Family Night

This past Tuesday, our local Chick-Fil-A (one of our two favorite places to eat) had a family night where kids ate for free, and they had an "elf" there doing face painting and balloon animals. We took Ruth and she had a blast!

Ruth smelling her flower and holding her candy cane!

Ruth with "Twinkie the Elf"

After dinner and balloons, we took a ride through a part of Tampa called Lutz. Cam's folks told us that in their Seattle newspaper there was a write up on a house in Lutz that was known for it's Christmas decor every year! Being so close, we had to go see it. WOW-- what a sight to see! I wish these picture could capture all of the music and movements that were included in this amazing light display.

Thankful

This Thanksgiving we had a lot to be thankful for, namely the opportunity to host anywhere from 10-15 members of our family at a time over the holiday week. Ruth (almost 14 months) was blessed to spend eight fun-packed days with her cousins William (31 months) and Ella (17 months). Also her second cousin, Sonja (3 months), dropped in for a couple days, and introduced Ruth to what life will be like (SOMEDAY) when she has a little brother or sister.

(click on any picture to see it larger)

At Clearwater beach

Riding in the backseat was much more fun with Ella around.

Ruth trying to prove she's strong enough to give cousin Will a ride

Celebrating Christmas a little early!

We spent one day at the Florida Aquaium:

The whole family fascinated by stingrays

Trying to touch a stingray

Checkin' out the shark tank

Always a cutie!

In addition, Cameron, my dad, and my brother-in-law, Doug spent one morning on a private fishing charter in Tampa Bay. Unfortunately they didn't catch anything they could keep, but they had a great day out on the water!




Naturally with this much family together in one place we took the opportunity to take various family pictures, and those will posted soon. For now, we hope you had a very blessed and happy Thanksgiving!

Wagon Ride

Ruth got a very early Christmas present. Grandpa Steve and Grandma Lou wanted to give Ruth a wagon for Christmas, but shipping a wagon from Washington State would be a little ridiculous. So, we have been keeping our eye out for one here in Florida. Well, we found a great deal just the other day and after buying it, Grandma gave the go ahead to start using it now. Ruth is still of the age when receiving gifts on one day is no different than receiving them on another ;-)

Last night, we cruised the neighborhood. Mind you, we are in long sleeves and pants because when we went out at 6:45pm it was a chilly 69 degrees. A cool front has finally broken through the 90 degree highs we were having!

Ruth loves the whole idea of it. She is pretty content to just play with her toys and ride along, like a princess in her carriage. Once in a while she would point out doggies or interesting bushes that we should take notice of. However, if we did slow down or stop to look at something or talk with someone, she would start shaking the sides and getting excited to let us know that we weren't going fast enough.

Merry Christmas, Ruth!!

Finally...

No we didn't forget we have a Blog.
No, we didn't lose our typing fingers in some freak accident.
No, we have not stopped taking pictures of our adorable ONE YEAR OLD!

Well, I hate to offer excuses but I'm going to anyway! Beginning the weekend of Ruth's party (Sept 30th) up through October 21st, we were living life at about 135mph.

Following Ruth's party, each of our parents visited for a week at a time-- spoiling all three of use completely and utterly rotten! Immediately after Cam's folks left, we drove to Charleston, SC for a conference with Cameron's job.

Charleston is beautiful! We stayed at the historic Francis Marion Hotel, in a corner room on the 10th floor that had 3 windows looking out over the harbor. Through the conference, we were able to take several tours of historic homes, local galleries and private gardens. We even found some free time and spent one day seeing the city on our own, as a family. Perhaps the best part of the trip was the long drive each way-- it gave Cam and I time to debrief and catch up on the previous few weeks.

Here we are, back home and feeling grounded again. We look forward to Fall and the sense of slowing down and resting that comes with it!

For now, here are some pics from Ruth's party. You may notice that she really didn't smile much that day. I think having 30+ people in her house threw her for a loop. She was more clinging that usual, and while she didn't cry at all she certainly wasn't her usual social self. To be sure, Ruth liked having all the extra kids around for a day and being the center of attention. And of course, she is enjoying all the gifts that those 30+ people brought with them!!

My good friend, Spring, made the cake.
(I am useless when it comes to cake decorating)
Ruth loves balls, so polka dots seemed like the perfect choice for a party theme!

This was a wall mural I made. Guests at the party had to try and put the pictures in the correct month.
The winner got 12 out of 25 pictures correct-- maybe the game was a little harder than I intended?

Though she couldn't quite understand the idea
of unwrapping a present, she caught on very quickly to the idea of taking things out of bags.

