Happy Birthday Jonathan & Faith

i can't believe that jonathan and faith are already 14 years old!! although i was young, i will never forget the very first moment i saw them, and i knew they were meant to be part of our family. they were just learning how to walk when we brought them into our home. i would follow them around all day catching them when they fell because i was so worried they would get hurt. i used to read jonathan dick and jane books all the time, and even now i enjoy reading to him. i remember after playing with them, i would lay on the couch and i would set faith on my legs and tell her to tickle my back, and we would take turns for hours...i have so many memories of them growing up and i love spending time with them still because i don't want to miss a moment!!
we all got together to celebrate, jonathan was excited to get a mountain bike, he really loves playing outside. faith is more of a social butterfly, and she was very excited to get an ipod.

Big Smile

February 2009
elizabeth is so full of life...she always comes up to my randomly during the day and just smiles really big, like she knows something that i don't. she brightens our life so much for her beautiful smile and big personality.

Brighton & Elizabeth

January 30, 2009
i know what you all are thinking...did the rodgers fall off the planet!! no, we are still here!! i promise i will catch you all up on our life so far this year, just have a little patience...

here is elizabeth and her best buddy brighton playing. it's so fun to see her being so caring with her friends.

I Think My Baby Is Hungry...

February 2009
ryan made these raspberry cream puffs, well elizabeth thought her baby would like a taste. she got a little chair from her playhouse, and used it as a bowl. she then got a spoon and feed her baby, every time she got the cream on the babies face she was so worried about getting it the baby's eye and she would wipe it off with a towel. i love when i catch her taking care of her dolls.

New Years

December 31, 2008
this year we invited the garff's over to celebrate new years with us. rachael was even kind enough to make dinner and a yummy dessert! i helped...isn't watching helping? that's what my family always told me when i was younger and wanted to help make cookies, "watching is helping janie".
it was fun having them over and their little boy quintin, who tolerated elizabeth taking all his toys away from him all night. we are still working on sharing.
we played the wii and even broke out the board games! i love surrounding my family with good friends and it was fun celebrating the new year with them!
i can't believe that a whole year has come and gone! i'm so excited for 2009 and look forward to seeing all the adventures that take place in our lives. i'm excited to watch elizabeth progress even further and look forward to learning from her this coming year!

Penaten Cream...maybe we should get rid of it.

December 28, 2008
elizabeth loves lotion...or anything she thinks would be fun to put on her face. we have this german penaten cream, it's used for bad diaper rashes.
elizabeth can't seem to get enough of it.
our reactions to her getting into this cream:
first time getting into it...cute
second time getting into it...funny
third time getting into it...elizabeth jeanne! you are in big trouble!
yeah, that third time was a mess, not only was it in her hair, it was all over her room, bed, toys, clothes, walls, doors, and the carpet. it's nice having a doctor as a brother, so i gave him a ring and he looked it up for me. he said "oh i found something that will get it out...shaving cream and a razor". adam can be so funny... we did find something though. we ended up having to use vinegar and a good dish soap...why dish soap you ask, because it breaks down grease and oil. she had gray hair for a couple days till it all came out.
now i know your asking yourself, 'what kind of parents are the rodgers, not even watching their daughter'. i wil tell you this...when it doubt blame it on your spouse :) no really though, i was sleeping, and ryan was distracted playing his guitar hero...all i have to say is, you can't win them all.

