Happy Halloween!

While most monarchs are heading south to Mexico for the winter, our favorite monarch only headed as far south as the Texas Capitol. Happy Halloween from Ruby Albina!

Eleven months

Our girl is almost a full year.

Flashback Friday

Hook Em Horns!

Singing The Eyes of Texas with the team after the October 2005 Texas/OSU game in Stillwater. After a very rough first half, Vince Young came out in all his burnt orange glory for an awesome win over the Cowboys. We love you, Vince. We're rooting for you this weekend against Jacksonville.

edit: I realize that this is Ruby's blog and this flashback in no way relates to her. However, the Texas/OSU game is a big deal in the Edmonson family, and we're teaching Ruby all season long about the joys of college football.  

Ruby and her baby

Ruby, a Strawng Woman

Ruby discovered the joy of multi-colored straws.

Theory #1 or Theory #2?

I've had some complaints recently (I'm talking to you, Baba) about our lack of updates on the blog. I have two theories on why we haven't updated much lately. Theory #1: We have been so busy having a great time with visitors that we haven't had time to post. Theory #2: We had to give back the fancy camera we had borrowed from a friend, and now it's not nearly as fun to take pictures with our point and shoot. The honest answer is probably a little bit of theory #1 and a little bit of theory #2. But if the grandparents ask, it's all theory #1.

Since I know that our friends and family come here mostly for the pictures, I'm just going to post some random ones from the last month. Enjoy.

Hanging out with Gramma

Smiling pretty

Playing "babushka" with Momma

Reading Pride and Prejudice. She is a huge Mr. Darcy fan.

Waiting for Dad to get back from his run

Playing with H at the Halloween Party

Telling Jack an awesome story about Dad and the dogs

Visitors from the North

Ruby has been quite the popular lady the last few weeks! First, Gramma and Grampa came to visit from Tulsa. Then Gigi and Baba came to spend a few days in Austin. And finally, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Edmonson came to love on sweet Rubina this weekend.

The great-grandparents had not seen Ruby since July, so she was eager to show off her new tricks. She was an excellent hostess all weekend, doing her best to entertain her great grandparents and parents. Ruby would dance around the living room, go down the hall to her room and read books for a few minutes, come back up the hallway to wave hello to everyone and brush her hair, hurry back down the hallway to her playroom to love on her baby doll, then come back to the living room again to flash that killer smile and give out some kisses. I wish we had a pedometer on this little one, she's racking up the miles.

We hung out at home for most of the weekend, other than a shopping trip for the girls today. Great Grandma bought Ruby some cute winter clothes, including two very fashionable miniskirts and a beautiful holiday dress to wear at Thanksgiving. The best present Ruby received all weekend, however, was a very special one that could not be bought at Old Navy or any other store. Great Grandma and Great Grandpa brought Ruby a family heirloom, the miniature rocking chair that Great Grandma's grandfather built for Great Grandma's father. That means that it was built by Ruby's great great great grandfather for Ruby's great great grandfather. Wow. Ruby was more than happy to try out the chair in the yard this afternoon and she clearly approves.

Finally, a picture of Ruby at lunch today. Great Grandpa suggested we let Ruby have one of Daddy's bones from his barbecue ribs. She LOVED it. She actually refused to eat anything else after she discovered this new tasty treat and sat sucking on it for the remainder of the meal. A true Texas girl!

Thanks Great Grandma and Great Grandpa for a wonderful weekend. We loved having some time with the two of you in our home. Ruby is so lucky to have y'all in her life.

Flashback Friday

From our Save the Date shoot, October 2004.

Wordless Wednesday

So Sorry, Loyal Blog Readers

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. We've been super busy with both sets of grandparents in town and the great-grandparents coming next weekend. Ruby's loving all the grandparent love while David and I are enjoying a little extra help with the munchkin. Ruby is being showered in gifts (please note the fancy shoes from Gramma and Grampa) and kisses. She's a handful these days, getting into everything she can reach and exploring the world on her feet. Ruby's officially done with crawling and walking all over the place.

The above picture was snapped when we went to visit Dad at work today. It's not a great shot, but I don't have many pictures of her walking yet. It's hard to get good pictures of Ruby on the run! I promise to blog more in the coming week, as we hope to head out to the pumpkin patch with friends and pose for some fall photos. But until then, this is the best I can do. And one more, just because I think she's so cute....

