Ryle Family

Caroline is Three!

2011-11-16T11:00:00.000-06:00

Our sweet Caroline turned three years old in August. I know it is so cliched, but it goes by way too fast! We made through all of the twos without a trace of the terrible.

She decided months in advance (probably while we were in Disney World this summer) that she wanted a Mickey Mouse party. She saw a cake similar to the one above when we were browsing Google images, and she loved it! It turned out better than I thought possible with me making it. :)

We had just a few friends and family over to play and eat, and it was a good celebration of another year with our sweet girl.

{Be sure to scroll down to see my personal favorite series of photos -- when the spotlight is on her, she gets so embarrassed and just shuts down. I can almost hear her thinking, "Mommy, they're all looking at me! Can you help me? Please just blow out the candles with me?" Stephanie captured the moment so well!}

Homeschool

2011-11-15T15:59:00.001-06:00

Though our oldest (and thus far only) child is only three, we have been praying about and considering the idea of homeschooling our children. What exactly that will look like and for how long we do it are questions yet to be answered. I am, however, a research queen, so suffice it to say that a lot of reading (both the old-fashioned book kind and the blog kind) has been happening over the last six months or so. I am becoming fully educated on different education philosophies, curricula, programs, and a whole lot more.

Right now Caroline goes to MDO at our church two days a week. She likes going to "school" with all of her friends, and we feel this is an important experience for her since she IS the only one we have so far. Having that not-centered-on-Caroline time away from Mommy has been great for her. We also have been doing "school stuff" (as she calls it) at home some. Since she is only three, I am totally letting her lead in the area of when and how much we do "school." My "education philosophy" for three year olds is that they learn in everything they do! Playing, helping Mommy cook (which we do a LOT), and grocery shopping are all educational experiences.

The curriculum I have been using when we "do school" is Confessions of a Homeschooler's Letter of the Week stuff. The author, Erica, is awesome! She routinely posts new printable, free materials that are just so darn cute. I have been printing and laminating them (Caroline then uses a dry erase marker) so that will be usable with future Ryle three year olds. :)

We started with M for Monkey, and she loved it! She will want to do activity after activity for quite awhile. The Confessions packs involve work on tracing, pattern making, counting, letter sounds, fine motor skills, and whole lots more.

This was S is for Snowman week ( I think I wanted to do this one because it was SO hot then, evidenced by C's sweaty hair):

And who wouldn't want to do "school stuff" that involved your favorite movie? Dressed up as Buzz and working on the Toy Story preschool pack.

Who knows what the future of the Ryle homeschool will look like, but for now we are loving all of the cute stuff out there for three year olds! This is such a fantastic age.

A few other sites I frequent:

Homeschool Creations
1 + 1 + 1 = 1
Mama Jenn
Totally Tots

July

2011-11-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

We love summer at the lake! We also love inviting our friends to my parents' house on the lake. :) Have I mentioned how much they rock? They are pretty awesome.

We kicked off July by having my college roomie Liz and her fam up the the lake house. Caroline and Ava are right at the same age, and they love playing together. Little Ellis got in on the playtime a little more this year as well. We enjoyed going out on the boat, eating, and laughing together. We always have a good time making new memories together!

The next weekend, my two nieces came for a visit. Laura Beth and Anna stayed at my house a few days, and we also went and spent some time at the lake with them. While they were here, we went blueberry picking near my mom's house. We also went to the zoo. I forgot their swimsuits, but they had a blast playing in the "Foam Zone" and fountain regardless.

While the girls were here, Caroline also got a BIG GIRL BED! A month shy of her third birthday, we made the transition. She did great! She has loved sleeping in her BGB, and hasn't tried to escape yet.

We wrapped up the month by flying down to Miami to meet the newest addition to the Ryle clan, Danilo. The whole family was together for a week at the beach, and it was great! We enjoyed relaxing at the pool and on the sand. We also enjoyed all the seafood! Philip and I both really miss that about living on the coast. We made up for some lost time on that trip, though!

What have we been up to?

2011-10-31T21:14:00.000-05:00

I've never been a great blogger. I make no promises on future posts. However, I will give you a glimpse of what keeps me so busy!

I am loving the blessing of being able to be home with this precious child everyday. She is such a fun kid! She is just as quirky as her daddy, and loves to pretend to be a princess one second and Spiderman the next. (In fact, just this morning she was dressed in a tutu and crown, and lifted her wand high to shout, "To infinity and beyond!")

I {hope to} go back and fill in some details of our summer and fall soon.

The Happiest Place on Earth (and Hogwarts)

2011-07-16T16:42:00.006-05:00

At the end of the school year, Caroline and I traveled with my friend Erin to Orlando. The original plan was to spend a week with my college suitemate, Erin (I have two Erins in my life), who lives in Orlando and works at Disney. While there, we would be able to visit with Erin, hit the parks for free, go to Ikea (always a favorite of mine), and spend one day at Universal for the sole purpose of seeing the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Well, shortly before our trip Erin (the one in Orlando) landed a role in a movie and found out she would be in Knoxville filming while we were supposed to be in Orlando. Not to be deterred, we imposed on her delightful husband Bill, who graciously let us come invade their condo for a week, got us into the parks, and even provided a full day of babysitting while Erin and I went to Universal. Needless to say, I am so glad Bill officially joined our suitemate family thorough marriage two years ago. :)

The trip was such a blast. The ultimate character for Caroline was Mickey, and she was so excited to meet him. She had been talking about wanting to go see him at Disney World for the longest time. We didn't tell her until we were in Orlando exactly what we had planned.

Gearing up to head to the park the first day:

She was itching to get a Mickey doll to go with her Minnie:

I was a little concerned that she would be afraid of the characters, but there was no need to fear. She ran right up to each one and gave him a big hug. She also loved all of the shows!

My brother and his family also happened to be at WDW at the same time we were there. We got to spend a day at their hotel pool with them and eat at Boma with the that evening. Yum!

The following day we hit the MK. We met lots of more characters, rode lots of rides, and stayed to see the parade and fireworks.

Our last Disney day was split between Epcot and Animal Kingdom. We did AK with my fam in the morning, which enabled us to ride Everest a couple of times since there were extra hands to watch kiddos.

And, of course, the day at Harry Potter was lots or fun. Visiting Olivander's Wand Shop and eating at the Three Broomsticks was really neat. The best part hands down was the butter beer. Thankfully, they deviated from the book and chose to serve it a shaved ice form instead of warm.

Ressurection Weekend

2011-05-26T06:55:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know, I'm back-blogging! We travelled up to Kentucky to spend Ressurection weekend with (part of) my family. My brother Rob and his wife Michelle live there, along with Callie's only three cousins, Joshua, Laura Beth, and Anna Grace. (We do have two new cousins joining us this year, though!)

First we got to attend the Secret Church via simulcast, which was awesome. We spent the rest of the weekend baking, playing, hunting eggs, overindulging in delicious dinner, and the like.

On the trip up to Kentucky, we pass right through Nashville, so we decided to call our friends Chris and Shelley to have a quick visit with them! They were some of our first friends in Birmingham. Back before any of us had kids, we used to spend so much time together watching football and playing games. Now our little girls love playing together whenever we see them! We enjoyed meeting the newest addition to their fam, Jared.

After staying the night at their home, we took advantage of our McWane membership and the partner program it includes. We visited the Nashville children's museum, the Adventure Science Center, for some playtime before heading up to Kentucky. I love watching Caroline play in these types of places! Thsi one was exceptionally crowded, but still fun.

Cruisin' and the Beach

2011-05-25T16:09:00.004-05:00

We traveled down to Pensacola last weekend to visit with P's family and to go to the BEACH! We had taken Caroline a few times before to Pensacola Beach and Gulf Shores, but only during cold months. Actually, her first trip was in utero when I was 6 months pregnant. I went to Destin with my college suitemates, Erin, Bethany, and Liz (who was 8 months preggo):

And here is her next trip in January, 2009, at 5 months old:

The above trip is when I was accused of cruelty due to dipping her feet in the water, which (as you can imagine) is a bit chilly in January.

Thankfully, she wasn't scarred by the above incident. This was her first summer day on the beach, and she loved it! The water was pretty rough, but she loved going out and being held above the waves (that would subsequently crash into the holder's face, but sometimes you have to take one for the team). She also loved playing in the sand, of course.

Nana and Grumpa got her a pink Mustang convertible. She had quite a time cruising around the neighborhood! We also got several comments from onlookers about how cute she was in it. She doesn't quite have the steering down yet, but we'll work on that. :)

Callie Boo getting her nails painted by Nana:

Grandaddy, Grandmama, Philip, and me (aka Caroline's audience while she drove):

Looking Back

2011-05-18T13:54:00.007-05:00

Today was Caroline's last day of her first year of preschool! Here's a flashback to her very first day:

She has loved going to school this year. She gets so excited in the morning if it is a school day. She loves playing on the playground (what kid doesn't?). Whenever I pick her up in the afternoon and ask her what she did, she always recounts her lunch item by item first. She then proceeds to tell me whether they played in the gym (rainy/cold days) or the playground, and what color car she rode in (red/pink). I was somewhat apprehensive about putting her in this year, but it has been great for her. She started the year as such a terrified, shy two year old who said exactly six words (Mama, Dada, ball, car, "nuk" (milk), and "nana" (banana)). Now she likes to show off her sandals to whomever is next to us in the grocery store (as long as it isn't a large man with a beard) and can carry on pretty hilarious conversations. Here are a few of my recent favorites:

Caroline: "Mommy, I have a baby in my belly!"

Me: "Really? Where did it come from?"

Caroline: "God!"

Me: "Really?"

Caroline: "Yes! I went in my heart and asked God for a baby in my belly!"

Although her speech has drastically improved, she still is a two year old with unique pronunciation abilities. If she is with someone else and they don't understand her, she will say, "I wanna call Mommy," aka Translator via Cellular Device.

Another habit she has developed is the "when I get a little bigger" reference. For example, "When I get a little bigger, I wanna have coffee." "When I get a little bigger, I wanna cut with a knife." "When I get a little bigger, I wanna not sit in a car seat." There's also the "next time" phrase that she throws around a lot. "I wanna ride in a school bus next time." "I wanna eat my dinner all gone next time." "I wanna go see Mickey at Disney World next time." Someone (who shall remain nameless) must use the phrase, "Maybe next time," a lot. :)

She is also quite the music buff. When we finally got smart phones recently, C inherited Philip's old MP3 player. He loaded it up with "her" music and got her a small portable speaker. She carries it around the house and asks for particular songs. Often I don't know which song she is referencing, and she will then tell me the name of the artist so I can play it for her. If she can't remember the artist, she'll say, "I wanna call Daddy on the phone and ask him who sings that song!"

Well, there's a few things I wanted to remember about this year. Maybe one day I'll get it all in a scrapbook. For now, the blog will have to suffice.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T13:17:00.005-06:00

I've never been a huge fan of this particular holiday, but there is something about having a sweet little girl in the house that makes you want to hang pink hearts all over the place. :) Though she was home sick all week, we made the most of it by baking cookies with red sprinkles and painting the aforementioned hearts.

