Fine Art

Ruby has come a long way in her evolution as an artist. Now all her people have arms...
Seriously though, it is interesting to me the way her mind is developing and her recognition of things shows up in her work and she at least has the concept, though not yet the practice, to get her ideas on her canvas of choice.

Above is a picture of the girls and olivia on the swings in our back yard. Even though the swings are not there, the chains coming down are there and I think she gets the idea of how to convey the idea into a picture.

This is a picture of her inside our house. Again, you can see the wheels in motion. She could have just drawn the house and said it was a picture of her in the house but she drew herself to convey the complete concept.  

This is a drawing she did at school with chocolate. There isn't any big concept there, I just dig it. It was hanging a little too low on the fridge and the family dog helped himself to a little.

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Vocabulary

Sailor is stepping her vocabulary up lately. She doesn't have all the words and structures down exactly yet but the general idea and sound is there. We try and take the time to help her hear words and make the associations. There seems to be a real effort there to get it down and its fun to see her try to make the sounds and hear her self correct in multiple attempts.

I remember when Ruby was going through this phase and now she is a great talker and moved on to harder words. She can not only hold a conversation, she'll talk your ear off. olivia and I were talking yesterday about how excited we are to hear Sailor's speaking voice. It seems like that time may be just around the corner.

Beard...

On the way to school the other day, Ruby told me when she grew up she wanted to grow a beard like Daddy. I had to break the news to her that she would never have one. I told her that little boys that grow up to become men grow beards and little girls grew up to be women and have long hair. I told her if she wanted, she could grow long hair like mommy.

She told me no, she was going to grow a beard with a "I don't take no for an answer" attitude. Later in the week, we took some photos and cut and paste my beard onto hers. She thought this was the funniest thing she had ever seen. I said "Are you sure you still want a beard" and she said "Yep, a great big one." I guess that settles it...

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Halloween

Halloween is right around the bend. This year we are letting Ruby pick her costume. She bounces back and forth between Spidergirl and a Kitty-Cat. A couple costume catalogs have come to the house and she loves flipping through them and will occasionally say that she wants to be every costume on each page.

Last night when she was getting ready for bed, we were laying down talking. There was a break of silence and she asked what was wrong. I told her I was just thinking and she asked if I was worrying about what Sailor was going to be for Halloween. When I told her no she asked what Mommy and I were going to be. I told her we were going to be her and her sister's Mommy and Daddy.

It seems like the Halloween I knew is a child is fading away in favor of themed festivals and church Trunk and Treats. The holiday was always a blast for me. I have so many awesome memories of walking and running around the neighborhood carrying a sack full of sugar. One year the bottom of my bag was blown out thanks to condensation from a Capri Sun. Thankfully I was close to home and able to scrape most of my loot up and make it back to the house.

I am glad the traditional style of Trick-or-Treating is still around for at least a few more years so I can share it with the girls. There are already so many things I loved from when I was younger that they will never experience, every little bit has become important. Tradition is a huge part of family and it is tough at times to mix the old with the new. We do are best to adapt, it's all we can do.

Schedules and Changes

Taking a look back at the early days of this blog, I used to write a lot more. Things have gotten busier around here as the girls have gotten a little older. Our schedules are radically different than they were when our arrangement changed and I came home. We've gone through many changes lately, all for the better, but I am hopeful that these differences will allow me to return to form.

Late last year and early this year I started a couple social media experiments just to see where they would go and to also kind of see what all the buzz was about. I've been talking to my wife about it in depth. The bottom line is that the outlets that yield the smallest reward are going to be cut loose. This, with the changes above, should allow me to focus on the outlets that are important and do yield rewards.

That being said, I truly appreciate each and every one of you who take the time to look at, read and comment on this blog. Seeing your reactions to the pictures or hearing that a story or incident made you laugh is truly a great reward. I hope to share more in the near future and look forward to your feedback. 

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Gymnastics

Ruby's first gymnastics class was a success! There were 5 of us there to watch and she did great. She listened to her teacher and was not afraid to try anything put in front of her. This includes absolutely killing it on the trampoline. And stretching? Forget about it. Her teacher told us she was one of the most flexible girls she had ever seen and she was able to pull of some limberness that made even her instructor hurt.

Cheap Labor

My wife hosted a trunk show for T.Rex Handmade last night. My mother in law came into town early in the week to help her get ready. Thanks to her, some ugly areas of our house have a fresh coat of paint, the drywall repairs that I did have been touched up and the kitchen hood was also freshened up. In addition to all of that, she helped and played with the girls and cleaned like a mad-woman.

Thanks for being awesome Janet. We love you and couldn't have done it without you.

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