Halloween Shirts

This morning when we were playing in the family room, I just had to snap a couple of pics of Maddie and Liam in their Halloween shirts. Maddie's shirt says, "I want candy" and Liam's says, "I love Mummy".

Then Maddie started snuggling on her little brother and I had to get a picture of that also! She loves her brother so much!

LIAM IS SITTING UP!

This morning while I was trying to get Maddie dressed and packed to go to Evansville, Liam was kind of fussing because it was like he wanted to sit up to see what Maddie and I were doing. So I got the idea to try and see if he could sit up in his Bumbo seat or not....well, here are the results.

He says, I think I am ready to eat Rice Cereal and play some sitting up! I just can't believe how much earlier he is doing things than Maddie did. He just turned 15 weeks old on Wednesday.

As you can see from the picture, Maddie let Liam play with two of her most prized things, Prayer Bunny and Chewy-Chewy.

PUMPKIN SEED ART

When we carved pumpkins last Friday, I saved the seeds so that Maddie and I could make some pumpkin seed art.

On Sunday, I cleaned the seeds and laid them on cookie sheets to dry them in the sun. On Tuesday, Maddie and I mixed 1 cup of water with 1 tablespoon of white vinegar, and mixed food coloring in cups to make the colors she wanted. We left them soaking in the cups for about an hour and then removed them with a fork. Then placed them on cookie sheets on wax paper and then placed them back out in the sunlight for the afternoon.

We had to wait to let them dry outside until Wednesday due to the storms on Tuesday, but Maddie has been waiting patiently for the seeds to get ready so she can make her name with them. So on Wednesday she helped me print out her and Liam's name so that part would be ready for today.

So here are some pictures of the final product. I couldn't believe how fast Maddie could do the names. I just put down a strip of glue on one letter at a time and she put the seeds down.

Here is Maddie starting on Liam's name.

Maddie wanted to do more after finishing up her and Liam's names so we made a pumpkin too.

Pumpkin Seed art was LOTS of fun...I can't wait to try out some new creations next year!

My 29th Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Monday was my 29th birthday! On Sunday evening my family celebrated. Mom made one of my favorite foods, meat loaf, baked potatoes, lima beans & corn. For my birthday cake she made my favorite: yellow cake with chocolate icing! As you can see from the picture even Firefighter Maddie was able to make it to my party!

As Heidi & Mom were lighting the candles, I kept thinking that is a lot of candles...but with a big breath I blew them all out but 1.

Had to post the picture of Maddie helping to lick the icing off the bottom of the candles. It almost looks like Liam is laughing/smiling at Maddie.


Finally, we posed for a family picture before the evening was over. Liam was taking a quick snooze. Overall, I had a great birthday. Scott and I got to spend the evening together on Saturday night before we picked up Liam at my mom's house. I am looking forward to going to Ertel's Winery on Wednesday night. I am excited because I am finally going to get to do the wine tasting there. I have only been there a few other times, but every time I go there, I am pregnant. So wine tasting ...here I come!!

Pumpkin Carving!

On Friday night we decided to do our annual pumpkin carving. Scott carved two pumpkins this year, one for Maddie and one for Liam. Maddie said she wanted a 'silly' face and she decided that Liam wanted a "scary" face. She did not like the feeling of the "ooey gooeys" as much as she did last year. Last year, she went to town pulling out the pulp, but this year she only did a little bit.

Liam enjoyed watching Scott carve the pumpkins from the front seat of the stroller.

Maddie preferred to use a spoon to help her clean out the pumpkin.

A picture of the finished product! Both of them are sitting by their pumpkin.

Scott snapped a picture of the pumpkins in the dark. Liam's scary pumpkin and Maddie's silly pumpkin turned out pretty good. Can't wait to see what kind of pumpkin Liam really wants next Halloween!

A Boo-ific Dessert

On Tuesday night, Maddie helped me make a Boo-ific Dessert for dinner. We surprised or as Maddie said "scared" Daddy with it.

