Love letters

Here are my Valentine's Day letters to my lil' ladies who have filled my life with more fulfillment and happiness than I could have ever imagined possible.  I hope someday they will read them and know the joy, amazement and complete unconditional love I feel for them...I am one lucky mama.

To My Dearest Ruby Doobs,

From the moment I held your tiny lil’ self in my arms… you looked up at me with those sweet almond eyes and my heart was forever changed.  You have given me the strength and courage to do things I never thought I would or could do.  You have taught me more about patience, that everyone has their own timeline…and the longer the wait, the sweeter the reward.  You teach me about determination and perseverance everyday.  I watch you grow and learn with such passion…and I find such joy watching your sweet spirit touch the lives of all around you.  As I watch your relationship grow with Ella Mae, I know the bond you have as sisters will be such an important one for you both…forever learning and teaching each other about the goodness of life.  Hearing the both of you laugh together is the sweetest sound in the world…a sound that makes my heart smile.  Since you came into my life, I see the world through a much broader, brighter scope and have such higher expectations for this world of ours.   I am so lucky to call you my lil’ lady…my perfect lil’ lady.  You shine so bright and I look forward to every moment we have together!  Happy Valentine’s Day my love….

                                                                  Love,    

The luckiest mommy on the planet…your mommy  

Ruby Doobs signing "Thank you" 

And to my sweet and crazy Ella Mae who is a little bit princess and a little bit super hero...your imagination and creativity keep me on my toes and inspired  me to live life to it's fullest every day!

To the sweetest lil' lady in the whole wide world and the best daughter any mom could ask for...Ella Mae!

Dear Ella Mae:

Ever since you were born you have brightened up my world more than I could have ever imagined!  My heart is so full of love for you and I am amazed every day at your desire to help others and your protective instincts you already have for your lil' sis Ruby Doobs.  You are sweet, kind and so funny...but also strong willed and dedicated to being exactly who you are!  You make me, Daddy and Ruby smile and laugh all the time. I am so unbelievably proud of you and am excited to see the paths you choose and the woman you will become. Always know that and never forget how much I love you....I love you more than there is water in the ocean or clouds in the sky!   and boogers...never forget that I love you more than boogers.

Love, the luckiest mommy in the world: AKA Mommy

Ella Mae and her "real web shooters" she asked for from Santa...

Ruby's First Annual SECOND Birthday/Holiday Party...

So I am very behind in my pics of Doobs "First Annual, Second Birthday/Holiday/Ugly Christmas Sweater Party" pics...so this is gonna be quick:

My pre-set-up helpers...

I think Ella Mae ate most of the candy canes before anyone even showed up...

Doobs is helping put out crafts...

Monkey is hangin' out demanding snacks (no help)....

Doobs is still working on getting out the crafts...

She's a hard worker....

Grandmothers cake creation...Christmas Dora:

"Candy Cane" hangin out at the food table sneakin' snacks..

Mommy and Ruby debuting our Ugly Christmas Sweaters...

Aunt Sara debuting hers....pretty ugly if you ask me...

The winners of the "Ugly Christmas Sweater" contest....

More ugliness...

The "Reindeer Food Bar" was a big hit...the dogs snacked on it a bit throughout the party as well...

I think the chickens had a good time....

The craziness started when Santa came rollin' in ...the kids were screaming and running to the door.  Pretty awesome!  

Oh my goodness!  Thank you Dakus and Target for our Party Santa!

All the Santa Pics have a "wind blown" look to them because it is Texas and was 80 something degrees in December...and I am not sure how many of you have worn a felt outfit/fake beard combo in those conditions...but it was HOT!  So we had a fan blowing on our Santa to keep the sweat drippage to a minimum..

First in line....culde crew of course!

 Ella Mae asked every single Santa she saw this year for real  web shooters...not the fake kind...REAL web shooters.  She explained that she wanted to swing from tall building to tall building.  She was a little disappointed when Santa brought it on Christmas morning and silly string squirted out for about two minutes. literally.two minutes...and mommy and daddy were too cheap to go buy the SEVEN dollar refill of super special spidey silly string that would last only another two minutes. Anywho...it was fun while it lasted...and now she has a cool spidey glove she can where with her super hero costume.

Ella Mae asking for her REAL web shooters...

All the Santa shots were too cute not to post!!

The big winners of the night..complete wtih trophy!

That's all folks!  Hope everyone had a great holiday and an absolutely rockin' new year!  WOO HOO!!!!!!!

Logic...

Ella Mae: I want this Belle Barbie..

Hubby: Well, Ella...how can you get that on your own?

Ella Mae: I can't...you have to take me to the store...

Hubby: No Ella, I mean how are you going to get the money to buy the barbie?