Caroline's class party was today, and she was thankfully well again! She wore this new outfut that I made her (I found the skirt instructions here). So adorable, and not exclusively Valentine's-y, so she can wear it all spring.

Flashback to Valentine's Day 2010:

And 2009:

Tea Party!

2011-01-27T14:58:00.005-06:00

My little Callie is such a girl. Most of the little friends that we get together with are boys, and she puts up with their cars, trains, and tractors, but she loves to do girlie stuff the most. She loves to cook, both in her own kitchen and in mine. She is always bringing Philip or me a plate or cup, saying, "Here ya go! It's ____ (water, coffee, ice cream, apple soup, etc.)."

Our newest imaginative play is Tea Party. Unfortunately, she pronounces party as "potty", so I had to insist that she add the "Tea". Otherwise, I hear, "Mommy! Play potty with me!" :) Those invited to the tea party differ daily, although they always include Mia (her CPK) and me. Today she also threw in Tigger, Hippo, and a toy poodle. We sit, sip tea, munch on goodies, rinse, repeat. So much fun! I am loving this stage.

I adore the felt food that I made as part of her birthday present. It is so fun to browse Etsy for ideas like this one.

Of course, after I brought out my camera to document the oodles of cuteness, she had to find hers and snap a few as well.

And I just threw this one in because, well, she's so darn cute!

October Fun

2011-01-04T07:27:00.005-06:00

Fall is definitely my favorite time of year. I love the weather, the colors, the flavors. In my opinion, pumpkin should be in our lives for more months of the year. :) We had a lot of fun in October, including a visit to the pumpkin patch.

We also had our Sunday school class over for a social. We had a "jump jump" that kept the kids entertained for hours. With the exception of it throwing the breaker at one point and subsequently collapsing on a dozen or so screaming kids, they had a blast. Philip and Caroline also enjoyed having it for a few hours before everyone arrived! I didn't get a headcount, but I think there were about 20 preschoolers here at one time, along with a few older kids and of course the parents. When you have three sets of twins and a set of triplets in your class, it starts to add up fast! :)

We also got to go to Trunk or Treat at our church. It had to be moved indoors for weather, and it was CROWDED! Thankfully our little girl doesn't yet realize that you are supposed to get oodles of candy for Halloween. She was quite pleased with the single fun size bag of M&M's we got. :) She was Gretel, and her friend Ollie was Hansel:

We also had Caroline's class party at school. She loved showing us her room and introducing us to her friends. She has really opened up a lot since starting MDO.

Even though fall is officially over, I'll end with my new favorite pumpkin recipe: Pumpkin Fluff Dip. So easy and so yummy!

High Falls

2011-01-03T20:55:00.005-06:00

In October, my parents and we ventured out for a day trip to High Falls in a nearby county. Supposedly a good spot for a picnic, we picked a day with great weather and headed that way. We were surprised to find a dry creek bed where the Falls usually are. Apparently the drought was worse than we realized. It was actually quite beautiful to see, and we were able to walk right up the the edge of the precipice and look around. We didn't get too close, though, like the man in this article did two weeks later. Oops.

September

2010-11-18T16:37:00.008-06:00

Our September was considerably slower that August, which was a welcomed change! There was a lot of football watching, of course. We have to raise our daughter up right, after all.

We kicked the month off with a Labor Day visit from Nana and Grumpa. We visited the farmer's market at Ross Bridge, where Caroline got to jump (or, more accurately, tentatively stand) in her first ever moonwalk. The weather was fantastic! The rest of the weekend was spent chasing a single poor grasshopper all around our backyard. Grumpa continuously caught him so a smiling two year old could hold him in her palm and watch him "Jump! Jump!" I'm not sure what the average lifespan of a grasshopper is, but I'm sure his was shortened that day.

The next week Callie started "school." She absolutely loves it! She was a little apprehensive at first, but she loved her new book bag so much that she got excited about school. She goes three mornings a week, and it has made such a difference in her speech and shyness. Every time I pick her up and ask her what she did, she tells me, "Eat! Slide! (play with) Babies!" They go to music every Monday, and she loves to show me right away what kind of stamp she has on her hand.

Next on the agenda was a trip down to Mobile for my {canceled} high school reunion. We decided to go down anyway to visit with my brother soon-to-be SIL. We had a blast eating lots o' yummy seafood and grilling out for the game. Unfortunately, Caroline got a fever virus on Saturday, but it was a fun trip nonetheless. We enjoyed visiting with Matt and Amanda and some of her family! Caroline liked playing with Baker, Amanda's cute-as-can-be nephew.

And, of course, there's always time to play with friends, like Ollie!

Potty Training

2010-11-18T15:00:00.004-06:00

I have a lot of past happenings to blog, but here is a glimpse into our latest endeavor:

POTTY TRAINING!

We decided to attempt the crash-course route, meaning we switch to panties and kick the diapers to the curb (except for nap/night). Yesterday was Day One, otherwise known as Potty Party Day! There were new Minnie Mouse panties (no luck finding Pooh or his friends), presents, balloons, prizes, three potty DVD's we had checked out from the library for just the occasion, and a panty cake. I loaded her up with undiluted juice (I don't think she's ever had it before) and salty snacks to induce much thirst. We even tried chocolate milk for the first time, about which she promptly said, "I don't like that."

The morning was a bit confusing for her, and I found myself thankful that we had rolled up the rug in the living room before we started. I think it was also exhausting for her, because she took a four hour nap (much longer than her usual two). However, she woke up dry from nap and willingly used the potty! :)

Today (Day Two) has been a drastic improvement. We've had one accident thus far, and she's letting me know when she needs to go. She even has gone a couple of times by herself and then come to let me know she needs a "prize" (m&m). We may just be daring and venture out to the grocery store tomorrow!

On the down side, my child has no caboose to speak of. We haven't really tried pants sans diaper yet, but I'm thinking we need to be looking for a cute belt that goes with everything.

August

2010-10-23T21:28:00.009-05:00

After we celebrated Caroline's second birthday early in the month, we had a busy
rest of the month! We were able to visit with lots of friends and family to wrap up the summer. (I know that this was a while ago, but since this blog serves in a record keeping capacity that my brain does not function well enough to perform, I'll post it anyway.)

Philip and I took Callie to the McWane Center for her birthday. Yes, she is a genius and can tell you her age through illumination. :) Or maybe I did that and was trying my best to finish before she could mess it up!

The following weekend we went down to Pensacola for a friend's wedding. We got to spend time with Philip's family. Caroline had a blast dancing at the wedding! It was a quick trip, but we enjoyed getting to meet Philip's brother Daniel's girlfriend, Joy.

The next weekend was our annual Suitey reunion, this year held at my parents' house on Logan Martin Lake. The three gals and I have been best friends since rooming together in college. We try to get together at least once a year, but have been fortunate enough to be together quite a few times this past year due to marriages and babies! :) This was the first time we were all four gathered with all four of our husbands. We had such a blast reconnecting, playing on the lake, holding babies, and of course eating too much. We had to teach a few of them what scuppernongs are and how to eat them (surprising, as we are all from the deep South). Caroline likes to eat them skin, seeds, and all!

Shawn and Liz in the tube

Ava stylin' in her boating gear

Bethany and Matt

Little girls tubing with Shawn

Complete silliness

Me, Philip, Liz, Shawn, Erin, Bill, Bethany, Matt

The classic "stairstep" pose!

A few other random occurences around our house:

Caroline LOVES playing mommy, and prefers real babies to dolls. :) Poor Cooper doesn't stand a chance of a moment's peace with her around!

She also like to "help" me cook. Here we are making my FAVORITE banana bread. Her job (which was always mine as a little girl) was to mash the bananas. I had to make sure we had an extra on hand, as these are one of her favorite snacks!

Two!!

2010-09-09T16:20:00.000-05:00

Our sweet Caroline turned two years old last month. This is such a fun age! She is finally talking more and more. She has such a maternal spirit and loves to feed and diaper her dolls, take them for walks in her stroller, and prop them up beside her at the table. She also loves music, and her current favorites include, "We are the Dinosaurs" by Laurie Berkner and "The Popcorn Song" by BNL. Her favorite show by far is Tigger and Pooh ("Eeyore!"). She and Daddy spend a lot of time each day reading book after book; she loves "We're Going on a Bear Hunt".

We had a blast at her party celebrating with family and friends. My dad and I built her a play kitchen, with a lot of last minute help from Auntie Erin, and it turned out absolutely fabulous! It makes me want to remodel mine. Stephanie and I had more fun arranging the pots and play food than two grown women should have. We were practically pushing the kiddos at the party out of the way so we could play.

Checking out her new kitchen.

"Here, kids, go play..."

"On second thought, we can do it better!"

She's taking orders! Who wants ice cream?

Your turn for cake is coming up soon, Cooper!

Congratulations, Matt and Amanda!

2010-08-09T21:37:00.016-05:00

My big brother Matt, his girlfriend Amanda, and Amanda's family (parents, sister, and brother-in-law) came up to the lake for a visit the last weekend in July. I guess we should've known something was up, but Matt surprised us all when he let us in on his plan to propose! He wanted us ALL to go out on the boat at sunset so he could pop the question. (All 11 of us. On a boat that holds a maximum of 12 "average-sized" 150 lb people. Not sure if you've met my family, but we aren't exactly "average".)

Everyone except for Amanda and her mom, Mrs. Jane, were in on the secret. :) He asked my dad to stop the boat so we could get a picture of the sunset, and had Amanda open the camera bag where the ring was waiting. So sweet! It was the first engagement I've been privy to (other than my own, of course).

Congratulations, Matt and Amanda! We are so excited for you two!

The rest of the weekend was spent swimming, boating, tubing, and rock-wall-diving (though I didn't partake in the last!).

My two peas in a pod... Callie has become such a Daddy's girl lately.

Caroline and "May" (Mimi)

Chillin' with Uncle Matt

Someone showed her the boat's horn...

Jumpin' to Aunt Amanda

Matt and Scooter on the tube... it took us awhile to plane off the boat :)

Scooter's going for it!

Summer Fun

2010-07-19T19:14:00.001-05:00

This little water bug loves swimming! She just jumps in, swims to the steps, and does it again over and over. She also jumps off the pier at Mimi in and Pop's, which I haven't captured on camera yet, but is a pretty far jump for such an itty bitty girl! He personality is so shy and cautious in so many other ways, but not in the water! :)

Another favorite: blueberries. We went blueberry picking recently, and she did nothign but eat and eat the whole time. She would put a couple in her bucket, put it up to her mouth, and tip it back to let 'em roll on in! Yum!

