so... yeah

Ellie & Silas were all excited to wear their new t-shirts to church this morning.



so... yeah.

:)

defined by function

I was sitting in my chair this morning when my nose started to run and itch.

Silas was playing on the floor in the living room so I said "Quick Silas, get me a tissue!"

Silas seems to have a runny/snotty nose all the time, so we have him pretty well trained to find and fetch the tissue box, and he's pretty good about letting us wipe his nose and will even blow it himself when he's really snotty.

Well, he jumped up and ran into the kitchen (passing the tissue box, which was on the couch) and brought me back a cloth napkin from the napkin basket.

I said "No no Silas, get me a tissue buddy".

He looked at me quizzically for a second, unfolded the cloth napkin and honked his nose into it quite loudly as if to demonstrate the point that it would serve the same function and I should stop being picky.

Then he patted me on the leg, stuffed the snotty napkin into my hand and went back to playing on the floor.

That's my boy.

Where does it go?

Where has the time gone?

Two years ago today our little guy was born.



Happy Birthday Silas.

I love you buddy.

Look what the boy found...

Jenn left for water aerobics this evening, and I was in the kitchen fixing some dinner...

Ellie was in the living room in my chair, and Silas was wondering around the house playing with toys, talking to me, and trying to sneak snacks out of the pantry...

Silas started to make a commotion in the kitchen right in front of the sink and when I turned to him he had a lethargic field mouse cornered up against the counter.



Not sure why a mouse would be wandering around in plain sight in the kitchen I grabbed it with a dish towel.

My best guess is that the mouse had been into some D-CON mouse goodies which were stashed back underneath the kitchen sink and was so far gone that he wandered out into the kitchen...

I let Ellie & Silas get a good look at him and then took him outside for a boost up to mouse heaven.

Interesting evening.

Sweet Relief

So... if you didn't already know, Silas broke his leg.



Jenn blogged it here and here.

Today (day three of the broken leg) he is adjusting to the cast, but still very grumpy about his loss of mobility. His unhappiness definitely expresses itself the most when he is trying to get to sleep in the evenings. He just can't seem to get comfortable with the cast on and is very whiny and grouchy when it is time to call it a night.

Anyway, that is just the background for this particular story...

I was sitting in the recliner last night, holding Silas and chillin' when Jenn got home from water aerobics (*cough-cough).

Jenn went to the bathroom and rushed back out into the living room to inform me that the bathroom floor was flooding, the toilet was running, and she couldn't tell where the water was coming from.

I handed off Silas, turned off the water to the throne, and started feeling around to discover that the two bolts which hold the toilet tank onto the base had almost completely rusted through and water was running out one of those holes.

Jenn did some quick internet research to determine that those bolts, along with an entire toilet tank repair kit could be picked up at Lowe's fairly cheap, so planning to do that this morning I went ahead and completely disassembled the can.

Who knew that completely gutting a toilet could be so easy. A few bolts here, and little twist there and pretty soon you're left with an empty porcelain box with a few holes in the bottom.

Anyway, Jenn picked up the all inclusive kit from Lowe's this morning and this evening (with almost no leftover parts) I demonstrated my mad plumbing skillz...

and TaDa!



The toilet is working again!

Sweet Relief!

Memorial Day Fun

For Memorial Day we had a cook-out at the house.

My PF's, and my brother and sister-in-law came down and spent the whole afternoon.

We grilled, played some games, and had a great afternoon hanging out.

We also taught Mom & Dad to play Mario Kart on the Wii.

It was great!



Dad also played some Little Mermaid Checkers with Ellie.



Mom got really into the Wii Bowling.



Silas decided he was finished with us.



It was a great day. Loving it when we can all get together and hang out.

Brinner Time.

For as long as there has been breakfast, there have been those of us who like to eat it at times which do not fall before 10 AM.

If you so happen to have your breakfast in the late morning, or early afternoon it shall be called "brunch".

Thus it seems only appropriate, that if you choose to have breakfast (or breakfast foods, as it were) in the evening, or for the evening meal it shall be known as "brinner".