Christmas Day

December 25, 2008
i think when you have a child, christmas is even more exciting because you get to see the excitement in their eyes on christmas morning. it was incredibly entertaining to watch elizabeth open presents and sad at the same time that she didn't even want our help. she's growing so quickly right before our eyes and there is nothing i can do but embrace it.
it was nice that she enjoyed everything she got, even though the majority was clothes, she still giggled and clapped her hands. i have a theory that toys breed, so we only got her one big present, and it was a baby doll set. she was very pleased with it, she pushed her baby around in the stroller all morning!
ryan spoiled me with my favorite..books. he also got me a beautiful jewelery box, which will come in handy, as my family calls me a jewelery hoard because i have so much, i'm excited to now have somewhere to put it all!
i have to say that elizabeth and i spoiled ryan with guitar hero for his wii. i think having it will also help improve luring my siblings over to babysit :)
after we were able to tear ourselves away from all our fun toys we went over to ryan's aunt roxcie's and gave our gifts out to all the little kids and visited a while. i had the pleasure of holding his cousins 3 month old baby girl addison, i forgot how tiny newborns are!
then he headed over to my parents to meet up with the turners, and my dear grandma chalmers.
i say this so much, but it's true! my favorite thing is spending time with my family and i had a blast being with them on christmas! we had a great time exchanging gifts and i have to mention a couple of my favorite gifts. my parents gave the coolest gift. my mom is incredibly talented and made each family a wonder box. if you don't know what a wonder box is, google it because they are so cool! it's for emergency preparedness, but you could use them camping too. then scott and holly have to be the most generous people we know. we are in great need of a new car, ryan's jeep is dying on us (which i'm grateful it's lasted this long), the turners gave us their old camry. it's in great shape and a huge blessing! i do my best to try and help others, but scott and holly are incredible inspiration.
with the big snow storm heading our way, we went home, jumped into our p.j.'s and relaxed the rest of the night. my dad and younger siblings did stop by a little later to play guitar hero and say their goodbyes, as they were going to milwaukee for lovely lucie's baby blessing.
i do love this season and how so much centers around christ. i can't wait to continue to teach elizabeth all the resemblances between santa claus and our savior.
i hope you all had a merry christmas!

Christmas Eve

December 24, 2008
elizabeth is at such a fun age and since she is super smart we taught her all about santa. she has been saying 'santa' over and over again :)
this year for christmas eve, ryan's sweet aunt roxcie invited us over for dinner. it was nice being with his family. his cousins spoiled elizabeth with some neat toys that she loves.
afterwards we headed over to my parents where every year we read about christ's birth and all the grand kids dress up and act it all out.
it was weird because the taintor's are in milwaukee, which they have been gone since the summer. it wasn't till tonight that it really hit me that they wouldn't be here for the holidays. my sister holly called them on i chat and adam held up their new baby girl, lovely lucie as i like to call her. right at that moment it just hit me they weren't here with the family and i was so sad i just started sobbing, i miss you guys so much!!
after i regained my composure i was able to enjoy the rest of the evening with my family. it's not difficult to laugh till your cry when your around my sister holly, she is so fun to be around!
we even had the pleasure of having my sweet niece and nephew katiann and william over, whom we don't see as much.
towards the end of the evening my mom gave out her christmas eve gifts. which is always my favorite, our p.j's! she makes the majority of them, with our family growing so rapidly i wouldn't expect her to keep up!
then ryan and i took elizabeth home to open her christmas eve gift. she loves us reading to her so we gave her a christmas book about the birth of christ and she loved it.

Olive Fingers

December 23, 2008
one of elizabeth's favorite things to eat are olives. she thinks it's so funny when i put them on her fingers, that she will just look at them and giggle. she takes her sweet time eating them too because she so enjoys waving her hands around with them on her fingers.

This Girl Loves To Dance

December 20, 2008
when elizabeth is two years old we are going to put her into dance, because she LOVES to dance! anywhere, anytime that she hears a beat she gets into the groove!

Caring Child

December 19, 2008
elizabeth is such a little care giver. i'm constantly finding dolls, stuffed animals, my little ponies, anything really placed at random places around the house either with a blanket tucked around them, or on a pillow. even most of her stuffed animals have diapers on them and she's always bringing them to me with a new diaper to change them, she's so smart :) she has one little baby doll and she takes extra care of her, it's very sweet to watch her be so caring, ryan and i must be doing something right.

It's a start...

December 6, 2008
we finally started putting up our christmas decoration! we still have quite a bit to do till it feels like christmas is around the corner...even though i'm well aware that it's coming and quickly! elizabeth was a big help but her favorite part was putting up the tree. after it was all done, ryan, her and sugar all took a nap. for those of you asking what the heck is on my cute dog sugar, yes i'm one of those people that like to put clothes on their dog :)