Adventures in Cucumber

Ruby is moving more towards eating whatever we're eating.... well... right now she still eats a lot of her "baby food"  but, she's starting to have bits of whatever we're eating for dinner.  She had spaghetti last week, and some brown rice (really her bib and high chair had brown rice) at lunch this week.  Today at lunch she got some lettuce and cucumber to chew on....the lettuce was "meh", the cucumber...now that was a hit...

 "Mmmm, the center is the tastiest, AND it provides a nice carrying handle"  What...you don't believe me that she said that?!?

 Here's the "Aren't I cute" head to the side pose.

Maybe she'll use those legs afterall :)

Saturday sketch challenge

I just found this blog site…. it’s fantastic!!!    and… I used this weeks Saturday sketch to make a card for a friends baptism today.  Yay!

The blog site is Stamping 411  and I'm feeling inspired!

Day 9: Passions and Hobbies

Harold is my subject again for this one.   No… I’m not saying his passion and hobby is television watching…lol…but I am saying it’s politics.  He’s watching something on Fox news here…..I’d like to say Megyn Kelly (because I love her)…but it’s more likely Glenn Beck   Ruby just LOVES sitting on the couch with daddy!  I think perhaps that’s her passion for this time.

Day 8: A gift from the heart

Day 8 is “A gift from the heart: what they have said, promised, done, given”

Harold is my subject today…and what he has given me is a godly husband, a leader of our family, the promise of continually seeking out the Lord’s will for our life and family, a father to our daughter, and a teacher to us both….all the while holding up and being here for his consistently slightly frazzled wife.

Day 6: Who THEY love

You would not believe, how CraZy excited Ruby gets when she sees her cousin S…if only I could get a picture of that!  S is amazing with Ruby, and it is just a delight to watch them together.  Must be all that practice from being a big sister, that makes her so good with Ruby.

Day 7: Generations

I had a hard time picking this picture… there were quite a few cute ones with Grampa …but…I love how she’s eating his zipper in this one…so it wins

I played around with metering and the camera settings and as it turns out…spot metering is a bad idea for us… ha!  Ruby’s face kept coming out white white white…

….and yes…I’m missing Day 6…but that’s because I decided to use a picture of Ruby and her cousin…and I didn’t want to post that unless her parents are OK with having her picture on my blog.

Day 5: What you love to hate…

The bottles… they’re that tiresome thing that always seems to need washing…  they used to be a constant reminder of failure and brought pain…now…they’re both a freedom (I can go anywhere…anyone can feed Ruby) and a chore.

Day 4: What they Wear

A sweater knit by Grandma, is worn constantly….it’s washed and put back on…washed and put back on…I will always remember Ruby in this little sweater, with this little dress which is the first thing that I sewed for her…her “Thanksgiving Dress”.  And she wears this dress….and more like it, over longies…knit by mom….  it’s like her little baby uniform…

Day 3: Then and now

No new pictures today…just a fresh look at a couple of old ones

Day 2: How she looks

Well, I'd really like to replace this photo....  with one where the subject is not blurry....and where you don't see our unmade bed behind her with the mattress peeking out.... (I even tried to blur the background in GIMP...but I have zero experience in any real image manipulation.... )

...but this facial expression... the concentration.....this is the one...

this picture (above) a friend did a little blurring for me in photoshop…below is the original

Day 1: What she does…

She cries….

… but look….catchlights!

the joy of LOVE

Ok, so I've not been very good with the blog updates lately.....but good news...I'm going to take this online class! Can you believe it...it's FREE!

participants will receive daily email prompts/photo assignments with some tutorial/instruction built into the daily email lesson.  it is that easy.  i email you every morning, and you follow the assignment/prompt if you would like.  i will create a public flickr gallery where you can share if you so choose.

I don't have a fancy camera :-(   ....actually since the casing on our camera cracked wide open and the power button got pushed in and to the side, I'm not sure how long it will last.... poor thing, I just snapped it all back together and so far it's still ticking :-)  but...it's just a point and shoot camera, so I'm sure much of the course will be beyond me...still...I'd love to have a better camera some day...so why not learn what I can now...and hopefully, I'll be able to apply a little of what I learn to my little camera anyways....

