My Brothers Little Family

I was blessed with the opportunity to take family photos of my brother and his new little family this weekend. Gabe is 7 weeks old and such a beautiful little man! This is their first child and he seems to complete them very well. You choose who he looks like:) I couldn't pick my favorite so I'll just put a few of my favorites:)

Special People Galore!

What a special day! Donny, our family friend, is home from the Navy for a short visit and his Mom, Shirley, threw a party for him up in Portland. What made the day even more special, was that Josh, Randi and Gabe drove down to visit! (my brother, Sister-in-law and nephew) Chad finally was able to meet his nephew and I finally got to hold him! He's a beautiful boy and really likes to sleep:)

Donny hasn't seen the kids since Megan's wedding in the spring of 2007. Kyla was a little shy, but Gavin thought he was so cool:)

Josh, Gabe and Donny

Kyla holding her cousin for the first time

Ready... Set....

We are all ready for Kyla to start school on Tuesday. She will be attending Wascher Elementary School here in Lafayette monday through friday in their morning Kindergarten class. Her teacher is Mrs. Imholt. We've figured out where the bus will pick her up (1/2 way down the block) and what time Kyla needs to be up in the morning (7am on the dot). Yesterday my mom came over to help watch Gavin and we all went school clothes shopping for Kyla. We have been blessed with lots of wonderful hand-me-downs so we didn't need much more to get her outfitted for the school year. Here she is with all of her "school clothes."


After Kyla was done getting her picture taken with her clothes, Gavin plopped right down in the same spot and said "Cheese!" How FUNNY!


Notice his shoes, Grandma bought them for him for next summer, he hasn't taken them off since we got home yesterday:) He is my shoe man. He will put on any type of shoe in any size that is available and traipse all over the house. It's really quite entertaining.

Please keep us in your prayers as school time creeps closer. Kyla is excited and then scared. She's not sure she wants to go at this point. Please pray that her heart is calm and that she falls in love with her teacher, but most important of all, that she is a beacon of Christ in her classroom.

Amazing Uncle Todd!

Chad's brother has been here since Friday due to Frank's passing and we've been enjoying his visit as much as possible. He lives in Colorado and unfortunately, we don't get to see him as often as we'd like. On Monday, Chad and Todd discussed/debated one subject for over 4 hours! They were both happy campers:) On Tuesday, Trina and Todd came over for dinner and then we all played outside. Here are some pics of Super Uncle Todd with the kids:)

Todd introducing the wonders of cell phones to Gavin

The Todd and Kyla Band!

Kyla's Birthday Party

Our Five Year Old

On Sunday, Kyla had 8 friends over to help her celebrate her 5th birthday. A couple of weeks ago, she decided that she wanted a horse themed party. We have a friend who has horses and she agreed to give the girls horsey rides:) We had lunch here and then did a craft. All the girls wanted to meet Lovy, he was a little shy:)

We loaded all the girls into a couple of vehicles and drove out to Crystalin's. Her family lives on 1500 acres of land outside of McMinnville. It was absolutely beautiful! Kyla was a little hesitant to get on "Sticks" at first, but after one loop around the coral, she was good to go. Here she is!

Kyla's Buddies (l to r) Claire, Kyla, Haley, Meira, Ana, and Hannah

Even Gavin got to sit on Sticks!

Cupcake Time. It was a little to windy for the candle to work, she got to pretend to blow it out:)

Our New Addition....

We've added a new member to the Riddle family, he is of the four legged variety:) Kyla turned five today and we decided that 5 is the magical age for responsible pet ownership. We went to our local Petco and Kyla picked out the perfect hamster, a long haired, male, teddy bear hamster.
















After much discussion and contemplation, she christened him "Love" or "Lovy".

We've got his house all set up in our old 10-gallon fish tank.

He seems to be a happy camper so far and I know that Kyla is amazed by everything he does. She is right now reading him a story. Oh the joys of youth:)

Kyla and Lovy

While we were all busy doing other things, we had our first hamster related mess. Gavin got a hold of the open bag of hamster bedding and proceeded to fling it about the dining room. Now Edwuardo is working and has officially met Lovy:)

Edwaurdo doing his duty

Our Little Mess Maker

Our Week...

I picked up Kyla and my parents at the airport this Wednesday afternoon. She walked right past me and enveloped Gavin in the biggest hug. They were both so happy that she was home! Kyla has talked non-stop about all the fun she had in Indiana:) I can't wait to see her pictures:) While she was away, I manned the helm at my dad's metal shop in Hubbard. Gavin got shipped off to my friend Jolina's house and to Beth's house. What a blessing those ladies are! Yesterday was to be our first full day at home in over a week. No matter what anybody says, I'm a homebody:)

As life would have it, we ended up heading over to the Commune (chad's mom's house) to work on pictures for Grandpa's memorial service that afternoon. I find myself doing the picture slide show, the memorial handout, and trying to mourn at the same time. At this point, I don't seem to be doing any of it well. The "celebration of life" is being held on Monday and I feel a little overwhelmed at all there is to do to get ready for that.

