My Kiddos

There are few things that are sweeter than this...snuggling with two little cutie-patooties in bed. Of course Ruby requires bribery to snuggle for more than a minute (hence the IPad in very close proximity). But for now, Jack will snuggle as long as we want, and I enjoy every minute.

6 Months

Jack had his 6 month doctor visit and he's perfectly healthy and he's finally hit a growth curve! Go Jack! Well, that said, he weighs 14 pounds which puts him in the third percentile for weight. And he's 26 3/4 inches which is the fiftieth percentile. He's our string bean, that's for sure! And both the nurse and doctor commented on his crazy hair, which is yet to be tamed.

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Bobby had his birthday yesterday and we had a wonderful time celebrating with him. He requested clam chowder for dinner and tapioca pudding for dessert (a little strange but I love him and gladly indulged him). Ruby demanded party hats so we each had one and some balloons as well. We love this man and are grateful to have him in our family!

The Christmas Tree

I'm not one for Black Friday...I think it's one of the most horrible days of the year. Bobby and I have been out once since we've been married. And we only went out around 11 in the morning so that we could be sure the shopping wouldn't be too insane.

But this year I bit the bullet and went out at 5:30 (in the morning!) so that I could get a tree and have it up before Ruby woke up. She was so excited when she came downstairs and saw the tree. She could hardly sit down to eat breakfast she wanted to decorate it so badly.

She had a fun time pulling the ornaments out of their bins and handing them to me to put on the tree. And by the time we were finished we had a gorgeous tree all aglow and sparkling. Every late afternoon she begs me to be able to turn on the lights. And then she just stands in front of the tree staring and touching the ornaments.

Thanksgiving

I had grand aspirations to blog everyday about the things I'm grateful for (that obviously didn't happen).... But those things that I'm grateful for made me a little too busy to blog about them. We had a wonderful time this holiday. Grandma came to visit and Ruby had a fabulous time with her. We laughed and played, cooked and ate way too much food.

It's beginning to look a little like Christmas

Yup, I did it....I started putting Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving. I love Christmas and was quite happy doing it. Sorry, Thanksgiving. But the real reason was a little girl named Ruby. I just can't help myself because she is having so much fun. So this weekend while she was down in the basement watching a show I put a few things up. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care and a few other odds and ends were put out.

She was thrilled when she came upstairs and found everything. Until I told her she couldn't touch it. Bummer. But I told her I did have something she could play with:





She played with her nativity for 30 minutes straight and has continued to play with it every day since. I've had a sweet time explaining to her who everyone is and how baby Jesus was born (not in a hospital, in case you were wondering). And I've had to remind her a couple times that the baby is Jesus and not Jack.

Now she's just eagerly waiting for the day after Thanksgiving when the tree comes out.

Jack's Pears

I've started making some baby food for Jack since he'll be turning 6 months in just a few weeks. Can you believe that? I can't...time is flying by.

After I had puréed some pears and put them in ice cube trays to freeze I let Ruby eat what was left over. She devoured the rest and told me, "I love Jack's food!" Hopefully she'll let him have some when it's his turn to eat it!

Catalog Queen

We've started receiving various toy/kid catalogs in the mail, hoping to inspire us to spend our money for Chrismas. Luckily we're just about done spending for the kids so we won't be suckered into that. But Ruby has a great time looking through her "magazines" and will quietly sit for 20 or 30 minutes perusing the pages of bright shiny things. Jack's bumbo seat is one of her choice spots.

Before Winter

We've had a few gloriously beautiful warm days the last couple weeks and we've definitely taken advantage of them. Winter will be here soon and the kids won't get to enjoy being outside quite as much. So last week when the weather was nice we headed to the park. Ruby had a great time swinging and going down the slides.


She's starting to be more adventurous and trying to climb the different ladders, which freaks us out a little. Who told this girl she could grow up? (By the way she can now turn on the lights in the house just by standing on her tip toes...very weird.)

