Loopty Loop Part 1 (and a little song from Ruth)

We drove up to KC later at night, like around 7:30, and that may have been the best scenario ever. We would’nt have if Ryan hadn’t had to work late. The girls conked out for most of the trip, stopping once to feed and change diapers. They soon perked up, though, when we arrived to Grandma and Papa. We sat around talking for a little bit, then right to bed. Ruthie slept in the big girl bed for the first time. It was exciting.

The next morning we lounged around in the living room, my favorite part of visiting mom and dad. Drinking coffee, reading the newspaper, and chit-chatting.
Dad is recovering from knee replacement surgery. It hurts.
After a big breakfast, we went back to the living room and lounged around some more. We hardly go down to the basement anymore, which is fine. I’ve noticed that because we don’t have a tv, if there’s too much background noise for too long of a time I get a headache, so I pretty much hole up in that living room (with a headache after watching a marathon of HGTV).

So after breakfast, they wanted to give Ruthie a little gift.
and she gave thanks:
Before we left for Topeka to visit our friends, we made our rounds with her new shopping cart.
Annie watched her future toys in action.

My sister popped over to say Hi and to give me a bag of clothes. My mom laughed when she saw the pairs of heels in it and asked incredulously, Is that for you?

Thanks.

My aunts and uncles also came over for a quick visit too. Aunt Mary and Uncle Donald were leaving the next day to drive to Florida. My cousin was bringing home her new baby girl from Ethiopia and they were headed out to visit their new granddaughter.
Uncle Donald showed off his new Chiefs jersey that he bought for $25. No one is sure what player’s name is the back, perhaps it’s a random criminal and not even a player, but the price was right and that’s all that matters.
Petesch Girls:

…and then my Uncle Jim and Aunt Sue came over. For some reason, Ruthie has taken a long time to warm up to Jim… to the point that she closed her eyes for the first ten minutes of their visit.
She eventually came around to Aunt Sue and colored with her. We teased her for continuing to color even after Ruth had run off and she said that, being the daughter of an artist (who’s pieces are wanted by the city to display) she wasn’t never allowed to color because they thought it’d stifle her creativity. She was only given blank pieces of paper to draw on.
Meanwhile, Annie hung out with Jim just fine.
Mom broke out the finger paints.
They each painted their whole hand and placed it down.
Then hung it to dry. There it is, on the left.
That’s a framer.

But the big event of the visit was getting Ruthie’s first hair cut.

First, though, this is my husband. With his hair combed like a two year old. I love it.
So like any makeover, let’s have a before shot of Ruth.
She’d declined a nap before going and my mom and I feared for the worst. We were too busy chatting in the front seat to notice what we thought was going to be an impending disaster:
she fell asleep. This is recipe for crankiness.

But guess what.

She was perfect.

Lisa suggested this hair place because it’s geared towards kids and my gosh anyhow (sidenote: my dad said “my gosh anyhow” to something and he officially sounded like an old grandpa.)

Back to Ruth, she followed the lady’s instructions to look down without any hesitation.
and even let her style it with a ponytail.
I can see her eyes now!!
It sill looks a little dorky, but I don’t care. It makes me laugh.
…and your grandma will stop hounding me Ruth, so it was well worth it.

Later that afternoon we sang happy birthday to her with cake and ice cream. Nothing big, just how I like it.
She really was happy.
And here begins the series of twin photos with grandma. What the heck is going on with these two:
Hi Dad.
Ruthie played with your cane while you were sleeping.
It was too fast!