New Dress

So, I decided that I wanted to try and make a dress for Ryleigh. You all know me well enough to know that sewing is not my thing but I wanted to give it a try! It started out just a thought because my mom has been wanting pictures of Ryleigh and my nephew and neice in white (specifically the girls barefoot in long white dresses). Well there is just one problem ... finding a long white dress that was very simple proved to be a task! I had heard of the pillowcase dress and thought I could probably do that so, I tried it and made a pretty, simple white dress for Ryleigh and going to make one for Bailey. After making the pillowcase dress, I thought that I could probably make the same type of dress out of material so yesterday, on my day off, I made another dress for Ryleigh and have had so much fun doing it! Here are a few pictures of Ryleigh modeling her new dress!

Easter 2009

Easter was a HUGE day for us this year. Our church was in the process of a remodel and after being displaced for 5 weeks, Easter Sunday was our first Sunday back. So ... this Easter was a lot more stressful than most years. Ryleigh had a good time and was very excited about her Easter Basket. We didn't get to have an Easter Egg Hunt thanks to the weather but we had a nice relaxing day at Mom and Dad's. Here are just a few pictures of Rye on Easter Morning. Kevin, me and Rye coordinated our colors but we were so busy we didn't even get to get a picture! Oh well, we like looking at her pictures more:)

Mommy ... I love you!

Yesterday morning was like every other day of the work week ... I was running late rushing around to get ready to leave. Ryleigh walked out into the garage before me and was yelling mommy, mommy ... I quickly said what is it Ryleigh? She said "Mommy, I love you" and so as I continued to try and get out the door I said "I love you too". As I hurried out the door I began rushing Ryleigh along saying hurry, Ryleigh we need to get in the car (in my not sweetest tone, I'm sure). Again, she said "Mommy, I love you" and then she pointed up to the ceiling of my garage and said "there is a little girl up there", I must admit at first I laughed to myself and thought she's about to have an imaginary friend (my niece has several) but then what she said next stopped me in my tracks. She pointed again and said "mommy, there is a little girl up there and she said mommy, I love you". I can't help but think that God was using my two girls to speak to me ... and allowing Rye to see Kynlei, amazing ! As we got into the car, I asked her what the little girl looked like, first she said "I don't know". So I asked what color hair she had and she said "yellow, like me", and then I asked what color eyes she had and she said "blue and she had a white face". Talk about pulling your heart strings!!! I refuse to believe that that "little girl" was any imaginary friend but rather a big sister looking down from heaven ... getting her mommy's attention! My attention you did get ... Little girls, I love you both!

Ryleigh Turns 3!!!

On Sunday, March 22nd, Ryleigh turned 3! I cannot believe how quickly time is going by! It seems like yesterday that we found out we were pregnant with her! I actually remember the night we found out very vividly! We were mixed with every emotion imaginable ... excitement, fear, fear, fear and more fear! What a wonderful blessing and gift she is from God! We have been more than blessed with her in our lives! We had plans for a party for her with all her friends outside. We wanted her to play on her new swing set. Unfortunately, the weather man was wrong and it ended up raining!! We had to cancel the friend party but we have promised to make it up to her!! She had a great day as you can see with these pictures! She specifically asked for Dora ... though, I would prefer just a cute girl party and pretty cake ... the day was for her so ... Dora it was:) For at least 6 weeks when asked what she wanted for her birthday, she said she wanted a pink guitar ... I have NO idea where she got that idea but watching her with it was hilarious!! Here is a picture of her playing the guitar ... I think it might just be natural for her! Look at her stance, I have no idea where she has learned that!! It is certainly not from her mommy or daddy:)

First time to bowl = stitches!

Last September Kevin and I took a trip to Owensboro, Ky. We are blessed to have wonderful friends there that we love to be able to visit. On this trip, Kevin was wanting to bowl so we all decided to go. This was Ryleigh's first trip to bowl and she loved it! We helped her and for the 5 minutes that she got to play she had a great time! Her fun quickly ended when she got away from me to quickly while trying to hold a bowling ball ... she fell with her chin directly on the bowling ball and busted her little chin wide open. It was horrible!! We had to go to a local hospital and she had to have 4 stitches. To this day, she tells the story that she fell on a bowling ball and went to the doctor ... they put a paper with a hole on it over her face and fixed her chin. It's really cute hearing her talk about it ... but it was quite the traumatic event for all of us. This is a picture of her chin ... the next morning. 

Our precious Kynlei

I was once again looking through some older pictures and wanted to post this one. This is the hand and arm of our sweet little Kynlei. Most of you have seen this picture before but I wanted to post this. I remember this day very well. Her sweet little life was so fragile, I can remember us making a comment about how small her arms were and saying that Kevin's ring would be bigger than arm. The nurse standing near by told us that we could place it on her wrist and take a picture. They were so concerned about to much stimulation that we were very nervous but happy to do this all at the same time. Kevin slipped his ring on her hand and we got the picture. At the time we showed everyone and were so proud of that picture but today, it is a priceless memory that we will cherish forever! Kevin continues to wear this ring very proudly, it is something that couldn't be bought at any price!

Ryleigh's Dedication

I love this picture of Ryleigh! This was taken after Ryleigh's dedication service in February 2007. It was a wonderful day when our dear friend Cody Berry dedicated our gift back to Jesus. What an awesome gift God has given us and to release her back to Him in a public setting was very humbling and such a blessing!