Our Christmas

Well, I finally got around to taking the time to post our Christmas pictures!  We didn't get alot of gifts for the girls, something we'll never do, but we did get enough pictures.

 

The first picture is Zoe's reaction to our exclaims of "Get up Zoe, Santa came and left you and Ruthie presents under the Christmas tree!"  She was embarrassed about it for some reason and decided to hide under the covers.  After about 5 minutes of waiting, Jeff decided to get her out of bed, and she brought along her Dora Pillow book to hide under.

 

Zoe was really shy about the presents until she caught sight of the giant penguin.  After that she was much more open to the idea of presents and opening them.  And there's Ruthie in the corner smiling at the camera.  The next picture is slightly out of sequence; however she was WAY excited to see a treasure chest with a blanket and a tent inside of it.

Here's the blanket that was in the treasure Chest.  She adores butterflies and the color purple, so that's what she got; a purple butterfly blanket.  The other side is a lighter shade of fleece in a solid color.  Zoe's always playing with the etch-a-sketch in the checkout, so we figured to ask Santa to bring her one.  She enjoys playing with it, but I think her favorite thing is to shake it to make the lines disappear.

The last thing Santa brought Zoe was a Smurfette doll that came with a one episode DVD (Romeo and Smurfette in case any of you were wondering what episode it was)  She enjoyed watching the DVD so much, we went ahead and downloaded the whole first Season for her to watch, and she's completely enjoying that.  The next picture is a present from her Grandma Teresa (my Mom) which is a laptop with letters and numbers.  The neat thing about it that you can set the age of the child on the laptop so it grows with your child.

 

 As you can see, Zoe's the most excited about CLOTHES!  I didn't get a picture of the other outfit, but it was a purple velour jumpsuit with a purple shirt; this one was a red top with pink pants, and again it was from Grandma Teresa.  Ruthie got this toy from Grandma Teresa; it's one of those things where you stick the toy in the correctly shaped hole (in case you couldn't tell ::wink wink::)

 

 These two presents were brought to Ruthie by Santa!  This was her first Christmas, so I don't think she quite understands what's going on, but she really did like the ball! It shakes and moves and sings when the baby plays with it; it's supposed to encourage the baby to crawl after it.  Ruthie likes to hold toys in her hand as she crawls around, so this ball will get her going to chase it.. or it's supposed to anyway.  She mostly sits and pokes at it.  Ruthie also really likes the seahorse, when you squeeze it, the belly lights up and it plays music.  She seems to be soothed by it, so that's a good sign.  Of course, she's staring at it funny because she's unsure exactly what it is; she's since warmed up to it.

 

 These last two presents are from Grandma Teresa once again; the first picture is of an outfit, and the second one is pajamas with the little girl cat from Aristocats.. I honestly don't remember her name.  Unfortunately, Zoe's quite fond of cats and was a bit upset that they were not her pajamas.  But she's okay with that.

The girls overall enjoyed their Christmas.  They got cute tutus from Uncle Andy and his family, and Zoe likes to play with hers; Ruthie really isn't that crazy about hers, but I do plan on getting pictures of the girls later on wearing their tutus, they're going to look adorable!

Merry Christmas!

... 188 cookies and two pies later.

Yes, that's right.  I've baked 188 Gingerbread cookies for gifts, and that's NOT including the 30+ that were not suitable for gifts.  Remind me to not do this again next year.  Of course, the cookies are delicious so, I suppose it's worth it.  Liz, I may try my hand at candy making after all... it's probably much easier than baking an insane amount of cookies!

Anyway, here's some more pictures of the Christmas tree.

 

  These were taken the other morning, natural lighting really helps show how beautiful the tree is.  I especially love my tree topper.  The picture on eBay did not do it justice, and I was very pleasantly surprised to see how beautiful it is.

 

 And here's what it looks like after Santa came to visit!  I got a package yesterday from my Mom; hers are the ones that are wrapped in green paper and also the decorated shirt boxes.  The decorated see through containers are our gifts to the family, and the rest are from Santa!

