Beautiful Boy

I remember in the hospital just after I had Ruby that I immediately wanted another baby. Ian wasn't so sure especially after 4 months of going through the colicky stage with dear Ruby.

So I gave up on the idea of having a third and tried to quiet the mind but I just felt we had one more life to give.
Fast forward 2.5 years (about the time one forgets the hard baby times and relishes in the fun toddlerhood) we had found out Ian's sister was expecting their second child in a few months.My baby pangs were sharp and I told Ian that I wanted to try for a third and that I knew if we got pregnant that it would be a boy. I was sure of it. Two months later, I was pregnant. The girls were very excited and both of them wanted a brother. Ruby always insisted that I was carrying a boy and never thought otherwise.
I was so sure too and went ahead and bought a ton of boy clothes one month before we had an ultrasound.  My intuition was correct and I was indeed bringing a boy into the family.

      Gus Irving Bruins was born October 7th,2010 at a mere 9 lbs 6 oz and 22inches long!

Smiling upon hearing that we were headed home.

             Sleepy head

     Our Peace Loving Guy



          A wish come true.

Disappear

It's been over a year since I last blogged and what a year it has been! I took a much needed break but in the last couple of weeks I have been feeling the push to come back and record our daily happenings here in our little family world. The girls like coming onto the blog and enjoy reading the stories and watching the videos posted about them. So I decided the it was high time I got back to some sort of regular posting.

Here are few pictures of the girls from the past year:

Now that is just a small sampling on what has been going on but some other "events" deserve a post all their own.... like this one:

1234

Okay so I was tagged by 2 different people who just were dying to know 8 random things about me but since I slacked, I was told I had to come up with 16 total. So if this looks familiar, it is because you may have already seen it on my facebook page approximately a year ago. Ha! It's still relevant even a year later.

1. I have a birthmark in the shape of a unicorn.
2. I have yet to find a pair of slippers that don't make my feet stink.
3. When I sleep, my feet must stick out of the blankets.
4. I hate wearing a bra!
5. I always imagined myself with 3 boys but when it came time to have kids...I wanted all girls.
6. I regret getting a tattoo in the parking lot of a Grateful Dead concert. Only because it was poorly done.
7. I am so glad to have married into a wonderful family.
8.My fingernails often resemble people. ie. David Letterman Jimmy Carter Alan Alda
9. I can draw with my feet.
10. I can not for the life of me remember birthday's that fall between the 20th and 29th.
11. I can't tread water.
12. I often talk in pig latin.
13. I am a news junkie.
14. seeing things hung crooked or even slightly crooked sends me into a tizzy
15. Best class I ever took....Speed Reading...what a time saver!
16. I really hate cooking.

My Prerogative

Since at about 18 months, Ruby has been developing her own sense of style. For the most part, her style has been a bit questionable, one even might call it... avant garde?

Let's take a look at some of her fashion fads over the last 6 months:

Here is what I call the "Head Case"

Right now we are in "The Clash" trend

Alternating with "The Eyes Have It" fad.

Let me tell ya, there is no talking that girl into trying something more mainstream...oh and how I've tried.. She is the quintessential "beat of a different drum" sorta gal....and that...I adore.

Everybody's talking all this stuff about me

Now now why don't they just let me live

Oh oh oh i don't need permission

Make my own decisions oh

That's my prerogative

Rain Drops Keep Falling On My Head

Two weeks into preschool, Ava had her first school field trip. One of the many perks of being a stay at home mom is being able to chaperone ALL field trips. Ava loves it and frankly I enjoy it just as much as she does. For our first field trip, we traveled to the Minnesota Harvest Apple Orchard in Jordan.

Ava getting ready to board the bus.

We sat in the way back so we could bounce all around when going over bumps.

It started raining once we boarded the bus and I was not looking forward to getting all wet. But once we arrived the rain let up a bit and we took the chance to get on the wagon and head out to to pick out some apples.

Loic and JM stayed pretty dry, thanks to their smart planning. Luckily for us, someone had an extra Jumbo umbrella for Ava and I to use.

