Hey Jude!!

Grandma Grandma Grandma!

2012-02-12T21:04:00.000-08:00

We sure had a fun weekend this past weekend when Grandma came to visit for 4 days! It was really fun and a perfect balance of hanging out and running around. Jude showed Grandma all about playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii as well as the old-fashioned Legos (which he L-O-V-E-S!!). They played at the Children's Museum, Charlie Safari's (this indoor bouncy house, playground place), the library and the park!

Jude is a big helper these days, and loves to do "chores" so he can save money for a new Lego Yoda mini-figure. He helps put away clean clothes, rake up leaves, and clean the bathtub. We give him some change and he puts it in his bank for when he has enough money for his Yoda. He's so responsible! Here is a picture of him "cutting" vegetables for a salad, with Grandma's help!

Here' s a random cute picture I found on the camera, post-bathtime and in his robe. He looks like such a big boy in this picture!

We had a ninja playdate with Brolin who loves Ninjago Legos as much as Jude does. They put on Jude's ninja Halloween costume - Brolin has the shirt, Jude has the pants, and they had a great time pretending they were the characters from Ninjago. I could barely get a picture of them still, they were moving around so fast!!

Finally, here's a quick shot of Jude's Valentine's day lunch. I love making him these little fun lunches for Jude depending on the holiday and this one has been one of the easiest. He won't be at preschool on the 14th, so he gets his lunch a day early! The hard-boiled eggs didn't turn out like the picture (do they ever?) but the idea still comes across.
Happy Valentines Day everyone! We love you all very much!! oxoxoxox

The Storm of the Century

2012-01-26T19:12:00.000-08:00

That's what they are calling it, anyway. It sure was fun for the first few days, but being without power for 5 days really was a pain in the you-know-what. 15 inches of snow, an ice storm and then an 80-mile-an-hour windstorm? Really? Here's some pictures:

The front yard before it really got bad. By the time the snow stopped falling, Jude was not interested at all in being outside in it. It was so deep, it kept getting in his boots and his pants and it just was not very fun.

This is a picture of the ice that covered everything - maybe you can see that every single branch is covered with 1/4 inch of ice. And see those cottonwood trees bending in the background? Yeah, most of them are gone now. Most of them became falling spears of branches as the ice and then wind broke them one-by-one. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

Man, these wires were low and totally covered in ice. Thankfully, it is our phone line and not our power line, but the really low one in the back is our neighbors power line. We watched, fearfully, as these wires stretched and stretched until they were just 5 feet above the ground. It was a bit tense to say the least.

Ironically, the two things I was hoping would fall down weathered the storm just fine. Our old diseased Dogwood tree in the back that needs to come down somehow managed to stay upright when by all intent, it totally should have fallen down since it's rotten on the inside. AND, that gross old, rotten, broken covering for the back porch that needs to come down really could have done us a favor and fallen down by itself. But, nooooo, it had to make it through, too.

Anyway, we got power back Tuesday morning, only to lose it again Tuesday night. But, it came back Wednesday afternoon and hasn't gone off since!! What a whirlwind of insanity and we are thankful and grateful to be back home and into our routine. And, it helps to keep it all in perspective and remember that as stressful as it was for us, we really are very lucky to have what we have and to have each other. But, let's hope that WAS the storm of the century and we never have to go through it again!! Geez!!

Snow Storm Update

2012-01-20T21:27:00.000-08:00

Well, here we sit in the second hotel in a week, but this time it's not for vacation! The snow storm we talked about in our last post turned out to be a WHOPPER of a storm, hitting us with over 10 inches of snow in one night! On top of what had already fallen, we had about 14 inches of snow in our backyard. It was so much that Jude didn't even want to play in it because he couldn't walk! He kept saying "The snow makes me fall down, I want to go inside." We did make a cool snow fort and had a great snowball fight with William when he came home one day (an ambush!!)
The snow came on Tuesday night, then on Wednesday we were hammered with an ice storm - about 1/4 inch of ice was covering everything. We could hear the trees in our neighborhood cracking and watched many branches falling from high up. We lost 2 trees (one hazelnut) and maybe our beloved willow tree, too.
At 8am on Thursday morning, our power went off. It was cold outside, still with freezing rain and it was a little unnerving. It's Friday evening now, and the power is still off at the house, they say it might not come on until Monday or so. So, we jumped ship, got a hotel room and 2 miles away and here we are. Warm, toasty, comfy and happy. We made the decision to leave when we couldn't keep the temperature above 60 degrees in the house during the day and Jude was freezing. Thanks to Granny who helped us out with the expense on short notice!!
We'll post pictures of the snow when we get home and get all powered up. Until then, know we're tucked away safe and sound at the Holiday Inn and we have a pool! It's like another weekend vacation just a few miles from home!
Stay warm everyone!

Winter Beach Getaway

2012-01-16T18:37:00.001-08:00

This past weekend, we ran away to Ocean Shores to show Jude the Pacific Ocean. It was a really fun trip, even though William spent the weekend in bed in our room, sick with the same cold that both Jude and I passed along to him. Despite that, we still had a fun 3-day adventure at a beach-front hotel with a pool and hot tub! While it dumped snow at home in Olympia, we had blue skies and sun, even if it was pretty cold. We had some flurries there, too, so we didn't miss out on all the snow!

Jude on the dunes, heading to the ocean

Reading in bed - he loved the "military" style sheet-tucking. Poor kid, his Mom does NOT make the bed like that :)

A teasing of snow!

Sick Daddy - remote in hand. There were so many more channels on the hotel TV than at home!

Me and Jude in the dunes - a self portrait

Sunset. He was such a trooper - it was windy and FREEZING! He eventually lost it, though, saying "I'm an icicle, Mommy - I want to go home NOW!!"

Snow at the beach!! It doesn't happen very often, so we enjoyed it!!

Little cutie at the ocean.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-26T16:34:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful time of the year! Jude is loving Christmas this year (as opposed to last year when he was terrified of "that guy that wants to come in our house") and we had a fantastic time. He is such a lucky little boy, most of these presents under the tree were for him!

Jude loved sitting on Santa's lap. He told Santa he wanted Ninjago Legos and a bow and arrow. Santa obliged Jude with his Legos, but thought that maybe Jude might have to wait a few more years before adding a bow and arrow to his repertoire of swords and light sabers.

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family! We love you and miss all of you that we don't get to see!!

2011-12-22T17:17:00.000-08:00

Hi all, this is Granny. I am delighted to be able to spend about 18 days with good old "Judo Jude" and what a great time we are having. He's learned so much since I saw him last July - can climb into his own car seat, likes helping Mom put away the clean clothes, goes potty by himself (usually - still working on that), dresses himself (if you are not in a hurry).

The Christmas tree is up with twinkling lights and lots of very tempting presents underneath. This concept of having to wait to open them until Sunday is sometimes frustrating to poor Jude so tonight he gets to open a Solstice present.

I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a safe and healthy new year.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2011-11-24T21:48:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving started early for us, with Chickadees closing on Wednesday. I took the day off to be with Jude and we had his Chickadees buddy, Ry, over for the day since his parents were working. It was a HOOT!! We went to the park, played swords, played hide-and-seek and made the biggest pillow and blanket fort EVER!!