I can't wait to get pictures later when Zoe wakes up.  The only downer is that I still have one last pie to make; an apple pie, and I have to do a quick load of laundry as well.  Oh joy!  At 12:30 we're going to Jeff's parents' for lunch.  I'm super happy this Christmas because I did some digital work and got paid for it, so I managed to make enough money to buy something for Jeff.  It's great because I didn't have to use the money he earned for the family to buy him a gift.  It's not much, but I know he'll like it because I bought it for him.  But I won't say what it is yet.

Once again MERRY CHRISTMAS!  I hope your day is filled with blessings and joy!

Oh Christmas Tree!

I took some pictures of our Christmas tree. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get great pictures of it with the camera, so I only was able to manage to get good pictures of it. They don't do the tree justice though. I plan to get pictures of the girls in front of the tree in dresses when I can get to it though.

The first picture is of the tree with all the lights off. The second picture is with the light on in the living room area of our apartment. We put it up in the dining room area since that's the only place we have room for it; we don't have a dining room table, so why not put it there? I don't have stockings up either, since I need to make them; however Zoe does have a stocking, somewhere. I do have the fabric though!

Tim's Homecoming pictures

Here are the pictures from the airport. We were waiting for over an hour, so I felt that I had to take pictures. I didn't get pictures of everyone that showed up, I forgot to get a picture of Jeff's brother Andy and his family.


Here's the flight information on the board, as you can see it between the white brackets. Funnily enough, it never changed from saying "Departed" to "Arriving" or "On Time". And the next picture from right to left is Uncle Jim, Shayla (Jeff's sister), Aunt Anne and their grandaughter; I'm unsure what her name is though. They got to the airport before we did, but only by a few minutes.



Here's John (Jeff's dad), then Jeff and Melissa (Jeff's sister) and little Mason (boy) in her belly. Then, there's Zoe with Grandma Wendy! And in case you were wondering, Uncle Jim is John's brother. Wendy was walking around with Zoe in the airport, taking her up and down the escalator. Zoe got brave later on and decided she wanted to go for an elevator ride by herself, but that got stopped pretty quick by Uncle Devin (Melissa's husband).



Here's TIMMAY! Or Elder Hayford, since he wasn't released yet. Then the next picture is of him with his two friends Braeden (sp?) and Ben. They also recently got home; Braden served in Argentina, and Ben served in what I'm assuming San Jose, since he mentioned living by eBay's home quarters. Out of all of their group of friends, Ben was the only one who did not serve a Spanish speaking mission. He's probably feeling left out about that by now.

There's a bit of a funny story about Tim and Zoe. Zoe was running around and being crazy with the family when Tim came off the escalator, and then she spotted a vending machine with candy and ran over there. As soon as she left, he asked "Who's that little girl?" and of course, we responded with "That's Zoe." and he goes "Wow, she's huge!" It didn't help matters any that the family that was standing around the vending machines were a family of blondes! He was amazed at how big Ruthie was, and commented when he left, Zoe was that small -actually she was a bit over a year old when he left; about a week or two after her first birthday- and was amazed at how big Zoe was. Unfortunately she didn't recognize him so he tried to talk to her she hid her face or started crying. Melissa prepared Aidan for his homecoming, so he knew who Tim was and gave him a highfive. Braeden and Ben took off, and Andy and his family went home since he had to go back to work, and Uncle Jim, Aunt Anne and their grandaughter went home, and the rest of us went to SouperSalad for lunch/dinner (lunner?) since it was three in the afternoon and Tim hadn't eaten since 5 am in Tijauana, which was 6 am our time.

He was amazed at all the changes that were done to the house, and the dogs I think recognized him, so that was nice. Later on, Luke and his wife (they got married yesterday) came over and Jessica met Tim for the first time, since her and Luke started dating about a year before Tim got home. I totally called that relationship winding up in marriage, even though Luke thought I was crazy. All in all, it was great. We left Guitar Hero over there for Tim to play and within a few minutes, he was Rocking out better than Jeff! Amazing!

Christmas Tag from Linda!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper for sure, because I like to make it an artform.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial; I don't know how much real ones cost, but after a few years, the artifical one pays for itself.

