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.

Rudyisms

Recently heard:
Singing ... I hope, I hope (hi ho, hi ho)

Are we going through the troll?

Rudy recently told me our car is old and we need to get a new one. I told him that would be nice but cars cost a lot of money. His solution was to go out and buy lots and lots of money, then we could buy a car.

McDonald's, in Rudy speak, is Old McDonald's.

Rudy told us that Grandma Sheila visited him in Guatemala. I like to think she did.

When Rudy got a haircut, he had conversations with me and Paul that were almost identical:
We complimented him on his haircut and he said "it looks like Michael". When we asked if Michael was someone at school, he said "no, he's in Guatemala". He then said that Michael is a girl. We have no idea who or what he's talking about but it was odd that he told Paul and I the same thing at different times.

Rudy talks all the time about Kindergarten. I think because his cousin and another friend both started Kindergarten this year. Many conversations include the phrase "when I go to Kindergarten".

Rudy loves to pretend he is a princess and usually makes us pick a princess to be too. He likes Belle, I was Cinderella and Paul was Pocahontas. All this involves is replying to Rudy when he calls us by our 'princess' name and listening to him say at least once a day "We're still Princesses." Of course, this is in between when he's being Bad Spiderman or Batman.

Rudy told his teacher that he used to eat oatmeal in Guatemala and now he eats it here. This was a surprise to me since he won't go near oatmeal!

FFF - More Diego

The first time Rudy dressed as Diego was for a birthday party for a classmate. Here he is in all his Diego splendor. We added Gato to the bag as a substitute for Baby Jaguar.

Rudy's Eye View

We spent a lazy Sunday after Halloween watching The Wizard of Oz and sitting on the couch under a blanket. After the movie ended, our doorbell rang - a rare occasion. Paul went to answer the door and Rudy followed. I stayed on the couch. I heard Paul talking to our neighbor and a minute later Rudy came back with my camera saying "I want to take a picture of you." I told him OK, he took the picture and then turned it around to show me the picture he took. (I had no idea he knew how to do that!) I asked him if that was the only picture he took and he said "I took a picture of the guy who rang the bell." So my curiosity was peaked and I had to look. This is what I saw:







Paul told me later that he was talking to Steve and all of a sudden heard a little whirring sound (the camera).