You better ask... don't boss the Rue Rue...

My Mother was telling me that Rue has been enjoying picking up Apples with Grandpa Ken and Pears with MaMaw Millie. Mom said when she was helping her with the pears she tosses those suckers in the bucket with great force, like she's pitching a ball. Rue actually gets annoyed if you try to put the pear in the bucket, she'd rather you let her do that, thank you very much. Anyway, Mom told me this story about Rue helping Grandpa Ken out on the farm. I guess they have a very happy apple tree that produces a lot of tasty apples. Rue loves to help pick them up. On this particular day, Rue's 19 year old step cousin, Anthony was "helping" and I use that word loosely. Ken asked Rue and Anthony to continue picking up the apples while He climbed up in the tree and picked some. Rue was doing her thing and Anthony was being a bit lazy, he'd point at an apple and boss Rue, telling her to pick it up. Ken said, she'd shoot Anthony a glare, walk over, pick up the apple but instead of putting it in the bucket, she'd walk over to the fence and chuck it into the cow lot. Ken said it was hilarious. Rue would be doing her job, picking up apples sticking them in the bucket and Anthony would tell her to pick up another apple....again, she'd shoot him the look of death and proceed to chuck that apple into the cow lot. Don't mess with an ALMOST 2 year old...especially one who is probably smarter than you, ANTHONY! Anyway, when Ken got down out of the tree, he made Anthony go over and pick up all the apples that Rue had chucked. I guess he figured since Anthony's bossy tactics backfired, maybe it would teach him that sometimes you catch more flies with honey...or in this case more apples end up in the bucket instead of the cow lot.

Aw Rue Rue, she's a lot like her Auntie Netter after all!

The Rue...she never stops moving.

I think my Mom gets annoyed because I refer to my Niece and either The Rue or Rue Rue. I can't help it...my Dad does it as well. You know, The Rue is no ordinary kid. She's larger than life and thus needs a larger than life extension of her name. Thus she is "The Rue" because there is no one quite like her, she's an original but I call her Rue Rue when I'm being more playful...and because frankly, I like it. The Rue is a go-getter. When she's around, she doesn't stop moving and she's always alert, always on the look for something different. For example, she walks into my Parents bathroom, stops dead in her tracks and points to the new rug. "Yes, MeMah put a new rug down in her bathroom." That is explanation enough. Then there was the time that she walked into the kitchen. Her MeMah usually hangs the damp towels up on a rack above her sink. That day MeMah hung the towel on the stove handle. Rue walked into the kitchen, saw the towel, pulled it off the stove handle and pointed to the rack above the sink, so MeMah would know that it was in the wrong spot and put it back where it belonged. The girl has a sense of order...or a little OCD, but only time will tell on that one. I think the Rue's motto is "Play hard!"She loved all the rides at the fair. At least,the ones she could go on. 
She loves hanging out with her PaPa. You know, its almost scary that they get along so well. What's not to love about Papa... he teaches you lots of things that MeMah and Mommy wouldn't even thing about.  
The Rue is a visual learner. When PaPa was fixing her push trike, she had to get down and check out exactly what he was touching and how he was doing it. She knows what a screwdriver is for and if she gets her hands on one, she goes straight for anything with a screw. Then proceeds to try to dismantle...aka fix it. 
The Rue loves to draw and color. She even gets PaPa and MeMah's neighbor, Jesse to draw pictures on the patio so she can help color it in.  

Rue, the Artist

The Rue Rue likes sidewalk caulk. If she isn't drawing on herself, or putting rosie cheeks on her "Baby" Bear. Yep, she calls him her baby. I actually started something that I believe my Sister is going to have to explain to the gals at Rue's daycare. You see, Rue Rue likes to rock in the rocking chair while you sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." I don't sing the Merrily part though, instead I sing "Through the "Baby" overboard and listen to it scream." Uh, yeah, so now if you try to sing the song the correct way, Rue Rue looks at you like you are annoying her and shakes her head to let you know that you are not doing it right. When you sing my version, she's very happy and if "Baby is near, she drops him on his head and screams. It's not a loud scream, but its a scream all the same, just made with her inside voice. Ah yes, the trouble that I cause! Actually, I spoke with her on the phone the other day and she wanted me to sing, "Row, Row." So, I did and she'd scream then she'd say..."Row,Row!" and I'd sing it again. This went on for quite a while before she decided it was time to press buttons and her Mommy took the phone away.
Boy Baby Bear...aka Huckleberry is looking kind of motley. Must be from all of his trips around the washing machine.

Tisha or Rue....hmmm.