"Hey Mom, how you like dem apples?"

We got to see a behind the scenes process of what happens to an apple once it is picked and then prepared for use.

Here the tour guide was showing the kids how they are able to peel and de-core 10 apples at one time.

My kid, along with her pals Mason and James, thought blowing around a dead fly was much more interesting.

We ended the tour with a tasty sampling of their apple donuts handed out by Miss Katy.

Despite spilling all her cider, Ava was all smiles at the chance to sit with Mason and his grandmother.

Before we left we had the opportunity to shop around and I bought some apple bread, 1/2 dozen apple donuts, bag of Honey Crisp apples (the tastiest apples evah!) and a pony named Princess.

1 field trip done, only 10 more to go!

It's a New Day

Two weeks ago today was Ava's first day in preschool. Loic (part time son) is in the same class as well.... which is why I think drop off went so smoothly. No tears were shed...other than mine...and she wanted to go back the next day. Let's hope this enthusiasm continues for the next 17 years.

She has already made some new friends and has her first crush.

"Mom, I made a new friend today. Mason is his name and we played together and sat together at snack."

"Is that so?"

"Uh huh, I asked him to be my best friend because I really like him."

"Sure sounds like it. What do you like about Mason?"

"He's nice but I like his face the most."

Ava and Loic

Arm shelf!

Air Supply

It was a balmy and humid 82 degrees this afternoon and I decided to run an oscillating fan instead of turning on the air. Earlier this evening, Ava went to get her notebook to practice writing and then went to the other side of the room to get her chair. She looked at the fan and sighed, "Why do you keep looking at me?"

Splish Splash

Agent 1007 armed and ready to complete Mission Splish Splash

Target: "The Dumper"

1007 tired of big sis dumping large cups of water on head when bathing together and laughing hysterically at her expense.

Rule #1 Make friends with your enemy; highly recommend getting matching outfits for ease of assimilation.

Rule #2 Pretend that you are bored with activity and leave to climb on playground structure all the while hiding out to make your move.

Rule # 3 Don't wear squeaky shoes.

Rule # 4 Sneak up behind target with full bucket. Proceed to dump water all over HER head.

Rule #5 Squeal in sweet, sweet revenge delight as target runs away.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!


And if all else fails... release pent up frustrations on unsuspecting victim... namely mom.

We Are Family

Ian, Ruby, Ava, Lisa
In this drawing she gave Ian and me some ears(gigantic ones) but didn't give any to herself or Ruby.
Oh, how art imitates life.

Ruby, Ava, Lisa, Ian

I like how she made a mustache and beard on herself so she could look more like her daddy who is in fact a different color than us. Pretty observant, huh?

Speaking of mustaches....
We were at some friends house last week and noticed that her friend's grandmother had some facial hair above her lip and quickly turned to me to ask "Mom, when am I going to get a mustache like hers?"

She may be the only female alive who actually welcomes facial hair. Soon enough Ava...soon enough...

Eight Days a Week

Ava's sense of time is one that leaves me laughing daily; like when today I overheard her talking to her best bud, Loic, about something that happened yestertime...he understood perfectly. He must be in that same time zone as her.

Here's a handy translation:

last Friday= the last time it occurred
the udder day= any day...go crazy and just pick a day
yestertime= yesterday
dis Monday= sometime in the future
last week= months and months ago
da next day-= tomorrow
last Tuesday-= last week

She's Got The Look

Killer pose: check (who taught her that?!)

high metabolism: check (21month old wearing a 6-9 month onesie!)

stone cold facial expression: check (trust me if looks could kill...you better pray you never get on her bad side)

natural strut: check

adoring fans: check (HELP!)

Tangled Up In Blue

We were on our way to spend the weekend at Rose's parents cabin out west of the cities and Ava, then 16 months, had fallen asleep as it had began to grow dark. We pulled up to a gas station so Mike and Rose could fill up their gas tank and "Tangled Up In Blue" came on the radio. Ava immediately awoke and smiled the biggest grin and began singing along with Bob Dylan. It was the oddest and yet... most magical moment...