Um... really?

Ok, so I know they say things like "babies learn by watching what you do" and "babies love to imitate."  And then there's the 'ole "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."  But seriously, who exactly did Ruby learn this recipe from: "Sprinkle banana heavily with hot sauce.  Add to hot tea.  Stir. Enjoy."

So Proud!

Yesterday, my dad completed his 8th Marathon.  That's a LOT of running! (26.2 miles x 8 marathons = 209.6 miles; but that doesn't even come close to how many miles he ran training for them all.)  I cannot even imagine the sense of accomplishment  it would bring to complete something monumental like that.  And I'm sure yesterday it wasn't just the accomplishment of finishing the marathon, but also of completing the training for it this summer in the record-breaking temperatures.  So proud!  Way to go Dad!

Two Less

We have two less of something around here.  Nope, it's not our kids.  We plan on keeping them for awhile yet.

Ira "lost" his first two teeth on Thursday - 10/6/11.  I put lost in quotes because it was more like "yanked out after much wailing and gnashing of teeth."

Ira had noticed right around when school started that his two bottom front teeth were loose.  Not loose loose, but loose nonetheless.  Some time after that, he noticed that his two adult teeth were coming in behind the still-there baby teeth.  On the rare occasion that he would let me wiggle them, they didn't seem that incredibly loose to me - not loose enough to pull at least.

Well, we had dentist appointments on Thursday and the dentist told me that we really need to get those teeth out because the adult teeth are supposed to come in under not behind the baby teeth.  They come in behind when the baby teeth get loose and don't get pulled in time.  (Boy did I ever feel like the mother of the year...)  So he said we need to get them pulled asap.

Not being one to have to be told things twice, I set after pulling them when we got back to my parents' to pick up Ruby.  When (after 10 minutes of the wailing/gnashing bit) Ira finally let me put my fingers in his mouth, it took about 4 seconds to push the bottom left one forward and out.  Well, you can guess that the second one wasn't going to be that "easy."  It took him about 40 minutes of fighting tooth and nail (he he he I so punny) to let me even come near his mouth again.  I only got close to it when my dad finally stepped in and helped hold Ira so that he couldn't really move.  Again, once I finally got my fingers in his mouth, it took like 4 seconds to push the right bottom tooth forward and out.

It was quite the ordeal, and he's not real keen on the whole thing even still.  He didn't want to show/tell anyone at school on Friday (but accidentally his teacher saw when he smiled once.)  He wasn't happy that the tooth fairy didn't bring him "a 10 pound box of trains."  And he wasn't real thrilled with the idea of me taking a picture.  Luckily, he relented and I was able to capture this gem.  You can hardly tell he's missing teeth because the adult ones are already so big!  And for the record, those baby teeth came in almost exactly 5 years from when they came out. (10/2/06[R] and 10/8/06[L])  To sum up the whole experience: "It was like pulling teeth." Literally.

Gpers

It's one of those mornings.  You know, the mornings where you can hardly get out of bed.  It's a sleeping kind of day, and if it'd been up to me, we would've slept all day.  Alas, Ira's in school and Ruby's not real fond of spending the entire day in her crib, so up and at 'em we are.  And the title of this post?  Well, that's what happens when you try to type "flowers" and your fingers would rather be in bed still...

Anyway, this past weekend, I added 12 more plants to my perennial flower bed that I started this year.  I have never been one to do well with keeping flowers alive (I like to say that I have a black thumb.)  But the front of our house was in desperate need of something, and after devouring the book "Prairie Lands" from my Mother-in-Law, I decided to make a go of planting prairie-friendly perennials.  Boy, did I pick the year to start a flower garden!  Luckily, thanks to these awesome soaker hoses (and a nice deep well) we were able to keep everything except one plant alive (which is pretty good considering I planted 34ish plants in May.)

The garden now includes: 3 Mums, 3 Salvia, 3 Rosebushes (already there), 1 Butterfly bush that is not there anymore, 2 Blanket Flower, 5 Garden Phlox, 3 Aster, 4 Black-eyed Susans, 3 Stella de Oro day lilies, 3 Purple Coneflower, 3 Sedum, 1 (beautiful) Russian Sage, 7 liatris spicata, 5 Yarrow, and 5 coreopsis.  I cannot wait to see it grow and spread from year to year.  This first year wasn't too impressive flower-wise, but that's normal with perennials, and I was pretty much thrilled with the fact that they stayed alive all summer (perennials are an INVESTMENT!)  I still need to find something to replace the Butterfly Bush with.  I may just replace it with Russian Sage because I love how it looks so much (it's the fuzzy purple at the far end of the garden in the pic below.)  The honeybees and butterflies LOVE it (seriously, the plant buzzes when you walk past)  and it's just such a pretty color and texture.  (Look at me talking like an actual gardener! he he he)

Here are some pics of the garden that I took this morning while it was RAINING!!!  I liked the first pic because all the flowers that I planted are in focus, but I had to include the second one too because I love how only the roses are in focus.

