A Secret Pact

Sometimes I wonder if my littles have a secret pact. I imagine they have rules that go something like this:

Rule #1: One of us has to stay up late so mommy doesn't have time to get anything done.


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Rule # 2: One of us has to get up in the middle of the night and cause trouble. The longer you can stay up, the better. Be sure to cry loud enough to wake up mommy.

Bonus points, if we can both get up. Double bonus, if we get up at the SAME time. And TRIPLE bonus if we can wake up Daddy too!


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Rule # 3: One of us has to get up early, so mommy can't sleep in. Remember to smile really big and give mommy a hug, so she forgets what a pain we were overnight, and make her forget that its early.



**sigh**....sometimes I just PRAY for a full nights sleep. Even a GOOD nights sleep with only one mild interruption would be good. And if they both went to sleep ON TIME, TOGETHER....WOW! I would be in heaven! But...... I have learned to accept the fact that they will not sleep, are not going to sleep. None of my 4 have yet, why start now. :) For now, I will just be happy that they are healthy, and be glad they wake up happy and rested (which is so strange). And....no matter how the night went, those little smiles, giggles and hugs in the morning....well, they erase it all.
Love you Littles! (and my bigs too!---at least THEY sleep all night!)

Wisconsin Dells!

We just got back from the Dells! Had a great time with the Johnson's and the Litschke's. Thank you to the Johnson's for helping us get such a great deal and to be able to go on this trip! Us Rubins all had a great, fun time and I'm sure its safe to safe the Johnson's and Litschke's did too! The ride there was a little stressful, as Gabby was convinced she wanted to "GET DOWN" from her carseat the whole time :)

She also had a tough time at bedtime each night, but did end up going down, and...in the end, it was worth it for all the fun we had during the day.

On Sunday when we arrived, we went to Timbavati Wildlife Park. We saw some cool animals and even got to feed some! The giraffes were very cool to see up close! They even licked Colten!

On Monday we went to Noahs Ark Waterpark for some swimming and waterslide fun!
On Tuesday before heading home we went to Mt. Olympus Water and Theme Park for more
swimming and water slides, and also some go-carts! This park had a HUGE wave pool! The wave was big enough to knock Bryan and I off our feet and sweep us under! It was pretty fun!!

Wish we could have stayed a few more days! It was fun just hanging out and playing together! Not to mention...no work!! :)

Hope we can all go back again some day!!

"Can I hold one?"

For those of you who don't know...Gabby is obsessed with Cows! She just loves them! One of her favorite things to do is go for a four wheeler ride up the hill to see the cows. We also have to check the farm up the road every time we go to town. If the cows are out, we usually stop for a minute to watch them...if they are not out, Gabby gets sad :(

For Gabbys upcoming birthday, I decided to do a cow theme. I ordered a cow cookie cutter and wanted to do a practice batch, to make sure I could get the decorating right. I am happy to say, they turned out great! They look so cute! (see below)

I showed them to Gabby when she got up from her nap. Her reaction was priceless!
"COWIES!!" She squealed! Then, very seriously, she asks.."Can I hold one?"

Of course you can baby girl! She then wanted Kody, Jake and myself to have one. (Daddy was not home, or he would have gotten one too)... I don't think she realized they were cookies. But, once I showed her she could eat them, she bit right in too!
Yum!! Next project.... a Cow Cake. hmmm....should be interesting.

Nibbling Net

Well, I think I found out how to get Nolan to eat. Just put the food in the baby net. I'm not sure exactly what this thing is called, but we used it for Gabby when she was a baby too. It is a small net, with a handle on the end. You use it to put food in, so babies can chew it up and eat it, without choking on it.

Gabby was eating strawberries on Saturday and asked Nolan if he wanted one. "No", I said, "Nolan can't have that yet.".......then I remembered the net! So we took it out and put a few berries in it for him. He loved it! He chewed on it and sucked out all the juice, and then handed it to me for more! He did this about 3 times before he decided he was done.

Gabby had to have a try too. She thought it looked like quite a fun treat, so of course, she had to climb up on the counter and take it from him. "Mine." She said.
"Mmm, strawberries." Funny girl!


hmmmm...let me think about this a minute


okay......


Huh, not to bad.


Think I'll have some more.


Mommy, she took that.


Mmm....strawberries.


Aren't I funny!!

Tah-Dah!!

Our little Nolie is turning into quite the funny little guy! The other night he worked his way all the way across the living room, managed to get Gabby's baby doll play gym wrapped around himself and dumped out a bucket full of blocks. When I peaked around the corner at him, he gave me his big silly smile! A little while later, he managed to work his way up onto the Wii board, and got himself sitting on it just right! Funny boy, guess he wanted to play too!