Anyone that knew my Sister Tisha as baby or toddler, knows that Rue looks just like her Mommy did. It's scary how much she looks like her. She even does some of these crazy little things that Tisha did. For example, Tisha used to do this thing where she would be standing or even sitting and she would start swinging one arm back and forth, kind of in an arch around her body. Her body didn't twist, just her arm. When I was home over Christmas, Rue was doing the same thing. It's not because Tisha still does it and copied her. Actually, I had almost forgotten about it until I saw Rue do it. It will be interesting to see what other things have in common. Things could get interesting...very, very interesting.

A Rue Rue Halloween...

My little Rue had two costumes for Halloween. She wore her little silk Chinese outfit to daycare and she even had the matching shoes. That is Rue and her Grammy in the upper left hand picture. For her evening trick and treating, she was a bear. Gosh she is cute in that outfit...lol. It's those big blue eyes. In the top right hand pic she is with her Daddy and Sugar Bear...and in the bottom right hand picture she is with her Second Cousin Shannon. Since she couldn't trick or treat at her Auntie Nett's house, I sent her some money for her savings account and of course, her costumes.

OK, show Grammy where Middle C is located.

Grandchildren have it easy. I know for a fact that my Mother never would have allowed me to stand on her piano bench....never ever....EVER. To prove it, i'm going to try it when I go home for Christmas....I bet she yells at me. On top of that, she never would have let us bang on random keys for enjoyment purposes. Rue sure gets to. Yep, that is what its all about, torment your children and let your Grandchildren do any darn thing they want to do. It's OK. I know, I had Grandparents too. Shoot, that is why we used to love going to Grandma Kaster's house. She'd let us do about anything we wanted to do. You want a half a container of cool whip on your slice of pie...you got it. Another soda, sure, it didn't matter that you had already had 4. You wanted to eat dill pickles and ice cream, sure, whatever strikes your fancy. Plus you always went home with a pocket full of pennies and a sugar high that almost took signing into a detox clinic to come down off of. Grandma Slater was a little more strict but she still let you get away with stuff too. She had wind chimes hanging in each door frame on the first floor of the house and she'd let you run in circles through the house, smacking those chimes, so that they were always making noise. (Though secretly, I think she let us do that so we would crash early and she would have some peace and quiet.) You could sit under the table while the grown ups played cards and try to tie Great Uncle Rays shoe laces together. Ahhh, yes, those were the days.

My Niece Rue won!

Every year at the Johnson County Fair, they have a cutest baby contest. Once long ago, my Cousin Jeff won. I remember seeing the trophy at his Parents house, years ago. This year, our little Rue won. The pic on the newspaper clipping isn't Rue, its just a random picture that they used....but the picture below is the picture that she won with. The color is off so you can't see her pretty bright blue eyes and I can't find my copy of it. Snapfish isn't cooperating with me tonight.  

 

What are you going to be for Halloween?

Rue Rue is going to be a teddy bear. Her Auntie Nett went shopping for her costume over the weekend and after much deliberating, the bear won out over the kitten and the bunny outfit. Let's face it, Sugar Bear, needs a big Sister and since Rue adores her Sugar Bear so much, who better to fill the fur. Sure she is to small to eat any of the treats...but she still has to go trick or treating at her Great Aunt and Uncles homes. She has to hit her Grammy and PaPa's house, her friend Taryn's house across the street, and her many admireors too. She's mighty popular these days. Aunt Nett has a fun care package for her, since she can't go trick or treating at my house. OK, seriously, how cute is she going to be in that costume?!

I've been on vacation and its not over yet...

Bunny Rue Rue and her Sugar Bear asked me to tell you all Hello. We've been having a great time. More pictures to follow. Rue said I should check in and let you all know that I'm still kicking. That Rue Rue is a smart little girlie.

I'm off to check off a few more things on my "to do" list. Who said Nebrasky must be a boring place....sheesh, there is so much to do around here that a person almost needs a second vacation to recover.

I hope you are all doing well.

Rue and her Paw Paw and Grammy

Rue has her Paw Paw wrapped around her little fingers. When its time to be burped, she gets the royal treatment. Yep, she gets propped over his leg and Paw Paw reads her a book while he tries to pat those bubbles up for her. She seems pretty happy with the arraingement. Trust me, if she wasn't, she would let him know. She laughs at her Grammy a lot too. I dont' blame her one bit, I do the same thing. I laugh everytime I see this picture. That's my Bunny Rue Rue...and I can tell she is going to be a silly girl. I wouldn't want her any other way. She's getting so big and I'm missing all the cranky teething issues....whew. She's my girl. We talk on the phone, well she looks at the phone trying to figure out where the sound is coming from before she tries to chew on it and I do most of the talking. I just hear a bunch of heavy breathing and some laughing.

