I am thankful for a week with family

We had a wonderful time up in Wake Forest, NC at The Rupert household this past week.  Stella, Ruby and I drove up on Monday.  We stopped about half way in Charlotte on the way up to see an old high school friend and travelled the rest of the way without incident. The girls were great.  Ruby slept the whole way and Stella did a wonderful job of entertaining herself in her seat. On Wednesday the rest of our family arrived from Indiana.  My sister, brother-in-law and their four girls and Mom.  Stella had a blast playing with all of her girl cousins.  I rarely saw her as she was busy in the toy room with everyone.  She even slept in the toy room with everyone in a sleeping bag two nights and she really loved that.  I had to lay up there with her the second night till she fell asleep.  As you can imagine it was hard for a 2 year old to relax and fall asleep in a room filled with girls and toys.  Her two oldest cousins, Mary and Andie were awesome and were like second mommies, only fun ones!  They took turns holding Ruby and keeping her company along with all the other girls. In fact, Aunt Laura had to referee the amount of time each girl got to hold her.  She, herself, had to fight for a spot of Ruby time in between the girls holding her.  Andie (in the picture below) was with Ruby about 98% of the time.  Ruby rarely was unhappy, as she was held much of the time. I had a little mini-vacation from mom duty for the week.  And there were times I actually missed my girls they were so looked after by others and busy.  My mom held Ruby one morning while she slept from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 and I was able to sleep in a bit. Thanks Mom  :)

Randy joined us on Thursday for dinner, but had to leave Friday for work.  Fed Ex never sleeps.

We made cookies, decorated their tree, went to a bounce house, and watched movies.  Ruby rolled from her tummy to back twice.  It was a lot of fun and I was sad to go.  We left on Saturday, along with everyone else.  Again, Ruby and Stella were great travelers on the way home.  Stella napped a lot and Ruby, again, slept the whole way, even through our stop for lunch. 

Thanks again to Matt, Kandi, Reagan and Maggie for hosting Thanksgiving this year.  A lot of fond memories were made and it was just so nice to be with everyone. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

  I am thankful to be spending time with my entire family this day; thankful that they all made the journey and could for that matter.  I am thankful for this beautiful weather in N.C.  I am thankful for the chex party mix my sister brought.  And I am so very thankful for my two beautiful, healthy daughters!!!


artwork by Stella

A little Ruby...

She's 8 weeks old now and growing so fast.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Dancing to Cats

Stella LOVES Cats (as I've mentioned before)...the musical and broadway play. She knows so many of the dance moves and will sometimes do them before they happen. You can see a little bit of this in the video. Also notice, Stella always has to have a belt on during Cats. She calls it her 'seatbelt'. A performance of Cats is coming to Spartanburg (near us) December 8th. And guess who's got tickets? That's right, the Kruse family. I can not wait to see Stella's reaction to seeing this live. We are so excited to go!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

cooing

This sweet ballerina was talking to me tonight.  I LOVE those first little sounds.  I was talking to her and she would respond with lots of 'ahhhs'.  What a sweet voice she has.  She had a funny expression too, like she could hear herself, but didn't quite know where it was coming from. 

must see pictures.

Same old, same old with Ruby.  Eating, sleeping and filling diapers.  She's such a cutie and has been smiling here and there.  She's a very sturdy 1 month old.  She can hold her head up very well.  She likes her bath time and usually is very calm for a while afterwards.

Stella sure says so many funny things.  Tonight I had Ruby laying on the floor, she was crying, as she usually does when not being held.  Stella kept trying to put the pacifier in her mouth.  It wasn't working.  Stella says, "Her getting frustrated; I think you should pick her up."  A couple days ago, Stella let Millie inside from a very muddy backyard.  Usually we (Randy or I) let the dog in so we can wipe her paws off.  Well, Millie came running in and tracked mud on the carpet.  I forget what I said, but Stella knew I was upset (not at her, just about the muddy paw prints)  Stella kept telling me she was sorry, and I kept saying it was okay and wasn't her fault.  Apparently Stella didn't think she was getting through to me.  She got down on eye level with me, as I was scrubbing the carpet, and said, (as she lifted my chin up with her hand) "Mom, look at me, I'm sorry!"

from the week and Ruby's chin

Our funny little Stella Bella!  What an outfit

                              Pagi came for another visit!  We were very excited to see him again!

And I just had to show off Ruby's chubby cheeks!  And would you just look at that double chin!  this Monday she will be 6 weeks old and I can't believe it!