*

The little girl who I watch throughout the week invited us to her hearing clinic's annual family fun festival a few weeks ago. It was really fun for all of us, and neat for the girls to see all the different kinds of people and kids who are deaf and have cochlear implants. I even signed a little with a dad there! [I knew it pretty well in junior high and then remember some from signing time :)]  Anyway, I won't share pictures of our friend since I don't have permission, but here's some of my girls and their amazing face paint! I've never seen such talented face painters or balloon artists!

here's the 3 of them a different day at the science museum - what a gorgeous view from the cafeteria of the Charles River, I love it!

*halloween

we had a fun halloween this year and I wasn't even stressed with making a costume. My Mom made Vera's, Edie's was from Target and Ruth wore her sleep sack with some fabric circles glued on - she really was only dressed up for these pictures, then she went to bed.  Vera and Edie just loved their costumes and were so happy!!!

So Ruth is supposed to be Olaf here. I'd like to note that one family member thought she was a pilgrim, one thought she was a scottish lass, another thought she was a domino.

Our good friends and trick or treat buddies!

Have to include this absolutely adorable picture of our little cousin out in California. Her costume takes it - so incredibly cute. Jessie was Tiger Lily and Ben was Cap'n Hook :)

*cotidiano

Blog posts are few and far between lately! I need to keep going for that big book I'm going to print out someday... hopefully :)

Anyway, I feel very fortunate that Ben still has a pretty flexible schedule and is often able to work at home so I can let Ruth keep napping while I get things done. Here he stayed home while Edie and I went to the Asian grocery store and then the bank. She was so adorable on her scooter with a little scarf around her neck - I took like ten pictures but none captured how cute she was being. She is getting really fast and was jabbering away about how she rides it like a skateboard.

Vera and I went to the mall on Sunday [another time Ben stayed with sleeping babe] and had a little mommy+me time. She was SO excited, literally didn't stop talking the whole time and kept commenting on how excited she was and how we hadn't done anything like that in a long time. I got some lip gloss at Macy's and then she got some at Justice [ugh I am hating that tacky store but she is obsessed! Trying to keep it balanced and not forbid..]

Rudy, Root, Ruthie, Rocio (said in a penninsular spanish accent by edie:) is now 9 months old! I wish I could videotape her everyday so I can watch it the rest of my life. Is that weird? I just want to eat her up - all her little moves and mannerisms. She is crawling, pulling up, cruising a little, waving bye, signing all done, water (not consistently), beginning to 'dance', eating well, sleeping ok [waking twice-ish and nursing once usually] and even tries to copy when I say "hot!". She's starting to have little opinions and let's us know with extremely loud shouts if she wants more food, wants to go out where the kids are, wants my coffee cup...

*Edie sings a hymn

Found this old video of Edie singing "Be Thou My Vision" to herself - not sure how it will show up. She was probably 2.5 - such a scrappy little girl!

[in our old apartment/dorm]