Moving on Up

Cora has moved up to her toddler class. As a graduate of "Baby Birds" and moving up to "Busy Bee", I decided to give a nice little compilation of her status sheets from Baby Bird. Jamey is in charge of dropping the kids off. This is a big job involving a less than relaxing ride to and from work. However, Jamey felt it needed more effort. As such, he looked through the news every morning determined to find the best representation of "child's mood" to fill in on the daily status sheets. I also enjoyed the reaction (or lack thereof) from the teachers under "Teacher's comment's" Here is a best of collection

 3/28/2011
Child's Mood: A SWEDISH MEDICAL STUDY FOUND THAT REGULAR JOGGING MAY ACTUALLY BE GOOD FOR THE KNEE JOINTS - PROMOTING CARTILAGE GROWTH AND INCREASED BONE MASS. THE STUDY MADE NO MENTION OF THE EFFECTS OF CRAWLING ON KNEES. SO CORA SAID SHE WOULD TAKE IT EASY - JUST TO BE SAFE. Teacher's Comments: None.

 3/29/2011
CHILD'S MOOD: PEDIATRICIANS ADVISE YOUNG FEMALE ATHLETES TO NOT WEAR SPANX. CORA SIGHED LOOKING AT HER THIGHS AND SAID NO AMOUNT OF SPANX WOULD MAKE A FASTER CRAWLER ANYWAY.
 Teacher's Comments: Cora enjoys playing with the sensory bottles (Stacy note: water bottles with crap in them and the lid hot glued on) today. She seemed very happy today.

 4/1/2011
Child's Mood: THE NATIONAL BIRTH RATE FELL 4% BETWEEN 2007 AND 2009 - MORE THAN IT HAS ANY TWO YEAR PERIOD IN THE PAST 30 YEARS. CORA SAYS THE BIRTH RATE IN HER HOUSEHOLD HAS ALSO SHARPLY DECLINED.
 Teacher's Comments: Cora enjoys playing with the tactile teethers with friends today. Have a great beach vacation!!!

6/14/2011
Child's Mood: BAGGAGE FEES FOR AIRLINES IN THE US REACHED $3.4 BILLION IN 2010. CORA SAYS SHE'LL GLADLY PAY EXTRA IF IT MEANS SHE DOESN'T HAVE TO LEAVE HER 2200 WATT HAIR DRYER BEHIND.
 Teacher's Comments: Cora did a great job today trying new foods from the menu. She really enjoyed being able to sit and eat with the other children. She fussed a little if we did not bring her food quick enough. :-)

6/6/2011
Child's Mood: CORA CASUALLY DISMISSED THE RECOMMENDATION LAST WEEK FROM THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PEDIATRICS WHICH STATES CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS SHOULD NEVER USE ENERGY DRINKS. WITHOUT HER COFFEE AND RED BULL, SHE'D NEVER GET THROUGH THE DAY.
Teacher Comments: Cora enjoyed playing in the tunnel and practicing to walk with Ms. Brittany today. 

6/9/2011
Child's Mood: FACING POWER SHORTAGES, SOME JAPANESE OFFICES ARE TRADING AIR CONDITIONING FOR OPEN WINDOWS AND THE SUIT AND TIE FOR HAWAIIAN SHIRTS. CORA GIGGLED AT THE THOUGHT OF AN ENTIRE BUILDING FULL OF PEOPLE DRESSED LIKE PAPA.

6/10/2011 Child's Mood: US NEWS AWARDED THE DASH DIET A 3.9 OUT OF 5 STARS. CORA IS CONSIDERING GIVING IT A TRY TO GET READY FOR SWIMSUIT SEASON. BUT SHE'LL START MONDAY, BECAUSE SHE IS NOT SKIPPING BIRTHDAY CAKE THIS WEEKEND.
 Teacher's Comments: Cora enjoyed water play today. She loved being outside and did not mind water splashed on her. Have a great weekend. Enjoy the birthday cake before your big diet Cora (Stacy comment: This is the only reference I ever say that they read the mood)

 6/13/2011 Child's Mood: A NEW TYPE OF ARTIFICIAL HEART KEEPS 8-MONTH-OLD CALF, ABIGAIL, HAPPY WITHOUT A HEARTBEAT OR PULSE. IF ABIGAIL GROWS UP TO HAVE A CALF OF HER OWN, CORA WONDERS WHAT SOUND TO PLAY IN THE BABY'S CRIB TO KEEP IT HAPPY?
 Teacher's Comments: Cora enjoyed tossing small balls in the tunnel today with Ms. Brittany. Her hand and eye coordinating is developing more and more.

