New words

Elsie is loving the sounds and names of animals right now, especially a cat! She walks around the house saying, "Wee-ow! Wee-ow!" She also loves to say monkey and carry her little monkey around or find a picture of one in her board books. SO funny!

She is full of expressions and phrases right now, so hard to keep up with all of them! Most are fairly clear to understand. Her favorite statement is "I want Mom!" or "I want Dad!", mainly when one or the other of us is in the another room or not nearby. She loves to have all of us together, and gets sad when we are apart. It is so funny how she will be sitting with me and look over at Mike, and say "I want Daddy!" and head over to his lap. She will sit there for a few moments and snuggle with him and then look at him and say "I want Mommy!" and head over to my lap. She will go back and forth between us over and over.

She spends endless hours playing with Ruby now, it is so fun to see them becoming little friends with eachother. Yesterday, we went to the mall play area for a bit. Ruby was protective of Elsie the whole time and would take her down the slide and check in on her while they were playing. So neat to see!

Lately we have been spending lots of time with the dogs since they have to be indoors so much. Henry is super gentle with them and so relaxed now, since we adopted our Hank. He wears him out and I also think that Henry is in the stage of his life where he has calmed down. Both girls love to put the doggies to sleep, Hank is too much of a puppy to cooperate but Henry just settles right in and enjoys all the attention. They love to pet them gently and walk them on the leashes we have. Thankful to have our pets to keep us company and entertain the girls!

New tooth coming in...

I noticed that Elsie has a new tooth coming in yesterday. It is the one to the right of her two middle teeth on the bottom! She still has one molar that it taking a long time to come in in the upper left part of her mouth!

New Bears Christmas!

Great Grandma sent the girls new bears...they are super cute and soft! They love them! Thank you so much Grandma Hunt!

RIP Morris

Our kitty of 8 years went to heaven today :( He has been sick for a long time and we decided to take him to the vet about a week ago to get checked out. The bloodtests came back normal, but the xrays showed that he had a disease in his lower intestines. He was really sick and had actually lost half a pound in one week. He was getting really skinny, he used to be super big. He was vomitting everyday and sometimes more than once a day in the end.

In 2002, he appeared at our doorstep in Vancouver, Washington. He would rub up against us and was so sweet, we couldn't understand how he could be a stray. Mike put a box with a blanket out for him to crawl into at night and he immediately took to it. He started sleeping there every night. Mike started putting food our for him to eat each day and we took him the vet and even named him. At the time, we thought he was a girl because he was so big and looked pregnant, we even gave him a girl name Sedora. We were shocked when the vet told us it was a boy, just a very big male cat. We then started taking him into our home. Sarah, our other kitty was super jealous. She had been our only cat for nearly 7 years already. We had to have them both declawed so they wouldn't hurt eachother. They eventually became the best of friends. Sarah and Morris were total opposites...she was grouchy and he was playful and sweet. He would get onto her back and hold her there for awhile, this was really the only thing that irritated her. She passed away last summer and we never found her. We had put them outside for a brief time frame, Morris started meowing at the door over and over because he was so upset that she was gone. She was doing the same thing as Morris before she passed. He loved being pet by my girls and by us. He would always snuggle with Elsie and Ruby everyday in one way or another. The first thing Elsie did every morning was wake up and go look for her "Mor Mor" and pet him. Ruby would do the same, but oftentimes she would actually lay beside him and put a blanket around the two of them. She would pet him and he would just love it.

Elsie doesn't realize he is gone, she is too young. Ruby was very upset today when we talked with her about it. She cried several times and said she would miss petting him. They both had been with him since they were born.

Mike came home with an angel kitty pin and we placed it on an ornament of a black kitty. Each year when we get the ornaments out, we will remember our loving kitty. We will miss you so much Morris, you were a huge part of our family. Hope you are playing with Sarah in heaven right now.

Lentil Soup and Dr Seuss

OMG...Elsie is so into eatting with me right now. She always wants to move over to my lap and eat from my bowl or plate. Yesterday she ate nearly all of my stew and today she ate a ton of my ham and lentil soup. So excited that she is eatting more right now and willing to try the food I am eatting. She is usually so picky!

Ruby is totally into making signs right now...she makes them almost everyday. She also loves to act like she is Santa and pulling reindeer around the house. Silly girl.

