, since they read at a higher level than the rest of the class. I go into more detail about it in the middle of this post.

So in January, Ms. Clonch once again reminded us of how smart Piper is. She informed us that Piper was going to be tested for the "gifted and talented" program. Wow! My Piper, my little kindergartener, is really smart! AND I am not the only one who sees it. You can picture me beaming with pride as you read this :)