Sunday we saw a huge yellow train sitting on the tracks at the Depot while we were driving to church. On the way home, we stopped to see what was up. Apparently, they (whomever "they" might be!) parked the train there for us Boiseans to gawk at, and gawk we did. Punk did a great job with all the walking and standing in a line to peek into the engine control-cabin-thingy. But, now all I ever here about is "Let's check if the train is there!" It's not. It's Not. It's NOT! Fortunately there are construction vehicles all around town to distract us (quite temporarily) from the TRAIN.

So, we have a tradition around here that I thought I'd share with you all. When I was pregnant with Punk, Aaron asked one day, "So, am I supposed to get you some kind of present for this?" Yeah, buddy! So, we thought about it and decided it would be cool for me to have a ring with the baby's name and birthday engraved inside that I would wear all the time and he'd inherit some day. Since only 3 gems are approved for daily wear (diamonds, sapphires, and rubies) we were lucky that Punk was born in July with ruby as his birthstone. I scoured Ebay and found a pretty 3 ct ruby ring. I wound up paying $300 for it and it appraised for $2700! Pretty savvy ebayer, no?! ;) We call it my "Punk ring."

This fall, I began searching for my Pence ring. It's 3 pretty sapphires--an oval with round side stones, then surrounded by .25 ct diamonds. I got it for $160 and it appraised for $500-600. Not as great a deal as Punk's but really pretty and sparkly.

Now that we've paid for most of Pea's adoption and Aaron's expecting a bonus that'll pretty much cover our plane tickets, he let me look for Pea's ring. I found a 10x10 mm square ruby that I just adored, but it was unset. It cost $376 and my friend who's a jeweler is helping me get a setting for cheap. All told, it'll run about $600. I'll let you know how much it appraises for later! And, I'll try to take some photos. It's hard to get details on something so small...

Anyway, I'm starting to run out of fingers! I guess this isn't a tradition large families should embark upon! :)