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