Monday, December 7, 2009

Letter to Santa


Ru is really getting into the whole Christmas thing. She loves the lights, the trees, and she REALLY loves Santa. Well, mostly, she kinda thinks most snowmen at the stores are Santa, too, but it's the same idea. ;) She gets excited when she spots him in the store windows or the big inflatable ones in ppl's yards.

We've been watching the Father Christmas video with her sometimes, and the other night she was sitting on Brian's lap, watching it for probably the third time. If you haven't seen it, it's really cute. Santa tells us what he does for the rest of the year. He goes on vacation, then comes home to piles and piles of letters to deal with. While she was watching, she grabbed a notepad from Brian's desk and wanted to color. Brian handed her a brown crayon and she proceeded to
scribble back and forth while she watched. This isn't anything particularly unusual. the surprising part was when Santa came home from vacation and started reading the kids letters, Ru took her scribbled paper and stood up on Brian's lap, reached over to the monitor and started batting the paper against the screen. She kept repeating "Santa, Santa, Santa" as she did this, so Brian and I concluded she has written her very first letter to Santa Claus, and was trying to get it to him thru the screen. I had the camera handy, so I snapped a quick picture. Because of the nature of flat screen monitors, you can't tell it's even on, so you'll just have to trust me that she was banging it against the poor Santa's face trying to get his attention.


I was all set to "engineer" the letter to Santa thing, I have a postcard I picked up at Macy's already addressed to Santa I was going to let her color on. This letter is obviously MUCH more authentic, I just hope the good St. Nick's language understanding magic extends to reading scribbles from toddlers. And don't worry, I already included a note to him asking for the letter back, because this one obviously needs to end up in the scrapbook!

Monday, November 16, 2009

Rain, rain, go away! (just leave the puddles, please)

Our Oregon weather is well into the rainy season. Ru loves to play outside, so I got her a raincoat and some boots so she can still get out and have some fun. This was our first trip out with the jacket, altho she likes the boots so she's worn them several times before.

The jacket is a little large, but she got tired of me fussing with the sleeves so I quit rolling them up. At least her little fingers can still grab important things like rocks if necessary.



The sun was fairly bright when I took the pics, but you can see the fun flowers and such on her boots as she splashes in the puddle.


We had lots of fun, she only sat down in the puddle once, which seemed to bother the mama a lot more than the kiddo. :) (I did plan ahead and had her in some pants that already had a small stain, so even if the mud doesn't wash out, no harm done). She also had fun interacting with Sammy, who was inside the fence safe from any major splashes. We walked partway around the block, but she wasn't in an exploring sort of mood, as we ended up just playing inside the car for a while before heading inside to warm up.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

It's not Halloween without a costume!

We bought Ru a Halloween costume a month or two ago when I found one on clearance at a website I shop at frequently for baby-proofing stuff. It's a good thing Ru didn't grow anymore than she did, as it only just barely fit her. It came with a cool headpeice that looked just like a doggie head, but Ru doesn't like hats and wouldn't wear it. But she doesn't mind hair bands, so I made some ears out of white felt and hot glued them to a black hairband. It worked great and she even got a couple of complements on her ears. :)

Here she is in all her canine glory! :)


She didn't care for the mittens. She usually just holds her hands up and looks at them when you put mittens on her, and we thought that would be a bit awkward for trick or treating, so we just took them off. She was much happier then. I also decorated her face a bit. We didn't have any face paint (and I didn't think of it til after the stores were out) so I just used a washable magic marker. It worked great, and came right off with a wet wipe later.


This isn't the greatest pic ever, but it's the only one I got of the back of her, with her cute little puppy dog tail showing.


And here's one of my costume, it's a play on words. (and the P doesn't actually have anything to do with me being preggers. ;)

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween, we sure did! :)

Ru's first Jack-o-Lantern

Since we didn't have to spend any money on the experience (grew the pumpkin in my garden) we decided it would be fun to let Ru help make her first jack-o-lantern. We suspected she would really enjoy the pumpkin guts, and we decided we would carve something cute that she would like.

We were wrong about the pumpkin guts, while the scooping action was fun, she wasn't really into touching them at all. She preferred to use a spoon and help me remove them from the pumpkin.

Or, as the case may be, put them back in. For a while I was fighting a losing battle as she scooped them from the bowl back into the pumpkin. It was fun tho. :) She also liked to stir them in the bowl, and I did manage to catch the bowl both times she tried to dump it on the living room floor.



