Little Rylee and more

Rylee turned 1 on Sunday! It's hard to believe that she's already a year old. She's such a big girl, she can walk but she'd rather crawl. Her hair is long and her eyes are big. She brings such joy to our family.



A few other updates - although I don't have pictures for them...
Saturday morning we took family pictures, the 4 of us, just our boys, just the boys plus Rylee, then we added in grandma and grandpa, then just Rylee, then Erica, Sherri and Rylee, and then EVERYBODY. It was chaotic, we got at least one good shot of each group, and it felt good to get our family captured in a photo. Thank goodness Dan Bergen (of Schmidt Studio in Goessel) and his wife Joyce were able to get (and keep) all of us in-line long enough to get some great shots.

Monday morning I took Noah to Wichita to get ear tubes. He did great, and thankfully Wichita Clinic has a very smooth and easy system for such procedures. This is the third time we've done this and Noah did really well. Now he has nasty fluid draining out of his ears. That's good, though, that fluid was making his hearing worse then usual. He's a very sweet little boy who took the surgery in stride. He wasn't scared or worried about it. I thought he might be because he's old enough to understand what was happening. Thanks Dr. Harris, you did great.

and now he's 4

Four years ago we welcomed this little boy into the world.

Our little boy is truly growing up.


I am not the mom who makes fancy/cute cakes, it's just not something that interests me. But, by borrowing a tractor-shaped cake pan from a friend, making a cake that actually looked like something was fun and super-easy.


My parents came over on Sunday night for a simple birthday party. Noah got embarrassed when we sang Happy Birthday to him.


He got a Curious George coloring book, soccer ball, Hungry Hungry Hippos, a book and a planter.


Levi was a little bummed that it wasn't his birthday.


The planter was a HUGE hit!


And Hungry Hungry Hippos has been thoroughly broken-in.


On Monday morning, his birthday, we let him open the gift that Grandpa and Grandma Schrag sent. Levi grabbed the John Deere shirt right away and slipped it over his head.


Thankfully, Noah was very busy with the magnetic farm activity kit and didn't even mind that Levi was wearing his new t-shirt.


I also got my first shot at sending birthday treats to preschool. So, I made Rice Krispie treats, then Ben helped me cut them out into heart shapes, dip them in chocolate and then we decided to add some sprinkles. I figure there is a very limited number of birthdays that I can send heart shaped treats with Noah, so I'd better do it while I can.

Hot Chocolate Monday

Monday morning Debbie, our daycare provider, called to tell us her son was sick. So, I got another day with the boys and we (actually) had a lot of fun together. After their naps, about an hour after a cold front blew in, Noah decided he had to go out and play in the snow. Well, if Noah's going to do it, it's a sure thing that Levi will too. So, we bundled up and put layers on and boots on and out we went. All was well, until like every other time we've played outside this winter, they both started crying because they were cold. So, we hurried inside and unbundled - I mean mittens, hats and coats went flying - and drank hot chocolate by the fireplace. It was one of those long happy snack times, my favorite kind.

Sunny Snow

The boys experienced sledding for the first time on Saturday. Ben has very fond memories of sledding as a child. So he headed to the hardware store and bought a plastic disc sled for our family to try out. We started in our front yard - baby steps, ya know. The boys LOVED it.

There was quite a bit of negotiating that happened to make sure that each boy had equal time on the sled.

Ben also got a fair bit of exercise running around our yard pulling the sled. I came out of the house in my slippers to take these pictures. I have to admit, I was enjoying catching glimpses of this through the windows from inside the house.

After naps, we took a pretty big leap and went to the farm for some four-wheeler powered sledding.

We had a great time until the sled broke. I don't think it's a good idea for me to sled on a thin plastic disc over rocks...

So, we went inside to warm up and eat, I mean play, with Play-doh.

It was such a good day! The boys had a good time sledding and begged for more, so we borrowed a sled and went out to the farm again on Sunday. Unfortunately, it was cold and cloudy. We chose a spot with deeper snow, but the boys got cold and did not like falling into deeper snow. Hopefully, we'll be able to sled again yet this winter. If not, the new sled we bought will just have to wait until next year.

Doughnuts, Daddy!

Levi makes distinct breakfast requests, nearly every night before he goes to bed. On Friday night he said he wanted doughnuts. Saturday mornings are usually pancake mornings but we decided to go with the doughnut idea. So, Ben and Noah ventured out to the doughnut shop in Hesston and brought back juice, chocolate milk and doughnuts!