Ruth's 1st Birthday Party

Can you believe Ruth is 1 years old??!

I can't.

But we still had a party to celebrate her milestone!

Prepped and ready for her smash cake :)

We couldn't find any last minute smash cakes that looked appropriate. 

So Mommy re-decorated a walmart special.

Ruth wasn't sure what to make of it, at first.

Maybe it was the fact that she was naked & in the kitchen?

Or that everyone was looking at her? 

Then she discovered Elmo's nose.

Yum.

I must say, I think Ruth is our first child to actually EAT some of her smash cake.

Everyone else enjoyed some birthday ice cream while Ruth enjoyed cake - I mean, icing.

Ruth is also the neatest of all our 1 year old smash cake baby's.

Aside from her red belly that rubbed up against her cake, 

Ruth really didn't get very messy at all!

But we still headed upstairs for a post-cake bath.

Then back to the party for presents!

Ruth adores the nursery rhyme book she got from her great grandparents.

And the soft lamb she got from her grandparents.

And she loves her tractor from Mommy & Daddy - well... when big brother & sister give her a chance to play with it, too. haha

Happy birthday, baby girl!!

You are an amazing blessing in our life and to our entire family.

I thank God for how He's gifted you with lots of smiles, giggles, contentment and peace.

I can't wait to see all the plans our great big God has for you!

Tractor Rides

The kids adore riding the tractor with Daddy at Granny & Pa's. 

And this visit, they got to do it in the snow!

Ruth got her very first tractor ride, too!

And, again, she was expression-less. I guess she was just too excited to smile!

Christmas Day, Pa took us all on Mr Toad's Wild Ride. Umm... I mean a hay ride.

45 minutes thru the property, hitting random trees, dunking low for flying branches, and trying not to get stuck in the mud puddle, that was frozen and as big as a creek ;) It was quite a ride! but everyone had fun.

Even Zulu, the dog, enjoyed riding in Uncle Junior's lap. ha

And Freckles enjoyed the captain's seat, with Pa.

We made a pit stop along the way to see the hollow tree and admire the river below.

There's always lots to see, do & ride at Granny & Pa's!

Christmas with the Greats

The day after Christmas, we all went over to Great Grandmama & Papa's house.

Great Grandmama has lots of fun stuff toys that the kids enjoyed playing with. Especially the singing frog.

And after a yummy dinner, there were more presents to open!

I'm pretty sure this toothbrush set is on Nathan's top 3 favorites list, if not his favorite. You cannot go wrong with Cars for Nathan. And anything related to his teeth is awesome, in his mind. He's already asked a bazillion times to open it. But I'm a mean mommy... he just opened a brand new one in early December, so this will be a gift he'll enjoy tons in a couple months. If I can hold out that long from all the requests to open it now. Thank you, to whoever gave it to him - I didn't get to see the gift tags!

Ruth adores her pull along toy. We debated if it was a frog or a duck. But I think we're all in agreement now that it's a grasshopper. Its really neat looking, and well made. And Ruth loves pulling it around her.

Nathan loves his tractor vest from Great Grandmama!

And Ruth continued on her pursuit to enjoy all the packaging. 

Great Grand Papa, opened some pretty awesome gifts, too.

He got a laptop! So maybe he's reading this on his new computer??

And Ruth got a puppy dog!!

Ok, she didn't. But she thought she did :)

Faith got a really cute barn set - the barn is a carrying case for a stuffed horse, pig & dog. And lots of other random toys she puts in there. It's one of her all time favorite gifts, too. And she loved checking it all out with Aunt Monica. Thank you, Aunt Mary Beth (I think it was from you)

Great Grandma & Nathan had a "snowball" fight in the living room with newpaper & wrapping paper. They had a great time. 

Then Nathan moved on to his Great Aunt Jenny, who taught him about the "bumble bees" (aka, tickle bugs).

Then Nathan went on to play monkey in the middle with Pa, Great Aunt Jenny & Aunt Monica. And somehow that ended with stuffing Nathan full of wrapping paper. And a lot of giggles. A lot!

Faith asked to be stuffed, too - but she was done after one ball of paper went up her shirt.

The kids gave their great grandparents a set of photo frames that they each painted.

And Faith made great friends with her cousin (one removed), Leah. 

The read a book over and over and over again. Shared some snuggle time. And played with silly putty. Faith adores Leah! They were sweet together.

Nathan eventually calmed down from all his giggling and warmed up by the fire with Daddy & Ruth before we headed out in the snow to go back to Granny & Pa's for the night.

And Faith gave lots of hugs to her new friend, Leah.

Fun in the Snow at Granny & Pa's

Granny & Pa have a little hill by the ramp to their barn, just the perfect size for little children to sled on.

And a few big children, too!

Ruth was fascinated by the snow. She was almost expression-less. 

No smiles, no tears, just in awe.

Oddly, the hill worked much better with less snow, before the blizzard.

The kids all enjoyed making snow angels.

And then there was dog sledding! Granny & Uncle Junior hooked one end of a rope to Zulu & the other other end to the sled. The kids had a blast!! I'm not so sure the dog was as thrilled ;)

Here's some video of the kids "dog sledding"