We had our friends, the Connell's, over for dinner. I've known them for about 20 years now and they hold a very close place in my heart. Their two kids, Harmony and Cedar, are really good friends for Jude and we had a very special, lovely Thanksgiving feast together.

Mmm....dessert! Harmony made the cake in the middle which was AMAZING (watch out Cake Boss!) and I made the pumpkin pie which was new recipe and was terrible. The cherry pie was good, but Harmony's cake was the star of the show!!

We are so very thankful for our family and friends that give us the fuel for our soul that keeps us rich and happy. We love you!!

Spawning Salmon and the First Snow

2011-11-20T20:20:00.000-08:00

Fall is such a great time of the year in the Pacific Northwest. Yes, it rains, but with the rains come many treats and adventures. One fall ritual has been going to see the chum salmon return from the ocean to spawn in Kennedy Creek. This year, Jude went to Kennedy Creek with Chickadees on a field trip and I played hooky so I could join them. There were two magical things occurring at once: a gaggle of toddlers exploring the woods and the beauty of the returning salmon. It was a very very fun day!!

Step 1: Learning about salmon overlooking the creek. We had 2 docents from the Salmon Stewardship Foundation to teach us about the salmon cycle. We learned about being quiet (yeah, right), not touching the water (soooo hard!!) and observing the fish (that was the easy part)
Step 2: Go down to the creek for a close-up view.

Step 3: Put on polarized sunglasses to help see the fish. Jude's best Chickadees buddy, Ry, wears them very well.

Step 4: Important lesson to learn: Dead salmon are way more interesting than live salmon. Or at least Jude, Ry and Clover think so. While all the other kids were upstream checking out the spawners, these three were totally fascinated with the dead salmon. They soooo wanted to poke it, but they were really good about just observing it and not messing with it!

Then, on Saturday morning, we woke up to the first snow for 2011!! Imagine how excited Jude was when he looked out the window and saw a dusting of his most favorite thing on the lawn. Bear in mind, he's been asking for snow for about 6 months now, so this was like a dream come true, even if it was just a little bit. We rushed outside at 7:45 am for the frolic.

Our snowman. I made Jude hug him when he really wanted to just knock him down. After I snapped this picture, the ninja came out and Jude destroyed the poor guy.

The end of the snowman. The snow ended about and hour later when it started raining. So, we got outside just in time and made the most of it. Snowball fight, snowman, eating snow, we did it all in about 45 minutes. We even got out the sled, which was silly but it just seemed fun at the time. We'll see, maybe we'll get some more before the winter is over.

Happy Halloween!!

2011-10-31T19:36:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!!! Here's our final pieces of art - the middle pumpkin (and the little one in front) actually came from our own garden this year, which was very exciting! I watched a program the other night on people who raise GIGANTIC pumpkins (like 500 lbs!) and I'm currently obsessed and thinking I want to do that next year! Just wait until Halloween 2012!

Melissa and I threw a joint Halloween party at her house on Sunday. It was so much fun and there was lots of kids, games and FOOD!! Here's a picture of the table, with some close-ups of the dishes that we did. It was alot of fun to plan!

One of the activities that we did was to get together a ton of different costumes and the kids could "trick or treat" in the house with different adults in different doors. The only trick was that the kids could only go to each door once in one costume, so they had to go back to the living room and switch costumes. It was a hoot and the costumes the kids came up with were hysterical. Here's a mid-costume change/half naked light saber fight with Jude and Brolin:

Best Buddies, Jude and Brolin:
Black Bat Man Silas, Little Red Riding Hood Cecelia and Transformer/Ninja Jude:

I picked Jude up early from Chickadees and we went trick-or-treating downtown for a few hours. I only snapped one picture, thinking we would also be going out later after dinner. But, when we went home, Jude was running a little fever and had a runny nose, so we opted out for a quiet evening at home and an early bedtime. Here's a picture of Ninja Jude, fighting bad guys all over downtown Olympia:

It was a very fun Halloween weekend! Happy Halloween everyone!!

Pumpkins and Superheros

2011-10-23T19:26:00.000-07:00

It's pumpkin time and off we went to the pumpkin patch today. It was a beautiful day and we had a blast there. As Jude gets older and more interested in things in general, it gets more and more fun. We are definitely smack-dab in the "Why?" stage now and let me tell you, it can go on forever!! We just answer lots and lots of questions to the best of our ability but, as you know, sometimes you just have to know when to pull the plug on it, hee hee.

Ponies!! Jude got a kick out of it when the ponies peed. He was fascinated with that. "Why's he doing that?" "Why's that smell funny?"
Jude had already put about 4 pumpkins in the wheel barrow at this point, which William kept on taking out and putting on the ground. This is Jude, loading them up again and William saying "How are we going to carry all these back?" We finally settled on two BIG ones and one little one.

They have lots of animals there to feed, but this calf was the cutest by far.

This is pretty funny. At this point, William didn't have underwear on his head or monster hands on his feet, but it got pretty nuts later on. They certainly do have fun together!!

A month's worth of pics

2011-10-09T21:04:00.000-07:00

OK, OK, it's been almost a month since our last update, with much going on. Here's a quick recap:

We found a GREAT U-pick blueberry farm where the bushes were literally dripping with berries. We picked about 12 pounds all together (went picking 2 different times) and froze most of them. But at the rate Jude eats them, we'll be out by November - he is a blueberry fiend! This is Jude, picking berries with dandelion seeds in his hair. I think he's being a Ninja in this picture (his new favorite thing)

Daddy and Jude took a trip to the Capital building. It's a cool place to check out, and Jude loves to go into big places and scream "ECHO." Which he did. In the Capital. Love him.

Here's an example of Jude, being a boy. He broke his violin bow on accident and asked us to tape it together for him. Then, ingenuitive as ever, realized it was more like a bow and arrow. Then, he got this silly spinning garden flower that one of our neighbors gave him, pulled the flower off and turned the stake into his "arrow." I fear the day when he actually figures out how to shoot it. Pretty clever, though.

Finally, today we went to the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. It's huge and busy with lots of fun stuff! The top picture is Jude shooting water in this big box, then him and Daddy in the dinosaur exhibit. Finally, they have a great butterfly house with tons of beautiful butterflys fluttering about. We also went to a Bob Marley laser show and played in their outdoor water park which is incredible. We did a ga-zillion things, but if you ask Jude what his favorite part was, he'll tell you the Lego Ninja guy he bought at the gift shop (which we could have got at Toys R Us for 1/2 the price. hee hee). We all had a great time, though and look forwarding to taking him back for many years to come.

Long Beach Island Vacation

2011-09-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

We had a fabulous two week vacation in Surf City, at Poppy and Grandma's house. We love to go to Long Beach Island and play in the warm ocean and on the sunny beaches. This year, we had lots of beach days the first week - the weather was gorgeous and the tides were low and perfect for frolicking!! It's funny that all of the kids that I used to hang out with on this beach when I was growing up all have kids of their own that are just about Jude's age. Imagine my delight, sitting with my old friends Sydney and Stefanie and watching our boys do the same things we did when we were young...jumping on the lifeguard stand, playing in the waves, playing Freeze Tag on the beach and building sand castles. It brought me back to the great times I had growing up on this very same beach.

