Happy Halloween!

Ruby had a very busy Halloween weekend.  Thursday we carved a pumpkin.  She was most excited about getting to hold the spoon and trying to slip her hand into the bowl of pumpkin guts while mom wasn't watching.  She wasn't so sure when her mom then put her in the slimy shell, but got used to it.  The girl is such a trooper. 
Then on Friday, a co-worker of mine had a family Halloween party.  They rented a lodge in a close by state park and had food and booze for the adults, plenty for the kids to do, and expected costumes from everyone.  They had a great turnout.  Ruby was pretty overwhelmed with the music and all the people and actually stayed pretty quiet throughout the night.  She did get to show off her bee costume.  Her mom made her costume... hopefully she isn't old enough to be self-conscious about her homemade costume compared to all the other kids's costumes from the store. :)  By the way, did you all know that there is no black and yellow stripe fabric in all of Des Moines???  If I had known I was going to have to sew the stripes as well as the outfit, we may have picked a different costume!  O well, the best part was her tiny stinger in the back, though most probably didn't notice it.  She did a really good job leaving her antenae alone, but the wings we got rid of pretty quickly. 
After all the work put into the costume, we figured we better get all the use out of it that we could.  So she wore it to her great-Grandpa's 87th birthday party on Saturday.  She was a very different girl at this party.  She warmed up to everyone very quickly, and was costantly busy trying to get closer to her "cousin" Noah.  Noah is 11 months older than Ruby, and they love each other already.  Noah is a busy guy and likes to be a little rough, but it doesn't bother Ruby one bit and she holds her own - poking him right back!  My grandpa wanted big presents for his birthday, but has very little room for anything in his nursing home room.  So, we put Ruby, Noah, and Hannah in boxes for him to open.  Ruby sat in the dark in a box for a long time and probably got more enjoyment of having the box pulled off of her than grandpa did!
Sunday night was Beggar's Night here in Des Moines.  I thought Ruby would like it, as she loves watching kids.  Well the poor thing got a bit freaked, when minature Darth Vader showed up at our door.  She actually had more fun pulling candy out of the bowl.  We are saving Trick or Treating til next year.

 Happy Halloween everyone!  Wish us luck tomorrow for our first airplane adventure!