Snow Days

Sometimes the best days are the ones you don't plan for. You have no expectations about how the day should go. You just go with it. Such were our snow days. Been cleaning and putting things away as we've been playing and singing and dancing. There have been lazy afternoons in front of the tube and warm nights by the fire. Good stuff! A few highlights:

 Ruby's joy when she got her first dinner in her new Tinkerbell dinnerware.

Finally getting her to try on that dress and laughing as she didn't ever want to take it off!

Watching her so happy and comfortable in her home and with her sweet things. Thinking how very lucky we are to have this child in our lives.

Watching with great pride as she has learned to draw and write more and more. That art easel is the best thing I have ever purchased. Gave it to her b4 Christmas because she was with me when I found it on sale for on $29! She's on it every single day. My friend Dawn bought her these cool markers that look like paint brushes and she loves 'em.

Her tracing and writing is really coming along! So proud I had to post a pic! She can write some letters pretty well by herself - like "U" and "Y" and "M". Here I wrote Daddy and Mommy in yellow and she wrote over them with the blue. Such a good job that I was all teary eyed! (The "Ruby" in green and "Daddy" in purple were written by me). She's come so far in just a year.

Here she traced her name and did a pretty darn good job I think! Seems to write better with her right hand and yet she uses her left to color, paint, and draw most of the time. Interesting.

And this! We could not believe it. I drew the shapes at the top (in yellow) but she drew this picture entirely on her own! This morning when she saw me put the pic on here she exclaimed "Lasso!" I hadn't realized it before but she drew her "boy" with a lasso! Love this creativity from our lil cowgirl!

And one of the sweetest moments... all of us snuggled on the couch to watch Nanny McPhee 2. Such a sweet movie. Ruby just loved it. We all did. Was really a nice night. Love moments like that when times just seems to slow down and we all just snuggle and smile. Life is good.

Christmas 2010 - Part Two

Christmas morning. Approximately 8 am.

Mommy hears her stir and says "Morning Rubes! Look Santa was here!"

Ruby: "Uh? Santa??? Okay!" and gets up

Oh! Stocking! Get stool!

Gotta love morning hair.

Happy with her new little "friends".

First glance at the presents. I so wanted a video but Jeff forgot and her reactions were rather subdued thanks to a head cold. Still it was a nice morning. She spent time happily playing with each and every toy.

Very serious about the nail polish. Jeff & I have since had at least 5 "manicures" each!

Little power nap in the car. Love this pose.

My brother Dave very happy with his Fisher Price toys. His favorite when he was a kid.

This is over at my mom's house.

Grandma helps Ruby open her presents.

Wearing the presents: A Princess Tiana dress, gloves, crown, and necklace. So cute!

My handsome hubs in one of the sweaters I got him.

Ruby and David playing with his toys.

David and my sweet Uncle Bob

Opening presents at Grammy & Pappy's house later that day.

Loving her Leap Frog game.

LOVE this sweet nightgown! A gift from Jeff's parents. They were so, so good to us. Hardly got any pics there cause we were too busy having fun. Had a real nice dinner with them and spent the night. A great day with both our families!

And one last pic...

A bevy of little beauties! Rubes snuggled up at home on the couch the next day (still in her jammies) while the snow came tumbling down. She's been carrying around this group of dolls for 2 days now and it's pretty cute. They come with her everywhere. Usually Jessie, Woody, and Buzz are with her, too. Getting pretty crowded in that bed of hers!

Christmas 2010 - Part One

The table ready for Christmas eve.

Table for 3 this year. It was much fancier than the meal, LOL. I didn't pull the turkey out soon enough and it wasn't thawed! So in a pinch, we went to our fav local Italian store that sells homemade pasta and the yummiest marinara sauce. It saved our dinner and everyone was happy. (Thankfully, I have an easy crowd here). The Christmas cookies WERE made by me though and quite good if I do say so myself!

Daddy and Ruby dressed for church.

Mom and Rubes in our shades of purple. 

Ruby wanted the camera and actually took this pic of Jeff and I. Not bad kid!

We went to a beautiful service that had a live nativity scene complete with animals. Ruby was awed by it and was enjoying all the music and drama until we got to the last half hour. Was getting a bit sleepy by then and it was a 2 hour service. Still, she snuggled in Daddy's arms and listened quietly. It was really nice. They had a huge choir which Ruby never saw before and she really enjoyed it. Her mouth formed a big O as she tried to mimic the choir and sing along.

Being silly and riding her little stick horse back at home.

Bossing the dog who was afraid of her and that horse!

This was a fun moment. We let her open a gift Christmas eve. It was a bag with jammies and slippers. Well, she ripped into the bag and tossed the paper and the PJ's on the floor without a second thought! I was laughing, trying to tell her they were in there too, but she was to enamored with her Elmo slippers.

I am still trying to show her the jammies (and get her in them) but to no avail. It's all about Elmo. :-)

Finally in her jammies and still thinking those things are the greatest ever.

I love Max looking on, wondering what all the fuss is about!

Being silly and singing at this point.

After HOURS of trying to get her to sleep, she was finally out around (gasp) 11. I guess she was just too excited. I laid upstairs for at least and hour singing and singing until I could no longer. I finally just turned the light out and pretended to sleep. Thought I was going to fall asleep until 15 minutes later I heard snoring! Hallalujah! Ran downstairs as quietly and quickly as I could. Daddy & I got to work, filled her stocking and set the stage for Christmas morning.