Jude playing Freeze Tag with Rocco (only in NJ do people still name their kids "Rocco").

Playing with Michael in the rowboat

Jude and Daddy checking out the waves at low tide

JELLYFISH!!!

I love this picture.

One day, we took Poppy's beach buggy down to Holgate, where we can drive on the beach. We packed the fishing poles, the beach chairs and all of the beach gear we could jam into the little Jeep. Unfortunately, once we got to the beach, the flies were TERRIBLE and we only lasted about 20 minutes before we gave up and drove back home. However, in that 20 minutes, we found 2 whelk shells, a bunch of clam shells and Grandma found a ginormous live snail.

Everything you need in a beach buggy - fishing poles, a fishing lure, a baseball hat, a flashlight and binoculars.

Jude loves being in Poppy's beach buggy - it's so much fun!!

And we ate lots of ice cream cones - here's Jude and Poppy eating a chocolate cone on the front porch:

Well, after a long two weeks, we spent the last day at the beach. We slept (that white blob is Jude sleeping on a blanket, under a towel - you can barely make out his feet sticking out the bottom). Vacations can be exhausting.

Here's a picture of Poppy, Grandma and Jude on the porch the morning of our departure. That porch holds years of memories and here's a new generation to sit on it, eat on it and enjoy it. He even peed on it :)

After I took the picture on the porch, Jude wanted to have a turn with the camera. I gave it to him, showed him what button to push and this is the picture he took! What a great picture and we'll miss Poppy and Grandma very much!!

3 year check up and motorcycles

2011-08-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

Jude had his three year check-up yesterday. It was a few months late because when I called before his birthday, the doctor's office actually had a 2 month delay in appointments! So, finally, yesterday was the day and it went great! We are happy to report that Jude is exactly AVERAGE!! 50th percentile in height (3 feet, 2 inches tall) and 50th percentile in weight (32 pounds). But, the great news is that Dr. Murdoch said it was one of her best 3-year-old appointments because Jude "follows directions VERY well" (her quote). He was so good and did whatever she told him to do and was so nice and chatty and pleasant the whole time. He made us both very, very proud. We're thinking of finally vaccinating him and talked about that a bit, but mostly the appointment was just about how incredibly healthy he is.

And, being that he's getting to be such a big boy, he can finally ride his motorcycle that Uncle Curt sent him last year. He absolutely loves riding it around the neighborhood and waves at people as he passes them (it's like his own personal parade) and feels like such a big boy when he's cruising around. Here's a little video of our speed-demon in the making:

We're getting ready to head to Long Beach Island for a couple of weeks if Hurricane Irene lets us. Time will tell whether we get a trip to "poppy's beach" or a stay-cation at home. Keep your fingers crossed!

Faires and Fests

2011-08-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

Wow - what a weekend! First, it finally hit 80 degrees in Olympia for 2 days in a row. Note, that's day #3 and #4 of over-80 for the whole summer! Terrible weather, but it makes weekends like this all the more special. Yesterday, we spent the day taking care of business, which means grocery shopping, lawn mowing and, of course, hanging out in the pool. But today, well that's a different story. We started our day off driving north to the Washington Renaissance Faire, a first for all of us. What a great place!! We were one of the only people not in renaissance-garb - people really got into it!! We saw pirates, knights, fairies, Puck, dames, lords, kings, queens, and everything in between. We got about 20 feet into the faire before Jude scoped the 'Weapons' booth and scored himself a new wooden sword. Then, we went on a hunt for "bad knights" so Jude could swordfight with him. We never found any, but we did meet this knight, who was nice enough to let Jude wear his helmet:

Then, we ran into a fairy that was selling handmade leather masks that Jude really liked. She was very sweet to Jude and we thought he looked great in this new blue mask.

On our way out of the fair, we passed the armor tent and Jude really liked the knight armor there.

Then, we came home (after stopping at Dairy Queen to get Jude a soft-serve, hoping the sugar-buzz would keep him awake for the long ride home) and headed out to our first annual Northeast Neighborhood Association block party. That, too, was a blast with friends and neighbors all getting together a few blocks away. It was like a "block-party PLUS" with vendors and food booths and even a stage with bands! Someone pulled out a parachute and all the kids had a grand time underneath it...

It was the perfect capper to the end of our day and we rode our bikes home to Daddy's yummy BBQed chicken and brocolli salad for dinner. It's weekends like this that the Withey Family loves!! Summer!!!

Grandma, Grandpa and Camping Adventure

2011-08-14T21:16:00.000-07:00

August started out being an extra-special month with a visit from Grandma and Grandpa John last week!! We love when they come visit us and Jude has so much fun (we ALL had so much fun!) They came on Sunday morning and we hit the ground running with a trip to the Thurston County Fair in the afternoon. We had never been there before, so it was a new experience for all of us. It was fun, but Jude wasn't feeling well so we hit the highlights and then headed home. The highlight for Jude was a little booth that was blasting Bob Marley music and selling dresses and Buddha statues. He stood in front of the speaker and danced to his favorite singer. It was pretty funny.

It was a very fun visit with trips to the park, ice cream cones and a belated birthday party for Grandma. We miss them very much!! Mwaahhhh......

This past weekend, I took Jude camping up in the Snoqualmie Nat'l Forest with my friend Taraleen and her three kids. It was so much fun! Jude had a field trip to the beach with Chickadees on Friday, so I picked him up there early and we drove straight to the campground and got there in the early afternoon. We stayed Friday and Saturday night and sadly left early this afternoon. Neither of us wanted to go!!

Jude is the best camper EVER, and he had the time of his life (I did too!!!). This campground had a carpet of moss all around it and a river and a pond just a short walk away. The river has tons of clay stones in it, so we spent alot of time covering ourselves with clay and baking in the sun. Jude spent most of the time throwing rocks into the river and looking for bugs in the pond. The kids actually caught some baby trout in a cup and found frog eggs!! Jude was so exhausted each night that he literally asked to go to sleep each night, and if you know Jude, then you know that he is NEVER ready for bed!!! Campfires, friends, hikes, beaches and rivers...we're hooked on camping and I see alot of it in our future!!

Our campsite. The whole forest was carpeted in lovely, soft moss that made it so easy to walk in the woods and enjoy the trees and the ferns. Plus, when Jude fell down (which is alot these days, I think he must be going through a growth spurt), he had a nice cushion for the landing.

Eating Jiffy Pop out of a colander with Teasa. It looks like the blanket is in the fire, but they are actually quite a distance way (bad-mommy disclaimer).

Gilbert and Alexia at the river beach with the huge mountain in the background. I wish I knew the name of that mountain. The beach was a perfect blend of sand and stones, and was shallow enough to wade all the way across the river - if you were brave enough. It was c-c-c-cold!!!

Here's a little video of Jude on the pond that was right next to the river. He was looking for "creatures" as he calls them:

Catching Up!!

