Long time no blog...

Hi everyone! Sorry it's taken me so long between blogs but things have been a little busy here to say the least! My last day of work at AT&T was March 11th and Em came on March 12th. It has been so awesome to have Em here. We took a little weekend getaway to Chattanooga to see HGTR perform and had a great time. Not only did we see a rockin' show, we got to sit in on a radio interview with the band - we felt like groupies. :) It was so great to get to hang out with the band a bit and to also have a fun, girly weekend. We were lucky enough to see HGTR perform twice in one week as they had a show in Atlanta last week. The band stopped by our house before the show for some food and music, we had a great time! Sadly, Em is going home tomorrow and then it's just Mommy and Rubes until we move. The movers are coming April 4th and 5th and then we'll be flying to Florida on the 6th. We're excited to finally join Daddy but also nervous since the house hasn't sold yet. Please enjoy the pictures from the past few weeks, we've been busy! We went to the zoo again and also the aquarium, which Ruby LOVED. We've also been going to the park a lot since the weather has been so nice. Ruby is amazing, she keeps me laughing everyday. When we get out in public, one of her favorite things to do is to run away from me at full speed, squealing and laughing as I try to catch her. If anything, it's a good workout! She's talking really well now and has mastered please, thank you, the "where is thumbkin" song, counting to 10 and much, much more. She loves to sing and sings a lot of the time. She's usually humming or singing something as she putters along. Em and I also taught her how to shake hands and say "nice to meet you" in the bath tonight. It's pretty funny. Love to you all, our next post will most likelky be from Florida!

Mommy and Ruby at the zoo.

Rubes and the giraffe statue. At the petting zoo again...making friends with the hog.

Waiting to ride the train.

Asleep before we made it out of the parking lot.

At the aquarium with little friends.

Wow, look at all the fish!

Ruby not so sure she wanted to share her snacks with Ian.

Buddies.

HGTR visit. Em, Ruby, Stephen & Julia.

Ruby and Mommy on a playdate at the park.

Em helping Ruby climb.

Loving the Princess card Auntie J-A sent.

Hey Mom, let me see the picture!

Taking dolly for a ride on the rocking horse.

Em & Rubes. BFFs.

The look just before she dumped sand on Mommy.

Fun at the playground.

Building sand castles with Em.

Whoa - now that's some crazy hair!
Reading a bedtime story with Mommy.

What a whirlwind!

Well we have had a lot of activity happening over the past few weeks! Doug & I took a trip to FL last week (Sun-Wed) to find a place to live. We have decided to rent the first year and are going with a townhouse in a little community called Abacoa in Jupiter, FL. It seems like a really fun, social, young community with lots going on so we're excited to get settled in. We'll be 4 miles from beautiful Jupiter Beach - we expect you all to visit! :) A huge THANK YOU to Miss Priscilla and Beth & Tommy for taking such good care of Rubes while we were gone. She had a blast! Doug drove back down yesterday and started his job today. Rubes and I will move down the beginning of April. We've had a good amount of people looking at our house but no offers yet. Hopefully something will happen soon! My last day of work with AT&T is this Wednesday and then I'm back to being a full time stay-at-home mom (yikes)! I'm really looking forward to it but am also aware that it will be a little bit of an adjustment. I've already joined a mommy's group in Jupiter so I'm anxious to get there and start participating in events. It looks like a nice group of ladies and kids. A lot of Northern transplants. :) Ruby is hilarious. She's just getting smarter and smarter every day. She can now sing her ABCs and count to 10 and walks around the house singing the Barney song. I guess songs can get stuck in your head at 18 months too! She's mastered the art of being a drama queen and collapses on the floor in a heap of misery if I give her water instead of milk or if I put on Barney instead of The Wiggles, etc...I've noticed that as long as I ignore her and act like it's no big deal, she'll usually get back up within 5 seconds and be fine. I just have to choose my battles. Ruby loves to tease Mommy and Daddy and whenever I hear "Mommy" in a certain taunting tone I know she's doing something she shouldn't be and wants me to see. Like licking her arm after I put the sunscreen on or writing on her books with marker, and the list goes on! At least she knows right from wrong, right??? We are beyond excited to have Auntie Em coming on Thursday, she'll be here for 2 weeks, yippee!! We're taking a little bit of a girls road trip this weekend to Chattanooga to see Holy Ghost Tent Revival perform. Beth & Tommy have agreed to take Ruby again - boy am I EVER going to miss them!Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks.