Finally! More Rue pictures

 If you keep on people long enough, you finally get some pictures of your neice. Rue is getting big. The little turd better stop growing, atleast until I get there. She's going to kill my back, I know that already....but that is just part of the deal. If you want to spoil her, she has to injure you, that is just the way it goes. Her 1/2 birthday is coming up on June 9th, but I already sent her present. She needed a book case for all of her books and toys...so I had it delivered earlier in the year.

Bunny Rue Rue: Into the Looking Glass

I FINALLY got some more pictures of my niece Rue. While Grammy snapped the picture, Pop Pop held up their Granddaughter. It sure looks like she was interested in herself. She's getting so big. I have to wait until the end of June to see here again. She'll be 6 months old, but that is OK, babies are more interesting at that age.

Grammy wore Rue out the other day. She bought her an Exersaucer so she could sit up and see the world and her toys. They put a couple receiving blankets around her tummy so she doesn't fall over and Rue is in hog heaven. She checks out her hands and whatever is around her. Yep, Rue had a blast and wore herself out. She took a three hour nap for Grammy. Bunny Rue Rue was one tired girlie. The weather was finally nice enough that she was able to go for a ride in the stroller after her nap. The fresh air wore her out again. I think I would sleep well too if someone pushed me around in the fresh spring air. It just seems like it would be so relaxing.

I always heard that Motherhood would drive you bonkers, but isn't it a little early for that? LOL...what an attractive picture. Hehe, it really captures my Sisters looney side. I love it and will probably catch hell for posting it. It's SOOOO worth it. Oh, so worth it! Rue was so tiny in this picture. Was it really taken a month and a half ago?!

Don't try to trump Auntie Nett

Bunny Rue-Rue's Aunt Peg came up to me at the baptism and said, "You had to trump me didn't you?!" I asked what she was talking about. She said, "You had to give Rue her first Christmas bear before I got a chance to give her the one I bought for her." I just smiled and said, "You want to try to trump me, you better be a little faster the next time."

I don't know who she is kidding...everyone knows I'm going to win the spoiling game. First of all, I am farther away and won't see her as often as I would like. Then there is the whole competitive spirit of the thing. Yep, lets face it, I will win. Don't even try to push your luck. When I am a woman on a mission, I'm invincible. Yeah, I kick ass and take names later. I"M AUNTIE NETTER doesn't that say it all?! Hell yeah, it does! I'm the queen of this contest and Bunny Rue is my Princess in waiting. I figure, my only real competition is Pop Pops the BABY HOG, but I think I can take him. Basically because, Mom only gives him so much money a week to spend because he would blow cash everywhere if she didn't. I'm not even sure the Man knows ATM cards exist

Bunny Rue-Rue's Mom...Tisha aka Kanga, told me that she thought Peg was going to spoil the baby for Christmas. Well, when it was all said and done, Tisha declared me the winner of that battle of best Auntie. Hehe! Take that!

Here is what I have in the works for the year so far:

1) I am starting a book collection for when she is a bit bigger. I'm mailing her one or two hard back books a month. I took care of the Christmas books for December and now I have one of the Olivia books ready for January but I think I should find a nice book about snow to add to it. I'm taking suggestions.

2) I'm working on her Valentines Day present. I already have a bib for her. I have another Olivia book and I need to find a cute Valentine's Day book.

3) I'm debating what I should get Bunny Rue Rue for her half birthday. Yes, I'm celebrating her half birthday because her actual birthday is so close to Christmas. Her Half Birthday is June 9th. I'm thinking I should get her some kind of book shelf/ toy storage system. I have some ideas but I'm leaning toward a book shelf that looks like a doll house. When she is older she could toss everything on the floor and play dolls with it. Kanga might kill me though...I need to think about it some more.

Yep, Peg is going to have to kick it in high gear to out spoil me.

Rue has her Pops whipped!

My Dad is going to be an obsessive Grandfather...I can tell already. Yep, Rue has him wrapped around her little fingers and toes. She's going to be spoiled rotten. How do I know? Well, Tisha and Rue visited Grammy and Pops last night. I was talking to my Sister on the phone a few minutes ago and suddenly she said, "OH, its Dad!" He had just pulled in the driveway. He must have been bored because he didn't have to work and came to visit his Grand daughter.
Mom told me a few days ago that Dad was wondering if Rue was going to stop by for a visit because he hadn't seen her in sooo long. Mom said, if you count two days as to long. Yep, Pop-Pop is whipped!