2011-08-02T20:02:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been almost a MONTH since we've posted anything on Jude's blog. So sorry to all of you Jude-fans out there, we didn't mean to leave you hanging. It's been a fun month though, with 4th of July, Granny's visit, a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge (a huge indoor water park just south of Olympia) and backyard camping! Here's a quick recap:

4th of July

Jude lit his first sparkler, which was very exciting for him.

I hate to say it, but we didn't go see any fireworks both because he's been going to be so early and the weather was TERRIBLE. It was cold and rainy much of the weekend, so we were hesitant to keep him awake just to go sit in the freezing cold for 20 minutes. We did, however, go to the Tumwater 4th of July Parade with Brolin and his family, which was really fun.

Granny was here for three weeks in July and we had a fabulous time. We did all kinds of fun things, including a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge with the Stambaughs which is a huge indoor water park just south of Olympia. We didn't get any pictures inside the water park, because there's so much water everywhere, but here's a picture of Jude and Silas in one of the elaborately-decorate hallways in the hotel. The boys had the times of their lives!!

Finally, we did some backyard camping in preparation for a big camping trip in the woods this month. We wanted to make sure he liked the tent and sleeping outside and boy, were we in for a surprise! He LOVED it!! Truthfully, I loved it too and we all can't wait to go out and do the real thing soon.

Reading a book in the tent

Our makeshift fire pit

Building a fire with Daddy

Marshmallows!!!

Well, that's the highlights. Grandma and Grandpa John come this weekend and we are very excited. Jude wants to have a belated birthday party for Grandma with balloons and birthday cake, so that will be lots of fun!! Maybe we'll also take a trip to the Thurston County Fair as well. I promise pictures sooner than a month from now. Happy summer!

Mini-Golf in Motion

2011-07-08T19:51:00.000-07:00

Ta Da!

Jude's First Mini-Golf

2011-07-04T22:13:00.000-07:00

Birthday Beach Getaway

2011-06-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

The Witheys and the Stambaughs ran away to Port Townsend for the weekend to celebrate my 40th birthday and it couldn't have been more perfect. It's our most favorite little spot to run away to and we were so happy to be there with such good friends. We actually got there on Friday and had a day to ourselves before the Stambaughs got there on Saturday. We visited a favorite little beach where there's lots of beach glass (aka Pirate Treasure) and had a pizza picnic. We now call it "Pizza Beach." It's literally at the end of a block in downtown Port Townsend which is so cool. Here's Jude, looking for treasures to leave for Captain Jack, the main character in many of Jude's bedtime stories.

When the Stambaughs got there on Saturday, the fun really began! Jude was out-of-control excited to see his buddy Silas and spend the weekend with him. We started out by bringing happy hour snacks down to the rocky beach outside our hotel and played around for a long time throwing stones in the water and munching on cheese and crackers.

Then we went out to dinner on Saturday night and the boys were absolute angels. I had to admit, two 3-year-olds trying to eat dinner in a restaurant gave me a little bit of a fright, but they were awesome and we had a lovely dinner.

After dinner, we went back to our hotel where Melissa revealed the most amazing cake that she made for me. She split it into two side with my two favorite things - gardening and Scrabble. She is just the best ever. NOtice in the garden there's little carrots she made from Starburst and tomato corn plants on the top. Incredible (and delicious!)

The next day, we spent the day at the beach and the boys just had a blast together. We actually got to sit down for many hours and just watch the boys play and play and play and play. Jude got so tuckered out!!

We discovered the Science Center at the beach, which consists of a ginormous touch-pool where we could touch all kinds of sea life - star fish, sea cucumbers, urchins, anemones, and on and on! The boys loved it, so did the grown-ups!

So, if 40 is as great as it has started off, then I think that 40 IS the new 30 after all and we're in for a bunch of fun!!

The Lange's Cometh

2011-06-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

We had an extra special treat this weekend - Poppy, Grandma Rose, Uncle Curt and Aunt Susan all came to visit Jude for his birthday this past weekend. It was a whirlwind of fun and excitement - we had a sunny day in the backyard where everyone pitched in to blow up Jude's pool (which is no easy feat, let me tell you!) Here's the beginning....

Jude had about an hour to play in it before it got cloudy and cold again, though, but at least it's blown up for the summer! He pulled out his umbrella and got in the sprinkler part of the pool - look at that tush!! :)

Then we went on a "Jungle Safari" through the woods to the beach.

Jude and Poppy on driftwood at the beach.

Awww...Poppy and Grandma.... xoxo

Besides the treat of having everyone around, Jude got lots of very cool birthday presents, which include a Spiderman mask and a Spiderman web blaster which shoots blue webs.

Spiderman got Uncle Curt in his blue web in the back yard.

Jude also got a huge tent from Poppy and Grandma which will give us lots of good times this summer and will provide plenty of pictures for the future!! We're trying to plan our first trip in a couple of weeks, we'll keep you posted!! We had such a fabulous weekend, we really miss everyone and the house seems very quiet.

Birthday Party!!

2011-06-04T20:59:00.000-07:00

Today was Jude's birthday party and what a blast!! We had the party at Bigelow Park, which is only a few blocks away from our house and a perfect park with big trees and shade for such a hot day (yes, I said H-O-T!! 80 degrees! Finally!!) So here's how the day went: We woke up early and went to the bakery down the street for bagels for breakfast, which is a super-special treat. Then, William and Jude took off for a Jungle Safari while I stayed home to decorate the cake and get the party packed up and ready to go.

Jude in the Jungle

Robot Cake - Jude named it "Robotcha"

At 2:30, we headed over to the park to get set up for the Robot Birthday Party. It was sooo much fun! We had all kinds of Robot treats to set up, including a "Rehydration Station" and lots of Robot snacks.

Here's our Robot Food Collector. You put the food donations in his mouth, which we'll take to the Food Bank tomorrow. It was great, we collected a bunch of food!!

Here's Jude, blowing out the candles, wearing his new birthday shirt from Grandma Linda which was perfect for the occasion! (we opened it early! busted!!)

And, finally, singing "Happy Birthday" (notice Silas sneaking one of the Robots eyes at the end of the song - hysterical!)

Between the party and the BBQ afterwards, we were at the park for 5 hours!! Needless to say, Jude fell asleep tonight in about 12 minutes. He's one tuckered-out almost three year old!!

So, Tuesday is Jude's actual big day!! #3, who can believe it??? Happy birthday to our precious baby who is turning into quite the little caring, loving little boy with a funny sense of humor and a wild, mischievous streak that makes us smile and keeps on on our toes. We couldn't imagine anything better....

Unbelievable

2011-05-31T19:57:00.000-07:00

There are a few things that I find hard to believe:

1. The sun will EVER come out in Olympia, WA. It's been cold and dreary almost all spring. Ug.

2. It's been 2 weeks since we posted. I have no excuse. I wish I could say it's because we're playing so much in the sun, but I can't even say that.

