Happy Birthday, Happy Thanksgiving, and Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

Birthday cake

Middletown parade

Birthday family picture

Mmmmm cake

Mickey Birthday book

Like my new pants?

I got a guitar!!!!

Goofy!

I am two!

So I haven't been able to post anything new in a while so I will do my best to catch everyone up. Jude celebrated his 2nd birthday (he has perfected showing two fingers - and says "TWO" when you ask him how old he is), we have gone to visit Mimi and Papa in Ohio for Thanksgiving/early Christmas, and then went to Minnesota to visit Grandma and Grandpa (and Aunty Shelley, Auntie Amy, Uncle Jeff, and cousins Malia, Garrett and Aislinn). We have had such a fun last two months this year - cold and snow and all. Jude made his first snowman (Snowno as he calls them), and loves looking at the Christmas trees (he really says that one) and the Christmas lights. We will probably take down the Christmas decorations tonight or tomorrow, (the tree is DEAD....) but I am not sure how he will take it. He loves finding all the Santas - Santa! Santa! But, I am sure he will find other things to keep him occupied - oh yeah... like the million of gifts that he got for his birthday and for Christmas. This kid has enough toys for 10 families to play with. Although with the winter still ahead of us, it will be nice to have some different things to play with. Daycare is keeping him pretty busy, too. He has moved up to the Octopus room (with 5 other of his friends) and he just seems to be loving it. They are much more active - painting, playing, learning Tai Kwon Do, singing songs, throwing and catching a ball, learning Spanish and French - they are teaching us things! I didn't realize that he had already moved onto a cup at school! What a big boy! Oh - and we have some big news for the family .... Jude is getting married! For February, the teacher was trying to plan ahead with her lessons, and thought something with love would be good (with Valentines Day, etc). And since Jude has had his girlfriend, Ava, with him since they were tiny babies, they have grown very close. A little love match! So, invitations and all - start planning for the wedding of the year! (a friend even gave us a little suit for him to wear.... too cute!)

Halloween and Jude's first birthday party

Let the wild rumpus start! Jude decided (well, maybe I decided.... I thought I better get the cute costume in before he starts wanting to be a superhero every year) to be Max from Where the WIld Things Are. That is one of our favorite books to read before bed time. (Ryan and I actually want to get a babysitter so we can go see the new movie that came out). He had a great time Trick-or-treating (the sucker at the 3rd house was the best - he would have gone home happy after that one). It almost brought a tear to my eye to see hear him say "Trick-or-Treat" and grab the candy and put it in his bag. I even got him to say "Thank you" after. He is growing up so fast (2nd birthday November 21!!!!). He even helped us carve pumpkins earlier in the morning. I made a Mickey Mouse free hand and was quite impressed. Well, I guess the squirrels didn't like it because they ate the whole face out and all that was left was the main shape of Mickey's head. At least I got a picture to prove I really carved it.

We also took Jude to his first birthday party. Friends from college have a little girl, Rianna, that just turned three. Again, almost shed a tear when I got the invitation - Jude's first invite! We had a great time at Kohl's Children's Museum, and had a great time celebrating with them.

Happy Halloween everyone - and Merry Christmas! he, he, he

Disney, disney, disney

You might think that this was Jude's first trip to Disney since he is not even two, but you are wrong. This was his third trip (once to Florida when he was three months, and once to California when he was 18 months). We met my whole family - mom and dad, brother's family, sister's family, and even one of my sister's friends and her family! The kids all were great- especially considering they didn't have their normal naps (if at all), went to bed later (a lot later, Ms. Malia! - party girl!), and their eating schedules were all off. It was great to see my family - especially my nieces and nephew who have grown up SO much since the last time I saw them. And Jude was just enjoying being out and running around, except when those creepy characters would try to come up and hug him. How dare Mickey try to say Hi! But, then you see the opposite with Malia and Garrett just running up so excited for them to shake their hands, sign their books, and pose for pictures. They also got to trick-or-treat at the Not So Scary Halloween Party, which was really cute. Everything was all decked out. They had candy everywhere, and little dance parties. And to see all of the little kiddies dressed up - so cute!!!!

The annual Notre Dame trip

Every year Ryan and his parents (and me- pre Jude) would go to the Notre Dame game. This year, we still knew Jude wouldn't be up for sitting in a stadium, especially at those crazy prices, but thought we could come with and have some fun on the grounds. Ryan's parents came in a few days before to help celebrate Ryan's birthday (Ryan and his mom tried a Buffalo burger!) and we had a great time. It wouldn't be Ryan's birthday without his parents and a Central Pastry cake. His favorite! The weather was perfect - they finally wised up and got tickets earlier in the season than later..., and it was so nice for Jude to spend time with his Mimmy and Papa. Here are a few fun pictures. Oh, and one of Jude in his first Superman outfit - like father like son.

The end of summer.....

