Precious

Folding her hands for prayer---  14 months

Friends....

 

Last Thursday, my friend Ilene and her two kids came over and we made apple pies.  We got four pies done between the excitement of the kiddos!

 Sidney, myself and Ruthanna

 Sidney, Spencer, and Ilene

 My helper and I

 Spencer loved the water and was busy "washing" dishes all around

 Sleepy baby!

 Saturday, we made a trip to Fargo and visited Sarah while she was in the hospital getting her LAST chemo treatment....Ruthanna behaved like a charm!

Ruthanna always wanted to know what was going on when the nurses came in and would get up close and watch.

i*love*her

We took a few pictures of the two of us the other night...and on each of them Ruthanna made a different funny face...anyways, here's Ruthanna and I.

Ruthanna

We were cleaning in my parents attic the other day and found this Big Bird chair that I got for my birthday when I was 2 years old...We brought it to our house and Ruthanna likes to sit in it.  The first day she would just sit in it, but now she climbs on it, stands up and starts waving her arms and yelling....she is 13 months now and running all over the place. Crawling is a thing of the past...at her doctor appointment last month, she was 24.5 pounds and 2 feet, 9 inches.  She is starting to follow simple commands-- putting things in the garbage for us, getting something, giving a kiss, etc... when I am sweeping the floor, she is right there with the dust pan ready to help!   Her favorite foods are pasta and cereal and she likes to drink out of her sippy cup.  She knows where her toes, nose, fingers and hair are-- and we are working on the rest....We found my cabbage patch dolls that I had as a kid and she loves those. She carries them over her shoulder, rocks them in the doll cradle or covers them up with the blanket.

So this fall, Ruthanna and I started going to MOPS-- Mothers of preschoolers-- basically and child not in school. We have gone 3 times so far.  Anyways, the moms all meet in a room and have a speaker, brunch, craft, visiting, etc...while the children go to a childcare setting. It's for 2 hours. Last week, Ruthanna made it an hour and a half before she missed me too badly and I came to her rescue. 

I'm teaching music at the church school, so a few times Ruthanna has gotten to go and visit the teachers' kids during that half hour. She loves that. I come and pick her up and she hardly notices I have entered the room...she will be busy pushing the doll in the stroller or stacking blocks...

Ruthanna yelling from the chair!

An Update....

 

 

Ruthanna loves to go in the cupboards and empty everything out.

 Before Andrew left for the ship last month, we went to town and did some mini-golfing and go carts.

 We also took a bunch of pictures out in the wheat field in hopes to use one for our Christmas picture this year.

 Ruthanan loved eating corn this fall....with only 2 teeth, she did a great job!

 August and September found us doing lots of canning---we got lots of tomatoes this year, so we made sauces and lots of soup for the winter.

 Bringing in a load of pumpkins.  We made several trips to the garden with the wagon.  After we brought in the load of mini pumpkins and gourds, when we headed back down there, I saw a trail of them on the road, that Ruthanna must've been throwing them out the wagon as I was pulling.

 My cooking helper.  She likes to mix things and stand up on the chair to be right in on the action.

I was folding the sheets one day and wrapped her up in and carried her around for awhile. She thought it was great fun!