3. When do you put up the tree? I put it up the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but it went without ornaments for about a week.

4. When do you take the tree down? I'm honestly not sure when I plan on taking it down.  Probably sometime in the first week of January.

5. Do you like eggnog? As a kid, I hated it.  I haven't had it as an adult so, that's still up in the air.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My jewelry box when I was eight years old.  I still have it and use it!

7. Hardest person to buy for? Jeff, because he makes the money and I don't go shopping without him.  NOT THIS YEAR!  I bought his gift online!

8. Easiest person to buy for? ME!  Haha, just kidding; I'm really not sure, probably Zoe.

9. Do you have a nativity scene?  No, since we don't have the room or shelving to place it on, but I plan on cutting one out with my cricut and hanging that on the wall.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? I'm honestly too lazy to do either one.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A cheesy mug with hot chocolate.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? A Christmas Story.  "You'll put your eye out kid!" gotta love the leg lamp too.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I started about a week before Thanksgiving.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I don't regift.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Food.  I'm not set on any special "Christmas only" foods.

16. Lights on the tree? White, I'm not a fan of multicolored trees.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Silent Night.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I'm a stay at home person, but my dad wanted to fly us out for Christmas to see him in Virginia.. um no, not with the girls being this little!

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Rudolph and that's about it.  Sad isn't it?

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We have a tree topper that's not an angel, nor is it a star.. more like a burst or something.  Hard to describe but very pretty.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? It's COLD.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? My tree is done in soft gold, ivory, pink and white ornaments with a matching tree topper and a gold skirt.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Turkey with all of the fixings.  Why is Thanksgiving dinner exactly like Christmas dinner anyway?

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? I already got my Christmas present; a Cricut Expression machine; but a few more cartridges wouldn't be minded.

26. Who is most likely to respond to this? I dunno, the only person who reads my blog is the one that sent it to me. LOL.

He's Coming Home!

For the most part, this blog is about our little family; Jeff and myself and the girls.  However, at times I feel it's prudent to share information about the rest of the family, and today is that day!

Jeff's one of six siblings; he's the second oldest.  The second to the youngest Tim went to Tijuana to serve a mission for our church (LDS) two years ago -give or take a few days- and today he's coming home!  We're excited to have Tim home again since many changes have happend with the family while he's been in Mexico as a missionary.  Some of which includes the birth of the 6th grandchild Aidan on January 7th, 2007, then Grandma Ruth's death last October, and then Ruthie being born this year in February, and then of course Jeff's other brother Luke's engagement to his fiancee Jessica -they are getting married on Thursday as a matter of fact- and the upcoming birth of the eighth grandchild Mason who's due to arrive sometime in the first half of February of next year.  Then of course, the house has completely changed too!  Jeff's parents had their roof completely repaired, and they've done alot of work to the inside too.  We've been exceptionally blessed this year financially, and have gifted Jeff's parents money to go towards cosmetic changes and repairs; they were able to replace the flooring in their main bath and kitchen, they were able to paint those two rooms as well and also Tim's room.  It's amazing what inexpensive flooring and a can or three of paint can do!

His flight comes in around 2:30pm or so, and we're heading to the airport to be there around 1pm.. why that early I don't know since flights tend to be late versus early, but whatever!  We're planning to go out to dinner at Tim's preferred restaurant, so I won't be able to update until tomorrow, or whenever I get around to it.

Zoe's Birthday Party (and pictures of Ruthie too)

I haven't been able to sit down until today to post pictures from Zoe's birthday party from Saturday (her real birthday was actually Monday) and it went well!  We surprisingly were able to fit the whole family in here.  Anyway, here are some pictures!

Here's Zoe opening her first present; this one came from Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Shayla, Aunt Melissa, Uncle Devin & Cousin Aidan.  This is a Diego knows your name doll; basically it comes with a CD and a USB cable so you can install the software and he'll say the child's name and a bunch of other stuff when we program him, when the party was over we asked Zoe what present she liked the most she said, "Diego".  Go figure.

