Ruddick Family Records

Happy Birthday, Lydia Joy!

We celebrated (our niece) Lydia's 7th Birthday with all of the family at Josh's parent's house on August 22nd (a day after her actual bday).
Ronan & the birthday girl

Earlier that day Erin & Lydia went on a special birthday date to get their nails done & go shopping.

Ethan, Macey, Griffin, & Ronan

Macey was "getting" Griffin

Present Time

We gave Lydia this hat with a matching purse.

Grammie & Grandpa with the birthday girl

All 8 grandkids!

Silly self portrait

The whole fam

On August 21st we went to the fair with my sister, Katrina, and her family. Josh was able to join us during his lunch break, and while he was there we let the kids go on a few rides.
Josh, Griffin, baby Cedar, Finn, and Ronan

This picture so perfectly shows the difference in our boys' personalities. (: Ronan was super excited about the ride, while Griffin was very hesitant and didn't enjoy it very much. After watching Ronan and Finn go on a few rides, Griffin ended up asking to go on one too. I was glad that he wasn't traumatized by the experience....just cautious, which is fine with me. (:

Ronan and Finn had a blast going on rides together.

The dragon roller coaster was their favorite--I love Ronan's look of pure joy in this picture. (:

Ronan was SO happy to be at the fair!

Lunch time

1st taste of cotton candy (:

We also met up briefly with Josh's mom and sister & her family.

After lunch Josh rode the bus back to work, but he accidentally took my car keys with him.): So, after we checked out the animal exhibits, Katrina & Kenton drove to EWEB to get my keys and then met me at my car. (Thanks again, guys!) I was so thankful that we weren't stranded there all day! (:

Our Little Swimmers

Our boys love the water and get so excited whenever they get the chance to go swimming! On August 19th, the Kecks invited us over to play & swim in their big "kiddie" pool. The four boys had a great time swimming and playing with squirt guns, and Melissa & I got to visit with each other while we watched them play. It was a very nice summer day!
Griffin & Christian

Kaiser and my boys

light saber wars

After swimming and eating lunch the boys played dress-up with Kaiser & Christian's cool costumes!

Later that afternoon, we got to go swimming again! This time we met up with Kelly & her boys at the Hayman's pool. It was neat seeing Griffin getting more comfortable swimming in the "big pool" with just his water wings on. Ronan could touch along the edges of the pool, so he practiced diving for toys at the bottom of the pool.

Ronan swimming under water

Warming up in the not-too-hot tub. (:

This is a random picture, but it happened to be that same day & I wanted to remember how much our boys like guitars. (: They were both so focused on trying to play along with a song we were listening to.

Moms Group BBQ

Ann Schar, one of the moms group mentors, hosted a BBQ at her house for all of the moms and kids of the group. The kids always love going to the Schar's house because there is so much to do there: play in the barn, see the chickens and horses, and just enjoy all the open space!
Christian riding on the cool tire swing horse

Emma petting the Keck's new puppy

Griffin and Cohen exploring together

Becca and her kiddos

Kelly & Melissa

Girl Talk~Josephine, Gabriella, Aurora, and Ellie

Kesch and Tyler admiring sweet baby Blayke

Me and my guys

Checking out the chickens
Lindsey & Tayden, and Amy & her kids

The babies of the group~ Josephine, Emma, Brady, and Blayke

The barn is always a big highlight for the kids! They love the rope swing and hay maze!
Kaleigh, Asher, & Emma

Cade & John

Visitors from Norway

Our very good friend, Ashley, came to Eugene all the way from Norway to be here for his brother's wedding on September 5th. He and his wife, Camilla, moved to Norway a year ago to live near Camilla's family. They are some of our closest friends, and we miss them a lot! While Ashley was here we tried to fit in as much time as we could with him (and Camilla, who arrived a week later) since we knew it would probably be another year before we saw them again.
8/16~Lunch after church at Burrito Boy

Josh & Ashley in serious conversation with silly Ronan in the background. (:

8/17~ Dinner at our house with Ashley and my parents

The boys loved having Ashley around!

Day with Cousins

August 17th~ The Creager kids were in town for a couple of days, and while Grammie was working during the day Amy had them at her house. The boys and I walked over in the morning so that all of the cousins could play together and Amy & I could tag team with watching the kids. (: Josh was able to take a long lunch break, and we took the kids to see the new Ice Age movie in the cheap theater (only fifty cents on Mondays!). (Amy walked to the theater with us, but then took her kiddos home for their naps.) It was really fun seeing how the cousins all interact with one another. They are all growing up so fast, and even though there are a big group, the older kids really helped out and made it easy on us. (: We had a great time at the movie--I think it was a really fun memory for us all!
Heading out to walk to the movie theater
Dylan, Griffin, Ronan, Lydia, and Audrey