Who it was, that once upon a time, decided which foods would be designated as "breakfast foods" I do not know... But traditionally things like bacon, eggs, toast, biscuits, and so forth fall into that breakfast food category.

Not tonight my friends! Behold, I give you our brinner.



Tonight at El Rancho Roogles I cooked up french toast, egg-in-a-baskets (eggs-in-a-basket?), and sausage gravy with biscuits.

It was yummy.

The Princess even got in on the brinner fun, with a slice of cinnamon toast and scrambled eggs.



Side Note (foot note?) - Although we have been eating breakfast foods for dinner at the Roogles Ranch for some time, the term "brinner" was only just introduced to our family compliments of the TV show Scrubs. Brinner was a major theme in the episode "My bad too" (season 7, episode 7) which aired on April 10. (detailed synopsis here).

Anyhoo. Just a light-hearted post to wind down the evening.

Dad's boots.

Silas turned one on Saturday.

We had a small get together at the house. Mostly family and really close friends just getting together to eat cake and ice cream. Although Ellie was excited for the birthday party, Silas doesn't quite "get it" yet.

He was just happy to have cake, and seemed to think it was weird that everyone crowded in the kitchen to watch him eat.

Anyhoo... Although Silas got waaaayyyy too much for Christmas, and his birthday get together was specifically advertised as "no gifts please"... He got some anyway...

One gift in particular though needs to be mentioned...

From his Great-Papaw Ruggles ( my Dad's dad ) Silas got a pair of black cowboy boots.

Here they are...



Some pretty snazzy kicks for a guy who can't even walk on his own yet... They're a little big for him, but at the rate he is growing he'll be running around in them in no time...

The boots themselves are a nice gift, but what makes these boots special is that Papaw Ruggles gave them to me, more than twenty-five years ago.

This is me, wearing them. I would guess myself to be between two and three in this photo.



After I outgrew the boots, Papaw made sure they got passed on to my brother. Then he made sure they got passed on to our cousins Kristopher and Matthew who each wore them until they wouldn't fit anymore.

I probably hadn't given the boots a second thought from the time I was two, until Silas pulled them out of the bag on Saturday, and here Papaw had re-claimed them when Matthew grew out of them and polished them up, and put them away, and waited until he had a great-grandson to pass them on to... And now, more than twenty five years after his daddy wore them Silas will be stomping around the house in them.

How cool is that.

Oh... in that photo of me I had just received a fancy new farm tractor to peddle around on. My brother and sister and I played on that tractor inside and out until we were all too big for it, and then it dissapeared.

Well... Here is a photo of Ellie playing on the tractor at Papaw's house when she was about a year-and-a-half old...



It won't be much longer and I suspect that Silas will be inheriting another one of Dad's old toys.

I just hope that we can take as good care of them as my my Papaw did, so that one of these days when I'm Papaw-Ruggles I can pass on to my Ellie & Silas's kids and grand-kids toys that belonged to their mom and dad when they were that age.

Buzz & Woody - The sad goodbye

Been meaning to post this for several days, but a combination of being a procrastinator and just waaay to busy and preoccupied to sit and blog has kept me from updating...

You may recall that a while back we got some hamsters... Details can be found here.

Well... We got home from work on Thursday of last week to find that Woody hadn't made it through the day... Both Buzz and Woody have been looking haggard for a couple of weeks. I honestly think that our house is/was probably too cold for them to live comfortably in. We had also switched them to cedar shavings instead of pine shavings for bedding and they didn't seem to like that at all...

[ PETA DISCLAIMER : now before anyone goes and calls PETA on us for hamster cruelty, yes they were fed and watered with fresh food and water regularly, and yes I was cleaning the habitat completely out and washing the whole thing down with warm (non-soapy) water weekly... Yes, we have had pets before... and yes, I can assure you the hamsters did not die of neglect... ]

Anyway... Woody was dead when we got home, and Buzz was having a lot of difficulty moving around and didn't act like he was able to see or hear me that well when I attempted to interact with him.

I quickly moved the habitat up out of Ellie's range of vision and reach so that I could check the situation out, and after determining that Buzz was obviously not going to make it I gave him a little boost up to hamster heaven.

