adoption day

It has been one year since Rubie's adoption was finalized. To celebrate, we took her to the Happiest Place on Earth for the first time. I don't think she liked it all that much. She is very sensitive when it comes to any sort of violence. She recently saw Goofy get his butt stuck in a tuba on a cartoon and cried. She didn't like rides that were dark or loud or scary in any way. So that left us with Dumbo and the carousel. Maybe we will try again next year.

Ramon took this one (that's why it's out of focus =)

we spend a lot of time in the backyard...

Book Festival

Eloise and I went to a book festival on the campus of UCLA. Did I take any pictures of books or famous authors? (and I did see some - Alex Espinoza and David Shannon) This is one of the few pictures that I left with....

out of presents...

Rubie has now opened all of the potty presents. We will now be moving on to M&Ms for going on the potty. She really wants one (she never gets candy - we are mean parents).

Savie and Henry...

frenchie a la foot...

boogies have been photoshopped out (no, really)...

photography class

I am taking a photography class at the community center. My first assignment was to take a picture of something using the rule of thirds (I turned in the picture of Rubie's shoes on the wrong feet). This week, the assignment is to shoot a macro (close up) photo. I can't seem to get that close to anything and stay focused. These are some that I am considering...

bubbles and stickers

Those two words are very meaningful at our house...

soccer game

Rubie went to see her daddy play soccer...

You wouldn't know it here, but she had a good time...

Cousin Henry showed up to watch his daddy play, too!

cousin henry

backwards

ahhh, independence...
(by the way, the rest of this outfit consisted of a pull up and a t-shirt)

I know the shadows on her face are not ideal, but she doesn't exactly pose for me - any picture that gets taken is something she is already doing, not something I ask her to do (those things never happen)

Cutest Shoes Ever (too bad they have to go back)

They left red marks on her little sausages...

It is supposed to drop 20 degrees tomorrow...

Cheater pants

So, I picked up this little bubble machine at Target for somewhere around two dollars. It does the work for you - no eating the bubble solution!



Rubie is just as happy when she sees the bubbles...


Here is a picture of Rubie and the one who taught her to say "jacuzzi" when she toots in the tub. nice.

Spring

bubbles

Rubie is still figuring out this whole bubble blowing thing. See, the problem is that she holds the bubble wand too close to her mouth (as shown here):


Apparently, it doesn't taste good (I thought she learned that on Easter):


But when she does make a few bubbles, she is really excited!


She really loves her bubbles.

finger painting

Sometimes I feel like I take a step forward with photography and then two steps back. Lately it seems that I cannot get enough light in my house to take any pictures. Well, I take pictures - they just all come out blurry. This one would have been a really nice photo, but there isn't enough light (blurry).







Here are the new frames that I bought for the stairs (sorry Ramon).

potty update

So far she has earned 7 or 8 Dora cards, and 2 presents! She isn't consistent, but at least she is interested in the potty again.

It's a rough day for all Seuss friends...

They have taken several naps and spent time in the "time out" chair- and now look at them...

potty issues

We haven't been pushing the potty issues at our house lately, but it's time to do something. I am tired of buying diapers. I am not above bribery. I got the idea from a friend to have wrapped presents for actually going number 1 or number 2, but to also have a little something to give out for just sitting on the potty. Lately, Rubie doesn't even want to sit on the potty - so we thought maybe this would help.

So, we have wrapped presents for using the potty...


...and Dora cards for just sitting on the potty. She gets one card everytime she sits on the potty.


Yesterday evening (when we introduced this concept), she sat on the potty twice. She didn't go, but at least she tried. Good, right?


But, I've also noticed something different. When Rubie said she wanted to sit on the potty, she didn't sit - she turned backwards and stood over her little potty. That's when I realized that maybe Ramon isn't the best "model" for the job. Either that or he needs to sit down to pee.


um....any potty advice you have is greatly appreciated.