Two of Ruth's playmates, Josh and Finn, with their parents.


"Hey! Is someone getting into my presents?"

Ruth even shared some of her cake with Mama.





"This was one exhausting day..."

T-minus one month and counting!

We have less than one month to go until Ruth turns one year old! We are sooooo exctied! To top it off, she has started walking. About two weeks ago she began walking between Cameron and I when we would coax her with favorite toys; now she does it of her own free will more and more.

Sometimes at night we will sit and read in the family room, while Ruth plays. She will be walking along holding on to furniture and then just let go and take off across the open family room. After about 15-20 steps she will turn and look at us, like "Did you see that?!?!" We cheer and applaud and then she will turn around right there and toddle back to us. It is amazing how it is happening so fast. She will certainly be ready to show off for her big party in a few weeks!

This past weekend we took advantage of the free day off work and went out to Orlando for a little family vacation. We swam and ate and relaxed. We also introduced Ruth to the world of Disney-- the cheap version anyways ;-)

Disney has a place called Downtown Disney which is basically every possible Disney item you could ever imagine (and some you would never imagine) being sold at 20 different specialty stores all located on a beautiful large boardwalk around a lake. Amidst the stores are little snack shops, benches to sit at look at the lake, nicer restaurants, a Ghirardelli chocolate store, a movie theater, a Lego store, and the famous Cirque du Soleil.

Really, it is just a great little place to experience the "magic" and the excitement of Disney for no cost other than what you choose to spend. Even the Ghirardelli chocolate shop hands out free samples. (Cameron's favorite!)

So, we took Ruth and she loved it! A lot of the little girls visiting there are dressed up like their favorite princess, and as far as Ruth was concerned they WERE princesses. She oohed and aahed over all the kids running around and we took her into a few of the shops to let her try on some princess tiaras. It was great!

The only down side-- we forgot the camera! So, for now you will just have to imagine how cute she was. But with it being just an hour away, we decided we will try to take her out there a bit more often-- and remember the camera!

Blessings,
Kristy

August Fun

These are just some miscellaneous pictures from the first week of August.


We took Ruth to a family fair at a town a few miles away. After having met a cow in Kansas, Ruth decided to introduce herself to this horse. She was so cute with the horse, she even had her picture taken by the town's newspaper!



Back in the toy cupboard...
(this time with considerably more balance)



Sleeping late one morning...

Midwest in the Summer (Part II)

Following our trip to Kansas, we flew to Denver, then drove into Nebraska to spend time with Cameron's family. Our time there was particularly special due to the nature of our visit: Cameron's brother, Carson, was married to a beautiful, sweet, amazing lady named Ashley! Cameron served as best man, Kristy read Scripture during the ceremony, and Ruthie... she was a flower girl!!! She did great, all circumstances considered. Though the rehearsal wasn't quite so smooth for her, by the time the big moment arrived, she was spectacular! She even tried to rip apart her silk flowers and throw them!

It was a fabulous weekend with the opportunity to see so much of the family all at one time. Take a look!

FYI: I will post more photos soon; once I get them from Cam's folks. Our batteries went out about three hours before the wedding, and we didn't have any spares. (42 diapers and 3 changes of clothes for Ruth, but no one remembered to take spare batteries to the church!)

Midwest in the Summer (Part I)

Recently, we spent 10 days touring the Midwest and seeing lots and lots of family. The first part of the trip was with Kristy's side of the family. Ruth (10 months) spent five great days with Daddy, Mama, Papa Greg, Mema Kitty, Uncle Doug, Aunt Kim and cousins Will (27 months) and Ella (13 months). It took her a day or so to adjust to new surroundings and the whole time change thing never did click with her... but she had fun!!

In a play area at the mall:

Around Uncle Doug and Aunt Kim's house:

At a hands-on "farm" and park:

We even took time for some family portraits:

Roller Baby

In an effort to keep up with Cameron running (speed walking just doesn't cut it), I have decided to go back to my Jr High roots and take up Roller Blading. Our first outing went well, though there is plenty of room for improvement!!

Before we left the house Ruth got into the spirit of the occasion.

Favorite PJ's

Ruth is on her way to being 10 months old, but she still can still wear some of her 6-9 month clothing. One of her sleepers in the 6-9 month size had become mine and Cameron's favorite sleeper to put her in. It was "used" when we got it, so it was already extra soft, which made cuddling before bed time extra nice!! Unfortunately, we recently had to retire the PJ's. Take a look...

Last night in our favorite PJ's...

They served us well....

Thanks Aunt Beth!!