House Full of Girls

We have had a house full of girls for the past week and it's been fun! Estelle and Sienna (our nieces) came home with us from Idaho to stay for about 10 days. It was definitely too short of a stay especially since I had to work for several of the days. However, we managed to pack in a LOT of good times in that period, the girls got to hang with Magy and her sweet kids and we had more than a few good laughs and minimal craziness. Ruby had such a good time with her doting cousins and I think she really misses having them around, as do Dustin and I! Here are some photos of our Week of Girls!

Ladies Night at the baseball game

Sharing an ice cream cone at delicious Molly Moon Ice Cream

I read somewhere on the 'internets" about making fingerpaints with vanilla pudding. Good thing I used something edible because the first thing Ruby did was taste it. Unfortunately, it tasted too good and all she did was eat it and did very little actual painting...other than her face and belly that is. Still, it was a fun activity!

We went to family game night at our local library. This is Ruby coloring on the wall for the few seconds she didn't just walk around with the crayon in her mouth.

We got pedicures! Well, I got a manicure and the girls got pedicures. They had gone in earlier in the week with Auntie Danielle who got them manicures so we went back for the pedicures. Ruby even got star treatment with a pedicure (hot pink polish!) of her own. Ooh La la! Fancy Nancy's got nothing on us!

Oh yeah, and we got some cupcakes too. Decadent!

Estelle got to hang with her pal from the 2nd grade, Kaitlyn and Sienna went to visit her preschool teacher Shelly. Unfortunately, we weren't able to connect with her friend Ryan but next year we will! We also had a lot of down time, just hanging in the yard, reading, crafting and playing cards. The girls were both amazing and helpful and just plain enjoyable to be around.

Now, we've got Laura, Shawn and Sir Watts in town so we'll have some more updates soon!

Trip Part III

So, we were in Idaho for my sister's wedding but since I was actually in the wedding I don't have any pictures of it. I mostly just tried to get pictures of the nena with as many people as possible. It was a little difficult since Ruby just wanted to be held by me if I was in her line of sight at all. This is why she looks sad and/or crabby in many photos. Poor monkey. She's away from her mom for a week and then her mom makes her hang out with a bunch of people she doesn't know. Well, Ruby, my dear! You need to know and love these people as they know and love you!! She spent lots of time with Auntie Marie at the wedding reception....after she gave Ruby angel food cake they were totally bff. Anyway, the wedding was very lovely and nice and even though it was wretchedly hot, we all managed to enjoy ourselves. It was so great getting to see so many people who I haven't seen in a while and it was also nice to see people when it wasn't a funeral! I spent a lot of time visiting with my pal Courtenay and her two sweet little kids. Courtenay tells me she reads my blog a lot- Hi Courtenay! So here are a few more pics:

Here she is with Grandma Rita

As an added bonus, I got to spend part of the day with my friend, Nicole and her two kids.

Here's Ruby with Auntie Nicole

LOVE this picture of Ruby in the playhouse at Nicole's

And here are a couple of pictures way out of order but cute just the same:

Ruby and Auntie AmyRuby playing with my old tricycle (no, we NEVER EVER throw anything away!)

Trip Part II

One of the sadder parts of the trip was that I discovered that the drive-in theater in my home town has burned up. So sad! I am SO glad that we went to a movie there last summer!

Anyway, here are some more pictures and stories from the trip.

Here are Amy and Ruby and Jack reading together.

Ruby and Uncle Christopher:

Ruby and Aunt Sunny Sage

Ruby and Grandma Genie reading together

Oh and more to come, more to come! There are so many pictures that I didn't get that I wish I had. Sigh..isn't that always the way!

Trip Part I

Ok, sorry so long since the last post but it's been a whirlwind so there's lots to tell! Ruby had a WONDERFUL time with Grandma and Papa back East. She had her first trip to Fenway, ate lots of strawberry ice cream and learned a couple new words. Word on the street is that the folks back there thought she was pretty darn fun too. Dustin and Ruby left Boston at 6am Eastern time and arrived in Seattle at 3:30 Pacific Time. I arrived at the airport and Dustin handed me the diaper bag, Ruby's suitcase and of course, Ruby. Ruby gave me a huge smile and just wanted to snuggle me for like 15 minutes. So sweet! After we said hi to each other, visited for a bit and checked me and Ruby in, we said good-bye to Dustin and Ruby and I headed off to Idaho. Whew! Needless to say, the girl was a tad knackered. Even so she was in pretty good spirits. She would say "HI!" and wave everytime one of those airport cars drove by. I found out that she says, "Wa wa" when she wants water. She slept for the first leg and was awake for the 2nd. She only had about 15 minutes where she was just done and over it. Amy picked us up at the airport and we got to her parents house at around midnight. Instead of just going to bed, we had to stay up and visit for a bit. After being on airplanes all day, girl was ready to play! But we finally got her to bed and that's when I discovered that she had a new word: "Night night!" That was just the cutest thing ever! The next day, Amy and I took the kiddos to a Terrific Twos storytime at the library...the same library that Amy and I raided week after week when we were kids. It was fun getting to experience storytime from the other side :-) Here they are enjoying themselves:

It was super hot over there in SE Idaho so later that afternoon we headed over to the mall (gasp!) where they have a little playground in air conditioning. Delightful! Here are the kiddos in their matching carseats. How cute is that? Amy and I spent the whole day together, catching up and watching Ruby and Jack play. Ruby was pretty tired still from her journey the day before so she was more clingy than normal. She was also very intent on what she was doing. At one point, Jack tried to give her a hug and she gave him the backhanded shove. Busy busy girl, too busy for hugs. Don't worry Jack, she does the same thing to me! It was so fun watching them play! Then, I headed over to my parents' house and caught up with everyone there. When Estelle and Sienna got there, it was like the scene in Gone With the Wind where Scarlett is surrounded by suitors....only in this case it was Ruby surrounded by adoring cousins. Even Uncle Cooper got in on the action! Ruby and I slept in the back bedroom and Ruby insisted on playing the chimes in the hallway every time. We also went out for Indian food one evening and she grubbed it up! Who knew the girl would like curry?

More to come! Stay tuned......

I Picked This One For You!

Sshhh!

Like a good librarian spawn, Ruby has learned to shush..

Though she didn't get the hang of it right away as you can see. I may have to start doing it this way at work. Might be more effective that way....

Ca-CAW!

Whenever Ruby sees birds she says "CaCAW!"