It’s been crazy around here lately…and that may be an understatement.  March started off slow. I went to Dallas for a week to visit family. The kids and I went to the zoo with Cameron and visited all of the great grandparents. 

It was fun watching Miles and Lyla play on my grandmother’s adjustable bed and shag rug, just like my brother and I used to do when we were that age. 

They also got to take a bubble bath in Gama’s tub.

Poor Lyla had a fever the entire time we were in Dallas, and then broke out in a rash the day after we got home. Classic roseola.

Then once we got home things kicked into overdrive with the land and house building.  We’ve been working on getting our house fixed up to put on the market. Our well is finally done being drilled and the plans for the new house are finished.  By next week we should have everything to the bank for financing! 

Uncle Michael and “Stina” went to Japan for Stina’s 30th bday. They brought back some cool presents. 

Miles is really into dinosaurs now. 

He is full-on talking now.   Lyla is almost ready to take her first steps without holding onto something.  She has spoken a few words here and there “kitty” “no, no, no” “flower” “travis”.  She has also taken a liking to necklaces and purses. 

I thought she was going to be a girly, girl but funny thing is, she doesn’t seem to enjoy wearing dresses.  Must take after her mommy.

Nana made sure to remind us to take pictures in the bluebonnets. 

That’s all for now.  I’ll update when we know more on the house.

Categories: Baby Miles, Family, Lyla Merineth Dreher, Rosanky Ranch
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December has been a very productive month. A few weeks ago we finally were able to have electric service run to our land.  Since Eric did all of the tree clearing himself it took us awhile to be ready for Bluebonnet electric to do the installation. But thankfully he finally finished in the nick of time!

Hopefully next week they will begin drilling our well.  Then our next goal will be to finalize the house plans (yes, we are changing them again). I’m not sure if we are still on track to start building in May but we are going to try.

Miles enjoyed playing in his first leaf pile a few days before Christmas.  We managed to get a few good shots.

We started a new Christmas tradition by walking the trail of lights in Bastrop. It is far better than Austin’s since there is actually parking! Miles had a great time and ran from one end of the trail to the other.

This year we had our first Christmas at home. After driving back and forth between our family’s houses the past few years we finally decided we had enough lugging the kids and their stuff around.  On Christmas Eve my dad and Eve came over for dinner and presents.

Miles got his first tricycle. When he saw it for the first time he yelled “A motorcycle!!”. He really loves wearing his Cars helmet too.

 Christmas morning, we opened presents with my mom and Ray.

As you can probably guess, the kids (and daddy) had more fun playing in the box than with their new toys.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

Categories: Baby Miles, Lyla Merineth Dreher, Rosanky Ranch
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I don’t know why I do this to myself. Even without scheduling fun activities we are busy just dealing with day to day life. But I guess I couldn’t resist the fun So last Friday my mom and I took Miles to ride a real Thomas the Train. The day got off to a rocky start and my mom missed the train because she went to the wrong train station in the wrong city. Miles, Lyla and I were able to ride it with some help from some friends we made in line. Nana made it in time to help us off the train.

Saturday, Miles, Lyla, and I joined my dad, Michael and his girlfriend, Kristina for a drive to Richland Springs, TX for a family reunion at our “Big Uncle” Cemetery. I am now officially on the “board” for the people who watch over and control the cemetery. They were in desperate need of new blood so I figured, why not? Michael was a huge help keeping Miles entertained. We didn’t have a big turnout but it was still fun to see the cemetery where my ancestors are buried.

Sunday, we met Elaine, Dale and Nathan at Sea World in San Antonio. Unfortunately, since it was raining and cold we left the camera in the car but Miles didn’t care one bit.

Monday my grandparents came into town from Dallas and we spent the afternoon and evening playing with the kiddos at our house. Michael and Miles were (as usual) hilarious together.

Miles is now officially IN his toddler bed. He hasn’t given us any problems crawling out of it…thank goodness! Lyla has mastered crawling and is on a mission to get any toy in her mouth that shouldn’t belong there. For some reason she loves to crawl under and between furniture. This has resulted in bonking her head multiple times but I’m sure she’ll learn. Eric is looking forward to getting work done at our land. Next weekend he gets to play with a bobcat and is going to work on making our driveway less steep. Hopefully we will be drilling the well in the next month. Progress is slow but at least we are making it!

Categories: Baby Miles, Lyla Merineth Dreher, Rosanky Ranch
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I can’t believe Lyla is already 6 months old.

Yesterday we started rice cereal. I guess it went as well as can be expected. She didn’t seem repulsed by it so that’s a good sign.

Let’s see – what else has Lyla been up to…she is sitting up on her own and is also very good at rolling onto her stomach. If she’s on her tummy she can also scoot herself backwards. I have a sneaking suspicion she may be crawling earlier than Miles.

Miles is still being very nice to his sister. The other night he helped me feed her a bottle. He was very proud of himself.

Miles is talked up a storm. Some of his most recent sentences are “I found it!”, “Where are we?”, “Watch a movie?”, and “Play choo-choo tracks, (insert name here)?”. He makes us laugh almost every day. He can almost count to ten but for some reason will not say the number three. His new favorite toy is his Thomas the Train set (many thanks to Craig’s list).

He loves to crash his trains and sit on his table while he pushes them around the track.

He’s gotten a little frustrated with us taking too many pictures of him but we still love our new camera.

Eric and I have also been working with a designer (a step down from an architect) to design our new house for our land in Smithville. We’ve almost settled on a plan and if things go as we hope, we should be able to start building next year. Here we are hanging out at the land last weekend.

I’ll leave you with this photo. Miles is kissing his friend, Kaylee, through the glass. Young love…

Categories: Baby Miles, Lyla Merineth Dreher, Rosanky Ranch
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Miles has quite a fondness for mardi gras beads. So much so that he had to put them on right after his bath.

They come in very handy when you are thirsty too.

Last weekend we made a trip out to the land to make sure it was still there. Lyla got to see her pecan tree we planted before she was born.

Eric worked on carving her name into the picnic table while Miles played in dirt and snacked on crackers. Lyla was perfectly happy hanging out in her carseat.

Everything is still going great! Lyla goes to bed at 9pm and usually only wakes up at 4am to eat. I couldn’t be happier and haven’t needed to nap during the day in a whole week!! (yes – simple pleasures). Miles still loves his sister. Today when we went for a walk he was reaching over to her side of the stroller and grabbing her hand, saying “baby” in a very sweet tone. He also enjoys trying to peel her eyes open when she is sleeping within his reach. I have to keep a close eye on him.

Categories: Baby Miles, Lyla Merineth Dreher, Rosanky Ranch
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