two is bigtime

last week our sweet ruby turned two!

since school is so far away,

ruby comes and stays with me while she is in class and at therapy,

so she is sort of an honorary student there 

(along with her other younger sibling pal, ella, whose big sister is in class too)

on thursday, ruby got to go up in front of morning music for a birthday serenade:

and one of the moms brought ruby a birthday cake!

(siednote: don't even get me started on how sad i will be when m is done at that school & 

we are not there all of the time.

if you had ever told me that i would be sad to no longer be attending a deaf school, 

much less a deaf school an hour from our house, i would've thought you were crazy.

but i'm already feeling the sadness,

and we still have a few weeks left of school!)

{ruby's happy cake face}

i jerry rigged some decorations for a family party

that included ruby's favorite, ice cream with toppings!

uncle aaron gives ruby her present from him and aunt sarah in spoken word with accompanying drum style:

we dined on cheap pizza from the corner pizza shop

(yes, we are foodies, but we also know how to rock dives too)

and then,

the moment that i didn't capture because my camera battery was dead, dead, dead 

(lucky for me matt went and bought me a new battery this weekend) 

so i have to commit it to memory before i forget it.

my two sweet girls

stood right in front of me as i held out ruby's cone with a candle on it

and they hugged and held each other,

m telling her, 

"you're two sweetie,

it's your birthday!"

and my two sweetpeas were snuggling and laughing

and my heart just about burst from how much i love these two girls.

the look on ruby's face when she saw the candle lit melted me even more

love ruby through and through: 

her determination, 

spunk, spirit, giggle, 

little voice calling "roy-ya, roy-ya" for her sister, 

the way she snuggles, 

how she can go from screaming her lungs out to fast asleep in seconds- 

as long as someone is holding her, 

her attempts to copy everything her sister does, 

her tumbling, falling bruiser body,

her big eyes and little dimples,

the way she sits & reads silently to herself,

her radar for getting into something she isn't supposed to touch,

the way she leaves a tornado trail behind her throughout the house,

her stubborn & sweet personality all rolled into one.

love these two.

love being a mom.

and of course, love me some ice cream.