3. In 1 week, Jude will be THREE!! Yes, THREE!!!!

4. In 26 days, I will be FORTY! NOOOOO FORRTTYY!!!!

It's an exciting time of year in the Withey house. It's birthday season, and we've been going to birthday parties almost every weekend for the past month. Alot of the kids from my Mom's Group from when Jude was a baby are turning 3, too, and many of our other friends have kids with birthdays in May. Sequoia's birthday party was at the Longhouse at Evergreen and they have a great native plant garden. Here's Jude hiding under an amazing Butterbur plant which he wanted to take home as an umbrella:

ps - he's wearing his current favorite - his Batman cape

It's been very very fun and Jude is looking forward to his party next weekend. He has chosen a Robot theme and we've been busy making plans and decorations. We're having it at the park down the street and the weatherman PROMISED it's going to be sunny. I sure hope so, because the thought of all those kids in our house....holy moly. Here's one of the invitations I made, they turned out pretty cute:

It's a food bank party instead of a present party. Jude has soooo many toys already that we're asking people to bring food instead. I'm making a big robot with a hole in it to put the food in, I hope it's a success!!

Regardless of the lack of sun, we've been having a fun spring so far. Jude LOVES being in the garden which works out just great for me. He loves to find worms and transport them to this one particular garden bed so they can "be with their friends." His language is taking off lately, and he's really got a great sense of humor and is using all kinds of words and concepts that are amazing. We both find his language development to be an incredible transformation to watch. For instance, he's starting to understand the difference between "the same" and "similar" and watching him apply that concept is fascinating and rewarding. He's at that "sponge" age and is totally soaking up all kinds of things. One night, William and I were having a little argument and Jude said to me "You should try saying that a little nicer, Mommy." Dang. Nothing like a 2 year old pointing out the obvious to ratchet down the heat a little bit. Hee hee.

We're looking forward to seeing Poppy, Grandma Rose, Uncle Curt and Aunt Susan in a few weeks, then Granny in July and Grandma and Grandpa John in August!! We love it!!!

Cousins!

2011-05-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

We had a great time in Iowa last week, visiting lots of family and playing like crazy. It's been almost 2 years since Jude has seen his cousins and it was an entirely different experience as you can imagine. There was lots of chasing and running and laughing! Here's some fun pictures:

Jude and Cia watching TV and eating goldfish on Grandpa Guitars couch!!

Cia in the tunnel at the park. This is a great picture!

Boys. Boys. Boys. Within about an hour of seeing each other for the first time in 2 years, the boys all had their shirts off and were full-on wrestling. Jude kept up with Jonah and Isiah even though he's much younger! Tough kids!!

Don't you wonder what they're talking about??

Thank you EVERYONE for such a lovely time!! I hope we can see each other more often! xoxo

More weekend pics...

2011-04-25T21:29:00.000-07:00

The Withey's on Parade - Daddy wearing Jude's hat, Mommy carrying Jude (there was alot of carrying during the parade - the route was pretty long!)

Egg hunt at Brolins. Release the kids!!

Helping Brolin find eggs in the yard.

Show us your eggs! Jude took it literally and held up his whole bag. That's him on the top on the right, behind the big bag of booty, showing it off! Unfortunately, you can't even see his face!

Whatta Weekend!

2011-04-24T18:54:00.000-07:00

By far, this has been the most event-filled weekend that we can remember. Our little town really perked up for 3 days of celebration for Earth Day and Easter! Friday night, we had a date night and went downtown for Art Walk and the Luminary Parade. It was so fun, there's music on every street corner and local art in every store and tons of friends out and about looking at art and dancing. Here's a cool picture at the end of the Luminary Parade with fire dancers and the Capitol in the background.

Saturday was the Procession of the Species, the biggest one yet! 30,000 people watching and 3,000 people in the parade! Jude's preschool got some great costumes and we paraded as the characters from the book "Where the Wild Things Are." Scotty, one of the teachers, was the main character, Max, and the kids were the wild things. Here's Jude before the parade, he had already wiped all of his face paint off at that point :)

Some of us met a Chickadees before the parade to get dressed and then took the bus downtown from there. This is Leigha reading the kids the book before we all caught the bus downtown. Max is in the background.

Yes, and then EASTER!! And the beginning of Jude's obsession with candy. Wowzer - who woulda thought a kid would go so nuts in just one day over candy? He's never had much candy before, so the volumes of sugar he received was pretty overwhelming for him. He was literally doing shots of jellybeans right out of the eggs. Yikes!!

We went to Greek Easter and easter-egg hunt over at Brolins which was just as fun as you might expect, but we neglected to bring the camera, which is a bummer. Oh well, maybe we'll get some pics from some other folks that were there.

After dinner, we burned off some sugar by going for a puddle stomp. It was raining all day, so the puddles were pretty amazing. Here's a couple of cute pics taken just before Jude forgot it was a puddle "stomp" and thought it was a puddle "sit." Yup, right down in the middle of the puddle. Thankfully, we were just around the block and a short walk home. Silly boy.

Happy Earth Day and Happy Easter everyone!! We love you all!!

Aunt Kourtney! Aunt Kourtney!!

2011-04-18T22:19:00.000-07:00

Aunt Kourtney came to visit us after her pediatric chiropractic conference in Seattle this weekend and we had about 24 hours to bask in her silliness and fun. Jude saw her pull up and got out of the car and ran right to her, jumping in her arms. He was so excited to see her! We jammed as much fun as we could into the few hours we had together, which included a trip to the Farmer's Market and the dock, a walk around Capital Lake and topped it off with a birthday party in the park for our friends 1 year-old boy. Whew!!

The picture above is of Jude playing on the big anchor at the docks. You can see the capital in the distance and the tower in the background is where the next picture is taken:

Jude climbed all the way up the tower (and fast!) and we had quite the view. All of the logs in the background are headed to Japan to rebuild their infrastructure and the ginormous ship in the way-background is a Russian ship, but don't know what it was picking up. It's cool to see our port becoming more of a working port.

It looks like Jude's posing, but he's actually eating chocolate cake at the party. Mmmmm...."dark cake" as he calls it.

It's always a challenge to keep food interesting to Jude. So, in an effort to be creative and keep him eating (which is sometimes a bit challenging when he gets so busy,) I started to put stuff on a stick which is just a kebob skewer with the pointy end cut off. We did sandwiches on a stick (some bread cubes, cheese cubes, little tomatoes and rolled up lunchmeat) and fruit kebobs and frozen bananas! It's different, that's for sure and he gets a kick out of it. Heck, who wouldn't love to eat food on a stick every day? :)

to Bellingham and Beyond!

2011-04-09T20:26:00.000-07:00

What a great weekend we have had! Taking the train was everything I hoped it would be and more! Our trip was an exciting adventure (even though the train was so late, both going and coming home), but Jude was just amazing the entire time. The train takes us up the coast of the Puget Sound, through the city, through farmlands and acres and acres of daffodils and back along swamps and meadows, so there are many things to look at and talk about as we went along. We looked for Spiderman in the skyscrapers in Seattle, whales and pirates in the Sounds and Thomas the Tank Engine and all of his friends. So. much. fun. :)

Here's us, at the big clock at the Olympia Train Station. We have a picture here from every trip we've taken so far (three total).

And, here's the adventures with the Rosens.

Catching worms with Teasa (they called them "noodles")

Gymnastics

2011-04-02T21:58:00.000-07:00

Every Monday at Chickadees, the Tumble Bus comes and Jude has gymnastics. Actually, it's called "Joe-nastics" because the teachers name is Joe. One of these days, I'm going to scoot out of work and go to Chickadees to watch what actually happens during these classes, I imagine it has to be pretty hysterical based on what Jude comes home with. Here's a little video of him showing off what he learned that day.