It's A White Christmas After All

Well our time in our hometown was cut short by a day thanks to our first blizzard of the season. It's BEAUTIFUL out there, but would have been a nightmare to come home to if we spent another day at home. For one, we wouldn't have gotten up the driveway for DAYS. They are calling for 1-2 feet and our driveway is very long. Luckily, we got to spend time with our family and have a great Christmas day b4 heading home this morning. We got here just as it started and are safely tucked in...armed with plenty of food, firewood, and new toys to keep everyone happy.

Ruby's still got a seriously stuffy nose but you wouldn't know it by her attitude. She's been so happy and has spent time playing with all her toys. Big into pretend now so every single doll and animal she owns gets time in the spotlight. She has them go back and forth having full conversations. In fact when she found a tiny Cinderella and Toy Story figurines in her stocking she was all smiles. She immediately introduced Cinderella to Jessie who told Cinderella "I like your shoes!" Cinderella's reply? "I like hat!" LOL. It's all about the accessories with this kid. Was not, however, interested in the gorgeous Rapunzel dress at all. Mommy tried (unsuccessfully -sniff sniff) to get her to try it on but there was too much else to see and play with. She's into dress up when her friend Brie is over and she'll often ask for her wings and tutus...but dresses she's not into it yet, I guess. Oh, well. I'm sure it will be a hit at some point.

Her princess vanity was a HUGE hit as were the Rapunzel and Little Mermaid dolls and an Aurora baby doll by brother David got her. Loves the Island Barbie and got a swimmer Barbie too that she is crazy for. Wait till she gets her in the tub and sees it's hair change color! It's such a delight to see her having so much fun. She ran right over to her vanity Christmas morning and was all giddy. We can tell is gonna get a lot of play out of that! Spent time playing a little with every new toy. Another note-worthy gift was from Jeff's parents - an incredible Leap Frog computer-type toy. It's brilliant and has a feature where the child can trace the dots on the screen and learn to write the letters. Ruby is just now working on tracing and writing letters at school so this is such a great thing to have. She's been playing with it a lot. Rubes loves anything with computers and is always asking to play on mine (on Starfall.com). I can't say enough great things about that site! She can actually do it herself now and click and drag things. I find this amazing for a 3 year old to do but hey, we didn't have this sort of technology when I was her age. (Gee, that made me sound a tad old, now didn't it??)

Anyway, we are snowed in for a day or 2 but it's a nice rest for us all. Head back to our hometown on the 30th for more fun and family. Will upload pics tomorrow and do a little flash back on our Christmas. For now, I hope you all are safe and warm - wherever you are -and had a fabulous holiday!

Merry Merry!!!

This is one of the two cards we did for Christmas card this year. Re-posting in this spot since it is now officially Christmas! So exciting! The little bug has a cold this morning but it hasn't dampened our spirits around here. She is in a very sweet mood and is all snuggled on the couch right now. Real laid back day around here. Here it is Christmas eve day and for the first time EVER I am cool, calm, prepared and READY for the holiday! This morning I finished wrapping presents and put everything in big holiday bags categorized by family (or house). The only gifts left under the tree are the ones for the 3 of us and I already have a big plastic bag for trash ready and stashed under the chair for morning madness. Gotta pack yet for our trip to Hbg to see our family tomorrow but have most of Ruby's stuff laid out and done. Heck, it's all red, black, and white so an easy pack!  Got all the stuff for our dinner tonight.  I'm going to pre-make a fancy new appetizer my friend Charlsey made for our party and have it ready to go for my in-laws tomorrow. Man it feels good to be prepared for once! 

Wishing you all the merriest Christmas ever and a wonderful new year! Enjoy the magic!!!

Love, Jen, Jeff, & Ruby

A Little Christmas Party

Had a small gathering tonight for my brother, nephews, and two families we are close with. Such a nice time! The kids were so cute I just had to post some pics tonight.

Rubes being silly in my boots yesterday while I was cleaning and getting things ready.

Helping me make cookies. We made oatmeal walnut choc chip and peppermint shortbread. It was a very fattening day...but fun!

Lil miss tasting the batter...for like the tenth time. (Note the devilish grin). Truly, it couldn't be helped. That shortbread batter is seriously good.

Ava & Ruby eating together.

My nephew and brother sharing a laugh.

All the littles eager to open presents! They had so much fun together tonight. The boys with the boys and the girls with the girls. At one point they were all just running up and down the stairs. I went up to check on the girls and found this:

All 3 little girlies hiding in Ruby's princess bed with the curtain closed. So cute! This was the first time she's had friends over where they played in her room. It was so precious how they were sitting and playing in there that I called the other moms -my friends Dawn & Charlsey - to come up with their cameras, too!

3 little peas in a pod.

Yea, okay I posed them here, but the cute smiles were all their own. 

Ruby peaking out to make sure we were gone and the boys were staying out!

Afterwards the girls were on to dress up. We all cracked up when lil Snow White (which she really thinks she is) bit the red apple. Too funny and entirely too cute.

After hours of fun play, Ruby came over to me sweetly and said "May I watch movie please?" (First time she's used the phrase "May I"). I still melt over these simple little firsts. Anyway, as you can see, all the kids thought this was a good idea. Everyone was up way past their bed time but most are off school tomorrow and can sleep in. So they watched a movie and then it was time for our guests to head on home. Jeff took Ruby up while I cleaned up a few things. He got her teeth brushed and read her a book then met me in the hall to say she was waiting for me. I went right in but my sweet girl was already out cold.

A sign of a real good time I think.