Cousins

2010-06-14T08:53:00.001-05:00

We got to spend most of last week at the lake with Caroline's cousins. Joshua, Laura Beth, and Anna were visiting from Kentucky, and her Uncle Matt and Amanda from Mobile. We had such a blast at Mimi and Pop's! The two little ones played very well together, and the "big kids" (Philip included) enjoyed tubing. Caroline LOVES the water! She woke up this morning saying, "Boat! Pop! Mimi!"

Kiddie Music

2010-03-03T13:45:00.003-06:00

I am not a music buff. Philip, however, is. This is no surprise if you know him at all. :) He has a genuine love for lots of kinds of music, though his favorite tends to change through the years. (When we met, it was 80's; just ask him what song we had performed at our wedding. Currently, really twangy Texas country).

Caroline seems to have inherited her daddy's love of music. It has a mesmerizing effect on her. It can stop her in the middle on almost any screaming fit. When we're in the car, I had been playing a kids' album that we downloaded from Amazon. It had 150 songs and was priced at $1.99. Not good quality, to say the least. Ever since Philip was subjected to this music on our last road trip, he has been scouring the internet for GOOD kiddie music.

It actually exists. :) And I LOVE it. (So does Caroline, by the way.) Philip called me from his truck laughing hysterically one day. He had been listening to one of the albums on his way to work. He said, "I can so identify with the song, 'Ate Too Much of My Favorite Food!'" Again, not surprising if you know Philip.

Anwyay, here are a few of our favorites. You should give them a listen on Amazon.

Dizzy by Lunch Money

Snack Time by Bare Naked Ladies (my MP3 player has them listed as BNL!)

No! by They Might be Giants

Family Dance by Dan Zanes

Catch the Moon by Lisa Loeb (lullabies)

2010-03-01T08:19:00.002-06:00

Monday: Chicken with Bell Peppers and Pasta, served with steamed veggies

Tuesday: Crock Pot Venison Chili

Wednesday: Marinated Baked Pork Chops over rice, served with green salad green beans

Thursday: Leftovers Night

Friday: dinner with friends :)

To Do List…

2010-02-22T15:03:00.003-06:00

When I was still writing that darn dissertation, I had a very LONG list of things I wanted to do with my time once it was complete. I was planning to:

read more
blog more
cook more
organize our house
clean more
organize my photos
scrapbook more
sew more
organize my coupons/shopping…

The majority of my list involved organization or doing {insert good thing} more. Well, the time has come to execute said list! I begin with an inspiration from my dear friend Julie, who has also begun participating in MENU PLAN MONDAY, which will actually help to accomplish several list items: organize my coupons/shopping, cook more, and blog more. You see, I have been couponing for about a year now. I have saved our family a lot of money and built quite a substantial food stockpile in the process. The problem now lies in planning meals around what we have on hand. I used to just hop over to my favorite recipe website, allrecipes.com, browse through menu items that had a five star rating and looked like fun to try, and run out to the store to pick up the necessary ingredients. Now I need to look through my pantry and freezer and plan meals accordingly.

A little about meals at the Ryle household: I love to cook. Especially with garlic and onion. :) And lots of veggies (admittedly not P's favorite part). We are trying to eat a little healthier overall. Philip and I both love leftovers. We think most meals taste better the second time around. So I really only cook three or four meals a week, and make enough to eat more than once. And I am trying to use my crockpot more, which is actually easier now that it has a home in my cabinets and is not buried under bags of chips and boxes of cereal in the bottom of my pantry (begin organizing house... CHECK!). Here is my first Menu Plan:

Monday: Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken
Tueday: Slow Cooker Fried Rice (made with leftover chicken from Monday)
Wednesday: leftovers
Thursday: I will be traveling to Mobile with Caroline, so P gets a frozen pizza...
Friday: I am making ahead and taking Chicken Alfredo Lasagna to Mobile to enjoy with the group there

So there ya go! Sounds yummy... and the garlic chicken in the crock pot is already smelling delicious!

Graduation

2009-12-28T13:22:00.009-06:00

UA's Commencement was held on December 12 at Coleman Coliseum. My dad, Philip, Caroline, and my friend Erin were there to watch me get hooded (my mom was helping Mamaw, who has just had a heart procedure done).

My major professor, Dr. Tavan Trent, was there to hood me and a few others.

Five us of math nerds received our doctorates that day!

~Patrick Taylor, Julie Ryle, Karan Thaguna, Berhanu Kidane, and Chunhui Yu~

Afterward, my bunch grabbed lunch and then headed home to enjoy my yummy houndstooth cake Erin made. She is becoming quite the cake decorator!

**Funny little story: Caroline and I had driven to Tuscaloosa the day before graduation to pick up my cap and gown (I procrastinated a bit on that one). We were walking throught the book store, and of course there are elephants EVERYWHERE. Now Caroline may not say any words besides "da da," but she is a big fan of animal noises. The elephant is the one she learned first and likes best. Her elephant noise is basically a spitting sound, and she spit the entire time we were in the bookstore. People were looking at us like she was crazy. All I have to say is, ROLL TIDE!

November 2009

2009-12-23T11:08:00.000-06:00

Another facet to my frugality: homemade laundry soap. Steph and I made a liquid variety (recipe), but I have since learned from my friend Julie that you can make a much easier powdered variety. Oh, well. I have a five gallon bucket of detergent in my garage, and I fill up a few old detergent bottles I had every month or so. This bucket should last me a year, and the ingredients cost $1.61. Worth it.

New Caroline skill we're working on: using utensils. She's really not all that bad at it. She does get tired after awhile and dig in with her hands. How else will she learn? :)

Our friends the Shirleys left Birmingham and the States for the mission field. They are serving God in Kenya! We were honored to go to their commissioning service at Brook Hills the weekend before they left, and were able to spend a bit of time with them at a lunch after. Their Christmas card this year had giraffes in the background. Philip was jealous. :)

Philip's parents and brother came up for a visit the weekend of the LSU game. We headed over to T-town to enoy some of the atmosphere before heading home to watch the game. Caroline loved watching the percussion warm up in front of Denny Chimes. Roll Tide!

October 2009

2009-11-28T20:42:00.020-06:00

(more catching up...)

We kicked the month off by heading up to Kentucky to visit my bro and his fam and go to the AL-KY game. The weather was perfect! We had a good ol' roll tide time.

Cousins!

And then came...

DISSERTATION DAY!!!

The last six and a half years of academic work have been leading up to this DEFENSE. There have been many classes, a few qualifying exams, hours upon hours of research, and this was the culmination of it all. The dissertation title:

A Corona Theorem in Certain Subspaces of H^∞(D).

Copies available upon request. Note first, before you ask for one, that it has nothing to do with beer.

D-day was October 12. All three of us had swine flu. Fun times! It went well, though. Philip and Caroline came over to Tuscaloosa with me, and I presented my work to my committee of five professors. They asked a few questions, which I attempted to answer. I then stepped out of the room while they conferred. Then my adviser Dr. Trent appeared and said, "Congratulations!" And that was that. In that moment, I became Dr. Ryle. And then I went home to care for my sick baby and pack for an out-of-town wedding I was in that weekend. Back to life.

We traveled to Albany, GA for my college suitemate's wedding. Erin found her hubby working at Disney, and he is the perfect addition to complete our group of four gals and now four hubbies. (which, of course, was a very important criterion). I'm so thankful that each of us found guys who get along well, because we have many vacations together in our future!

The rehearsal dinner was a good ol' fashioned BBQ with yummy sweet potato fries served with a cinnamon dipping sauce. Caroline took a spin around the dance floor with the groom! And of course we suiteys had to line up in our signature staristep pose. We are each four inches taller/shorter than the next.

The wedding was gorgeous, as we knew it would be. I was like Central Park in the fall, complete with a coffee bar named "Central Perk" at the reception. Pumpkin spice lattes! Yum. We has a blast being together and celebrating with Erin and Bill!

Caroline trying to love on Ava

We stopped in Columbus, GA, on the way back to B'ham. It was such a cute town! We were only there for a couple of hours, but we hope to go back and check it out a bit more.

September 2009

2009-11-28T20:42:00.000-06:00

(NOTE: Doing some back-posting here...)

We are still waiting to decide what to call this eye color. It looks different at different times, and it seems to maybe still be changing. Most of the time it's a grayish-blue on the outside and brown around the pupil, but sometimes they look green. I guess we'll have to wait and see!

Caroline is working on perfecting her walking skills. We've been on a quest for shoes for her, since she spent the last 13 months of her life barefoot. It is so much fun shopping for a girl!

She is holding off on talking for the moment; she won't even give us a "Mama" or "Dada." You can tell by the look on her face that she is just soaking it all in. Her FAVORITE game is to go around the house, the yard, the store, or anywhere and point to things. She doesn't grab them, just wants to gently touch them. She makes a little "hmm?" sound and expects you to name the object. This can go on for hours. I am waiting for the day when all of this knowledge she is accumulating will come spewing out of her mouth. We'll see.

In my continuing efforts to scale back on costs in our lives and live frugally, I decided to groom the dogs myself. They are $30 each every time we get them groomed, and we had clippers on hand, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. I called in reinforcements (Erin), and we went to town. It actually turned out better than I expected! And we saved $60. Worth it.

We took a trip down to P'cola to visit the fam. It was a quick trip, but we enjoyed the time hanging out together, shopping, and of course watching football. We got Caroline's ears pierced while we were there, and they are too cute! She looks so girly now. I love it. She cried for just a minute, but we were able to distract her by the jumpy-bungee thing they had set up in the mall and by the puppies in the pet store.

Orlando

2009-09-10T09:04:00.005-05:00

I headed down to Orlando Labor Day weekend to spend it with my college suitemates. Erin is the last of us four to be getting hitched, so we had celebrate suitey-style! The bridesmaids, (Liz, Bethany, and I) planned a BEAUTIFUL Tiffany-themed lingerie shower with Erin's sis, the MOH, Hayley. We all four live in different cities, so it was interesting to plan a shower completely on Facebook (our FB thread has over 100 messages). Anyway, there was a lot of chocolate and frillies involved.

The bride and her bridesmaids.

Bethany made the yummy cake...

On Sunday, we headed to WDW (where Erin works). We hit ALL FOUR PARKS IN ONE DAY. I didn't even know that was a possibility. We headed to AK first, and rode Everest 3 times.

"The Sleeper" on Everest

After a mishap with forgetting where we parked and a nice security guard helping us out, we headed to Studios. Tower of Terror, Rockin' Roller Coaster, and Buzz Lightyear...

Erin taking part in a street performance with Cynthia Bloom...

Then on to Epcot (looking a little worse for the wear). We rode Spaceship Earth and then toured to World Showcase, with dinner at Tutto Italia (yum!).

The bridal party (plus Liz's baby) crammed in a phone booth in England.

And finally we made it (exhausted) to MK! We got a Dole Whip pineapple float, watched the parade, and then the most hilarious viewing of Wishes I have ever experienced! We sat in the back behind the carousel, and there were fireworks on either side of us, and we were all whipping our heads back back and forth with every BOOM. I wish I has video of this! We walked away with a little whiplash and aching sides from laughter.