We have a fun week ahead of us! Chickadees is closed because of spring break, so Jude and I are hitting the rails, a couple of hobos packing our bags and taking the train north for a 3 day visit with our friends, the Rosens. Jude loves trains and I can't wait to see his excitement when he gets on one! Last time, he pulled the pin on the fire extinguisher in our car. The conductors were NOT happy with us, although I secretly giggled on the inside :)

Planting Peas

2011-03-21T22:44:00.000-07:00

Our first gardening of 2011 - and I have to say that this year was about 1000 times more fun than last year - Jude is REALLY into being in the garden and digging for worms and planting seeds! It's going to be a super-fun gardening year!

Jude also had a play at Chickadees last Friday night. Unfortunately, he was not into being on "stage" at all. Maybe next year.... The other kids were so cute, though and did a great job, it was very funny. And a potluck afterwards gave us the chance to meet other parents and have a nice evening. Chickadees is such a wonderful place!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

2011-03-13T14:15:00.000-07:00

Well, it's true what they say. You take 10,000 pictures the first year of your child's life, then the number decreases exponentially the older they get. We haven't posted in a while just because we've only taken like 10 pictures the last few weeks! Not to say things aren't happening, just we haven't hardly picked up the camera!!

Well, first things first, Daddy celebrated #44 on Friday. We had an old friend, Lee, over for some homemade pizza and ice cream cake, and he brought his dog, Kona. Jude and Kona are like two 2-year olds spazzing out all over each other. Jude was the runner, Kona was the chaser and when they caught each other, they would just kiss each other and roll around on the floor. For a second, I fantasized about a dog for Jude. But just for a second. He has to be way older, but it's definitely in the cards someday.

On Saturday night, Crystal came over to babysit and we went out for dinner and a Burlesque show which was soo fun!! It's really nice to have the best babysitter in the world, one that brings over instruments (like banjos, glockenspiels, and this time, a full keyboard!) She's wonderful and we love it that we can relax knowing that Jude is having a fantastic time while we're gone. And we have a such a fun time eating at a restaurant like grown-ups, even though we talk about Jude the whole time. hee hee. Here's Jude, with headphones on, getting ready to play:

And, playing as his alter ego, Nacho Libre (although he'll tell you it's his Superman mask):

Beyond the fabulous weekend, Jude's doing great. He has had a cold for a couple of weeks (!) and we actually took him to the doctor because of a terrible cough. We were reassured that yes, he has a nasty cold, but that everything sounds and looks great and we got some peace of mind. And Jude got a purple lollipop. :)

School is fantastic, he doesn't even care when I drop him off anymore (I do the drop-off, William does the pick-up). He, literally, is like "Bye Mommy" and practically pushes me out the door. Leigha, his teacher, is amazed at his letter-recognition and impressed with his verbal skills. He recognizes almost all the letters of the alphabet at this point and knows the sounds they make and is starting to recognize whole words! (thank you, www.starfall.com!!) It's amazing to watch this side of him develop and watch him work out sounds and see how he puts it all together. I'm also learning alot about the oddities of language, like he sometimes says that "Jude" starts with a "G" (like "Giant") which, of course, makes perfect sense, but never really struck me before.

Here's one final picture of Jude's "drumset." He loves to watch the videos of his cousin, Cia, playing her drumset and this is his version of his own.

Well, that's all for now. We'll try to pick up the camera more often!!

Snow Day!!

2011-02-24T19:20:00.000-08:00

Chronicle of a snow day - from Jude's perspective.

8:30 am. - Day care closed for the day. Mom stays home!! We go outside (finally, I'd been asking to go outside since 6:30 am!) The snow is coming down hard and my mittens look like snowballs already, but that doesn't stop me from trying to catch snowflakes in my mouth!!

9:15 am - Go inside and convince Mom to make chocolate chip cookies. She sends me to the store in my "car" to go get chocolate chips.

10:30 am - the butter finally softened enough to make cookies. I got to lick the batter from the beaters. And, yes, in case you were wondering, I am naked.

3:00 pm - Brolin arrives!! We took a little sled around the yard in the snow. I didn't have a sled so Mommy fashioned one out of the garbage can lid. Thankfully, I'm not old enough yet to be embarrassed by such things.

And what snowday isn't complete without a snow man. We named him "Frost-o" because he is a cowboy. We tried to put a worm for his mouth, but the worm kept crawling away.

And this picture has nothing to do with today's snow, but we had to throw it in just for laughs. Two peas in a pod, Jude and Cecelia playing on the backhoe. :)

A long time comin'

2011-02-20T20:44:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since we've posted, it's been a tad busy around the Withey house! We had a friend come stay from Korea, a visit from 1/2 of the Rosen family (Taraleen and Alexia only), and various other fun and exciting things that have kept us busy and having fun!! Here's some pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Somebody has to feed the birds - Don't ask me why, possibly a throw-back from our childhoods, but William and I save our bacon-grease drippings into a jar in the fridge. Usually, when it gets full enough, we just toss it in the trash, but I recently found a great use for all that bacon fat!! I grabbed a few of the pinecones from the XMas wreath before we got rid of it and Jude and I coated them in the bacon fat, and then rolled it in birdseed! We hung them out on the cherry tree in the front yard, and while several birds are probably having heartattacks from the grease, they completely eaten in a matter of days. It was really fun to watch!!

Then, for Valentines Day, Jude and I made heart-shaped birdseed "cookies" for all of the kids in his school. Here they are on the baking sheet, ready to go in the oven. The straws keep a hole so we could put a string through to hang them. They were a hit and we had several left over for our own birds!!

Curious George - or not. The big excitement was that Curious George and the man in the Yellow Hat were coming to our Library! We talked about it for days and Jude was really really excited to go and see his buddy. He watches Curious George EVERY morning on PBS and loves his Curious George books, too. It was super exciting, that is, until Jude actually saw Curious George. Then, it was terrifying. I have to admit, it was kind of weird. It was a guy in a big monkey suit standing in a room and taking pictures with kids. And the Man with the Yellow Hat? Well, the one at the library was African American. In case you aren't familiar with the Man in the Yellow Hat in the cartoon, he's definitely white. Really white. So Jude didn't quite get it at all, and he was not having any of it. Thankfully, Silas was there, too and we left the library to go the a little "urban farm" across the street. There are big gardens there and chickens, too and the boys had a great time running around and being boys.

Finally, here's a quick pic of Jude, the artist, at work.

Well, that about sums it up for the last 2 weeks or so. We've finally had some sunny days and the daffodils are coming up and we're very excited for spring!! We did some gardening in the back and got the flower beds somewhat ready, Jude with his shovel, I with the rake and the blackberries never knew what hit 'em. It's going to be so much fun!!

Video #2 - Jude at Chickadee's Day School

2011-02-05T12:27:00.000-08:00

Here's a cute video from Thursday, when William and Jude went to hang out at Chickadee's Day School for a while.

