Curls

Yesterday we bought some curlers for Cheyenne's hair. I wanted to see if that would help the curl stay. Last night after her bath I put 2 of them in. She didn't mind me doing it and they stayed in her hair most of the night.

Here are the before pictures with the curlers!

And the after...

Because she can crawl now she tries to come to the camera instead of sitting there and letting me take her picture. These are as good as I could get this morning.

This is her playing under the table while I fixed lunch.

Iron Works Girl

Since Cheyenne has learned to crawl, she doesn't like to stay in the office at work! She has learned to crawl out into Iron Works. So far she has just stayed infront of the door where I can see her. I'm sure it won't be too long and she will try to go all over out there. When Jr, my boss, isn't busy she also likes to crawl to him and wants him to walk with her. He is a tall man and has to bend over aways but always takes her for a walk. Here are some recent pictures of Cheyenne at work.

Jr and Cheyenne taking a walk through the weight room!

Trying to put on a LRC shirt she found!

Cheyenne "weighing" herself!

Getting a little farther away from the door.

"I'm not doing anything mom!"

Cheyenne has learned to crawl!

Alternative Workout

My New Year's resolution was to workout more. Sometimes it is hard for me to get to the gym in the mornings. I usually have to go between 9 and 10 when someone is there to watch Cheyenne. Depending on what time she gets up or what I need to get done that morning I often don't make it up there. Before I got pregnant with Cheyenne I purchased the Playstation 2 game Dance Dance Revolution DDRMAX 2 along with 2 dance pads. It is a dancing game but also has a workout mode. I have been attempting to use it when I can't get to the gym. Some days I can work up a pretty good sweat. The first time I did it, Cheyenne was sitting on the floor next to me and was laughing while I "danced". Sometimes Cheyenne gets fussy in the middle of my workout so I pick her up and we do it together! Sometimes she laughs other times she doesn't like it and I have to quit. One of these days I will be able to get the other pad out and let her do it. That will be fun!! The workout isn't always as good as the one at the gym but at least I am doing something. And keeping my New Year's resolution!

This is what it looks like when I get ready to workout!

Cheyenne decided she wanted to play too!

This is the workout mode. It says boo because I can't play and take a picture at the same time!

Cheyenne laughing at Aunt Brittany

Cheyenne Fix

My sister called me Sunday evening and asked if we were doing anything that night. She needed a Cheyenne fix. I had been a couple weeks since she had seen her. With the snow on the last couple weekends we hadn't gone anywhere and neither had they. So Mom, Brittany and Staci came in and ordered pizza and we hung out while Scott and one of his friends watched the football game. Cheyenne loves seeing them! She was excited when she saw them come in the door! They didn't stay too long but we had a good time!

Cheyenne playing with Aunt Brittany!

Pulling Aunt Brittany's hair and laughing about it!

Playing with Aunt Staci!

Gone

Today I will be going to Topeka for the Kansas Recreation and Park Association conference. We won't be back until Thursday. This will be the first time I will be without Cheyenne or Scott overnight since Cheyenne was born. When Scott and I went to Chicago I was at least with him. Thank goodness it's only 3 days! Scott got off work this morning at 5:00 for his week off and got ready and took Cheyenne and left for Goodland to see his grandpa. Cheyenne woke up hearing us get things around. So I got to feed her a little and then tell her bye. I cried when they left. Scott kept telling me it was ok. "It's only for a couple days and she is with me," is how he reassured me. I know this but I will still miss them. It will be interesting to see how Scott does with Cheyenne for a couple days by himself but I know he's a good daddy! They will have fun! I just told him they had to be home Thursday night because I wasn't staying in our house alone that night. I will enjoy these 3 days at the conference and learn new and interesting things and meet new people but I'm sure I will be ready to see Cheyenne and Scott again on Thursday.

I will leave you with a picture of Cheyenne and I hanging out on Sunday.

Snow

It snowed here this weekend. It was a lot of sleet but there was some snow with it. Cheyenne and I stayed home the entire weekend. We didn't leave the house until 10:30 this morning. Since we didn't go out I wanted to share a picture of her first snowfall. This was taken at my parents' on Jan. 1st. She didn't like the snow much when I put her hands in it. One of these days we won't be able to keep her out of it!

