Ruby is Four!

Ruby's birthday was last week. I wanted to do the perfect post for her (whatever that is!), but I'd better just go ahead and post this. Something is better than nothing, right?
This is one of Ruby's most common "Isn't this fun?" faces of delight. One of my favorites.

As hard as it is for Casey and me to believe, it has been FOUR years since Ruby shot into our lives (literally). They say time flies, but it is truer than we could possibly imagine! Where did our little fussy baby go? And what of our chubby-faced toddler with the mullet?

We thank God for sending us such a sweet treasure. Ruby really is our little jewel. She has a tender heart and a helpful disposition. Usually, she will ask (and continue asking) if there is anything she can do to help me, and she cheerfully does whatever it is that I find for her.


Though she often has to be reminded that she is not the boss, her usually obedient example is helpful in guiding Claire's choices, and oftentimes her attitude is more "adult" than mine! Sometimes she will sweetly tell me, "Mommy, God says to be kind, and you are not talking kind to me." (I've given her permission to do this, and on some rough days, I'll ask her to remind me what God requires. I learned this from my friends, the Martins. Accountability is key for me, and if that is a 4-year-old, so be it. My hope is that as she grows and learns more Scripture, she will be able to challenge me that much more!)

Last week, Ruby had a birthday party. It wasn't much of one (cupcakes and a few friends over to play dress-up), but it's probably as close as we're going to get. We are just not the birthday hoopla type. Ruby and her friends had fun, and she talked about the party for days afterward.
From left to right: Ruby, Savannah (who is 2 days younger than Ruby, if you can believe it), Haley, Claire and Alexys.

Not easy to get five tiny ones to stay still long enough for a picture. We did get a lot of laughs, though.
These girls love dress-up!

Cupcakes! (Don't you love Claire's hoop dress?)

You'd think they'd notice all that frosting on their faces, but they were clueless.

This out-of-toddlerhood stage brings us into new territory: that of doing special things with Ruby for her birthday. Casey decided to take her to a Disney show the other week, and it sounded so fun that I decided to accept an invitation from a friend to a ladies' tea and take Ruby for a special date. Ruby loved both, and it was fun for both Casey and me to spend some (more) individualized time with her (she did share our tea date with Haley).

Case and Ruby grabbed dinner after the show. She was pretty excited.

Tea with the Ladies:

At our table: Annna, Angela and Chrissy

At first, Ruby was a little anxious about wearing her special dress. She kept asking me if people were going to laugh at her. (This has been a concern of hers for the last 4 months. Is it the age?)

I watched Ruby put cube after cube of sugar into her tea (which was cold and all but gone) while the speakers went on (and on, and on!) I was really surprised she did so well for it going as long as it did. And was glad she had something quiet to do.

On the right, you will see a gift basket, full of Christmas junk (not kidding). The ladies who had set up the tea party also set up a drawing. There were probably 25 gift baskets; we were given 3 tickets each to put in the bag of our choice (which coincided with the gift baskets). I put all my tickets into cute things that had little tea sets or fun kid stuff. Ruby insisted that she wanted her last ticket to go to this one, because she loved the mugs (Ugh.). I was totally appalled, but complied. It was so tempting to throw the ticket in the bag next to it: she wouldn't know better, but against my strongest inclinations, I put the ticket it in the bag she chose. A small step, I thought, toward letting go and allowing Ruby to like things I don't. Maybe by the time it's something big, I'll have learned to let go?

It was probably one of the last baskets I would ever EVER want, and what do you know? She won it. At first, I thought it was ironic, but then I realized that she won because hers was probably one of the only tickets in the bag. But the true irony lies in the fact that Ruby loved this basket because it had "Kwimmus Man" in it. That was the draw for her. She doesn't even know who he is, and yet she really wanted those mugs (scroll to the end of the post). So strange. And yes, we have those hideous, hand-wash-only, non-microwaveable mugs in our cupboard now. All for love of a child. (Awww.)

We got to stop by and see Ruby's sweet friend, "Lekus" when the tea party was over. Ruby's always been a little more excited to be Alexys' friend than she is to be Ruby's (as one can tell by the worried look: Who is this girl?)

Thank you, Lord, for lending us this sweet child. We do not deserve her, nor do we deserve any of the wonderful gifts You richly lavish on us. We are grateful! Help us to be faithful.