Boys' Eye View

At the end of the night of Thanksgiving part 2, Max and Rudy got a hold of the camera and this is the result.



















I must say they both did a pretty good job of actually getting people's heads in the pictures. Although I did leave a few blurry ones out.

Four Years Old

Previous birthdays in review:
First birthday- celebrated in Guatemala at the Westin.



Second birthday - home just about a month

Third birthday -

Fourth birthday -

You can really see how much he has thinned out - especially his face - and grown over the years. Our baby is officially a little boy!

A Little Excited

Between Thanksgiving and Rudy's birthday (which is tomorrow) Rudy has been a little crazy and excited lately. Being home all day today just added to the energy he had; so he was very wound up all day.

Here he is demonstrating how he would glide from building to building as Batman (or Spiderman, maybe). He started at the door, holding the handle, let go and would jump to catch one balloon string, jump to catch the other string and then jump one more time and let them both go.

An expression we see very often - an eye roll.

Being goofy - he was playing the ottoman as if it was drums.

All dressed up and still crazy -

Finally we went to Aunt Pat's for dinner. There Rudy got to hang out with Neil (and missed Sean since he had to work).

We also celebrated his birthday with everyone there since they didn't come to his roller skating party.

Ready to spray the barking dog (or whoever else got in the way).

Rudy HAD to have Neil sit next to him. (I don't know what that strange cloud in the picture is - there wasn't any hot food on the table yet.)

Getting ready to blow out his candle on his cupcakes (with Arial wrappers).

Sitting with Uncle Neil and playing a new game he got for his Leapster.

A Discovery

Today while Paul and Rudy were outside, Rudy made an amazing discovery that he had to show Paul. He pulled Paul over to the back of our yard and showed him this:

I believe it is from a plant called a lantern or Chinese Lantern. Usually there is a red flower/ leaf around the berry inside but the rest of it fell off and just the berry was left.

He also had a lot of fun blowing the seeds off of different plants.

A New Friend

Paul's friend, Paul, has been in town visiting from Hawaii. We were able to spend a few different days with Paul and he and Rudy really hit it off. I've never heard Rudy have such conversations with anyone else. He would talk to Paul about his Halloween candy and ask him what his favorite candy was. Or he would ask questions about whether he had any kids and why or why not. It was fun to see.

Circumstances being the way they are, this was the first time Paul has met Rudy and the affection was mutual. For most of the time Paul was visiting Rudy would say something about Paul and then clarify, not Poppy, his friend, Paul.

I'm not sure how much more we'll see Paul on this visit, maybe someday we can visit him in Hawaii. But until then, at least we have a few pictures to remember Rudy's new friend.

Unseasonably Warm

Today turned out to be a nice warm day. After church we knew we had a lot of work to do in the yard - raking leaves and picking up sticks as a result of the big storms we had this week. It was a gorgeous day to be outside so after yard work, we decided to head to the bike path.

Rudy had fun standing in the middle of a pile of leaves Paul was trying to rake and letting Paul rake leaves all over him. He also enjoyed digging in the dirt and lying in the leaves - he was a big muddy mess by the time we were finished.

On the bike path - what better way to ride your bike than through all the puddles?

This is Rudy riding down a pretty big hill. The first few times we went on the bike path this year, he either wanted to walk down the hill or have someone hold his bike the whole way down. As you can see, now he can do it all on his own.

Parking his bike to explore a path he found.

Roller Skating Party

Although Rudy's birthday is two weeks away, we had his birthday party today. After much deliberation and negotiation, we finally agreed on a roller skating party. Rudy invited just a few friends and relatives and we all met at the skating rink. This place hasn't changed since I was in grade school and would go skating.

Here is the cake Rudy requested - round with pink icing and a smiley face - much easier than the train cake I had to make last year!

The three little monkeys waiting to enter the skating rink.


Blowing out the candle sitting with his sister (on his left) and future wife (on his right).

Renee, Bill & Rudy doing the hokey pokey- always a challenge on skates!



Everyone else lined up for the hokey pokey.

All the kids (minus Max who didn't want to be in the picture but....


...eventually slid over on the bench enough so I could get him in the picture.)

Once we got home, Rudy got to open his presents. The ride home made him crazy because he could see some of the presents that were in gift bags and he REALLY wanted to open them then and there.

Opening and using his Leapster.

His Little Einstein's rocket that turns into a guitar.

A Spiderman watch!

Rudy had a great party; it was the first one we planned out of the house and it was nice not to worry about how clean the house was, or to have to clean up after it was all over!

FFF- Fall

Okay, not a post of Rudy pictures but some pictures to show the trees around our house right now.
This is the gorgeous oak over our backyard. It's actually in our neighbor's yard and some of the branches are in bad shape but we are always praying it won't be cut down because we love it.

A view up from our backyard.

The front yard about 2 weeks ago. This is why we spend ALL fall raking - see how one tree has lost all it's leaves and the other is still green?

Okay and just for fun - another Rudy sleeping picture:

Yes, he is sleeping on Grande Pooh. When I mentioned it to him the next morning he said his pillow was too cold and Pooh was warm!

The Engineer

Last year for Christmas, Rudy got his train table. We debated at the time whether we should glue the track pieces down or not and finally decided not to (the reason we considered doing it is we were afraid Rudy would take it apart all the time and get frustrated when it didn't go back together easily). Almost a year later and, until about a month ago, Rudy hadn't taken his train apart more than once or twice. But in the last month, he has decided he wanted to change it, taken the tracks apart, and redone them himself. Sometimes he needs a little help when he gets to the end and both sides are the same kinds (both outs or both ins), but other than that he is very independent and has been changing it several times a week. So I am thinking maybe he will be an engineer or an architect. Bill, it looks like your nephew may be taking after you.

One of his latest masterpieces.

The proud engineer.