Ruby's Birthday Interview

1. What is your favorite color? pink
2. What is your favorite toy? Rapunzel doll
3. What is your favorite fruit? oranges
4. What is your favorite tv show? Tangled
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Macky Cheese
6. What is your favorite outfit? Ballerina outfit I'm wearing (blue ballet dress and pink tutu and ballet slippers)
7. What is your favorite game? Angelina Ballerina Game
8. What is your favorite snack? princess fruit snacks
9. What is your favorite animal? force (horse)
10. What is your favorite song? Angelina Ballerina Theme Song
11. What is your favorite book? Green Eggs and Ham
12. Who is your best friend? Wyatt
13. What is your favorite cereal? round kind (multi grain cheerios)
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? ride my bike
15. What is your favorite drink? milk
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Pengee (penguin)
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? German Pancakes
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Pizza
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Bumble Bee

A few of Mommy's thoughts on Ruby-Doo:



She is fiercely independent and knows what she wants. When we took her to Build-A-Bear she knew exactly which dress, shoes, and headband her pink kitty needed. No indecisiveness at all!
She loves to read stories. I'm sure she would sit still for hours and listen to story after story if we would co-operate! When she gets a new favorite book we have to read it over and over. Lately she's excited about The Hair Book and I Wish I Had Duck Feet. In the past she's been stuck on My Nest is Best; Go, Dog, Go; Are You My Mother; and all the Angelina Ballerina books.



This girl is an artist. She colors non-stop and loves to deconstruct her pictures and put them back together with glue. Every time she goes to Grandma Penny's the first thing she wants to do is use the water colors and paint a picture. At Grandma Dona's she rushes to the play-dough and starts molding masterpieces right away.
Ruby-Doo is a dancing machine. She dances at home, in the grocery store, and even teaches her friends in nursery how to plie and arabesque. Saturday is her favorite day of the week because she gets to attend Miss Emily's ballet class and wear her ballet dress and ballet slippers.



Which brings me to her uncanny sense of fashion. She still loves tutus and insists on wearing one nearly every day. When we're in the house she plays dress up all day long. Her favorite dress up is probably her Rapunzel dress.
The best part about our quirky little girl is that she's so dang sweet. She loves to make her brother happy and snuggle with Mommy and Daddy. We are so beyond blessed to have her in our lives. Not a day goes by that we aren't grateful for how she enriches our home and brightens our day.



And here are Ruby's three year stats:
weight- 28 lbs (25%)
height- 35.5 in (25%)

Tiny Hands

Our little creme puff turns three tomorrow and our little tank will be one in a week-- what?! I know they're both still little, but I feel like they're growing up all too quickly. It makes me think of the "tiny hands" song from signing time.

Tiny mouth, button nose
Eyes closed tight breathing slow
Tiny face how it’s grown
Like the babe I used to know





For me it feels like yesterday, just yesterday to me
I looked into your tiny face, your tiny face held me
Of course I know all children grow
All children grow of course I know…..
I didn’t know how fast you’d grow





Tiny feet awkward now
Pirouette, take a bow
Tiny toes how they’ve grown
Like the babe I used to know





For me it feels like yesterday, just yesterday to me
I looked into your tiny face, your tiny face held me
Of course I know all children grow
All children grow of course I know…..
But I didn’t know how fast you’d grow





Tiny child fall asleep
Close your eyes find your dreams
Tiny child how you’ve grown
You’re still the babe I used to know

Toddler Talk

I've been collecting these "Ruby-isms" for the past two months. Enjoy!


"I want to watch the Jesus dreams movie." (She's referring to the cartoon about the biblical account of Joseph. She was mesmerized by the part about the Pharaoh's dreams.)

R (While sitting on the potty): "I hear a fart."
Me: "Do you think you have to make a poop?"
R: "Yeah, give me a book to read while I make a poop."

(While slowly walking up to Scout, with her hands in the air) "Easy, easy boy. Sit" (At first we thought this was really original and that we had a dog whisper on our hands, but then we realized that she was repeating the scene from Tangled where Rapunzel tames Maximus the horse. lol)

M: "Ruby, do you recognize this music?"
R: "Yeah, it's the Nutcracker from Angelina Ballerina."

"This stuff is for cats." (while picking up yarn in the crafting store)

M: "What does a rooster say?"
R: "Caca do do"

R (While listening to a Justin Bieber song): "He said his heart is breaking. That's so sad."

R (very serious): "Daddy, I need to tell you something. I changed my mind. I want Santa to bring me a princess dress and princess shoes." (Prior to this confession she wanted Santa to bring her a ballerina dress and ballet shoes. She was very concerned that Santa would bring her the wrong thing.)

R: "Let's get out of here!" (On her way out of nursery one Sunday)

M: "Are you excited to go to the North Pole and see Santa tonight?"
R: "Yeah, let's bring Platypus (our Elf on the Shelf).
M: "No, he'll stay here and fly to see Santa after we go to sleep."
R: "Oh"

R: "Hey!"
B: "Hay is for horses."
R: "I'm a horse. No, I'm a horsey princess."

