Ruth's 2nd Birthday

We happened to be in Utah for Ruth's birthday so she got to have a fun "Ruthie Bow Show" birthday party with all of her Hanks cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandma and grandpa, as well her Aunt Angie and all of her family.

I made these giant bows out of plastic table cloths for decorations.

For an activity, we (meaning Brian, Tyler, Janna, etc...) blew up about 80 balloons and put them in the netted trampoline. Ruth got to jump solo in the "balloon pit".

Love the pure 2-year-old joy.

In lieu of party hats, the girls wore hair bows and the boys wore bow ties. A huge thank you to Janna for the concept and Naomi for help making them!

Me and my birthday girl with our coordinating shirts and hair bows.

We played stick the bow on Minnie's display. Brooklyn is watching Sydney have a turn.

Wes' turn!

I was so impressed with how this cake turned out, thanks to Brian's help! I cut it and frosted it, but Brian did the black detailing and added the white dots. If you haven't tried edible spray paint or edible paper for cake decorating, you should!

Ruth is concentrating to blow out the candle.

Aunt Jennie gave Ruth a baby quilt that she had been working on for two years. :)

We gave Ruth a Minnie Mouse ride-on car and she was very excited about it, just as I suspected.

Random Pictures from January 2015

I guess we didn't have any big events in January that required their own posts. So, here are our random pictures from January 2015.

This was just a random picture of my cutie Claire.

I set up this barricade outside of Ruth's room to keep her in there during quiet/nap time. As you can see, the barricade is still in tact, yet she is not in her room. Obviously she's a stellar problem solver and climber...and she's cute to boot!

Sydney holding a wide-eyed Claire.

Brian took the two older kids to the Idaho Stampede basketball game. They happened to get floor seats!

Brian and Wes at the game.

This day we went out and there were a number of for-real snow-flocked trees on our walk to the bus this afternoon. I always thought those painted Christmas trees were for decoration and I didn't know they actually exist. They're really cool!

Wes thought we should take a picture of Claire because she looked so cute with this spoon.

Wes and I were geared up to watch some playoff games. I definitely feel love for the Seahawks when they're winning! :)

We went to Aunt Megan's house for our monthly Sunday dinner and Sydney built this creation in the middle of the floor. She so badly wanted it to stay up, but obviously that's a rough task with kids all around. So Aunt Megan had the brilliant idea of taking a picture to preserve the structure's memory.

This is Wes with some of his classmates from church at the "It's Great to Be 8" baptism preview. It's a big year for Wes!

One night Ruth mentioned the potty. When we asked if she wanted to sit on the potty, she said, "Yes." After she did, I made a big deal and gave her a "potty treat". She sat on it three or four more times that night for treats. She still asks to sit on the potty every now and then, but I'm not quite ready for that transition.

Ruth often tries to sneak into Brian's office during the work day. Since the door is locked, she'll sometimes just talk to him under the door, or, this day she just sat there eating a snack. She sure loves her dad!

For a date night, we went to see my nephew play basketball on the Eagle High School sophomore team. So fun!

My sweet little Claire with Grandma Swensen (who was in town to watch Nathan play basketball and go to ballet recitals).

Sydney had her ballet recital and danced to "Castle on a Cloud" from Les Miserables.

Me and my first ballerina.

Sydney can be so sweet to Ruth and take such good care of her. It helps that Sydney likes to cuddle and Ruth was willing to this day. :)

For whatever reason, Ruth spent much of this morning walking backwards. This is when I was trying to get to the car from the library.

Ruth is usually napping when I take Sydney to ballet, but Brian was out of town this day, so Ruth came with me. She enjoyed watching Sydney dance!

Claire was 5 months this day so she finally got to be added to the kids' growth chart.

When they were all 5 months Ruth was the tallest, then Claire, then Wes, then Sydney. It will be fun to see how that continues to change over the years.

Brian helping Sydney on the Wii while holding Claire. He's quite the multi-tasker!

Ruth gets busted every time she plays on the baby swing. I couldn't help but take a picture this day though, because she looked so comfortable and relaxed...and huge!

A cross-eyed baby trying her first food!

Claire did great with her first feeding. She seemed to enjoy her avocado!

Ruth insisted she hold the bag of Skittles we bought for the Superbowl party.

I adore this baby's bright eyes! There is so much light and goodness in them!

In a pinch, my gloves had to substitute for socks since I forgot to bring some for Claire on our walk to the bus stop.

Brotherly love. Wes decided to pick up Claire all on his own. He loves giving Claire hugs and kisses and often laments the fact that he can't marry her because she is soooooo cute. :)

Another quick swap...Claire had to borrow Sydney's kitty hat when I didn't bring hers for our walk to the bus stop.

Grandma Hanks was in town one weekend and we decided to venture out to Red Robin with the family. It was Claire's first restaurant experience.