Mommy's Little Monarch

Happy Butterfly

Angry Butterfly

Flashback Friday

One year ago today, we were posing for our first professional photo shoot with Lyndsay Stradtner. I had no idea at the time what a big Life in Motion fan I would become (see my earlier post from today). I also thought my belly was huge, but little did I know that I had a good six weeks of growth to go.

I love my husband. He took such good care of me when I was pregnant. He still does today, but he was extra sweet during those long nine months. I miss the nightly foot rubs.

And I miss that big ol' belly.

Cutest Link Ever!

As mentioned previously, Ruby participated in the Second Annual Life in Motion Monster Bash to raise money for MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. A good friend has been battling cancer (like a rockstar) for the last year and received treatment at MD Anderson. We've seen family and friends battle cancer before, but it hits extra hard when that person is one of your peers and barely over thirty years old. Thankfully, our friend is doing great with treatment and on his way to recovery. We were more than happy to participate in the event last weekend in order to honor this friend for his bravery during the last year and to raise money for cancer research.

Here are the pictures from the event, all taken by the super talented Lyndsay Stradtner Life in Motion. Ruby's in the second half of the slideshow, but watch the whole thing. My momma friends go all out on the costumes for their little ones; there are some adorable kids in some fabulous costumes.

Thank you Urban Family and Lyndsay for organizing the event and sharing your talents. We are so honored to have been a part of the fun!

Ruby's Raincoat

Is her father.

Halloween Sneak Peek

David, Ruby and I attended our first of several Halloween festivities this morning and had a great time! I'm so excited with the costume Ruby ended up getting and love that she's going to get several opportunities to wear it during the next month. She is the cutest butterfly I have ever seen!

My friend, MC, is an amazing organizer and used the party as an opportunity to raise money for MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. MC reports that the party-goers contributed over $1700 today to help fight cancer! The always fabulous Lyndsay Stradtner of Life in Motion Photography was kind enough to donate her time and talent to photograph the little ones in their holiday gear. I'm curious to see how Ruby's professional photo turns out, as she was not a fan of sitting still for the camera. She did, however, pose for a few shots in the front yard before we left for the party.

Kids' Meals and Playscapes

We took full advantage of the cooler weather today and met some friends at Central Market for lunch. It was a day of fun and firsts. Ruby had her first kids' meal (macaroni and cheese, which she enjoyed and I enjoyed even more). It was also her first time to play on a playscape. She loved playing peek-a-boo with the mommies, eating the ground-cover, and walking around with her friends. Hopefully she'll learn pretty quickly that going down the slide or running across the bridge is way more fun than eating dirt. I loved seeing her play with the big kids though, even if I was a little bit sad to think about her growing up so quickly.

My friend, Brandy, took some great pictures of the kids in action. I love having talented friends with nice cameras who document Ruby's life so beautifully. I've posted a few favorite pics here.

Thanks for a great day mommies, H, D, and S. Ruby had a ton of fun and is totally going to sleep through the night tonight. (haha)

Happy Birthday Liam!

Ruby's friend, Liam, turned two last week and had an awesome party at the Tarrytown Firehouse. The party attendees toured the firehouse, sprayed the huge firehose, climbed in the truck, and watched as the new firefighter modeled all of his gear. Afterwards, we went to Liam's new house to have cake and ice cream. We had a great time and are so excited that Liam is two already! He's such a big boy. We love you, Li.

Sadly, I didnt get a picture of Ruby with the birthday boy. I didn't even get a picture of the birthday boy. He was too busy hanging out with the big kids and spraying the hose. I did, however, get a few other fun shots.

Since Ruby's favorite fireman lives all the way in Philadelphia, she was willing to pose with a local fireman instead.

Ruby, in Laney's arms, spraying the big firehose. It was super cool.

Pretty in Pink (and Brown)

We've had a rough couple of days in the Edmonson household. Ruby has a cold that she just can't seem to kick, something I suspect is due to her refusal to take naps. If she would only take at least one nap each day, I feel like her body would have time to heal and we'd be on the road to recovery. But unfortunately, Ruby doesn't agree with me. She's a stubborn little lady.

Luckily, a sleep-deprived baby doesn't always equal a grumpy baby. Somehow Ruby is in a good mood most of the day and still full of smiles and kisses. And because no good post is complete without a picture, here is Miss Ruby Albina today, doing her best Cindy Lou face while modeling a sassy new outfit from the Geeg.

Get your boogie on, Rubina