Ruby's "Actual Birthday"

As Ruby says, today is her "actual birthday".  I cannot believe that 4 years ago I got my gigantic self out of bed at 4 am and to the hospital by 5 am for my 7:30 C-section.  It was dumping rain that day, much like today.  Reder stayed home with Gramma Mary and Papa Randy, and they all came over a few hours later.  Surprisingly with all of the drugs and lack of sleep I remember that day well!

Ruby came downstairs to her new bike today.  Well, new to her.  I got it at Second Wind Sports.  She seemed really happy with it.  That is one reflective reflector!

We knew to watch PBS right at 7 am so we could see Ruby's second of fame:

She brought treats to school today, and got to wear the crown.  This was what she chose to wear.  She told me yesterday she wanted to wear a pretty dress.

Ruby has never pedaled anything before...not even a tricycle.  She has a Strider rip-off and she's awesome on it, but no pedals.  We were worried this would be a big hang-up.  She was definitely apprehensive at first (I took the kids out this afternoon once we had a break in the rain) but willing to listen to instructions and try it out:

She could have trouble pushing the pedals forward and then getting confused and pulling her feet back, stopping the bike.

Reder was very patient with her and helped her get started:

I let Ruby choose what we had for dinner...of course mac-n-cheese!  We also were sent home with a ton of cooked hot dogs from cooking dinner at church on Sunday...we are not happy to waste food so we had those too.  Wow, kid dinner (well, we also had broccoli and apples).  To polish it off we had root beer floats...though Ruby didn't like it.  Really?  She suggested it!:

Since the clouds cleared a little we decided to take a drive up the canyon.  Ooh, this is fun!

Jason was throwing sticks for the girls, and skipping rocks.  He did not notice the little girl behind him strip completely naked from the waste down and wade into that freezing water up to her belly button.  He quickly snapped a picture before he hauled her out and got her dressed.  She didn't seem to think it was too cold.  I missed it all b/c I was looking for the outhouse (too much root beer).

Goof balls!

I think Ruby had a great birthday.  We certainly had fun!