 9/2/2011
Child's Mood: FEDERAL AUTHORITIES RAIDED AND HALTED WORK AT GIBSON GUITAR FACTORIES IN TENNESSEE IN A SEARCH FOR ILLEGAL WOOD. CORA IS GLAD THE RAID WAS TOO LATE TO IMPACT SHIPMENTS TO GUITAR CENTER FOR THEIR BIG LABOR DAY SALE, BECAUSE THAT 15% OFF COUPON IS BURNING A HOLE IN HER POCKET.
Teacher's comments: Cora enjoyed Thomas's birthday party today. It was a great start to a long weekend. 

9/1/2011
Child's Mood: THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS SAYS NO MORE BOXING AS A SCHOOL SPORT. THIS IS GOOD NEWS FOR CORA'S CLASSMATES WHO NOW HAVE A LEGITIMATE EXCUSE TO DECLINE HER REPEATED TAUNTS TO MEET HER IN THE RING.
 Teacher's Comments: Cora enjoyed playing with small balls and squeeze toys today.

 9/12/2011
Child's Mood: CORA WAS DISAPPOINTED WHEN SHE WAS TOLD YOU CAN'T ACTUALLY EAT A "DOUBLE-IRISH DUTCH SANDWICH", BUT CHEERED UP WHEN IT WAS EXPLAINED SHE COULD USE THIS STRATEGY TO PAY SINGLE-DIGIT CORPORATE INCOME TAXES ON HER LIFE COUCH CONSULTING SERVICES BUSINESS. Teacher Comments: Cora enjoyed playing peek-a-boo while in the tunnel today. She also took one step by herself today. Yea Cora!

 9/15/2011
Child's Mood: COMPUTER PROGRAMMING JOBS REMAIN COMPETITIVE IN OUR STRUGGLING ECONOMY. CORA STRUGGLES WITH WHETHER SHE SHOULD LEARN OBJECTIVE C OR JAVASCRIPT FIRST.
 Teacher Comments: Cora enjoyed playing in the blue tunnel. She really liked making funny faces at Ms. Brittany while inside the tunnel.

 9/6/2011
Child's Mood: CORA PREPARES TO SAY HER FAREWELLS TO THE PARTICLE COLLIDER OUTSIDE CHICAGO AND LOOK TO THE LARGER HADRON PARTICLE COLLIDER NEAR GENEVA FOR ALL HER QUANTUM PHYSICS RESEARCH NEEDS.
 Teacher's Comments: Cora did not take a second bottle today. She waited till snack. If she keeps this up, we may take the second bottle away also.

 9/7/2011
Child's Mood: CHILDREN MISS AN AVERAGE OF ONE MORE SCHOOL DAY A YEAR IF ONE PARENT SMOKES AT HOME; ONE AND A HALF IF BOTH PARENTS SMOKE. CORA THINKS NOT GETTING TO GO TO SCHOOL AND SEE YOUR FRIENDS IS A FILTHY DIRTY HABIT.
Teacher's Comments: Cora was surprised to see herself in the Mirror Me book! :-)

 9/12/2011
Child's Mood: CORA WAS DISAPPOINTED WHEN SHE WAS TOLD YOU CAN'T ACTUALLY EAT A "DOUBLE-IRISH DUTCH SANDWICH", BUT CHEERED UP WHEN IT WAS EXPLAINED SHE COULD USE THIS STRATEGY TO PAY SINGLE-DIGIT CORPORATE INCOME TAXES ON HER LIFE COUCH CONSULTING SERVICES BUSINESS.
Teacher Comments: Cora enjoyed playing peek-a-boo while in the tunnel today. She also took one step by herself today. Yea Cora!

 9/15/2011
Child's Mood: COMPUTER PROGRAMMING JOBS REMAIN COMPETITIVE IN OUR STRUGGLING ECONOMY. CORA STRUGGLES WITH WHETHER SHE SHOULD LEARN OBJECTIVE C OR JAVASCRIPT FIRST.
 Teacher Comments: Cora enjoyed playing in the blue tunnel. She really liked making funny faces at Ms. Brittany while inside the tunnel.

