Day 2 Day Joys

Week of November 9

Sorraya and Ivan were having a conversation together on Sunday night.
One would sniff a few times and the other would. We know Raya did that a lot, scrunching her face, but we didn't know Ivan did too. So it was pretty cute when they were going back and forth. 

Standing up by the stairs!

Ryken made a tower with the cans while I was printing some pictures.

Then when were were checking out...he said he was playing the drums on the whipped cream container! 

Play time with daddy!! Lots of laughs and giggles!

Ryken and Chris would go to the other side of the room and then run over and then lean over and say hi to Raya. She loved it! Ryken loved it! Chris loved it! Ally loved it! :) 

She loved to pull herself up at the toy bins and pick out toys! She is a little scared when it comes time to get down and then she sounds like a monkey and just keeps screeching till she gets help!

First tiny little dusting of snow this week!

Since my mums all died and the pumpkins were beginning to rot...I decided I should do something different with the front porch...but not Christmas stuff yet, since Thanksgiving hasn't happened yet. Had fun making older things work and reuse other items! And the pumpkins ended up freezing before they were too far gone...so they just stayed out! Worked out nicely! haha!

We had open gym with my mom's group this week. It was a car themed day. They asked everyone to bring cars and the kids enjoyed racing them across the gym floor. 

Ryken brought 2 cars. 1 from daddy that is really nice and rolls great. And then another one that goes supper fast and far. Ryken gave his cars to some boys right away(as asked) and they were a hit. And fought over the rest of the time! :/ Ryken and Sorraya enjoyed all the other cars around. 

There were ramps too that Ryken loved!

She climbed up using the handles and stood so big! Then later she was holding onto the bottom draw handle and pulled the drawer out and ran herself over! :( 

Sorraya loves hanging about our feet. When I am working in the kitchen, I often have her batting at my feet and trying to crawl up my legs. Sweet reminders!

Early Wednesday morning,  the kids and I took Chris to the airport. 

He flew to Chicago for a 3 day conference. None of us wanted him to go! :(

Sorraya checking out the little bit of snow that is on the deck. 

Not napping one day we took pictures together!...

...and then cleaned the showers together!

She was great company...so happy and chattering away!

Finally found some little shoes that fit her!

Here we are at the church. A friend and I met there and baked a cake tougher, while the kids played and we could talk!

Ryken was having a snack one night and he was breaking the crackers and saying words like "take and eat my body". I asked him if he was doing communion and he said yes! :) I then marked the section(one of the places) in his bible where the Lords Supper is given so he could use his Bible next time. 

We got to FaceTime with daddy every night and that was such a highlight. Ryken liked seeing out Daddy's hotel window because his hotel was in the middle of the airport. He could see the terminal he flew into out the window of his hotel room. 

At one point...Chris was flipping the camera around and he would not be there...and then he would flip it around and make a silly face....and then flip it back to nothing and then to another silly face....and on and on. Ryken and I were both belly laughing! It was a fun memory for Ryken for sure!

We noticed bunny rabbit foot prints in the snow out our back yard window the next morning. 

Sorraya came over and found Ryken at the stood and got up. 

Sorraya is standing in a lot of pictures this week...it was new and exciting and she is just still so little while doing it so well! We are thankful, because she has such better balance than Ryken did. She catches herself when falling. It's great!

Friday morning, we drove to Valley City for the day!!

Heather is such a great hostess!

We were all eating olives!!

The kids introduced Ryken to putting the olives on the fingers. He thought it was silly. I told him that Mommy and Aunt Kristin always did that when we were little! 

Kids playing!!

A sweet picture of Ryken and Savannah. They were riding together! Going to a wedding (so they said)...which ended up being their wedding. They were putting their wedding shows on. I think at one point, Savannah changed her clothes. It was cute! Ryken was chasing her around trying to kiss her at one point too! 

Heather had pre-measured bowls for each kid to make cookies with.

They each got to make them!

They all sorta of helped each other, which was sweet!

Ryken wasn't really into making them...

...but he was a fan of eating the chocolate chips that fell on the ground and the finished cookies! 

Chris came home late Friday night! YAY! We were happy to have him back and he was so exhausted and thrilled to be home as well!

A huge praise though, the kids did great while he was gone. It went far more smooth than I expected it to be!

This was the view from his hotel room!

Wednesday and Thursday were packed with the convention...but Friday, he had 5 hours of free time before his flight.

So he went to Willis Tower (Sears Tower).

He parked and walked downtown till he got to the tower.

This was the old Chicago Theater.

A water taxi going along the river walk.

A view of the Willis Tower from the ground.

Chris went up to the 103rd floor and saw a beautiful view of Chicago.

Looking straight down!! 

Chris got Ryken a little semi truck from Willis Tower and left it right here on the shelf for him to find in the morning. It didn't take him but 5 minutes to find! "What's that?" he said! He loved it. He thanked Chris for it about 20 times that day!:) 

She was smiling at her reflection in the tub! :)

Celebrating ordinary moments that make life extraordinary!