Today was the annual Moms of Grace Christmas Brunch. I always look forward to this event because everyone brings such delicious food and we all get a chance to hang out and really get to know each other better. This year Kesch planned it all and did such a great job! The room and the tables were very festive and the food was so yummy! Rather than doing just a random gift exchange we did a Secret Santa exchange where we all drew names and bought a gift for a specific person. It felt so much more personal! Katie Haynes drew my name and she gave me a really pretty ornament. Almost everyone at my table won a door prize too...it was so crazy! That never happens! Kesch also made CDs of fun Christmas music for all of us to take home!

Way to be Spontaneous!

It was a rainy, windy, icky day today in the valley, so Josh thought it would be fun to get out of town and find some snow! We aren't usually that spontaneous, but today we were. I gathered up all of our snow gear and some snacks and we drove to the Willamette Pass Nordic area. There was so much snow on the ground and it snowed the whole time we were there!
We had fun trying out our new snow shoes that Josh got at the REI garage sale a few months ago. It was so much easier to walk around in the deep snow with them on. Ronan hiked for a long time and was able to maneuver really well...except for walking backwards.
Griffin started out in the backpack, but he soon wanted to get down. He had a hard time walking in the snow, but he was pretty cute all bundled up. I think Ronan wore that snowsuit last winter...so it was really big on Griffin (:
It started getting dark and we knew we needed to head back to the car soon, so Ronan and Josh quickly made a snowman. The snow was perfect...so much fun!

It's beginning...

...to look a lot like Christmas at our house! We got our tree Friday night and started decorating it on Saturday morning. Griffin seemed a little confused at first as to why we had a tree in our house, but after we got the lights on he started getting excited. He had a hard time keeping his hands off the tree...it's soooo tempting (:
Ronan got really into putting his ornaments on the tree all by himself. He would pick each one out of the box carefully and ask "Who gave me this one?". He was also really interested in the manger scene and ended up playing with the figurines for almost an hour! His preschool class will be singing Away in the Manger at their little Christmas program. I heard him practicing at home one day and I asked him if he liked that song, and he said, "Yes, but Mom, I don't even know what a manger is". I told him what a manger was and we found some Christmas books with pictures of mangers, so it was really cute watching him play with the manger scene for so long.

Decking and Curb

Playing....

...on the new street. We had Cohen and Sadie over for a little while on Monday and the kids thought it would be fun to run around on our new street. We all bundled up and braved the cold...for about 15 minutes (It was really cold!). Griffin did not want to be held once he saw the other kids running. He tried to keep up with them (:
Griffin is wearing new Birthday clothes! The hat and mittens are so nice and warm!
After work on Tuesday Josh laid all of the under floor insulation for the new house. He worked outside in the cold until midnight (with a short break for dinner and to help put the kids to bed) so that it could be inspected today (it passed!).
The framers (Nick and James) will come tomorrow to work on the decking and Nick said they will probably start on the walls on Friday!

Griffin's 1st Birthday

We celebrated Griffin's 1st Birthday a few days early with family on Saturday. I baked and decorated the cake all on my own using some of the new skills I learned from Becca's cake decorating class (: It wasn't perfect, but I thought it turned out pretty cute. It was chocolate cake with raspberry filling and butter cream frosting...yummm!

Griffin went crazy for it! He grabbed the whole piece and put as much cake as he could in his little mouth. He liked his first taste of ice cream too!

Papa and Memaw holding the Birthday Boy!

All nine of Griffin and Ronan's cousins were at the party, so we attempted a group picture on the couch. From left to right: Tyler holding Finley, Griffin, Ronan, Sadie holding Cohen, Lydia, Dylan holding Ethan, and Audrey holding Macey. Whew!

On November 26th, Griffin's actual Birthday, we stayed home and celebrated with just our family. Griffin got really into trying to open his presents by himself. Ronan did a good job of watching and cheering for Griffin (:
Happy Birthday, Sweet Boy!

So Thankful

Thanksgiving weekend was FULL of fun. We packed in a lot of really good times with family and close friends. On Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family. Erik came down from Seattle, so we were all together (except for Celeste- we missed you!). We used to split the day between our two families until a few years ago when the Ruddick side decided to celebrate on the day after Thanksgiving. It's nice because we get to relax a little more and really enjoy our time with each family.

We are so very thankful that we are close with our families and that we all enjoy being together. We always have fun, and it's great to watch all the cousins playing together. I am thankful for Josh and for our boys! I think this holiday now feels extra special to me because it reminds me of anticipating Griffin's birth last year. I was 41 weeks along in my pregnancy last year...and just waiting on God's timing for Griffin's arrival. I have a lot of special memories of the days leading up to his birth, which ended up being amazing and one of the proudest moments of my life!

Griffin's 1st Thanksgiving!

You can always find Ronan playing outside in the dirt and leaves. He doesn't mind the icky weather.

Griffin is walking so well now! He has great balance, which comes in handy having an active big brother running around him all the time. He really looks more like a kid now (:

We never managed to get a group picture of the Ruddick family, but here is a picture of the cousins at the kiddie table. Ethan and Macey are in the background and I must be holding Griffin. Amy took some pictures of our family that we will probably use in our Christmas card, so I'll wait to share them (: It was a full house, but again, lots of fun! All of Josh's grandparents were there along with his Aunt Diane. It really was a special day!