Falling Asleep

Since the weather has been bad Cheyenne and I haven't left the house since we got home from work Friday. I have gotten lots of housework done. After Scott left yesterday I went through my clothes that no longer fit and took them out of my closet. Cheyenne was on the bed helping me. (She would unfold the clothes that I had folded!) She started getting a little fussy so I put her on the floor to play. It was 8:00 pm so I didn't really want her to go to sleep yet. She played with the tv remote, a pen and pulled the clothes out of the laundry basket. The next thing I know I looked down at her and she was swaying back and forth. She was sleeping! I had my camera on the bed and took this video. She fell over once and sat back up and went right back to sleep! I didn't tape too long cause I was afraid she would fall backwards and hit her head on the closet. I was trying not to laugh!

I picked her up and laid her on the bed and she stayed asleep for 45 minutes! There was no keeping her awake.

Notice she still has the pen in her hand!

More Christmas

This weekend we had 2 more Christmas's. Saturday we had the Clark Christmas with my dad's brothers and mom. We had a good time. We do an adult gift exchange where we draw numbers and then get to choose a gift. Then someone can take it if they want and you can pick a new one. I got bath stuff and Scott took a utility knife and lottery tickets from my brother. We won $4 on the lottery tickets! We just snacked and visited the rest of the day. It's nice to all get together. We don't do it but once a year. They kids love playing. Cheyenne liked playing with all the kids. I'm sure she will really enjoy it next year when she can run around like them!

This was the men picking their gifts.

Cheyenne loved the toys! I think these toys got dumped out about 10 times! They'd play for awhile and we'd pick them up and they would decide to play again!

Sunday we went to Wilson and went to Church and then spent time with Scott's family. We had a wonderful lunch and then opened gifts. It was nice to visist with everyone the rest of the afternoon. Unfortunately Sammi had to work so we didn't get to spend as much time with her.

Cheyenne and Daddy watching the North Carolina game! Look at everything Cheyenne got! She is definately spoiled!

9 Months

On Tuesday, Cheyenne was 9 months old. Can you believe it? I can't! :( I don't know where the time has gone. Less than 3 months and she will be a year old. Time passes too quickly. Yesterday Cheyenne had her 9 month well-check. Everything was good. She weighed 22 lbs. 4 oz. and was 32 inches long. She is in the 95th percentile for her weight and over the charts for her height. Our doctor said we can start giving her more finger foods. Like letting her eat green beans and peas with her fingers. So the next month should be fun and full of little messes! We have already found out what happens when you let her eat an oreo with milk!

Christmas Day (part 2)

After a day out at mom and dad's we went home and opened our gifts to each other. Once again Cheyenne faired well! We got her some blocks, a cookie monster/elmo toy, books, bath toys, clothes, and a learn & play driver (like a car with the steering wheel and controls with lots of lights and sounds!). Scott got her a pink fuzzy Care Bear blanket! Cheyenne and I got Scott poker chips and a wireless playstation 2 controller. Now maybe we won't have to worry about Cheyenne playing with the cord to the controller when it is strung across the living room floor. Scott and Cheyenne got me a picture frame for our big family picture. We enjoyed the rest of the evening as a family. We had a really good Christmas and were happy to share it with family and each other. We enjoyed our first Christmas as a family!

Playing with new toys and wrapping paper!

Playing with new bath toys!

Christmas Day (part 1)

Cheyenne wearing her new coat to Gma & Gpa's.

Christmas Day we went out to my parents' for dinner. All the kids were there and Grandma and Grandpa P. and Grandma C. were also there. We ate a delicious lunch including the wonderful dessert of butterscotch and raisin cream pies Gma C. made! After dinner we played some Australian Rummy. We had to quit at 4:00 because the Eagles game was on! While the guys (and Cheyenne) watched the Eagles, Gma P., mom, Brittany, Staci and I played MAD GAB. Cheyenne gave this game to Brittany and Staci for Christmas! For those of you who don't know about MAD GAB, it is a game where the card says something like Eye Mull of Machine and you try to figure out what you hear instead of what it says. In this case it is I'm a love machine. It was fun! The girls were pretty good at figuring them out! Here are a few pictures of our day!

Dad and Gma C. after dinner.

Cheyenne loves pickles!

Matthew helping Gma play Australian Rummy.

The guys watching the game. Oh, and Cheyenne! She was in there for quite awhile with them!

