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 :)

Umbrellas at Granny's

This was another one of those times when you wonder what in the world possesses your children to do the things they do? What went on inside their precious heads to make them think to do this? Yes, I know, it is funny! Jeremy and I left Finn, Seven, and Piper at Granny's house for the weekend while we took the youth group to Winterfest. Granny sent us an email with this picture attached. The subject of the email was "????????????" She said she left the room and when she came back, that is what she saw. I asked her what movie they were watching. She said it was a Strawberry Shortcake movie. I asked because I wondered if it was a movie with rain or umbrellas...no, it was not. They just decided for some reason (who knows), to use their umbrellas while watching the movie. Let me reassure you, it is not because Granny has holes in her ceiling and her roof leaks. That is not the case. Granny's roof is just fine. My precious children are just silly!

Tooth Fairy Pays a Visit

One day, Piper informed me that one of her teeth hurt. I took a look at the tooth that she claimed had been hurting her and do you know what I discovered? My baby girl had her first loose tooth! AND the adult tooth was already coming in behind it! Piper kept wiggling it and every day or so I would check to see how loose it was. I told her that she couldn't lose it while Mommy and Daddy were in St. Louis. I am thankful she and her tooth listened.

A couple of weeks ago, Jeremy wiggled her tooth and decided that it was time for the tooth to come out. So, he got some dental floss and tied it around her loose tooth. Piper was very nervous and did not want Jeremy to pull her tooth out. She was afraid it would hurt. With one quick tug, the tooth came out. The expression on Piper's face was priceless as she realized the tooth was out. It went from a scared and nervous look to an extremely surprised look. We recorded it with our video recorder, but unfortunately my computer does not have the correct connection for me to be able to pull it off the video recorder.

I do have a picture of my beautiful girl's new smile, though. You can see the new tooth already growing in!Piper was very excited that the Tooth Fairy was going to come that night and put something under her pillow. She did not know what the Tooth Fairy was going to leave her, but she was still excited about putting her tooth under her pillow. The tooth fairy left Piper two gold dollars under her pillow. Piper was so proud of those two gold dollars. She thought they were quarters at first. When it was time to go to school, I asked Piper if she wanted her coins in her piggy bank. She said she wanted them in her jewelry box and put under her pillow. She didn't want Finn or Seven to get them.

Piper is already working on a second loose tooth. It should be coming out pretty soon. She is excited to lose another tooth!

St. Louis

This year, NCYM (National Conference for Youth Ministers) was in St. Louis, Missouri. We had most of the day Monday open before the conference started that evening, so we decided to go see the famous Arch.

It was VERY cold that day. The temperatures were in the 30's. If you have never been to the Arch before, there is a very long walk from the parking lot to the Arch. It might not have actually been that long, but with the temperature being as cold as it was and an arctic breeze blowing, it sure seemed like a looooonnnng walk. We walked as fast as our legs would carry us! And for those of you wondering, no, I was not wearing by beloved flip flops. I was wearing shoes and socks, like I had been wearing for the past two weeks, due to the cold temperatures that Texas was having. If you think I am making up how cold it was, look at the Mississippi River. It runs beside the Arch and had pieces of ice floating down it and along the edges!

This is the best picture I could get of the outside of the Arch. It is 630 feet tall. Because of the trees and landscape around it, I couldn't get the top and bottom of the Arch in the picture. I might have had a little more patience if it weren't so dang cold!

There were a couple of these signs inside the Arch at the top.

My handsome husband, me, and my adorable baby boy inside the top of the Arch.

Here are some views out some of the windows from the top of the Arch. Pretty cool!

I think this is the Budweiser Stadium. I should've written it down, because I don't remember exactly. I remember it being labeled as some beer stadium.I also don't remember the name of this Cathedral, but I do remember that it is a really old Cathedral.
Jeremy and Rilian inside the arch of the Arch. You can see the other tourists looking out the windows. Yes...we were tourists.

This is the narrow stairwell we walked up, when our little space-age looking elevator car stopped. We didn't have to walk very far up the steps, but the steps do go all the way down to the bottom. The lady standing there rode up with us. She works there and said she will spend that day at the top of the Arch. I am not sure what she is doing, possibly working a crossword puzzle. Just kidding. However, she let us know when the next elevator ride down would be. I think they were spaced about every 15 minutes or so. The windows in the Arch were small and rectangular. But you could see plenty, looking out.

Rilian loved looking out the windows! He just layed there and watched the world go by.

We decided we had seen enough of the world from the top of the Arch.This is what the space-age looking elevators looked like. They were kind of like a pod. There were 5 or 6 seats in each. It was very small inside. If you have a problem with claustrophobia, I would not recommend getting in one. The ride up and down took about 10 minutes. And you constantly heard creeking and popping noises, with an occasional boom sound, as you rode to the top or bottom of the Arch. It also rocked back and forth. Sounds fun, huh? It made me think of a roller coaster.

When you first walk into the Arch, there is a museum and a couple of souvenier stores. When we came back down from the top of the Arch, we walked through the museum. It was pretty neat. It contained alot of history. This was a boat in the museum. I thought it was really cool, so I took a picture of it. It is made out of buffalo or bison fur/skin. I thought it was interesting how they kept the tail on it. The tail just kind of hung over into the inside of the boat. I am not sure why they did this, or what their reasoning was. However, since I have a baby, I wondered if it was there for something for the baby to play with.