Ruthie- 2.75 yrs

Ahhh the toddler days continue and we continue to have our many ups and several downs. The emotional roller coaster of a toddler is a fascinating case study. These days Ruthie is still happy to sit and do a puzzle (24 piece are easy, 48 piece is the current sweet spot at challenging enough but not requiring too much help) and she is also becoming the cutest little story teller. "Once upon a time there was a (fill in the blank of something in her immediate vision) etc. etc." But she still throws tantrums for ridiculous reasons. Sometimes you have to laugh. Or cry. 

Examples: 

the spoon or bowl she is presented with at dinner isn't the one she wanted

she didn't get to go first when entering a room

Xena is in her spot

she wanted to wear sandals in the snow, not boots

she didn't want to wear socks or shoes or pants that day 

she didn't want something to drink with dinner (my bad) 

I scootched the chair in too far

she wanted to ride in the other car

Sigh. This too shall pass. 

Moving on! Ruthie is such a performer! My favorite story of late is when I took her to a donut shop in town to meet a friend, I let her pick out whatever donut she wanted and she chose the pink frosted 'Homer'. The sugar hit her veins within minutes and she was her usual crazy but times 1000. She proceeded to strut to the front door and loudly announce to the whole shop that this was her stage and nobody can come up here. Then she sang 'Twinkle Twinkle' at the top of her lungs as patrons gathered, workers took video and she received a rousing round of applause. I can't make this up.  

Also the memory this child has is remarkable! I am constantly astonished at what she remembers from weeks or months ago that randomly pop up in our conversations. (like last summer when one time the neighbor let her use her broom to help sweep the sidewalk) ???

The holidays were awesome as usual this year. From the first time I asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween she came up with a 'dancing strawberry' and stuck with that idea throughout- never changing her mind. To this day we have no idea where that came from but it sure turned out cute! 

Thanksgiving this year was especially awesome as we took the whole week to spend in Colorado at a little cabin in Estes Park. We had the most beautiful snow storm, we hiked, we cooked, we enjoyed cozy chats by the fire and were quite entertained by a family talent show. Ruthie was so happy to play with her cousins that she paid me no mind whatsoever for the entire week and it was glorious! 

and now we're at Christmas! This is the first time that Ruthie 'gets' Christmas and the anticipation of Santa, Jesus' birthday and of course presents and lots of time with family! It has been so fun to decorate and talk about Christmas which in our house includes both Jesus and the Bethlehem story AND Santa, our Elf on the Shelf- Willy and of course a family favorite- Rudolph! We have so many fun Christmas books and Ruthie has been singing Christmas carols in her very own special way (see videos on my YouTube channel) gosh I love everything about this season, now even more with her!

oh and one more cute thing Ruthie is saying these days... "I want a girl baby" to which we don't quite have an answer but will in June 2016! 

Puzzles and Pretend

Over the last few weeks Ruthie has been in puzzle heaven. She has mastered a 48 piece puzzle with no help whatsoever and I find it so awesome to watch her piece it together all on her own! She never tires of it either, as soon as it's together she smashes it up and starts all over!

Another favorite game of late is where she has me pretend to go to sleep (she tucks me in and says 'sweet dreams my darling') then she 'makes' me breakfast and wakes me up to eat it (I have to make sure to stretch and yawn).Then it's her turn and we repeat, repeat, repeat. We make each other lots of different breakfasts; pancakes with syrup, scrambled eggs with orange juice, smoothies, French toast, sometimes she even makes me coffee :-)

We also pretend play a lot of doctor office visits with lots of shots and pretend play library and shopping at the market.

This imagination of hers grows daily and it's pretty darn cute!

Fall Morning at the Orchard

Saturday was a beautiful fall morning for visiting our favorite local apple orchard- Wilson's! We rode the tractor to the ripe rows of apples and Ruthie ate her weight in apples picked right from the tree. Then we enjoyed apple and pumpkin donuts and apple turnovers with cinnamon ice cream. Mmmm, heaven on earth!



 
 
 
 



 

2.5

It's Ruthie's half birthday today! So I'll be reflecting on where she's at and what she's up to these days. Let's just say we're smack dab in the middle of toddler hood so basically we never know what we're going to get when it comes to what mood we'll be getting from her from one minute to the next. 

Dearest Ruthie, 

  Spring and early summer were rough, I felt like you were more unhappy than happy and there were many days that started with no less than 6 crazy crying fits before breakfast. Not to mention getting you dressed and shoes on was (sometimes still is) a Battle Royale. There were some really rough days but of course there were many many awesome and fun days and more often than not that is what I'll remember. We had so many fun picnic lunches and played at so many parks. We had fun working on our challenges for the summer reading program at the library and we finally got the bike carrier hooked up for some family bike rides. Your motto of the summer could be, "Mommy (or Daddy) will you play with me?" in your singsong-y cute voice. It's hard to say no. 