Sophie….visiting family…back home in Paris :-)

 

Ruby's First Sippy Cup...... I mean Christmas

Ruby got a sippy cup from Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas.  So we gave it to her this morning with a little water in it to try out.  She's never had plain water before, and she's never had held a sippy cup.  We definitely think she likes it :-)  She's a natural :-)

This one’s for Grandma ;-)

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

 

Yet another fantastic thing from Toad’s Treasures.  I got this Christmas card made

Ruby’s first Christmas present…in her whole life!

Uncle Jesse and Auntie Cornelia visited yesterday and brought Ruby the Little People Nativity scene!!!  Admittedly, Mommy had coveted this toy…tee hee and so it came out of the box right away…no waiting for Christmas here..

She loves it!!!   Thank you SOOOOO MUCH!!! 

My pattern is up!

Update:  Available for download on Ravelry here

I'm very excited to have my first pattern published...and my model was just the cutest most perfect girl ever.

You can see pictures of her on the pattern page if you click on "more images".


Here's a link!

Snowmageddon 2010

The city is officially closed!  For reals!

Avalanche!!!

Thankfully the University is closed again today…so Harold doesn’t have to go to work…which is nice…especially since our water heater stopped working and there is supposed to be a repair person coming this morning…I hate being here by myself with Ruby to deal with repair people….I always prefer Harold is home when I let strangers into the house

Oh the weather outside is frightful…..

 

Chihuahuas

 

Just had to include a cute Rubster pic.

So, Our poor puppies have been a little neglected in the grooming…and now that winter is here we again have to find a way to deal with the snow getting packed into the hair on their legs …burrrr

You would think that leaving their hair longer…would keep them warmer…right??? Nope…just gives the snow a way to hang on and freeze them even once they’re inside The only way to get it off is to run the whole darned dog under warm water…ummmm every time they pee?  Not going to happen….  

So we took them to a groomer today…I asked for this cut…and they did an awesome job (Barkingdales on Adelaide… love love love!)…  it’s exactly what we need right now so that they don’t get their hair pulled…the snow doesn’t pack their legs…and the don’t get knots in their hair…buttt…..I wasn’t totally prepared for this. 

I couldn’t tell them apart when I got back home this afternoon…it took me awhile and I still have to look for awhile…honestly…right now I tell them apart by the coat I have on them…lolol

So…yeah…they left as poor little Yorkies in need of a grooming….

And they came back as……CHIHUAHUAS!!!!

She looks cozy….doesn’t she?

So, I really have to confess that I have coveted those cute cute little carseat cozy thingies with the zips up the side.  I went looking at them….the one’s I saw were $90.   Maybe there are more affordable ones somewhere else…but anyways…I didn’t buy one.   All the cool kids have them though!
Not long after I was looking at them I was reading the blogs I frequent…and guess what I saw!  This pattern! 
And here’s what I made

I used a big chunk on fleece that I actually bought over 5 years ago from the remnants pile…didn’t do anything with and ended up using as a blanket,  and I used the flannel that I got on sale at fabricland before Ruby was born for $1.99 a yard!  So, this cost less than $10 including the purchase of the pattern! 
It’s a pdf pattern, so you just download it and print in on your printer and tape the sheets together, no waiting.  It was really easy to follow (even for a beginner like me…although I did make a mistake…it’s not like there wasn’t a very clear instruction with a big photo right there…but…I somehow ignored it..lol), so yes, clear instructions with pictures showing you what to do at every step and really clear explanations. 
Love it love it…. see how cozy she looks I put it in her stroller yesterday and it was wonderful in there too!

Edit:  Oh look!  Now's she's famous!  :-)

She's just so darned cute!

The first bite...

Ruby got to try a little sweet potato yesterday (Sat)...it was her first food...

A video is worth a thousand pictures...

Harold and I had always talked about getting a video camera before Ruby was born....but they seemed so expensive (turns out they've come down a lot in price) and I really want something small...no bigger than a camera.  So, a Ravelry friend sent a link to her Vlog  (video blog) of her little one ...and I loved it...so I thought, hey, our nearly 5 year old camera has some basic video function...why not give it a try...so here is our almost a minute of video from this morning...it actually turned out better than I expected :-)

Now, here's hoping that I can get it uploaded and haven't typed this all for nothing :-) 

 

Warning: If you don't want to hear my attempt at singing while I have a nasty cold...then keep those speakers OFF!

Happy Halloween!

Our little ladybug…. we didn’t take her out…but she had fun hanging out with a sweet brown puppy, and the cutest little cow you’ve ever seen in your whole life!