Prettiest Princess Ellie

So her kids are darling and her little daughter Ellie got a precious new outfit and we snapped some pictures and here they are!

Pumpkin Parade YMCA

Kesley, Ruby, Ellie, Wyatt and Alice

The YMCA has a Pumpkin Parade every year for preschoolers. They have a lot of fun trick-or-treating around the Y. It was Alice's first exposure to the concept of getting a bunch of candy...and she really liked it! Alice was a witch this time, but we forgot her hat at home.

Lemonade Stand

We have been talking non-stop for a month or so about having a lemonade stand. Ruby just can't stand the wait, but you can't set up on a rainy day when there are no customers. It just so happens, that we live across the street from the back fields of a Jr. High School, and we have regular foot traffic of kids walking home in front of our house.

So, the struggle was to find a day when it was not raining and Ruby didn't have preschool and the students didn't have early release...and we could be planted on the sidewalk at 2:30. It happened on Friday, the day of the Halloween party. It was a plan concocted between Ruby and her friend Jensen, so we invited them to join us and they had a great time with it.

My friend Mimi, Jensen's mom was so bold. She totally went up to people...even joggers and asked them to buy lemonade and then gave them money to give the kids. We had lots of customers after the final bell rang and ran out of lemonade (two pitchers) before we ran out of customers.

It was super fun. I totally recommend it. The kids were cute enough to get a man in a red truck to stop and turn around. He gave them money of his OWN!

Ruby made this sign. It is her attempt at saying "Lemonade." You have to knwo how Ruby writes to follow, but it isn't as out of order as you might thing. She likes to start towards the right side of the page, so where the "L" is, is the start. So..."LE" then she thought she was running out of room, so she put the "M" looks like a "W" on the other side of the "L" and next to that the "O" and then the "N" that looks like a "W" and the "A" above, then the "D" and again, out of room, so she squeeked the last "E" in where it belongs, at the end of the word. Ruby has known all of her letters well for a while now, but we mistakenly taught her upper case, and now she is learning lower case in preschool and it is throwing the whole thing for a little loop. She does love to write things and practice!

Kids' Halloween Party

There are times when it is almost embarrassing to be so turned inside out over your kids. This was one of those days. I got Alice up and I grabbed a costume from Ruby's dress up and showed it to her and then started putting it on her. She kept saying, "Gank you mama!" the whole time I was getting her dressed. I have to say she was a darling little kitty cat.

Ruby has had this dress for over a year and it has been too big until now. She was thrilled to have every piece of her hair curled, even though she realized that it isn't "yellow like Aurora's."

Ruby and Alice were invited to a little Halloween party at Ella's house. Leah (Ella's mom) went all out as usual and we had a great time. Well, Alice and I only stayed a minute, but Ruby had a lot of fun after we left. THANKS LEAH!

Carving Pumpkins

Carving pumpkins is always interesting with kids. Ruby drew what she wanted the pumpkin to look like, and Chris did the carving. I don't know why the sad face, but she was pleased from head to toe to see her drawing on a pumpkin.

Still crazy

Oma and Opa were with Robb and his family to help out with little Carson, so they didn't make it to Alice's birthday party. They were sweet to come down on Sunday to give Alice her presents (Max doll and book) and spend time with us on Sunday. We sure love it when they are here to play with the kids and relax with us. THANKS!

Ruby: Author

Ruby is very hard at work all the time. She colors as if her life depended on it. Sometimes she'll color intensely for like an hour and then say, "Mom, can I get up?" As if I sat her down and instructed her to color or something. When I tell her, "you don't have to color, you can get up!," she often will still sit there and continue on with her work. It is really fun.

She also loves to dictate stories to us. The next post is a story she made up about Ariel. I'm thinking that might not be the best movie for her to watch...I can see the nasty teenager brewing already. Anyway, she told me, "I have a mysterious mermaid story in my head, mom." So we sat down and wrote it out. It is hard not to laugh while she is rattling it all off to me.

Ariel's Story by Ruby

Once upon a time there was a mysterious mermaid. She had two assistants and their name was Flounder and Sebastian and her name was Ariel and then they wanted an adventure to the humans and her father said no about going to the humans, but they were nice. The humans were nice, they were searching for a girl. And her father said, "Uh Oh, Ariel, were you going to the surface again?” So he said “Ariel, I don’t ever want you to go to the concert again, IS THAT CLEAR?”

So what she did, she sang a little song. And then she was a little bit tired so she wanted a little bit rest. And so she woke up in the morning and she was ready to party. So she said “Mr. McPouty Pants!” and then she was being so silly that she hit herself on the head. And then she threw a ball on her head. Then she said, “hmmmmm” and tapped her forehead. Then her dad said, “Don’t let anyone in here until she is safe at home!” So Flounder and Sebastian were messing up, and they went into the shark’s area and they got bit by a shark, but they didn’t even cry.

