Happy 30th Birthday Isaiah!

Well it was about a week late, but we were able to celebrate Isaiah's 30th birthday while he visited for Thanksgiving.

Happy Birthday baby, I love you!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a very blessed one too, because Isaiah was able to come and visit on a special pass from WIC.

The best way I can get Rachel to look at the camera and "smile" is to ask her to show me her teeth, so that's how you get this photo.

My little cutie-batootie!

As close as I can get the girls together.

Ruth was very happy to see her Daddy on Thanksgiving morning.

Rachel was too. She gave him the biggest hug and wouldn't let go for about the whole time he was here.

Daddy with his girls :)

Happy Halloween

As I write this blog, I can't help but laugh at myself, since its after Thanksgiving and I'm just posting these pictures. Oh well, here they are for your enjoyment.

My mom, and I, and the girls after church one morning.

Rachel helping me carve the pumpkin. You can see her Woody pumpkin in front. Rachel actually really enjoyed helping me with the pumpkin. She'd stick her hand in and grab a bunch of the seeds and guts and put them in the brown bag.

Rachel in front of our trunk at the Trininty UMC Trunk or Treat. I thought this would be a good, safe place for her to do some trick or treating, especially since we weren't planning to go door to door for Halloween.

They had games in the gym for them to play. I was so impressed with her with this game. She saw the other kids "bowling" the pumpkins at the stack of toilet paper, but instead of throwing it also, she went and stacked the pumpkin at the top of the pyramid. I think she's a future engineer, she's so creative!



Very excited and thrilled about people giving her candy and then putting it in the bucket.

Rachel's school had a Halloween party, and Grandma decided to join us. Rachel however, did not cooperate with the picture.

Rachel, Ruth and I on Halloween before we went to a few of my families houses for her to trick or treat.

We bought this dress in Germany last April and it fit her really well. She also really liked it. I figure this is the last year I get to pick what she is for Halloween.

Grandpa and Ruth

Rachel on my Granny Lottie's porch steps before she does her first Trick or Treat.

 

Ruth is 4 months old

Well, I am way behind again, but figured I needed to post Ruth's 4 months stats before her 5 month are in.

 

She had her 4 month appointment on November 11. We had a worry a few weeks before the appointment. I wasn't sure that her skull was developing correctly - it was clearly higher on the left side (as you can see in this picture) than on the right. We went to the doctor and tried several suggestions such as making sure she napped/slept on the opposite side, spent more time on her tummy and nursed more on one side over the other. Thankfully, you can't tell the differentce between the two sides.

 

In any case, she weighed 11.09 pounds, 10%tile, she was 25 inches long, 78%tile, and her head was 15.6, 25%tile. The doctor was concerned about her weight. She's gained since her last appointment, but not much. So he suggested I try to start cereal and solid foods. She took to the cereal with breast milk really well, but only on the spoon. Bottle feeding has not gone well at all, and she thinks I'm poisoning her with the solid foods.

 

She can roll from her tummy to her back and has begun holding and interacting with toys.

She is super in love with Rachel and tries to grab her whenever she gets near.

 

Here are some pics from around 4months old. Enjoy!

Octoberfest, Sumter style

Sumter hosted an Octoberfest and it was really fun. They had a German band that played instruments, sang German songs, played polka music and had dancing. It was alot of fun!

 

Here's the band

Some bratwurst and spaetzle

Rachel and I dancing to the music

Some wine and apfel strudel.

I <3 German food.

Williard Farms Pumpkin Patch

Saturday, October 13, 2012 we took the kids to Willard Farms Pumpkin Patch in Gable, SC. It was about a 20 minute drive from the house. It wasn't too cool at home, but it was really windy and cold at the farm. "Mom of the Year" strikes again and forgot jackets for the kids.

 

They did a great job setting up photo opportunities. In addition to the pumpkin patch, where kids could pick they're own smaller pumpkins, they had a tractor hayride, giant jumping thing, playground, and tunnel area.

Here we are bundled up waiting for the next tractor ride to the pumpkin patch

The other pretty set up for photos.

Our ride to the patch

 On our way to the patch

My beautiful, sweet Ruth. I had just finished her hat the day before. So it was a good thing I finished it and remembered to bring it since it was so chilly.

Rachel running down the patch lanes. She fell a couple times because she would trip over the pumpkin vines, but it didn't stop her from getting back up and running some more.

Rachel and Ruth with their pumpkins

Rachel loves school buses. She posed for this picture with no coersion from me.

 

We had a blast besides the cold. They also had lots of yummy food for sale. We bought some fudge, homemade cinnamon and cheese bread, apple butter, peach salsa, and strawberry salad dressing.

Visit to Washington State

Well, I never would have imagined I'd like Washington State as much as I did during my first trip out there. I may change my mind if I ever experience a winter there but I'm a big fan of late summer. Spokane was so beautiful; clean, green, and well landscaped. I loved the downtown area but also all the little towns nearby and all the fresh farmer's markets. Here are some pictures from Ruth and my visit over Labor Day weekend.

 

Here we are at the SteamPlant Resturant. They had fantastic food! The resturant was coverted from an old

steamplant so there were lots of neat architectural features.

My friend Jennifer and I got to meet up and check out the Spokane farmers market and then eat at Benniets. A great French bistro specializing in Crepes.

I had the meat crepe and added veggies on top - yummy!

Isaiah and baby Ruth spending some time together in our TLF.

Fairchild AFB is beautiful. They have walking paths everywhere and wonderfully landscaped lawns. I really enjoyed my afternoon walks. They had a great static display area with lots of planes and some trains.

Franks Diner is great breakfast joint that used to be a train car. We had to wait a while to eat, but it was wonderful. Spokane definintely didn't disappoint when it came to food.

Isaiah and Ruth outside of Frank's. It was a chilly morning.

Some how, I got talked into checking out the new Avalanche, just to see what the blue looked like. Three hours later, we owned it. It is a pretty truck though!

Downtown Spokane has Riverfront Park. This park is so beautiful and has lots of things to do. Over the long weekend they had a festival called Pig Out in the Park. It was mostly carnival type food, but there were other resturant vendors as well. We didn't eat there, but we did walk through the park.

Here are the rapids of the river next to the park.

Our trip to Cor d'Alene, Idaho. I never really had a desire to go to Idaho, but I guess when you're this close (only 45 minutes away from Spokane), you might as well. Everyone kept talking about how beautiful it was there, but it was so cold, we checked out the lake a few shops and then headed back to Spokane.

We ate an Anthony's, a seafood resturant downtown. The back wall is all glass so you can view the rapids.

I really enjoyed my time with Isaah and I'm so glad that Ruth got to spend some time with her Daddy. Rachel had a great time with her Grandma and Pop Pop. I'll be really glad when our family is all together again.