And Jack had a fun time watching his big sister from the comfort of his stroller.

Sweet Dreams

Funny things I find....

This is Ruby's dinosaur. And her trick-or-treat bag. I had to ask her what it all meant....yup, her dinosaur's wearing his helmet. She makes me smile.

She can't wait for Christmas

These days anytime we go shopping Ruby is on the look out for Christmas decorations. It's like she has a radar for it. We hit Target and she immediately spots the trees. And then we have to stop so she can gaze longingly at all the bright shiny objects. This girl is seriously into Christmas this year. I've told her we're going to buy a tree the day after Thanksgiving and she is so excited.

So we went to Lowes to buy some wood so Santa can make her present (a d-o-l-l house as we refer to it in these parts) and we made a stop by the trees so I could check out their selection. And that little detour ended up being about 20 minutes while Ruby danced to carols, tried on Santa hats and played with the decorations.


I can't wait for Christmas either, just to see how much she loves it.

Apple Cider Donuts

Yum yum...we made some more donuts this weekend (why is it that when I'm trying to lose the last of the baby weight I make donuts? I'm insane.) and they were yummy.


Ruby will never pass up a donut...when I put one in front of her to eat her face lit up and she said (in her excited whispery voice) "a dohhhhhnuuuut!"


Here's the recipe:

Our Best Bites Apple Cider Donuts

Quite delish....although I think I need to get a smaller donut cutter....these were monster donuts. But they were very easy to make and didn't take a whole lot of hands-on time. A perfect treat for a chilly fall day!

He kills me...

Those cheeks, those eyes, that smile....I am powerless to resist.

Brother and Sister

I took these pics of Ruby and Jack just a few days ago and they make me smile when I see them. Ruby wanted to hold Jack (which she hasn't wanted to do for awhile since he's getting bigger) and she put her arms around him and snuggled him up to her. Look how innocent this all appears....


They proceeded to have some sort of secret communication that included giggling, smiles and babbling. Probably scheming to overthrow me....


"What, Mom? You think we're talking about you?"


Why yes, yes I do. They could be waxing eloquent about how wonderful I am, but I have a feeling they're conspiring against me. They're too cute for their own good.

Halloween

We had a wonderful time the last few days with our Halloween festivities. We had our church trunk-or-treat on Saturday, followed up with pumpkin carving and cupcake baking on Monday.


Ruby had a great time running cupcakes to our neighbors with Bobby. This girl has as much fun gifting others as she does getting goodies, she has a mighty big heart for a two year old.

Then of course we had trick-or-treating yesterday. Our two little kiddos were just about the cutest things I've ever seen. Though getting Ruby to hold still for a second to take a photo was impossible.





Ruby only went to a few houses but got some pretty good loot. She was a little astounded that she could get some candy just by saying "trick-or-treat". And of course she enjoyed the spoils after.

Mmmmm....toes....

In the Crib

Every time I get Jack up from a nap Ruby always wants to get in bed with him. She'll snuggle up next to him, tell him how cute he is and give him a kiss. It's amazingly cute and makes for a great picture.




She's quickly getting too big for the crib so she won't be able to do this too much longer. I can't believe how fast these kiddos are growing!

Mmmmm....toes....

First Snow

We woke up this morning to our first real snowfall. Ruby was thrilled...she kept looking out the window and saying, "It's snowing, I'm so excited!"

So I told her when Jack went down for his morning nap we could go play in the snow. She was just about bouncing off the walls. Luckily her snow gear from last year still fit, so we got bundled up and went out to play.

Rudy's favorite thing to do was throw snow at me and then say, "I'm sorry mom." And then do it over and over again.








And of course we had to make some hot chocolate to warm ourselves up when we came inside.

Ouch

Ruby's usually quite content to do her own thing around the house while we do ours. She'll come check in once in a while and then go about her own business. The exception to that rule is when she gets hurt. This girl falls down constantly. We'll hear an "ouch" and there may or may not be tears, but she usually requires a kiss and she's good to go.

