What Up, Dogg???

OK, still doing a bit of catch up.....But I thought these Halloween pics belonged in their own post.

So this year was Chrissy's year to choose the costume so of course we had to go with 'cute.' After some protest, I have to admit he did look pretty darn cute....So after some quick pics at home, we headed over to T&D's. After some punch (more on that in a bit) we headed out as a crew with Jenae's kids and did about an hour's worth of candy collecting.

E did great. He refused to be carried and finally caught on by the end of the 1st block...although he did keep trying to walk into everyone's houses.....just like his big sister, Layla, likes to do...

We got back and had a great night, with E finally going to bed around 10. This was one of his latest nights ever.....

So Chrissy made this great punch using Dry Ice. Andy and I could not leave well enough alone, so instead of just enjoying the punch, we decided to make a dry ice bomb....

After several explosions, we finally ran out of plastic bottles...which was probably for the best.

Just remember, E. Do as I say, not as I do....

E and Jenn.

E getting his makeup done by Allie.

Catch Up

This picture pretty much sums up how we all feel about the Bears this year.....Although I am proud to say, E and I are still ardent Bears fans....No fair weather here in Minnesota.

I love the stern stink eye E is getting from Grandma Trish.....dang Viking fans.....nobody is safe - not even 2 year olds....

I know - Pumpkin Patch posts in December.....Sorry, E. get used to this....you are a Ruiz, remember????

We had a great time here with G&G Doug and Trish. We met up with the Weinke clan to pick pumpkins. Chrissy was somewhere.....hard to keep track where in the country she was. Do I sound bitter????

Though this was over two months ago, I do remember later that night E and I went to watch the game and carve pumkins and guess what. You got it. Bears lost.

I love this picture b/c it looks like we have a football game going on with the pumkins.

This is E on what he refers to as his, 'donkey.' Although he does not watch much tv (much to my dismay, especially if I am hungover) he does like to watch while sitting on said donkey....Wouldn't that be great to have something like this as an adult??? I guess we do. But instead of a donkey we call it a lazy boy....

These pics represent a project Doug and I started the weekend after Thanksgiving....This time while Chrissy was globe trotting in Paris and London. After four days, Doug and I finally finished...OK, let's be honest, I was not Norm to Doug's Bob Villa....but I was good at ordering pizza and getting Arby's. Although this week was pretty tough on me (on top of work, E and the bathroom I got sick and lost my voice) Ethan had a great time. We even slept over one night at Grandma's.....At least someone had a good week....

I am close (just some caulking and final touch ups to go) to being done - I will post pics of the finished product soon (hopefully next week at the latest)

Long Time

So I think I will be going from 'guest blogger' to the main author of E's blog. Luckily, Chrissy is a better wife and mother than she is blogger....

I am posting this as a test to see if my 10 year old Dell can handle the job.

I am not confident considering I got the following message when I attempted to go to an artist's website, 'Sorry! Your browser is over 8 years old and doesn't support the rich media we're displaying on this website.'

WHAT? My machine is so old I can't even open the site? Crazy.

Anyway, if this works I will throw some more pics on. Otherwise, I will have to wait to use my work computer.

Cross your fingers.....

Happiness, Sadness, Old Pictures, Bad Pictures and Just For Fun

And not necessarily in that order...

1st order of business

Happy Bday Sis. I love you and miss you.

2nd order of business

Disclaimer 1: I am on Day 5 as Mr. Mom and it is 11 pm at night. (although Teri Garr was a blonde and Chrissy is a brunette, I still have a job, and unlike Michael Keaton I only have one kid...so maybe a bad analogy.)

Happiness: Look at the last picture. How does a little boy that runs around in his underwear, using a fake, pink Dora cell phone while wearing Mardi Gras beads not make you smile???

Old Pictures: The picture immediately following is an old zoo pic - taken during another one of my Mr. Mom stints (bad analogy or not, it is working for me so I am sticking with it.)

Bad Pictures: If you remember two posts ago, I already told you I am not a good photographer. It does not help matters that Chrissy took the good camera leaving me with the Gen 1 digital camera from 1999....Might as well replace my cell phone with the back pack communication system used to call in aerial attacks in Vietnam...

With Pictures 2 and 4, E and I are not winning any modeling contests any time soon.

Just For Fun: You can never have too many pictures of me and my serious face. (although to be honest, the real reason I took this picture is because Ethan mangled my sunglasses. So after 18 minutes of adjustments, I wanted to see how straight (or crooked) they were...Not bad not bad....

Disclaimer 2 - Chrissy hates these glasses. No, I am not cool. But I now make a mean Blue Cheese Spread for heirloom tomatoes. Love me for me, so they say....

Disclaimer 3 - Any resemblance of my hair in this picture to that of Gumby is purely coincidental.

Sadness: The picture starting this post is a picture taken in Tacoma, Washington in 2003 - it is a photo of my cousin Jeneva, my grandmother Felipa and me - taken by my uncle Mike (you can see him in the reflection if you look closely.)

My Grandmother passed away a month ago....I still don't think I have dealt with it.

Why is this on E's blog, you ask?

Easy. He never met her. He never will. I harbor regret.

