Merry Christmas!!

Luke 2:8-20
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christa the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.


Praying that your celebration of Christ's birth is filled with as much joy and excitement as a 1-year-old opening her first Christmas present!

Merry Christmas! -Brandon, Katie, and Ruthie

Practicing

We don't have much snow here. So Ruthie hasn't really experienced snow yet. She does, however, love her boots. And she has been practicing walking around in them. She should be a pro by the time we get to Grandma's house, where there is plenty of snow!

November roundup....

...in the middle of December. Oops!

We had a great trip up to the Grandparents' houses starting the weekend before Thanksgiving. I am glad for the opportunies for Ruthie to spend time with her Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. You can check out all the pictures from our 'vacation' in the online album (link on the right side).

It's been hard for me to get on the computer to blog and put up photos because Brandon has been 'working' from home for the last few weeks. And by 'working' I mean looking for a new job. He got let go from Stark the week before Thanksgiving, because of financial reasons. We are not worried--God will provide! Brandon already has a few leads, and many contacts from former colleagues. I still have my part time research job at Marquette.

Christmas is coming up quickly, and we plan to make another round of visits to the Grandparents (although not exactly sure on the dates--we'll figure it out soon, Grandmas!) We are looking forward to celebrating Christ's birth, and all the festivities that go along with it, with our bubbly, excitable 1-year-old. :)

Here are a couple photos from this past week. I babysat Josiah one day, and Gabe and his mommy came over for a play date. The kids had a great time! The second one is Ruthie in pigtails--so cute!! (not seeing it? Look for the bits of hair sticking out on either side of her head). She kept them in for all of 30 seconds... Hair clips and pony tails are a game for her. She wants us to put them in, and promply finds where they are on her head and pulls them out; then either tries to put them back in herself or hands them to one of us and waits until we put them back in. Fun, huh?

and another

This is the video i meant to post last time. Lucky you--you get a bonus!

Something to hold you over

I know it's been way too long since the last post. Sorry!! In my defense, I did try to upload this video almost two weeks ago, but it just wouldn't load. I am working on getting our pictures from Thanksgiving put together, and hope to have a post about Ruthie's adventures soon.
For now, here's a great video of her playing at the park :)

Wedding!!

Our good friends, James and Brenda, got married this past weekend. It was a wonderful day. The ceremony was great; the reception was tons of fun; and I got to see a few good friends that I unfortunately don't get to hang out with very often.

Oh, and did I mention we were childless at this wedding?!? I made a comment to a friend after the ceremony to the effect of "It didn't take me long to get used to not having a baby with me...is that bad?" A friend, and mom of teenage children turned around gave me a hearty "No!!" :) It was nice to not have to wrangle a squirmy baby during the ceremony, or leave the reception at 8:00 to get her to bed. But, of course, it was great to see her in the morning. Thanks to Grandma R. for coming to our place to babysit!

Here are some pics from the recessional. Unfortunately I forgot my camera in the car when I got to the reception, and it was cold outside and I parked far away, so I didn't feel like going back to get it. So, you'll have to wait for someone else's photos on FB to see how fun the reception was :)

The happy Bride & Groom:

Brenda's sister Sara, and James' brother Jesse:

Brenda's best friend Tracy, and some really good-looking guy ;)

James' sister Chris, and Brenda's brother Paul

And as a bonus, Ruthie and Sam playing in a box :)

1 year old photos

Here are a couple of Ruthie's 1-year photos, taken by Emily (ebelingartstudio.com). I will be putting some others in our Picasa album (link on the right) sometime today.

Photo Challenge: Shapes in Architecture

Search out and find a:
1.) Circle
2.) Square
3.) Triangle

Rules:
1.) B/W or Colour
2.) 3 photos, or all shapes in one (if you can manage!)
3.) No Tweaking


There is this interesting little gazebo/monument thing at the park near us. I thought it looked really cool with all the fall colors and leaves around it. The square is a bit of a stretch (I'll admit, they are rectangles, not squares). The first photo is the entire structure, and the others are closeups on the shapes. And yes, that is an empty vodka bottle in the 'square' photo.

Photo Challenge: Water

Here are the rules for this (old) photo challenge:
Submit 5 photos of water- in any way, shape, or form.
Tweaking IS allowed.

I broke the rules...I only have 2 photos. That is mostly because I didn't read the rules before I went out to take the photos this afternoon. I only glanced and saw the 'water' theme.

First steps!!

well, almost. she actually took her first steps yesterday evening. But, since we don't have a camera on her 24/7 (contrary to popular belief), I got a shot of her taking a few steps today.
Enjoy!