Here's Zoe opening her "My Little Pony" from Uncle Luke and his fiancee Jessica and her two kids Cirena and Barret.  Cirena was eyeballing the pony; so we know what SHE likes.

Here's Zoe opening her Disco Dancing Wubbzy.  She saw me looking at it online and wanted it, so we got it for her birthday.

Here's her with the Wubbzy on the TV stand.  You push his foot and then he dances.  It's awesome, he can even do headstands and stuff, and if he falls forward, he goes "Ow, my nose help me up" or something similar, it's great.  Way cuter than those evil Elmo dolls.

Here's her snuggling her other presents.  She wanted not only Wubbzy, but his two friends too.  I went and searched online and found out they make Beanie Babies of the dolls, so we got her the full set.  I had it in a bag, and when she took the tissue paper out of the bag to see what was inside, she stared at them for a second, and then ran to Jeff and hid her face in his lap.  I'm not sure why she was so embarassed, but I think it might be due to the fact that she REALLY wanted these, and she got them and was super happy about it.

Here's the cake!  This is actually an icecream cake from Coldstone Creamery.  And it was a GREAT deal too!  It's a cheesecake icecream cake with strawberry syrup and yellow cake.  I'm not a fan of the frosting flowers, so I had them decorate it with strawberries instead, and then had them do the graham cracker crumbles around the sides, because what's a cheesecake without some form of graham crackers?  The cake was so delicious and I still have some in the freezer that I'm planning on eating later. MMM.

Here's the cake again, but with the cupcake in icecream cones I made to go with the cake.  All strawberry.  I personally wasn't a fan of them, but the kids ate them right up, and even when one was left half eaten on Zoe's little table, Ruthie crawled over and finished it.  Whatever, she enjoyed it and I wasn't about to take it from her and have her start her crying.  Besides, it's just practice for her birthday in 2.5 months!

Here's Zoe pulling a "What's going on?" face as we were singing happy birthday to her.  She loves to run around the apartment and other places and sing "Happy Birthday", but gets confused when we sing it to her apparently.  The look on her face is priceless.

And here's her dressed up in her last present from Uncle Andy, Aunt Camie, and Cousins McKenzie, Kade, Ella & Parker.  They were late because of the famous U of U vs BYU game. (The U of U won that one) and she LOVED her dress up stuff.  She also got some little shoes too.  We know what Santa's bringing her for Christmas.

And for your enjoyment, here are some pictures of Ruthie.  The first one was done at Zoe's party, and the last three were at Jeff's parents' house the next day.  And yes, the girls have identical shirts.  Jeff's idea and not mine.

 

Anyway, tomorrow's Thanksgiving, so I hope you all have great turkey days!

Growth Update!

It totally slipped my mind to post this last week, but the girls had a joint checkup last Wednesday; Zoe for her three year checkup, and Ruthie for her nine month checkup!  It's amazing how time has flown with two kids, I thought it would slow down, but in all honesty, it's sped up.  And I'm SO glad that they did NOT get any shots, what a relief that was.  Anyway, Zoe first.

Zoe Elizabeth at (almost) three years:

Height: 37.5 inches (50th percentile)

Weight: 34 pounds (75th to 90th percentile)

Now I honestly don't know if it's because I'm just short or other kids are shorter, but I've honestly not met a child as large as Zoe at her age.  For example, the only other girl child I'm around constantly is my future sister in law's daughter Cirena, but Cirena is almost four.  She's not that much taller, if not shorter than Zoe, and is a wispy little thing.  So are most kids under the average for their weight and gender, or is Zoe really just average and I never really noticed before because they weren't my kids?  Zoe is a solid and sturdy little kid, even if she does trip alot.  But like our friend Cooper said one day when he came over, "When does she start school again?"  Uh, not for another three years Cooper.

