Grandma Gloria's Visit and a Soccer Sports Party

Grandma Gloria came up to Oakland and joined us at birthday parties for two of Ruby's friends.

Kailey, who turned 3, had a soccer party. Everyone joined in an indoor soccer class with coach Vince. Ruby felt more comfortable with mommy along side her. She did a great job scoring a goal in the net when it was her turn and running and jumping with the class. (The rules about kicking only, and no hands on the ball are not as strict for 2 and 3 year olds. )

The soccer field was at "Bladium" inside an old airplane hanger on an army base in Alameda. There were actually several soccer fields inside there as well as basket ball courts, a roller hockey arena, a full gym and a restaurant. Its an amazingly huge indoor space.

Ruby was inspired to sing and dance with all that great space to play in. See her dance video here.

There is also a video of her silly walk with grandma.

Grandma GLoria's Birthday!

Ruby showed her new cousin Spencer (now 3 months old) how to play with the exersaucer. Eve made a giant cupcake birthday cake.

Barney couldn't make it from FLorida but Amos, Eve and Heidi brought their families to celebrate. There were 5 grandchildren and 5 dogs!

Visiting for Mom's Birthday, walking the dogs

Ruby did a great job holding onto the dog leash during the walk and loved taking them out. Of course, there were stops to pretend to be a butterfly. Who can resist doing that on a sunny day?

Ruby also saw her first parade. We ran into it by accident. It was the 100th anniversary of Chaffey High and there were lots of high schools participating with marching bands, cheer leader floats and flag drills. Ruby said it was a bit loud but she liked the flag girls.

Pretend painting in Ruby's treehouse

Theres a Juniper tree on the end of the block which Ruby has decided is her tree house. We always stop to play under there during walks. We often pretend to paint (as in the videos here) or she goes shopping outside the tree and brings us back something to eat or play with. There is a lot of knocking on her door and being welcomed in. She is a very gracious host to her tree house guests.

Ruby's pretend play is so cute and creative. And she is very inspired by trees and rocks.

Ruby meets Claire, her new babysitter

This weekend we had another playdate with Aurora. Here we are cuddling up together to watch Dora after eating macaroni&cheese and chocolate pudding.

Also, Ruby met Claire, her new babysitter. Claire lives close by, in the house with the tether ball in the driveway. She is in 9th grade and is very impressed with how Ruby jumps on her bed. Watch Ruby introduce her kitties to Claire in the video.