This dessert is super easy and fun! While Maddie took her nap I mixed up the Jell-O so it would be set and later on she helped me with the Cool-Whip and Chocolate chips. (Maddie calls Chocolate Chips, "Chocolate Chip Cookies").

This is the recipe for this Boo-ific Dessert...hope you enjoy!

What You Need:

3/4 cup boiling water

1 pkg. (3 oz.) Jell-O Orange Flavor Gelatin

2 Cups ice cubes

2/3 Cup thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping, divided

8 Miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

Make It

Add boiling water to gelatin mix in large bowl: stir 2 minutes until completely dissolved. Add ice: stir 3 to 5 minutes or until gelatin is thickened. Remove any unmelted ice. Whisk in 1/3 cup Cool Whip until well blended. Pour into 4 dessert dishes.

Refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm.

Drop remaining Cool Whip by spoonfuls onto desserts to resemble ghosts. Add chocolate chips for the eyes.

Wendel's Farm

On Monday, Maddie and I tagged along with my class on their field trip to Wendel's Farm. I was so proud of Maddie, she was very well behaved and followed along with the first graders. She got to experience lots of things. She was a farmer, got to see lots of animals, rode a wagon pulled by a tractor to the pumpkin patch, ate a picnic lunch with the kiddos and got to play in a giant corn box (like a sand box, put with corn instead.)

Here she is being a vegetable farmer. She had to dig up a carrot and a potato.

Maddie even got to try to milk a cow. There are containers filled with water that have a nipple on them, but it is a good simulation of milking a real cow.

Maddie knew right away which pumpkin she wanted. She knew she wanted one that she could carry to the wagon by herself. She also helped me pick one out for Liam.

Maddie enjoyed eating lunch with three girls from my class. She liked their food better than hers, so luckily they thought it was cute to trade food with her.

The last activity of the day was Maddie's favorite...playing in the corn box!

Happy 4th Birthday Leah & Brendan!

Here is Leah and Brendan on their 1st Birthday! They have both changed so much!! Leah is a girly-girl who loves to dress up, wear princess lip gloss, and play with her kitchen set. Her little cousin Maddie loves to follow her around. Brendan has changed so much in the last year. He used to love to play by himself, well, now he loves to play with Maddie also. He still LOVES Thomas the Train and Maddie enjoyed playing 'Thomas' with him all weekend.

The Ruwe Family has enjoyed sharing the first 4 years of your life with the both of you and can't wait to see what the future holds for both of you! We LOVE how unique the both of you are!

We had a great time at Leah and Brendan's 4th birthday party! We tried to get the kids to cooperate so we could snap a picture of the four of them together...well, this is the best we could come up with.

Leah, Brendan, and Maddie started out the birthday meal sitting together, but then Brendan wanted to sit by his grandma, Maddie spilled her milk and had a melt-down over making a mess, while Leah remained calm, cool, and collected!

I had to get a picture of Maddie enjoying her cupcake at the party. She had chocolate icing on her nose. She chose to eat one of Leah's princess cupcakes.

Our Evansville Adventure

This weekend we ventured to Evansville to celebrate Leah and Brendan's 4th birthday! On Friday we left our house at 1:00. The trip to Ferdinand, IN went well. Maddie watched Sleeping Beauty, while Liam slept the entire time. We stopped in Ferdinand to visit my college roommate, Erika and her family. We got a tour of their new house, which is beautiful. Maddie got to stretch out and play with Kaden and Luke for a little bit. Liam got his belly full again and we were off to check-in at our hotel in Evansville.

So 45 minutes later we arrived at our hotel. When we have to stay in a hotel, I always get a suite so that Maddie would have a place to sleep that is quiet. Well, when I went to check-in they had upgraded me for free to a 2 bedroom suite. It was like staying in a 2 bedroom condo. We had 2 bathrooms, a full kitchen, and a living room/dining room. So needless to say we had plenty of room.

After checking in, we headed over to Aunt Aimee's house to have some dinner and drop Nana off. Plus, Maddie wanted to have some play time with Leah and Brendan. They decided they would play dress-up first.