Well, Labor Day just passed and I know it signals the end of summer. I am not ready for it... I wanted a few more days at the beach (even though the warmest we ever saw the water was 64 degrees!) - just some hot days that I could remember when it is 5 below in February. But, we did have a great Labor Day with my parents, my sister and my niece. They came in on Thursday and my Dad and I went on a segway tour (early birthday present to him) and had a blast. He had been dreaming of doing that (begging security guards just for 5 minutes on one) for years. It was a lot of fun. First minute was scary but shortly after that we wanted to be going as fast as it would let us. Then on Friday we had a picnic right on the beach at a little park. It was so nice and relaxing. The kids loved it, and then we even followed that up with another bigger park. Jude loves a good park! Saturday we went to the zoo. It is so much fun going with Jude now, because every time we go I can see that he is really noticing and following and understanding the animals. (I don't mean understanding like he can talk to them (i.e. slitherins), but he knows what monkeys and bears are). We got some good Chicago style pizza for dinner and then went shopping. Then we even slipped in a trip to the Apple Holler on Sunday on there way back to MN. The weather was perfect, and we got some really good sour apples! (and apple cider, caramel apple, and apple caramel corn - we'll just say we fought over who would be changing Jude's diaper after that). Then Ryan and I checked out the outlet mall on the way back and stopped at our favorite diner from college - Full Moon! Jude was amazing the whole time. (amazing for an almost 2 year old, of course) Speaking of that... Everyone's favorite Jude moment from the weekend - the large sighs while staring at the ground when he gets mad or upset - shoulders going up and down with each big breath. He will stand there for ever! Believe me, I will take it over some of the tantrums, but it is just so funny (he will look up at you every couple breaths to make sure you are watching him). Literally -he will stand there until you pick him up (or sometimes we are laughing that we will finally get him to laugh with us).

Some new pictures

Here are a few fun pictures that I took recently and forgot to post. The drawing (sp? on characture) is from Ryan's work party - and the one of Jude in his white polo is from the same day. We had fun bowling and playing bocce ball (even Jude played). Then we have the picture of Jude in his Hall Superman shirt (just don't look too close because it is actually a Hooters shirt), and the other two of Dad and Jude and me and Jude are from last night after I gave him a haircut. Not bad considering how much he was screaming and moving around.... And the one with his pacifier is right after he woke up one morning and was sporting some devil horns. I swear I didn't touch his hair - it was like that when he woke up. As quoted from Ryan and my favorite movies "Nobody messes with the doo...."

Great news from a close friend....

This weekend couldn't have started out any better.... Finally got together with my roommate from college (it had been way too long since I saw her last) and found out her and her husband are expecting! Yeah! We couldn't be happier for them, and are a excited (a little selfish) that Jude will have a friend to play with!!!! It shows that it has been a long time since I saw her last because she is already 5 months along. Just like Jude - they may have a Christmas baby (Jude decided he was to excited for Christmas and came early close to Thanksgiving, though). The weather finally decided to act like it really was summer, and we all had a great time just hanging out, taking Jude to the park, etc.
Then on Sunday we woke up early and went to the beach. As I just said, the weather finally was feeling like summer, so I was excited to finally be able to dip into the water and swim a little. Boy, was I wrong. It wasn't just that it was cold (as it always is), it was FREEZING! My feet didn't just go numb, they actually hurt. Well, since it was so hot out, and the water was so cold, we figured we couldn't stay if we wouldn't be able to cool off. After driving around and finding out all the free Chicago public pools didn't open for a while (yes, we get up early with Jude), we went home and Jude took a nap. After the nap and lunch, all refreshed and ready to have fun again, we went to a local pool in the suburbs. It was a little pricey, and within the first five minutes we saw a little girl being taken away screaming on a stretcher and two drowning incidents (everyone was okay). But... after all that we had a great time. They have a nice big pool that slowly gets deeper so even Jude could stand up and walk in. There were some big slides, and water fountain area for little kids, and a separate pool/play ground/area for kids. The playground area was really cool. There were little slides, things to climb on and around, things squirting out water, and a giant bucket that fills with water and when it gets full it dumps down on everyone. Ryan looked like he was 5 years old again. He definitely liked it more than Jude who was scared of all the people and water squirting everywhere until the last 10 minutes that we were there.
Cute Jude moment recently: I was folding laundry and Jude would take the clothes out of the basket and hand them to me. If I was already busy folding something he would shake out the clothes like I was doing and then put them on the piles. Then once I finished and was carrying the clothes into the rooms/closets, he picked up his clothes, brought them into his room, and then opened his dresser and started putting his clothes away! Melted my heart!
He also gives great hugs and kisses. He loves giving Stitch a hug, and even said "Hi Stitchy" when we got home the other day.

Daycare Family Fun Fest

Jude look at the horses... don't you want to ride the horses?.... yes?..... (take Jude over to get on the horse (after one just peed all over - gross))..... okay, okay, we will leave. Yeah- Jude did NOT want to actually ride on the horse. They were cute from far away, but not close up. He also got to see some goats, pigs, ducks, donkeys, sheep. The bouncy castles were also a little scary at first, but then became the best thing ever. Actually so much bouncing that mommy started feeling a little sick herself. Dad went in though to save the day - more bouncing! And best of all, the weather was good. Cold, but no rain. I guess I'll take it.