Someone is SIX!

14902847_10154662283029282_510529638418060289_oSo sad that we don’t keep up with this blog much anymore, but if there’s ever a reason to update, Ruby’s sixth birthday is a good one!

14947870_10155006273908676_8469247392275690557_nWe kept tradition alive and combined trick-or-treating with birthday cupcakes this year. It’s funny, when I found out my due date was 10/30, I was always so worried that her birthday would be overshadowed by Halloween. Ironically, Halloween is Ruby’s favorite – and she loves that it falls so close to her birthday on 11/2. She went as the Childlike Empress from The Neverending Story this year – her favorite movie (at least until Harry Potter came along …) Her dad was THRILLED. He also made her headpiece, sourced the dress and whipped up the tulle cape. Pretty rad Dad, huh?

img_9323So yeah, Harry Potter. Cut to her actual birthday where she woke up and opened presents with us, all of which were Harry Potter themed, and then we did her annual birthday interview.

Instead of a birthday party, she chose to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios instead. We had a great time – Ed + I can’t even remember the last time we went to Universal, and it was really fun experiencing something new at a theme park. We tried our first Butterbeer, did some magic spells and even rode a roller coaster. It was only $10 more to get a 9-month pass, so we will definitely be going back a bunch more!

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The Nightmare Before Ruby’s Birthday


With Ruby’s birthday only being two days after Halloween, I’ve always worried about lumping them together because it just didn’t seem fair. Turns out, Mom was completely WRONG on this one! Ruby absolutely adores Halloween and was thrilled that it fell on a weekend this year so that she could have a Halloween birthday party! We’ve always had a crew to trick-or-treat with, so we just invited folks over for a little extra fun before hitting the neighborhood.

One of her very favorite movies is The Nightmare Before Christmas, so we did our best to make the celebration worthy of an event in Halloween Town. She was pretty happy.

Of course, Daddy had to be Jack…


My last minute costume was dressing up as Shock, one of the troublemaker kids in the movie who kidnaps “Sandy Claws”.  She dresses like a witch but wears a big, oversized green mask. Props to Ed for constructing this last minute for me! (And how great did Daddy pull off Sally‘s awesome makeup?!?)


Matchy-machy Tim-Butron-esque tights. :)

Ed went all out and decided an Oogie Boogie piñata needed to be made. He did the whole thing … paper mache and all. I didn’t know how he’d pull it off, but he sure did — it turned out incredible!

A few pics from the celebration:


And finally, the Annual Halloween photo — AKA, the Orange Couch Session!

Trick or Treating in the neighborhood

Ruby update

This has been one epic summer. Ruby went back to school yesterday and it’s just amazing to see how much she’s grown. When she started Petite Montessori, she was just 2 yrs (and 10 mos) old. Now, she’s almost 5!

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She certainly turned into quite a fish over the summer as well. She has always loved the water, but now she is swimming halfway across the big pool and turning to the side to breathe! She even got brave and ran off the diving board without a lifejacket at swim lessons this summer! She is truly oozing with confidence when it comes to the pool.

She’s also made some significant strides with her violin. She has been working on “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and “Hot Cross Buns”. She’s getting there, but the most impressive thing to me is that she is completely reading music now. Its amazing to see … we’re just so proud of the drive she has to learn this and how dedicated she is with practicing!

She likes eating cucumbers now, her favorite place to go is the beach, and she’s officially obsessed with Star Wars. She’s rivaling her dad when it comes to trivia … and she’s even building a reputation amongst her friends …

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Hangin’ at the beach with daddy.

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It’s been a fun summer and we’re sure it will be a great year for this spunky little girl we call our daughter. She’ll be 5 in less than two months!