Bobby had military this weekend and came home and took his boots off. A little while later we heard an "ouch!" and this is what we found:





We're not usually ones to laugh at our children's misfortunes but this was too good to pass up.

Doughnuts

I bought a doughnut cutter last week and my weekend project was to make doughnuts. Ruby was very excited and was very eager to help.




What is it about yeasty bread and deep frying it? There is something magical that happens.








They turned out pretty good. Ruby said she loved them. But Bobby and I weren't too crazy about them because they weren't quite as light as we'd like. Just a little too dense. So I am now on the hunt for the perfect doughnut recipe. As soon as I find it, I'll let you know. Because good homemade doughnuts are too good to keep secret.

Voting

Ugh, can I tell you how sick I am of this campaign season? All the obnoxious tv ads slamming the other guy, all the mailers that I could have made into a very thick book, all the people on Facebook who have done nothing but post political statuses for weeks...boy am I glad it's almost over.

Bobby and I filled out our mail-in ballots and have taken advantage of our civic right to vote. Now we can just sit and wait and twiddle our thumbs and breath a huge sigh of relief come November when this thing is over.

And then wait another four years to do it all over again.

Playing with Jack

All the time Ruby tells me that she's going to play with Jack. And it usually entails her sitting down next to him and doing her own thing, blissfully unaware that he's still there. And then he'll sit and stare at her quietly, watching what she's doing and giving her occasional smiles if she says or does something that amuses him.

I've caught it on camera a few times after I've been covertly watching them (which is one of my favorite things to do).

Ruby's always worried about Jack being too cold and if she's around he'll usually have a blanket on.


She loves to look at books next to him and then gets peeved when he kicks the pages.


Ugh! These two kiddos have just about more cuteness than I can handle!

72 Hour Kits

When we moved here Bobby and I decided we needed to get off our lazy bums and really start working on our emergency preparedness. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has a resolve for every member to be self reliant and that includes being able to take care of yourself during an emergency. We had started getting some food storage while we were still in Texas but we got off track once we arrived in Colorado.

So a few months ago we decided we needed to get our 72 hour kits together. I started ordering and stockpiling some food, clothes, tools, etc. and watched our supply grow in our little store room in the basement. This week we finally finished getting everything we need and Bobby and I spent last night putting our bags together.

Here's what we started with:




My biggest fear was that everything wouldn't fit in our packs. You can buy preassembled emergency kits pretty cheaply, but having kids I knew that eating 1000 calorie energy bars wouldn't fly, so we bought some nice meal kits that would be a little more comforting in a crisis. Having all that food and prep items took up more room but it'll be nice to have something decent to eat in an emergency.

And everything did end up fitting:




I feel so much better knowing we've got these. If you'd like an idea of how to start building your own emergency kit, my main resource was here:

Survival kit ideas

Next up....start building a three month food supply!

The Pumpkin Patch

We told Ruby last week that we were going to the pumpkin patch this weekend and was she ever excited! All week long, whenever we were out and about running errands and she saw a pumpkin she would chatter on and on about how much she wanted a pumpkin and couldn't wait to go.

So we bundled everyone up and went this morning. Ruby had a blast. We visited the pumpkin fields first.


Ruby had the hardest time picking out a pumpkin. She wanted one that was all orange and BIG...but every time she saw one she liked she saw another one that looked even better. We finally had to go back to the car and say that the first one she picked was perfect. And it is. Jack got one too...his is green and BIG.

Then we headed back to play on the slide (which was enormous, Bobby and I were both surprised she went down by herself...twice), eat some goodies, see some animals and have a great time.








Even Jack had fun.


We'll definitely make this an annual event. As we were driving home Bobby and I talked about how much we're enjoying living in Colorado. We love it here and can't wait to have more fun with our little family.