Happy Halloween

Cutest.  Elephant.  Ever.

 Max, who was thrilled to be an astronaut because Sam was one too!

Somehow, Astronauts use their ninja powers to protect the universe.  Or something like that.  

Pearl girl as a kitty with her best friend, Molly.  Both at the school harvest festival and at the neighborhood trunk or treat, they just "hung out" and did their own thing.  Last night they talked on the phone for 15 minutes.  When did she decide to grow up?  And who gave her permission?

Mean (Crazy? Neurotic?) Mom strikes again...

Cross Country is over, and Pearl was doing so well by the end, able to run a whole mile without stopping OR crying.  We are doing a mermaid race together in 3 weeks, so I didn't want her to lose her ability to run, so I thought I'd try her on the treadmill Saturday (I ran 11 miles that day, I just didn't have it in me to do one more with her!)  It cracked me up because she LOVED it.  She got to watch whatever she wanted on netflix (my little ponies) and I set the speed for a little under a 16 minute mile, which was her finals pace.  That kid ran happily for 1.5 miles with a goofy grin on her face the whole time.  Just goes to show, to each is own.  I hate the treadmill, give me the outdoors anyday, but the treadmill works for her.  So, now she's on a 3 day a week running schedule (on the days she doesn't have taekwondo).  I feel bad making a 9 year old exercise (I think at that age you usually use the word "play" as a euphanism), but I think she's pretty happy about it.  And I'm really proud of her for doing something hard and being happy.  Nice work, Pearl!!!

Baby Lu

Little miss cutie pants is one.  (actually, it's little miss dirty pants, see previous post!!!).  Ryan Logan set up this really cool light thing and I took some pictures.  She was.... pensive, but still adorable.  

She loves her brothers and sisters, and she still loves her mommy and daddy.  She still refuses to stand unless you grab her thighs and make her.  She throws peas on the floor, and has decided chocolate milk is awesome.  She is starting to sign "milk" and will repeat duplicated syllables.  She will give you the hugest smile when you come back into the room after leaving.  We love her sooo much!!!  One year dr appt monday, stats and birthday party pics to follow!

Cross Country Finals

Today was Pearly's cross country finals.  She did so well!  I was so worried about her, I've been "pacing" her for most of the other meets, ever since she got lost the first time.  No pacing for the finals, though.  So, I made her wear her "sparkle" skirt and her coach gave her some super awesome sparkly bows.  This meant that both Jared and I (who were stationed at different places on the course) could see her coming from far away.  

She finished last, with a smile on her face.  I was standing in the crowd at one point, and she ran past, alone, obviously working very hard, in all of her sparklyness.  I heard someone say "look at her go, she's totally awesome."  That pretty much sums it up.  Nice job, Pearl, you never gave up even though it was hard.  So proud of you!

It's official.  Ruby is a Hulbert.  Which, for my particular branch of the family, involves vast amounts of uncoordination.  Her cousin, Quincy, (born 5 days after Ruby) can climb up and stand on top of the toilet tank (not that I'm asking for that, believe me!!!).  When Grandma is asked how the babies are doing, this is how it goes down... "Quincy can stand and walk and dance and run 5 miles...  Ruby has 8 teeth."  Or something like that.

But we are here to tell you that she's ON THE MOVE!!!  Just not in the typical way... she's been scooting for a week or two, but today she got really fast, and it's quite funny.  Kind of like one of those clams or something moving along the beach.

And she does have 8 teeth.  That takes some effort, right?:)