Not only for the fact that I can't post a picture of E with his great grandmother, but for the too few calls, etc.

So at the risk of channeling Ann Landers: call the people whom you care about often. Get pictures of your babies with the people who are important to you.

The babies won't remember.

That is what the pictures are for.

Good night.

Bachelor Pad!!!

With Momma in Chicago this week, E and I are living the lives of free men....

Unfortunately....my freedom isn't quite what it used to be these days when Chrissy travels.

One of the (many) things I promised to do was to add a few posts so Chrissy could keep up on the Ruiz Men.

So Sunday started with me putting together Ethan's big boy potty, which is an attachment that goes on top of the toilet. Let's just say Ethan is not ready yet.

If you zoom in on this pic, you will notice that it is the parents' guide to potty training that Ethan is standing on. 'Nuf said.

After some morning toons, we turned our attention to the real work of the day: FOOTBALL!!!

After gathering up our tailgating gear, we headed over to the rival Viking house of G&G Trish & Doug. We enjoyed brats and dogs and other goodies that are still counteracting all of those boxes of Cheerios I have eaten for the past three years

Yes. I know. It is terrible. That is a Viking bib that Ethan has on. Those are purple beads.....And that is Allie - another Viking fan. In my defense, I have Adrian Peterson on my fantasy team....

Doug - you have no proof I was cheering for AP on Sunday. That is my story and I am sticking to it...

This is Monday morning. Remember the monthly photos from this chair??? Where oh where has my little baby gone????

YO GABBA GABBA!!!

Welcome to my second installment as a 'Guest Blogger' on E's site. I have to start this with the disclaimer that these photos are not Mom approved. As I don't spend much time on blogs (or behind a camera) I don't have much to compare them to....

So a few weeks ago reading the Sunday paper (more than likely on a Wednesday or Thursday night) I came across an add for a Target sponsored event featuring Yo Gabba Gabba. For those of you out there not familiar with Gabba Land, it is Ethan's generation's version of Barney on acid. There are five monster friends living inside of DJ Lance Rock's Boombox. During the course of each show, through songs, art, skits and cartoons, the friends learn important lessons, such as never giving up, eating veggies and my favorite: don't bite your friends.

Anyway, so I woke up today and the reminder came up on my calendar. I did not know much about it and as I did little planning (ok - even less planning than I normally do) I was not sure if I would go or not. But I figured, why not? It was free and worse case scenario we would leave early if it was lame. As it was a 'Reading Festival' I really did not see how it could be cool - Gabba or no Gabba.

So E and I quickly dress and get out to the site (early - can you believe it?!?) and it turns out we have to park and get transported to the site.

Now I am starting to think this is going to be a little bigger than I expected.

We get on the bus and after a 10 minute drive arrive at the site. Much bigger than I expected.....We're talking a mini taste of Chicago.

So Ethan and I trek up a hill and there, on stage, is DJ Lance in person.

Lance gets right to business, and even though it is hot and humid and Lance Rock is wearing a wooly hat and a polyester jump suit, he dances and sings for about 40 minutes.

After Gabba finished, the show did get lame (live children book reads aren't cool at all) but E and I had plenty to do, from the nature center's hawk to paddle boats; we had a great time.

I do have to admit we had to make one stop back at the car as I forgot my wallet. Somethings will never ever change..

E's First Festival
This is Brobee. Hard to believe someone is making millions off of this goofy thing...

This is Ethan's first experience with a sound man at a mixing board. Coincidentally, Ethan was the only kid interested in the sound board to the point they had to rope it off because of him.

In this picture, you can't see him but Ethan is looking at the sound guy. Many a nights I have looked at sound men the same way....wondering what the heck they were doing....

Sadly, Ethan's legs were too short and I had to do all the paddling....I was able to work off the hot dog we just ate.

And here is a little video sample. I am happy to say Lance did not lip sync. Brobee, on the other hand, took a page right out of Britney's book....Shame on you, Brobee. Shame on you.

Late Summer Update

I've been really bad about keeping up with the blog. Sorry! We've had a really busy summer! Visits from family and friends, visits up north, visits to the beach, running, concerts, and simply busy trying to keep everything afloat and still make it to bed by a decent time every night and to work each day. Not an easy feat. In the last few weeks Ethan has been transformed into a little boy. He's been growing like mad, his vocab is exploding and he has two scraped up knees -- testaments to how much he loves running and playing in the park. He loves helping us with housework, thanks to his new favorite toy, the broom and can't get enough of the 18 million balls we have laying around the house. He chases dogs, kids, bunnies, squirrels, sticks and "AIRPLANES." To say he's all boy would be a serious understatement. He's also learned how to assert himself and throw a well-timed tantrum, but those are the less than glamorous details that aren't worth focusing on (at least in this medium)!

So, here's a slew of recent photos;

Oh, the joys of getting an almost-2-year-old and almost-3-year-old to take a photo We had a great weekend hanging out with Lanie and Christie!

We didn't have the typical scorching summer, but the days that were warm, we spent at Lake Calhoun

Blowing me a kiss!

First cone on his own!

Playing at G&G Trish & Doug's

The water table was a hige hit!

Playing with his puppy...this is priceless to me.

At the zoo!

His favorite mode of transportation...