Link on Over

I got around to setting up my new blog with a little help from Jeremy.:) So you can click HERE to link over.

It finally happened.

 I knew it would happen sooner or later... I have officially used up all my photo space on this blog and as you know I am in it for the pictures... so it's time to move on.  I am strangely overly attached to this little blog of mine, it holds in it the memories of almost five years of my life. I love looking back at old posts and remembering good times or funny stories that I've already seemed to have forgotten about. My Christmas present to myself this year will be printing those five years of memories into photo books..something I have been meaning to do for years now. So this blog closes and another opens...you can find me now HERE (when I figure out my new here). I will say goodbye with one last picture....or two...or three...whatever it will let me squeeze in....oh little blog I miss you already!

The kids canning tomatoes with daddy. I was so impressed by those two, they helped peel and then stuck with it until they had chopped every single tomato we canned this year, which came to I think 26 jars or so?...I guess I'm not really sure how many it was because I didn't really help. I played with Ruthy and ran to the store to grab important things like more lids and lemon juice and stuff.;)

Later that evening we piled our home grown pumpkins on the porch. I made spiced caramel apple cider and we watched a great big harvest moon come up over the mountains. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Fall? I love it and I love these three...and I miss this blog.

The Tale of Gorilla Paw

 Yes that's Ruthy with a broken arm! I still can't believe it. 

We begin our tale from earlier this week as Ruthy stood up using the back of one of the kids little chairs to hold on to and pulled it over backwards with her. Right away you could tell she was holding her arm weird. Once we got her to stop crying Jeremy and I tried to figure out how bad it was. She would reach for things and hold things and pull herself up with her arm but when it came to crawling, that right arm would just crumple under her. I took her in to the doctor and after an x-ray my fears were confirmed. It was a little "buckle" fracture.  But that wasn't all. No. There was also a perfectly healed second brake just above this new brake from months ago. WHAT!  I knew exactly when it had happened...back when she just learning to rollover, there had been a "roll off of Ava's bed incident"  I worried that she had hurt her arm or shoulder because of the way she cried and how she favored her arm right after it happened.  I took her in to have the doctor check her over, he assured me that she was okay and that she wouldn't be moving it like she was if it was broke.  But it was broke, the same little buckle brake...oooh I feel soooooo horrible.  I cringe just thinking of poor little thing and I wonder if I bumped it or bent it or pulled on it getting her dressed or buckling her in her car seat?! And now it makes sense why suddenly she stopped rolling over as much and when she would it was just on one side and why it took her longer to crawl and why she slept so bad. 

So now the poor little thing has to go through it all again, this time with a brace and an extremely cautious/careful mom. I just hope now we can figure out why 2 brakes... is it just really crappy luck or not enough calcium/vitamin D or does she have fragile little bird bones??? I'll take her back to the doctor in 3 more weeks to make sure it's healed up and then maybe we will know more. But for now we are just taking it easy with our little Gorilla Paw, when she crawls now it's on her little fist and she reminds us of a gorilla. She is also figuring out how funny(or not) it is to club people with her gorilla paw. If you point to her gorilla paw and ask her in a sad voice what happened to her arm she will make a very sad "oooh" sound (or if Karen asks her she will just cry :)) So there you have the tale of Gorilla Paw, which is really more sad then scary (although she has completely scared me into wanting to wrap her in bubble wrap and never let her out of my sight) 

Top ten reasons why I love this age..

1. She's getting so independent but still loves to be cuddled. She will just roam the house, usually ending up in the kids room or in a cupboard in the kitchen. And when she's done exploring I can hear her little "mmmmom mom, mmmom" as she crawls to find me.  

2. She loves to help me empty the dishwasher and will hand each dish and spoon to me to be put away. As helpful as she is she is also is a master mess maker. 

3. Dump it, throw it, taste it... is her life motto right now. When she comes upon something that needs to be dumped out, she has to do it, especially when it comes to the dirt from my potted plant in the living room, or a box of tissue, or a bowl of cheerios, or any of Luke and Ava's toys, and most especially the garbage!:)

  4. She hums and jibber jabbers while she plays. 

5. She loves to look at pictures. We have some pictures of horses up on the walls and those are her favorites, she will try to whinny by making a loud "mmmm" growly sound. 

6. She enjoys watching our dogs from inside the kitchen screen door and squeals and laughs when Fred or Duce jumps up on the porch to see her. And she loves going for walks with them.  Watching them walk in front of her stroller as they pace back and forth sniffing this and that is so entertaining. She loooves being outside!

