RUBY'S MENU

On Monday night I was trying to give something fun for Ruby to do so I asked her to erase last weeks menu from our menu board (that I hardly ever use) and write down what we'd had for dinner on Sunday and Monday..........then she wrote down what we should have for dinner for the rest of the week.

Sunday: Cornd (no "e")
beef with a check mark because we ate that already

Monday: Bbq ribs
noo ldes. check mark

Tuesday: pizza. (except, we had taco's)

Wednesday: Frosen (with a backwards "z")
breedoe (burrito)

Thursday: spagabl ("spagbol" is what she was going for)
("spagbol" is what we call spaghetti cause Maddy and I read "Uglies"
and that's what they call spaghetti in the book)

Friday: Lfteovre day (leftovers woohoo)

And

Saturday: Cake mmm!
then she added "brownee cake day"

I love Ruby
The end

Miss Maddy turns 12!

I know, it's hard to believe that I have a child that's 12. I DO look young! But yes, it's true, Maddy is (FINALLY) 12.

My cute faced Maddy who is mostly perfect.....mostly.

except sometimes she makes faces like this. I'm hoping it's a TWEEN thing and she'll grow out of it soon.

Although I did make a nerdy face at a bunch of little boys who were walking home from school yesterday. I think I'm going through a phase and hopefully I'll grow out of it soon.

Some things Maddy is excited for about being 12:

*NO MORE PRIMARY! She's dreaded it for months now (I felt the same way when I was 11)

*getting to wear a little make-up MAYBE. It would be a "for sure" instead of a "maybe", except she wants to wear eye shadow most and not just a little mascara.

*Young Women's with her friend Amber (she turned 12 - 2 weeks ago)

*Hopefully getting her own room back when Junior High starts. She's been redecorating Daisy's room in her head for months now.

The Oreo Blizzard ice cream cake she requested. And the "thinking of a good wish" face.

Getting ready to blow out candles..........

and now on to the Oreo snitching

Her first pair of teeny high heels...that I bought. She buys heels at Savers herself all the time but now that she's 12 she can actually wear them (some of them) to Church.

Ruby thinks that's CRAZY.

The birthday outfit that was wrapped in silver tulle and waiting on the toilet seat for her first thing in the morning. Maddy hoped it didn't have toilet juice (eewww) on them, and if so, she was going to wear them anyway.

Here's her "smolder"
and fashion pose
And MY personal favorite face. Yup, she's still Maddy even thought she's big and OLD and 12.

She's wild about fashion and decorating. Her favorite colors are chartreuse (not "lime green"), turquoise, and bright pink. And basically, anything fashionable that happened in, or around, 1986 :)

We love our Maddy, She is fun and helpful and kind to others. She's responsible and reads like crazy. She does weird stuff and makes up nick names for her sisters...and random people on the bus. Everyone likes her, and last year she decided not to be shy anymore. (I wasn't that smart til I was a junior in high school). She's a great baby-sitter, and even likes little kids (I didn't when I was babysitting age). She's a great kid and I'm glad I get to be her Mom....even if she wants to pick out my clothes when ever I leave the house :)

Daisy turns 1 Ta da.

It's true. Our little baby - that was just barely born - turned one. Nearly a month ago.....

Max holding her back so I can get a shot of the birthday girl that isn't blurry. This little kid NEVER stops moving.

Inspecting Her own personal cake. She like to explore things..... a lot of things, with her 2 teeny fingers.

Her birthday candle cake. Looks tasty and cute, but it was a dud. I got a hair brained idea to flavor the frosting with a packet of strawberry lemonade kool-aid (I found it on Pinterest). It was a huge grand fail. It probably would have taste great in July, but not November. Nobody wants lemonade in Nov.

Except for maybe Daisy..... Who wants to feed herself, all the time. Good thing she's not very messy when she eats......:)

Opening presents. Very daintily.

One thing I love about Daisy is......EVERYTHING.....even the stuff that makes me tired. No really, I do. Except for maybe a few things.........