9/23/2011
Child's Mood: CORA HAS LONG BEEN A FAN OF MIXING ANIMAL PRINTS IN HER WARDROBE, SO SHE WAS HAPPY TO HEAR OF AFRICAN FARMERS MIXING COWS AND ZEBRAS ON THE RANCH. COWS AND ZEBRAS PREFER DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE GRASS STALKS,S O THEY MAKE GREAT GRAZING BUDDIES.
 Teacher's Comments: None.

Cora Zee is One!

Cora had a jam packed birthday this weekend. She celebrated for three days... at least.


A party at the zoo which even included her 7 day old cousin Max was a hit. I gave out Bingo cards for the kids to fill in as they found animals. Cameron had fun trying blackout. I still question whether there is a porcupine. Cora got to get close to her favorite animal...ducks!


For some reason, Cora likes to put food on her head now. The cheeseburger made the best and.. honestly, less messy, hat.


Grandma gave the favorite gift....a chair just like Ruby's. Cora loves to climb in it.

Not pictured is the awesome toddler guitar I got Cora. It plays real music like the Police, Elvis etc and.... the most important feature, volume control! You can play the strings while the song is playing and it adds effects. There is also the all important whammy bar. Ruby is the one who loves it the most. She told me today "I like it almost morer than Cora." This is not the dig on Cora you might expect. Ruby went into our driveway this morning and played every song complete with dancing motions. Ahhhh... it's awesome being our neighbor.

Ruby's first girlie birthday party

Ruby had her first truly girly birthday party experience. The salon hosting it did a good job. Personally, I would have spent about 5 minutes doing a 4 year olds nails, but they were true perfectionists! The makeup on Ruby was the best. Rainbow punk rocker sheek. I love it!

Ruby has two extremes. She wants to be just like a boy or be the girliest girl ever. There is no in between. Princess dresses or spiderman clothes. Since this was girlie enough on the princess side, it made it acceptable. After being made up, the girls posed for some future album covers.

We stayed out till 9:30 which is way late...for the parents. Ugh, when did I get so old. Not to worry. A trip to New York two weeks later convinced me I can stay out late as any late thirties year old trying to reclaim their youth. Post to follow...

Cora's first mouse...and duck

Cora has been saying Da da and Ma ma for weeks now, pretty much since she got tubes in her ears. Yeah tubes! She says
"Da da da da" when she's happy and "ma ma ma" when she's upset. It's great. She got to play with the fake computer this weekend for the first time and she started out happy "Da da da da" and ended up mad at it "ma Ma MA!" I sympathize. Sounds like a typical computer experience to me. Her methods of typing got a bit unusual.

Tonight she said her first word which is actually the same as Ruby's first word. Every Monday night, we have a pool night at our neighborhood pool. I brought some rubber ducks for her to play with. I was chatting with friends and she was reaching unsuccessfully for the duck on the table next to me and she said "Duck!" and I handed it to her. Then I realized what she had done. Go Cora!

Fantastic Four

For about 6 months, Ruby was insistent that she was going to have a superhero party. As her birthday approached, I started doing some research on places to host a superhero party. Oh, and Ruby wants to invite all her cousins and her friends. Let's see, 20 kids, party somewhere that is not my house = how much money? Agh! Well, I'm not a project manager just by trade, its a way of life. I was determined to not only have a party for much cheaper, but also to have it be awesome.

Jamey started it off with designer invitations that I think he should sell. They rock!

Ruby took them to class and placed them in everyone's cubby. She then came home happily showing me an invitation to one of her friends birthday party...for the same day...and the same time. After conferring with the other mother, I moved mine out a day so they could have a weekend of parties.

I proceeded to plan the events. I informed Jamey he would be a villain and the kids, after going through rigorous super hero training, would defeat him. I outlined a chart of the activities in 15 minute increments. I then ordered all the supplies for the activities and started to make some props for the event. About a week before the party, Jamey said "You haven't planned this well enough." I stared at him waiting for the punchline, but he was serious! I pointed out that I had the party planned down to 15 minute intervals. He rebutted with the fact that the kids spraying him with Silly String wouldn't take 15 minutes. I crossed out the times, reducing it to 5 minutes and wrote in a 10 minute activity of "kick villain in crotch." Jamey didn't offer up any more changes to the timeline after that.