I fashioned a hamster coffin out of a paper towel tube (biodegradable) and after placing both deceased rodents inside, stapled the ends shut and went to have "the talk" with Ellie...

Jenn laughs at me now... I guess I was naive enough to think that Ellie would be very sad and need comforting...

I picked Ellie up and sat her down in my chair to tell her that her little pets were no longer with us and the whole process got me all choked up...

Me : "Ellie sweety, Buz and Woody got very sick and they died today"

Her: "Oh yeah?" ( At this point she did look a little sad, but I think it was b/c I was crying and she couldn't figure out why... I did my best to regain my composure... )

Me: "Aren't you sad sweety?"

Her: "I guess so."

Me: "Do you want to talk about it?"

Her: "Not really"

Me: "Do you want to go with me while I bury them?"

Her: "No Dad, can I get down and play with my princesses now?"

*sigh... Great life lesson there Dad.

So... since there was apparently no reason for me to be sitting around sniffling I took the hamsters out back and Ellie got down for some playing with princesses grief therapy...

So we are now hamster-less... Maybe we will try again after the new year... Maybe Ellie will persist in not-caring and we won't get anymore at all... Time will tell I guess.

Late. Random.

11:10 PM. I'm sitting in the recliner. Woody is running on the hamster wheel. Buzz is sleeping in the dome. Jenn, Ellie, and Silas are all in bed. The dryer is running. My suitcase is packed, except for two pair of shorts, which are in the dryer. I cleaned the hamster cage tonight. Woody & Buzz seem much happier. Halloween starts in 48 minutes. It hasn't even felt like October yet. We have had frost two mornings in a row. I like frost. I like cold mornings. I like walking in frost covered grass in my bare feet. On Thursday it will be November. The leaves have been changing. The weather today was perfect. I wonder how the weather in St. Louis compares to here? I want to go tent camping. Tent camping in the fall is the best. I like to sit around the fire when it is cold enough that you need the fire to keep you warm. I shaved my head this evening. I hate my hair. I'm so tired, but not sleepy. I am very stressed. If my days had 25 hours in them, and I didn't need sleep, I might feel more organized. I'd love a cup of coffee. Coffee is also better when it is cold. The weather, not the coffee. The coffee is much better when it is very very hot. Hot coffee. Cold weather. 11:25 PM. Surprising how noisy hamsters can be when the house is quiet. Dryer is still running. I think woody is on crack. He's the mean one. 39 degrees outside. Wonder if it will frost again tonight. Did I mention that I like frost? 11:36 PM. Distracted. Should be asleep. I don't get enough sleep. Lots of people on IM at this hour. Strange. Maybe not strange. Who am I to say. My toes are getting cold. 67 degrees in the house. May need to turn on the heater. Been very cold in the mornings. In the house I mean. I'm Too stubborn to turn the furnace on. Maybe in November. Silas is crying. Probably afraid of the dark. Or cold. Ellie is afraid of the dark. Sleeps with a light on. He stopped now. Must have found his binky or been rescued by Jenn. 11:52 PM. Headache. Took my glasses off when I shaved my head. Didn't put them back on. Eyes are tired. I'm grouchy. I Let too many small things get to me. It is dumb. I need to take a deep breath. Maybe get away. Maybe move away. Maybe just take a break. 12:01 AM. Happy Halloween. Alarm will go off in five-and-a-half hours. *Sigh. Still a lot of people online. Definitively will be wanting a good cup of coffee in the morning. I should go to bed. Dryer is still running. Should go check on it. I think I will. 12:04 AM. Roogles out.

That's my boy.

Something short and sweet after that last bit of rambling...

Took this photo on Saturday morning at Bob's in Waverly...




After devouring five pancakes of his own and two of Ellie's we resorted to giving Silas ( aka Hoover ) biscuits to inhale until he acted like he wasn't hungry anymore... He stopped after two.

Hitched

On Saturday my baby sister got married. Dan is a great guy and I am excited to include him and his wonderful kids in the family.

The weather on Saturday was perfect, the wedding and reception were wonderful.

Hopefully Dan & Kayla are off now, enjoying their honeymoon without any snafus.