Ruthe Edith at (a tad over) nine months:

Height: 27.75 inches (50th percentile)

Weight: 17 pounds, 11 ounces (25th to 50th percentile)

Well, this is when the comparision starts between the girls.  I honestly don't remember Zoe's weight all too well at nine months, but I'm pretty sure she was at least 29 inches.  Zoe was a longer baby, but when I put her old 18 month old pants on Ruthie (Zoe wore them at a year) there was less drag on the pants when Ruthie wears them, so her length must be in her legs, but Zoe's must be in the torso, something she got from Jeff's side of the family; since most of my height -what I have of it- is in my legs.  Ruthie didn't gain much weight from her last appointment, but since her last appointment, she's learned how to crawl; which would indicate toning of muscles and lost of some fat.  She's still chubby, and does have rolls in her legs and arms; however she does NOT have anywhere near the ammount of rolls that Zoe had.  The doctor didn't worry about it all, he said it's quite normal.

Anyway, speaking of three year olds, we're having Zoe's birthday party tomorrow!  I'm so excited.  We're having the party here at our apartment, and because of that, we're just keeping it in the family this year, even then, I'm not sure how well our apartment can hold roughly 18 people.. but we'll manage!  Instead of buying or making invitations to mail out though, I just sent an email.  Here's what the invitation looks like:

Obvously, our address isn't included.  I had the foresight to realize I'd most likely be posting it here to share, and I don't want my address publicly floating over the internet.  The rest of the email had our address, directions on how to find our apartment and even a small map!

And because I know you're wondering, that's a sticker of the earth on her nose.

Changing the look..

Of my blog that is!  I've decided I want something different, so I'm going to change the background and header.. hopefully it won't take too long, but in the meantime, my blog is going to look a bit funny.

Part Two: Halloween Pictures!

Well, here's part two today!  As promised, I got some awesome Halloween pictures.  It was a really nice -for October in Utah- night out; however it was sprinkling outside but it wasn't that bad.  It really brought out the fall smell.

Here are the pictures!

 

We went to our friends house up in Kaysville, and here's a picture of the girls sitting on their fireplace.

Here's a closeup of the girls.  It's really hard to get them to cooperate at the same time.  Still a cute picture even if Zoe's making a funny face.

Here's the girls with our friends' two kids with ours.  Ripley is a purple dragon and Rafe is a pirate.  BTW, (Ripley's a girl, in case you couldn't tell)

Here are Zoe and Rafe holding hands.  Cute picture!  Rafe was so cool, he needed TWO trick or treating bags/buckets.

 

Here's Zoe in the 'trick or treating' zone.  She was having alot of fun. Unfortunately the picture isn't the greatest one.

And here's Ruthie.  This is what she did pretty much the whole time we were trick or treating.  Trick or treating takes alot out on a little one...

Part One: I've been tagged!

It always comes in threes!!

Three names I go by:

1. Amber
2. Panda
3. Mama

Three things I am wearing right now:

1. Glasses
2. Left hearing aid
3. Right hearing aid

Three restaurants that I love:

1. Souper Salad
2. Lonestar Steakhouse
3. Wendy's

Three favorite things to do:

1. Play World of Warcraft
2. Go shopping
3. Hang out as a family

Three things that I did yesterday:

1. Went to dinner at Jeff's parents' house.
2. Played Guitar Hero World Tour.
3. Played with Ruthie & Zoe.

Three Goals:

1. Buy a home.
2. Get my driver's liscense.
3. Go visit my family in Virginia in the near future.

Three Fears:

1. Something happening to Ruthie or Zoe.
2. Something happening to Jeff.
3. Jeff losing his job.

Three things I plan to do today:

1. Play some more Guitar Hero World Tour.
2. Pick up the front room.
3. Go to bed at a semi-decent hour.

Three things I plan on doing tomorrow:

1. Go have a girls night out with my friend Melinda.
2. Vote!
3. Run the dishwasher.

Three favorite holidays :

1. Christmas
2. My wedding anniversary (it's a holiday to me!)
3. My birthday (again it's a holiday to me!)

Three favorite beverages:

1. Dr. Pepper
2. Pink Lemonade
3. Apple Juice
   

Christmas is Coming!

I know, Thanksgiving hasn't even come yet, but I just finished making Christmas tags for a swap I'm doing on a message board, and seeing them finished gave me not only a sense of acomplishment, but excitement too for Christmas!