New Toys

Ira and Ruby were both excited this past weekend when Andy brought home some "new" old toys that he had when he was growing up.  Among them was a wooden farm set complete with tractor, animals, silos, and fences.  The kids have been having a lot of fun playing with them, and I know it's special to Andy to see them playing with toys that he enjoyed so much growing up.

Notice who (what) is driving the tractor?  That's Ruby for 'ya!

Homecoming

My college had homecoming festivities this weekend.  We've always wanted to attend in the past, but have had other commitments.  Finally, this year, we didn't have anything else going on.  So we decided to go.  Part of the festivities was a coloring contest for kids 0-5 and 6-10.  I printed out the page for Ira on Thursday and he was pretty excited about coloring his picture so that it would "come to life."  (After, that is, he got over his fear that he might not win... seriously.... we're talking tears and everything...I told him to sit in his room and think about it for awhile, about if he was going to be that devastated if he didn't win, that maybe he just shouldn't do it at all, that he'd have to decide if it was worth it to him.  He sat in there about 3 minutes and came out calmed down and had decided he was going to color it and he was going to win.)

Homecoming at my college is awesome and SO family friendly.  First off, it's in the late afternoon, which works great for parents of kiddos who still take naps.  Secondly, everything was FREE!  From the parade (where we collected at least a half gallon of candy,) to the carnival (with inflatable rides and carnival games and prizes,) to the tailgate dinner, it was all free.  Ira turned in his coloring sheet and scoped out the competition, and I've got to say, his page did look really awesome.  I was under the impression that they were announcing the winner at halftime of the football game, which we had decided not to go to (because it did cost money.) 

We watched the game for awhile from behind the chain-link fence, and were getting around to go when a couple of alums walked out and asked if we wanted their alumni passes to go to the game.  Hooray!  So we ended up going in right around the end of the first quarter.  After we walked in, the Alumni Director walked past us and said excitedly, "Hey did you hear the announcement?"  I wasn't sure what she was talking about, so I said, "No, what?"  And she said that Ira WON the coloring contest!!!  He was absolutely, positively elated.  It was so adorable, and I was so proud of and happy for him.  We ended up staying through half-time and then headed home because Ruby was ready for bed.   The kids both fell fast asleep on the way home and slept like rocks all night.  It was a WONDERFUL day and I hope to return to Homecoming for many years to come! 

Here's a pic of Ira with his fun prize!

Broke

Good GRIEF!  In the last 15 days at our house we have broken glass 4, yes that was FOUR times.  

When my sister and her fam was over two Fridays ago, Ira accidentally tipped a glass over on the bar and it shattered.  (That was fun to clean up with 4 kiddos 5 and under.) 

Last Sunday, as I was getting plates out of the cabinet, one slipped out under the stack I got out and hit the counter top and shattered.  Mind you, it was Corelle, which I thought was supposed to be durable (we knocked one off the half-wall in our apartment and it fell a whole story down and hit the linoleum at the bottom of the stairs and it didn't break.)  Apparently it's not durable enough to hit a counter top two feet below the cabinet...

Yesterday, as I was making my grocery list, somehow (I'm still not sure, b/c Ira was across the room and Ruby was 3 feet away from it) my big tri-fold 9 frame picture stand got knocked over and crashed to the ground (thank GOODNESS not on anyone) and two of the frames of glass shattered.  All over the carpet.  And toys. And Andy wasn't home yet.  Ugh...

Then this morning as Ruby was finishing up her breakfast (cheerios, one and a half scrambled eggs, and a big piece of toast) she knocked the Corelle plate she was using off of the bar and onto the floor.  And guess what?  It SHATTERED too!  We don't often give her Corelle plates to use, but you can bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow... she'll be back to using her plastic plates.

So basically what I'm saying is, if you plan on coming over to our house, make sure to wear shoes... and bring your own dishes to eat off of, 'cause we're getting down to slim-pickings here!