A snippet of the phone conversation she had with her grandma while Grandma Penny was on vacation in Florida:
G: "Ruby, We are going to see the alligators tomorrow."
R:"Be careful! Stand back so you won't fall in!" (She then repeated several versions of this same warning through out the rest of the conversation.)

R: "Umm...smells like pink"

R (bursting into the room): "Hey, what's going on in here guys?"

M: "Ok. I'm going downstairs now."
R: "So I don't have to smell it anymore?" (Referring to my breath; while using her hand to cover her mouth and nose.)

First Word

Tonight- just a few weeks shy of his first birthday Wyatt said his first word. Ready for it?...... cracker! So, funny that it's a food. He loves to eat!
Here's how it happened, my grandma and I were sitting at the kitchen table feeding him and talking. I handed him a ritz cracker and said, "cracker" signed it and went right back to my conversation. He surprised us by responding, "cracker." Grandma and I just looked at each other and wondered aloud if he really said, "cracker." We, of course, kept giving him more crackers, pointed to them, and talked about them. He said the word two more times. I whipped out my iphone to try and get a video recording, but he was a little camera shy.
I can hardly believe that our little man, who has maybe signed milk once, is saying, "cracker!" It totally made my day. This makes up for the past 3 sleepless nights he's been giving me. :)

The new kitchen

Remember when I casually mentioned that we were renovating our kitchen right in the midst of the holidays? Well, it's almost done.

Here's what we've done so far:
painted the walls (twice-- first time we didn't love the color)
repainted the cabinets
installed new appliances
installed granite counter tops
replaced the sink, faucet, and lighting fixture

installed new hardware
sewed and hung valence above the window

Here's what's left to do:
choose a tile back splash
install a hidden trash can
accessorize
repaint the table and chairs
pick out bar stools

Here's some (very amateur) before and after shots:
BEFORE-









a few close ups of the cabinets; from a distance they looked nice, but up close there were lots of spots like this were the finish was ruined

The old "bowl" lighting fixture was a crime. I can't believe someone actually bought it from me for $25!



The old laminate counter tops were chipped and UGLY-- replacing them with granite really transformed the kitchen.

AFTER:


In my dreams we would have rearranged the cabinets to make way for a double oven and gas cook top, but a gas slide in convection oven with warming drawer was a much more affordable solution.

The counter top is a pattern called colonial creme. I should take a close up of it so that you can see the linear motion of the veins and flecks of gold and grey. It makes me swoon whenever I see it.


We still want to replace the floor with engineered hard wood, but we're waiting on any more major renos until Brandon finishes MBA school (hopefully he'll be starting this fall). The good news is that the changes in the kitchen really neutralized the the floor tiles. Neither Brandon nor myself find them as annoying now-- nice unexpected bonus.


A new kitchen-- and a breath of fresh air in our home! Now if only I could master the art of gourmet cooking...

Christmas Pictures

These are from Christmas morning. Sadly, I don't have any from Christmas Eve.

Nutcracker 2011

Back in December I took Ruby to see Aunt Brooke dance in the Nutcracker. Our tiny dancer was mesmerized. Her current aspiration is to grow up and be a ballerina. I think I've mentioned this before, but she refuses to wear anything with out a tutu over it (because she needs to see it spin when she dances) and idolizes Angelina Ballerina. Last Sunday at church she taught her friend how to dance ballet (basics, of course... "This is how you plie and arabesque."). So, even though the tickets were a little pricey, it was worth it.

As a bonus, Great Grandma and Grandpa Linford happened to be in town so we all got together for dinner beforehand. It was a fun holiday treat.

11 Month Update

Little Man is officially 11 months old now. He continues to be a joy beyond belief. He loves to follow his big sis and the dog around and get into mischief. He is our expert crawler and peg leg scooter. He's also good at pulling up on furniture. Occasionally, he lets go and stands for a moment before falling on his bum. He hasn't attempted much cruising or stair climbing, but we can tell that it's on the horizon. Right now if we run upstairs quickly and leave him in the basement he'll crawl/scoot to the stairs, pull up on the bottom stair, and wait/squawk until we come back.

He loves, loves, loves balloons; turning over the dog food bowl; digging through the pantry; and splashing in the water.

Recently Mr. Wyatt cut his seventh tooth! He loves to chow down on table food, but lately he's been testing out a new technique-- taste, chew, spit out. So, I wonder exactly how much he's actually eating these days. Nonetheless, he does try everything we give him. And he likes to use spoons-- even if much food doesn't get in his mouth when he does!

I keep signing with him. I swear I saw him sign "milk" two weeks ago, but he hasn't done it since then, so maybe it was just fidgeting. It seems like Ruby was about 13 months before she started to sign back. I can hardly wait for our big guy to sign with us-- it won't be long!

His hair is growing longer and longer. I still can't bring myself to cut it. I think I'm going to let it get a little shaggy and see if he can rock the surfer look. To be continued...

I can hardly believe that in less than a month he'll be a year old. My little cowboy is growing so quickly.

The Big 3-0!

