We will miss you Joan!

Our family moved into our new house last April.  We were so excited to be here & had not even imagined what a blessing it was to become.  Our neighborhood has the absolute SWEETEST neighbors on Earth.  They are all so friendly & like a family.  Most of the people in  our neighborhood have been here close to 50 years!  They are loving Christian people.  When we first moved in, two of our neighbors had cut our grass before we even met them!  Sometimes, a neighbor will take our trash can out to the street if we forget.  They just really look out for each other.

Our actual next door neighbors are the best!  We are so blessed.  George & Joan Schiller are the sweetest neighbors one could ask for.  They have become like family to us.  Joan has been struggling with lung issues for some years now & on Friday March 12, she became ill & was sent to the hospital.  By Tuesday, they had her on a respirator & she was not doing well.  Joan's family did not like to see her suffer & decided to take her off life support Tuesday evening.  Mawmaw Linda came over to watch Ryelan while mommy rushed to the hospital.  Poor sweet Joan was really struggling.  She ended up going to heaven later that evening.  We will miss Joan so much & cannot wait to see her again someday at the gates of heaven!

Here is Ryelan outside the church where Joan's memorial service was held.

Bossy baby

Daddy had left a high intensity Kansas basketball game on the TV during dinner.  At about a minute left in the game, he got up from the table to go watch.  Ryelan shouted "DADDY!" so daddy came back in & stood while he ate so that he could still watch the game.  Ryelan again shouted "Daddy!".  Daddy said "What?"  Ryelan pointed to his chair & said "SIT!"  Mommy & daddy were so surprised at our bossy little toddler!  We were dying laughing! :)

March language updates

Well.......Ryelan is talking up a storm now.  I cannot even think of all the words she now says to list them.  A few that come to mind (my favorites) are "I luhd doo" (I love you), "thank too ___" (thank you mommy, daddy, mawmaw, etc.), puzzle, applesauce, and the names of the characters on Yo Gabba Gabba.  Ryelan can point to all of her body parts including her elbows, knees, back & butt.  She can also name most of them.  She knows the all sounds & most names of all the basic animals (cow, sheep, dog, cat, snake, monkey, fish, horsey, bird, owl, duck, pig, lion, bear).  She even strings a few words together to make simple sentences!  She is quite the talker!  Also, most of the words she says are quite clear.  Of course, there are still a few words that we are confused about but she talks really really well for a 17 month old!!!!

Ryelan likes to play this little "up/down" game.  She lifts her hands up & says "up!" and then puts them down & says "down".  She also likes to play a similar "open/shut" game.  Mommy and daddy are just so impressed that she knows these words AND understands them so well she makes little games with them :)
Ryelan is ridiculously OBSESSED with puppies!!!!!!!  When she wakes up in the morning, one of the first thing she says is "puppy?".  She is just crazy about them.  Several of our neighbors have puppies & she loves to watch them walking outside.  Sometimes she gets very angry when they walk away from her to where she cannot see them!  She shouts "puppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"  Hahaha! Sometimes mommy & daddy take Ryelan to the mall to look at the puppies.  She is in heaven!  She has absolutely no fear of them either.  Our neighbor has a wild medium sized dog named Rosco who bolts past Ryelan & licks her face.  She absolutely loves it!  Mommy is almost getting puppy fever.  Almost.  But not quite.