The main prep work for me was to make each of the kids a cape they would earn for completing the obstacle course. Some yards of felt and iron on velcro would do the trick just fine. RSVPs were pouring in and I was somewhere around 22 capes to make. Jamey worked on the computer through nights one and two as I cut out capes. As he sat there, he started to offer some thoughts on the capes. "You should make a logo with each kid's superpower out of felt and attach it to the cape." I replied that I was planning on using fabric paint to write the super name on the cape. Jamey made a face. Clearly, a 4 year old, when presented with a personalized cape, would turn their nose up at fabric paint and only a custom felt logo would do. A trip to Hobby Lobby later, I was armed with felt, iron on letters for monograms and fabric glue.

I'm not sure why Jamey is such a powerful stakeholder in my projects. He's the worst kind of business sponsor, offering up suggestions only after you have a plan in motion. I started ironing on the velcro straps as Jamey read while doing situps. I know. I have no idea how that's possible either. After about 1000 situps, I asked him for help with the capes. With two of us, we were able to whip through the rest pretty quickly.

The last night of cape work turned out to be pretty fun. My parents came down and my mom, Jamey and I made the felt logos. Jamey and mom provided the most artistic custom logos and I placed a nice generic star with a monogramed 1st initial for parents who didn't give me a superhero power. Mom and Jamey may have outclassed me, but I had volume of output on my side.

The custom ones were great and included

• Flash - Lightening Bolt on circle background
• Unlimited Strength - large set of barbells
• Wonder Princess, Super Power "Saves the Day" (by far this is the best super hero power ever. The entire team is throwing rocks with their mind, turning invisible to sneak up on bad guys, whatever, and this chick comes in and waves her hand and BAM! Day saved.) - Jamey created a sun logo with a crown
• Forcefield - a shield
• Cone of Silence - a person reading a book under a cone (family joke referencing the fact that I and my nephew are completely oblivious to the world when we read)
• The Pacifier - Cora's cape with a pacifier on it.
• Birthday Girl - a cake with 4 candles

We even made capes for Mama Bear and Ginger, Ruby and Taylor's lovies.

The big day was almost here and I was feeling a bit sorry for myself as I went to bed that night. I had a terrible sinus/ear infection and although I had started antibiotics that day, I was not 100%. As I lay in bed with my ears throbbing, Jamey came to bed and started talking about how he had researched activities we could do for the party that night and had some ideas. After almost a month of researching activties, planning and purchasing supplies, I was underwhelmed at the avenue of help being offered at this point. Luckily, due to my not feeling the energy to get irritated, I simply replied "OK. What?" I vetoed a cake walk and a few other ideas that would require more effort than we had time for. Finally, he offered up an idea that required no additional purchases and, while it sounded like a good way for kids to get injured to me, seemed harmless enough. "OK." I said. "The Save the kitten from the tree one. I'll add that."

The day before the party, my sister, her hubby and their 4 kids showed up with awesome posters to decorate in tow. They immediately went to work on any assignment I would give them. My sister and I are products of my mother. There is no such thing as going halfway on an assignment. I asked my sister to make buildings for the kids to jump over and she proceeded to not only make buildings, but a city complete with a "Curves" building (cut out pictures of women working out pasted onto the windows) next to "Cora's Candy Shop". I then asked my sister and her son Spencer to work on the obstacle course. I pictured a few boxes to jump over and a tunnel to go through.

They had higher aspirations and I winded up with the following training obstacle course

• Jump through the "Ring of Fire!" (a hula hoop with red streamer suspended from the ceiling with a rope)
• Crawl under the lasers (pool noodles draped across the large buildings in the city)
• Leap a building in a single bound
• Crawl through the Tunnel of Terror
• (my personal favorite) Save the Baby from the Pit of Snuggly Doom

Just a few last finishing touches and we would be ready for the party. I went to Wal-mart to pick up the cake. Say what you want about Wal-mart, but I had a good experience ordering the cake.
Unsuspecting bakery employee - "May I help you?"
Me - " Yes. I would like to order a cake that has dinosaurs fighting super heros with flowers all around." Ruby had stuck to this exact phrasing when describing her cake for the last month so much so that I almost started to consider it a fairly normal request.
Employee, coming from behind the counter - "Well, that's a first. Clearly, they should be fighting around a volcano."
Me - "Clearly. I think you've got it. Do you need two phone numbers? Surely, the person will have questions about this one"
Employee - "Not necessary, I'm going to schedule myself to work that day just so I can make this cake."