He and Daddy also have a new game....."Tah-Dah!!"
Nolan usually spends dinner time sitting in the Bumbo chair on the counter. He likes to be by us all. For whatever reason, a few nights ago Daddy started saying "Tah-Dah!!", and every time he said it, Nolan tips his head back, arches his back, and leans as far back in the chair as possible. Then he sits back down, grins and looks back to Daddy. "Tah-Dah!!" Daddy says again....again he goes back! This countinued on for a good 5-10 minutes. Pretty funny little boy!

Tonight, Daddy tried it again. I didn't know if Nolan would remember.
"Tah-Dah!!" said Daddy......and, to my surprise, Nolan starts smiling, and tips right on back!! Haaa!!! Good memory little man! Very cute! ...This time we got some pictures.

Appears that all four of our little Rubys are going to have quite the personalities and a great sense of humor! Mommy sure loves that!


Hi mom, see all these blocks I found :)


Can somebody turn this thing on?


Wait for it......


Tah-Dah!!


TAH-DAH!!

Nolan: 7 months (and a BIG pop)

My little Nolie is now 7 months old! I know I've said it before, but I can't believe how fast the time goes! He is 7 months, and Gabby is just 1 month shy of being 2!! It went so fast! These times are reminders to treasure every moment, and enjoy every second of the baby stages....they will soon be gone.

Nolans biggest accomplishment this past month was SITTING!! Yay!! He can now sit unassisted and has just this past week learned how to get from laying on his belly, to sitting up. (All by himself!)... This makes for a much happier Nolan. He used to get really frustrated when he was laying down and couldn't get back up!

We have been working daily on eating solids, but he really just could care less. He is still completely content on having milk only. He still makes faces at each food we try and then clams up his little lips and won't have another bite! Silly boy! Guess he just doesn't want that baby food! The good news is that he has not gotten sick again from any of it...so that at least is reassuring.

Nolans 7 month "photo session" is below, along with a few pictures of Gabby drinking her BIG pop. Haa! She is going to be a Coke pop drinker just like mommy and brother Jake. We had Taco Bell the other night for dinner, and she was most excited about the BIG pop we got! So....she just had to have some!! "Ahhhhh....YUM" she says!! LOL!!




Ready.......

SIT!


Yum....good paper.


Hiding my smile :)


A little help from sissy


I like to stick out my tounge!


Yummmmm!!


See this BIG pop mom!

A fun filled 4th!

Happy Belated 4th of July to everyone! Hope you all had a fun, safe weekend! We sure did! We were quite busy with activties going on each day. It all started with Collins 2nd Birthday party on Thursday night (Happy Birthday Buddy!!)-- we had fun hanging out, playing and swinging at the tractor pinata! Friday we went to the Cannon Valley Fair with the Litschke's and Menge's. Gabby went on her first fair ride! Wee!!! (the only picture I have of this is on my phone, and I don't know how to get in onto the computer yet :))-- Saturday we went down to Faribault to hang out at the Rubins camper with the Litschke's and Menge's. We had a nice day hanging out. It was a little warm and sticky...but we managed! The kids enjoyed some fishing and swimming in the lake. Sunday we went to our annual 4th of July picnic at Hyland Park in Bloomington with my family. The kids had a good time playing on the playground, getting wet in the water sprayers and the little girls enjoyed running up and down the hill! Boy was it hot that day! Yuck!!! ... Sunday night we went to a party at the Schutt's house were we had some great food, played in the big jumper and watched some pretty fireworks! On Monday we headed over to Shakopee to go to Sandventure Waterpark with the Johnson's. It was really fun....but short lived, as we got rained out! Whew!!! Did you get all that! We finally had a little rest on Monday night and went to bed on time for the first night all weekend! Yay! Below are a few pictures of our weekend!

*Oh...and just an update on Gabby and her nuks....she is doing GREAT! She very rarely asks for it anymore...and goes to bed so good! She did such a good job with the whole situation! I'm so proud of her! And...in case you didn't notice, Nolan is sitting on his own now, and is about 5 minutes away from crawling! :)



"Cake Face!"


The Birthday Boy


Hit it Collin!


Waiting our turn.


Jake, taking a big swing!


Heading up the hill. Morgan, Chad, Erica, Gabby and Bryan


Nolan and Tiffany playing together :)


Erica running down the hill


Gabby running down the hill


Morgan watching :)




All the grandkids (except Kody)




You go first Gabby!


The 3 girls, splashing in the water!






Can you see Kody and Jake? Thats them running up to the slide!