Time Flies!!!

Wow! I can't believe it was the beginning of December when I last posted! I've been caught up in a whirlwind of busyness between baking & making Christmas gifts on top of all the normal stuff! I'm beginning to feel the effects of it too - I've been quite tired the past couple days. I love Christmas, but at the same time, am always glad when it's over! I guess you could say our "offical" Christmas season began yesterday. We went to vist Chip's parents and had Christmas with them. It was very odd due to the 70 degree weather! We spent most of the day outside! But we had a wonderful time. The kids had a blast playing in a big pile of leaves, and CJ got in some shooting time. We took a family picture, but Chip is not in it, because he took it. I wish I had thought to take the tripod! Of course, it's rare for me to be in a family pic, because I'm usually the one behind the camera. But I wish he was in it, so I need to start remembering that tripod!

More Catching Up!

Well, I had planned to get these on here yesterday, but I never got a chance to. I have been feeling a bit stressed and overwhelmed lately, and was in much need of a break. My Granddad is living with my Aunt and Uncle in KY now, and needed his heat turned on at his house (a little more than an hour from me). Chip was going to go up there yesterday to do it, but said if I wanted a break, that I could go and get a hotel room and stay the night. I thought it was a bit silly to get a room since I was going to be at Granddaddy's house anyway - so I went and I stayed there. It was very odd to sleep all night without being interrupted, or no one snuggling up next to me! But I slept good, got up this morning and went to do some Christmas shopping. By the time I got home, I was feeling very refreshed - it was nice to have some quiet "me" time for just a little while! So, now I am finally sitting down here to do a little more catching up!
Last Sunday, we went to my parents' house to have Thanksgiving dinner. My mom's cousin Pam and her husband Ennis were able to join us too. We had more great food, and a wonderful time. I have to say right now, SHAME ON ME - I didn't manage to get one picture of CJ! Some mom, huh? It doesn't help that he's not always as eager to pose as Ruthi is, and I guess it's just not quite as cute getting pictures of him sitting in everyone's lap or giving hugs! But I still can't believe I didn't even get one!! Gotta do better with that!
My mom bought Ruthi a kitchen to keep there so Ruthi can play with it when she's there. She also got her some dress-up clothes. Oh, my, we have something started now!! She loved it all! And, Pam brought over a table and chairs for Ruthi to play with too. You would have thought it was already Christmas!! She had a blast with her new things, as you can see in the picures!


All Dressed Up

Pretend Play

Ruthi's New Kitchen

Dinner Time @ the new table!

Nana

Poppy

Pam

And a big hug for Ennis!

Catching Up

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. We had a great time and ate lots of food! We were in Thanksgiving mode from Thursday till Sunday. Then I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in bed with a stomach bug - yuck. So I'm behind on posting to this blog! So now I'll try to play catch up over the next couple days.

We went to Aunt Sue's for Thanksgiving - we've been going there for several years now on Thanksgiving Day. It was a much smaller crowd this year - only 16 of us this year - so it felt a little different, but we still had a wonderful time. Everyone who wasn't there was definitely missed! Here are a few pictures from that day. I'll post more tomorrow about the rest of the weekend.

Playing on Aunt Sue's Organ

Foosball Fun
Firefighter Ruthi


Hug for Grandmother

Family Picture

Warm and Cozy

I tossed a load of warm towels from the dryer onto the couch, and while I was putting another load in the dryer, Ruthi decided to get warm and cozy! She pulled them off the couch and began to snuggle down in them. CJ "helped" and piled them around her. When I asked her if it was nice and warm, she said "oooooooooo, wowel" (towels). CJ wanted his picture with her too, so here they are together. (I'm very pleased to say, he's been much more willing to have pictures taken recently after a (phase, maybe?) of not wanting pictures taken and actually making funny faces when I tried.)
I am very glad to be feeling back to "normal" (whatever that is) again! I spent 5 days in bed (well, technically, on the couch) with very little getting up. I was having horrible sinus pressure in my ears, and it was making me very nauseous, and I could barely function. What a horrible feeling! Thankfully Chip takes wonderfully good care of me and the kids when I am sick. He cooked and cleaned (well, he did wash dishes) all week, entertained Ruthi and let me rest. He took a shift off on Saturday, so he was around all 5 days. I went to the doctor yesterday. Thankfully there was no infection, but she said my ears were "sucked in" and that was why I was feeling so much pressure. OTC meds weren't helping, so she gave me a stronger decongestant, and I am feeling TONS better today! But Ruthi has been a bit cranky and stuffy, so I'm giving her Sudafed and hopefully she'll feel better fast. She even took TWO naps today!!! (She NEVER does that!) I talked to Chip earlier tonight (he's at the station) and he said he's not feeling well. I sure hope they are feeling better quick, and this doesn't stop our Thanksgiving plans!!