Ella Mae:  From my piggy bank...

Hubby: How do you think the money gets into the piggy bank?

Ella Mae:  Through the slot on the top...

Well dah...sounds logical to me!

Obviously we have some work to do on the concept of earning money...but we will get there!

Another conversation that I had with Ella Mae recently...

Me:  Ella Mae, Mommy loves you more than there is water in the ocean...(we go back and forth with this alot)

Ella Mae:  I love you more than the ocean and the fish and the sharks....oh, and boogers. More than boogers.

Hey...I'll take it! Apparently "boogers" are pretty important to a four year old....

Happy Humpday peeps!!

My Little Elves...

Well...Ella Mae got one of the creepy Elf on the Shelf dolls.  She named her Candy Cane and was excited for the first few days...I would say things like "She's watching you and will fly back and tell Santa tonight if you were good or bad today...so you better be good."  I would try and move it  around an get creative...although not near as creative as the Facebook posting mom's. Those mom's make you feel like you are just sitting on the couch all day with potato chip crumbs on your shirt and a beer in your hand. Who has time for all that??   Most mornings Candy Cane would just move from the table to the kitchen or bathroom, possibly sleeping under some tissue using T.P. as a blanket...ha!  Here she is doing one of her more creative moves...snow angels in some sugar. 

 Pretty lame I know... I think all Ella Mae was more interested in licking the sugar off the plate...so our Elf on the Shelf experience tapered pretty quickly and she ended up hanging in one spot the rest of the holiday season.  Then my real elves showed up from Michigan...working diligently to prepare for Ruby's second birthday party with a holiday/ugly Christmas sweater flare.

 Head Elf G-ma making cookies 

We like to celebrate around these parts...cuz we feel like we have lots to celebrate...so we wanted to make Doobs party a special event that would hopefully become a family tradition for years to come.  I stole this Reindeer Food Bar from another mommy blogger...

Cuz Reindeer need food too!

Uncle Matt did the artwork

The kids get to make a bucket full of it and sprinkle it in the driveway for Santa's Reindeer to munch on while they wait for him to fill your house with the magic of Christmas...

Kids got to write their letters to Santa...little did they know he was to make an appearance..

We had a craft area...

This area is soon to be filled with thirty crazy kiddos!

We were super lucky this year and got Uncle Matt, Aunt Sara and the G-parents all in one visit.  I could not have pulled off this party (more on that next post) without them all.

An Elf meeting over a little breakfast...

Ella Mae loves to get her hands dirty in the kitchen and she is a complete freak for cake-pops (lets face it...they are delish...lil balls of joy..)  so I got her and Aunt Sara a Hello Kitty Cake pop kit.  

It turned out to be a little more labor intensive than expected and Aunt Sara might have been cursing Hello Kitty's name by the end of it (or mine :))....

but in the end they got a few good ones out of it and they all tasted delish...

Stay tuned for Ruby's birthday party pics!

Keep rockin' this wonderful life peeps!

"Ketchup"...Turkey Day and Kiddie Tables...

Well...hello again.  It has been a few months since I have updated you on this sweet lil' family...so I thought it was time to ketchup.

Ella Mae had her typical "culde crew" showing of peeps to celebrate her actual Halloween B-day with her...Ruby Doobs went as an Olympic Gold Medalist as Ella Mae did on her first B-day.  I am sure there will be many repeats of costumes as the years roll on....

Our future Special Olympian!!

Although I am not sure Ella Mae's "Spidey-Girl" costume or her "Super Hero" costume ,as she calls it, will make it to Ruby in the future.  She seriously has been wearing that thing everyday since then. I mean literally. And it is almost Christmas.

Culde Crew preparing for take-off....

Here we gooooo!!!!

Nice sunflower...

Doobs deciding she wants to hug her friend...

And then take her on a quick stroll...

Overall our trick or treating adventure was a success.  No major scares, scrapes or wardrobe malfunctions...only crazy candy highs!

Now moving on to Turkey Day...we have sooo many things to be thankful for...

Football watching...

great neighbors to spend the day with...

Great neighbors who cook great food...

A Thanksgiving day cocktail is nice too...

But one of the coolest things this year I am thankful for?  Doobs is rockin' the Kiddie Table....

It seems like maybe a weird thing to be thankful for among so many other blessed and cool things we have in our lives...but with each passing day, month, year...these little steps...these things that I wondered  when she was born...how will life be for her? for us?

Check it out for yourselves...

Doobs rockin it at the "Big Girl Kiddie Table"

Someday she will no doubt join us at the "Big Peeps Table"...but for now she has to keep these two crazy ladies in check!

HAPPY BELATED TURKEY DAY PEEPS!