Cake in place, I took out a Halloween box and sifted through it to find Jamey a villain costume. Jamey decided he would wear his old Robin costume and put a felt water drop on it and call himself Mr. Drip. I stared at him. "Couldn't you come up with something cooler? That wouldn't even scare Cora." I think it was one of my sister's kids who suggested Dr. H20.

And now.... THE SUPERHERO BIRTHDAY

Kids walked up the driveway that was decorated with sidewalk chalk stating "Calling all Superheros, Report for Training" and arrows pointed to the garage door that had a sign stating "ENTER the Superhero Academy" The second part of the driveway had more sidewalk chalk stating "Danger, Do not enter. Beware Dr. H20"

As kids came in, there was a table with chairs around it, masks (cheap ones from Oriental Trading) and stickers to decorate them with (the jeweled stickers were the most popular, even with the boys). A sign hung above it saying PROTECT Your Secret Identity.

The kids then could go through the obsticle course, where my sister "Kim Possible" would direct them. Some kids jumped right in. Others were scared at first and then tried it. Almost all were obsessed with saving the baby and wanted to do it again and again. My niece Taylor awarded the personalized capes as they completed the course.

The kids went over to the wall where it said "POSE. For the Newspaper" Here was my first planning mistake. I hadn't designated a photographer and I was too busy to take many pics. Still, I got a few good ones and Karen supplied some from her phone.

Ruby was surprisingly outgoing (for her) and had all her friends dancing in their capes to the Superhero playlist I had made.

Jamey's mom won best costume for sure! What a cool grandma!


I blew my whistle once the kids had been there for awhile and lined them up. I informed them that there was one final test before they could graduate from the academy. (Here is where Jamey actually took one of his ideas I had discarded and had spent some time shopping and putting it together to make it work.) The kids were presented with a cardboard tray (free from the friendly butcher at Publix) to punch through to prove their super strength, The kids loved this best of all the academy activities. I discovered that it worked great for 4 year olds and that I was lucky not to get my gut punched by the older kids (7-9) who had a longer reach.

The time had come for the graduation. I asked what superheros do once they have their powesr and one of the kids replied "Fight bad guys." I agreed and let them know that the evil Dr. H20 had been around and that there was no way he could stand up to all us superheros. I declared that we needed to go out there and find him! The kids followed me somewhat reluctanly with a few saying "I'm scared." Ruby told them all that the villian was her daddy and that calmed most of them (with the exception of Allison, who, in her defense, knows Jamey and realizes he could be scary).

After waiting in the hot driveway for a few minutes pretending to look for him, I realized Jamey was not out there. I took the kids on a hike around the yard. Once we reached the driveway again, someone had cued Jamey and he appeared firing his super soakers and throwing shiny green rocks on the ground. He then ran off. I yelled "Stop. That's Kryptonite." Some boys tried to chase jamey but I corralled them back and started to explain about the Kryptonite when young Henry ran over, picked it up in his hand, and yelled "Green!" triumphantly. Eventually, I blew my whistle and got out some "Kryptonite Krypts" (coolers) and some tongs. The kids took turn picking up the shiny green rocks (painted by my mother) and placing them in the cooler. Strangely enough, the kids took turns with the tongs with no adult direction and, really weirdly, they separated the Kryptonite into the two different types by cooler. That was nowhere in the instructions. I guess humans like order instinctively.


At this point, I lined the kids up and asked them to name some superpowers that I might be able to grab from the academy to help them. Ruby came up and started explaining how she would talk to the bad guys and that was her superpower. Have I mentioned that Ruby can talk and talk and talk? I asked for more ideas. After getting several, Taylor said "Webs!" and I nodded. Atlee and Kim helped me hand out the Silly String.

I told the kids we would look for the villain again. I turned on the sprinklers and took them for another walk around the house. I yelled that the water was on and H20 must have done it and we ran through the sprinklers (those kids who wanted to that is). Jamey was inside, tossing back a cold one and chilling out waiting for his cue. I sent his mom in to get him and kept the kids busy firing at leaves on the driveway. By the time Jamey appeared and was silly stringed to defeat, most the string was out (a fact for which he was extremely grateful).

