Monday, June 30, 2008

just keep swimming

Yesterday we went to a friend's house who had a kiddie pool set up. This is what happened:
Hmmm...what have we here?

I don't like this, take me out!

Let me try again with Mama.

I HATE THIS!!!

Today we went to the wading pool at one of our neighborhood parks to try again.

What are you talking about, I love the pool!

Sunday, June 29, 2008

5 years

John came home early Saturday morning from Kentucky. He was delayed (again), but still made it home in time for our 5th anniversary. I made these cookies:

which filled John's request of something with chocolate, something gooey, and something decadent.
We also got to go out on a date! By ourselves! A friend came over to stay with Ruby after we put her to bed for the night & John & I rode our bikes to a new Italian restaurant downtown and then walked down to the river after we ate.
It wasn't a trip to Paris, like we dreamed of for our 5th anniversary, but it was a pretty good night, all the same.

(photo stolen from marthastewart.com)

Thursday, June 26, 2008

pigtails!!

Ruby's hair is finally long enough for a couple cute little curly pigtails.

She's very mad at me in this picture because I wouldn't give her the camera. I'm a very mean mama. She's also showing off all her 8 teeth (some just poked through so they're hard to see) and the swollen spots for the other two that are working on coming.

I've been meaning to show you the father's day book that Ruby gave John. You can see a picture of it on his blog. They both think its hysterical. I'm just so proud that I found a great picture of Flight of the Conchords that I could use.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

forgetter bug

When I was writing my last post about Ruby growing up, there was one other thing that she did that meant she was not a baby anymore, but I couldn't remember it...until today. She's in her big car seat now. She faces forward and everything. She looks like a little girl in the rearview mirror.



Today I read this story about the person in FL who lost their arm to an alligator. It reminded me of the top ten list John & I made up about natural ways you can die in Florida. Here's the part of the list I can remember. The rest will come later, I'm sure.
1. alligator
2. snakes, my personal favorite
3. lightning
4. sharks
5. hurricanes
6. tornadoes
7. car wrecks, another one near and dear to my heart
8. rip currents
9. wild fires

John, help me out!

Monday, June 23, 2008

No more baby


I'm a little sad because Ruby can no longer be mistaken for a baby. She walks around the house all day long (even while reading!), can ride around in the bike trailer (thanks Grandma & Gramps), knows a crapload of signs and understands a ridiculous amount of what we're saying and has little toddler melt-downs where she goes limp & throws her head back. She spends a good part of her day pushing this cute little pink chair (thanks Nana & Papa) around the house really fast.
Its all so exciting to watch, but its hard to believe that our baby is no longer a baby.
Thanks for all the comments lately - I love getting them all!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

summery

Yesterday we were heading out of town to visit friends and John dropped me off to shop by myself. I spent an hour or so wandering around the antique shops and found a few great things that I'll show off another time - a vintage suitcase for Ruby to store dress-up clothes someday, some gifts for family and some cute little drinking glasses. John & Ruby picked up this massive load of strawberries from our friends whose garden is over-producing, apparently.

I think we'll make strawberry sorbet.
You Floridians will appreciate this: I also heard several times yesterday, people complaining about how muggy it was. ha! It was in the high 70s, rained a bit off an on, was overcast & the humidity was probably 60% or so. Muggy!
Last night was our second Meet Your Maker show. We had lots of big people show up - someone from the Eugene Weekly, the owner of Deluxe - a great shop in Eugene, and a director from a design festival in San Francisco. I sat between Amy & Claire, two talented and beautiful people, and talked of motherhood. It was a good night.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

we're famous!



Meet Your Maker puts an ad out in the Eugene Weekly before each show. I picked it up today to check it out and found this write up about us in there!

Monday, June 16, 2008

craft show


Meet Your Maker is happening this Saturday at Midtown Marketplace in Eugene again. We're going raffle off a Meet Your Maker tote bag full of donations from the vendors - really great stuff. Part of the money from the raffle will pay for a low income artist/crafter to have a spot at a future show.
Come by and see us and tell your friends!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Happy Father's Day!


When John & I were dating, we talked a lot about kids, in the hypothetical sense. We were both teachers for awhile & always finding ourselves in situations with kids, asking ourselves, "What would we do if this was our kid?" Of course, as much as we talked about parenting, it can only prepare us so much for the real thing. I knew then that John would be a wonderful father. He is so loving, patient, generous & thoughtful. But he has amazed me this past year. I have learned so much from watching him with Ruby and I have loved parenting with him. He has so much love for her and me that he accepts any thing that comes up with either of us easily.

When Ruby was a newborn, he would help us through the nights, by changing her diaper, helping her latch on to nurse (it seems so strange now that Ruby and I ever had to learn how to do that!), rocking & singing her to sleep when I couldn't nurse anymore or was to exhausted to hold her - all this even though he was somehow working on his thesis at the time.

Now, when I have my moments of crankiness & cabin fever when the sun seemed gone forever, John quietly would play with Ruby & encourage me out the door or make me a cup of tea.

Parenthood has changed our marriage a lot, in ways that I didn't anticipate, but John remains a devoted, respectful, funny partner through all of it. I couldn't ask for a better husband for myself or father for Ruby.

Happy Father's Day, John & to all the daddies & grandpas out there!

Last Father's Day

Tuesday, June 10, 2008


All of a sudden, Ruby is heading toward toddler-hood. She is so funny lately, but has also thrown a couple minor tantrums, and this kid is LOUD! She's started dancing, throwing food, scratching and making us laugh constantly. We didn't think the terrible twos started until 18 months or so, we're a little nervous. And I've realized that I rarely see people with toddlers out anywhere. They must keep them in hiding because they're so moody & insane & loud. But so much fun. Ruby still giggles every time she walks. And look at her in this picture, so cute!

Not much crafting going on here lately that I can mention. I'm working on a super-secret father's day project very slowly. John has been home the past 2 days, very sick, so I have to sneak away to the basement for a few minutes at a time.

Have you seen Lars & the Real Girl? So funny. We got it from Netflix while John's parents were here. He picked up the envelope & said, "Do you want to watch a movie?" Then he read the description and we decided we probably didn't want to watch a movie about a man & his sex doll with his parents. I think that was wise, but still, it is funny.

Friday, June 06, 2008

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

I'm back!


Ruby's birthday was lots of fun. She enjoyed all the festivities - especially her visitors & balloons. The cake, however, was not so great. She wasn't really into it at all. The next day, John's parents, who are visiting from FL, and the 3 of us went to the mountains to stay on a farm.

It was so relaxing to be away from cell phone service & a computer. Ruby LOVED the animals - sheep (like the lamb above that we got to bottle feed!), chickens, roosters, a peacock, horses, a burro, cats, dogs, geese - all surrounded by trees and hiking trails. Ruby makes an elephant sound for her moo, but has now extended it for sheep & horses too. I have a bunch more pictures posted on our flickr site from her birthday and farmstay.
We're enjoying a few more days of fun with Nana & Papa (and hopefully we're done passing around our cold) before they head back to hot FL on Friday.