Running, Jumping Through the House!

Ruby has been busy, busy, busy these days! Running, climbing, jumping, talking, singing, or just plain making noise. She seems to feel that there ought to be some sound issuing from her mouth at all times. Interestingly, we've noticed that both Ruby and Carter are also using their sign language again! It seems that if they feel that they are being ignore (or are being ignored!) they like to emphasize their point by wildly doing the sign along with the increasingly loud word. It is SO TRUE that you must validate every single word that comes out of a toddler's mouth or they'll repeat it until your ears bleed! Here's a sample conversation with Ruby when I get her out of her crib from nap time.



R: Hi, Mommy! Hi, Mommy! Hi, Momm-

B: Hi, RU!!! How did you sleep?

R: Ruby, seep. Ruby, seep. Seeep! Ruby! RUBY SEEP!

B: Yes, Ruby slept! Are you ready to get up?

R: Ruby, up! UP! OUT! OUT!!!!

B: Okay, okay, okay. You're out. Let's get you changed.

R: NO RUBY CHANGE! NO RUBY DI-PA! NO, NO, NO, NO!

B: I'll tell you what...



How quickly we transition into the bargaining stage....



Meanwhile, we have been enjoying having our friend, Brett, stay with us for a while. He will be rejoining his wife, Sarah, in the US this Monday, but needed a place to stay for a few days after his lease was up on his apartment. I'm not sure how cheap the "rent" is though since he's had to put up with a grumpy toddler and stinky baby! Ruby seems to be having trouble getting through the day without a few time outs lately... Pretty typical toddler "testing" phase I think. Max, on the other hand, is having some serious STINKY issues. I've come to the conclusion that something I'm eating is giving him tummy trouble. We don't have lots of poopy diapers, but we do have lots of stinky air! Every time anyone holds him they are certain he's just blown out his diaper, but no, it's just yet another record breaking toot!

My chore today is getting all of Max's paperwork filled out for our appointment at the U.S. Embassy on Monday. Believe it or not, this was the first time that they could get us in to turn everything in for registering Max's birth abroad, getting his social security number, and finally his passport! So, this is his passport photo (as taken by Mommy). Jared has since cropped it in photoshop and a friend is printing it out for us. Sure is a LOT easier than going to a bunch of places to see if they can figure out how to take an infant's passport photo like we did for Ruby. I'm just praying that I filled out everything correctly and that everything will go through quickly. Jared's folks are coming in August and we'd love to be able to leave Denmark for a long weekend while they're here... we'll see though!

Well, I'm off to shop in the rain. If anyone is getting tired of their hot, sunny weather, send some this way! We've had 60s and rain for a week and that's all that we see in the extended forcast. YUCK! Where are we? Scotland!?!?

Maxwell's Parade

And Max is finally giving us some GREAT smiles and a little chittering laugh. He's quite the the showman! Here are just a few pics Bethany took this week that pretty well speak for themselves . . .

These little lights of mine . . .

Here are a few pics we took this week, and I just thought they were too fantastic to keep all to ourselves. Of course, the subjects are rather photogenic, so that helps!!

Ruby loves her phone and she loves her brother . . . and she loves to make her brother talk on the phone!

The bigger they are . . .

Down wit' it.

A home grown rose on it's way to mommy . . .

Sweet Ru

I wanted to post some of these pictures of Ruby from last month just because they make me happy! We managed to capture the "real Ruby" in these first two pictures taken at the breakfast table. Yeah, her hair is crazy and she's got food on her face... Her wardrobe is a bit wild... but she's so happy! Jared and Ruby can get into some serious giggle fests at the breakfast table about nothing in particular. Hope you enjoy a slice of life with Ruby...


Another great one of Ruby's crinkly eyed laugh!














Here we are going on an evening walk. Ruby loves to pick flowers along the way to the playground.










One of the things that impresses me so much about Jared is that even though he has a much shorter amount of time to spend with the kiddos, he manages to pack that time with learning. I always get a kick out of "discovering" they new things Ruby's learned... especially because she usually puts her own special spin on it! One afternoon I was walking with Ruby and she kept chanting, "No caaahs, no caaahs, no caaahs..." So, I found that Jared had taught her to check for cars before crossing the street! (Two points for Daddy!!) Ruby's method, as it turned out, did have its own special flair: (1) Squat down with your butt in the air. (2) Look both ways, saying, "No caahs, no caahs". (3) Bolt across the street, stopping just short of the sidewalk. (4) Repeat steps 1 & 2. Yes, you read that correctly! She insists on checking for cars again before stepping on the sidewalk! I guess she's making sure there isn't a runaway scooter. In cases when the road is divided: sidewalk, bike lane, road, bike lane, and sidewalk, she may attempt the "squat" four or five times!! It really is a funny sight, if not the most safe method of crossing a street!

As you could see in that last picture, Ruby has also learned about spreading the "good" dandelion seeds with a good strong blow. Something I'm sure our neighbors are thrilled to bits about! Thanks, Daddy!!

Ruby gave me (yet another) cheeseball grin here, but I think she still looks beautiful!

Ruby loves Max!

These pictures are about a month old now... I know, I'm horrible! But the kissing and huggging hasn't changed much. Ruby still wants to do it ALL the time, and Max still accepts it without really loving it! Ruby has also been trying other ways of showing her love such as trying to get Max to drink from her sippy cup, shoving goldfish crackers in his mouth, and "best" of all stuffing her party noisemaker in his mouth... All of these attempts have ended with Max screaming and Mommy running to see what has happened this time!