7. She will give kisses on command, unless she decides daddy looks too scruffy. If she wants to give you a kiss she will smack her lips together as loud as she can. Tonight after the Luke and Ava went to bed I started running her bath and she crawled off down the hall. By the time I caught up with her she was in the dark standing by Ava's bed trying to wake her up with her loud smacking lip sounds, she wanted a kiss and she hates it when Ava and Luke aren't around to play.  

8. She is a really good wall and furniture walker. She walks along holding onto everything... once in a while we will catch her standing all by herself until she realizes what she is doing and then she quickly sits down. Crawling is just so much easier and not so scary.:)

 9. She loves to eat meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, squash, french fries, and beans and we love sharing a big bowl of cold cereal and bananas together.  If you are eating something and she wants a taste you will know by her loud squawking. But it's a no go on the whole milk bottle, which is sad because I really look forward to when they turn one and can have milk. She just doesn't like it, we've even tried adding in a little strawberry or chocolate syrup...doesn't help.  The only way we can get her to drink a little is if she can use a straw or with cold cereal.

10. She's our little tiny peanut. At her one year doctor appointment she weighed 16 lbs 8 oz. and that's okay with me...if I had it my way I would keep her sweet and tiny forever!

Her crooked little two bottom toother smile. She just got 3 new teeth on the top finally!:)

Because I can't stop at only ten reasons here are a few more... I love how when she laughs she still says "gee" or when she gets hurt she says "ooooohh"and then she thinks about if she should cry or not, usually she does. I love her crazy hair in the morning and the way she lays her head down on my shoulder when she's shy. I love her high-fives and the way she waves backwards and how sweet she blows kisses. I think it's cute how if I smell something she has to smell it too. I love how she tries to put on her own shoes and when I rub lotion on her she always needs a squirt on her hand too, so she can eat it. She is always making us laugh and we love her.

Cake up the Canyon

Cake up the Canyon/Dessert in the Desert.....Birthdays are just awesome like that when you're turning one or sixty!:) Jeremy had his birthday right in between these two and all we did for his was go out for steaks.:) Ruthy's birthday was really fun. She was such a sweetheart that day. She loved to share all of her food and gave lots of hugs and loves and blew lots of kisses.

While we all sang Happy Birthday to her she laid her head down on the table and then after a second she started to cry. It was so sad... just way too much attention for an extremely shy little girl.

 But she recovered quickly and after Ava helped her blow out the candle it was time to dig in!

 Love those hugs and cuddles

 

Earlier that day at Luke's soccer game Em gave Ruth a little doll. She loves to hold it and feed it and give it kisses.

 Then there was swimming at Em's pool. It's so funny to me that one minute we were soaking up the sun at the pool and the next we were pulling on sweatshirts enjoying a crisp fall evening around the fire.

 She almost fell asleep in this little pink tube.

 

Happy 1st Birthday little Rue.

Who swam in a little pink tutu.

With sweet little eyes that are so blue. 

Do you know how much we all love you. 

(It's after midnight and I am up trying to type and I really really should just go to bed.)

 

For her birthday I also ordered a canvas print of this sweet little picture. It's one of my favorites...brand new little Ruth all bundled up in her blanket, held carefully by her Luke, smothered in kisses from her Ava, and the warm Autumn sun setting in the background. How did a year go by so fast?

Birthday Dessert in the Desert

I can't leave out our trip to Topaz Mountain. My Dad wanted nothing more for his 60th Birthday than a camping trip out to the desert with his family.  The camping weather out there in September is pretty close to perfect. Cool nights and warm days. 

 

We hunted for Topaz and tried to catch lizards.  We had good luck with the Topaz but not so much with the lizards, they were just too speedy. Karen did catch a Horny Toad though.

Ruthy and Grandma

This was Ruth's very first camping trip! I want to make her a little necklace out of one of the Topaz we found so she will have something to always remember it by. I still have little earrings and a necklace my dad made for me from one of our trips out here.

Playin' Horseshoes with Papa John

Dad cooked his famous  dutch oven chicken and dumplings and for dessert it was cherry chocolate dutch oven cake...complete with a birthday candle. Once the sun set we took a night walk down to the empty highway to go through the tunnel and lay on the warm road while looking for falling stars (something we loved to do as kids)

Listening to one of Papa John's campfire stories

The next morning it was more Topaz hunting and target shooting and a little spray painting. ;)

Tim, Scott and Brittany couldn't come to the camp out so we had a little backyard BBQ the next day. Thanks for the pictures Sarah!

 

Dad got a Cotton Candy Machine and it was a big hit with the kids. Happy 60th Dad! We love you so much.