Cheyenne's First Christmas

A tradition at my mom and dad's is to go to church on Christmas Eve and while we are at church Santa comes and then we go home and open gifts. This year church didn't start until 8 pm. We didn't get back to mom and dad's until about 10. It was late but Cheyenne still enjoyed opening her gifts. She didn't do a whole lot of opening. Mommy and Daddy did most of it for her. She was very spoiled. We only opened the ones from Grandma & Grandpa, Great Grandma & Grandpa, Matthew, Brittany and Staci. She still had more at home from Mommy and Daddy! And we haven't had Christmas with Grandma Goalden (Scott's mom) yet! She liked playing with the wrapping paper and her new toys, which included:

• Baby's First Christmas ornament
• Clothes
• Frog Bath toys
• One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish with a stuffed blue fish
• Money
• Plate, spoon and fork set
• Clothes
• CUTE coat
• Baseball swinging toy
• Clothes
• Stocking hat and mittens
• Socks
• Her first Piggy Bank
• And probably something I am forgetting!

This is the cute coat!

We were getting ready to change Cheyenne into her Pj's and she decided she wanted to dance to the Christmas music that was playing.

Christmas with Great Gma and Gpa Goalden

Saturday evening we went to McPherson for Christmas with Cheyenne's Great Grandma and Grandpa Goalden and family. We played games, ate lots of snacks and opened gifts. The adults do a fun gift exchange. We draw numbers and choose a gift in that order. You are allowed to steal someone else's gift when it is your turn. We keep going until a gift has been stolen 3 times! Most people eventually end up getting what they want. We had a good time!

Opening gifts

Daddy got a rocking, singing Santa! Cheyenne loved it!

Cheyenne in antlers!

I have cards!

I called Hutch Wal-Mart this morning and they still hadn't received the part to print my cards. I waited a few hours and called them again. Still no part. I called the customer service for walmart.com and they said they could resubmit my order to another Wal-Mart but they probably wouldn't be done until Friday at 4:00 pm. Scott was going to go shopping again so I checked with him to see what he wanted to do. He didn't really want to go somewhere else to pick them up. I thought maybe my sister would go to Great Bend after school and get them for me but Great Bend 1-hour photo wasn't running either. My only other options were McPherson or Salina. My mom said that her or my sister would go get them for me at McPherson. I transferred the order there and then remembered that my younger sister had a choir concert tonight. Brittany and dad were going to go and get them. Then Brittany ended up having to take yearbook pictures of the concert. So, my dad went and picked them up and just delivered them to me. He had a hard time getting them because he said they were under RaeAnn "Clark"! Hopefully you all receive them soon!

Still no Cards

Scott went back to Hutch this afternoon and they still hadn't received the part so my cards aren't done yet. My mom is there right now but no one is in the photo lab. It looks like I will be going to Hutch tomorrow or not sending out cards (in the meantime we are wasting quite a bit on gas driving back and forth).

Frustrated

Today Scott, Cheyenne and I went to Hutch. The reason we went was to pick up some photo Christmas cards I had done online in the 1-hour photo lab. I had ordered some last week and picked them up Saturday. Well, Scott didn't like them and didn't want me to send them out. So we took another picture and I made new ones. When we got to Walmart to get them today they were waiting on a new drum. My cards wouldn't be ready until 4:00 this afternoon! I have to be to work at 1:00.

Since we were going to Hutch, I needed to go to Goody's. A friend and I had gone Saturday and purchased a few things. They had a sale to take an extra 25% off of most things in the store. As we were leaving we noticed something else and decided to go to JcPenney's and then come back and get it. When I got home that night I noticed that I hadn't received the 25% off of my first purchase. I had received 25% off of everything in the second purchase. I called Adria Sunday and she said she didn't receive it either. She called the store and they said if we bring our stuff in they will give us the sale. So I took all the stuff and our receipts back today. After an hour in Goody's I came out with $6! (I was expecting $20) Evidentally the second cashier wasn't supposed to give us the 25% off of every item. We thought that since we had received it on everything on that purchase the first one should have been the same. She gave me money back on what she could and said that the cashier would be in trouble because she overrode the system to give us the 25%. So maybe in the long run we came out ahead.

I am now at work so Scott is going to have to go back to Hutch this afternoon to get my cards. Hopefully you all will be receiving them by the end of this week!

If not...

MERRY CHRISTMAS

AND

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Curl

My mom watched Cheyenne a couple days last week and she always gives her a bath before I get there to pick her up. We always try to put a curl in her hair before it dries. Usually it doesn't stay until morning but the curl that grandma did stayed! It was still there when we went to work the next day.