Of course, after touching the pumpkin guts it's necessary to wash our hands, which happens to be another of Ruthie's favorite activities.

Ruthie LOVES animals, so we decided to do a kitty jack-o-lantern. She seemed to approve, as every time she looked at it she would say "meow-meow." We took it with us to G-ma Judy's house since we don't get much (if any) trick or treat traffic at our place.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Happy Fall, Y'all!


We took Ru to the French Prairie Garden's Pumpkin patch yesterday. We had a great time! Grandma Judy came along, and we watched pig races, went on a hay ride, picked out a pumpkin, and saw lots of cool animals.

Brian's family has always had the rule that you can only have a pumpkin as big as you can carry. Since we have some in our garden already, I was happy Ru bonded with this small, bumpy one since it's different from any we already have.

Of all the animals, I think Ru liked the goats the best. The chickens were cool, and the llamas held her interest for a bit. But the goats were small and cute, and she really liked watching them. This goat was quite friendly, and Ru got to feed him a few bits of goat food.



They had a nice display of pumpkins in the greenhouse, so we tried to get some pics with them. Here's my preggy self trying to keep Ru from jumping off her pumpkinny perch.


Ru wouldn't just stand in front of the pumpkins for long, she wanted to bring us the fun squash we were trying to use as props. But we got a couple decent shots. :)

Posted by Picasa

Friday, September 18, 2009

Professional pics


This is my favorite pic of Ru ever! This was another set of way overpriced prints from a really cheap sitting fee done at a local hotel. They give you one really cheap large print, and then it's way overpriced for any other prints. But I did go ahead and order the smallest package so I could have this one of Ru. In addition to the old fashioned cuteness, she really does just adore stuffed bears. so it caught a nice bit of her personality as well. (note all the other bears tossed behind her... ;)

They talked me into dressing up for pics, too. I hadn't planned on it, but decided why not, I haven't had my pic done professionally in ages. The first pic was the one 10x13 I got, the second was just fun, as Ru does like sitting on my lap and reading books, too.



I love this last one because it shows what a girly girl she is. She loves wearing necklaces and playing with her tea set. (altho hers is plastic, not ceramic like the one in the pic) I'm pretty sure I never touched a tea set in my entire tom boy childhood. I think I played dress up once at Aunt Ruth's, but I didn't own any dress up clothes myself and certainly didn't play on a regular basis. Ru does tho, she's just waiting for me to buy her something other than her one sparkly skirt (thanks Lory!) that she wears all the time, and her many beaded necklaces. Hehe, and I also like her little toes peeking out under the table...

Friday, September 4, 2009

Ravioli and black beans?


It's a kind of odd combination, but that's what Ru and I had for dinner one day this week when Brian was late coming home from work. I didn't have the energy to cook anything for just the two of us, so I heated up a can of black beans, and some chef boyardee ravioli. Ru loved both, she almost always likes beans, and the ravioli was a big hit, too!

Note the beans are gone, still one ravioli bit to go tho. BTW, she's wearing her pj shirt from the night before, since we were playing in the water outside before dinner and she got her t-shirt all wet. So I decided rather than put it back on, I'd just toss this other shirt on for dinner and take it off for bathtime. (she was chilly or I wouldn't have bothered with a shirt at all. ;) anyway, that's why she doesn't have a bib on.


One slightly grubby, but quite happy and well fed little girl! ;)

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

We love the baby!

Ruthie got a new baby doll from her Nana a few weeks ago. (Nana also bought the outfit she's wearing in this pic, I love owls!) She LOVES it! She just calls it baby right now, maybe when she's talking better it will get a real name. It's about 12 inches, I'll have to keep an eye out for 12 inch baby doll clothes now. ;) It also can go in the bathtub (altho we don't really plan to play with it in there) it's nice that it is quite washable. It also smells like vanilla, altho I haven't decided if I think that's a good thing or not. ;)



She likes to put the doll in her little stroller (which, now that I think about it, Nana ALSO bought for her...), sometimes she even gets it in there facing the correct way. At least the feet always go in first...



Ru also likes to feed the baby. Here she is sharing her cheerios.

I love that she is learning to love and take care of other little people (as well as her stuffed animals, she feeds them too) and that she's got a little friend she really likes to play with. :)

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Stylin!

We ordered a Robe for Ru a while back, since it's a kinda chilly trip from the bathroom downstairs to the bedroom upstairs. It was much to big for her tho, so I put it in the closet and forgot about it.

