Resist

It's hard to resist a toddler who wanders into the kitchen with shoes in hand and says "shoes" "outside".  Even when my sinful heart would rather finish cleaning up the kitchen, start a load of laundry, and pick up the house.  Or would really rather just sit on the couch while she plays because let's face it, I'm exhausted 90% of the time.  But I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm learning to cherish these sweet moments. Someday her favorite thing to do will no longer be walking outside with her Mama and proudly handing me all of her finds along the way.

She loves to be outside!

The morning collection

Gabriel Garret Clowers

Welcome to the world, Gabriel!  We are so happy and thankful that you are here.  Praise God for His mercy and protection.  Gabriel is a big boy-- he weighed 8lb 3oz and was 21.5 inches long.  He seems like a giant compared to his sister!  He is such a sweet and happy boy and a great eater.  I am just eating him up and could kiss his sweet cheeks forever.

Happy birthday, Ruth!

How time flies... Ruth is ONE!!!!  Happy birthday to our sweet girl.  How thankful we are for the opportunity to be her parents.  God tells us that children are a gift and we have experienced so much joy since her arrival into our lives!  On her birthday she was cruising on furniture but not full out walking yet.  She was a fast crawler and started doing a bear crawl.  She also was (and still is) a big talker!  At this point she had mastered quite a few words--her first word was "thank you" but she said "Daddy", "Mama", "lamby", and used sign language to say "more", "all done", and "please".  She also waved when you asked her to say hi or bye-bye as well as when you asked her if she was ready to go "night-nights". She has always been an adventurous eater but her favorites at this time were anything off of Daddy or Mama's plate!

Checking out her gift

Birthday morning donut holes!

I think it's safe to say she likes them....

Singing

A little unsure about everyone
clapping for her

And the hat is off--she's serious about eating her cake!

Victory!

Picking out some tunes

And below are a few shots of the decorations.  A big thank you to everyone who helped!  It was so much fun and turned out so festive!

The adventures of Ruth

So since I am sort of playing catch up, I thought the best way for y'all to see how Ruth has grown is through pictures.  Here are some of my favorites from the time between New Years and before Gabriel's arrival!  She has quite the fun little personality and I am so thankful for this sweet girl.  She keeps us laughing!

Buddies

Looks like trouble!

How quickly our sight upon walking
into her room went from this.....

...to this! Growing too fast!

Loving Muddy's cupcakes but not
so sure she likes it on her hands

Easter Sunday

Exploring grass for the first time

The aftermath of Mexican night :)

Ruth's First Christmas

We were with my family for Christmas, which meant a trip to Tucson!  It is a place that I love dearly, and I was glad to be able to share more of it with John-Michael.  The last few trips were short with limited time to enjoy Tucson's beautiful terrain.  This time we were there for 10 days, so we fit in a few sight-seeing trips between the Christmas and New Year festivities! JM hiked Finger Rock with a friend and took some beautiful pictures.  I wasn't brave enough with Baby 2 on board but hope to go next time!  As most new parents do, I took a ton of pictures of Ruth's first Christmas.  Below are some of my favorites as well as a few shots of the mountains!

First cookie!

Little water bug--it was warm enough to
swim and we thoroughly enjoyed it!

Ruth especially loved splashing us.
She thought it was hilarious :)

Making Christmas cookies!

Grandpa's favorite present

Baby 2 on board!

Cheesin' with GiGi

I love this man dearly

Happy New Year!

Looking down the mountain to the valley below.