Beer-in-the-Rear Chicken

A picture speaks a thousand words... dontcha think?



Really, and truly, the chicken was "deee-wish-us" (in Rubyese). So check out Paula Deen's simple recipe here. I did it in the oven at 350F for 2 hours and it was, well, deee-wish-us!

I've been made redundant

Yes, it's true. There's a new Mommy in the house. A mini-mommy. And you know what they say... smaller is better.

How many ways can you get to Spain?

So, I'm sure that you're wondering where all the lovely pictures are from our, you know, actual trip, but I just had to post about the 24 hours leading up to the trip before all that.

Bob and Kay, aka Bobo and Nana, arrived into Copenhagen midday on Tuesday September 11. After a l-o-n-g trip via three planes, two trains, and a bus, they finally made it to our house! They came bearing gifts... lots and LOTS of gifts. As you can see, Ruby enjoyed digging to the bottom of Nana's suitcase to see what treasures she could find!

After a night of sleep Bob & Kay hit the ground running--totally unpacking their bags and re-packing so that we could leave at 4pm that day. Jared spent the day at work and I madly tried to find a place for all of our new things while trying to fit everything we'd need for our five day trip into four carry-ons! We didn't make it in that department and ended up paying for one checked bag. (We were flying the ultra-cheap Ryan Air, you see, where all you get is one carry on each, no free checked bags.) As usual, I stressed waaay too much, but we made it anyway.

In order to get these ultra-cheap tickets to Girona, Spain (about one hour north of Barcelona) we had to fly out of Malmö, Sweden. "No, big deal." we thought. Malmö is just across the sound from Copenhagen and a short (30 minute) train ride away. Well, after lugging our eight (or was it nine) smallish bags, a stroller, two kids, and our tired selves to the bus stop, we still had a long ways to go. Thirty minutes on the bus, another short walk to exchange money and catch our train, THEN a 30 minute taxi ride in Sweden to the airport... all over the dinner hour--let me assure you, my friends, it was not all fun and games! In fact, THIS is what we were greeted with when we arrived at the Malmö Airport...

Yes, Ruby is naked. The girl was sitting in the backseat by herself on the way to the taxi and decided she was "too hot" and had to take her clothes, shoes, and socks off. Thanks be to God, she left on the diaper. I also had the pleasure of finding a burger perched on my shoulder and scraping bun and ketchup off the taxi floor while Nana madly tried to get Ruby dressed before she got hypothermia.

It was lovely.

That said, the flight was great. We got our rental car no problemo in Spain and drove straight to our hotel for a wonderful night's sleep. It really WAS lovely.

Check back soon for pictures and adventures from our actual time IN Spain!

Lessons from the Loo

(drum roll please)

May I introduce to you...
a girl with fantastic fashion sense...
to-die-for hair...
a winning smile...
and NO DIAPERS...
RUBY RAE!!!

All I have to say is, Ruby is a superstar. Once she decided she was done with diapers, she basically was. We had a few accidents, but mostly just LOTS of trips to the potty chair, which she did ON HER OWN!

I truly consider this an awesome blessing from God. I did not, could not, dream of potty training Ruby, but she did it for me and she's even in panties at night. What a gal...

So, my advice to all of you who are waiting to potty train... Wait until it's his/her idea then it's easy peasy.

Thank goodness Nana brought all those belts for her pants though, because this girl is SKINNY!!

Oldies, but Goodies...

We have been through a lot this last week including house-wide sickness (excluding yours truly, but including the computer!) so please forgive me for being so pitifully and horribly behind. I noticed today that I had started this post...hahmmm... AUGUST 25th and never finished it. Since I don't have a clue what I wanted to say then, I'll just label these photos as "oldies, but goodies!".

Ruby watching her beloved "Max and Ruby". And no, we didn't name our children after this show and really didn't even know it was anything other than a board book series until we named Maxwell!

I don't really have a clue about this picture of Max, other than since he has a bib on, I'm guessing it was taken while he was cutting those two bottom teeth at the same time... of course!

This is a photo of Ruby's flower chart. We have gone through some pretty rough waters with Ruby these past few months in the discipline department. Especially in the tantrum complete with ear-splitting s.c.r.e.a.m. department. Yes, I have woken up the next morning with my ears ringing. That's how bad it had gotten. I'm not sure if the positive reinforcement thing has worked all that much, but I find that it does help me regulate MY attitude. If I'm always looking for the best in Ruby, I tend to find it. The opposite holds true as well... She's been pretty keen on earning her treasures a few times a week. We've kept with "dollar" store items like small packages of legos, bubbles, and yes, candy.

Here's Ruby blowing some of the aforementioned bubbles. The funny part is that she is doing it in our shower since it was horribly rainy all September...and August... and July... and, wait, it's STILL RAINING! I suggested that she could blow the bubbles into the shower. Meaning, that she stand outside and blow them in. Nope, that wasn't going to cut it for her. She wanted in the shower... in her tub... without any pants on. That last part ended up being pretty smart, actually, since she decided to dump the bubble solution into her lap after about four blows. Gotta love two.

This is a picture of when Ruby fell down the stairs... ummm, no. Actually she woke up with her eye swollen shut from some kind of bug bite. You would NOT believe the bugs we've had this summer. I think that I mentioned the killer slugs, which were also totally and completely disgusting and a plague upon all of Denmark, but the spiders have also been amazingly disgustingly horrible. I won't post pictures or further details because it's just too much. But, I'm just hoping it was a 'skeeter bite and not one of those big ol' nasty bugs crawlin' on and chewin' on my girl!

I suppose that's all I have to say about that! I want to go on to more recent news... like our fabulouso trip to Spain!