I declared Dr. H20 defeated and told the kids they had absorbed his power. We handed out spray bottles of water to the kids and let them play in the driveway while we went in and got the food ready.
The rest was pretty normal, cake, ice cream, etc. Ruby really enjoyed handing out the goody bags. I found some really cool super hero rubber ducks at Oriental Trading to go in them. Some kids decided to play the get the kitty out of the tree game. I think 80% of them were injured somehow, but they seemed happy enough in spite of that.

At the end of the day, I would guess I saved about $100 over having it somewhere else and spent a boatload of time. However, the kids had fun although Ruby probably won't remember it. The real secret? I had a blast. It was such a fun day and I enjoyed it all from the cape making to playing with the kids. I think I'm going to play superhero more often on the weekends.

Baby You Can Drive My Car

I went to pick up the girls from daycare this week (a task that Jamey normally does). Jamey verified I was picking up the girls via email exchange and then went on home. When I got there, Cora was thrilled to see me. I was thrilled to see her. I was less thrilled to see that her car seat had not been left at the school. Thrillingness in a steady decline, Jamey did not answer the phone and daycare did not have any spare car seats. I realized daycare would close by the time I got home and back with said car seat.

Feeling out of choices, I loaded Ruby into her car seat and strapped Cora in front of me on the drivers seat. Petrifying fear that you are going to get in a wreck cannot be sustained for a long of period of time. Once I was driving for a few minutes I started to worry about other things. What if that cop I'm passing notices? What if some other driver sees me and snaps a picture and sends a chain email titled "Bad parents caught in action"?

Cora was less then helpful. She really, really, loved being in the driver's seat. This was expressed in a variety of ways from yelling like a zombie to spitting up on my arm. She also threw her feet up on either side of the steering wheel, squealing in delight.

Determined to keep my low profile, I kept my hands at 10 and 2 (now underneath her feet) and ignored the spit up dripping down my arm. At this point, Cora decided to practice her new trick of drumming on things with the flat of her palm. Unfortunately, she chose the middle of the steering wheel for this practice.

So, if you saw an Acura MDX with a redhead at the seat and a baby in her lap steering with its feet furiously honking its horn over and over to draw the utmost attention to itself...it was not me. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Jamey's Bday!

What's up 36? Portal 2, chipolte chocolate cake, family staying over from tornado power outages, the usual.

Picasso's Birthday

We celebrated P's Birthday in true style. Ruby decided a piñata was just what he needed. Filled with candy and dog treats, of course.

If you give a Ruby a messy closet

I took Monday off and spent it with Ruby. After a fun morning planting at Uncle David's house,


I offered Ruby a choice of the park or cleaning out Mommy's closet.

My closet gets sick occasionally, thoriwng up into the hallway. In spite of many all day closet clean-out marathon's, I just can't seem to accept that being orderly with my clothes on a day to day basis is more important than getting into pajamas 10 seconds quicker at the end of the day.

To my surprise and some dismay, she chose the closet cleaning. I quickly realized why as Ruby played the ultimate dress up game.

Beach Lunch

Jamey truly is a master of presentation when it comes to toddler meals as evidenced by Ruby's "Beach lunch"

Cora is making great strides in the world of babydom..

She can bounce in the bouncy seat


She can roll from her front to her back and she started carrots and oatmeal this month. Cora loves to eat (even tequila marinated limes...)

Cora got some great Valentine's from her grandma...

I got the sweetest Valentine of all from Jamey, a day without slanty eyes and shark teeth in his stick figure drawings!

My Daughter the Dungeon Master

Jamey and Ruby love to sit down and draw together. Often, Ruby is dictating the scene which Jamey dutifully draws in his artistic way. I'll often come across one of these gems as I walk through the house without having seen its creation. I've added some captions to the ones I know the most about...

The first is our very own Christmas tale. Jamey claimed a noise in the house was a mouse. I, seeing Ruby's scared face, said "No, there is no mouse in our house." Jamey went on to tell Ruby the only mouse in the house is Francois the Christmas mouse who collects Mommy's hair at night to make his nest. Ruby helped draw the hairs...it's nice to see she has her father's eyes.


Here is the depiction of our Christmas with the usual flattering rendition of me.


I stumbled across this on the coffee table one morning.


Was playing a D&D game with Jamey and my brother (yes, we really are that nerdy). Ruby wanted to join in and quickly grasped the idea of a maze with creatures. She drew the maze and ordered Jamey to draw the encounters to her specifications.


Another random encounter left on our Dining Room table. I'll leave it to your imagination.