Reese the Guinea Pig

For my niece's 11th birthday she got a guinea pig. The newest addition to my sister's family to go along with their fish, their dog Kosmo (or as Rylie calls him "Momo") and their turtle Tommy. The guines pig was named Reese like the candy. What a cutie though. Rylie was calling him/her a "kica" kitty cat. Now she says "PePe" I guess that is guinea pig in Rylie tongue. HEHE!! I don't think since they got the lil rat that Morgan has strayed too far from it. It is cute and social and will talk to ya. Rylie is pretty gentle with him/her so this a good thing. In a recent accident.. I should mention that Tommy the Turtle has run away from home. I should take his name off this post but he was part of the family and we're holding out hope that he will turn up. Come home Tommy We miss you and love you very much!! If this doens't get to him in time rest in peace ol buddy!!

Buggin Brandon!!

The other day I was taking some pictures of Rylie. I discovered that Rylie knows how to bug people. It never occured to me that she knew how, ok so I am a bit naive. The more I got to thinking about it, and yes of course snapping picture after picture, I know now that what she is really doing is playing and learning from the reactions she got from Brandon. When he said "ouch" or would laugh and smile and say "can someone get this kid off me", Rylie thought this was just the funniest thing. Reactions are what keep kids going whether bad or good. KIDS!! I know that Rylie was in fact bugging Brandon and yet I still did nothing about it. AHAHAH!!! I am such an evil aunt. But I told him after a while to do something. and that was when she fell off the chair.. OOOPS!! Hmmm... could this have been a lesson learned? I hardly doubt it. No one likes a kid that bugs but... that's what kids do best and its when the best pictures are taken. The world is a better place with kids and as long as they aint buggin me... IT'S ALL GOOD!!!! AHAHAHA!!! Enjoy the pictures of my lil bugger and the buggee.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

Our feet (above)

Rylie's foot (above)

If you have children then you know the wonderful world of imagination is never far away. With Rylie, she isn't quite old enough to understand what that is but when she finds something interesting I let her go with it. Adults are far to busy with their lives to notice the small things and forget the power imagination has. I can't wait for this to begin in my house. Rylie is an amazingly funny kid but has a hard time playing by herself. Yesterday when it rained I took her and all the dogs outside to play. It was hot and muggy but it was still fun. Playing in the rain shouldn't be for just kids ( I of course was only in the rain before taking the pictures but I was in it). It didn't rain long but it was fun none the less. "Wawie" Rylie says. It's rainging I tell her and yes it is water. I wished it would have lasted longer some other time maybe. Enjoy!!

Dress Up!!

As we all know, part of growing up is wearing "big" girl/boy clothes and shoes. Rylie is constantly wearing other people's shoes. While this is cute, the other day Rylie was in my closet deciding what to get in to. This in itself is not hard for her. When she came to me with a bathing suit wrapped around her arm and semi- over the head. HMM.. I wondered what she could possibly want. How dumb mommy... I want to wear them. So I dressed her in the bathing suit and she said "Mimi" so I took her to see "Mimi". (Mimi is grammy). After the reaction she got I think it peruaded her to try it again. Off came the suit and on came another. "Mimi" she replied and out the door we went. Another good reaction and yet another piece of clothing was put on. HMM... although the bathing suits were cute on her, I was quite partial to the jersey. You'll notice the name on the back of the shirt is J. Crooks, YIP thats me!! I played softball in highschool and recently found the shirt in my old dresser drawer along with the cleats. Memories.. I know one day with her arm and the way she throws the balls she will be a great softball player, maybe even a great pitcher and then a pro- softball player in the Olympics. Who know's. Enjoy!!

Luau 6-13-07

As the years go by, I often find myself wondering where time goes. Leaving home sure puts a damper on everything as all the loved ones you wanted to watch grow up have grown up without you. I have been away from "home" since July of 1998 and wasn't able to watch my niece or nephew or cousins grow up. It pains me to know that I will never be able to get those years back. This year I watched my cousin Amanda graduate from highschool and soon off to college she will go. Friends having weddings and families of their own and getting education higher than a HS diploma. It really hurts a person, especially a sensitive person like myself. I know that I will never get to see any of my nieces and nephews grow up like I want to.. on both sides of our combined families. Wednesday, June 13th was my niece's 11th birthday. She had a Luau themed party. To look the part, I dressed Rylie up in the Hawaiian dress and lai (sorry if spelled wrong) that her big sister Sarah and big brother Justin got for her. She was the best dressed one there. I hope you enjoy the pictures. Oh an btw.. it had stormed for about an hour before the party and the kids were throwing water balloons afterwards so they were freezing and soaked and also.. the icing on the cake.. yea it was blue and yea it did stain a bit.. LOVE IT!!

Corn on the Cob

Last evening we had Corn on the Cob. It was Rylie's first time and she kept calling it a "nanie" (banana). It was totally hilarious watching her try and figure out how to hold the thing and how to eat it at the same time. She got the hang of it and even found a new way to eat it.. she placed in on the table and held one end and ate it like that. I was unfortunately unable to capture that move. But it was funny. And pretty ingenious as well. I did however capture her holding it the "right" way and eating it. In the end she gave up and started picking the kernels off the cob. I decided to leave off the butter as I knew she would end up really messy just with the corn but all in all she wasn't to bad. Enjoy the pictures!!