Pictures de Rudy

I recently got a hold of Rudy's camera and downloaded the pictures. I think sometimes he isn't really taking pictures and sometimes he manages to delete pictures, so there weren't as many as I expected but here are some of the better (or funnier) ones.

A close up of Spiderman.

The view from the back seat of the car.

These are pictures of Paul that were taken the day they made my Mother's Day video. Here he is outside of our church.

And at the playground.

And a close-up

Some pictures of Mario.

On the counter - his favorite spot to jump onto. It's been weird not constantly running into the kitchen to get him down!

Rudyisms on Death

Recently, Rudy had to deal with the death of his Great Grandmother (Paul's Gram) and our cat, Mario (who I've had since the summer after I graduated from college). He handled both very well, with lots of questions and comments, but few tears. In the midst of the funerals and burials, he made some classic statements.


~At church during Gram's funeral mass, pointing at the casket, "Where is Gram's head? There or there?" (Pointing to both ends of the casket)



~Also during the funeral, while looking over my shoulder at the rest of the people in the church, "There's a lot of old people, why didn't they die?"



~While at our church on Sunday, a few days after the funeral. "I want to go to the other church, where Gram was."
"Remember, Gram's not there any more. She went to the cemetery."
"Let's go to the cemetery and dig her up so we can see her again."



~ Talking to family members about the fact that Mario died, Rudy chimes in and says, "Like a cemetery is for people, the backyard is for cats."

Summer Fun and Friends

A few weeks ago, Rudy went to a birthday party at the boardwalk. Here he is riding a ride with a friend from school.

And earlier on the same ride by himself. Notice the button down shirt - he went to 2 parties that weekend and for both he wanted to look 'handsome' and picked out a long sleeve button down shirt to wear.

Mario and Lou had recently been spending a lot of time lying on our closet floor. Even more unusual was the fact that they were in there together - what a long way they came from when Lou first came home and Mario would swat him and yowl at him (and Lou would run away from Mario).

A beautiful full moon that was still bright in the morning.

Today we had plans to get together with two friends that I worked with last year, and their daughters. Rudy grabbed the camera from me and ran up to take this picture of his favorite teacher, Ms. Jah-neen.

The three musketeers exploring together.

And trying to climb a tree.

Rudy walked over, as we were getting ready to leave, to take a picture of this shed. He was very proud of the picture.

Losses

Paul's Gram passed away June 21, just a few months away from her 90th birthday. She was an amazing woman, the matriarch of the family, and, the grandmother I always wanted, but didn't have growing up, since neither of my grandmothers lived nearby. I remember after meeting her a few times, and calling her Mrs. L, she told me, "Just call me Grandmom. Everyone calls me Grandmom." She was an amazing lady and will be greatly missed.

I'm so glad Rudy really got to spend time with her every week, and she just adored him.

Gram didn't get herself in many pictures,but here are two of my favorites:

Gram and Rudy at Halloween.

Gram and Mom at Gram's 85th Birthday celebration.

The same week we lost Gram, we also lost my cat, Mario. The summer after college, the cat we'd had since I was in first grade passed away. At the end of the summer, my mom was ready to get another cat, so we headed to the shelter. I decided I would get a cat, too, so that when I moved out of my parents' house, that cat would come with me. I didn't pick Mario, he picked me. There was a large room-sized cage that held all the domesticated cats. Mario stood at the edge and just meowed and talked to me ad I was sold. Of course, if I had realized that he would continue to 'talk' so much over the next 16 yeas, I might have reconsidered. He was a cat with a lot of personality and expected all his needs to be met how and when he wanted.

Lucy hanging out with Mario.

Mario and Dusty getting along for a brief moment.

Rudy and Mario- best buddies.

Twins?

Today we took the 3 cousins to get their pictures taken. Patti and I had coordinated and Rudy and max had the same shirt, with Lucy in a coordinating dress. After the picture fun (haha), we went to the food court for lunch. While at lunch, a man sitting at nearby table commented on the fact that Max and Rudy were wearing the same shirt and then followed it up with, "Are they twins?". Paul was able to calmly answer that they were cousins but we had a good laugh once the man left. As Paul said (sarcastically), "Yes, they are just different heights, have different hair color, different eye color and different skin color. "

Here are the 'twins' on the train at the mall.

Me and my favorite girl riding the train.

Playing around before taking pictures.

Random Rudy Photos

For his birthday/Christmas Rudy got a camera from Aunt Vincie. On the drive home after receiving the camera, he took about 15 minutes of video out the car window - of the trees and passing cars. I won't bore you with it but believe, it was pretty boring - and shaky.

I've been trying to leave the camera out so he will sometimes get inspired to just pick it up and take pictures. Here's the outcome.


The ride home with a new camera- shoes!

Grandpa's cat, Dusty, who was visiting us off and on in the last month.

The snow through a window.

Mario and Dusty co-existing peacefully.

And a recent picture of Paul.