Blocks?

I heard some banging around and went in to the kitchen to investigate, and this is what I found:

It always amazes me what this child finds to play with when she has a room full of toys! She has actually enjoyed playing with coke cans (Diet Coke with Lime to be exact!) for a very long time. These had fallen out of the carton they came in, and I had not yet put them away. So she was happily in the kitchen lining them up over and over and trying to stack them. When she realized I was taking pictures, she forced a smile and pose and said "cheeeeeeese". But she really just wanted to keep playing with her "toys"!

Dirty Dog

Well, she WAS! Tasha was a very stinky dog, so we decided to bring her in and give her a much needed bath. Ruthi wasn't sure what to think having the dog IN the house! But she got very excited. She jumped right in to help with the bath too. I don't think I've ever seen 3 people at once give a dog a bath before! But now she smells much less like a dog. And she thoroughly enjoyed the "treat" of being inside for a bit. We made sure she was dry before we sent her back out since it was a bit cold out there! I think that once Ruthi figures out how to open the back door, she's going to be trying to let Tasha in because it was great fun for her to have a dog in the house!

Awards Night

Well, thankfully CJ is doing MUCH better. His face is almost completely cleared up, and no more headaches. THANK HEAVENS!!!! Last night was the Awards Ceremony for Upward Basketball. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get many pictures due to the lighting, where we were sitting, and the fact that I was chasing Ruthi during the whole thing. Tommy Johns came againg this year, and he was awesome. His illusions always baffle everyone. The kids had a great time and received cute bobble head trophies and duffle bags. Chips coach also gave his team a gift, so CJ got a watch as well. Here he is with his coach, Charles, and a picture of his trophy.












What was really cool though, was after everthing was done. I had gone to tell Tommy thank you for coming again this year (I had called to book him, so I had to thank him!) and he showed us how to do one of his tricks. It was so cool! Then we helped him take his bags out. He asked CJ if he wanted to see the coolest card trick EVER, and of course CJ said yes. So he did it a couple times, and blew our minds. He asked if he had 5 minutes to learn it, which of course we did. So we went back in and he revealed his secret. Talk about cool! AND he gave CJ the deck of cards he was using so CJ could practice it. This guy is great!! He's going to be doing a magic camp after the first of the year, and I think CJ is going to it for sure. Hopefully he'll have this trick mastered by then and can show Tommy! We may have a little magician on our hands!!

Update on CJ

Well, poor guy had an awful night last night - I could hear him moaning and groaning, and banging the wall a couple times. This morning his face looked even worse - his right eye was swollen almost shut. So I called the doctor, and they were able to get us right in. So we got ready, jumped in the car, and.....it wouldn't start! The battery was dead. Chip was at workand of course none of the neighbors were home. So I called Chip, he made one phone call and help was on the way. Our mechanic shop is a mile up the road, so one of those guys came to help - he got there quite quickly, gave the car a jump, and off we were - and we were only 5 minutes late!! (Thankfully I had not waited until the last minute to walk out the door!)
The doctor said it looked like poison ivy - we had considered that, but it looked a little different than usual, and it usually covers him everywhere, so I wasn't convinced before. She gave him some prednisone since it was on his face and so bad. She also gave us a couple of EpiPens just in case he has trouble breathing again due to a reaction in the future. Prednisone must be some really good stuff, because he is feeling much better and is being much more pleasant! (Benedryl turns him into a very grumpy bear!) She said that this would make him very moody, but so far so good. And most of all, he's not completely miserable anymore! I am so happy.

After leaving the doctor's office and getting the prescriptions filled, I ran by the mechanic's shop so he could test my battery. He had told me to leave it running for about 30 minutes so it could charge up - he was concerned it was the alternator, so I left it running (with the doors locked) while we were at the doctor. I went by, he checked it and all was good - he said maybe it was just because it was so cold this morning. I didn't say it was probably because I had forgotten to turn off the satellite radio on Friday and the car had been sitting there all weekend with that thing on!

Anyway, Monday is almost over - thankfully - and now I need to prepare for the rest of this very busy week! I'm tired just thinking about it!

