Just because...

Family Outings

Must be spring, the bike came out

Don't try to cut hair at home!

Trick or Treat!

While the boys were away...

Taylor's 1st Haircut

It was a rather messy and chaotic affair... obviously.

Ryley's First Motorcycle Ride

He had a moment of panic... I could tell as they were pulling away. I'm glad he didn't freak out. As I walked back in the door at home he immediately said "That.Was.AWESOME."

Yes kid I know. I remember those moments with my dad (and mom) pretty vividly actually.

Taylor wasn't entirely sure about the skull cap... she kept taking it off.

1st Boat Ride

Taylor took her first boat ride today. She really wasn't sure about this contraption and fell asleep 30 seconds after the boat took off... I guess that's better than crying about it. The second go around she actually stayed awake but didn't react much. We'll just have to keep taking her since she didn't scream about it.

Christmas 2008

Christmas Eve with the Hoke family, I caught Taylor with Grandpa Lyle.

The kids hung out with Grandpa Ron on Christmas morning.

Ryley must have been pretty good this year. Santa brought him his heart's desire.

Taylor wasn't really sure what to think. She liked the pretty paper and ribbons and got some really great toys. Ryley had to help her open a few presents.

Buddies

Rotary Dinner

Every year the local Rotary club has a Christmas dinner with local entertainment and they bring Santa Claus in for the kids. Lyle is a member of Rotary so we always get to go. This year was fun as is every year. Santa Claus is typically played by our good friend Harry.

Shauna and Carl brought the kids down this year too and we got some pictures of all the kids with grandpa.














He always looks so innocent doesn't he?


































This is an okay picture of me, so I guess I'll share.





















This may be the last year we fooled Ryley with Santa. Several days afterward he was still pondering how much Santa sounded like Harry.


















We got lucky. She didn't make a fuss about sitting on Santa's lap at all. Of course we didn't get it, but she smiled after this shot.

Friends

I had the chance to meet up with Keedran and Ellie at Thanksgiving for some lunch. Keedran and I have been friends since childhood and I hope that someday Taylor and Ellie can say the same!

Thanksgiving

Somehow I only managed to get one photo at Thanksgiving. I'm sure the rest of the family has more to contribute. Here's Taylor showing off her new Harley shirt that Grandma bought her. She's 7 months old here.

Halloween

In a sea of baby pumpkins, Taylor decided she needed to be a spider for her first Halloween. She slept through the entire event but she looked cute doing it!

















Ryley was a rockstar vampire this year. We had to cover Taylor up so she wouldn't get terribly frightened.

6 months

It's scary to me that my baby is 6 months old today.

Every day I'm amazed at the things she does or reacts to and yet I want to keep her my tiny baby.

Yes Mom, it is quite a different view from the other side. It's hard to let your heart go wandering about on the outside of your body.

Anyway... my doctor wasn't terribly upset about the solid foods. He seemed pretty okay with it really. He's this funny South African man with a great accent and a decent sense of humor. Half the time I think he's not sure what to make of me.

She weighed in at 17lbs 2oz and was 26.5" long this morning at her 6 month check. That puts her in the 75th percentile. I thought she weighed more the other day but maybe I don't know how to add. I mean I'm sure getting on the scale with her is scientific and accurate. If it's true that she's 2 pounds lighter... maybe I'm 2 pounds lighter. That would be awesome. That would mean I weigh two pounds less than I did on my wedding day.

I digress.

Happy 6 months Taylor.

No, I'm not pulling a Britney here. We were sitting in the truck watching the marching band parade.

This lovely picture is just to show off the two new chompers she has.

PS - Thanks for the great hat Keedran. No, it doesn't really fit her anymore but we love it so she wears it.

Just a dose of...

Carrots

My doctor told me to wait until 6 months to give Taylor solid foods
other than cereal.

Since I'm such a follower of rules, I totally listened to him.

I can't decide if this is a look of happiness or just "I'm totally
full". Either way, she likes food and has since the first moment (at
exactly 5 months). I keep waiting for her to make some sort of face. Any face. She won't do it. I've given up even trying to get a picture.

Rubber Duck Dash

The United Way of Western Nebraska does this thing every year called the Rubber Duck Dash. Basically, you purchase a rubber duck for $5 and they put numbers on it. On the day of the race they dump all these ducks that have been purchased into the river and the first duck across the line wins a car. The duck tally this year was 18,000.

This was my first year attending the event. I wasn't really sure what to expect but they had stuff for the kids and Ryley seemed keen on going. I only included a few pictures of the ducks here but it's an amazing site to see all these ducks come around the bend in the river. I'm pretty sure my 5 ducks were in the back getting caught up in the river bank.

We drug Grandma Linda along to make a morning of it as well. Here she is helping Ryley decorate his gift duck.

They have a theme every year. I'm guessing this year's theme had something to do with motorcycle ducks.

Ryley tends to get food all over his face. I guess with the size of the cinnamon rolls it wouldn't be so hard to do.

Taylor wasn't that into it. The race was cutting into her morning nap schedule.

Here they come around the bend...

Duck wranglers at the finish line.