Here is Cheyenne at work with me with the curl still in her hair

Cheyenne is very curious these days. I think she eventually pulled everything out of the diaper bag!

Hands & Feet

Hands and feet are an interesting thing to babies. Cheyenne found them both awhile back but has recently enjoyed sticking her feet in her mouth.

It is quite interesting to watch her. I wish that I was that flexible! Although I don't think I would want to put my feet in my mouth!

The things babies do amaze me! I just sat there watching her and taking pictures for several minutes!

Questions

Ok...I couldn't think of anything inparticular to talk about today so I will answer the questions Staci tagged me.


A - Available or single: neither
B - Best Friend: Scott, my brother and sisters; besides family, my roomies from Colby - Lana, Martina and Mandy
C - Cake or Pie: pie or DQ ice cream cake
D - Drink of choice: water, apple juice, orange juice, peach or raspberry tea, or sprite
E - Essential Item you use everyday: toothbrush
F - Favorite color: yellow or blue
G - Gummy Bears or worms: both
H - Hometown: Bushton, Kansas (address was Lyons, Kansas but claimed Bushton as home because I went to school there)
I - Indulgence: chocolate, ice cream
J - January or February: February - it's closer to spring
K - Kids & Names: Cheyenne
L - Life is Incomplete Without? God, family
M - Marriage Date: September 25, 2004
N - Number of Siblings: 1 brother & 2 sisters
O - Oranges or Apples: apples
P - Phobias or Fears: losing a close family member
Q - Fave Quote: "I Do" - Scott Hayes, 9/25/04
R - Reason to Smile: Cheyenne
S - Season: Spring
T - Tag 3 or 4 people: Martina, Sonya, Jennifer, Kaley (I don't have very many friends blogging) U - Unknown Fact about Me: I was born with an extra finger and extra toe. They removed them at the hospital when I was born and I don't have any pictures to prove it but I do have scars and you can feel a little bit of the bone.
V- Vegetable You Don't Like: honestly, I can't think of one
W - Worst Habit: it's not a real bad one but it's one I can't break - playing with my hair...I have always played with my curls
X - Xrays: scope of my knee
Y - Your Fave Food: I like all kinds, Chinese, Mexican, Italian and of course a good homecooked meal...most things as long as I don't have to cook them!
Z - Zodiac Sign: aries

Santa

Sunday afternoon we took Cheyenne uptown in Lyons to go see Santa. "Santa" was actually my Uncle Marlin. This made it extra special. She wasn't scared at all. She sat on his lap and just looked at him.

She turned her head as I took the picture and I was a little disappointed she did but after looking at the picture this is my favorite!

QH basketball

For those of you who saw all the pictures and posts about QH Volleyball...get ready for QH Basketball!!! My dad is the head coach and both of my sisters play. Although there aren't as many games that I will be able to go to but I will go to the weekend tournaments when I can. Hopefully they go to Sub-state and state in basketball too! They went to sub-state last year so they have a good chance this year too since they didn't lose any players.

Saturday QH played in the Tescott tournament. They played Tescott and won 73-11!!! Brittany had 12 points and was 100% (6 for 6). I think Staci had 4 points. The both did well. They also played some in the JV game and won it 63-30.

QH girls and boys both won the Tescott Tournament! It was an exciting night!

Friends and Shopping

Sunday we went to Wichita to hopefully start and finish Christmas shopping. Well, we got a good start but didn't quite finish. We're close though. While at the mall we stopped to get a Julius. Cheyenne loved it and learned to suck it out of a straw!

After the mall we went to see some friends from college that we hadn't seen for awhile. It was so good to see them. Martina and I were in the same sweet at Colby and then lived together in an apartment our sophomore year. We had a blast together! I miss her. It is nice that we live close now. Although we still don't see each other all that often. Since we all moved away and have careers and families it is more difficult to find a time that works for everyone to get together. We are hoping to all get together with some other roommates over Christmas.

Rafael and Martina Ruiz and Cheyenne

Grandma's Birthday

Saturday was my mom's birthday. They had their work Christmas party that night so Cheyenne and I went to see her that morning. I had Cheyenne "write" in a special Grandma card to give to my mom. She thought it was weird receiving a card that said "To Grandma" when she is usually buying those types of cards! Cheyenne helped my mom read her birthday cards!

My mom was happy that she got to see us on her birthday...her first birthday as a grandma! Cheyenne made it special. Here's to many more special happy birthdays!