Puzzling.....

Lost is CJ's favorite TV show, and one of my favorites. So on Wednesday nights, I let him stay up late and we watch it together. When Chip went to South Dakota last week to go hunting, the he brought us home a 1,000 piece Lost puzzle. So this weekend, we decided to open it up and work on it. We began Friday night. (That's why we were up late.) We worked on it most of the day on Saturday, and most of the day today. This is by FAR the most challenging puzzle I've EVER done! The biggest reason - there is no picture to know what it is supposed to look like! And it is not just a big picture, but dozen's of smaller ones in which we have to figure out how each one connects to the next. Very challenging, but I love a challenge, and have been totally obsessed with this thing! Not to mention, we can't eat at the table until it's complete! As of right now, it is almost complete with only about 100 pieces still needing a home. I took this picture yesterday, but CJ wouldn't let me take one up close of his face.


Now you can see why we can't eat at the table! And amazingly enough, Ruthi has totally left it alone - only eagerly picking up pieces for us that have dropped on the floor. What a good girl!

Poor CJ, his face looks even worse today, so there was no picture taking today whatsoever! And he's been very itchy in spite of the Benedry and the Benedryl spray. And all that in his system makes for a bit of a grumpy boy too! Unless he wakes up in the morning with major improvement, I will be calling the doctor first thing! I just feel horrible for him. And we can't convince him for anything that him scratching it is making it worse! Poor baby! I'll post an update soon!

What a Morning!

This was a morning I'd love to be able to do over and it just be normal! We were up quite late last night working on a puzzle (more on that later), so we slept in this morning. Well, the kids and I did - Chip worked last night and went straight to a meeting this morning. About 9:30 CJ woke me up saying his face was itching. I got up, still quite groggy to take a closer look. All around his mouth was red and blotchy, and he had several other spots on his face, including under his right eye. Looked to me like he had had an allergic reaction to something. I was thinking it was his chapstick (he had that happen with one brand a while back), however he said this is the one he'd been using without a problem. Not knowing what it was, I went ahead and gave him some Benedryl. About 5 minutes later, he came running into the kitchen, freaking out, panicked, saying he couldn't breathe and his throat hurt. I managed to stay calm and try to calm him down so I could access the situation. He seemed to be breathing normally, so I wanted to be sure. He was really scared, and I didn't want to take any chances. Chip wasn't home, so I called 911. They arrived within 5 minutes or so, but by then, he had calmed down considerably. They agreed it appeared to be an allergic reaction, and even said that the Benedryl could have caused him to react that way. Nothing like a good scare to start your day! Poor guy, he's been on benedryl all day, his face looks awful and he's not feeling so great. I feel so bad for him. We still are unsure about what caused this. We think it could even possibly be some chips he ate that he'd never had before. We aren't sure, but just in case, he's not eating anymore of those! I'd post a picture, but he won't let me take one. I can't say that I blame him. He does look pretty bad. (Shhh.....don't tell him I said that!!!)

Bubble Bath!!

One of Ruthi's absolute favorite things to do is take a bath. She wanted one so much tonight, that she decided to strip herself down and say "Baa" as she signed the word 'bath'. There was no doubt what she wanted! So off to the tub we went, and I decided to add bubbles this time. This was her very first bubble bath. She had a blast! She kept repeating "Oooo, bub-boows" as she would scoop them up and try to add them to the ones I had already placed on her head. I know she's going to be asking for bubbles at bath time now! It's going to be even harder to convince her she's been in the tub long enough!

Kitty Love

Poor Frisco.....it's a VERY good thing we have such a tolerant cat. Because Ruthi ADORES this kitty! She chases her around, picks her up, and carries her all over the house. I hear her say "shhh" and then if I listen closely, I hear Frisco's tiny mew, as if she's saying, "I love you too, but please let me go now!" And Ruthi keeps sweetly saying "shhh" as she rocks and kisses her like a baby. But I thought it was so extremely cute to find Ruthi sitting proudly in her bed rocking her kitty. She really does love this cat. And Frisco must love her too, because she puts up with a LOT! And when she's had enough, she retreats to our room under the bed, or high out of Ruthi's reach on top of the kitchen cabinets! But when her paws hit the ground, beware, because I think Ruthi can hear that sound even in her sleep! Yes, I think this is true love!

May I Have This Dance?