His first full day on Friday went GREAT! He did have some troubles around naptime, in that he didn't want to nap and had a hard time falling asleep. Other than that, his teacher said it was a "perfect first day!" Yippee!!! We're looking forward to a very fun year at Chickadee's!!

Video #1 - I did it ALL by myself

2011-02-04T07:22:00.000-08:00

Chickadees Day School and Chocolate Cake!

2011-02-03T22:12:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Granny!! Today is Granny's birthday and we had a little birthday celebration for her tonight. She's heading back home after being here for a month and we sure will miss her!! I can't begin to say what a fun time we've had and she's been an enormous help while we were transitioning between preschools. Here's a picture of Granny and Jude sharing a piece of chocolate birthday cake.

We'll miss you Granny and THANK YOU for all of your amazing love and support!!

Also today, Jude had his first "transition day" at Chickadees Day School. He and Daddy went for a few hours to play with the kids and get oriented. Tomorrow will be his first day on his own!! Here's some cute pictures of him dressed as a dinosaur, getting ready to put on a play with the other kids:

We've got some videos to post too, but we'll work on that over the weekend. Stay tuned!!

Houston, we have a poopy.

2011-01-26T19:40:00.000-08:00

Wow! What a week we've had! We are VERY happy to announce that Jude is finally going poopy in the potty!! YIPPEE!!! AND, on top of that, he is regularly going pee in the potty, too!! This all comes on the heels of a new obsession for nakedness. Jude's really really hating clothes lately, and once we gave in to the urge, we realize that it has facilitated the next level in potty training. We've FINALLY got the poopies!! And we have pictures to prove it! Let us know, we're happy to email them to you. hahahahha. I know, probably too much information for some, but for us, this is HUGE!!!

Then, we finally found a great pre school for Jude. We were devastated when Padawan School closed in November and have had a hard time finding something even close to it. Well, then we found Chickadees Day School (http://www.chickadeesdayschool.webs.com/). Yoga, organic snacks, crafts every day, a bunny names Princess Peanut, gardens and it's right next to a super fun playground. AND, it's only like a mile away from our house!!! The owner, Leigha, actually worked with Miss Sarah (the owner of Padawan School), so they have alot of the same philosophies. It's perfect and we're excited for Jude to start in February.

here's some pictures of Jude as "Robot-cha":

And, Jude playing his toy violin in bed. I love this picture, he looks so old to me.

That's it for now! We're going to bask in the glory of poopies and preschool and ride the wave of a VERY good week!! Loves to you all!!

It's never good when you have to Google: "When do you need stitches?"

2011-01-23T20:58:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning. A beautiful morning, Jude and I head outside to play in the backyard while Daddy enjoys a few extra zzz's. One minute, I'm putting some toys away, the next minute, Jude is doing the terrible "I'm-crying-but-I'm-not-making-any-noise-and-my-lips-are-purple-because-I'm-not-breathing" thing. AND, there's a ginormous gash above his left eye that's oozing blood. Jude, digging in the garden, slipped off the raised bed and bonked his perfect little skull on the concrete blocks around the garden. Yes, concrete. Not very forgiving.

Now, bare in mind this is the first time anything of this caliber has occurred. I'm thinking "ER? Doctor? What do I do? OK, I'm going to wake William up and throw on some clothes and we're going to the ER. Do I put him in the carseat or just hold him tightly in the backseat? How can I put a kid bleeding from his head in a carseat? No, I'm going to call the doctor-on-call at the pediatricians office and meet them there. They can give us stitches there and save us a trip to the hospital. No, first I have to clean it, figure out how deep it is, maybe all it needs is a band-aid. But what about if he has a concussion? Should I shine a flashlight in his eyes to see if his pupils dilate? What's that I'm supposed to do again?? Oh man, oh man, oh man." All of this is going on internally, while on the outside, believe it or not, I'm cool as a cucumber!! I have to say, I impressed myself with my abilities to contain my neurosis on the inside, even as I'm holding a rag on his head trying to stop the blood from getting in his eye.

Thankfully, William woke up with all the crying. We assessed the situation, I googled "when do you get stitches" and we determined that he might survive with just a band-aid. In retrospect, I think he could have used some stitches, because it continued to ooze blood the rest of the day, but he's a tough kid born of tough parents and he'll have the scar to prove it. And while the cut seemed to have stopped bothering him after a couple of hours, it took us quite a long time to calm down and realize it was all going to be OK.

Here's a picture of the cut, 2 days later. It's amazing how fast it's healing!

Snow, a ukelele and the future wife

2011-01-11T21:40:00.000-08:00

All the news for days has been saying a big snow storm was going to hit around 4pm tonight. Well, Jude went into the bath a 7 and there was still no snow. But, when he got out of the bath, we looked out the window and sure enough, there was snow! And accumulation! So, we donned our snow gear and outside we went. Jude was more interested in smashing the balls I was trying to roll to make a snowman than actually making the snowman. He was also trying very hard to have a "snow fight" (no idea where he learned that?!!!) and succeeded in putting snow down Mommy's pants. Little bugger :) Here's the pics:

Lately, Jude has really been wanting all of the sheets and blankets off the beds. I'm not sure why, but he's pretty insistent that there are no bed clothes on the beds. We oblige this request occasionally, and one time he sat very peacefully on his naked bed and played "Zippadee-doo-dah" on the ukelele.

And one last shot of Jude and his friend Cecelia, waiting patiently for dinner. I joke that they are destined to be married, because they argue like an old married couple. And example conversation:

Cecelia: Hey, Jude.

Jude: What

Cecelia: Turn off the light.

Jude: No

Then they go back and forth, she turns off the light, he turns it back on. She cries. He cries. Eventually, we broker a compromise which results in Jude flickering the light off and on over and over until no one can stand it anymore. Then they paint together.

Another conversation overheard:

Cecelia: Go away, Jude. I'm very angry.

Jude: OK (and walks away)

See what I mean? Mark this picture, we're going to be showing it at their wedding someday :)

Happy 2011!

2011-01-08T09:20:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Here's a quick catch up of the Life of Jude as we wound down 2010 and welcome 2011.

As you may know, Jude was really wishing for a Darth Vader helmet from Santa. Santa, of course, obliged Jude with a D.V. mask and cape. You can only imagine what's been happening around our house ever since. Here's a glimpse:

Jude has been enjoying Play-doh lately. We're playing it ALOT!! His current favorite thing is to have us make Play-doh babies and wrap them in Play-doh blankets. We asked Jude what this babies name was and he answered "Baby Brit." He loves to watch Cia and Baby Brit videos on their blog and here's his rendition of his baby cousin:

Jude got a new easel from Great Grandma for Christmas. It's very exciting and we've already been having so much fun with it! It's got a blackboard, a white board, paper AND it converts to a puppet theater!! This is going to be fun for years!! Thanks Great Grandma!!

And here's a cute picture of Jude in the tunnel.

As you can see, we're starting the year off with a bang! Granny came on New Year's Day and is staying for a whole month!! She's been watching Jude while we work and they are having a really fun time! We're really thankful that she's here and are hoping that she likes it enough to move out here full-time. Fingers crossed!!

Happy New Year - we are looking forward to a year of fun, excitement and family!!

