A Birthday Party!

Absurdly, we had a four-day weekend, with MLK Day followed by a teacher prep day on Tuesday.  Although the extra day off was weird, since we still had all of our lessons, church activities and dance classes, it gave us a chance to celebrate Ruby's birthday, starting Monday night!  

Another drive up the canyon, another encounter with the sky.  I don't mind if I do!  I dropped the girls off to walk up Main Street, hoping to see some big stars at some of the Sundance venues.  Alas, all we saw were paparazzi, freezing their buns off waiting for that million dollar shot.  We made up for the lack of movie stars with a stop at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  Lexie is an expert in this department and advised everyone on what to get.  Yum!  Curse my diet which dictated my abstinence on this one!

After NOT spotting Brangelina or...who else is big?...we sequestered ourselves at the Ranch.  I just love having teenagers.  I basically drove them to the condo, pulled out my book and peanut M&M's (yes, part of the diet) and drove them home the next morning.  They filled in the blanks, no problem.  We popped a couple of Papa Murphy's pizzas in the oven upon arrival and feasted 15 minutes later.  Next on the agenda:  a hot tub adventure.  Lexie's cell phone nearly drowned, but was saved by a bag of rice.  It really worked to put the phone in the rice overnight!  I couldn't believe it.  I thought the little phone was doomed.

While the girls did whatever they did (I promise, no drugs or alcohol were involved...to my knowledge.  I do know there was ice cream, possibly with nuts), I finished my book.  It turned out to be very, very sad.  The Light Between Oceans was the title.  Great book.  Wrenching, though.

Even thought I stayed up until an ungodly hour to find out what happened to the little girl at the lighthouse, I heartlessly dragged the girls out of bed at 7:30 AM to go home.  And then I didn't feed them breakfast!  I just don't think enough about food, except for chocolate.  We'll have to make a note of that for next time.  Part of the reason for the early departure was drama camp.  But that's a whole other drama.

I'm so glad we have Ruby.  Oh so glad.  I remember vividly the moment I found out I was pregnant with Ruby.  Golda was nine months old.  I held her in my arms as I looked at the pregnancy test.  When I saw the two pink lines, I laughed!  Pure elation!  I looked at baby Golda and she laughed too.  We both laughed.  I was one of the great moments of my life.

I remember well when Ruby was born.  I wanted to wait until Friends was over to push, and I did.  Ruby was born at 9:10 pm, ten minutes after Friends ended. This was obviously before DVR was invented!  Bruce and Marlene were there in Idaho with us.  We had kept the name of the baby a secret, but everyone thought we were going to name her Mary.  After she was born, I said the name.  Ruby Marlene.

Marlene laughed.  "Ruby Marlene?" she said.  It was the perfect name for the copper-haired beauty with the turned-up nose who waited until after my favorite sit-com to slip out.  I'm sure she would have liked to arrive in time to watch Friends with us, but she knew she would steal the show if she did.  So she waited.

Now she is turning 14.  Appropriately, there has been a lot of laughter along the way, and more to come.  We love you, Ruby Marlene, our little Idaho gem.