Congrats guys! Love you!

Happy Birthday Jenn!

This photo was taken on September 11, 1975... way before we had to look back on this day and remember every year the events of September 11, 2001.

Happy Birthday my dear.

I love you.

Hamster Paradise

Well, if you are a follower of the lives of the Ruggles at all then you are already aware ( from here and here ) that we have recently become the proud owners of two new pets.

"Buzz" and "Woody" are a pair of very cute dwarf hamsters, compliments of the Ford Family Hamster Farm and Livery.

Now I was all about the "ten gallon aquarium with wire lid" hamster living solution as recommended by my good friend and hamster expert Martin L... However, our little shopping trip yesterday has resulted in our hamsters having much more luxurious accommodations than any mere glass box.

Behold, what Ellie now loving refers to as "The Habitat".



Needless to say we had a blast this evening, watching Buzz & Woody explore their new surroundings, run like crazy on the hamster wheel, and get used to life at the Ruggles Ranch.

Ellie is in the tent again... ( Yes, I took it down this morning, but we had to set it back up for bed tonight... ).

This picture is of the tent in relationship to "The Habitat" ( from the vantage point of the recliner ).



Ellie is sound asleep and snoring from within the tent, and Buzz is furiously trying to get some where on the hamster wheel...

All in all, today turned out to be another good day. Hopefully the remainder of the long weekend will fare as well as yesterday and today have.

With that, it is way past my bedtime. More to come.

-Roogles out.

Wow, what a day!

What a day this has been...

I took the day off today because I though it might be good for my mental health to have two four-day work weeks with a four-day weekend in between.

Our plan had been to get up early, and leave for Columbus by 9:00 AM. We didn't exactly get the start we wanted, but the business of the day made up for it in leaps and bounds.

By 10:30 or so we were on the road. We hit Polaris first for some places Jenn wanted to check out, and Ellie played on the most excellent playground in the mall while Jenn was doing her shopping and Silas was sleeping in the stroller.

We made our way from Polaris to Easton around 1-ish, and after hitting Target, Bath & Body Works, Old Navy, and Dick's Sporting Goods we grabbed a late lunch at Cosi. Great sandwiches if you ever get to check them out! While Jenn and Ellie wandered around to other stores at Easton, I spent most of our visit there in the Apple store, trying to decide what new gadgets and mac accessories I couldn't live without. Bumped into Huss while we were there, as he had just wrapped up an appointment in Columbus and was doing a little Mac accesorizing himself.

Knowing that we were going to run late, we made a mad dash from Easton straight to Jackson for the Waverly Jackson game tonight, where the home-town Tigers proceeded to stomp the IronMen flat into their pretty field.

Had a great time hanging at the game with Jodi, Ed Purpero, and Chris & Tesa. Also great to have so many of the kids from Youth acknowledge us old people as being their friends even in a public setting like a football game.

It's 12:30 AM now. I'm back in my recliner while the rest of the family is asleep. I won't go into detail about all of the crazy stuff we packed back from our one-day shopping spree, but among the spoils was a six dollar and fifty cent "dog" tent that we found on the clearance rack at Target. The provided photo, is the current view from my recliner.



As far as Ellie is concerned it was the best $6.50 we spent all day.

Good day today. Hopefully more good days to follow.

Roogles Out.

Ellie got TP'd

Last night after Youth Ellie was out playing in the hallway and one of the youth ( totally by accident ) opened the door and smashed her up pretty good. I have never seen Trent look so scared...

The goose egg pictured here is turning purple this morning, and when Ellie woke up this morning she told me, "Daddy, my head hurts real bad".

I'm sure this is only one of many childhood injuries she will sustain while she's growing up.

No worries though Trenton, she really is fine :)

60 Years

This past weekend my grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. Sunday was also my Grandpa's 80th birthday.

The family and extended family all gathered up at the farm this weekend for a celebration of their anniversary and a "surprise" birthday party for Grandpa. It was a lot of fun, and great to see everyone who made it in.

Easter Weekend Update ( belated )

It has been too long since I've posted, and so much has happened that I thought I should post an "update" blog just so that everyone is caught up...