On Saturday morning we snapped a picture of Maddie and Liam watching cartoons together. This is Liam's first hotel visit. Maddie looks pretty well rested in this picture even though she fell out of bed at 12:30 on Friday night.

After breakfast Saturday morning, it was bath time. Nothing like taking a bath in the kitchen sink! Liam fit perfectly!!

On Sunday morning, I snapped pictures of the kids sleeping. Besides Maddie falling out of her bed Friday night, the kids slept really well. at the hotel.

Liam is 3 Months Old!

I can't believe it, my sweet little baby is already 3 months old! I honestly don't know where the time has gone! He has a really sweet, laid back personality type and he is the SMILIEST bay (as you can see in the picture.) At three months, he is rolling over from his belly to back. In no time he will be rolling over from his back to belly as you can see in the pictures. Liam can get up on his side and stretch his neck out...he is just inches away from rolling over.


He is sleeping well at night. He goes to bed between 8:30-9:00 and then sleeps until anywhere from 4:39-6:30. He sleeps for several hours at night, but he is not consistent at all.

He is super strong! He can hold his head up very well.

Liam the Laundry Sorter

Last week, Liam was awake during my laundry afternoon so I decided to put him to work. His job was to help me sort Scott's work socks. By the time I started folding the socks he was absolutely covered in SOCKS!

He was a great helper, but hopefully he will be sleeping during next week's laundry afternoon!

Ready For Winter?

Last Saturday, there were a couple of garage sales on our street and Scott was working at an auction in Yorkville so the kids and I decided to visit these places. It was really cold on Saturday morning, so we had to find Maddie's hat and gloves and make sure they fit before we headed out for the morning. Well, we found them and they still fit. Maddie looked so cute modeling them that I had to snap a picture. On Saturday, Tigger was the pet animal of the day as you can see in the picture.

Cars Movie Night

This summer, before Liam arrived, we treated Maddie to a movie night. Scott and I decided that last Friday night was the perfect time to host another movie night for her. She chose the movie, Cars. She really enjoyed watching it, but the movie was about 20 minutes too long for her. I think her favorite part was picking out snacks to eat. She chose a cheese stick, Cheez-its, peanuts, apple slices, and of course, popcorn. Liam had fun at his first movie night also. I think he enjoyed staring at all of the movement on the screen.

Here is Maddie getting ready to dig into the popcorn Daddy made for her.

Feeding Sadie

Last night, the family went out to feed Sadie after dinner and it was about a 30 minute adventure. First, Maddie had to get her pants and shoes on. Then, I went to put Liam in his coat because it was so cold outside. Well, I discovered he had pooped...a BIG poop, right through his onesie and pants. So Scott and I, yes this was a two person poop, had to change him, clean him up, get him new clothes, and then put him in his coat. Then Maddie wanted a hat because Liam had a hat. Finally...20 minutes later, we were out the door to feed Sadie. Before we headed out the door we decided to snap a picture of the kids finally ready to go outside to feed Sadie. These are the moments in time, that Scott and I will remember and talk about when our kids are grown up.

Liam is 10 weeks!

At 10 weeks old, Liam DOES NOT fit in his bathtub anymore, so we decided to move him to his bathmat. He absolutely LOVES it! As soon as Scott laid him on it, he began to kick and splash. I think he is going to be a swimmer like Maddie. I can't wait to take him swimming next summer. Note to Liam...I will from now on cover you up when I take pictures of you. I did not realize how exposed you were until I viewed pictures today, Sorry.

No Clothes Day!

On Sunday morning, I decided that I needed to do some major grocery shopping, so Scott was going to play with Maddie and Liam. Maddie was so excited that she decided to just play in her panties. She finally got fully dressed before we left Sunday night to eat dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I thought these pictures were pretty funny because Scott said he tried to convince her to get dressed so she put her pants on her head! And of course she couldn't leave her Little People Village to long enough to get fully dressed!