Since I last blogged, we've had guests here at the Hammer house, including Noa's mom and Anya, his sister. It was wonderful to have them here to help with Ruby (now that I'm super pregnant and need lots of breaks!) and allow me to rest a little more than I typically get to. Plus, it's always nice to have family be a part of our every day lives here. Being far away from family is probably one of the hardest parts of living the military lifestyle. I love our life and the adventures that come with it, but it's always refreshing to spend time with family members.
Ruby loved having her "ama" (Grandma) and "auntie" Anya around. She didn't show much reserve or shyness at all when they first arrived, which is a big milestone from her, since this happens with most people, family or not.
Ruby loved playing games with Anya. Auntie Anya taught her how to build bigger, taller block houses and other fun structures.
I took the ladies downtown for lunch and shopping one freeeeeezing day.
Of course, Ruby had to push the stroller for part of the time - it's one of her favorite things to do. Her eyes now just barely peek over the top!
Checking out Ama's new light-up sneakers. Fancy!
Anya bought Ruby this really cute wooden cookie set for her play kitchen, but Ruby didn't quite understand the difference between the "frosting" and the "cookie" pieces. So, we decided to make real cookies and practice frosting them. Ruby was a natural and loved using the sprinkles.
Okay, I'll admit it - I might have frosted a few of these.
We visited the
glass museum in Tacoma (yes, we are crazy for bringing a toddler to a glass museum). Apparently the displays were so thrilling for Ruby that she ended up falling asleep in Ama's arms. This was just too precious!
Anya and Noa were able to get away and check out the city one day. The two of them hit many of the local landmarks, including the Space Needle where the obligatory tourist photo was a must.
Soon after grandma and Anya left we had a brief day of snow. It really was brief…it lasted only several hours before it all melted away.
We have some wonderful friends here in WA who will soon be adding to their family through adoption. Their two boys will be coming here all the way from Ethiopia! Our Care Group wanted to celebrate and support them, so we dedicated one of our meetings to them. I made the cookies and we also had Ethiopian coffee, decorations, and a fruit try in the shape of the country's flag. We played games and shared updates on our lives. It was a fun, low-key night and the cookies were a hit!
Our dogs, who now play second fiddle to Ruby and baby-to-be recently had surgery (dentals) and did great! I was looking over the paperwork and noticed under Sadie's name that something was listed as a "geriatric" test. Wow, how fast time flies. She's already ten years old and will be eleven in May (Gunnar will be turning nine this year). These dogs have been through so much and continue to be a delight in my life, even on the days that I can't give them all the attention they deserve. I'm so glad they made it through the procedures smoothly and are back to their normal selves. Oh, and Ruby was super excited to pick them up at the end of the day. When the vet tech brought them out, she (Ruby) squealed in delight. It melted my heart.
We celebrated Valentine's weekend with our dear Apostles. Spending time with them is always a breath of fresh air and it was awesome to have the whole family here.
The kids did great together - you never know how it's going to be with a couple of toddlers, but overall, they played really well.
Puddle jumping! They had such a blast, but were soaked up to their knees afterwards!
We had to turn their seats forward facing in the rental and it was pretty fun to watch them enjoy this new point of view. When the middle seat was up, you could see their little eyes peeking up over the top. Adorable!
Also, you can kind of tell how wet they got by looking at Ruby's pants and sneakers. We stripped them down as soon as we got home and put them in dry clothes.
I'll have more pics to share of their visit in the next post, but these were the ones I was able to quickly download off my phone. Anyway, as you can see, things have been busy here, in spite of baby-to-be only weeks away from arrival. I'm trying to slow down, especially since I've had more aches and pains, but I also want to try to get in all the fun stuff before I really need to slow down with a newborn at home!
