Ryane's Toy Box

For Ryane's birthday, her Nana Howe and Great Grandpa Endres made her a handcrafted toy box. It turned out absolutely fabulous--they are so talented! We can fit so many toys in it already! Today (Sunday) I spent painting it white and then painting her name on it in purple to personalize it for her. I love that Ryane now has an heirloom that will grow with her. I'm thinking when she is older and done with it as a "toy" box, it can become a storage chest of sort and we can always upholster the top too to make it a bench seat for her room.


Picture Papo took of Nana and Great Grandpa when they were finished with the toy box


Box after I got it painted white


All Done!

Smells so new

We've had an interesting set-up in our house over the last month and a half. I sold our old couch and loveseat to a photography client after I tried to sell it for weeks. So, we've gone without furniture until last week when we moved Matthew's college couch up from the basement for Ryane's birthday party. I already had our new furniture picked out, but I had to order through a local store as they didn't have it in stock. Well, six weeks later, it finally arrived. Happy Late Birthday to ME! :) It looks awesome and smells so new. Ryane is loving having the furniture to climb one - she's still too short to climb up by herself which really frustrates her. But, once she's up there, it's all fun times for her.


This last picture is Ryane trying to follow in her mommy's footsteps. :) Or, at least my shoes. Ryane is really getting into shoes more lately as she is wearing them more. She's trying to put them on when she sees them--hence the picture with my shoes.

Decades gone by

Yesterday was a GOOD day. It was my birthday and I reached a new milestone--I turned the big 30! It's amazing how young 30 can feel. :) I spent the day at work and a nice evening with my family. Matthew and Ryane took me out to eat, then we had a relaxing evening at home. I'm officially 3 decades old and hopefully wiser for it.

On a Ryane note, Ryane wore her new cute Halloween PJs tonight (thanks Aunt Sherry and Uncle Lou). There's something about a little one in footsie pajamas. It makes me want to snuggle with her. However, Ryane is one and doesn't have time to snuggle with her mom--she's too busy playing with all her new birthday toys and perfecting her new found walking skills. I didn't get any snuggling from her last night, but I managed to sneak in some this morning before we got up and around for the day. I think I could snuggle with her for hours if she'd just let me.

I've added another link for Ryane's most current month of pictures. ...to the left..

Humor Day at Work

We are celebrating Customer Service Week here at Birch. Of course Birch has great customer service! :) Anyhow, today is Humor day and it makes me think of this little video. While it has nothing to do with telecom, it does relate to photography and is SO true with some kids. I like to think it takes a special kind of patience to photograph kids. Also as Ryane gets older, she wants less and less to do with mommy with a camera. I don't get it.... :) Here's the video called "What the Duck" I'm sure those with small child can relate.

Anything for Ryane

Move over Martha Stewart and Rachel Ray--there's a new cake decorator in town! OK, probably not, but it was fun to give it my best shot. Growing up my mom always made our kids' birthday cakes and decorated them all up. I have fond memories of my cakes, so I wanted to carry on the tradition with Ryane. After some quick searching online, I found two safari-themed cakes that I knew I had to try to make. The monkey head was actually found on Martha Stewart's website and the Lion on some other. They looked easy enough to make. Overall, I enjoyed making them for her and it's definitely a tradition that I'm going to continue. Next year she just might have a balloon themed party--sounds like an easy cake to me!

Big Year

It's official - my little girl is one year old now! Doesn't seem like a year ago we were all in the hospital awaiting our little girl's arrival. It has definitely been one amazing year full of so many joys and amazing times. One of the best years of my life. We can't imagine our life without her. Ryane is growing into quite the little girl and it's fun to see her personality forming.

Today we had Ryane's big Safari Birthday party with a house full of family. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful loving family members to travel and help Ryane celebrate her big day. I'm adding a few of the many pictures from Ryane's party. She was a trooper and "oh so loved the cake and ice cream!" The birthday party really wore her out, so she went to bed early tonight. All company is gone and the house is quiet once again. Now, if someone would magically show up and clean up the kitchen! :) Oh well, I guess a mom's job is never done, right?!

1 Year Old Family

So many presents and ready to start opening.

Presents double up as chairs at times.

Yummy monkey cake.


Our Birthday Princess

Safari Guide Cousins - Where's the Birthday Girl?! :) They are around Ryane's new toybox that her Nana Howe and Great-Grandpa Max Endres made for her.

Three's crowded!

We ended up having an interesting night last night...or should I say EARLY morning. Matthew was woken up around 1am by weird sounds from Ryane's room. He checked on her to learn she had and was throwing up. Poor girl! :( He came and woke me up and were quite the parenting team taking care of her and changing out her bedding only to realize there's no way we could put her back in her crib. So, back to our bed all three of us went. Two adults and one sick almost 1 year old makes a pretty crowded bed! It took Ryane a bit to get back to sleep. After some crying and whimpering, and getting sick once more, we are all back to sleep. Well, we think Ryane got sleep as Matthew and I were constantly woken up by her moving around, by feet in the side, head in the side, etc. While Ryane laid parallel to the pillows we were left about 3-4 inches each to lay on our sides. Goodness - can you say time to shop for King Size bed? But, this morning Ryane seems all better. Although we are lacking sleep it makes it all worth it with her smiles and funny stuff she does. Here's another try at a walking video. It's much smaller than the last one, so hopefully it works.