Tonight Mike and Ruby were being silly...they took a foofy scarf and put each end on their heads. It looked like a creature off of Dr Seuss. So they put it on the same way when she was getting into bed and read a Dr. Seuss book together! It was really cute and she loved it!

Weekend with the In Laws

We decided to invite Mike's brother and his family to spend time with us over the weekend as our holiday get together. It turned out to be a lot of fun.

The kiddos openned gifts from eachother. Ruby had a blast picking out her own gifts for each of her cousins and giving them the gifts. She loved the gift they brought for her and so did Elsie.

We decided to go down to Riverpark Square to ride a horse drawn carriage, ride the carousel, and then paint ornaments at Polka Dot Pottery. We waited a long time to go on the carriage ride, but it was a lot of fun once we all were able to get on. A chilly day as we waited. All the kiddos were wearing the hats their aunt made for them, all six of them. It was super cute to see them all together and enjoying their time. Ruby held hands with Makayla as they walked, Makayla held Elsie a bit, and Ruby played with her cousins Michael, Paxton, and Tyren. I really hope that they will be good friends as they grow up especially since they are all only one year apart from eachother.

As we went home, we decided to end the night at Gatto's Pizza. It was a great choice. The kiddos were able to burn off their energy and the food was inexpensive and filled out bellies. Mike and Steven spent most of the time playing the arcade games and winning stuffed animals and tickets for the kiddos. They all left with an animal and prize.



The next day, we decided to eat at the Milk Bottle in the Garland District. Love it there! It was a good time except at the end when we needed cash or check and we didn't have it. The guys went to go get the money and we waited patiently for them to return. The kids were good though and it all worked out. We were going to go across the street of cupcakes for Tyren's birthday, but Celebrations was all closed up :( So....we just headed toward Mt Spokane for our innertubing experience. It turned out to be the highlight of our time together, so much fun! All the kids loved it and we were all able to participate even Elsie and Paxton. After we went for about 1.5 hours, we decided to head in to get some hot chocolate and warm up. It was a cozy atmosphere and very relaxing. We said our goodbyes and headed home.




On the ride home, once we were in Cheney, we saw lights from the fire engines that were carrying Santa around town. Mike drove up beside them and Santa actually came up to our car and brought the girls a candy cane each. They loved it and he wished them merry Christmas. What a neat surprise.

At home, I made stew to eat. I was surprised when Elsie decided to eat tons of the meat and then moved to my lap and tried all the vegetables :) She continued to eat the veggies and almost finished off my entire bowl. She had a huge round belly when she finished,so funny! A major milestone for her, she is usually so picky with her food and will not even try veggies or anything but the meat I give her. Yay! Ruby ate all of hers too!

Elsie talking

We went to lunch with Grandma today and Elsie was thrilled to share her new words with us all. She proudly exclaimed "Grampa" when my mom got into the car with us. So funny! As we spent more time together, she continued to say it to her. Definitely sounds like Grampa, so funny! We ate at an Indian restaurant today, so yummy! The girls loved the sweet treats at the end and the bread they gave us. Thank you for going with us Mom! Love you!

After we dropped my mom back by the office she works at, I decided to stop at Goodwill with the girls. They LOVED it! They got so excited to see all the various toys and immediately started testing them all out. We also visited the book section, and I found so great books in almost new condition for next to nothing. I even found some books for Mike that he wanted for Christmas and a new book that I wanted to read. Yay! I let the girls choose two books each from their section and Ruby picked them all out for both of them. She is such a little bookworm. She picked good ones too. Elsie just enjoyed taking them all out and putting them back in. I found some good games and bought them each a toy too. Only spent $15 total for everything. As soon as we got home, Ruby decided she wanted to wrap Elsie's books and surprise her with them. She did a good job and immediately wanted Elsie to unwrap them both. Elsie did and Ruby helped her. Elsie was so excited to get the books and brought them up on my lap to take a look with me. So funny! They crack me up.

Elsie also started saying Ruby when they are playing or talking with eachother. The only thing is that is sounds more like "Booby" when she says it! She is getting soooo good at communicating now. Just a little ham and so full of personality these days. She loves to give kisses and hugs to me, especially when she trying to butter me up for something. She is so snuggly and soft...love that little girl!