Table Manners

Remember this?

Here is the video version:

Photo Shoot Gone Bad

Emily, our awesome photographer-friend, shot Ruthie's 1-year photos recently. One of the things she wanted to try was a 'destroy the birthday cake' series. So, I baked a cake, frosted it with whipped cream, and set it on the floor in front of an almost-naked baby. (Emily had set up an impromptu studio in our kitchen.) I had a feeling she would be cautious with it at first, and I was right. She stared at it for awhile, then crawled toward the cake, pointed at it for a bit, and finally touched the frosting with her fingertips. After the shock of having the slightly cool, soft, squishy stuff on her fingers, she did what any baby would do--put it in her mouth. And she liked it. Next we all expected her to start digging in; but she didn't. She continued gingerly touching the top of the cake and licking her fingers. When we encouraged her to get a little messy, this is what happened:



What I don't understand is why she doesn't want to get messy when we want her to, but she makes such a mess at every other meal! Oh well. Emily promises she still got some good shots (which I will be sharing with you when I get them), and we all had a good time. Well, until this point anyway! :)

Photo Challenge: Hot vs. Cold

There was no new photo challenge this week, but we are using this 'break' to catch up on some missed challenges. This is great, because I've been meaning to do last week's challenge, which was "Hot vs. Cold". So, here it is: Hot Fudge Cake with Chocolate ice cream. :)



p.s. Becky, you can consider this your birthday cake! HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY!!

Finally....

....a new post!
Here are a couple cute Ruthie photos from our weekend trip to Madison to see a bunch of friends. We had a great time visiting, playing games, going to the zoo, and eating lots of yummy food.
Hoping to have some more photos up soon!

The Cake

We celebrated Ruthie's birthday this past weekend with family and friends. One of the highlights of the party was the cake. Ruthie's Aunt Becky came from Madison to attend the party and help prepare. Her main task was to bake the cake. Now, what kind of cake do you make for a 1-year-old's birthday party? Does she like princesses, or dragons? Pink, or green? Chocolate, or vanilla? Since Ruthie couldn't tell us these things, we decided to make her a cake that encompassed two of things we know for certain that she loves: Cheerios, and Bananas. Here are some photos of her cheerio-shaped, banana-flavored birthday cake. Thanks Becky!

(and yes, we did use FROSTED cheerios. After all, it was a special occasion :)

Check out more birthday party pictures in our web album (link on the right).

Photo Challenge 35

I finally did another Weekly Photo Challenge. This week the challenge was:

Submit one photo where your subject is photographed THROUGH something.

Ruthie presented the perfect opportunity at lunch time a couple days ago. She likes to touch her food when I'm feeding her, but I always keep a firm grasp on the bowl or plate so that it doesn't 'accidentally' go flying through the air. Well, she kept trying to lick the last bits of applesauce off of her plate, and didn't seem to have any interest in throwing it, so I let her at it. :)



Check out the other entries here.

Here are a couple more photos that I took that day, but are not part of my photo challenge entry:

Birthday Girl!

These pictures tell the story of Ruthie's first birthday cupcake. I'll let you imagine the narration :)

10 Things we LOVE about You!

10. Your adorable smile.
9. Your AMAZING sleep habits. Keep it up!
8. Playing peek-a-boo.
7. How excited you get when Daddy gets home from work.
6. Chasing (and being chased by) you around the house.
5. The pitter-patter of your hands and knees as you race across the floor.
4. Watching you play with your friends.
3. The way you want to make friends with EVERYONE (and every animal) you see when we go for a walk.
2. The sound of your laughter (and shrieks, and cackles...).
1. Watching you grow and learn every day!

There are so many more than 10 things, it was hard to narrow it down.
We can't believe it has been a whole year since we first met you, Ruthie! We love you so much, and thank God for you every day. We can't wait to see what you'll do next!

Lots of Love and Hugs and Kisses,
Mommy and Daddy

Dress Up

I was organizing Ruthie's clothes the other day and decided to see what she would do with shoes on. I really haven't put actual shoes on her yet, since she doesn't even walk yet, and it just seemed like a pain. I also put a headband on her. Surprisingly she kept it on!

New Dance Moves

Ruthie recently showed off her new and improved dance moves to Emily and Josiah. Shake it, Ruthie!

Update

Hello All! I apologize for the lack of blogging for the last 2+ weeks. It's been busy around here! I hope you've been checking out our photo album, though. I have updated that with photos from our week-long trip Up North and some visits from friends when we got back. Here are a few photos of Ruthie enjoying some new foods: