Little Ruby is TWO!!

I just can't believe it! Little Ruby is TWO!!! The time has gone by so fast, and has been so great. I love this picture of her, because it will always remind me of this phase of her life. This is when she is in her "zone." Packing around a baby (or Elmo in this case), usually a diaper and a wipe, usually my dish towel, and for some reason on this day she is wearing Ella's tap skirt around her neck and sitting next to lined up Tupperware! I love it! So here are a few MORE things that Ruby is doing at age two...she is starting to have some real opinions! Right now she is on a real Elmo kick, and Cookie Monster kick, and she will only wear a diaper that has "Cookie" on it. (Not sure what we'll do when we run out of those...). She will only eat out of her Elmo bowl or her "hubba" bowl (Simba). And lately, I'm so afraid to report, she has started to care what she wears and how I do her hair. I can't have another one of those!!!! Not this young any way! She is starting to fight for what she wants, in the form of screeching usually, and it is usually aimed at either Ella or Tyler. And it is loud! When she cries, she will often times cry for Ella. In fact, when we were camping last week she cried out in the night - once for mom, and twice for Ella! And for good reason, too. Ella actually does take care of her at night if she cries. I haven't had to walk up those stairs at night in a long time! She and Ella are just the best sisters. They mesh perfectly! Most often. I call Ella her second mom, because Ella takes care of her very very well. She will get her out of her crib in the morning, change her diaper, get her completely dressed (to include tights and shoes), and show up in my bedroom ready for breakfast. The other morning she even climbed up and poured her some cereal and milk! Ruby doesn't even need me! But Ruby loves her sister, and they love sharing their room together. Remember last summer, when you were all thinking I might have been crazy to have them bunk up so young? Well...it has paid off wonderfully! They are happy and protected all night long.

OK, so back to Ruby's birthday. We had a full house that night, with my mom, my sister Mary, Bryan's mom, Bryan's sister Jani, and Jani's two girls Mya and Sydney, all here for the festivities. (Tyler's baptism was the next morning, thus the reasons for the visits). It was great to have them all here!

We made these darling animal cupcakes, and with 6 of us in the kitchen decorating...they were done in minutes! The kids actually did most of them. I just supervised! And Ruby loved them. She loved the attention, and if you could have only seen her smile while she stood next to her cupcake tower while we all sang. Ahhhh...it would have melted your heart! It did mine!! She loved her presents - some Elmo garb, a little scooter, and a yellow Plasma Car. You should see her cook it around this house in that car! She is good!! Well anyway, I could go on and on about Ruby. We just love her.

Tyler's Birthday

Little Ty has reached the ripe ol' age of 8, and we have had a good week of celebrating. Each kid's birthday is eerily similar, I'm realizing. First we had the donuts at school, then the birthday dinner (Crepes, in his case), followed by the present opening and then the cake. The cake for Tyler was really as much for myself as it was for him, and I was so glad that I talked him into "this cake" for his birthday cake. (I had found this cake online, and had literally put it on my computer as a screen saver - just to torture myself, I guess.) So anyway, the birthday was a big hit, and the only real bummer was that the present I had ordered for Tyler never made it! I was quite irritated by that, but at least it made it by the weekend (in time for him to play with it). He got a Wii game, a flag football set, some bedroom basketball stuff, and then 4 Lacrosse sticks and balls (which were the ones that didn't make it in time). So anyway, it was a fun day. Oh...and it snowed on his birthday! Just a few flurries, but that is cause for celebrating in Texas! So school that day for Ty was a huge party, since they really make a big deal out of a little snow here, and then 4 days later, at his birthday party, it was 70 degrees and sunny. And it's a good thing!
The kids decided earlier that they wanted to make Tyler's birthday a "Pajama Day," so this is what they showed up for dinner in. Crazy kids!


I love Tyler's celebrating the Wii game in the background.

Another powerful rendition of a Lion King number performed by Spencer, in honor of Tyler's birthday. His shirt was ripped off at one point during this little number.

We had an Olympics party for Tyler (at his suggestion) and it really helped to have great weather so that we could do all the races and relays and events that I had planned. The basic gist of the party was that each athlete/participant (aka party guest) chose a country to represent, and then they competed in a variety of different events, all vying for the gold medal. We did a frisbee throw, a croquet distance hit, a golf ball flick, a long jump, a crab relay, a sack race, a sprint, and a marathon. After all their rankings were tallied, we ended up awarding 3 gold medals, 3 silver medals, and the rest bronze medals (which ended up being 9). I made the medals out of ribbon and candy, and the kids were all thrilled to get one, not really caring which "medal" it was. Whew!! Nobody was too competitive (Tyler excluded - he was a bit of a gloater, and got a nice talk from dad that night), and they all seemed to have a great time. The Olympics Rings cake turned out to be enormous, but pretty bright and fun looking. And not hard to make, either. So that finishes up my year of parties! Ruby is going to have a nice, small, family affair on her birthday (with two grandmas in town, and two aunts, and two cousins), and then Spencer has aged out of the "themed parties," much to his disappointment. He'll still get to do something fun, so don't start feeling too bad for him (in fact, we are going to take a small group of friends to a Spurs game). But that is EASY!!!

Little Ruby, helping out and chugging Gatorade at the Sign-in table.





Are there two other kids trying to blow out Tyler's candles?? Either that or it's a reflex of some kind, at the end of the birthday song. A sympathy lip-pursing? Naaaa...it looks like they are blowing out his candles.


So little Tutu...happy birthday, buddy! I'm so proud of the wonderful son and brother you are. You are beloved by Ruby and Ella (known as Dee Dee to Ruby), and the constant companion and best friend to Spencer. You are happy, hard working, and you are one fast kid. Dad loves taking you out on runs and bike rides (and you never slow him down, even running 5 miles right at his side). You are a fierce competitor, which occasionally causes you to try and cut corners in order to get ahead, but you take a quick talk and reprimand so well, and always play fairly the next time. You are my little reading buddy, and I love how you like to cuddle with me in the red chair to read each night. And you are always begging for tickles! I can hardly even sit next to you without your lifting up your shirt, in hopes of a tickle. Love you, Ty!!!