She has never stopped moving since the day she was born. First she would twist and scoot and maneuver her way off the blanket she would be laying on to spit up on the carpet. (thank heavens that phase is over) Then she would roll everywhere....and spit up on the carpet. Then she crawled....pulled herself up.....walked around furniture..... stood up in the middle of the room.... then on to full on walking at 9 months. It looks funny when any baby walks at 9 months, but especially funny when such a shrimpy one does it.

She weighs almost 22 lbs ( 63%) and is 30 inches long (78%). She has 9 teeth including a 15 month molar and another molar on the way. She says Mama, d'dee, and aut-oh whenever she drops something off her highchair, shopping cart or changing pad. She teases for loves and cuddles for a little second but we think she's just pausing to plan her next move.

Daisy is such a light and a joy in our little family. She keeps up on our toes and has us all wrapped around her little tiny finger.

First Day of school/ picture day 2011

Yes, I did send my children off to school. I just have a Tasmanian Daisy who keeps my sort of frazzled and mostly blogless.

Maddy on the first day of 6th grade. She has a WONDERFUL teacher names Mrs Rawle. Mrs Rawle enjoys Maddy, Maddy's super cute hair and totally appreciates her good student manners.



Ruby and her first day of First grade. Her teacher is Mrs Hogan (who was in our Payson ward when Ru was born) Mrs Hogan was requested by me because Ruby's kindergarten teacher was less then...... Mrs Hogan LOVES LOVES LOVES her kids, but doesn't love telling parents what is expected of their students. It annoys this parent a little. But we LOVE her none the less.



Maddy's school picture face. We didn't order any school pictures because we were planning (and we did -- yeah) on taking our own pictures (by the best friend Em) instead.

Ruby's school picture face. Never mind that her hair is COMPLETELY different now.
The end....

Pet names?....

So.....I seem to have super good names for my family members.....if they were animals.

Years ago when We moved to our townhouse and Max and I only had one Maddy for a kid, we had 2 sets of neighbors right across from us. They didn't have any kids just one dog each.....One was names Maddy and one was named Max. DOGS. Let me also say that Max is the #1 dog name E V E R. For reals.

Then, when Ruby came around, I told my friend that we were going to name her "Ruby" and she said "OH, I know a goat named Ruby". Let me also say that that same friend thinks there isn't a more perfect name for a baby then "Ruby" except for maybe "Roxie" (I know a dog named Roxie)

Ruby, the person. (at her dance recital that happened and I never blogged about)

Maddy the person.

Daisy, the person.

Now that we have a Daisy, there are 2 DOGS in my neighborhood named DAISY. One lives about 3 houses down from us and the other is my good friend Holly's dog. She says she feels bad every time she yells at her dog. In her defense her dog came first. Also, Max's cousin has a dog named Daisy. Daisy the person doesn't know what to think about this news.

bark bark bark and mehhhh. (what sound does a goat make anyway?)

That's all.

Ruby had a birthday.....a while ago.

What a super bad Mom I am. Ruby had a birthday and I didn't even blog one word about it. Lots of other things happened this summer but nobody knows about those things either.

Without further ado. Ruby's 6th birthday extravaganza.


The wish making.....hmmmm now what should I wish for.

A PURPLE Mp3 player. Exactly what I wanted....what,,,,,, with songs already on it. (my Mom is so stinkin' smart) Are you serious?

(I won't mention that 2 days later her Mp3 player was taken from her by her evil Mom who didn't like the attitude that was oozing from her body about cleaning her room.)

Good thing we opened presents last. I'm busy jammin' out to my tunes. "I'm too sexy for the party...." "I;m a Barbie girl....."

Ruby told me (in January) that she was going to have a birthday party. So naturally we had one. Ashtynne, Ruby Breanne, Ashlee, Cassidy, and Rylan. We played games and ate cupcakes.

And WHOOOOSH.

6 things I love about RUBY.

