Second Grade

First day of school is probably my least favorite day in all the world.  I just hate that Ruby is gone all day, I miss her.  We all miss her.
I thought that as the years went on it would get easier, but it doesn't.
I still hate it every year.  I still dread the day from the start of August.
But I do know that we are making the right decision.
This year I feel the most comforted.  I know that Ruby is going to excel.  I know that this is good for her and for us.  I would rather her be home but I know she is where she is supposed to be.
Ruby is so smart and wonderful.  People are drawn to her and she is kind to everyone she meets.  I am so glad to see the girl that she is becoming.  Ruby loves her family and it makes me happy that she does.  She would rather be with us than anywhere else in the world.  I love her so much.  I am so glad she is my girl...

The boys didn't know what do without Ruby.  So we filled our day aimlessly  roaming Value Village and Michaels, we saved Target for tomorrow....

We also took some time to make some white bread and eat it with our home made raspberry jam.  Noni's request...

We picked Ruby up and headed out for frozen yogurt.  A tradition that I think we all love.  She told us about her day and we just enjoyed each others company.  

One school day down, too many more to go...

We love you Ruby Lou, the best second grader ever!!

Picture Scavenger Hunt

It was one of those days today.
Justin took my keys with him to work (by accident) so we were home bound all day and by the end of it we were all ready to get out of the house!
So in our desperation to find something fun to do we headed to my own personal home away from home- Target (of course)
We met my parents there and had a little dinner and then decided to head to target and have a little picture scavenger hunt.
We had made the list up before we left the house and for a moment thought we had left it in the cart, found out it was 'just- in' Justin's pocket (found it 'Just-in' time, which coincidentally is Justin's favorite kind of time), put 15 minutes on our timers split into teams (girls vs guys) and away we went.
It was really fun.
Ruby was so fun to run around with.  She loved it so much!  And she knew where to find most everything (a girl after my own heart)

 Something blue

Eyes 

 The word happy

 feet

 flowers

 teeth

 Rainbows

 Bunny

 fit into a small space

 something with spiderman

 pose with a mannequin

something that costs $5

This was so fun!  We all had a blast!  A highly recommended fun time!

Toothless

This girl of mine has had a loose upper tooth for an incredibly long time.  She was hesitant in getting it out- the last thing she wanted to feel was pain.  So day after day she would work on it.  Wiggle it a little bit here and there but she would not let anyone near it.

And then it finally looked like this.

 Hanging on by who knows what, and still it was a whole day before it actually came out!  Ruby would not let anyone touch it.  So finally I convinced her to let me tie a piece of floss to it and then I tied it to her wrist so that if she moved her arm it would pull on the tooth.  She freaked out.  So I untied it from her arm.  The floss was so long that it touched the floor even when tied to her tooth.  So when she went to walk away- she stepped on it and out popped her tooth.  She went from total fear to total relief and elation.  This girl is the best.

Here she is with new toothless grin.  I love this girl and her sweet face.  She's the best.

The Chosen One

We did something this year that I have been dreaming about for a long time.
We cut down our own Christmas tree.
And not from a Christmas tree farm- oh no, from the WILDERNESS.
One thing you should know before going into the wilderness to cut a tree- you will never find a perfect tree farm tree.  If you want one of those you should probably go to a tree farm, or ikea, they have pretty good ones there too- for a great price I might add!
But if you want a one of a kind memory and experience, then you should go to elk water and cut a tree down.  It was awesome.
There may have been moments when I was wading through and falling into waist deep snow, when I couldn't feel anything from the bum down that I may have thought- I'm never doing this again.
There may have been a moment when it seemed nigh impossible to find a decent tree- that I thought- Oh no, we made a mistake.
There may have been a moment when the tree blew off the van (while Justin and Blake were tying the other tree on the other van) and I saw so many precious branches and needles fall off that I thought- lets just forget this ever happened and go buy one.
There may have been a time when Eldon puked all over the van that I thought- I'm never taking this kid anywhere again.  Memories or not.
There was definitely a moment when we were getting the tree home that I was hoping beyond hope that perhaps it was better than I remembered and finding out that it wasn't.  In fact, it was worse.
But the good moments out weighed the bad making the bad not seem so bad after all.
We are totally doing it again and I am owning and loving my humongous charlie brown christmas tree with pride.
It is so sparse I was able to wrap the whole trunk with lights.  I'm pretty sure the worlds definition of a beautiful tree is one whose trunk cannot be seen for all the branches filling out the insides.  But I learned to ignore the worlds definition of a lot of things a long time ago.
I can honestly say i look at my tree and I don't think I have ever seen anything quite so beautiful.  It makes my heart happy and i love it.
We made some wonderful memories with wonderful friends in the process which makes everything worth it.
So who is in for next year?

29 Plus 1

I hate to admit it,
But I turned 30.
THIRTY!

