ruby's sixth birthday

Ruby turned six!!  What a riot.  I think this birthday will stand out in a special way in her memory.  The day of her birthday, there was a pumpkin carnival at school.  I was able to help out which was great since I got to see her and spend time with her.  I had lunch with both girls that day as well.

Oh boy!  Ruby wanted a picture with the boys she sat next to, too!

That night, we went to our church's Pumpkin Palooza for Ruby's birthday party.  There were 7 girls plus our 4 that we had to keep our eyes on.  I was thankful for the couple of moms that chose to stay and help out.  It was so busy which we did not anticipate.  But the girls seemed to enjoy it.  They bounced around from activity to activity.  We opened presents, ate cupcakes, and bounced around some more.  They went home with plenty of candy and goody bags.  It went well and Ruby had a blast!

whoops!  Missed a candle!!

Lego and Friends from dad and mom!

It worked out well to have the party at church, even with the crazy busy-ness!  Birthday parties are just a bunch of fun, aren't they?!  We held a family party for both girls the following week.

I LOVE how uniquely different each of our kids are from each other.  Ruby is a girly-girl, a social butterfly, energetic, full of life and sugar and spice.  She sleeps in, cuddles, mothers, teases and sasses us, loves drama, loves life, loves others, loves Jesus.  Her favorite things include: singing, dancing, whistling, picking out clothes, getting dressed, playing school... especially with Charlie since she has an upper-hand, reading, writing, art, legos, hair and makeup, friends.  She loves school so much and is such a great student!

We recently learned that Ruby has hyper-mobility which explains why she will randomly have unexplained pain in her left leg.  But since we've learned this, she enjoys showing off all of the ways that she is double-jointed that we've never noticed before!  Just hoping that it won't be an issue of much concern as the years go on.

Ruby is just so very lovable.  We've joked since Ruby was a toddler that you want to avoid eye-contact if you don't have time for a ten minute conversation.  But I so enjoy listening to her!  She's very detailed, including dramatic pauses and includes a portrayal of the way someone looked at her.  One night she was kind of hurt about a friend at school and she told me, 'we broke apart and it broke my heart'!  Her exact words!  Then she went on to tell me that they're not bffs anymore and that she doesn't even recognize her anymore!  She seriously talks like a teenager!  Ruby is very passionate; you can hear it in her stories and you can see it in the ways that she treats others.

Some things about Ruby that are just very minor but things that I love.  She's very gentle with her hands.  It probably sounds weird but she just does these graceful motions with her hands and fingers.  It's in the way she gently and slowly points to the words on a page.  Or the way she slowly brushes hair off her face.  The way that she touches Emmy very lightly to redirect her.  And she frequently uses her middle finger to itch her cheek or point to something!  Every movement is fluid and graceful!  It's just something I don't want to forget!

Whereas she used to ONLY wear skirts and dresses, now she's concerned about being 'too fancy' at school.  I can tell she is conflicted.  Some mornings she has her hand on a skirt or dress, but slowly lets it slip out of her grip as she chooses jeans.  But while she tries so hard not to be fancy, I know she deeply cares about being put together!  And apparently she still feels fancier than the rest of us:

Notice which one is Ruby.  (She's the one with a hair bow and eyelashes!)

We just couldn't be more proud of this girl!  What a delight!  Ruby, our gem!