Patiently Awaiting the Thaw

When the snow was still high we dried out the buggy and took a walk to the Library. Luckily the girls have narrow bottoms and can fit, just barely together. And it was easy for me cause I made Tucker do the pullin'. The girls loved it he took them right through puddles and stuff. Lizzie found the little potty in the bathroom, thankfully it has been used only as a stool to reach the big toilet for quite some time!Oh yeah, did I forget to mention she walks now. It is her main mode of transportation, other than Mommy carrying her.
But my favorite thing she has learned recently is to pray. She picked it up herself, just watching us. She likes doing it now because it gets a good reaction. It was cool, cause I sometimes overly concern myself with desiring my kids to grow up loving Jesus. And I am learning that it is not something I can tell them that will make the difference it is me living it, and this was like God showing me, "it is working they are seeing it and they will follow your lead."

Ruthie is going to be a philosopher. She has been asking lots of interesting questions lately. Here's a few I can remember:
Can God get sick from me?
What does a star feel like?
and as she wiggled her bottom she said, "when I do this, God laughs, huh?"

We got a bird feeder, and Lizzie is obsessed with birds, she spots them in the sky like a hawk and says, "burr." One day when it was snowing out we had a flock of Evening Grosbeaks come and devour a full feeder, it was fun to see.

It will be a great Spring when it really does come!

Special Delivery

It has been a while since I posted, but have had pictures for some time now of Lizzies birthday gifts from Aunt Jenny. It came by mail and the girls were so excited to see what would be in it.

Anticipations ran high as they pried into the box...

And were thrilled to find...packing styrofoam!

No no, Lizzie, not in your mouth

I truly had to explain this stuff to them and show that there was better gifts inside.
Jenny and Eric sent Ruthie a little something too. Mini tea pots.

Lizzie got some really nice clothes and a kitty, which she loved.

Here is Ruthie testing out her new Eggplant and Carrot tea pots that were just the right size to go with the tea cups she already had. Very cute, she loves that kind of stuff.And Lizzie is trying to figure out the easter bicycles.Thank you Jenny, Eric, Jacob and Brennen. We love you!

Happy First Birthday Elizabeth!

Lizzie turns ONE this week, so we had a little shin dig on Sunday to celebrate!

Grandma with Ruthie and Lizzie, sporting some beautiful party hats!

Ruthie with her sword and balloon, Lizzie walks a little but is too nervous to just go for it as her main mode of transportation.

They loved playing with Grandpa Tim, he got to rough 'em up a bit.

Lizzie got a blue duck from Ruthie, it squeaks!

Tearing loose, she is not quite as timid and dainty as Ruthie was at her age. Here Ruthie is doing all she can to refrain from helping.

She was getting awful excited seeing this one emerge.

A car!!!
Daddy got it put together and she got to try it out first.

They haven't stop riding the car since. Unfortunately there is no off switch for the sound part. Lizzie can push Ruthie on it so they take turns pushing each other.

I had some time on my hands lately, while Matt was at the state wrestling tournament. So Ruthie and I played with fondant, it was my first time using that stuff and it was really fun. daffodils, clematis, bumblebees and dots.

The cake was yummy too! Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. My favorite!

Lizzie actually blew the candle out herself... while grandma held her hands back!

"Want some? I'll share"

Ruthie eats the frosting off the top of her cupcake and leaves the rest.

Here is a great after party photo.

She got some nice toys and had fun with grandma and grandpa and uncle TJ. It was a nice party, good food, and pretty decorations, hee hee (cause I have fun making them). Hard to believe she is one now. Happy Birthday Elizabeth! We love you a lot Lizzie.
Ruthie put it best this morning to Lizzie when she lovingly said, "oh Lizza, you adore me!"
:)

A Silly Sally Dweeb!

Here's Ruthie, with her snow gear, Daddy's goggles, and her umbrella.

Ruthie was cuddling with me today and very affectionately told me, "I appreciate you." I told her thank you. Then I asked where she got that, she said from herself?!? Grandma, did you put her up to that? I already asked Matt, he didn't. I've never heard her use that word before, what a sweetheart.

Quite the fashion statement, if I do say so myself. Just a chip off the ol' block.

Philosophical question from Ruthie: "do birds get stuck in clouds?"

Here she is getting mad at Tucker for breaking her stick!

Ruthie loves singing, she likes to sing "I've got the whole world in my hands," she also is intrigued by the Holy Spirit, and sings her own song, "I love the Holy Spirit," but some of the time she likes to mix them together and she sings, "I've got the Holy Spirit in my hands". I don't really like that so I discourage that version but to be honest I am not really sure why. She told me then one day, "It's just a song, Mom"! ...Little miss Sass.


Ruthie is potty trained (thank goodness), but she still needs assistance in wiping her bottom after pooping. She says the classic, "I'm done, will you wipe me?" and lately we've begun referring to the one who gets to wipe as the winner! She enthusiastically tells me, "Your the winner! ha ha he." I don't know where she gets her sense of humor? :)

Here's Liz, She is covered in snot, but still smiling.

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.