Kyla's 5th birthday is tomorrow. We are trying to not let Grandpa's passing overshadow it. Her party is this sunday afternoon. Can anybody tell I'm a little stressed out:) Your prayers are needed and much appreciated as we say goodbye to Frank, go through re-entry after Kyla's vacation, and celebrate Kyla.

Life back to "Normal" Here

Scrapin' All Night Long

While Kyla and Chad were away, I took advantage of the quiet and invited some of my gal friends over and we scrapbooked early into the morning. Beth (my sister-in-law) took Gavin for the day on Saturday and 5 ladies set up camp in my living room. We watched the Olympics and some movies, all the while attempting to catch up on our scrapbooking. Here are some of the pages that I completed. I'm so close to finishing Gavin's first year book! Now I only have to catch up with Kyla (only three years behind:) ) and start on Gavin's next one. These are just some quickie shots. Wait until you see the whole book:)

Anchors Away!

This past weekend, Chad and his cousin, Bryan drove up to Puget Sound and sailed away for the weekend on the Lee's boat, LiLo. Their adventure started in Olympia and continued on to Boston Harbor. They caught crabs and had them for dinner, what manly men they were, living from the sea:) The guys slept out on deck the first night and Bryan was up to watch the sunrise. These pics are compliments of his camera. Chad is the white cocoon that you see:)

Chad manning the tiller

Anybody else wondering what he's looking at?:)

In Loving Memory

Chad's Grandpa Frank passed away this morning after a long battle with congestive heart failure. Both Chad's mom and Aunt were with him, as he wanted it to be. He is at peace. He leaves behind two daughters, Five grandsons and eight great-grandchildren. What an amazing legacy!

Here is my favorite picture of him.

Frank Kettlehake

Husband, Father, Grandpa and Great-Grandpa
6/29/1921 ~ 8/19/2008

Forever Loved. Dearly Missed

Prayers Please!

What a weekend we've had. I'll start with the prayer request. Chad's grandfather, Frank, is in the hospital and the dr's say that his time here on earth will soon be over. His health has been declining for the last 5 years, drastically this past year. Chad's grandmother passed away January of 2007 and Frank has been missing her so much. Please pray for Frank, for calmness and peace as he passes. Please pray for our family. Even though this has been coming for a long time, our hearts don't seem to be prepared:) Chad's mom and aunt having been spending exhausting amounts of time at the hospital with him-please pray for their strength in both mind and body.

On to more happy things...

Chad and Bryan drove up to Olympia on Friday and went sailing for the weekend on Bryan's sailboat, LiLo. The weather was a bit warm and the wind wasn't to cooperative, but the guys had a nice relaxing time. I'll put up pictures as I get them from Bryan.

My parents are in Indiana with Kyla until Wednesday of this week and I'm taking over for Dad at his metal shop. I haven't had to work full time since before Kyla was born, boy is it tiring:) On Saturday, I opened my home to 5 of my galfriends and we scrapbooked until we dropped. Gavin had a fun day at Aunt Beth's and I got some time to get stuff done:) Thanks Beth!!

As I miss my daughter and begin to mourn Frank, I am so thankful for the family that God has graced me with. I urge you to hug your kiddos, Kiss you spouse and call to chat with your mom:)

Kyla's Grand Adventure

Today finally came! For the last month, Kyla has needed a daily breakdown of the days until her trip. Kyla and my Dad boarded a plane @ 10:30 this morning and flew off to Indiana, without me. This is Kyla's first trip away from Chad and I. She's been away from us of course, we are just the ones who are going someplace fun:) My aunt is getting married this coming weekend and my parent's decided to let Kyla tag along on their trip:) She got a new backpack, her own disposable camera, and lots of things to play with on the plane just for this trip. They've made lots of grand plans and should have a blast. I'm excited to see the pictures and hear all the stories. Our baby girls is becoming quite the independent thing:)

This will be Kyla's 3rd trip to Indiana. She'll be hanging out with her cousins, her great-grandparents, and many Great Aunts and Uncles. Both sides of my family live in that area. What a blessing that we are able to share our little girl with our extended family. I try to keep everyone updated with pictures and info, but they can really get to know her now:) Chad's family is from Ohio, his dad is actually out there now visiting with his family. They, Kyla's great-grandfather, grandpa, and Great Aunt and Uncle, are planning on making the drive over to Logansport to see her as well. What a great opportunity to make memories!