Off She Goes

We finally heard from the school district today and we're thrilled to report that Ruby was accepted to the same school that Cecilia attends! We've been waiting on this news for some time, so it's a great relief to get the letter and know that from now until Cecilia heads off to high school (?!) they will be in the same school.

That school isn't gonna know what hit 'em...

Go Rubes!

New Stadium.

We scored some pretty awesome seats to a Twins game earlier this month, and since it was the first time girls have been to the new stadium, we made sure to take plenty of pictures.



Fun, fun, fun! It was a game that went into extra innings so we even had BONUS game to watch! The girls made it on to the giant jumbo-tron and Ruby fixated on one of the vendors selling beer. A fun night for everyone!

Researcher

I've discovered some things about my oldest daughter lately:

1. She can unload the dishwasher and put the clean dishes away (Ruby does the silverware). This is very nice.

2. If I need something printed - directions, a recipe, an article for class - I can tell Cecilia the key words or the website, and she goes up, locates the information, prints it off and brings it down. It helps that she's an outstanding speller, so it usually involves nothing more than telling her what I need and off she goes.

Now if I can get her to write policy briefs, develop PowerPoint presentations, and learn how to create references in APA-style, we'll be all set!

Baked Tortilla Chips

Without getting into the gory details, I'll just say that this afternoon Cici had a total meltdown which began with me allowing the girls to have a handful of baked tortilla chips as a snack. What seemed to be a very minor spat between the girls quickly escalated into a full-blown freakout for Daughter #1 and resulted in her accusing me and the rest of the world - through sobs - of loving Ruby more than her. Luckily for the rest of the world, I was there to bear the brunt of it and talk her off the ledge. Ultimately she was able to calm down, return to her pleasant self, and enjoy a family dinner, but not before uttering some seriously memorable phrases which I will now share with the rest of you, such as:

"Fine! She can have all the chips and all the luxury!"

AND

"Ruby always gets all the luxury!"

AND

"They didn’t make any suggestments, and if nobody makes a suggestment…"

AND, perhaps seeing the horrified look on my face during this exchange:

"I don’t know what I’m saying right now!" before throwing herself dramatically down onto her bed. Wowzers.

I feel as though I caught a glimpse into the future today, a future where she's 14 and tells me she hates me because I won't buy her an over-priced, over-sexed outfit at Abercrombie & Fitch. And all I could think was, we're going to need more gin.

A Valid Question.

This morning Ruby came downstairs and saw the same soul-crushing, heartbreaking, stomach-sinking sight most Minnesotans saw this morning: SNOW. My own reaction involved making angry faces and using swear words, Ruby summed it up much better than I did:

I don't want it to snow. [And very sadly]: Is winter starting all over again?

Amen, sister.

Counting the Seconds

The girls went to bed tonight and it was quiet for a while, and then Cici hollered for Adam to come look at some work she had done. It turns out that Ruby wanted to know how many seconds until Easter, so Cecilia just went ahead and figured it out for her. She did all the math by hand (we saw the evidence), and she was exactly right: 604,800 seconds.

It's not just that I love how she was able to solve this problem on her own, but she did it to answer her little sister's question.

And not just that, but she did it for the same sister who told a room full of people today, "Sometimes Cici is a pig with popcorn."

Nerd Alert!

I walked by the girls' room the other day and this is what I saw:


The glasses are fake, of course, but I really like the overall effect - especially the part where she chose to read all by herself.

Mittens!

A big shout-out to Auntie Melissa who recently sent a surprise package for the girls. She made them the most lovely mittens for all our spring outings and the girls love love LOVE them.

Thank you!

Pneumonia

Ruby: The child who can't get just a little bit sick. When it comes to illness, she likes to go big.

On Monday she was sent home from school with a terrible cough and on Tuesday morning she was diagnosed with pneumonia. On Wednesday she was sent home (after being cleared to go back to school) because the meds she's on caused her to act like a hyper maniac all morning and then crash with exhaustion in the afternoon, and then we spent the evening fighting with her about whether or not she could go outside to play.

The upside is that we spent some time watching a Top Chef marathon together, and her insights were fascinating. For instance: Why don't the contestants just make spaghetti? Everybody loves spaghetti.

So true, Rubes. So true. Now get better.