We had some music playing, and Ruthi and I were dancing around, just being silly. She LOVES to dance! Chip watched us for a few minutes, and, although he's not much for dancing, needed to have a turn dancing with his daughter! Ruthi loves to dance with her Daddy...and Chip loves to dance with her...and I love to watch them...it puts the biggest smile on my face, and just melts my heart. He says he has to practice dancing with her so he can dance with her at her wedding. Thankfully, that is a LONG way off! If this already brings tears to my eyes, I will be a total mess on that day! I love being able to capture these moments, and so thankful that today's technology allows me to do so quite easily! Especially since it's the only way I can hold on - just a little bit - to moments like this! I may not be able to slow time down, but at least I can "freeze" a few memories so I can always look back and remember! What a precious site - a Father and his Daughter - there are not too many things better than that

Pumpkin Patch

Today we went to Carlton Farms which is about 20 minutes from us. I was really wanting to go to a pumpkin patch this year, and we didn't want to have to go to far, so this was perfect. In addition to pumpkins, there is a corn maze, a hay bale maze for the little ones, a hay jump, hay ride and visiting the baby farm animals. We had so much fun. The weather was perfect - right around 70 degrees - not too hot or cold! We went through the corn maze first - 2 miles of corn maze on 5 acres! Ruthi was very content in her stroller and fell asleep before we made it through.

We moved on to the hayride, and she was still sleeping. We got settled in and were waiting for a few more people to arrive before we could go. While we were waiting, she woke and was very interested in what was going on, and seemed very much to like all the hay (and throwing it!)
This is a family owned dairy farm, and one of the sons was our "guide" giving us all the history as we rode. Every time he spoke, Ruthi would stare right at him as if she were hanging on to every word, soaking in all the information!

They took us into the pasture to see the cows - I forget how many there were - a lot! And most of them were pregnant. One had calved 6 days earlier, and we got to see that baby back in the barn. They stopped the wagon and all the cows came right up near us. We were all holding out hay for them to eat, but most of them weren't very interested. Our driver was bringing one of the cows around to everyone so we could get close enough to touch it. I think Ruthi was a little bit intimidated by this large creature, but she was still willing to give her a kiss on the snout!! And she kept saying "COW" over and over! After the hayride, we went into the barn to see the baby animals. Suprisingly, Ruthi wasn't nearly as interested in them as I expected her to be. Maybe because she couldn't pick them up and hold them!

Then we moved on the hay jump, which was really just a bunch of big piles of hay to jump into. CJ jumped around in there for a minute, but Ruthi wasn't too impressed. So we moved on to the hay bale maze. She loved that, running through it as if she knew exactly what she was doing. It ended with climbing up to a bridge and coming down a slide to get out.

Finally, we went to the pumpkins to pick a couple out. Ruthi was running around hugging all the giant pumpkins. She found one just the right size for her and picked it up to carry, so I told her to take it to Daddy - and she did. CJ then picked one out. We took a few photos, and headed home. Once we got home, Chip and CJ built a scarecrow and we decorated the front porch. That was a lot of fun, as we have never really put out fall decorations before. We had a great day, and were pretty tired, but then headed toward the Airport to meet my parents for dinner, as they had just flown in, coming home from their cruise. We had a very nice dinner at Johnny Carino's. Needless to say, we slept very good last night after having such a busy day! Here is a picture of CJ and Ruthi with the pumpkins they picked, and a picture our new front porch friend - he may be a little goofy looking, but that's ok! We like him!

She Did it Again!

OK, just a little bit ago, I realized it had gotten WAY too quiet, so I went to look for Ruthi. It took me just a second to find her, because she was a bit camoflauged, as you can see. This time she piled everything on the floor, got comfy in front of the TV, and decided it was nap time (which it was - so that's a good thing!) Apparently she likes to be surrounded with all her things for a good nap. Works for me! She didn't even come to me today whining "night night" before she gave out! Oh man, I think that's another sign of her growing up! That makes me sad. It's happening too fast.

One Sleepy Girl!

The other day, Ruthi had crawled up in the chair, piled her self up on her blankets and got comfy to watch Dora. CJ brought it to my attention, the "funny position" she was in to watch TV. A few minutes later, I looked over and her head had dropped off the arm of the chair and she was sound asleep, so of course I had to take a picture. When I moved her to put her in a safer place to sleep, I discovered it wasn't just blankets she had piled into the chair, but her baby dolls too! Guess she thinks she is a bird lately, because she's been lying and sitting on her dolls as if they need to hatch! Silly girl! Here's what was under her!(You can't really tell, but there are 3 baby dolls, plus their bottles there!)