The Dole Whip...highly recommended!

Which way to look?

left...

right...

These are some of the best gals in the world, and I cherish our friendship of (small gasp) 9 years. I'm so glad we all four make it a priority to spend time with each other each year! Looking forward to the wedding in October!

Birthday Party

2009-08-17T20:03:00.004-05:00

(This is a month overdue, but I'm putting it out there anyway...)

We had C's birthday party at my parents' house on Lake Logan-Martin. It was a great time of celebrating this past year of having her here with us! It's hard to remember what life was like before we were three...

My friend Bethany helped me decorate the cakes for the party. I am fairly creative, but cake decorating is just something I've never really gotten into. I think I like it! We made on BIG cupcake and several smaller (though still bigger then normal-sized) cupcakes. I LOVE buttercream icing...yum. :) They turned out even better than I had hoped.

Of course there were presents...

At her one year check-up, she weighed 17 lbs 11.5 oz. Still hangin' in at the 5th percentile! What a little munchkin she is. Who would've thought Philip and I would have such an itty bitty thing? One upside is that we've gotten a LOT of wear out of her baby clothes since she stays in one size for so long. :)

Some things about Caroline at one year (so I can scrapbook it all after the dissertation is done):

-She finally learned at 11.5 months to roll over. Being a reflux baby, she didn't spend much time flat on the floor, and just never had realized that she could!

-She is a GREAT sleeper. She had been sleeping through the night since 8 months, but was SUCH an early riser (usually 5:30 am). Since she learned to roll, she has been sleeping until 7:30! I think the ability to roll over and sleep on her belly was the turning point. :) She naps twice a day for 1.5-2 hrs each, and goes down for the night by 8:00.

-She is a GREAT eater. She doesn't love her veggies, but tolerates them until she realizes there is something else better to be had. We try to start lunch and dinner with a veggie before we reveal any other food. She does love anything dairy and all fruits. She does NOT like to be fed, however, and wants to feed herself.

-She LOVES her paci...a battle to be fought after the dissertation is complete.

-She is so close to walking, and can stand for 5 seconds or so on her own.

-She is definitely very musical, and has a distinct twitch (which we call her dancing) when any music comes on. It's a head-to-the-shoulder twitch, and she also does it when she someone first walks into a room, when she sees a toy she loves, or when you hand her her sippy.

-She LOVES her sippy! Weaning has been easier than I thought it would be, and we are almost done breastfeeding, which I am both happy and sad about.

-She loves books. She will sit one the floor and "read" for quite awhile, turning page after page, book after book. She also loves dolls; she will hug and pat them. So maternal. :)

Such a sweet baby! We love you, little girl!

One Year Old!!

2009-08-17T11:38:00.004-05:00

Our sweet Caroline turned one year old last weekend! This year has really flown by. I'll put up the pictures from her party soon, but here are some photos that Stephanie took of Caroline at Aldridge Gardens. She truly does beautiful work!

Crawling and Cruising

2009-07-18T09:44:00.002-05:00

She's crawling and cruising all around now! Her first birthday is coming up so fast. I'm loving every minute of this!

Adopting Two!

2009-07-11T19:31:00.003-05:00

I recently realized that I had not blogged about our newest adoption decision. We have decided to adopt two! They will be siblings under the age of five. We are hopeful that this will take place next year, but international adoption is so unpredictable.

We had originally tried to go on "the list" in Colombia as wanting EITHER one OR two, but were told that we had to choose one or the other. This was when we were pregnant with C, so we felt unsure about two! So we went with one. A few months ago, we decided that we did indeed wish to adopt two. Something about actually having Caroline here took away some of the uncertainty. Sibling groups are harder to place in adoptive homes, and there is such a need for adoptive families for them. As such, the wait is shorter (our wait for one infant kept lengthening and lengthening, and would currently be 2-3 MORE years).

So before too long Caroline will have two siblings, and we will be a family of five. We couldn't be more excited!

The Happiest Place on Earth

2009-07-10T21:40:00.001-05:00

After our weekend in Miami, we drove up to Orlando for more fun in the sun with the Sumrall family. We met my parents, brother Rob, sis-in-law Michelle, and their kiddos Joshua, Laura Beth, and Anna. We had six days in the park, and we had a blast! We did Disney five years ago with this same group (minus two kids), and we had every bit as much fun as we had the last time! The experience was very different having Caroline with us. We usually go, go, go from park opening to close (including Extra Magic hours). This time we had to head back to the room before the fireworks a couple of nights, although we did see Fantasmic. This little girl actually decided she wanted to nurse and go to sleep with all that racket going on! Caroline absolutely loved all of the stimulation, colors, and characters! And she really enjoyed any and all shows we went to, especially ones with music. It's great having grandparents with you on vacation, though, so we could enjoy the "adult" rides. Everest may have replaced Rockin' Roller coaster as my favorite ride. That important decision is going to take some serious contemplation, though, so I'm not ready to commit just yet.

Meeting Mickey and Minnie

Mimi made matching outfits for all four grandkids

Check out the precious Minnie bow! Thanks for the idea, Steph!

Our FAVORITE princess!

We love Aunt Belle!

Callie spent a lot of time being strolled around...we love our Peg!

It's a comfy napping place...

Fast Pass is key to fitting in all of the rides. We actually had four at one time...that may be a record.

The whole fam on the Boardwalk where we were staying.

The Boardwalk at night

Meeting Piglet at the character breakfast

Callie's first time in the pool. She LOVES the water.

If you ever eat at Whispering Canyon, be sure to (1.) tell them you are VERY thirsty and (2.) ask for ketchup.

Sunny Miami

2009-07-09T19:22:00.002-05:00

We traveled to Miami in June to visit with Philip's fam. His brother Daniel lives there, and his parents and we were all able to meet up for a long weekend. Caroline did great on her first flight! We stayed at a nice hotel across the lagoon from Daniel's condo. We got to hang out with Daniel's girlfriend Naty and her two beautiful boys. They are so adorable! Sebastian and Carlos loved reading to Caroline.

While we were there, we went to a Brazilian steakhouse and an Argentinean steakhouse, as well as a delicious seafood restaurant in Southbeach. We also went on an air boat ride in the Everglades and a cruise one evening in Bayside. We packed a lot in to the little time we had together! It was our first time to Miami, and we really enjoyed the city. It was a great place to visit, and hopefully we will get to go back soon!

2009-07-02T22:24:00.002-05:00

My reasons for not blogging:

1. Caroline - she keeps me busy!

2. Doctoral dissertation - I think I may actually finish this one day relatively soon! After little Miss C, this is what I spend the majority of my time on these days. Hopefully not too much longer!

3. Couponing - I am officially addicted to saving money. As far as addictions go, it's not a bad one to have.

4. Did I mention Caroline? :)

On Adoption and Orphan Care: A Proposed Resolution

2009-05-20T09:01:00.001-05:00

A proposal by Dr. Russell Moore

Springtime Happenings

2009-05-15T08:33:00.002-05:00

Just an update on what's been going on in the Ryle house this spring.

We traveled down to Foley for my Mamaw's 80th birthday. A lot of family was able to come, and it was great to catch up with those we don't see often! We got a photo of Mamaw with all five of her children, which hasn't happened in probably decades. Happy birthday, Mamaw!

While down on the coast, we also got to visit with the Ryles. Caroline had never met Philip's Aunt Shannon, Uncle Bill, and cousin Lauren (first time I was abel to meet Lauren as well!), so we enjoyed spending some time with them at Bebe's house. Caroline loves Bebe (Philip's grandmother) - she just laughs and laughs at her!

Here is Callie in her beautiful Easter dress with her beautiful Easter basket (both made by Mimi - thanks, Mom!). We were able to celebrate Easter by having my parents and Erin over for lunch.

Philip's family came in April to visit with us and to go to the Bama spring practice game (A-Day). We enjoyed visiting with Nana, Grumpa, Tio Daniel, and Tia Naty. Naty had never experienced Bama football before, but she has now been indoctrinated. :) Hopefully they can one day come to a real fall game!

(The Ryle boys look so goofy in this pic because they have a tradition of all standing on their toes to appear taller. However, when they all stand on their toes at once, it doesn't have the desired effect!)

We also went down to the neighborhood lake to attempt to catch a "giant" catfish that they saw when they were visiting last August when Caroline was born. The catfish was either sleeping, avoiding us, or has been caught, as all we saw were turtles. Next time, maybe, we will have better luck.

Thanks, Ryle fam, for coming to see us! We can't wait to see you in Miami in a couple of weeks.

We also have been enjoying having my parents so close by (and the fact that they now live on a lake)! Dad's new boat is awesome. We've been out on it several times, and I even took the jet ski out for a test ride a few weeks ago. Caroline is not super thrilled with riding on the boat. The life jacket she has to wear is so big on her! She looks very uncomfortable. I think that she is just going to have to tolerate it this summer, and maybe next summer she will enjoy boating more. But I can't wait for it to warm up so we can really enjoy the lake! I hope Caroline doesn't take for granted the fact that she has one set of grandparents with a lake house and another set of grandparents who live near a beautiful beach. I foresee a lot of swimming in her future.

Philip's birthday was last weekend, and we went to the Birmingham Zoo together to celebrate. It was Philip's (and Caroline's) first trip there. It was a beautiful day (not too hot), and most of the animals were out and about. We even got to see the new rhinos that live there! We enjoyed spending the day together to celebrate Philip. Happy birthday, Sweetie!

Nine months

2009-05-14T13:26:00.006-05:00

Today was Caroline's 9 month checkup. She weighed in at a whopping 15 lbs 4.5 oz and was 27 inches long. She's hanging in there at the 5th percentile! A little bit about our baby girl at this stage:

She is such a great eater. She still loves her milk, but also really enjoys any solids we offer her. There really isn't anything we've offered yet that she's refused! She does prefer fruits to veggies (what baby doesn't), but she's amiable to the veggies if you alternate bites. At this point she is eating three meals a day, with about 8 oz at each meal. I still make the majority of her food, unless Publix is having a BOGO sale and I have a matching coupon. :) She is pretty good with finger foods, though she gets tired of feeding herself after a few minutes (unless it's Cheerios, which she'll eat her weight in) and wants you to step in with the spoon to finish it off. Oh, and the poodles are thrilled now that she's getting finger foods! Ellie has scored herself a few baby biscuits by waiting patiently below.

She's not a mover quite yet. As a reflux baby, she spends minimal time flat on the floor. This has led to a lack of rolling, scooting, crawling, etc. She pretty much sits (which she did at 4 1/2 months) and plays. She's almost ready to pull up. I think we will skip crawling and go for walking. :) (As you can see, Ellie really loves Callie!)

As for sleeping, she goes through phases. Some weeks she is sleeping all night and taking two two-hour naps, and other weeks she is only napping 45 minutes at a time and waking at night to nurse. Who knows. I love her long naps when I get them; more time to work on my research! The end is in sight!

