Rylee at 8 months

I can't believe how old this girl is getting! Before I know it she is going to be walking and talking! Well, maybe. Right now her movements consists of sitting up and rolling over only ever so often when she feels like it. But I am in no hurry for her to be mobile. I know it will come with time and will make putting her down even harder! But she is such a sweet girl. Some facts about Rylee...
-Her favorite, favorite, favorite thing in the world is her big brother. She loves  him. As soon as she can hear him she is searching for him. She squeals, talks, and reaches for him whenever he gets close. 
-She loves being fed with a spoon. So far she has loved all the fruits and veggies we have given her. Who are we kidding? Look at those cheeks!! Safe to say she is eating plenty.
-She has made huge improvements on her sleep! She now sleeps through the night in her crib (most of the time). She also can be laid down awake in her crib and she will go down somewhat pleasantly for her naps.
-She loves baths. Mainly because Cade is always in there too.
-She is in the stage where she loves to hold her toys and especially toys that are not hers like cell phones and keys. And of course everything gets immediately inserted into her mouth. 
-She is a smiley happy baby who is very much loved to death!

The New Do (for 2!)

For a while Cole has been talking about shaving his head since his hair has decided to not grow as much as he would like. And when I say for a while I mean like since we got married. But we have been a bit nervous and I just really liked his hair. So we put it off. We just thought it would be too hard to part with. Well lately his hair decided to stop growing in certain really noticeable places, like right up front, so it was time. His two brothers have always had buzzed heads so it was his turn anyway. Bram did the honors.

Before (and quite uncombed) :

During (Thanks Bram!)

After:

and then even shorter-ahhh:

Not nearly as strange looking as we thought!! But still needing some time to get used too. Good bye hair! Hello handsome head!

 On the topic of hair, Cole's nephew Tristin, who is 8, has had long hair for as long as he could have long hair. And I mean long long hair. Like Cade was convinced he was a girl even after we repeatedly told him he is a boy. He has been offered anything and everything for him to cut his hair. But no go. So during our trip to Utah Cole told him if he cut his hair he could come out and visit us for a week! The day after we left he cut his hair.
Before (he is in red)
:

After:


We think he looks SO HANDSOME with his new haircut and look forward to having him and his brothers (if they cut their hair) visit us this summer. Yay for short (and REALLY short) hair!

Happy Birthday Cade!

Our little boy turned 3 the day after Christmas. ( I don't think I will ever get over how sad it is that his B-day and Christmas are so close!) He had a great birthday. We started the day with the traditional birthday pancakes-he got a C shaped one. After church he got to open his gift from mom and dad-Cars themed Legos. He loved them. Then later we had a delicious Sunday dinner at Cole's parents house with cake, ice cream and more presents. I think he had a fabulous day!

Some things we love about Cade:
-How much he loves his little sister.
-His concern for other people's well-being. He just wants everybody to be happy and have no pain.
-His adorable voice and the funny things he says.
-His excellence at being observant.
-His obsession with anything with wheels. Oh and candy.
-His crazy and energy filled personality.

Christmas

Between traveling for Thanksgiving and for Christmas we are wiped out!! We LOVED having so much time with family. It is also nice to be home and have things calmed down for a bit. We drove to Utah for Christmas, Cade's birthday and the New Year. The drive there was awful (bad weather mostly) but the drive back wasn't bad. Thank goodness Cade is a good traveler in the car-better than I am sometimes! He loved watching all the trains that we passed by. Perfect entertainment! A little of our Christmas:

 Cade loved loved loved the snow! Anytime we got out of the car he would head over to the many piles of shoveled snow and plant his feet or hands right in it. Cole took him sledding a few times and he loved it. He would even go by himself. Did you notice the color of his snow boots? We needed to get him some so we went to DI (Deseret Industries-Goodwill or Salvation Army equivilent) to get some cheap ones. These were the only ones we could find and they were perfect!! Except the fact they were pink. But we went with it. At the sledding hill Cade saw a little girl also wearing pink snow boots and said, "Hey look!! We're matching!!" We told him they are Rylee's and she is letting him borrow them... ;)

On Christmas Eve Cole's parents took us to the Heber train where we all wore pajamas, had hot chocolate and cookies, met Santa, and sang Christmas songs. It was the PERFECT thing to do on Christmas Eve. It was really fun. Again, Cade and trains....sensing a theme??

That evening we went over to Grandma Ratcliffe's house for good food and good company. Cade had so much fun with his cousins. It was fun to see them interact since the last time Cade saw them he was about 18 months. 

Christmas morning was so much fun!! We of course let Cade sleep in as long as he would so we didn't get started till about 8. Cole's parents and siblings came over to watch the fun. Santa brought Cade a......can you guess... a train and Rylee the classic stacking rings toy. They were both pleased! Cade and Rylee got tons of fun stuff and were perfectly entertained the rest of the trip.

 

Later in the day we went to Cole's Grandpa's house for more good food and good company. Rylee got to meet more new people for the first time including her great great grandma (she will turn 102 this year!).

Later that night we went to my grandparents house for a cousins party. Shan and Matthew were there as well as Michael and Kelly and their family. It was fun to catch up with everyone. We also had a white elephant exchange, snacks and lots of laughing!

We had a great Christmas! Thanks to our wonderful loving families!!