Daddy's Bundle of Joy

Of course, she's been our bundle of joy since day one, but she is a rather large bundle now! Chip was playing around and scooped her up in this pillow case, and she found it to be quite fun. Then we remembered we had a similar picture of CJ taken a while back. So I had to go dig for it - literally, since it was before we had a digital camera! It's not quite as cute, because you can't see his face, but I thought I'd post it anyway. This was taken in 2003 just before he turned 9 - talk about a bundle!! Yes, we indeed have 2 big bundles of joy that we love with all our hearts!

Visiting Grandaddy

My Grandad is now living in Kentucky with my Aunt and Uncle. Every so often, my Aunt brings him "home" to his house in Summerville to visit his friends. When he's there, we try to go for a visit. So on Thursday, the kids and I headed up there for a while. My Dad came up too. We had a nice visit, and Ruthi got to see her cousin, Austin, who is 2. The last time they saw each other was at her first birthday, so it had been a while! They were so cute together. She wanted to hug and kiss him so bad, but he wasn't having much to do with it. And as hard as I tried, I didn't come up with any cute pictures of them together. I think my Dad or Aunt might have managed to get one, I'll have to wait and see! Unfortunately they didn't' get to play together for very long, because Austin was napping for the first 3 hours, and by the time he woke up, Ruthi was asleep! She woke up just before we were leaving to go to dinner. Maybe next time I'll be able to get some cute pictures. I did get the one above of CJ and Ruthi with my Dad & my Grandad.

Girly Girl

Yep....She's 100% girl for sure. Ruthi loves to "dress up". She loves her necklaces and will carry as many bags on her arm as she can find. Loves the sunglasses, and usually is sporting a headband with a big bow too. Although here she's just playing around, this is what I go through when we are going to the store. She wants to take it all, including baby dolls and baby bottles!! I love watching this girly personality of hers develop. It is so much fun to watch. What amazes me is the things that just seem to come natural, like wearing the bags on her arm. That wasn't taught, just an instinct. Just like little boys with their "vroom vroom" of the cars. Oh, she is growing far too fast, and it is bittersweet. We have loved every little milestone so far and get a kick our of her everyday when she does or says something new. And though I wish I could slow time down a little so I could enjoy each thing a little longer, I also can't wait to see what she's going to do next!

He Shoots.......He Scores!!!!!

CJ loves basketball, thankfully, since his Dad loves it too! He plays for Upward Basketball at our Church. This is his 3rd year playing. He really enjoys it, which is good since we know he's gonna play for the NBA! *grin* It is quite difficult for me to get a good action shot, but I tried!
And while he's playing, we can't for get his own personal cheerleader on the side. When everyone cheers, she stands up and throws her arms up and says "woooooooo"! I must say, she's the cutest little cheerleader around!

Girl's Weekend

So pretty!

Ruthi and I left the "boys" behind and took off for the weekend. I had one cousin getting married on Saturday, and another cousin having a baby shower for their newly adopted baby girl on Sunday. So we made the almost 2 hour drive to the wedding. It was a very sweet wedding and I'm so glad we could go even though it was outside with 84% humidity - we were QUITE warm and sticky! But as the sun went down, it cooled off, and we had such a great time. I got to see cousins that I don't get to see very often.
My mom came too, and we stayed at my aunt's house for the night. On Sunday morning, she went to pick up biscuits for us for breakfast. We hung out for a bit before getting ready for the baby shower. Ruthi had a grand time going up and down my aunt's stairs as many times as she could. She's just figuring them out and getting quite brave going up and down with no help. Makes for a very nervous mommy since she still loses her balance on them!
My cousin Matt came over to visit for a while before we had to go, and it was so good to see him. Ruthi was giving out lots of hugs and kisses.

Then off to the baby shower - it was wonderful. Ruthi was loving the food and made herself right at home. She got to meet her new cousin, Hope. I guess she thought she was a doll though, since she was so tiny and I had to pull her away before she rolled poor baby Hope over like a rag doll. She wanted to play with her so bad and I guess she just didn't understand that this was a REAL baby!!

Meeting Hope



The Happy Family....My cousin Kevin, his wife Tanner, and baby Hope

Then we made the journey home. Ruthi was tuckered out and was asleep before we had been on the road for 5 minutes. Which made my drive nice and unstressful! Nothing like a fussy little one while I'm driving! It was a great weekend getting to see family I don't get to see as often as I'd like!