Later summer we think you turned a corner and have recently seemed to have been in a much better overall mood! You still have at least one or a few fits every day and they are epic and dramatic- but we wouldn't expect anything less. You are SO observant and have starting asking questions of Why? One day you looked up at the barn star on our garage (which birds recently built a nest behind) and asked, "Mommy why doze birds put a ness up dare and put a star on it?" Not to mention books and your continued love of reading...you are always happy to cuddle in the reading corner and read with me, sometimes you surprise me and take the book in your own lap and tell me the story back in your own words-it is too cute. You love any and all Curious George "George Monkey books".You make up songs about what you are doing and sing along with the right tune more often than not. You let everyone know that your favorite color is orange and everyone we pass in the grocery store gets an enthusiastic, "HI! I'm Ruthie!" You are such a joy (most days)!  

I looked back at a video of you one year ago and couldn't believe how much you've changed. You were only saying singular words here or there and 'talking' but nothing intelligible like now as we have whole conversations recalling our day and favorite things. Your blonde hair is halfway down your back now and curls at the end, I never want to cut it but you HATE getting it combed or put in any sort of ponytail! 

You continue to be my good little eater and you 'help' me make things in the kitchen, cracking eggs and whisking vigorously- making quite the fun mess. You favorite things to eat are any carb, 'smoovies' (frozen banana + other random fruit and greens smoothies), bell peppers (especially orange ones) and carrots, pizza, pancakes, cereal, and tomatoes- all the tomatoes! I think you single handedly picked and ate all the grape tomatoes we grew this year. Gardening with you was a blast this year- you loved to stand right in the garden and pick and eat pea pods, cucumbers and tomatoes. You loved pulling up the carrots and eating them right out of the garden- after washing them in your water table of course.

You've been a champ as we forged ahead with potty training this summer and

The summer of you at 2- one to remember fondly, thank you for being you sweet and crazy girl! On to the next season!

 

 
 
      

Dinner Convos & Purple School Buses

I've been having some pretty entertaining dinner conversations with Ruthie lately. As her vocabulary and recollection of memories grows, it is making for some awesome snippets in between some serious ingoring of me and my questions. Usually we review what we did that day and her expressions as she recalls memories from the day are the most hilarious, cutest things ever and I can't even get over it. The amount of times I've watched this video is ridiculous but it gets me every time. 

And actually even better is the remix that my bro Jason made!!!

Purple School Bus Remix

#SIBSWEEKEND2015

I know I am incredibly blessed to have the relationship I have with my brother and sister, it's a pretty uniquely awesome thing we having going on between us 3. We have had a few sibs get togethers in the past and we were overdue for another. Jason and I booked our flights to Colorado a few months ago for #sibsweekend2015 and finally last weekend was the epic get together!

The whole thing got off to an awesome start when Jessie sent us the itinerary a couple days before we left - seriously isn't it awesome?!

SIBSITINERARY!

Here are some of the highlights (which was pretty much everything) 

late night beautiful and delish cheese board to start off the weekend- combos of every kind... kicking off lots of good food and convo to come

hike to Mallory Cave! So fun and refreshing and such a great view- we stopped for snacks at a popular rock climbing spot

Then! Adventures continue, strolling through downtown Boulder while we waited for our afternoon tea reservation at the Dushanbe Tea House- I know- afternoon tea, how cute is that?! We fell in love with a couple of the custom tea blends and polished off the whole tower! My favorite was the scones with lemon curd and devonshire cream. 

THEN! Off to the Rockies game! What a beautiful night for a baseball game and I've never seen so many home runs. I couldn't have cared less about the game- just enjoyed the company and scenery! The Coors tasted especially delightful that night, too. Oooh and Jessie and I shared some really yummy nachos and the boys ate giant foot-long hot brats. 

Saturday morning we made crepes and enjoyed a beautiful breakfast on Jessie and Chris' awesome deck, just lounging and chatting a bit before heading to explore Red Rocks. I'd never been before and even though we couldn't get inside, the outside was really beautiful to explore. 

Boulder Craft Beer Fest was up next, yay! I was pretty excited about this and it didn't disappoint (except for the ridiculous line to get in which after much discussion we decided to stick with it and forge ahead and then we were glad we did) 

some of my faves were, well I can't remember the breweries but there were a few that stood out :) but I do remember food and we had 2 great wood fired pizzas and the yummiest sausage in a bun thing and lots of free kettle chips. And probably one of the funniest moments of the weekend was the photo booth (van) and us practicing what we were going to do before we got these shots! 

then relaxing at the pool, a casual dinner on the deck, 

rosé and talking well into the wee hours-

 laughter, tears... I love these sibs o'mine.

A final farewell breakfast and exploration of the historical Chatauqua 

and one last scenic overlook

 

SIGH. So much to be thankful for when I think about my family. I'm so thankful to Jessie and Chris who put so much thought into planning this awesome time for us. I'm so thankful to our spouses for the support they lend to our tending these relationships and the time we took to be together this last weekend. I CANNOT wait til the next #sibsweekend !