Ruby also really wants Max to play with her. She has decided that since Max is a boy he must want to play with cars, so she is constantly bringing him matchbox cars or trains from her train set. She wants him to grab them and drive them around like her friends, Carter and Nathan. No amount of explaining that this just isn't in his skill set yet seems to sink in! She is going to be so happy when he starts doing more. The highlight for now is getting Max to smile or better yet laugh! As soon as he cracks a grin, Ruby runs around reporting, "MAX SMILED! MAX SMILED!" (Well, it sounds more like, "Max smmm-eye!", but that's what she means!)

Lest you think I've just been sitting around watching soaps, leaving everyone hanging on updates, we really have been very busy. Until this last week I have been involved in two small group studies--one studying the book, Bad Girls of the Bible and the other The Power of a Praying Wife. I was not very enthusiastic about the women's Bible study choosing Bad Girls of the Bible, but it really ended up being a pretty good study. I don't think that it's one that I would want to do on my own, but in a group we had some good discussion and our teacher/leader was really great bringing in a lot of outside reasearch, which helped. It was a very convicting study and informative. I'm also going to miss the group of ladies--we probably came from about 6 different countries and varied in age by about 50 years! Really a diverse group and a great one to learn from.

Last weekend our church ran its first Backyard Bible Club--kind of a toned down version of VBS. Since we are a small church and school still has two more weeks remaining, we decided that a weekend long club would work better than a weeklong one. Jared and I were in charge of games and had a great time making flour bombs, water balloons, and other such things. We had about 18 kids each day and they really seemed to enjoy it. Almost all of us that were leaders this year won't be around next summer, but I hope that the church is able to do it anyway. I think it could be a really great outreach.

Well, I think I better go prep dinner and make some banana bread while I still can! You gotta love afternoon naps!

A month in our world (Part 2)

A few weeks ago we took a trip to Helsingborg, Sweden! Okay, so it takes less than two hours to get there via public transportation, BUT it's technically another country and the first time that Ruby, Max, and I have left Denmark since Christmas, so it was pretty great!

We had decided to make the focal point of our trip a quick tour of this little castle...well, maybe it's more of a tower... but, it was a fun place to walk around. If you blow up the picture (if Blogger lets you do that anymore...) you might see that the doorway on the bottom left is labelled "HISS", which means elevator in Swedish. That was the route Max and I took with the stroller to get up to the top. It was a pretty hairy experience though. As I've mentioned in previous posts, we did buy a double stroller before Max was born. We love it, BUT it does have some issues especially in tight quarters. This elevator was the definition of tight quarters. As soon as I saw it I knew that we weren't going to fit. But, the man in the elevator (he was collecting money), suggested that I try to collapse the stroller. Keep in mind Max is in there along with a days worth of STUFF (including lunch, diaper bag, spare clothes... moms, you know what I'm talking about). So, I tried to collapse it, in the process nearly dropping Max on his head (don't worry, I didn't!), which didn't work out. So, we then decided (with the help of another lady in line) to take the rear wheels off, which did work once I figured out how to do it! By the time Max, the stroller, all our junk, and I made it to the top I was sweatin' bullets... but, we made it!

These "kids" were playing on the street for money and were really awesome. Jared took a bit of video that I may try to put up at some point...

Jared and Ruby took the much more scenic, breezy, and dare I say, easier route--the stairs!

More stairs... this grand entrance is much newer than the castle/tower that we were about to visit, which is why it's so much... better.

Ruby running around while they waited for Max and I to show up!

This tower is the sister tower to the one at Helsingør, Denmark. If you have forgotten about our visit to that castle, look back in the archives around October 2005. If there's one thing we can safely say about Swedes and Danes, it's that they're competive...I'd say the Danes won this little battle!

From the top of the tower we had a nice view of home sweet home, Denmark!

Ruby checking out the view...

...just like Daddy and Max.

You can see the ferry that we crossed on making one of it's many voyages of the day in this picture.

On the way down, Daddy decided to carry BOTH kiddos... I was a bit nervous, but we all made it down the tight stairs safe and sound.

This family-sized swing was the perfect place to enjoy our ice cream.

1,2,3, GO!

A month in our world (Part 1)

Well, it seems a month has passed with no posts! Rather than trying to type a recap of our life, I think I'll just let the pictures speak about our last month! It's been a great one...

Max has done a lot of sleeping his first seven weeks of life... His favorite places to snooze are in his swing, his stroller, or with Mommy & Daddy. Sleeping in his bassinet isn't as big of hit!

This cheesy smile is what I get when I ask Ruby to say "CHEESE!".

Ruby learning how to cook in the old ways at the Children's Museum!

Ruby the artist!

Ruby got a gift certificate for Build-A-Bear from Nana & Bobo for her birthday, so these next few pictures are from that outing. She originally thought she might get a traditional teddy bear like this pink one.

She ended up choosing a monkey in the end though and named her "Maja".

Here's Ruby shaking the life into her monkey's heart.

After Build-A-Bear we went for our junk food fix at Burger King!

Max enjoyed snoozing away while we ate our lunch in the sun!

Chasing birds in Rådhuspladsen!