This year is extra special to me because not only is it Ruthie's first Christmas, it's also the first Christmas we'll have a real Christmas tree!  Last year we just had a small tree thing that was made out of cardboard and tensil -it was loaned to us by Jeff's Grandma- and I'm so grateful that I was finally able to purchase a real tree this year.  And I almost didn't get it because it was shipped to the wrong place -the Overstock.com warehouse in West Valley out of all places- and was rather upset because the UPS folks said they sent someone out to get it, but it was missing.. lo and behold it showed up about 5 days later!  So I'm now the excited owner of a 7.5 foot tall, prelit Christmas tree!

Then I came to a delemia.. how to decorate it?  I'm not a fan of the 'traditional' red and green for Christmas.. well not for a tree anyways- and I thought about it for a while, and then we went to Roberts one evening and I was able to decide on a color motif; pale pink and gold!  I'm not a huge fan of yellow gold at ALL when it comes to jewelry, but I love it for Christmas!  Anyway, since Robert's prints out a weekly coupon, I've decided instead of getting all the ornaments at once, I'm going to use a coupon once or twice a week until I get enough boxes!  Yay for 40% and 50% off coupons.  Anyway, here are the boxes I've bought so far; I plan on getting two more boxes of each box to have 96 ornaments total.

 

 (Ignore the mess on my crafting table please) 

I'm thinking to get two dozen icicles as well, but I haven't seen them yet, and I may not depending on what is available.  Jeff and I also decided we're going to get a star and not an angel, because we want to avoid Zoe screaming at us to let her play with the 'doll' on top of the Christmas tree.

The biggest debate now for me is do I make a skirt or do I just buy one?  I could make one no problem, and it'll give me greater flexibility in terms of fabrics and design, but on the other hand, Sewing for me lately has become a huge hassle, and that's something I'm wanting to avoid.  But I need to find a skirt that matches my ornaments, and one that's within a reasonable price range, but that may not be possible.

Well, there's slightly just two months before Christmas and at least 4 weeks until I put my tree up -I'm going to put it up sometime after Zoe's birthday and the first week of December- so I have time.  I can't believe how fast this year has blown by!

And can I just say, I'm EXCITED for tomorrow?  I just hope the forecast for rain is incorrect, and we'll just be passed over!

Trunk or Treat!

It went really well!  Zoe didn't get a ton of candy but that's okay, Halloween is next week and she'll get WAY more.. and according to my friend, in her neighborhood they give out BIG candy bars, so it's all good..  anyway here are some pictures.. more of Ruthie but Zoe's not inclinded to be photographed these days.

 

 This picture is classic.. it says "WHY AM I WEARING THIS RIDICULOUS OUTFIT??"   You can tell she's kind of peeved.  It might be the stroller more than anything else though.

 

 I love this picture of Ruthie!  She's kind of leaning back a bit and looking over her shoulder, which is so adorable!

 

 And here's Zoe in her costume giving a crazy face!

In case you can't tell they are both little skunks.  Anyway, that's all.. I will post more pictures after Halloween gets here!

Eight Times Five Tag & Extra

I got tagged by Linda, and I'm finally getting around to answering the questions!


Eight TV Shows that I LOVE to watch:
*I should add I do not watch TV anymore but the shows I'd like to watch are:

1. Cold Case Files
2. Days of Our Lives
3. Mythbusters
4. What Not to Wear
5. Trading Places
6. Diagnosis X
7. Extreme Home Makeover (my guilty favorite)
8. Mystery Diagnosis

Eight things I did yesterday: (not in any specific order)

1.  Got up out of bed.
2. Played World of Warcraft.
3. Sat on the phone for 25 minutes with Toys R Us customer service.
4. Went to Robert's Arts & Crafts.
5. Cooked dinner.
6. Played with Zoe.
7. Breastfed Ruthie.
8. Went to bed.
   