Next, Ariel got on a dress and went to the jungle where there were a lot of bad guys and she got killed and little bit. And then she got a lot of killed. But she was just dreaming. Then she woke up and she was really pouty to her dad and said, “Father, I don’t think I like you! I’m 16 years old and I am not a child!” And then she said, “I want to be at the surface!” And then she went to the surface and she got really really dizzy and went camping because she didn’t know where her father was and she had to search and search. And then she did a little bit of a hippity hop dance.

THE END

Mr. Roboto by Styx

So I had to add another song to my playlist. It is Ruby's favorite song these days. She knows it by heart and when she sings it, I can't help but laugh. It is a fun song, if you have kids you should definitely try it out on them. It is an anti-technology song, so it is clearly old school, and you can even enjoy some electronic dums!

Maris Farms

We went to the pumpkin patch with a bunch of friends, it was a fancy one! It is a ways from our house, but it had so many fun things for the kids to do and was packed with people and even had several radio stations broadcasting there. Little Cow train ride, Ruby wanted to ride on "Daisy."

A cute little farm animal area with chickens, goats, bunnies and lambs.
Chris didn't know he was going to be in this picture, he is holding Alice in place. :)

Pony rides...ironically her pony was again, "Daisy."

Water fun.On our way out in a wheelbarrow with our pumpkin finds.

Trash Compactor fun...

So I never knew the benefit of having a trash compactor until we moved here in January. The garbage program here is archaic and you have to buy these really small cans and they charge a ton of money to pick up just one small can. Anyway, our compactor makes it possible some weeks for us to barely dent the space in our one small can.


Chris has created a whole new hobby...popping and breaking things in the compactor. Usually it will be like a salad dressing bottle or a zip lock bag filled with air, and he turns it on and stands there gleefully waiting for the promised "pop."


I thought it was funny when the day after Alice's party, I found him at the compactor with the deflating balloon boquet putting one balloon in at a time to hear them pop. NERD!

Alice is TWO!

Birthday Kisses for Daddy

A Pony, a pumpkin and a first ever light saber.

Our feisty, sweet little Alice turned two today. We had a few friends over to celebrate with us. I made her a Max and Ruby cake since "Nax" is her favorite. I think it turned out really well! We had some dinner and played some balloon games. She got some thoughtful gifts and enjoyed being the center of attention while blowing out her candles. Then we painted faces and sent everyone off with a spooky treat. We love you ALICE!

Crazy Butterfly

More face painting masterpieces! Here is a butterfly that I did for Ruby. In case anyone is actually impressed by me creativity, you should know that I have an awesome Klutz book that has color pictures in in and lots of ideas. I simply copy them!

Brand New Baby Carson Warren

I have yet to meet the little guy, but I am pround to announce that my brother Robb and his wife Heather welcomed their third child, Carson Warren into the family today. What a blessing!

Disneyland Day Three:

Ruby and Mattie were instantly connected and that didn't vary the entire time we were together. They went everywhere together and talked and talked the whole time. It was really sweet and we love Mattie so much for being such a nice cousin to Ruby. We miss she and Pierce (and Zoe) very much!

Day three was a bit of a bust. Chris and Ruby went early to try and get in line for Nemo a head of the crowd, but it was a Saturday and the waited for TWO hours! Apparently, the ride was really neat and though probably not worth the ride, at least it wasn't a disappointment. There were so many more people at the park that day, and Alice was a real grump, so we met Pam and Matt's family (they were flying home that afternoon) at lunch in Downtown Disney and then I took Alice back to the hotel for naps. Everyone else stayed at the park and had a good time in spite of the monster crowds. Alice and I took naps and then we played in the pool for a long time.

Disneyland Day Two:

On day two we went to California Adventure! On our way into the park, Ruby noticed the big "R" and wanted a picture with it.
We went to this random show, "Draw the Magic" and we didn't have any expectations, but Mickey Mouse made a magical appearance.

Alice, who hasn't ever wanted to ride even the little "rides" at the mall that cost $.50, didn't hesitate to ride the carousel on day two. She really surprised me by going on all the little rides and having fun!At Ariel's Grotto, we paid a lot of money for dinner, but we got a lot of bang for our buck...we met five princesses! We got to be the "royal family" for the first princess introduction Mattie and Ruby with Ariel

Zoe and Pam with Sleeping Beauty

Ruby and Mattie with Snow White

Mattie and Ruby with Belle

Mattie and Ruby with Cinderella

Grandpa and Grandma Pierce

This was one of my favorite rides at California Adventure. We all took turn using ponchos that Pam and Matt were prepared with, but Chris chanced it and boy was he soaked! That's what he gets for being a tough guy, I guess.

Mattie and Grandma

At Alice's age, there isn't usually much of an interest in others, but she took an interest in Zoe a few times. Here she is playing peek-a-boo with her. I was surprised because no one else did it first, she just went over and initiated the game. It was sweet.