Eat It!

This morning I went to the bathroom telling Ruby I would be back in a minute. Ruby rushed into the bathroom as soon as I was done yelling "Mommy, I got you a treat for going potty!"

"Eat it! Eat it!"
Not wanting to ingest some lifesaver she found underneath a couch I said "Where did you get it?"

Ruby said "The bag." I stared at it dubiously and put it in my mouth. Ruby then kindly announced "Well, I did drop it on the floor."

Santa's Valentine Agenda

Ruby put facts together and informed me of how Valentine's day works.

"Santa brings everybody heart shaped chocolates and flowers"

In spite of the lack of appearance from Father Christmas, I don't think she was disappointed...

Here are some shots of making heart shaped cookies with Grandma, Aunt Karen and Allison

Ruby's First Ballad

More often than not, I find myself singing random kids songs to keep Ruby entertained usually as I am trying to get her to do something. If she has time to think, she will say "No Way!" to any request. But I have found starting a song then casually putting on her shoes and socks to work. As I was singing, I noticed her lower lip start to quiver and tears begin to stream down her face. Apparently, I had never sang this song to her

On top of spaghetti
All covered with cheese
I lost my poor meatball
when somebody sneezed

It rolled off of the table
and onto the floor
then my poor meatball
rolled right out the door

Despite her great empathy for the meatball (or the child who lost it), Ruby wanted to hear the song over and over, crying each time. I guess there is something in human nature that likes to be sad occasionally. That's why I married Jamey.

Coffee Angel

My niece Allison is a big bag of tricks. When you ask her What a zombie says, she says "brains", when you ask her old she is, she holds up the right number of fingers. These are great ways for her to integrate herself in social situations. However, Jamey and I have focused on training Ruby in the more important things in life. The numero uno most important thing is to make Mommy's drinks. Ruby, once set on the counter, excels in making the coffee from grinding the beans, to putting the filter in. Recently she did this in an outfit that made me realize that Jamey and I have raised our own coffee angel.

Loki's Birthday

(Loki circa 2010)

(Loki circa 1997)


We celebrated Loki's birthday this month. For a 14 year old dog he is doing pretty well with the following exceptions:
- breath like he ate 3 day old fish, and he ate it 3 minutes ago
- speaking of breathing, he sounds like a train, a fish train
- he finally is on enough pills that he has one of those days of the week pill dispensers
- he has large lumps all over his body and arthritis

Despite all this, the cool weather has brought out the puppy in Loki and he thinks nothing of running all over the neighborhood. When I left him at the vet for a checkup, the vet looked at the chart and asked the vet tech to bring in the "old" dog, not this crazy energetic creature.

Around Loki's 10th birthday, we decided he wouldn't live much longer. We gave him lobster and champagne. Each successive birthday has brought such a wealth of elaborate food, that we went more low key this time. For the first time, Ruby was savvy enough in birthdays to assist in the planning. She insisted no birthday party would be complete without balloons, hats and cupcakes. Finding no real argument to the contrary, I bring you... Loki's Birthday (observed)!

97 degrees in October, we must be at Disneyworld

I attended PMI global this year. What better opportunity (it was in Orlando) to go to Disney World? Ruby, Jamey and Grandma and Papa joined us. For once, the timeshare pays off. The Wyndham was very nice and located near the parks. The big surprise to me was that Ruby actually wanted to meet the characters and didn't mind standing in line to do it. If I ever find the person who made the indoor greeting for the princesses, I will get down on my knees and thank them. I can't imagine going in Summer when the temperature is the same and the crowd is about 30 times bigger. How will I get my Its a Small World after all boat break? Ruby enjoyed everything we did (with the exception of some fireworks at Epcot). Jamey, Grandma and I got to partake of the Epcot wine festival woo hoo! By far, the biggest advice I have for those going anytime soon is to download the iPhone app for the park maps. Very helpful and they helped Jamey with having a valid excuse to look at his iPhone to feed his addiction. I also made a picture book of the experience using Picaboo. Turned out great. I guess I have to quit insisting every picture have someone we know in it. Jamey's shots of the Animal Kingdom rides made great backgrounds.

A toddler is never too young to learn an old dogs tricks

Loki gets food just for wearing a napkin on his head? I'm in!