It seemed (at the time) like a huge unwelcome milestone.
But I have learned to accept it.  In fact, I'm determined to embrace it.
Life needs to be embraced and enjoyed.
Yes there are trials, yes there are things you don't want to have to deal with or do, yes there are ages you don't want to turn, there will always be adversity.
I have learned in my thirty years on this earth that things are always better if we choose to be happy.
In fact, its my new mantra.
CHOOSE to be happy.
Its a choice, and its one that I want to make.
So, though I may not like it, I'm going to choose to be happy to be 30.
Its really no different, plus there really isn't anything I can do about it anyway- so why not embrace it and enjoy it?
If I were to choose, I would choose happy.
So, here is to a happy year going forward.

(Also aren't Ruby's teeth in this picture the best?  She is always making me laugh!!)

Mustache Face

Happy Wednesday.  Our house is full of sickness right now so we have been taking things slowly and keeping everything low key.  Just hoping for and looking forward to better days....  Isn't that the best mustache face you have ever seen?

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving this year was great!!  We were able to hold it at our house which was a little stressful but it made us get our butts in gear and get things done! 

We decorated a thanksgiving tree complete with turkeys we had made the year previously and acorns we put together this year.  Ruby loves it, Noni tolerates it, Eldy doesn't participate!

Teepee painting.  This was SO FUN!  and easy!  The kids loved it so much and I loved it too!  They made great center pieces.

Candy turkeys.  We made one for each kid, they were really fun too and really easy for noni to make on his own.  Though next time I going to pick better tasting candy...

Pies, Pies, Pies!  I made so many pies!  I made all the apple Kathy made the rest, pumpkin, custard, lemon, and coconut!  They were all delicious!!  The sad part is that my apple pie didn't get cooked until the end and everyone was gone by the time it was ready to eat...  So only a few of us got to enjoy it, but it too was delicious!

Noni loved peeling and coring the apples, that little man of mine is a really good helper.

And before all the festivities started we headed out to Kathy's and picked some pumpkins!  She grew a ton and they made the best jack o lanterns for halloween and great decoration for thanksgiving.  Plus it was a REALLY fun day!  The kids loved it!

Thanksgiving this year was great.  I'm glad to live near family so we can celebrate it together!!

A Little Catch Up

Its time for the blog game I like to call-
A little catch up

aka- a year in a nutshell

I was recently going through this last years photos and I just can't believe that we made it.  It was quite the challenge at times.  But one thing I did notice was that on the whole it was amazing.  We had some challenges and hills to climb but we still had fun doing it.  I know there will always be challenges and I am forever grateful for the family that I have to help me through them.

Ruby's first day of school.  It was hard for me, but she is doing very well.  She is making great friends and has a great teacher.   I just love her so much it is still hard for me to say goodbye to her each morning.  I am always happier when we are together.

Here we are drowning my school sorrows with frozen yogurt on the second day of school

If there is one thing that Noni loves it is nerf guns.  He just thinks they are the best (and lets be honest, they are)

The after effects of Noni feeding eldy a fudgesicle.  Sometimes moms have to use the bathroom too, and apparently dads think it is a good idea to arm a three year old with a fudgsicle and head to work while mom is doing just that.  It made me laugh so hard, this is what I came out to.  Myers said- 'He kept moving his face!' So he couldn't get it in his mouth!!!

Squinkies up the nose- enough said.

Sharing a milk shake at Child's Play, the best milkshakes ever.

I picked up some sod for our front lawn, justin had had enough of the hedges.  Our van is amazing!!

Getting ready to lay the sod.  Don't be fooled, they didn't do much.

New sod!

Sleep Eldy, my view every night as a I rock him to sleep...

Starbucks always makes the cold rainy day blues go away.

Caramel steamed milk, my favorite...

Noni's new sheets, they were on a crazy clearance at target, I love that place...

More starbucks, this time while we waited for Ruby's dance class to be over.

I love our front porch.  Absolutely love it.

Sometimes a dad just has to ride his daughters bike.

Target Halloween wigs, look at that sweet face!

Noni the Geisha

Justin's Mowvember.  I love this man.

Pumpkin picking at Kathy's, that was one of the best days!

Noni really wanted a hoodie this day, sadly he had outgrown all his hoodies.  Luckily he is good at improvising!

Ikea, we all survived!

My most favorite target purchase.  Look at that cute eyeball boy!

Eldy didn't want to be left out.

Myers loves to put stuff together and work with tools.  This kid put this whole shelf together!

Ruby concentrating on reading, look at that cute concentration forehead complete with dimples.

I love to get Noni to try on glasses, I mean seriously, he is adorable!

We love to hang out at the park after school!  This particular day they made a lady bug house for their new found ladybug friend 'Chariot'

This sweet baby naps about once a day for 20 minutes, then he gets so tired and ends up like this!

Spaghetti head!

I am so grateful for my family and for digital photos.  I love being able to look back on the memories of the past while and remember the best of times.  It is important each day, each moment to choose to be happy.  It makes life better, it makes everything better, and it CAN BE DONE!