Happy New Year! 2015

It was touch and go whether or not Steve's family was going to come to visit us.  The weather decided to take a crazy snowy turn, but we were dying to see Meghan who just got home from her mission, so they made the trek.  We were so excited to see them!

Also - I really wanted a picture of Ross and Ruby in their Sunday Christmas clothes which I missed for actual Christmas...here's the cheat ones I took like a week and a half later. :)

This is Ross's fake-laugh-for-the-camera face :)  Ruby is just into candy.

My Handsome Ross :)

Cutie Ruby :)

We DID go out and play in the snow while we waited for them to come though.  I do have to say - the snow here is NOT snowman-making worthy.  It was pretty powdery and impossible to pack into even a snowball.  Also - we went out in 17 degree weather - we were desperate - and the kids, being SO excited to go outside lasted a total of about 7 minutes before fingers and noses were too cold to handle it anymore.  They sure looked cute in their snow clothes though. 

Ross can't wait to go outside and dig in the snow. :)

Cute Snow Girl

And we're done!

The New Year's celebrations consisted of playing lots of board games, watching movies, taking turns playing with Ross and Ruby, eating a bunch of things unhealthy, checking out the antique store here, going to the best restaurant here - Thai Spicy, and getting to FINALLY see the third Hobbit movie which we all enjoyed.  It was our first time to the movie theater here - which I'm pretty sure used to be an actual theater for plays and musicals.  I actually like it - a charming sort of feel.  We made the silly mistake thinking we may need to get tickets early - when we called to see if that was necessary - the owner pretty much laughed and said he'd be pretty surprised if it sold out.  Another perk of little towns. :)  

We played this GREAT game called Bubble talk which is pretty much like Apples to Apples except with a random picture and choosing captions for it.  We laughed pretty hard.  I would recommend this game to anyone!

Our Meghan is home!  We are SO glad to have her back. :)

Ross and Ruby pretty much wanted to play with Auntie Meghan 24/7 :)

Love these two :)

Ross and Ruby LOVED having uncles and an aunt to play with them as well as Grandpa and Grandma - mom was getting pretty old news and dad wasn't far behind seeing how all our new little friends had gotten sick over the holidays. 

We toasted in the New Year thanks to Meghan and I - no one else was quite in the spirit of it - SO glad to have our fun-loving Meghan back with us!  We made some resolutions and then some more unhealthy things to polish it off. :) We were so sad to see family go, but glad to spend some of our holiday time with them.  Happy New Year! 

Meghan and I  - the actual ones in the spirit of toasting the New Year!

Michael overdoing it on the sparkling cider :)

I am DEFINITELY looking pregnant all over here - sheesh!

The next morning ;)  Cartoon watching.

Ruby Update

Our little firecracker Ruby is just trying to grow up as quickly as possible.  That girl has more personality in her little finger than an award winning actress who just received an Oscar.  
 

Little Sweetie :)

Ruby is extremely fun to have around - you must watch out for mood changes though - those can be dangerous. ;)

Rubes has many loves in the world - one of the main ones being boots.  She LOVES boots.  She has some pink ones I scored at my last bins run in Oregon that are most likely too small for her, but she still seems to find them and have them on her feet 24/7.  She loves stomping around in them and putting them on herself.  Any shoe she can get on herself is a winner.

She loves her hippo and her "blank-ily" as she calls it and loves putting her blanket on her head while walking around in her boots.  

Pretending she's going somewhere is also fun.  She'll yell, "Bye!  See ya later!  Have a good trip!" as she stomps in her boots out of the room, comes back and then repeats it over again.

She LOVES tea parties - and calls them "my parties" all the time and prefers to hold your teacup up to your mouth for you.

She goes through phases of foods - cheerios was a main one for a while, and then she recently has loved frosted mini wheats.  She loves apples - BIG apples - which means a big slice (just like Ross) that she chomps on while going about her playtime.  She could down an entire box of Mac and Cheese if I let her I think - while Ross has to be poked and prodded to finish his meal of it.

Ruby has learned the deliciousness of candy and asks for it constantly - even though I only let her have it MAYBE once a week.  She definitely has a sweet tooth.

Today, in fact, as we were getting buckled in the car to leave church, she was having a meltdown, and in the midst of it, saw a piece of a candycane on the floormat, and yelled, "My candy!  I dropped it!  Dang it!" She's not even 2 yet!  And she has learned "Dang it" and can use it properly in its context....oh heaven help us.

She is extremely fast.  Ruby always seems to find things that she should not be in to, and knows how to juke away from you with an added flair.  I'm not just saying for me - in my slow pregnant body.  Stephen has ended up on his rump more than once trying to fake out Ruby in order to catch her with whatever unsafe thing she has in her hands at the time.  

When I get her up in the morning, if she's in a good mood, she'll make her voice high and sweet saying, "Good morning!" and "Had good dreams" "Good sleep" which always melts me.  

Sometimes, when she's NOT in a great mood - she has crazy meltdown tantrums.  Steve calls her a fainting goat during these.  She makes her body go rigid in her tantrum and collapses to the ground.  It's pretty hilarious.

Sundays are funny days, because she'll throw a tantrum getting changed into her dress...yet when church is over and we try to take her out of it, we get another tantrum....fun fun fun!

Ruby does really well now in nursery though which is wonderful.

Her favorite Primary songs are "Once there was a Snowman" "I am a child of God" and "Do as I'm doing".  Some of her favorite other songs are "Let it go" "Frosty the Snowman" "Jingle Bells" and any of the Winnie the Pooh songs.  It's amazing to me how quickly she picks up songs too.  She can know words from the chorus or part of it after listening to it one time.  It's crazy! She definitely loves singing.

