Boy did he ever come! The kids got more presents than they ever needed. Santa even ate all the cookies that Ani and I made the night before. Ani had a great time opening presents for brother too. Ruston had a good time too. It wasn't long after we opened the presents that he was ready for a good long nap. It was just too much. We hope that you all had a wonderful day as well. We missed you. 
The three amigos! It was Brad's birthday (in yellow). Ani and Austin had a good time helping him open his presents and eat pizza and cake. Yum! These three go to school together and are really good friends. They ask to play together all the time. Austin is always telling everyone that Ani is his girlfriend! He even kissed her at school one day. We are keeping an eye on that one!
OH, my. Now you might think that remodeling a room over Christmas isn't a smart thing to do - you would be right! We had to do it sometime though. Ani's room is getting the very nast carpet removed, a new wood floor and new paint. She had a great time helping us move everything out of her room and she was a GREAT helper! I can't wait to see it done. I will post pictures when we get it finished.
We made a very quick run to New Jersey just before Christmas. I was able to see a great friend, Joy, and her family. The last time I was there Joy and I were both about 6 months pregnant with our first babies. We now both have two! Her sons are amazing. Tyler, the oldest couldn't wait to see Ani and had a blast playing with her. Jake the youngest, tried to keep up with the bigger kids the best he could. Joy says Jake doesn't go to just anyone, so when he ran up to me and hugged my legs, my heart melted. It made the 2 1/2 hour flight each way worth it. It was wonderful to meet her kids and her mine. I wish we lived closer so the kids could play. We think Ani and Tyler would be really good friends. I hate that I didn't get a picture of the two of us together, maybe next time. Hopefully it wont be so long! Love ya, Joy!
Isn't it cute! He loves to sleep with these TWO fingers in his mouth. It is always these two fingers and always his left hand. I have dubbed them the night night fingers. It is a dead give away when he is getting sleepy, there goes those fingers in his mouth!
It was so much fun having my little helper decorating the Christmas tree with me. She unwrapped the ornaments and handed them to me. She was so careful and so proud to be helping! I am guess that next year I will have another little helper, except he is going to be taking the ornaments back down and not being so careful!
This was the second time Ruston was sick during our outage. The first time was a bad cold, but this time was an infection with 103 degree fever. That is why he is in his chair without any clothes on. I took him to the doctor the day after this picture was taken to discover he had an infection in his blood. We caught it quick and his doctor gave him a shot of anitbiotics which helped him feel better fast. It is such an awful feeling when your babies hurt. . .
Ruston loves to sit up now and Ani just has to have her picture taken whenever I take a picture of him! Poor guy. He will never have pictures of him without her!
Well, I bet you were all thinking I was never going to put anything on this blog again! Well, here I am. It has been such a busy couple of months. We had a refueling outage at work, which means we had to work a ton. Virgel was on night shift and I was on days. We were both working 12 hour shifts which meant Virgel didn't see the kids or me very much. It was hard on them. Ani would just cry for her Daddy. They were extra tired with spending more time at the daycare than they should. Uncle Richard was working at the plant for the outage. I asked my Aunt to come back down here to stay so I didn't have to get the kids up at 4 am every morning. It was really nice of her to come especially since it meant that her Thanksgiving ended up to be just another day with everyone working. So, Thank you Aunt Sharon. AND Thank you April, Denise and Tiffany for having your mom here with us over Thanksgiving instead of there with you where I know you wanted her. So, Thanksgiving for us was a bust. No turkey, except what they fed us at work. I felt horrible that Ruston's first Thanksgiving was non existant. The plant is back operating and we are now back to normal hours. It took Virgel a whole week to get back to feeling awake during the day after 6 weeks of night shift. He never wants to do that again! We are both off work for the week and anxiously awaiting Christmas. No I haven't sent out my cards yet, Yes they are coming. Please be patient. I want to have a picture of the kids to send out, hopefully tomorrow. . . . Maybe next year the cards will be on time! We have decided to replace the carpet in Ani's room this week and paint it. So, we are keeping busy even off of work. I hope Virgel gets to go fishing one day, but the weather isn't looking to good, it is just too windy which makes the water really rough.
I love this. They are both in their footed jammies before bedtime, 'playing' together on the floor. I know it wont be long before they don't want to play together.
Here area few more shots of the kids in their costumes. Isn't Ruston a cute little pony. Ani thought since she was Tinkerbell she should be able to fly.
Last Friday I took Ruston in for his 4 month check up. He is doing great. He is now 15 pounds 10 ounces and 24 1/2 inches long. That puts him at the 70th percentile for weight and the 50th percentile for his length. He is reaching for his toys, found his toes, and loves to blow bubbles! The bubbles are cute, except when he has a mouth full of sweet potatoes! What a mess. He is eating solid food and LOVES it. The ladies at the daycare can not believe how much he eats already. Just the fact that he wants food is a BIG difference from Ani who still doesn't eat much. We bought him this jumper toy last week and he really likes it. The spot where he sits spins around to he can get to all the toys. He has already figured that out too. Ani likes to help him jump - I gotta watch that girl!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! Ani's friend Brad came over to trick or treat with us. They had an awesome time. They loved handing out candy at the door and gong out to get some of their own. They were walking down the street YELLING TRICK OR TREAT! I NEED SOME CANDY!!! At the house they handed out all the candy to the kids that came by. They were YELLING at the door for the kids to come over "WE HAVE CANDY!" It was too funny. Ruston even got a little candy of his own. Our neighborhood was awesome. A lot of people decorated and a ton of people came here to trick or treat. For the first time since I was a little girl in California, I saw people trick or treating with pillowcases for a bag - and they were getting full! The street were packed with people. It was great. We were sorry Daddy wasn't there. Both Virgel and Brad's daddy are working nights for the outage. ;(
We carved our grinning pumpkin on Saturday. Ani wanted to have a smile on the pumpkin. Ruston watched Ani help Daddy. I have a feeling we are going to have to carve two pumpkins next year!
I can't believe Ruston is almost 4 months old already. He is getting close to sitting up by himself. The funniest thing is - he can't laugh! I am not kidding. You tickle him and he gets all tensed up and just grunts! We are going to have to video him because one day he just wont believe he didn't laugh!!!