As much as we love our pediatrician, Dr. Dudgeon, we have seen far too much of him during little Callie's life. It seems like we are always having to run tests for strange problems. My sis-in-law Michelle is a pediatrician, and she can attest to how many times I've called her with "The doctor found such-and-such. He doesn't think it's a anything, but we're running this and that tests to make sure." Michelle commented to me recently how all of the supposed problems we've tested for are common pediatric problems that she sees all of the time in her practice, but that it was unusual for ONE baby to have them all. Every incidence has turned out to be either nothing or something much less than suspected and easily treatable. We are so thankful for that!

Most recently was her leg, which she was refusing to bear weight on. So we went to the pediatrician two weeks ago for him to check it out. Unfortunately, she also had a fever and high white count, so off we went to the pediatric orthopedic surgeon to make sure she didn't have an infection in her joint or hip. Thankfully, there was no infection (the white count and fever were just a run-of-the-mill, unrelated-to-her-leg virus), and the doctors suspected that she had a buckle fracture in her lower leg, which would heal by itself without any intervention over the next couple of weeks. We went back this week to x-ray it again to check for new bone growth to confirm this diagnosis, and that's what it was! She's all better now, but she sure likes to keep us on our toes. :) We have no idea how an immobile 8 month old who doesn't even really roll over fractured her leg. I never thought I would be writing "first broken limb" in her baby book! We're just thankful it was nothing more serious. Dr. Dudgeon, we hope to not see you for another three months!

Savings Galore!

2009-04-27T15:03:00.004-05:00

This weekend's shopping at CVS, Walgreen's, and Rite Aid:

Total value of purchases: $354.93

Total spent: ($0.24)

That's right ... I was PAID $.24 to get all of these goodies. I lament over all of the toiletries and cleaning supplies that I have paid for these past years! Philip finds it quite humorous that I balk at the idea of getting something merely "free" these days, which usually means you have to pay the sales tax. I want it FREE free!

Check out Southern Savers if you want on board the savings train. It's a great blog!

Oh, and if anyone needs a glucose meter, I have a few to spare! (As long as Walgreen's is going to pay me to buy them, I will!)

Rockin' with Daddy

2009-03-27T07:31:00.003-05:00

That's one way to rock your baby to sleep. Here's another:

This is Philip playing Rock Band with Caroline. She loved it! And she fell asleep after about 15 minutes. Who falls asleep when they're rockin' out? :)

I have lots more pics I want to post, but we at the Ryle house have been busy lately! I'm still working on my dissertation whenever she naps (which thankfully has evolved into two regular, 1 1/2 - 2 hour naps). My newest endeavor is couponing. (Yes, I used that word as a verb.) Thank you, Stephanie, for introducing me to a new hobby that I can use as a tool in my never-ending project of PhD procrastination! Seriously, though, I was always one who would clip a coupon I saw if I thought I might need it, and I ascribed to the philosophy of "never buy anything unless it's on sale." I thought I was frugal. Boy, was I wrong! These couponers are serious! I pretty much only shop at Publix, Walgreens, and CVS. So long, Wal-Mart! I shoot to save at least 50% on my groceries and at least 80% at the drug stores. You can get pretty much any toiletry item free. My best shopping trip yet was getting $205 worth of groceries for $56 at Publix last week. Be warned, though; it's addicting! So far I've gotten my mom and my friend Erin on board, and Steph and I convinced our friend Shanan to give it a go.

Anyway, an update on Caroline: She is now 7 1/2 months old. She is still not rolling over, thought she is trying to pull up to standing on her own. We went back to the doctor last week to recheck her weight. She was 14 lbs 4 oz, which is still exactly on the 5th percentile curve. We're happy as long as she stays there and doesn't drop again! She loves to sit on the floor surrounded by toys and play, play, play. And she loves attention from the poodles (though I'm not too fond of all of the poodle kisses she's been getting!). She is just changing so fast! I'm loving every minute of it.

Six Months (a little late)

2009-02-24T16:00:00.003-06:00

Caroline was six months old on February 8th. I can't believe it! She is sitting up like a pro and finally rolled over for the first time the day before she turned six months, though she hasn't done it since. :) We went in for her shots last week, and she weighed in at a not-so-whopping 13 lbs 6 oz. She's itty bitty! That's about the 5th percentile. She's dropped down to the 20th percentile in length (25 inches). The doc said she's probably just petite (hmmm...have you seen me or Phil?), but ran some blood test just to be sure nothing was amiss. Having shots is bad enough; having blood drawn from those tiny arms was the pits! After a couple of failed attempts at the pedi's office, we ended up having to go to Children's South and let the nurses there do it. They were great!

Edited to add: All tests came back normal! Praise the Lord!

We just started solids, and she loves them! So far she's had rice cereal, sweet potatoes, avocado, butternut squash, pears, apples, and bananas. She likes them all, but pears are definitely her favorite! Yum! I'm making her food and freezing portions in ice cube trays. So easy and cheap! Maybe these extra calories will help her pack on some pounds...or ounces!

Stephanie photographed Caroline at her home for her six month pics. They turned out fabulously! She even taught me some of her editing techniques in Photoshop. Thanks, Steph!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T20:32:00.000-06:00

Trip to Pensacola

2009-02-13T12:57:00.004-06:00

We made a visit trip down to Pensacola to see Nana and Grumpa a couple of weeks ago. We had a very fun and busy weekend! We drove down Friday morning without even having to stop the entire 3 1/2 hours...hooray! We got to hang out with Grandmama and Grandaddy (Philip's grandparents) at Nana and Grumpa's house and eat a yummy dinner together. On Saturday, we drove out to Pensacola Beach so I could enjoy a nice birthday lunch at a REAL seafood restaurant. (Oh, how we miss the fresh seafood...) It was delicious! The dessert was awesome: banana cheesecake rolled in a tortilla, deep fried, rolled in cinnamon and sugar, served with vanilla custard swirled with caramel sauce and strawberries on the side. Yowzers! :) After lunch, we took Caroline out on the sand to have her first beach experience. The weather was perfect! She liked the sand, though she was not too happy when I dipped her feet in the water. Well, it was January, after all, and kinda cold. :) We then stopped by to visit Bebe, Philip's grandmother, who was able to make Caroline laugh for like ten minutes straight without stopping. Really. We have video evidence. Of course, we wrapped up the day with a little shopping. :)

Talking and Spitting

2009-01-26T15:54:00.006-06:00

Caroline has become (OK, always has been) a very vocal little creature. She loves to sit and chat with you or with her toys. She has recently perfected the art of blowing raspberries, which is baby talk for spitting all over you. For those of you who know Philip well, you can imagine how pleased he is with this new trick of hers. I sure think it's cute, though! Gotta love it!

Sitting up

2009-01-12T21:44:00.002-06:00

Our little girl thinks that she is just getting so big now! She started sitting up by herself while we were in KY for New Year's. It's opened up a whole new world during playtime! :) Now if only she would just learn to roll over... Oh, well. She'll get there soon enough! We don't want her growing up too fast (and definitely don't want her walking at 8 months like her Daddy...yikes!).

New Year's

2009-01-10T22:21:00.001-06:00

We traveled to Cecilia, Kentucky to my brother's house for New Year's. They moved back to Kentucky right before Caroline was born, and we had yet to visit them at their new home. It is always such a beautiful drive! And we only go through one large city (Nashville), so traffic isn't bad. We had a good time visiting with his family and my parents. We ate a lot of yummy food (Rob is an EXCELLENT cook) and played a lot of Blokus, a great strategy board game. There was also a Wii bowling tournament, which Rob won, just barely beating Joshua. It was a great trip, even though we had been hoping for snow while we were there! Maybe next year!

Philip holding a swaddled, sleeping Caroline

Joshua tickling his baby cousin

Laura Beth making us some yummy chocolate covered pretzels

Our sweet niece Anna

Christmas

2009-01-09T13:20:00.005-06:00

In five years of marriage, this was our FIRST Christmas to celebrate in our own home. It was wonderful! Philip's parents and grandparents came up for a few days, and my parents joined us as well for Christmas dinner. Caroline loved having all of the extra people around to spoil, I mean, hold her! And Philip was able to accomplish his biggest goal, getting his Mom, Dad, Grandmama, AND Grandaddy to play Wii Fit. We have photographic evidence! :)

Caroline's photos

2008-12-21T19:02:00.005-06:00

We recently had a photographer friend, David Shirk, take Caroline's pictures. They turned out so great! You can check them out here. Just enter your e-mail address, and then the password "unplug" (all lower case). Enjoy!

Cookies and Dancing...

2008-12-18T21:15:00.016-06:00

Debbie Cox invited the Sunday School gals over to her house to teach us how to decorate some fabulous Christmas cookies. Stephanie and I had a blast learning from the baking master! These were some very labor-intensive cookies. No break and bake here! None of that gel-like icing in a tube with some sprinkles on top! We are talking homemade icing in icing bags. They turned out so great, I didn't want to eat them! Philip, however, had no problem doing so. I am looking forward to more baking lessons from Debbie! If you've ever had her cooking, then you understand.

We recently purchased Dance Dance Revolutions for the Wii, and the Allums came over to play this week. Sadly, both Casey and Philip were better than Stephanie and me. :( Who knew I was married to a man who can dance? OK, really he can't dance; we've discovered that DDR isn't anything like the real thing. It is a bit of a workout, though! We are just starting to leave behind the beginner level and move onto basic. (OK, Philip is... I am stuck on beginner.) I can't even imagine the difficult and expert levels! We have accidentally started a round or two in the expert level, and we can't even begin to do it. I don't know how the twelve year olds in the mall play this game! It's fun to try, though!

How is it that Casey looks so normal in all of these photos. and Philip looks like a dancing maniac? :)

Four months

2008-12-09T22:05:00.002-06:00

My baby girl was four months old yesterday. We had her pediatrician appointment today, which went well. She got her vaccinations, screamed for a second, and then zonked out in the car. She was sleeping so soundly that I was able to go to Michael's and Publix without her waking up! She now weighs 11 lbs 13.5 oz, which is about the 20th percentile. She is 24.25" long, which is about the 50th percentile. She is pretty much sticking to her growth curves! She is still such a petite little thing. She started wearing 3-6 month clothes at Thanksgiving, and is still in size 1 diapers. I'm glad we're in the 3-6 month sizes, because we have a ton of them! :)

Fauxhawk

2008-12-01T22:28:00.005-06:00

Caroline's Auntie Erin gave her a bath last night, and she apparently decided that my sweet little baby needed a more exciting hairdo. Rock it, baby girl!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T17:47:00.023-06:00

We had a great time with my family at Thanksgiving. My parents recently moved to Pell City, which is about an hour away from us. We love having them so close! We had a good time together eating (of course), playing Wii, and hanging out by the lake. I managed to get everyone together for a family pic, which is a feat in and of itself. My college suitemates Bethany and Liz came for a visit on Saturday, along with Liz's husband Shawn and daughter Ava. Ava is six weeks older than Caroline, and we want them to grow up being buddies! And it goes without saying (though I will type it anyway) that we enjoyed the game on Saturday. Roll Tide!

