Harper's First Christmas

Harper's first Christmas was great! My mom came up to visit and stay for a few days over the weekend. It was nice to be at home and just relax. Clark's parents stayed in Midland to be with Dustin since he only had Christmas Day off of work but, we were able to video chat with them a couple of times which was nice!

Here are some pictures of the morning.

Christmas cards!

Clark putting together the red wagon!

Her first ornament.

Christmas Morning with Granny

Can you spot Harper?

Loving all the presents!

Her first cell phone!

Why play with toys when you can chew on instruction manuals?

Her first walker...it won't be long!

It was a wonderful weekend full of good food and family. Hope you all had a great Christmas too and have a safe and Happy New Years!!

Santa Baby!

Well, we finally did it! I couldn't bear to take Harper to the mall to meet Santa. Something about waiting in line with a bunch of germy kids really freaked me out and I wasn't about to spend my Saturday attempting it. Not that there is ANYTHING wrong with it, but that would just stress me out. So, low and behold, last week while making my weekly Central Market run, I saw a sign at the check-out saying that Santa would be there this Saturday from 8:30-10.

So, Clark and I woke up this morning and headed that way. There was no line and you could use your own camera! It was perfect. Here are the pictures, enjoy!

Success!

Slight Oversight...

So my good friend Cassie, from Virginia, used to always ask me when she could be featured on my blog. I would always reply to her with, "when you come to Texas and visit me." Finally, after about a year and a half, the Yankee finally made her way to the "Great State of Texas" for her official tour. We really only had a couple of things on the agenda. Dinner at Lonesome Dove and Lunch at Love Shack. What do these two restaurants have in common you ask? Chef Tim Love (CTL) of course!

Cassie has an obsession, no, an infatuation rather, with CTL and I really think her visit was just a last ditch effort for him to meet her and fall madly in love...or something along those lines. So, Friday night, we fulfilled her wishes, and our reservation and headed to Lonesome Dove for dinner. Of course, because I am VIP and this is how we roll :) CTL was there smiling to greet us as we entered the restaurant. At this point, I had to remind her of her name and also to quit shaking the hand of CTL so enthusiastically.

The rest of the weekend was so much fun, I took Cassie to her first college tailgate at the TCU game versus Air Force, and we had a wonderful time catching up and hanging out with Harper. I am so thankful for our friendship and so glad that she was able to leave her own family to come and play for the weekend.

Long story short, I forgot to keep my end of the deal and post about her trip. Considering we didn't take any pictures, she will have to come back down here for another shot soon!

Back in the Saddle Again...

After a long break from blogging, I am pleased to come back and provide you with some tidbits of Rucker Life! I told Clark back in October that I was pretty much done with blogging until we got a new computer. It would take nearly an hour to post and upload pictures because our computer was so slow. SO, this past Thanksgiving weekend, we headed to the apple store and finally got a new one! Merry Christmas to us!!

It's been a little bit overwhelming to figure out where to start and how to pick up writing again. There have been so many fun and exciting (I think) events in our lives and I'm sad that we don't have all of them documented here. Let me attempt to recap the last few months for you! Hope you like pictures :)

We are going to work our way backwards (because it's easier) starting with Thanksgiving!

Harper eating her Thanksgiving Dinner

Raise the Roof!

Clark and Dean

Fried Turkey Goodness.

Next Up, Baby McMillan's Shower! Friday, November 19th, we hosted a baby "party" for Larkin and Richard. This is the first baby shower that I have been to complete with a DJ. It was so much fun and it's a good thing we planned it when we did considering Larkin had sweet baby Sarah Mitchell one week later, a few weeks early!! Congratulations to the beautiful new family!!

The parents to be reenacting a classic. Haha

Laura, Sarah, Haddy & Courtney

Beth, Lisa and Lindsay

A couple weeks before then, this is what I walked into when I went to get Harper for her first bottle of the day! Her first time standing up all by herself! Very exciting and you could tell that she was so proud of herself!

On the weekend of Clark's birthday, I surprised him with a weekend trip to NYC! Our good friends Ryan & Lisa and Austin & Stacey were there too and we had so much fun celebrating all weekend long! Coincidentally, my group of friends from the school I went to in Switzerland one summer, Leysin American School, were gathering for a 12 year reunion. It was so great to see some of my friends, many of whom, I still keep in touch with. We had a great time going out!

Clark's parents were kind enough to come in and watch Harper and Richard helped me figure out a way to clear Clark's schedule for the afternoon at work. When Clark got home around noon (Richard was to pick him up to go to a meeting off site) I had Frank Sinatra "New York, New York" blaring and his bags were packed and ready. It was so much fun to plan and I am so proud of myself for keeping a secret from him for so long.

His surprised face!

Lisa, Caroline (visiting John in NJ), Stacey & I

Lisa, Stacey and I

Tourists.

Amazing brunch at Bar Americain

This beer didn't stand a chance from our group.

Austin, Clark and Ryan

Times Square!

The pictures below are from Harper's Dedication at Church in October. After the service, we had people over for a reception outside! It was a wonderful day!

First School Pictures

Last week, Harper had school pictures at school. You would think for infants they would have a more appropriate background. Rather, they used antique books and fake plants...interesting choice. The quality is so poor because I didn't want to spend the $150 for the digital images. I took a picture with my iPhone of the picture.

I'm 6 Months Old!

Stats:

Weight: 15lbs 6oz~50th percentile

Height: 26.5"~75th percentile

I can:

Roll EVERYWHERE

Sit up for a few seconds

Say "dadadadadadada"

Grab everything and shove it in my mouth

Sleep from 8pm-6am

Eat fruits and veggies

Love hard :)

6 months does not even seem real. It is insane to me that 6 months have gone by. I cannot put into words how much our life has changed for the better since she joined our family. Clark and I are so thankful for our families and friends for being so supportive of us throughout the last year.

Happy Early Anniversary!

So this Labor Day weekend, Clark and I will celebrate 5 years of marriage! My how time flies.

We have other plans that weekend so Clark surprised me with a mini trip to Horseshoe Bay, where we got married. We stayed at the resort and my mom came up to watch Harper while we went to the pool for the afternoon. When we checked into our room, Clark had one of our welcome baskets from our wedding on the bed waiting. So sweet!

Where we got married.

The pool was amazing. It was so nice to get out in the heat! I have been in the AC all summer and just dying to get outside! Even though I now look like a lobster, and have susequently had to take an oatmeal bath and apply and reapply aloe, it was so much fun!

That night, we went down to the restaurant for dinner. They didn't provide us with menus but I really didn't think anything of it. When the server came he mentioned that the menu had been taken care of. Clark had arranged for them to prepare the menu from our wedding! It was so thoughtful and unexpected. Then later on, they brought out a cake from the bakery that made our wedding cake and it was red velvet, just like my cake was. It was so special!

YUM!

Before we went to HSB, we went by Camp Champions, the camp that Clark and I met at, to introduce Harper to some of our friends there. Here are some pictures that we took of the weekend!

Tired after a long weekend!