Enjoying the lovely weather at the park this weekend.

Ruby's prefered method of going down a slide.

Who's that girl in the mirror?

Smelling the flowers Mommy planted.

Rainy day.

Touching worms for the first time!

Giddyup!

Ruby and friends.

I turned my back for one second!!

Little Mommies.

Feeding the baby doll.

Giving Lexy a big hug.

Best buds with Uncle Tommy.

I sense a theme...hugging Mandy.

Talking to baby Sarah in Mandy's belly.

Florida, here we come!!

Well, as many of you already know, Doug has accepted a job in West Palm Beach, FL! It was an amazing offer that we would have been crazy to refuse, so Florida, watch out - here come the Vogts! Doug starts on March 9th but Rubes and I will be staying back for a while to oversee the sale of the house which hopefully won't be much longer than April/May time frame. I haven't given my notice at my job yet because my boss has been out sick this whole week but plan to tomorrow or Monday. We're very excited for this new adventure but also very nervous about the house selling. We hope not to lose too, too much in this market. But we have to keep it in perspective: we will be losing a little here but gaining so much more when we buy in the FL real estate. Please send positive moving vibes our way!

We went out and bought a new camera this weekend so we're happy to share some new photos with you. We had a fun weekend, we went to the park and Ruby is getting to be such a big girl, climbing and sliding all by herself! Also, we can see that Barney is on his way out and "Elmo" (Sesame Street) and The Wiggles (dear GOD) are on the way in. Ruby continues to keep us in stitches daily, especially when we ask her to do something she doesn't want to do. She first looks at us like we're crazy and says "NO" and then slowly, deliberately and very dramatically throws herself to the floor (careful not to hurt herself) and starts fake crying. If we ignore her, she gets up within 5 seconds and goes on about her business. She's also getting very good at saying her ABCs and she LOVES to sing. Enjoy the pics!

Daddy and Ruby playing in their "fort".

Ruby always find the most interesting positions to watch TV in!
Having fun at the park!

Climbing the "rock wall" all by herself, sniff, sniff!

Ruby likes to sit at the top of the slide for a while trying to decide whether to go or not. She does it mostly to tease Mommy. She usually has a devilish grin on while doing this.

Climbing the stairs like a big girl.

OK, Ruby has NEVER used a pacifier but found this one in her closet that I had from when she was a baby and would NOT let it go for a day. Silly girl!

Taking a juice break after all the hard work at the park. Climbing, sliding, swinging, running and jumping are very tiring you know!

Loving the books that Grandpa and Gretta sent! Especially the Ruby-sized Cat in the Hat.

BUBBLES!

Hey, gimme that camera!

The Zoo!!

Mommy had the day off Tuesday with Ruby so we went to the zoo with some friends. We had so much fun!! Ruby absolutely loved every minute of it and Mommy loved seeing the zoo through little 17 month old eyes. So precious! There was a carousel and train ride there and Ruby was over-the-top excited for both. Mommy got a little motion sick on the carousel but it was worth it to see the excitement on Ruby's face. Mommy had the most wonderful time with her baby and her girlfriends!

The little zoo-goer clan. How cute is this picture? They were all absolute angels! Here's Lily, Ruby, Griffin and Porter.

One of Ruby's favorite parts was the petting zoo. She parked herself between two friendly goats and patted, brushed, hugged and kissed them. Maybe she'll work at zoo someday?

Although Ruby did very much like the merekat exhibit, she did not enjoy pretending to BE a merekat. She was obviously not impressed.

Ruby loved these gorilla structures and especially loved hugging the baby gorilla that the mommy gorilla is holding.

Little birdies hanging out in a big nest.

Taking a milk break and being silly.