My bro Rob and his youngest, Anna

Our nephew Joshua

Our niece Laura Beth

After this photo session, I picked Caroline up and quickly realized that Matt's (very large) dog had recently peed in this pile of leaves. :(

Caroline and Ava

My brother Matt with Tonka~~~~~~~~Roll Tide!

I've been tagged...twice!

2008-12-01T13:08:00.005-06:00

The first one comes from Stephanie ... I'm supposed to post the fourth picture from the fourth file on my computer. It's of my niece Anna Grace when she was about 4 months old...she was such a chubby cutie!

And here is a photo of her from Thanksgiving at Mimi and Pop's house last week...still such a cutie!

And the second tagging comes from Shelley (a little over a month ago, but better late than never!). I am suppossed to name six things that make me happy. Here they are (in no particular order):

1. Hearing Caroline laugh at her Daddy.

2. Reading my friends' blogs!

3. Eating all of the delicious fall foods...pecan pie and pumpkin fudge! Yum!

4. Getting mail (obviously not bills or junk mail, but the real deal). Yesterday I got a postcard mailed by my college suitemate Erin from Spain! :)

5. Mornings with Caroline...waking up to her cooing, and then nursing her while enjoying a cup of coffee.

6. Taking a nap on a rainy afternoon ... our back porch roof is right outside of our bedroom window, and it is so soothing to listen to the rain beating down on it.

She's quite the talker...

2008-11-25T21:28:00.010-06:00

How cute is that?

Hello to all the faithful that continue to check my blog despite the sparsity of the posts. :) Let me update you on what's been going on in our lives...

Caroline is growing and changing too quickly! Slow down, baby girl! She started laughing this past week, first only at Philip, but I eventually got her too as well. The only thing that has made her laugh so far is beat boxing. It reminds me of that episode of Friends where Emma will only laugh at Baby Got Back! Oh, well. It's cute nonetheless. I've yet to capture it on video, but hopefully will one day soon.

She absolutely loves her exersaucer. This girl likes to sit up where she can see what is going on. She also likes her vibrating rain forest bouncy seat, but doesn't like her swing! What baby doesn't like a swing? Now, she'll sleep REALLY well in her swing, but she has to be already swaddled and asleep before you put her in it. Otherwise, she just fusses right away. And she doesn't like her car seat, either. She MAY sit in it when it's on a grocery cart at the store, but I usually end up having to take her out by the end of the trip. She's mostly OK if you are moving, but that means you have to shop without stopping. Plan out your grocery list in the order that the items appear on the shelf! Keep moving! Hope no one gets in the way! Especially those people who seem to have all day to consider the many types of cereal available, or if they want two cans of soup or three. And then there is the meltdown at the checkout counter. Thankfully the employees at Publix are very gracious, and will often unload my buggy for me while I hold her. They actually recognize her now! I thought that the upside of the pumpkin seat was that you could leave them in it and tote them around more easily. I should just bite the bullet and put her in the Bjorn when we shop!

Here's Callie in her Halloween costume. What a cute punkin'!

And here are Caroline and Auntie Erin enjoying a football Saturday. Caroline is mesmerized by anything on TV, especially colorful, action-packed football games.

This is the only nap she has even taken not swaddled or in someone's arms, and it lasted all of 20 minutes. Cute, though! I've never seen her asleep without looking like a cocoon! All of the grandparents call it her straight jacket, and want us to stop with all the swaddling. :) If they want to come hold her for all of her naps and all night, go right ahead! I am just thankful that I have a baby that sleeps through the night (usually)!

Pensacola Trip

2008-10-21T17:32:00.009-05:00

Life here in the Ryle household continues! Caroline is finally gaining weight; she was 10 pounds at almost 10 weeks old when we were at the pediatrician last week. Her cheeks are getting chubbier by the day! We have now discovered she has a dairy sensitivity, so no more dairy for mommy. I am not going to complain, however, because she is pretty much sleeping through the night every night now. She goes down about 8:00 pm or so. I wake her to feed her one more time around 10:30 pm, and then it is straight back to bed. She then sleeps until 6:00 or 7:00 am. This has been going on for a week or two, and I am loving it!

We visited Philip's family in Pensacola this weekend and had a lot of fun introducing Callie to friends and family. Philip's best friend from high school, Jonathan, recently moved from KY to Gulf Shores, and he and his family came over to the Ryles' house on Saturday to visit. We got to meet their youngest child, Levi, for the first time, and see their older two kiddos all grown up. Philip, his dad, Jonathan, and Josiah had fun playing football in the front yard whild Kai cheered them on. Then everyone headed home, and we watched the Bama game (of course). Caroline wore her adorable elephant outfit that her Nana got for her. Roll Tide!

Two months

2008-10-09T20:55:00.007-05:00

Wow, how the time flies! Our baby girl was two months old yesterday. We are having more fun with her everyday, watching her expressions and seeing her little personality develop. Let me be the first to say, I think we have a little Philip on our hands. She is looking (and acting) more like him everyday. :) She's definitely her daddy's girl!

The picture below is set as the background on my laptop. It makes me laugh out loud whenever I see it. She actually gives me this look a lot; she is too funny!

FIREPROOF

2008-09-26T08:00:00.002-05:00

Tonight, Fireproof premieres in theaters. It stars Kirk Cameron and the lovely Erin Bethea (my college suitemate). By the same group that made Facing the Giants, it's about a struggling marriage between firefighter Caleb and his wife Catherine. They are on the brink of divorce, and he learns how to "rescue her heart" and try to win her back. Go support it on its opening weekend!

She's smiling!

2008-09-25T19:41:00.002-05:00

Caroline started smiling at us this past weekend...it melts my heart! Now I get more than just blank stares when I talk to her. After awhile, though, the pouty lip comes out!

I know it has been awhile since my last post. We've had quite a few experiences, so let me try to catch you up. Three weeks ago, we ended up in the ER at Children's (along with about 7 or 8 handcuffed young teens...still not sure what they were doing there) because Caroline had been throwing up all afternoon and was refusing to eat. There was something concerning on her x-ray, so then we were sent to have an upper GI done a couple of days later. She did great during the procedure; she loved the bottle of barium, and then she slept through the series of x-rays. It turned out that there was no blockage, but we did discover that she has acid reflux. Now she is on medication, and it's like she's a different baby! She is so much more pleasant and content now. We had no clue that she had reflux, because she never did (and still doesn't) spit up hardly at all. Also, she is finally catching up in the weight gain department. She was just back to her birth weight (6lb 13 oz) at 3 1/2 weeks, which was concerning, but she is making up for lost time now that her tummy isn't hurting. She gained 14 oz two weeks ago and 10 oz this past week! The beginnings of fat rolls are forming on her thighs, and her cheeks are getting fuller. :) So even though the whole fiasco was frightening, I am thankful it happened!

Ryle family visits

2008-09-25T19:35:00.005-05:00

A month ago, Philip's family came up to visit. It was a fun weekend, with lots of Wii playing, and fishing in our neighborhood lake (who knew there were fish in there?), and of course a lot of eating! Oh, and cuddling the baby. :)

And a lot of football viewing ... It was the weekend of the first Bama game, and Caroline got all dressed up for the occasion. Roll Tide!

We're so glad the Daniel and Natalia could come up from Miami to meet Caroline!

Uncle Daniel and baby Callie

Daniel and Natalia decked out for the game

Family Visit

2008-08-29T19:30:00.012-05:00

This past weekend my brothers, sister-in-law, nieces, and nephew all came to visit with us and meet their new niece/cousin. It was a very short visit, but packed with a lot of activity. There was plenty of Wii playing, of course! It's always fun to watch other people hula hoop on the Wii Fit. And Uncle Matt gave Joshua a BB gun; we all enjoyed watching the guys target practice in the back yard (while trying to keep the poodles and 17 month old Anna out of the line of fire). Thanks for coming to visit, family! We enjoyed the rare chance to all be together!

Anna, Laura Beth, Joshua, and Caroline ... all four grandkids together for the first time!

Philip, Laura Beth, Matt, and Rob playing doubles in tennis.

Like mother, like daughter ... Michelle and Laura Beth playing soccer on the Wii Fit.

Uncle Matt getting some snuggle time with his niece.

Joshua and Laura Beth holding Caroline for the first time.

Week One

2008-08-15T11:00:00.014-05:00

We've had fun at home this week with Callie. Philip went back to work on Wednesday, so it's been me, baby, and my mom for the past few days. There's been a lot of typical eating, sleeping, pooping, holding, crying, etc., etc. I love all of it! She's just so tiny and precious.

Actually, she's so tiny that we had to go to the Carter's outlet yesterday to get her some newborn outfits. She has a ton of 0-3 month stuff, but I didn't get much newborn clothing because the doctor kept saying she was going to be pretty big. The day before I was induced, she estimated 8 1/2 - 9 lbs. Ha! It was nice to get out of the house and out into the world. Caroline slept the whole time, which was great. And now we have lots of cute stuff to dress her in! There will be no shortage of photos of this little girl. :)

In the pics above, she is wearing one of her new outfits. I was glad when I saw they had their winter stuff in; it's really what she needs since we keep our house pretty cool. Philip was having fun mimicking her facial expressions...silly Daddy!

My mom is headed home today. We'll miss you, Mimi! It has been WONDERFUL having help around the house this week. She was going to stay through the weekend, but I am feeling great and we thought it's be nice to have a weekend with just our little family. The remaining weekends in August will be full of family coming to visit and meet our precious baby girl! Besides, she has to get home and pack since she and Dad will be moving to Anniston soon...yea for having grandparents close by!

Ellie and Maggie have done really well with the baby. Actually, Ellie thinks that Callie is hers. She is very protective of and concerned about her. She needs to know where she is at all times, and comes to get me if Callie is crying. I'm glad that transition has been a smooth one; I was worried about how our spoiled dogs would react to having her here!

This little girl has the longest fingers and longest, skinniest feet I have ever seen on a newborn. I guess she is going to take after her momma in that department! At least I already know where to special order shoes and long pants from. :)

We're home!

2008-08-11T19:24:00.013-05:00

We are home now with our family of three (plus my mom who is thankfully staying the week to help out). What a wild ride! The whole experience has been absolutely amazing. We came home Sunday afternoon, and it was nice to be able to relax without having someone want to take your blood pressure or draw blood every couple of hours. We did miss the hospital nursery on our first night home, but I know the sleep deprivation will pass!

Caroline had her first appointment at the pediatrician today, and she is doing great! She is nursing well and loves to be swaddled. She also loves her paci and her swing.

Here are some pictures from the past few days. Keep checking back for more ... I am going to try to be a better blogger now that I have something to blog about! :)

Our precious Gift with all of the pink gifts we got at the hospital

Caroline with her paci...thanks Shanan for the scoop on the cute personalized ones!