That's right, I've been 30 for a few hours now. Hmm... I'm not quite sure what all the hype is about. I don't feel old. Sure, the grey hairs and stray facial hair is annoying; but other than that, 30 is pretty great. I'm healthy and strong, married to my best friend, and have the best job in the world- being Ruby and Wyatt's mommy. I'm smarter than I was when I was younger and more comfortable with who I am and don't feel like I constantly need to be the center of attention or please everyone I meet.

When I was a young girl I had a few very important goals:

-serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints

-graduate from BYU

-marry the right person in the right place at the right time

-be a stay-at-home mommy

So far I've been blessed to make these goals come true (and a few other that I hadn't dreamed of like starting a professional career, running a half marathon, becoming fluent in a second language).

I'm looking forward to the next 30 years. If they're half as good as the first 30 I'm a lucky girl!

Holiday Bonanza

*Heads up: REALLY long post, no pictures YET*

I feel like I'm just sinking back into a routine around here. We celebrated and partied for nearly 2 weeks. Here's a run down of some of our Christmas/Anniversary/New Year's highlights:

Christmas Eve:

We took the the kids up to Mutual Dell to sled since there hasn't been much snow here in the valley. They had the best time racing Aunt Chelsea, Aunt Brooke, Uncle Chris, Mommy, Daddy, and Papa Clay down the slopes. Mommy, Uncle Chris, and Papa Clay even had a few epic races. Mommy currently holds the longest run title, but we'll see what happens when we get enough snow for a re-match.

After playing we went back to the Linford's for dinner, the nativity reenactment, and present opening. This year Ruby insisted on playing "Mother Mary." Brandon was the donkey, Joseph, and a wise man. I was an angel and our sweet baby boy was the most active baby Jesus in history. Ruby wanted to snuggle and hold him, but he just wanted to crawl around.

After all the festivities we put the kids in their pjs, bundled them up, and loaded them in the car; and just as planned, they were sound asleep by the time we got home. :)

Christmas Day:

Wyatt decided to wake up from 3-4 am, so of course he wasn't about to get up when Ruby did at 7. So, we let Ruby discover her Santa gifts first while Wyatt continued to sleep. She was so excited when she turned the corner into the family room. The first thing she saw was her princess tour and she exclaimed, "Santa left me a princess tower!" She climbed right inside and found the sleeping beauty princess dress and shoes that she had asked Santa for as well as her stocking gifts. We let her happily play with her toys while we made breakfast. It was such a peaceful happy memory to see how content and grateful she was with what Santa had left her. I almost wanted to hide all the presents that were under the tree and let Christmas be complete for her! I'm dreading the day that Christmas turns to greed...

Anyway, my mom and grandma joined us for breakfast and then we decided to wake up Wyatt. We helped him open his Santa gifts, but he was more excited about shredding and chewing on the paper than playing with the presents. The kids also opened the rest of their gifts. Ruby got tons of dress up clothes and accessories. Every time she opened a new princess dress she started shaking with excitement. She spent the rest of the day (and past few weeks) taking off one dress and putting on another.

At noon we went to church-- Christmas church is the best! I love the music and special spirit that accompanies the meeting on that day each year. And this year because Christmas fell on a Sunday church was only 1 hour long, so we all could go home and nap! Merry Christmas, right?!

Grandma and I prepared an authentic Italian dinner for the family (my sister Kandace and her husband Mike got here in time to join us) and chocolate cake with peppermint ice cream and dark chocolate syrup for dessert-- soooooo good! Brandon's family joined us for dessert and games late into the night. It was a perfect holiday. I can hardly wait to do it all again next year!

Shadowen Christmas:

For the past 7 or so years my mom has established the Christmas, round 2 tradition. Since all of us kids are grown up and have lots of family to divide our time with my mom waits until the 26th of December to celebrate Christmas. We had breakfast, opened presents, took pictures in our pjs, hung out around the house, and ate a traditional turkey/ham Christmas dinner. As always, the highlight was just seeing my brother, sister, niece, and in laws. Since they all live in California we don't get to see each other nearly enough.

Family Fun:

Brandon had the entire week off, so we tried to do lots of fun outings with the kids and our extended family. We ice skated at the outdoor rink downtown, walked around Temple Square at night to see the lights, took the kids swimming at the athletic club pool, had multiple Settler's of Catan challenges, went shopping, bike riding, visited the aquarium, and had Aunt Chelsea over for a sleep over.

Anniversary:

On the 28th we celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary. Man, time flies! Luckily, our family was excited to watch the kids for us and we were able to get away for the day. We went to Midway and swam in a crater. The water was amazingly blue and warm. Then we stayed the night at a little resort there. Don't judge me, but all I wanted to do was chill and eat; and so we did! The next day we came home refreshed and ready for another year of wedded bliss.

New Years:

New Year's Eve happens to be my mom's birthday, so we spent the evening hanging out with her and my family. It was a traditional birthday party-- presents, visiting, and delicious cake! Then we packed up the kids and headed home to watch a movie and quietly ring in the new year from the comfort of our couch!

Whew--what a whirlwind! The last few weeks of December are always so full of activities and traditions and family time--It's exhausting and wonderful all at the same time. I hope your holiday vacation was just as fun and meaningful and memorable, too. Here's to a calm January. Happy New Year ya'll!