This past weekend was full of Easter activities for our family, and our larger family at RVCC.
Friday night ( 4/6 ) we had a Tenebrae Service. It is the first time river valley has tried something like the Tenebrae, and although the service is meant to be very emotionally impacting ( and possibly even depressing ) I felt like it went very well.

Kayla came to the tenebrae service and brought her friend Dan along. After the service a large number of River Vallians ( Thank you Paul Goshorn ) adjourned to Pizza Hut across the street for fellowship and food. I got to sit and talk with Kayla and Dan for about an hour, and enjoyed it very much.

Saturday morning ( 4/7 ) dawned bright and early. I wanted to be at Bristol Park in Waverly at 6:30 AM on Saturday so that I could see the sun rise, in preparation for Sunday's sunrise service which would also be held in the park. The dawn came cold and beautiful right on time at 7:10, so I went on over to the church to meet the "early crew" for setup of the RVCC Easter Egg hunt.

For anyone who doesn't know, or isn't from around Waverly or River Valley, our church has a HUGE free Easter egg hunt for the community on the Saturday before Easter every year. The egg hunt usually involves something like 20-25,000 easter eggs, 2000+ free hot dogs, free drinks, prize drawings, photos with the easter bunny, our bouncy house ( yes, our church has a moon castle ), and music.

This year the egg hunt had a slightly smaller crowd than normal on account of it happening in the midst of a mini-blizzard! When Jenn came down with the kids at about 10:30, I had her bring my heavy coat and my insulated boots, and I was still semi-frozen when we wrapped up and tore down about 2-o-clock. There is a fantastic video of the egg-hunt festivities on our church website. It can be found HERE.

After the egg hunt, we had a late lunch at Bob's with Jenn's parents and then crashed at the house all afternoon, and called it an early night so that we could be up and moving for sunrise service.

[EDIT]

Sorry Anna... Late Saturday afternoon after we got back to the house Anna and Jordan came out and we had an excellent time just hanging out and enjoying their company. We ended up talking, watching Mean Girls on TV, and eating chicken dip. It was a great evening.

[/EDIT]

Sunday morning ( 4/8 ) Jenn and I arrived at Bristol Park a little after 6:30 to find Marty already parked and waiting on us. We had a brief pow-wow about where to setup, when the cars started rolling in. I had braced myself that since Sunrise Service was a new things for River Valley that an attendance of 8 or 10 people would be great. Needless to say God smacked me when 21 people rolled in, including two of the youth!

The service was short and we were all cold, but it was awesome! Marty led some great Easter worship and then he and I shared about what sunrise service experiences we had from our pasts, and how awesome it is to be able to celebrate Easter and that Jesus is ALIVE! After the sunrise, a group of us had breakfast at Bob's before heading down to the church for the two "normal" morning services.

The all new MFE completely rocked the morning worship, and Steve had a fantastic message about what it actually means to God that Christ was fully human.

Sunday afternoon we spent at the house having Easter dinner and playing Wii with my parents and my brother... My dad kicked all of our butts at Wii Tenis.

This week has been long and slow, but pretty ordinary... I'm looking forward to the upcoming weekend even though it is going to be a busy one.

Enough rambling for now. Roogles out.

Long day

We are on our way home from a huge day of shopping in Columbus... We picked up a new stroller and several other things we have needed aroud the house. The attached photo was something we spotted in our shopping that made us think... ''wow''.

"Little Rachel"

Ellie got a Dora kitchen for Christmas from her nanny and pop. She loves it. She spends a ton of time "cooking" for Jenn and I and preparing meals and tea-parties for her dolls.

For Valentines Day, Jenn got her a basket of play food ( plastic fruit, veggies, bread, etc ) to go with the kitchen. Ellie got them yesterday morning and. while unpacking them all onto the living room floor, discovered that there was a plastic knife and cutting board in the basket of plastic food. She grabbed the cutting board and knife and proclaimed with much excitement "Look Dad! I can be just like Rachel Ray!"

For a two year old, I find Ellie to be extremely smart, articulate, and perceptive.

I think she watches too much tv though. :)