However, she's been growing like a summer weed, and when she found it the other day I let her try it on. It fits! (kinda) She had great fun modeling it, she really loves how soft it is and hugs it when she's not wearing it. Of course i took some pics since she was so proud to be wearing it.

The shoes, however, do NOT fit. (those are my gardening clogs)

this is gonna be great come time for Christmas pics!

OK, so maybe it's a little bit big. But that will make it great for taking more pics in a she grows, right? (and that's a hair clip in her hand, apparently she decided if it was a fashion show she ought to accessorize! :)

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Finally, a veggie we can agree on!

So far, I can't get Ru to eat more than a few bites of just about any veggie. Other than potatoes anyway, but those are awfully starchy. Sweet potatoes are at least a little better, altho she prefers they be in french fry form. (same with regular potatoes for that matter, altho I don't generally feed her french fries!) At home, she turns up her nose at carrots, cucumbers, green beans, peas, broccoli, and cauliflower. I'm not actually a huge fan of cooked veggies either, so I'm hoping once she gets all her teeth and can eat them fresh things will go better. At least she loves fruit.

Anyway, I stumbled upon a veggie she seems to love! Black beans!



Ok, so I don't actually know if beans count as a veggie or a protein, but I know they are really good for you so it doesn't matter. I impulsively mixed a can in with some mac and cheese (gotta get that stuff at least a little nutritional value) and was surprised when I let her feed herself. I spoon fed her both beans and noodles on the same spoon. When she fed herself, she ate the beans, and not the noodles! Cool!



They are kinda messy. I can deal with that. She does seem to prefer the "seasoned" ones rather than the plain, altho I generally rinse them unless I am adding them to something already messy like the mac and cheese.



Besides, we kinda like messy faces. They make for fun pictures.


We want YOU to eat your veggies!!

Monday, August 24, 2009

park pics

I am falling WAY behind on posting on here! I blame the new little one sucking out all my energy. Ah well, we'll be thru the first trimester in just another week or so, hopefully I'll have more energy then. In the meantime, I just pretend I have energy and keep going so I can keep up with Ru! here's som pics from one of our recent walks, we stopped to play at the park.

Ru had sunblock on her legs, and thought it was pretty cool that the little pieces of mulch stuck to her.

Yay! Mulch on the slide, too!

Ru still loves to swing!

While I've got your attention, recent developments in Ru's little life include: a much improved ability to run, and run, and run...; the comprehension skills to usually answer a yes or no question with a nod or shake of the head; the ability (or maybe inclination) to actually nod yes and mean it if I ask if she's ready for a nap or bedtime! ; 4 new teeth (the last two incisors on the bottom, and two molars on the top, those have been GREAT fun ) ; and the ability to put on and take off her beaded necklaces she got at the old fashioned festival. She also will leave hair clips in now, so we are letting her bangs grow out for now. Fun times in our Cheery-O household! :)

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The rest of the camping pics

Here's a couple of totally cute beach pics. I was buttoning her jacket in the first one (another Thank you, this one to Annette for the hand me downs!) and the other just shows a nice close up of her in the wind. It was chilly enough she even left her hood on, which she HATES to have up normally.
Having fun with her Daddy, a nice snuggle between trips to the ground to find rocks! ;)

Camping

A word of caustion, I wanted to catch a lot of memories here, so it's pretty text heavy. If you want to just skip to the pictures I won't be offended... ;)

Our Church has an annual camp out every year, where we reserve a bunch of spots together in a state park on the beach (used to be South Beach, now we do Nehalem Bay) and have a grand old time with organized campfire events, a sand castle contest, organized games, a potluck, and of course a fireside worship service. We've gone every year since we joined the church, altho last year with little Ru we just ended up making a day trip out of it. So this year was officially Ru's first camping trip. She had a great time! During the days...she was teething and the nights were fairly tough on all of us. Thankfully some good friends (who weren't able to go, and we did miss them--but Thanks Rose and Bob!!) loaned us their pop up trailer, or we may have bailed after the first night.

Of course, even that didn't go without a hitch...literally. We couldn't get one put on our van in less than a week, so at first we told them we couldn't do it, then some other friends offered to pull it for us. (Thanks Don and Judy!!) So we were able to work it out. Ru actually LOVED the beds. She thought it was totally fun that they were mostly encased in canvas, and she could stand up and touch the ceiling and bang on the walls, etc. She got excited every time it was time for bed. You may notice a problem with that situation there... Anyway, we put her on the outside edge with one sleeping bag laid out flat under us, and used another for a cover. I slept in the inside edge so she couldn't roll off the bed and into the trailer. the first night was ok, the second she woke around midnight crying and crying, it took us 20 minutes to get her calmed down enough to take some tylenol and get her back to sleep. And then she insisted upon sleeping ON me. I still have a sore neck three days later. But enough whining...

