February: Kirk went to Mexico for a week to get things prepared for the summer missions trip there. He had a wonderful time. Riley and I did pretty well on our own and had help from family and friends who took care of us. Most importantly that month, we celebrated Riley's 1st Birthday! We had separate family parties and then had a party for our friends. It was so fun to celebrate her first year and to look back on how much she'd grown and changed over the past 12 months.
March: I turned 30 on March 1. Cabin fever from the winter hit and we tried go get outside as much as possible! Thankful spring arrived and we were able to let Riley burn off energy outside. I started doing a weekly playdate with 2 friends, which has been a huge blessing and Riley loves seeing her buddies each week. We had a great visit with my friend Mayme, who was in town to do some recruiting for YouthWorks.
April: We celebrated Easter with my family.
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May: Kirk's parents came to visit. We took them to all our favorite places, including multiple trips to Portillos. We also went to an indoor water park in Lake Geneva. Riley LOVED it. I think she went down the little water slide about 100 times. She is fearless!
June: In June we celebrated Kirk's birthday. Kirk was gone for about 12 days on a Missions Trip to Mexico. It was a long time for him to be gone and Riley and I did great on our own for about the first 9 days, then it got a little rough after that! :o) We were so glad to have him home! At the end of the month we celebrated my friend Mandy's 30th birthday. We spent a lot of time at the park, pool and zoo.
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July: This summer was Hot. Unusually hot. Like too hot to go to the park hot. July was spent mainly in the pool. Kirk was gone for another week on another missions trip (the joys of being married to a youth pastor). At the end of the month, we took at 2 week trip to South Carolina. We spent half that time at Hilton Head with Kirk's parents and the other half visiting his family. We got to see Kirk's brother and sister in law. Riley got to play with her cousins (which was awesome!) and we got to meet our new nephew Hudson. Riley LOVED the beach. She was fearless about being in the waves, loved running around and sitting in the beach chair waving at every single person that went by.
August: After getting back from South Carolina, we enjoyed a relaxed August. We had lots of playdates and spent a lot of time at the zoo and pool.
September: Kirk was busy with the start of a new ministry year. I started working part time at Wheaton College. It was a HUGE adjustment for me to go back to work instead of being with Riley all the time. I only work 3 days a week for 5 hours at a time, but it was a big change to our schedule and routine. Riley handled the changes well, I had a much harder time. It has worked out well though.We have been thankful for cooler weather too!
October: October has been flying by! We are taking advantage of the fall weather and taking trips to Cosley, the Zoo, parks, pumpkin patches and Cantigny.
Riley: Riley is almost 20 months old and is totally out of the baby stage and a full blown toddler. She is very high energy! She runs everywhere. She loves to spin,jump and climb and she is fearless! Her current favorite thing is to climb on the furniture and then fall off (like you'd do a trust fall). She thinks is great fun to watch us scamble to catch her. She is starting to talk a little bit more. She is in the stage where she points to everything and wants to know what it's called. She's also a little string bean still. Since she doesn't like to sit still and eat, she hasn't gained much weight (she has gained 1 pound in the past year!) but keeps growing taller! She still isn't a great sleeper or eater. She does sit still long enough to cuddle or watch Curious George but most of the time she has us chasing after her.