1. Her face when she smiles....like REALLY smiles. It involves her whole entire head. I love it.

2. Her giggle. It makes her Dad and I giggle too. It's a thing of beauty.

3. How much she loves her sisters....not just the new one, Maddy too. She is constantly making arty stuff for them. Maddy might be overloaded with 6 year old art and MIGHT have to toss some of them sometimes.

4. How much she loves her Mom and Dad and how easy it is for her to forgive us our rottenness. (like when we take all her stuff after she sass's and doesn't mind... when it clearly isn't her fault)

5. How sweet she can be to her friends, even when Maddy and I think she's being left out or taken advantage of by her friends. She doesn't care, as long as they still play with her. She's a forgiver for sure.

and....

6. She's says the funniest things and doesn't even try.

Maddy is great.....

I've always known that Maddy was great, it's just so fun when other people -strangers in the shoe store even- tell you how great she is.

Maddy wore long (like thigh high long) purple striped socks to school last week.....She did have a Levi skirt on with them and she was totally modest....... Well, the janitor (who is super cool in his own right) said to Maddy "Maddy, you are just your own person aren't you?"

She is and I love it.

As for the stranger in the shoe store. She asked Maddy if she acted? Like in plays, because how she was dressed (super cute) and her cute asymmetrical hair cut/colored hair. She told Maddy that she was the coolest 11 year old she'd ever met.

And she is.

I absolutely LOVE how she is and how she acts (mostly--everyone has their weaknesses-RUBY)

The end.

To Max, Our 16th!! anniversary......

Happy anniversary to my fella. I first fell in love with you (on our first date) because you were so sweet to your baby sister, and am in more love with you today because how you love your own baby girls. You're the super best Dad that 3 beautiful little girls could ever dream of. I love you bigger than the whole sky. Most of the time... more, and sometimes less.


I love your guts, and your butt. But what's even better, is you love MY guts and MY butt................don't say "butt".



You're the cutest boy I've ever met. Before I met you, I asked my Mom "how will you know when you meet your husband?" She said "He'll look like Robert Redford", she said other stuff too but that Robert Redford comment is the only thing that stuck. I was terrified. I though "but don't think I like Robert Redford, he's OLD , and I don't want to marry someone who looks like him". Now, I get what she ment. Max, You're way better than Robert Redford.

You're the most honest and true husband that's ever lived. Even if you think it'll get you in trouble. You always think I'm beautiful, even if I'm a dirty jammie body. You always LOVE what I've made for dinner, and if you don't, you're always appreciative that I made you dinner. You tell my the house looks nice, even if just a little bit of it is clean.

You are very hard to argue with, even thought I try super hard sometimes. You really do try to see where I'm coming from. I've loved you till my heart hurts, and only a couple of time "hated" you with a vengeance. Bless your heart. You put up with my hair brained ideas and go with them even if they are hair brained, which come to find out (later) that they really are. It's a good thing we don't have to make our own ice cubes anymore :)

You're fun to hang out with, snuggle with (but only for a minute), talk to and be comforted by. I love you truly and forever.

That's all.

Nine months in/ nine months out.....

It's true, The Daisy Renee is 9 months old. She is doing all sorts of naughty things. Maddy tells her "that's WRONG Daisy" when she does them, cause it is.



Some of the naughty stuff she does is, She started rolling around EVERYWHERE at 4 months, crawling at 5 months, pulling herself up to standing at 6 months, standing up in the middle of the room with out any help at 8 months and at 9 months has taken many steps, many times. The most we've counted is 8, no 11 no, a lot of steps in a row. She also does all this stuff at high speed. She acts like She's had a few cans of Mountain Dew.....which she hasn't.......just to be clear.

Oh, and she has 6 teeth. She got her 2 bottom ones first, then 2 top ones, but not the 2 middle top ones, the ones next to those so she was vampire baby for a couple of weeks before her 2 top middle ones grew in. She's 19 lbs 9 oz so she's gained exactly 10 lbs in 9 months.... I wish I had only gained 10 pounds in 9 months.

Holding Uncle Heed's hand at 7 months. How cute is that? It's super cute. That Uncle Heed, he's a big softy.