Friday night was the campfire songs and story telling, which eventually broke down into telling blond jokes and making endless smores and marshmallows. There was no way to put Ru down safely at her regular bedtime, so she stayed up (after a brief nap in the wrap) and enjoyed the party, too.

Saturday's events started at 10:30 with the sand sculpture contest. (while I'm thinking about it, our neighbors provided us with three meals at their table, including sat breakfast of pancakes with homemade raspberry sauce. Thanks Sharon and Bill!) I walked down with Don and Judy, and we took turns carrying Ru. She's getting heavy! She ended up spending quite a bit of time on Don's shoulders. She wasn't actually sure she liked it up there, he's pretty tall, but she didn't cry or protest, either. As usual, she mostly just played with the rocks. I'll post the beach pics separate because this crazy thing only lets me post 4 pics each time.

After lunch we did games near the playground. I was beat after that first night, so I actually napped thru the games and Brian and Judy took care of Ru. The playground had pea gravel as the cushioning. Little, tiny, ROCKS!!! Ru likes rocks. She played with them, grabbing handfuls, pushing them around, and stacking them on the swings. Yay, rocks!


Saturday night we had the potluck. Judy took Ru for pretty much the entire time, fed her, etc. So Brian and I got a much needed break to relax and eat. I managed to bang my head pretty good on a low tree branch, and had already had a headache all day. So i snuck out after dinner and took a shower (man did that sting, I obviously broke the skin on my head when I hit it!) and then laid down in the trailer til the tylenol kicked in. I caught the last bit of the worship service (I actually listened to much of the rest, since the extra campsite we reserve each time for a meeting space was across from ours) and took communion. Our little family didn't stay up much past that, we were beat and ready for bed. Thank goodness for Judy!


Sunday morning Brian took Sammy out early, and without his morning restlessness Ru and I were able to sleep in til 9. Yay for much needed sleep! (altho that's when I was off the pillow and tweaked my neck) Anyway, I kept Ru busy visiting folks while Brian broke down camp. We had the usual organizational meeting where we discussed ideas for improvements the following year, with a couple of great suggestions we'll follow up on. We didn't stick around for lunch. We were exhausted, Ru was fussy, Brian sunburned, my head still hurt, so we headed home. The good news is the drive home went much better than the drive there (we stopped twice on the way there because she was so upset. On the way back she actually slept the last hour) and we arrived home safe and sound Sunday afternoon.

Overall it was an ok trip. camping with an infant is a LOT of work. I am fairly certain Brian and I have no urge whatsoever to borrow Bob's trailer and go do it again next month. However, with the support of a loving church family around, it was quite doable and certainly had many wonderful moments, so we do plan to try it again next year. Even tho we may be back in a tent...

More birthday suit pics

We didn't stop to put our clothes on (well, hers, I had a swim suit on, if that counts) when Ru decided she was done playing in the pool. Instead, we moved to the front porch where she has a sandbox to play in. Of course, she didn't play in it. She preferred to climb up onto the Adirondack chairs all by herself. she is just getting into the whole climbing thing. She keeps me busy following her around with my hands stretched and ready to catch her if she falls, or give her a boost if she needs it. She's pretty much mastered getting on the chair...now if only she could figure out how to get back off...

I love this pic of her, she looks so serious. No smiling and clapping at her accomplishment, she's busy trying to memorize what she did to get up there...


When she tired of the chairs, there was the dog's water dish to play with. With water! I had to use a bit to splash on the porch when she peed (which was also pretty cute, she just stood there and watched somewhat fascinated as the liquid came out...but I did NOT decide to catch that on camera ;) and so then she decided it must be ok to haul it around and dump the water... She's not actually dumping it on purpose I don't think, but she is splashing it all over herself.

Playing in the bowl afterwards, Sammy seems a little saddened by the loss of the use of his dish.

And of course you gotta love the cute little baby buns. Not sure that you can tell from this pic, but they are quite grubby from the eternally dusty chairs she was climbing on. (I do hate my gravel road)

More to come, I've got camping pics to post, and today I took some fun ones of her attempting to feed herself, let's just say it got a little messy...