Birthday and Halloween

I'm taking a break today and writing a blog post. Life has been busy with work and other things. I am doing a lot of freelance work right now and we have some deadlines this week (one tomorrow, yet) and so it's been a bit stressful. But if I don't blog now, I'm afraid I will get too far behind.

Eva's birthday was earlier this month. I cried. I can't believe my baby grew up so fast. She is such a wonderful, sweet girl. And she really has a mind of her own. Here are some pictures:



Eva is not walking much yet, but she stands a lot and can take a few steps. I think crawling is still more convenient for her. She mostly just does the bear crawl. She is a big-time mooch and loves to beg for food. She is also learning some sign language, which is very helpful. Right now she knows "more," "milk" and "all done."

As for Halloween, I cannot believe how wound up Ruth was about the holiday this year. She was so excited about carving pumpkins the night before. Then, the day of Halloween, she went around the house practicing how she would ring door bells and say, "Trick or Treat! Thank you! Happy Halloween!" Even though Ruth talked about being a dragon for Halloween for over a month, she changed her mind at the last minute and decided to be a pumpkin.



Eva was a baby leopard. Her costume was Tony's when he was a baby.


We were so glad two of our nieces, Marcie and Leila, could join us for trick-or-treating. They were characters from the show "Monster High."

Here is Eva wearing one of their wigs:

We headed over to my parent's street a few blocks away, which is a prime spot for trick-or-treaters. My parents usually have well over 100 kids come to their door. Watching Ruth trick-or-treat was HILLARIOUS! She was over-the-top excited about it. We were cracking up watching her go from door to door.

"Let me push the doorbell!! Trick or treat! Thank you! Happy Halloween!" She pretty much yelled it all the whole time we were out. By the end she started to wind down a little, but not much. I caught her asking for more candy from people a couple of times, and we had to have a talk about taking what we are given and saying, "thank you." I think the vast majority of the people handing out candy got a chuckle out of Ruth's enthusiasm, though. :)

That's all for now! Hope your November has started well!

Halloween Madness!

This weekend was filled with Halloween fun! Jack was over on Friday and Tony had the day off, so we made bat cookies using the new cookie cutters and rolling pin Tony's mom bought us:


We had the ward Trunk-or-Treat at church on Friday night, and our "little brother" came along. It was a dual-ward activity, so it was a little crazy, but we had fun! Ruth was a leopard and wore the same costume her daddy wore when he was a 1-year-old. She is her father's daughter:





The pic on the right is one of Tony in his costume. It's a picture of a picture, so it's not very good quality, but they look alike! :)

The "real" Halloween was last night. Ruth isn't really old enough to appreciate Halloween and eat lots of candy, so she just trick-or-treated at her grandma and grandpa's before we went to get Tony from work. She got to hang out with her cousins, Christopher and Kora, for a little while.

Christopher was a Power Ranger and Kora was Dora the Explorer. Kailyn, who was handing out candy and not in this photo, was Hannah Montana. Ruth actually kept her leopard ears on for a little while and let me draw whiskers on her face!

On an unrelated note, Ruth has discovered the joys of falling into a pile of blankets. Enjoy this video:



I'm so happy it's fall! Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!

-Meredith

Mischief Managed

I made beans and rice for dinner last night. This is Ruth's post-dinner shot. You can't see it from this photo, but she basically dumped her whole plate of beans and rice on the floor and managed to get some on the wall, too. She's shirtless because she was wearing a white shirt, and I took it off before dinner so she didn't stain it. She also decided to take out her ponytail during dinner, resulting in the mohawk/bed-head mess you see. She smiled for the photo, so you can see her two little teeth. :) Can you say blackmail material? :D Oh, how I love her!

In other news, we have found a cosigner for our house! It's very exciting. We are in no hurry to find a house because our lease isn't up until the end of February, but we will probably meet with a real estate agent next week. We're looking forward to taking advantage of the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit, assuming they pass it. We hope we can find something worth buying in our price range. The amount we're looking at spending would make our total mortgage payment (including taxes, insurance, etc.) cheaper than our current rent payment. Here is a picture of one of the houses we are looking at:


The idea of buying a house and making it our own is very exciting! It makes me want to buy up a whole bunch of copies of Better Homes & Gardens and get decorating ideas. For those of you who have already bought a house, do you have any tips? Is there something you wish you had known when you went through the process, or is there something you wish you would've done differently?

Thanks for your help. And happy Halloween Eve! We're going to a Trunk-or-Treat and Halloween Party at church tonight, so I'll post photos of Ruth in her costume tomorrow.

-Meredith

Fun times

It has been too long since we have last posted on our family blog. We've been busy with lots of things. Last weekend, we had our good friends, the Olbrichts, in from North Platte. They and their five children camped out in our basement for a few days, and we were able to go to the temple, Omaha Children's Museum and the slides downtown. It was really good to have them here.

Then yesterday Tony and I went to the Huskers vs. Cyclones football game in Lincoln while my parents watched Ruth. It would have been more fun if we had been more prepared for the weather. It was much colder than we expected it to be. Also, the Huskers played terribly, which wasn't much fun to watch. However, Tony and I got the chance to talk and be together, so that was good.


We also went to a ward Halloween party last night. Tony was Kip from Napoleon Dynamite, and I was Deb. We had a good time, and then went to get Ruthie, who had a good day hanging out with her grandma and grandpa.



I'm also getting busy volunteering with the local neighborhood association. Me and another gal in the neighborhood are trying to put together a newsletter on a very short time frame. It's coming together very well, though.

In terms of my weight loss/fitness goals, I haven't done so hot during the past week or two. I have some good days, but other days I totally blow it and eat too many calories and/or too much fat. I will say that I am getting better about working out. I've found that variety is key for me. I think the food will fall into place as I get more diligent about it. Sometimes I just need a bowl of ice cream, though!

-Meredith