Patriotic pedicure by Dad at almost 8 months. Yes Dad.

7 months. She just thought of a funny joke. Or maybe she has a prize in her drawers.
Or maybe, she knows something we don't...

Almost 8 months with Dad and his Mt Dew shirt. Yummy yummy. She probably likes that shirt cause last fall I wore it to Bunko (8 months preggers) when my friend told us to wear our favorite "team" clothes. GO Team DEW. We don't watch sports and I'm pretty sure I don't look good in Camoflauged.

Just an 8th month old face. Wondering what Mom is doing saying "Daisy, Daisy, Daisy look over here. No over HERE. DAISY!". That's wrong. I think she can say "mama" cause sometimes she'll speed crawl after me saying "ma ma ma ma mamamamamamamama" But that could maybe be coinscience. She also said "Hi Dad", plain as day, about a month ago, but we aren't counting that for real.

She likes to crawl (at the speed of light) under things. Then get very stuck. How much do we love that her name is Daisy? There are Daisy things to buy EVERYWHERE. Don't mind the bag of trash in the background. We like to leave it there so she'll play in it.

Her family likes to put her IN things to keep her stationary for a few seconds. She might be trying to figure out how to call "the people" that help children who are being abused....... Does being put in a laundry tote count as abuse? At least we don't push her down the stairs in the laundry basket like my brothers did to me.

Her 9 month picture...... I sat her in the middle of the floor so I could take a nice sweet picture of her and by the time I got my camera from my hand to my eye, this is what I saw. Lightening fast and a bit rotten.

Afterwords, I got this fine picture. She doesn't sit still for anything!

We sure love this kid. Maddy's new saying is "oh Daisy, I love'a cause a coot" It sounds better when Maddy says it.

We do love'a. Daisy and you are coot.

The end.

PS You may have noticed that I've lost my funny bone. It is due to financial stress and a messy house and perhaps too many hours in the house with my children. School starts Monday.

The end.

Sisterly Love....

Max took the girls camping over the weekend. This was one of the pictures they text ed to me....


Maddy swears that Ruby asked her to cover her in wet sand......

On to bigger and better days....

Yup, our little Ruby Ru graduated from Kindergarten!

The poor little crumb ball was so sick, but she wasn't about to miss graduation -- and the last day of school. I don't remember what sickness she had, but we deemed her un-contagious and off she went.

Ruby and her super great teacher, Miss Halter. She was a bit strict and not as sweet as the other Kindergarten teacher, but in her defense, the other teacher could be in a Disney movie.

The walking to shake hands and receive her diploma picture. I was miles away and have since learned about shutter speed.

Since Ruby didn't feel ever so well, we stayed home for dinner and celebrated by decorating sugar cookies.

(that boy sitting next to her is Preston Carr-- he's in our ward and Ruby wrote in her daily journal about 6 different times saying "I like Preston". "Preston is my friend". "I love Preston" and other things like that. Maddy pointed out that Ruby only said she liked Maddy one time :)

Some things about Ruby and Kindergarten:

She's naturally funny, but doesn't really like people laughing at her. (who does)

She's taller than Maddy was at this age and wears stuff Maddy wore in 1st, 2nd or 3rd grade.

She was the only one in her class to score a 100% on her end of year testing!!

She doesn't LOVE reading.

She LOVES being read to. or too.

She'd rather do anything than go shopping. Even if we're buying stuff for her.

She learned to tie her shoe. But hasn't learned to ride her bike.

She LOVES to pick up and hold Daisy.... Daisy does NOT love to be picked up or held. BUT... Ruby can make Daisy laugh the fastest out of anyone.

For her birthday, she wants a water party, and She's been planning it for months.

She's so sweet, and is always making random crafty stuff for us.

She's messy. She's been called the Tasmanian Devil by her mother.

This year, she stuck a Lego up her nose.

She's ALWAYS cold unless she's HOT.

She never (and I mean NEVER) clears her dishes after meals.

She's a really super kid.

First Grade doesn't have a chance.