Happy Father's Day

I truley believe that Rylee has THE BEST daddy ever! Thank u Ryan for being such an amazing father and husband! We are so lucky!!!

First Camping Trip [Higgins Lake]

This past weekend we took Rylee on his 1st camping trip up north! We share a camper with my sister and brother in law and their kids. It was a lot of fun, the kids had a riot. It was definitly a success with Rylee. He slept pretty good for the most part, the weather was beautiful and dirt was his best friend! He could have sat in that dirt digging all day long. Some friends of ours also came up with their new camper, they have 2 boys, and one of their sons brought a friend. Amazing it was all boys-9 boys that is! These are the times that I do love living in Michigan, there really is nothing better than "Summertime in Northern Michigan"-thank you Kid Rock, u said it perfect!

Yeah, he did dump sand all over his head

Time for a bath

Just a day at the Beach....

Hangin' out with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Jamie, watchin the boys play some ball....

Stanley Cup Finals were on while we were there, too bad the outcome wasn't better....

Loved going for walks through the campground

Gotta love Michigan in the summer-not a cloud in the sky!

1st Bathies in the Camper-success!

This is why the 1st bath occoured on the 1st day....he quickly learned "no throwing sand

So cute in his bike helmet-he thought he had to try everyones on all week....

Rylee and his buddies

We had a really great weekend a couple of weeks ago with some new friends! We got a chance to meet a new family that have a lil' boy from Ethiopia as well! His name is Luke and he is so stinkin' cute! He's just a few months older than Rylee, what a blessing to have a new buddy from the same country that lives so close! We had a BBQ with the Sextons, The Ballards and later on the Kudwa family came to join us for a little bit of fun! They all played so well together, we are so blessed! I just kept looking around at all of them thinking how wonderful the gift of adoption is. Then I also looked at the children of these familes that were biological as well, and it warms my heart to watch them all interact and know that a family is a family no matter how it is formed!

Jack, Luke and Rylee
Get back here Luke, lemme feel that hair!
C'mon Rylee, we're outta here!
See Ya Mia!
Rylee got a new sandbox that day, he loved it!

Flags and Bubbles

Those were his 2 fav' things for memorial weekend! He would not put the flags down and he loved bath time! He is obsessed with "bubows" (also known as bubbles! I can't have a peaceful bathtime anymore unless I do it after his bedtime, what can I say-this child loves the water! Note to Lisa: Check out his cool Huntington Beach shirt-that's for u and Z!

Mother's Day 2009

Little late on this one, but this is where we're at I guess! What an amazing feeling to wake up on Mother's Day and have the most amazing son that I could have ever asked for! As I previously posted, it was a bitter-sweet day....I thought a lot about Rylee's birthmom and I prayed that she is at peace and she knows how much he is loved! This day wasn't just about me being a "new mom" it was about my mom too! I am so so lucky to have the mom that i do! I couldn't be more blessed! She's funny, she's smart and so compassionate and loves all of us and her grandchildren more than u can imagine! The day was NOT the greatest weather, so she thought it would be funny to come out in a robe that my dad so "generously" picked up for her at a yard sale! It's her version of The "SNUGGIE"....Love u mom!


Me, My Mom and My sister!

"Daddy" is the first thing Rylee says when I go to get him outta bed in the morning! That is of course after he greets me with a big smile and smoochies! This video is a lil' old as he is still wearing winter pj's but heck, that coulda been from only a month ago! I promise, the weather here has gotten above freezing! :)

Playing Catch Up!

What a busy lil' family the Armbrustmacher's have been lately! At the beginning of the summer we always say we dont have a whole lot scheduled! We now find ourselves not really having one open weekend, but with us, that's par for the course!
Im gonna try and give u a lil' of what Rylee has been doing these days! He is DEFINITLY our music man! This child can dance, and his cute lil' face lights up whenever a cool tune comes on, he particulary looooves the lil Ethiopia CD that his friend Zaela sent him, Daddy lets him get on the counter to dance to that!
He's saying lots of words, and starting to put a couple words together! He just turned 18 months and I really cannot believe where time goes! I continue to miss Ethiopia everyday, it just does something to ya!
He can name parts of the body, and knows some animals and the noises they make, as a matter of fact we were away this weekend and while we were at the grocery store he saw a pic of a cow in the dairy section and he was yelling "MOO" through the whole place-so we know he knows one for sure! Im gonna go back and try and post some pics from the last couple of months....they may be a bit outta order, but atleast they are on here for him! :)