Thanksgiving & the Lake

Max & Emerson found an intresting way to get closer to the food. They pushed the ice chest over to it so they could use it as a step!

My fruit turkey- I worked very hard on the little guy!

Sorry the pictures are so out of order! Not sure how to fix it!

Emerson was excited to get to stir the stuffing- Kirt made stuffing and my grandma made THE BEST cornbread dressing. Can you tell that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!

Sam and Jessie helped Grandma Peggy decorate at the lake.

A cute picture of Emerson. And yes she does have on her jammies.

That seems to be our clothing of choice these days.

She is such a little homebody. She always wants to "go home"

Brooke still loves Caroline more than anything.

She loves to help me wake her up or hold her or just play with her.

Sam is loving basketball. He just started playing for an Upwards team at our church. We have our first game next Saturday. Should be intresting since none of the kids have ever played before.

Let the birthday week begin! Peggy made Sam at birthday cake for the lake!

Elf On The Shelf

So we started our Elf on the Shelf tradition this morning- the story is that Santa sends a scout elf to your house and we name him- which Sam named him Ruby. He watches over the children every day and then at night he flys back to the North Pole and reports to Santa if you were bad or good. This has been such a HUGE hit at our house- Sam was up at 6:30 this morning and the conversation went like this:

"I have been looking out my window waiting for it to get light so we could go look for the elf". Kirt told him to go back to bed. He was back in a few minutes- so we got up and he says "Maybe we should split up so we can find him quicker".

This has prompted MANY questions about Elves- Kirt defers all questions to me since he says this was my idea!

"What do elf's eat"

"Are elves Santa & Mrs. Claus's Children"

"How does the elf know if I was bad when I am not at home?"- Kirt told him the elf smells him when he gets home and that he smells good if he was good when he was away- but only the elf can smell the scent.

"Does Santa pay the elf for working?"

Just a few pictures from the week

Kirt is scared of heights- so this was a HUGE deal- but he wanted to stain the playset before Sam's birthday party next week

Who does Caroline look like?

Caroline 3 months Emerson 3 months

Here is all three kids at 3 months. Kirt & I think Caroline looks jut like Sam!

Should I laugh or cry??

She looks SO innocent. We have definetly gotten in a different phase with our 2 year old. She has been insistant on wearing her jammies every day for 3 days- I did convince her to get dressed to take Caroline to the pediatrician this morning and then as soon as we got back home she changed her clothes. I don't think Sam could dress himself until he was almost 4! But little Emerson never ceases to suprise us. She potty trained at 25 months and she can take herself to the bathroom independently and now this..... (see below) Yes, there is no more containing her in the crib. She is flipping herself out before I can even shut the door! Right now, I have her laying in her big girl bed- we will be making the big switch tonight. It was such a big ordeal moving Sam to a big boy bed (he was getting out at 18 months) that I am dreading it! Sam slept behind the door on the floor for months! The other difference is that Emerson has learned to remove the child locks on the doors. She hits them with her hand until they fall off then she proceeds to open the doors.

This is what I found yesterday- she was digging through my purse and apparently found my lipstick! Just say a little prayer for the sleep deprived Ruby Family! Luckily we are all well for now. I am tempted to skip out on church just so they don't get sick next week- I'm not sure I could handle much else! But on a better note- I am so excited Sam starts basketball practice tonight. He is looking forward to it!

Not me....

OK, so I read this great blog http://www.mycharmingkids.net and every Monday she posts her "not me" things for the week. You have to visit her website- it is hysterical to read! Anyways, after my day today I had to post my "not me's" and yes I know today is Tuesday not Monday!

1. I definetly do not have the number to Poison Control in my cell phone and I did not call it before 8:00 this morning because Emerson ate a piece of foam that she called "gum". What kind of mom would I be if I let my daughter play with things that she could choke on in the car.
2. I did not just find my daughter pulling the dogs tail.
3. I certainly did not make Sam go get family pictures done when he had been complianing of a tummy ache that morning. I would never just give him some medicine and some Sprite just so he felt good enough and I did not have to cancel with our photographer. Thankfully he did not get sick except that one time.
4. I defiently did not make a fuss to my husband about having to cancel my plans to go to Meredith's tonight and he had to cancel his work dinner so I could go out. I would never do that!
5. I did not find Emerson holding Caroline today. She would never pick her up out of her bouncy seat.

sweet girls

My mom & Emerson

Caroline

New Pictures

Here is the latest family pictures- can you believe ALL three children are looking the same direction! Emerson (27 months), Caroline (2 1/2 months), Sam (will be 6 next month)

Elf on the Shelf

http://www.elfontheshelf.com/ So I finally bought "The Elf on the Shelf". Sam was SO excited when he got home and he is busy making a list to find the perfect name for his elf so we can register him in the North Pole. This is such a fun tradition to start- I put the link to the website here. So, the elf is magic and he flies back to the North Pole every night to tell Santa if the children were good or bad that day and then he returns every morning but lands in a different spot so the kids have to find him every day, but they are not allowed to touch him or the "magic" rubs off. Just thought I would share this with you in case you wanted to order one for your family.

My first day at work

Today was my first day back at work, I am so lucky to have a job that I can work one day a week and get 12 hours! It is a VERY long day but I do really like my job. It was such an adjustment for ALL of us. I awoke this morning to Sam crying at 5:00 a.m. saying he was going to miss me today and begging me not to go to work, there is nothing like waking up with your child staring at you face to face-luckily I wasn't in a deep sleep or it would have scared me! Actually Caroline had woken up to feed at 4:30 this morning-this time change has been a challenge for the Rubys! Emerson went around all day saying "Mommy coming home?" then it turned into "Mommy coming, Mommy coming?". Peggy said she said that ALL day today. When I got home she hugged me around the neck and put her hand up and said "Daddy, go!" She wanted her mommy and she was so done with her daddy. She kept saying, "Mommy babies" and she would rock back & forth- interpreted...Peggy must have told her mommy was rocking babies at work, then she would say "Mommy, pump" you can imagine that I called every three hours while I was pumping. All in all a good start, I missed my family and will definetly go to bed early. I'll find out about the election tomorrow!

The Great Pumpkin

The kids had a great Halloween. We stayed in our neighborhood this year and we didn't have very many trick or treaters until after 8:30 when the big kids came out with pillowcases and no costumes. I guess that happens when you live in a cul-de-sac...we only had 2 trick or treaters before 8:30 then they started coming in cars dropping them off! I didn't care as long as I got rid of my candy! The kids were excited to wake up this morning and find out what "the great pumpkin" brought. My sister came up with this great idea to trade the kids their candy for a gift! Brilliant! I fixed up 2 baggies with the best candy (10 pieces apiece) and set out their presents. Sam was so excited you would have thought Santa was coming! One of the dentists in our area is taking candy donations and sending them to the troops!