She usually requests "Let it Go" before going to bed as well as "Pearly Shells".  She cracks me up being in the same room as Ross, because if she ever wakes up before Ross, I can hear here yelling, "Hey Ross!  Rooooossss!" to try and get him up as well.  She'll also yell, "Mommy, where are you?!  Daddy?! Ross!" in the morning as well. 

Ruby, like her brother, is a lover of books (score for mom!) and I'll catch her upstairs in their room sitting in the glider looking at books for quite a while. Some of her favorites are: Five Little Pumpkins, Goodnight Moon, Shoe-la-la, (figures right?) and Pete the Cat.  If she's not interested in a book you're reading, you can forget about her sticking around.  

She still loves brushing her teeth, and is starting to get an interest in potty training - telling me she needs to go potty, getting on the potty, and having nothing happen.  I think she likes being big like Ross.

She would stay all day in the tub with the tub crayons if I let her.  Having free reign to draw on everything in there is extremely satisfying for her since I have to regulate her whenever there is any sort of writing utensil in her hand elsewhere.  

She LOVES to color and wants to do it ALL the time.  She also loves stickers and decorating your hands with them.  

Her vocabulary is crazy and extensive.  It's nuts to me that I can already have full sentence and phrased conversations with her.  She is very with it and knows much better than I give her credit for - maybe it's because I want her to stay my baby more - I'm in denial.  

Ruby is great as saying prayers and loves to bless everyone in our family, along with pillows, blank-ilies, fans, drinks, and anything else she can see around her.  

We are definitely all growing up too fast around this house, and I have NO idea how she's going to be with this new baby.  I'm hoping she'll be excited and wanting to help all the time.  She loves to help with other babies she sees - so lets hope for the best! :)  We love our Ruby - that's for sure. :)    

Ross Update

It seems with all the hustle and bustle of things, I haven't written about things Ross and Ruby are up to these days.  

Ross has been busy asking me questions all day long...ALL DAY LONG. :)  He is a very curious boy.  Some of his favorite things to do are to help me with anything around the house.  If he hears the kitchen sink turn on, he comes running, dragging a chair behind him so he can help do the dishes.  Doing laundry has become another favorite hobby.  He prefers throwing the dirty laundry in the washer along with the detergent.  His go to jobs are cleaning the mirror and counters, and always reminds us to clean the toilets (I wonder if he's gotten that from his Grandpa Don - who is a bathroom cleaning fanatic). ;)  

He also loves to help make cookies (mostly so he can get to the sample-the-chocolate-chips part or sneak some cookie dough) and muffins.  Muffins are the best in his book. :)

He is an avid book lover - always asking to be read to and quizzing me on different parts of the book - letting me know if I'm right or not. :)  Some of his recent favorite books are Shark in the Dark, I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean, Too Many Toys, and anything new from the library.  He knows his letters and most sounds - though W and M get confusing. ;)  He's a good counter and also knows his numbers.  He loves puzzles more and more and loves to play games.  Hide and Seek may possibly be his favorite (this house in Colorado is a great one for Hide and Seek).  

Coloring isn't a favorite in Ross's book, but if he can cut things with his scissors, he's all over it.  THOUGH - coloring with the crayons for the bathtub is extremely fun.  That was the best $4.95 I've invested in. :)

He's still my little toy hoarder.  Stephen decided his nickname should be Smaug (from the Hobbit).  He seems to have a 6th sense as to if a toy of his has been taken from its pile. He can sense the weight and amount that has been lifted from his treasure.  We're back to working on sharing once again.

Ross loves to visit the library and tells me every book he pulls out is his favorite and wants to check it out.  (This is interesting juggling Ross pulling out every book in the library to check out and Ruby running rampant looking for mischief - unless there are crayons and papers at the table - then she'll be distracted for a while.)  

His favorite Primary songs are "I Am a Child of God" "Follow the Prophet" and "The Wiseman and the Foolishman".  Whenever he hears a song he loves, he scrunches his lips up to his nose while bouncing to the beat and says, "Yeah mom!" - like he's totally feeling that song.  I love it!

Silly Face!

Whenever we say something that Ross doesn't agree with he likes to tell us, "Nuh-uh - that'll be not true!" and he still calls excavators "effigators" even though when we stop and have him say it the way we tell him - he pronounces it correctly.  

When I tell him he has to take a big drink, he makes his face as big as he can while he takes the gulp - as in his eyes open really wide and he tenses his facial muscles. :)

At bedtime he's finally realized that blankets keep him warm and now asks for us to put his blankets on him.  If he's cold, he'll ask, "Will you snuggle me so I can get warm?" Who, in their right mind can refuse that?!   He goes through phases of staying in his bed through the night, and then has a few days at a time where he tries to get in our bed in the middle of the night.  He's doing better now that we're situated here more in Colorado.  Our goal is to be completely potty trained through the night - but are kind of stuck in a rut in that department at the moment.  He just can't wake up enough to realize he has to go.  We'll get it sorted eventually though.

He loves to open his blinds in the morning (which of course wakes Ruby up) and tell us, "It's morning and the sun is out!" whenever he gets up.  He prefers a half slice of a bagel with cream cheese, and blueberries for breakfast, and STILL could eat goldfish all day long if I let him.  He's my healthier eater though - always finishing his veggies and fruit before having to be persuaded to eat the main part - a sandwich, etc.  He LOVES spaghetti - if he can sprinkle parmesan on it, as well as pizza, green smoothies, and hotdogs. 

He'll remind me, "the baby's not coming out of your belly yet, Mom" all the time while he pats my belly.  And since he's just about the height of my big pregnant belly, he usually likes to pat and rub it while he's talking to me if we're standing. :)  He's going to be a great big brother to his new little brother coming to join the family. I can't believe he's going into Sunbeams in Church.  He can't be that old!  Oh how we love our Rosscopants :)