The new happy fam

You can't see it too well here, but the dress she wore home from the hospital is the same one I came home in.

Nana and Callie get some snuggle time

Grumpa with his new granddaughter

You can see our silhouette in the window

We're all ready to go!

**************************************************

Introducing Caroline

2008-08-08T21:38:00.012-05:00

Caroline Brynn was born today at 1:35 pm. She weighed 6 lbs 13 oz and was 20.25 inches long. She is healthy and happy, and we are thrilled to have her here with us!

Momma

Daddy

Nana

Mimi

Pop

Grumpa & Nana

Auntie Erin

And waiting some more...

2008-08-05T11:16:00.009-05:00

Well, we are now officially 5 days late, with no signs of Caroline wanting to make an appearance. We have an induction scheduled for Friday, so she's coming this week whether she likes it or not! It seems that we are going to have a stubborn little girl on our hands. :) The picture above is of me at 40 weeks and 2 days.

In the mean time, I am just trying to keep busy so I don't go crazy waiting! The nursery is now finally complete. My mom and I made all of the bedding and other stuff in her room. It turned out exactly like I had hoped - feminine, but yet not like someone sprayed the room down with Pepto Bismol. :)

Our friends the Mareks came into town this weekend for a visit. We had fun at the Allums' house cooking out and playing Wii. I gotta say, Phil and I are big fans of the Nintendo Wii. Our favorite games are the Wii Fit and Mario Kart. One highlight of the evening was seeing 2 1/2 year old Claire beating her dad Rhett at Wii Fit Soccer. Way to go, Claire! It was a fun evening hanging out with old friends...we miss you, Mareks!

Still Waiting...

2008-07-29T16:31:00.002-05:00

Well, there's not too much to report right now, but I thought I'd update anyway. We're still waiting on Caroline to decide to make her appearance, but she seems quite comfortable where she is for the time being. I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday, which will be my due date, and we will most likely discuss induction dates for next week. We're still hoping she decides to come on her own, though! I'll post when we know something!

37 Weeks

2008-07-10T19:33:00.003-05:00

Here is a picture of my giant preggo belly! Caroline is growing and kicking a LOT. She is quite the active little baby. Everything is going well. Three weeks left! (Hopefully, anyway...) We're putting the finishing touches on the nursery; I'll post some pictures when it is done!

We finished up our birth/parenting classes at the hospital last week. Philip practiced diapering a baby doll...too bad the real thing doesn't lie there perfectly still like that! The following picture is him wearing the "Empathy Belly." I'm not sure how much empathy you can have from wearing it for about 60 seconds. I told him he needed to lie down and then try to get up with it on, but no such luck.

Spoiled Puppies

2008-06-14T19:31:00.003-05:00

I'm afraid that little Ellie and Maggie are in for quite a shock when Caroline arrives. When Philip and I were working in the nursery today, we looked over to find that Ellie had claimed Caroline's Moses basket for herself. After all, until now every bed that size was meant for her! What are we ever going to do with these two spoiled poodles?

On The List!

2008-05-15T11:26:00.002-05:00

I heard from our adoption agency this morning, and we received approval from ICBF (the Colombian children's welfare agency) on April 29th! So, we are officially on THE LIST. Our approximately 30 month wait begins now. Praise God that they didn't ask for any more info from us, as they have been doing of most families lately! We're one step closer to Caroline's little brother or sister! :)

Happy Birthday, Philip!

2008-05-13T19:18:00.004-05:00

For Philip's 30th, I surprised him with a weekend in Atlanta. He has been wanting to go to the Georgia Aquarium since he heard that they had whale sharks there. He has been fascinated with this particular fish since childhood, and wanted to see one in person! So I kidnapped him from his parking garage at work on Friday afternoon, and off we went. We also visited the World of Coca-Cola, which he had never visited. For any of you that know Philip at all, you know that he is quite the Coke drinker, so he enjoyed his visit there as well. He tried all of the 64 soft drinks in the Tasting Room, and had a bit of a tummy ache after. :) It was a great weekend! It was wonderful for the two of us to get away together one last time before we become three!

27 weeks

2008-05-06T20:45:00.005-05:00

This is me at 27 weeks. The belly is growing! I failed my 1 hour glucose test last week, but thankfully passed the three hour test yesterday. Yea! Everything is going along well.

This week is exam week, and then I am done! :) I had decided at the beginning of the semester to play a game with my students. I decided to never tell them that I was pregnant, and to wait and see how long it took for one of them to be gutsy enough to ask. Well, no one ever asked. Now, I know I never ask ANYONE if they are pregnant, even if it is extremely obvious. And I am their instructor, with complete control over their grade in the course. So I guess I can understand their hesitation, but come on! I even walked around the classroom while lecturing, rubbing my belly all the while. Oh, well. The game ended up being no fun.

Anyway, not too much else going on in the Ryle household right now. We'll keep you updated!

Halfway there and counting!

2008-03-14T14:17:00.002-05:00

Yesterday marked 20 weeks...halfway there! I can't believe it. It seems to be going so quickly! I'm sure the larger I get (and the hotter the weather gets), the slower it will seem. Now, Philip and I are just having fun preparing for Caroline! My in-laws are coming up today to help us fabric shop, and then I am headed to Mobile for the beginning of next week (yea for Spring Break!) to shop some more with my mom. She and I are going to be making all of the baby bedding. I'm sure we will also be picking up fabric to make diaper bags, Easter baskets, baby slings, or anything else that can be sewn/embroidered. We are a bit ridiculous, I know.

Oh, and somewhere in there I am going to be finishing my dissertation on the Corona Theorem in H-infinity-sub-K space. (What'd she say?) For those not in the know, that is the space of functions whose kth derivative vanishes at 0. AAAGGHHH! Then I can be a stay-at-home mom with a PhD. :)

And her name is...

2008-03-10T08:40:00.003-05:00

We have chosen her name! Caroline is THE name that I have always wanted to use for my first daughter, probably since I was 10 years old. However, when we began discussing names, Philip came up with the name Callie. I had never heard him mention it before, but he REALLY loved the name and was pushing for it. Well, we were then informed by a friend that she has heard Callie be used as a nickname for Caroline. And there you go! Both of our favorites in one name. So, we will call her Caroline, but Philip's special-daddy-nickname for her will be Callie. We can't wait for Caroline Brynn to make her appearance!

It's a pink baby!

2008-03-07T11:50:00.002-06:00

Well, Philip and I got to see our little munchkin yesterday via ultrasound, and it's a girl! The doctor said that everything looked great. Actually, she said she looked like she had the brain of a mathematician. :) In the picture above, she's looking right at the "camera." I hope that this is an indication that she will pose for lots of photos! We are so thrilled to be having a daughter. No, we don't have a name yet...we'll keep you posted. :)

We're on our way!

2008-02-27T14:23:00.003-06:00

We got word from our Social worker Sarah yesterday that our dossier had been sent to Colombia. Yea! Now it will take about a month to be translated, and then we will hear in the next couple of months after that if we have been accepted, or if they need more info from us. And THEN we are put on the waiting list! The average wait right now for an infant in 30 months, but you never know what will happen when you are dealing with international adoption. So, we are preparing ourselves for up to a three year wait, but it could come much sooner! I'm excited to meet the child/children that God has chosen already to be a part of our family. :)

17 weeks, 3 days

2008-02-25T08:15:00.004-06:00

Here is of my growing belly! I had a checkup last week, and everything is going well! We scheduled our ultrasound for March 6th. We will know boy or girl in two weeks! :) I can't wait!

Life continues...

2008-02-17T20:35:00.004-06:00

Well, not too much exciting is going on, but I am updating for all of you avid blog-readers our there. (As an avid blog-reader myself, I know how frustrating it is to visit a blog and see the same post at the top for weeks in a row. To all of you who visit our blog, I apologize for the lengthy periods of inactivity; I'll try to be more prompy with my posts!) In the adoption arena, we are SO close to sending our paperwork to Colombia. I am picking up the last piece of the puzzle (our physician's letters) tomorrow, and am taking all of our paperwork to Montgomery to get apostilled on Tuesday. For those of you not familiar with the terminology, an apostille is a verification of a notarization. Then, we can send it all to Sarah, our case worker in Tampa, who will forward it to Colombia! I will be so excited to get all of it sent off and get on "the list." The Colombian officials could ask for more papers or clarification of papers we send, but we are praying for a quick approval. Once we are approved, the wait is estimated at 2.5 years. And then baby Ryle #2 will be able to join us! :) It's very exciting.

Other than that, life continues as normal. I am 16 weeks now, and am starting to actually "show;" I'll have to post pics sometime. Hopefully we will find out in coming weeks if Baby is a girl or a boy, which we can't wait for. I need to start shopping! :)

Our News!

2008-01-15T14:35:00.001-06:00

Well, if you haven't heard yet, we're pregnant! Just shy of twelve weeks. So here's the story...

As you know, we decided last March to begin the process of adopting an infant from Colombia. Well, this summer, as we were busily taking part in the adoption paper chase, we were informed that the process in Colombia has lengthened to 30 months from dossier approval. That meant that we would probably not be referred a child until the latter part of 2010. While we were still convinced that this adoption was part of God's plan for the Ryle family, we realized that He had now given us an opportunity to add another child to our family! So, after contacting our social worker first to make sure that this pregnancy would not hinder or change the adoption, we decided to go for it! Now we are expecting our first child July 31, and an adopted sibling a couple of years later. It is such a blessing to know that we have two children on the way.

As for where we stand in the adoption process...some of our paperwork had expired, and we are currently updating it now. We were re-fingerprinted (for the fourth time) in December, and now we need to see the MD so he can sign a letter that says we are "physically able to adopt." Then, after we get all of the paperwork apostilled in Montgomery, we can send it on down to Colombia for translation and hopefully approval shortly after that! (It should take a couple of months, unless they ask for more information from us). Once we are approved, we are officially on the waiting list, and our 30 month wait begins. Yippee!

I've been tagged!

2007-10-20T21:37:00.000-05:00

Jobs I have had:
West Mobile Baptist Child Development Center - HS/undergrad
Goody's (I lasted one day) -HS
University of Mobile Learning Center - undergrad
And now as a GTA at The University of Alabama...Roll Tide!

Places I have lived:
Mobile
Tuscaloosa
Birmingham

Foods I love:
Anything chocolate
any fruit
hence, choloclate-covered strawberries
pasta
Mexican
fried rice at Stix
fried cookie dough eggrolls

Places I'd rather be:
vacation pretty much anywhere, especially in the mountains or on a cruise

Books I love:
Bible
Harry Potter
Mere Christianity

I am Tagging:
Shelley K
Liz K

Suitey Reunion!

