we BELIEVE

A month or so ago Sophie wrote Santa a letter. It included a picture of a bengal tiger {her biggest want for Christmas this year!} and the words I want a bengal tiger. She put it in an envelope and wrote TO SANTA on the front. She ran it out to the mailbox ... without a stamp. Much like she does every letter that she writes on a weekly basis. {we need to work on the concepts of addresses and stamps!} We all forgot about it. Until last Friday when Logan brought in the mail. There was a letter addressed to The Children of our home. It's return address was Santa Clause of The North Pole. The kids were thrilled. We read the letter and quickly found out that it was a response to Sophie's letter she had written.

the letter

she quickly pointed out that santa drew the bengal tiger just like she did!

sophie with her letter!

How fun is that ?!?! It truly is a magical time of year! We believe!

i heart faces -- self portrait

Back in September I took Willette's class, Finding YOUR Joy {Capturing Your Life Thru Photos}. It really pushed me to get in front of the camera more ... and I am grateful that I have because I do want to capture my life ... with me in it! I hope to post more of my pics from that class soon.

Purple {Barney} Party!

Because Ruby is OBSESSED with Barney I decided to throw her a Barney Party! But Barney is so yesterday ... there is NO Barney stuff anywhere. So it turned into a purple party with a little Barney thrown into it. I love how it turned out. And most importantly, Ruby felt special and loved on her big day!

this cake took me f.o.r.e.v.e.r to make ... but it turned out cute and pretty tasty too!

it's layers alternate purple and white inside

and it has 3 different frostings.

i made this cute as can be party hat for the cute as can be birthday girl!

happy birthday to you

happy birthday to you

happy birthday dear ruby ...

she wasn't quite sure about opening her presents.

i think i opened most of them for her ...

but she LOVED what was inside!

the kitchen, the play food, and this shopping cart were her favorites!

daddy and the birthday girl!

Happy Birthday Ruby Jane!

We LOVE you!

XOXO

For Ruby

Dear Ruby,

Today you are 2. I can hardly believe how fast you have grown. You are changing every day and becoming a sweet and sassy little toddler. Everyday you make us smile. Lets take a look at what you are like at 2 years old.

i love these pictures of ruby because they show her personality so well at this age. i see her looking like this almost everyday. she is such a silly girl!

Right now your biggest obsession is Barney. To say you love him might be putting it lightly. Every second of every day you are asking to watch Barney. It is a good thing your older brother and sister don't mind the giant purple dinosaur too much or we would be in big trouble. You love every episode, but your most favorite is Barney Halloween Party because it sings the song The Itsy Bitsy Spider. You love that song. Just last week I dug a Barney stuffed animal out of a box in the basement {it was a toy Sophie had when she was little} and you love it. You hug it, carry it everywhere, and take it to bed with you.

Ruby you are a girly girl. You love babies. Feeding them bottles, taking them on walks, and putting them "nigh nigh" are your favorite. I can always find one of your baby dolls laying in my laundry basket taking a little nap. You love purses, hats, shoes, and dressing up. I love seeing you walk around the house with all of your accessories. It makes me smile every time.

You are so excited about life. You never walk anywhere ... you gallop. And almost always have the biggest grin on your face. You find joy in the littlest things ... such as your pajamas.

And although you are so sweet and happy, you like to be a little naughty too. Lately you find it fun to color on things that you shouldn't. You have created your masterpieces all over your new dresser and several walls in our house. When we tell you "NO" you laugh and find it almost amusing to sit in time out. You silly stinker.

You are starting to talk more and more ... although you still don't say a lot and nobody can understand you except Collin and me. You call almost all animals by their sounds {ruff for a dog, neigh for a horse, aa-aa for a monkey etc}. You call Collin Col-Col and Sophie Bebe {which she surprisingly doesn't mind!}. I love listening to you talk. You talk {and sing too} in the sweetest voice. My favorite thing is when you say "nigh nigh momma. love u momma." It melts my heart every time.

You are becoming more of a picky eater every day ... and as of late you don't like eating much of anything anymore. Except maybe cookies. You have a sweet tooth just like you momma and brother. You still like to drink your milk laying down in someones arms, just like a baby ... although it is in a sippy cup now. And you still love your binky and lovey. Lately you have taken to carrying around 2 or 3 lovies at a time. It makes it hard for you to accomplish the tasks you are working on and you will often hand them to me to hold.

Speaking of tasks, you are becoming more and more independent. You like to do everything yourself. Climb in the car, close the van door {automatic}, buckle yourself in the highchair, and even put on your own shoes. It drives me crazy when we are in a hurry, but it really is pretty cute. What a big girl you are becoming.

Ruby we love you. You are a special little girl and we feel so blessed to have you in our family. Happy Birthday baby girl! I hope you enjoy your special day.

Love,

Mommy

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. We spent most of the day together at home as a family. It was wonderful. I truly treasure the time we spend together when we aren't busy with demands of every day life. Later that afternoon we went to my brother's home for a yummy turkey dinner. Almost all of my side of the family was together for the big feast. It was a really nice evening.

Before we headed out to stuff ourselves, we took the kiddos sledding. I'll admit that I was really grumpy about it ... I thought it was too cold outside. But it was a lot of fun. We all had a great time.

ruby was not a fan of the sled ... this was as close as I could get her to it for a picture!

i even took a turn ... and was left to pull miss sophie back up the hill!

ruby and sophie get a lift back to the car!

Happy Thanksgiving!

snow

It snowed. I wish that I was able to capture Collin's excitement when he woke up and saw the snow. I was still much too sleepy ... but his facial expression was priceless. That priceless facial expression was immediately followed by "can I go play in the snow?" I made him wait ... Sophie wasn't even awake yet, but soon I was stuffing and bundling and shoving little hands into mittens. It really is a lot of work getting kids all ready to play outside. A lot of work for a few minutes of enjoyment. But worth it. We all went out. The kids, Logan, and me with my camera. It was a family affair.

It was Ruby's first time to play in the snow. I think she liked it. She thought she was so silly the first time she put her mitten down in it.

Collin wanted to build a snow man. Lucky for him Dad was up to the task.

Collin rolled...

and Logan stacked and patted the perfect shape.

All the while this crazy girl snacked on the freshly fallen white stuff ...

and this silly girl crawled around.


And when that snowman was complete ... Collin knocked it right down! Boys will be boys! What a wonderful time of year ... but why does it have to be so cold?!?!

A Proud Mama Moment

For the past couple of months Sophie has been bringing home papers from school with talk of the Reflections Contest on them. With each paper she got I would set them aside thinking she is too young, she doesn't care about doing this, and therefore I am not going to mention it. Until one day I pick her up from school and she informs me that the reflections entries are due on Monday and she has to get hers done. I quickly tell her we aren't doing the reflections contest this year. And she quickly starts to cry. I think about it for a moment and then tell her that if it is important to her we could participate. When Logan gets home from work that afternoon I ask him to help her with it ... this is definitely something he is better at then me. Sophie and Logan work together planning and preparing and before I know it we have a film in the works. She created a little movie titled "The Bunny Who Knows What To Do!"

We hand it in and forget about it ... until she brings home a paper announcing that she has won first place in her category. First place. We are so proud. And so is she. We wait all week for the awards assembly. Sophie asking everyday if it is Friday. And then it arrives. We watch her with pride as she accepts her certificate and her trophy. Maybe we have a little writer/director/film star in the making!

the awards assembly