Kylar's Birthday Bash

Ciara played her saxophone for us while were there visiting, she is so proud and it is great to see her enjoying it!

Holding my mom's sweet puppy Snickers!

Snickers!

Ruby and my mom's other doggy JoJo!

Elsie petting Snickers! Such a tiny little puppy!


We took Kylar to get cupcakes at Celebrations, so good! He loved the ones he picked out!

We got 12 for$10, a great deal! So fun to pick out all different types to try!
Happy birthday Kylar!

A New Tooth

I just noticed the fourth molar coming in, it is the one on the left top side of her mouth. It is barely poking through! She has two coming in right now, the one on the bottom left side of her mouth that is right beside her middle teeth has already poked through and out a ways. Now she just needs all the ones inbetween to come in!

Both girls are so hungry all the time now, especially Ruby! She could eat constantly if I let her. She asks me for snacks all day long and eats almost all of her food at each meal. She is growing like a weed too! Elsie is very picky, but wakes up ready to dive in to her cereal. I have slowed the nursing down to twice a day now and so she is wanting to eat more throughout the day.

We watch Despicable Me tonight, a fun movie! Ruby really liked it and Elsie sat through most of it without a sound. I was amazed that she could sit through it at her age. She wants to do everything her sister does, so in some ways it doesn't surprise me.

Family Sunday

Waiting to visit Santa...Elsie is so happy and both girls are excited to be all dressed up! Ruby immediately gave Elsie hugs and kisses! So cute! They both twirled in their pretty dresses over and over!

Pretty girls! Ruby was so excited and gave me tons of big smiles! Ruby loved her visit with Santa and chatted his ear off! Elsie cried the whole time, bummer :(

After pictures with Santa, we headed over to the Davenport to make a gingerbread house! Daddy helped! So much fun!

Ruby was proud of her creation!

The end result, pretty cute!

New Tooth!

I noticed that Elsie is getting a new tooth a few days ago...the left one right next to her middle bottom teeth. It just popped through today and I can actually see it!

Also, Elsie is actually letting me brush her teeth now, since yesterday! She always would get so upset, but now I tell her that we have to get it done before she can go "Nigh, Nigh" and she lets me brush. Yay!

I subbed a half day today, and when I went to my friend Tanya's house to pick up the girls they were doing great! I guess Elsie just fell right asleep and slept for 2 hours straight during her nap time. Ruby got along well with her daughter, what a great day! Also, the students I worked with were very nice and respectful the whole time! Some of the students were my old students at Reid, so neat!

Elsie is repeating so many new words right now, and has developed quite the little vocabulary. She is getting better at saying all the sounds of the word, but mainly gets the first part of it out. She is saying simple sentences like "I want open", "I want it", "I don't want to", to communicate what she is needing or wanting. I noticed her saying monkey today and she even tried to say her friends name Jacquelyn.

Ruby

Ruby has entered the emergent reader phase. She notices letters on everything, especially when we are driving. She looks at all the signs and says, "Look, there is a U and an R!" She is thrilled to be noticing all these cool new features in our environment. As she reads books, she actually runs her finger along the letters and words as if she is reading them to me. She will notice letters and bring them to my attention. Mike has taught her to notice when she sees the word "the", she sometimes will recognize it in the text of the book she looking at.

Today we went to see Santa and some reindeer at Ritter's nursery up north. Before I even said for her to go visit him, I turned around and she was already on his lap. She was turned to look at him and chatting with him. It was super cute. I tried to get Elsie on his lap, but she cried right away! They both loved seeing real reindeer!

Today she wrote her name clear as day, and all the letters in the right order. It was really neat.

Mike and I went on our first date night through program at our church yesterday. The girls stay with other parents while we go out for a few hours. Mike said that it just wouldn't work, but I kept the faith that they would be fine. Ruby cried at first, but when we returned she had made a friend and was happily playing. Elsie was crying when we returned for about 10 minutes because she got scared when they started a movie and the lights went out. She did fine otherwise. So thankful!

Elsie has three of her back molars in now, they are so big. She is missing all the teeth inbetween. Wondering when the others will come? We'll see!

Ruby has been so excited about Christmas and has been reading all about Santa and his reindeer and then the first Christmas (the Christian version). Tomorrow we are going to see a live nativity scene which will be so cool since she has been reading about Jesus in Bethlehem. I can't wait!