Eight Favorite Places to eat:

1. Souper Salad
2. Wendy's
3. Lonestar Steakhouse
4. Blimpie's
5. Subway's
6. Carl Jr's
7. Crown Burger
8. Tres Hombres

Eight Things I'm looking Forward to:

1. Putting up our first real family Christmas tree!
2. Finish buying ornaments for said Christmas tree!
3. Zoe's third birthday.
4. Ruthie's First Christmas.
5. Getting my new Cricut Machine.
6. Seeing the girls in their matching Halloween costumes.
7. Wrath of the Lich King Expansion release next month!
8. Getting my Christmas shopping and Zoe's birthday shopping done early!

Eight Things on my wishlist:

1. My new cricut to get here safe and sound.
2. Saving up enough money to buy a house.
3. My dad coming out for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
   
4. My mom & brother coming out for Christmas.
5. My sister moving out here next year.
6. Getting a good deal on a new TV since ours is going out.
7. Paying our car off early next year.
8. Being able to take a trip to Virginia in 2010!

And I got a request from my dear cousin Liz to post more pictures of the girls and of us.. and I will since tonight is the Trunk or Treat at Jeff's parents' ward!  I'm excited to get pictures of the girls in their matching costumes... speaking of which, I need to get ready for that!

And I only have  Valerie to tag.. so Valerie, you're it! to do the tag that is.. hehe.

Vandalism or Art?

Zoe LOVES to color.  Unfortunately, we haven't had the foresight to buy her any coloring books or any new crayons or colored pencils lately since she breaks the crayons everytime we give them to her.  She took my prismacolor colored pencils a while ago and was intent on coloring with them, and after we firmly told her to give them to me, the face she pulled was HEARTBREAKING.  She was just so sad and upset I teared up looking at her.  So I've been letting her play with my stamps and she's pretty good about keeping them in one place and not getting ink all over the place.  She also wanted to color the stamped images she did so I found some broken crayons in various places and gave them to her.  And well, last week when I wasn't looking she colored all over the blinds leading out to the patio.  I caught her again doing it and after telling her not to do it, she got the same look on her face, which has strengthen my resolve to get her some type of coloring book or something next time we're at the store.  Anyway, Zoe decided to take pictures of her 'artwork'.

 

Here's a zoom out of what she did.  I should mention she somehow marked ALL of the blinds.  I should mention that ZOE took this picture as well as the one below!

 

 And here's a closeup.  I know I need to clean it off, but at the same time, I don't have the heart to.  I'm a weird person like that.

I should also announce that Ruthie now has TWO TEETH!  The first one broke out around August 26th, and the second broke out between Sunday, September 14th, and Monday, September 15th.  She was EXTREMELY cranky that night and by the morning her tooth was poking out.  Here's the first picture of her with just one tooth.

 

What a pretty smile!  She was so happy since this was the first picture.  I tried a few more, but she kept getting grumpier and grumpier everytime that flash went off.

 

This one was just taken a few minutes ago while Jeff and Zoe were at Hollywood getting some new movies.  You can see her two teeth easily!

And I don't know if you can tell in these pictures, but her hair has really lightened up since she was born.  She's also got a good head of fuzzy hair, which is WAY more than Zoe did at this age. Zoe was still a baldie until after her first birthday.  We're not sure what color Ruthie's hair will be a this point, but it's pretty obvious it's not black, but it's not blonde either. It's taking on a reddish hue so who knows.. I may get my red headed baby after all!

Unfortunately, I don't have any recent pictures of Zoe since she likes to take pictures versus having pictures taken of her.  However here are two that have been taken in the last month or so.

 

Here's one she took of her feet.  Zoe has an unusual talent with taking pictures of random stuff and them coming out well.  I guess she wanted a picture of her pink toenails.  She's extremely obsessed with toenail polish and fingernail polish; if it's chipped she freaks out and wants me to reapply polish for her.

 

Here's one of Zoe vegging out in front of the TV.  I'm not sure what she's watching, but I love how she's munching on shredded carrots.  She'll go into the fridge, get something out and eat it.  I usually have to remind her to put it back when she's done though, but she LOVES when we have fruit and stuff for her to eat.  She'll request candy if we have it but usually it's fruit or veggies of some type.  Zoe has a well balanced diet; people are completely amazed at what she'll eat especially when their kids eat very little stuff or are just stuck on the good ole "chicken nuggets and cheetos with juice" diet.