We've had a roller coaster couple of weeks since Dad's diagnosis but have managed to stay positive and have fun here in the Vogt household. Ruby has, shall we say, a strong personality and keeps us on our toes. For example, she is a horrible back seat driver and the other day as I was driving, I was leaning up close to the steering wheel to stretch my back and here's the conversation from there:
Ruby: "Mommy, don't sit like that."
Me: "Ruby I can sit however I want, you can't tell me what to do, I'm the mommy."
Ruby: "Well I'm the Ruby, don't sit like that."
Me: "OK then."

Ruby is talking so well now, she's saying new sentences and words I didn't even know she knew every day. It's so much fun to hear what comes out next! Hopefully nothing too embarrassing for a good while yet. She's also starting to colour really well and really tries to stay inside the lines. She likes to colour the eyes of all the characters in her colouring books. It's really kind of creepy.

Ruby cannot WAIT until Thanksgiving to go see her cousins Luke, Evan, Andy and Emily. She wants us to tell her at least 20 times a day about our upcoming trip to North Carolina to Dave and Toni's. She is going to have so much fun, we're all looking forward to it so much.

Doug and I actually got out on a date last weekend. We tried a new babysitter and Ruby just loved her and got a glowing report when we got back. We've decided we're going to start having date night once a month now that we have a babysitter we really like. Yippee!

We hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving, we all have so much to be grateful for. So much.

I can't believe how grown up she looks here!

It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A!

Date night!!

Car ride at a festival. Despite the look of terror she LOVED it!

"Look Daddy, a train ride!"

Aww. Ruby and her buddy Chris.

The aftermath of a temper tantrum when she didn't want to nap.

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet!

Halloween is over for another year! What a fun Halloween week we had! Parties and events and play dates and finally trick-or-treating. It took Ruby a few houses to get into the swing of things but after that she was a pro. She was so excited to finally be able to touch all the scary witches up on people's porches. Yes, we have a twisted child. She was very sad to see her favorite witch had been taken down today when we took a bike ride. When I tucked her in tonight, she said in a very forlorn voice, "Mommy, my favorite scary witch is gone." So we made up a song about it and she seemed to cheer up a little bit. Hope everyone had a happy Halloween!

At a play date. Ruby LOVED the babies, Marco and Ethan!

Not liking the smell of pumpkin guts!

What IS that stuff??

Helping Daddy get the seeds out.

Trick or Treat!

On to the next house.

She's a pro. Going to the door by herself!

Best buddies. Eva, Ellie and Ruby.

Our mummies we made for the Halloween party.

Strange couple we met at the Halloween party.

The 3 amigos again.

FANGS!