2007-10-14T22:03:00.000-05:00

Shawn, Elizabeth, Bill, Erin, Matt, Bethany, Philip, and Julie

Labor Day weekend, Philip and I met up with my three college suitemates and their significant others. This is our second annual such get-together, and (according to Philip) our last one that will occur on Labor Day weekend. Who travels out of town to a city that doesn't even carry the Alabama game on opening weekend? Especially for Saban's first game? I know, I know, I've heard all about it. :) I think Memorial Day trips may be the way to go from now on.

THE CHIMNEYS

Anyway, we had a blast on our trip. We went to The Chimneys, where you can climb all over a bunch of boulders in the middle of a river. Fun, huh? And thanks to the magic of the cortisone shot I got the day before we left, I was able to participate! We did have a bit of excitement at The Chimneys. Right when it started thundering, we headed toward the cars. It was then that Philip and I realized that we had both left our keys in the car. For the many of you who know my very careful and deliberate husband, this may come as a schock to you, as it did to me. Nevertheless, it happened. We found a park ranger, who radioed another park ranger. And then, Walker, Tennessee Ranger showed up. As the storm clouds continued rolling in, Ranger Walker worked tirelessly with his locksmith kit to get our car open. Apparently, my car is difficult to break into, because this took quite awhile. We were all soaked to the bone by the end of the episode, but Walker, Tennessee Ranger came through for us.

WALKER, TENNESSEE RANGER

Also, we (of course) ate alot. The Pancake Pantry was absolutely wonderful (I highly recommend it if you've never been there before). Also, we made fried cookie dough eggrolls! Absolutley divine. I don't know why we've never thought of frying cookie dough before.

It was a great trip! It was fun to get to spend time with the three girls with whom I laughed, cried, gossiped, and rarely studied all through college. I am already looking forward to next year. Love ya, girls!

Chattanooga, TN

2007-09-10T10:59:00.000-05:00

OK, I've been told that I'm not blogging frequently enough, so I am trying to catch up on some posting. I will then strive to stay up-to-date! (Anything to avoid doing math research!)

Philip and I went to Chattanooga in August. I didn't realize that it was only two hours away! It was just a quick one-night trip, but was a lot of fun. We went up Friday night and went to a murder mystery dinner theatre. We tried too late to get a reservation for the dinner cruise on the river there, so we had to settle. Let's just say that it was extremely cheesy at best. On Saturday, we met a few people from our photography class there to photograph the aquarium. We got some great shots in the butterfly house!

Our new photography classes start this week. I am taking (with my friend Stephanie) a portrait class, so if you want to be one of my test subjects, let me know! :) Philip is taking an infrared photography/pinhole camera class. You'll have to ask him if you want to know what that's all about. :)

Adoption update: Apparently Alabama DHR lost our homestudy, but magically found it when our social worker called to nag them. So hopefully we can finally get approval from them this week, and our HS can get sent to CIS. We'll keep you posted!

Pensacola Visit

2007-09-05T09:47:00.000-05:00

After I had spent a week in Mobile, Philip came down and met me in Pensacola to spend the weekend with his family. His brother Daniel only gets to come home from Miami once a year, so it was good to spend time with him. He brought along his friend, Natalia, and her two sons, Sebastian (8) and Carlos (3). They were both just too cute! Although Carlos was a little wary of having 3 poodles around (my mom-in-law also has one), he eventually warmed up to them. He had fun learning their names and saying over and over, "Ellie, black! Maggie, yellow!" followed by some stuff in Spanish. Sebastian was a great translator for us. :)

We went to the Naval Aviation Museum, where you can climb in some cool planes and buy astronaut ice cream. According to Philip, the latter is something that must be done when visiting the museum, or else the trip is a bust. I think there must need to be some nostalgia behind the experience in order to enjoy it fully, because I thought it was mostly just gross.

According to the museum, it is one of the top ten tourist attractions in the state of Florida. I thought that was pretty impressive, considering the number of amusement parks there. Then that got me thinking, what would be in the top ten tourist spots in Alabama? Definitely Bryant Denny stadium! Yea, football season is here! I guess that's another post.

Adoption Update: Our homestudy is still at Alabama DHR. Then it will be forwarded to USCIS. After we get approval from both of these agencies, we will be able to send it to Colombia!

Trip to Mobile

2007-08-14T18:51:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I went down to Mobile to visit my parents for a whole week. My mom and I had ambitious plans to make drapes for my dining room, which we amazingly accomplished. She had taken a few drapery classes, and I volunteered to be her guinea pig. They turned out beautifully! I'll have to post a pic after I get them hung.

Also, my Grandma Rosalie decided to give me her sewing machine while I was down there, which was a wonderful surprise. My good friend Stephanie and I have been dabbling in a new business venture of making tote bags and baby items, like personalized burp cloths and onesies. (Visit our Buttons, Etc. blog here--although you should probably check back in a few weeks, as I have a lot of updating to do on it). I know Steph is glad that I have my own machine, too; sharing hers was getting crazy! My Grandma Rosalie's machine sews wonderfully. She bought it 21 years ago, and probably has used it a dozen times, so it is in great shape. I am so excited to have it!

Another highlight of the trip was having my 4 month old niece, Anna Grace, for two hours on Saturday. My sister-in-law Michelle had come to Mobile with a group of ladies from her church in Louisiana to attend a women's retreat that my parents' church was hosting. We stole Anna Grace during the lunch break, took her home, and took 85 pictures of her in about 30 minutes. She is so cute! She looks so much like her brother, Joshua, that it's almost scary. Quite the little chunk.

All in all, it was a great (although not-so-relaxing) vacation!

Hot Air Balloons

2007-06-21T13:45:00.000-05:00

Philip and I went to our first Night and Low-light Photography class last week at Samford. We were both really excited to be able to take a class again, especially Philip, whose passion in night-time photography. We got to practice some of our new knowldege when we visited Mobile over the weekend.

Our nephew Joshua and niece Laura Beth were visitng my parents (Mimi and Pop), and we all met up with Philip's parents in Foley to go to the Gulf Coast Balloon Festival. We had so much fun watching the sky fill with colorful balloons. And we got some great photos to take to class tonight!

See Ya When We See Ya!

2007-06-03T20:45:00.000-05:00

Sadly, our dear friends, "the Shannans," are moving to Augusta in a couple of weeks. Though we are excited to see them begin a new chapter in their lives, we will miss them terribly! However, this move did present us with the opportunity to have a picnic at Oak Mountain State Park yesterday. What a blast!

We had fun grilling out and watching the boys play Bocce Ball. The kids thoroughly enjoyed the bubble machine and bubble gun.

Mark even caught a fish, which Ella didn't seem to care for.

Also, it was a chance to try out our new digital SLR that came in the mail on Friday, a Pentax K10D. I love it! Philip and I are gearing up for a class that we plan to take at Samford this summer, Night-Time and Low-Light Photography. It will be nice to study something besides math again!

Chocolate Cake

2007-05-25T14:51:00.000-05:00

So, I used my aforementioned new-to-me KitchenAid mixer today to make Philip a chocolate cake. He landed himself a new job as an Assistant Portfolio Manager at Protective Life Corporation, so I decided that he deserved a very chocolatey cake! I got the recipe from my favorite recipe site. It was an easy recipe, and the cake was very rich and oh-so-delicious!

Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS
1 (18.25 ounce) package dark chocolate cake mix
1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
3 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup coffee flavored liqueur
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10 inch bundt pan.
In a large bowl, combine cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, eggs, oil and coffee liqueur. Beat until ingredients are well blended. Fold in chocolate chips. Batter will be thick. Spoon into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until cake springs back when lightly tapped. Cool 10 minutes in pan, then turn out and cool completely on wire rack.

Tannehill Trade Days

2007-05-24T10:02:00.000-05:00

Although we lived in Hueytown for three summers, we never made it out to Tannehill Trade Days until last weekend. My mom has been wanting to go as well, so my parents and my Aunt Stephanie came in for the weekend to try it out. The weather was perfect, and we had a good time with some of our friends who also decided to see what they had at this basically gigantic flea-market-in-a-state-park.

The find of the day came when we spotted a beautiful, buttercream yellow KitchenAid stand mixer in the midst of a table full of junk. Complete with a pouring shield, flat beater, dough hook, and wire whip, it was a steal at only $60. I had to promise Philip many cakes in order for him to agree that we needed it desperately, but it now proudly sits on my counter. You can't beat the feeling a good deal will give you! Cake, anyone?

Happy Birthday!

2007-05-22T16:55:00.001-05:00

Philip turned 29 on May 8. The last year of his twenties! We had a few friends over to celebrate, and we played a rousing game of Cranium. Unfortunately, the guys won. I place all of the blame for our loss on a single card. Let me see you act like a carburetor! :)

Happy birthday, Sweetie!

Summer Is Here!

2007-05-10T12:50:00.000-05:00

We spent last weekend in Orange Beach, AL, at Hunter Street's annual marriage retreat, with two other couples from our Sunday School class. It was wonderful to get away for a relaxing weekend! The guys played racquetball, and even managed to create a competition out of playing in the Gulf waters. The girls had fun relaxing on the beach. Four years after moving away from the coast, I think that I appreciate being at the beach more.

Also, yesterday was my last day working at Bryant High School. Hallelujah! I was grateful to have the opportunity to work with the NSA in this fellowship program, but I can truly say now that teaching high school is not my calling. To all of you who teach ages 18 and under, God bless you! I don't know how you do it. I have a few weeks off, and then will be back to teaching college Cal, where I am much more comfortable.

Adoption update: We truly appreciate the support and prayers that our friends and family have offered us. We are still working on gathering documents for our home study and dossier, and visiting doctors/psychologists. We will hopefully have our last visit with our social worker soon. This visit (our fourth) will be the first to take place in our home. We will keep you updated on our progress!

We're Adopting!!

2007-04-25T13:10:00.000-05:00

Welcome to our blog! I will begin by announcing to those who have not heard...WE ARE ADOPTING! (In case you didn't get that from the title.) We are so thrilled to have begun the process of adopting an infant from Colombia, South America. It is amazing to see God leading us down such a clear and joyful path. We both always knew that we wanted to one day add to our family through adoption, but we were surprised when it was revealed to us that adoption is the plan that God has made for us NOW. We may one day also grow our family through birth, but this is where we are going first. We are excited to share the journey with you!

There is an exceptionally long wait involved; it will be most likely 2 1/2 years before we bring our baby home. Also, there is a TON of paperwork, which we are currently up to our eyeballs in. We've already been psycho-analyzed and fingerprinted multiple times, and still have physicals, more fingerprinting, and more visits with social workers ahead of us. It's a complicated process, and I will fill you all in on more of the details as we move along. For now, I will give you a few tidbits of what we are in for:

Colombia does not allow first time parents to specify a gender, so we won't know whether we need pink or blue until 2-3 weeks before we go to pick our child up.
We also will not know the specific age until that time, though we do know that he or she will be between 10 weeks to 1 year of age.

Please pray for the paperwork process, as well as our future (most likely not-yet-conceived) child. Check back for adoption updates, as well as general ramblings about our daily lives.