Snow Angels...or Devils? Naw, just Rascally Kids!

Ruthie's Angel

Lizzie Sledding

A few days ago I cut a piece of skin on my finger too close and it bled, I put a band aid on it and when I took it off I folded it all up and accidentally dropped it. I looked a little and couldn't find it so gave up. Well Lizzie just crawled up to me pleased as punch about a little treasure she was exploring in her mouth. When I pulled it out to see what she had, sure enough it was my lost bloody band aid!
Ruthie has been getting extra sassy lately. She was "helping" me cook the other day. She always insists on putting her chair up to the counter right about where I need to be. I was rolling out some dough and needed a little bit of room to move my elbows and asked her to scoot over a little cause I needed some space. She got very defensive and sassy, saying "I need some space too ya know!"

I found a cool pattern online for making little girl dresses out of button up shirts. I went to the thrift store and bought some shirts and a curtain for some extras and set to work. Here are the finished results. If you want to make one this is the website for directions button shirt to toddler dress
So Lizzie is pretty much walking now, it has been gradual so I don't know when to say she actually started. Today she took about 6 steps in a row, she will only try short distances still. She is excellent at going up and down stairs and is beginning to talk more. She has said mama and dada for some time now but likes to mimic the tune of words. Most often it she says the tune to "Thank you". She is also saying "up ma", and pretty certain she has said "Bible" at night when we read the Bible together. She has a word that I think means Ruthie, that sounds like "Dada" but yelling, in search of her. Other possible words, that I think she has said are; please, mom eye, Tucker (our dog), Bunny. She is very animated and has a hot temper. She likes to make Ruthie laugh. She shakes her head back and forth very quickly for fun, I think (see video below). When I scold her or tell her "No", she gets angry sometimes and clenches her jaw and shakes, even sometimes "grrrrr...ing". It scares me!

Ruthie is learning from workbooks her numbers and letters. On each page we write her name at the top. I usually write it in yellow, then she writes over my letters. For the first time the other day she was willing to write it herself without my letters, she did awesome. I love watching her learn. Her attention span is still small so we only do a little at a time, and sometimes I get frustrated because I forget she is only 3. So God is teaching me patience, but I have a long way
to come still.

California Girl

Matt and I got to go to the Calvary Chapel Youth Workers Conference for 5 days recently. We brought along Lizzie, while Ruthie stayed at Grandma's house. Chris and Marnee also came from our church. It was held at the Bible College in Murrieta. There are natural hot springs on the campus, a small lake and some water foul that call it home. It is a beautiful place and was fun to see. We were very blessed by all of the bible studies, and the Lord blessed us immensely.

Here is Lizzie eating the chips we were feeding to the ducks, geese and swans.

There was one black swan and one white swan, the white one was mean but the black one was kinda timid.

SUNSHINE,

PALM TREES,

AND A LITTLE GIRL!
I couldn't stop taking pictures!

Her new dress.

A big fountain at night.

Barefoot in January!

Thinking about diving in for a swim.

Playing at the fountain.

So, even though the snow is fun and I love it, our little jaunt down to California made me long for springtime. It won't be long. Spring wouldn't be so awesome if it wasn't winter first.

PS Here's Ruthie at Grandma's house she got an easel and painted a lot of pictures. She is quite the artist.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

I am so glad we have lots of snow, I say keep it coming. There's nothing worse than a Winter with no snow, either bitter cold and dry or warm and rainy. Although it is hard to get out into it as often as we would like between colds and keeping a baby warm enough in it. Here are some pictures of our sledding hike.

Ruthie makes the same look posing for the camera as Grandma does when she is looking at herself in the mirror! Ruthie has your expressions Mom!

This was Ruthies favorite part, it was easy to pull on the road but once we got off it got too heavy.

Here's our hiking trail near our house, I would love to see what is up there someday but we never get very far for some reason.

Ruthie is fascinated by the curves that the snowplow makes.

Tucker is looking for his marbles I think.

So that's our fun in the snow, we'll have to do it again sometime before it melts off.

Another Christmas!

We celebrated Christmas with the Gower family a little late this year. It was more convenient to do it that way, and we got to spend more time together. Jenny, Eric, Jacob and Brennen came over from Seattle. John and Jennifer, with baby Gordon came. And we all hung out at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Ruthie and Lizzie got rocking chairs from Grandma and Grandpa!

Ruthie got a Doctor set, here's Brennen playing doctor with her and Lizzie.
Ruthie is always thrilled when someone will play doctor with her.

Jacob and Brennen got coyote skins, they loved them, and Jenny and Eric were excited too!

Here is a picture of all the grandkids together with the newest in Jen's tummy, Baby Gordon!

This was just a portion of the wonderful bounty we all received. It was fun being with everyone, we love you and hope to see you again soon!