Christmas Extravaganza

2010-12-26T22:28:00.000-08:00

It goes so quick. You spend weeks getting ready, shopping, wrapping, planning, cooking. Then in a matter of hours it's all over and you realize you had such a great time, you barely picked up the camera. What a wonderful weekend! We spent Christmas day, just the 3 of us in our jammies all day, curled up by the yule-log fire on Channel 13, with festive music and yummy eats. Then, off to Brolin's for post-Christmas brunch and then decided to chuck the rest of the schedule and just stay home and play!

Jude's letter to Santa, in his own words. I asked him "What do you want to say to Santa?" and he said (verbatim), in case you can't read it: "Thank you Santa. Ho ho ho ho. Cookies. Take a picture for the camera. Smile for the camera. A Darth Vader helmet." Plus chocolate chip cookies (he told us that was his favorite on the phone. One for him and one for Mrs. Claus, too) and a carrot for Rudolph.

Monster Bowling!!

Backhoe! (which is totally built now, with the actual back hoe part on the back - making it about 7 feet long. no joke. it's cool)

And here's the video of the waking on Christmas day:

Revenge? Or Christmas Magic....

2010-12-23T22:23:00.000-08:00

Occasionally, I sometimes wonder if my parents ever think "Ahhh....I'm gonna get them back for ________ (fill in the blank with whatever obnoxious childhood occurrence is at hand )." For instance, my Mom tells me that I would sit in the back of the car and blab on and on and on for the entire car ride about nothing, really. I guess that I just liked to talk to hear myself talk (and quite frankly, nothing has changed much). Then, when she came to visit over Thanksgiving, she was pleasantly surprised to hear Jude go on and on in the back seat about whatever caught his fancy and she commented that Jude, like his Mommy, was "vaccinated with a phonograph needle" and that she hoped I enjoyed it (insert evil giggle here.)

Anyway, we have now been subjected to the dreadful Christmas Construction Project, which in some way, I'm sure, stems from years of having to put together a myriad of XMas presents for the kids and the years of built-up frustration that is just waiting to come pouring out. Jude, being the first grandchild, has unleashed the beast. Yup, Poppy and Grandma sent out the mother of all backhoes and tonight we broke out the box (about the size of a refrigerator) and dove in, knowing it would take at least two days. We were right, we got about half-way through and will dive in again tomorrow night to (hopefully) finish it up. Here you go, Poppy and Grandma. Here's the pictures. It took 2 hours, 2 cocktails, a drill, a screwdriver, a hammer and only 1 curse word, but we're ALMOST there.

THE BEGINNING

PHASE ONE COMPLETE and it's SOOOO cool! (yes, there's a whole 'nother section off the back. It's now stored in the laundry room, under a sheet, waiting to be completed tomorrow night). Where's Santa's elves when you need them?

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!

2010-12-19T21:51:00.000-08:00

First, let's start out with a close-up of the masterpiece that Jude created in the video below. He calls it his "green moustache."

The hardest part of Christmas is not giving Jude all of his presents before Christmas morning! It's so exciting, I can hardly wait! He actually woke up from a nap as I was filling his new bean bag with the "beans," so I had no choice but to give it to him on the spot. I admit, I didn't mind all that much and he's having a great time with it. He likes to stand on the couch and take a flying leap onto the bean bag (only giving us minor heart attacks - but he hasn't missed. Yet.)
We had a cookie-making party with Silas on Friday morning and it was a HOOT! Can you imagine two toddlers that rarely eat sugar being set free in a cookie-factory? Holy moly, it was funny. Here's Jude making the gingerbread cookies. I've been trying to up-load a movie of this, but it isn't working for some reason. I'll keep trying...

At one point, they stopped decorating the cookies and just started shoveling the sprinkles right in their mouth by the handful. Man, oh man. That's when things REALLY went nuts!! Running, jumping, yelling, then crashing. Jude fell asleep about 2 minutes after Silas left. He was totally sugared out!
Our Christmas tree...

The artist at work

2010-12-17T23:08:00.000-08:00

His face, the canvas. His medium, washable markers (thank goodness)

Visit to Santa

2010-12-11T16:20:00.000-08:00

Jude, not willing to take the big plunge and sit on Santa's lap, gives Santa the traditional Christmas high five.

December update!!

2010-12-06T22:03:00.000-08:00

Yikes. Whatta week we've had. We're adjusting to Jude's new schedule since preschool closed and trying to find somewhere new for him to be. This means that Jude goes to work with William on Tuesday and Thursday (you can only imagine how that's working - a toddler at a place of business? Yikes!!). On the bright side, I'm taking Friday's off in the month of December so that's fantastic!! :) And thankfully, Granny is coming out for the month of January to help us out while we look for a new preschool as good as Padawan School.

Jude's doing great. The other day, William actually said "I think we're getting into the terrible two's." I really thought we were going to escape this phase since things were trucking along so beautifully, but, alas, I suppose it was inevitable. It's hard to even call it the "terrible" two's though, because it's still not terrible. It's just a bit more, well...time consuming. And patience testing. And tiring. OK, maybe it is terrible. :) Nah, not really. Jude's is more determined than ever, and has less patience than ever and gets upset when he can't do something. For example, he wanted me to take the wheels of his wagon the other day, which actually don't come off. He just kept saying "You take those off. You take those off, Mommy" and crying. I couldn't really explain to his satisfaction why they don't come off, so I just had to divert his attention with Roxy snacks (special crackers he discovered in Iowa with cousin Sara!). Divert, divert, divert. sigh...,it's exhausting!!

But, in between the rough spots, he continues to grow and learn and experiment with new things all the time. He's definitely adventurous! He's loving being a "baby" right now and being swaddled in a blanket and crying like a little baby until we give him a pretend "bottle." Ha!! And he really loves Santa who calls Jude periodically on on the phone to check in on Jude (thanks, Uncle Curt). We've been watching all of those fun Christmas movies in the evening and Jude loves to curl up on the couch, make popcorn and watch cartoon movies before bed. Especially Charlie Brown! He really loves Charlie Brown!

Here's some pictures from some excitement from the last week:

Granny and Jude playing catch with the monster hands and velcro balls.

The Withey's in front of the Christmas tree downtown.

Playing doctor at the Hands-On Children's Museum.

Blocks! Jude's been playing with blocks alot lately, particularly building towers and then knocking them over. The bottom picture is his "Can I knock it over, Daddy?" look.

Snow, Thanksgiving and Granny!!

2010-11-28T21:20:00.001-08:00

What a week! The snow kept falling, schools were closed (including preschool) and we had a snow day which = fun day! Here's some pictures of Jude, the most snow-eating, snow-ball throwing, play-till-you-shiver kid on the block!

The weather cleared up just in time for Granny to come for Thanksgiving and it's been a whirlwind of fun and excitement!!! We had a great Thanksgiving with the Stambaugh's (Silas' family), but unfortunately we forgot the camera and didn't get any pictures. Suffice it to say that it was a feast of all feasts, with ham AND turkey and all that goes with it.

Here's a quick video of Granny and Jude playing baseball:

On Thanksgiving morning, Melissa and I ran the Olympia Turkey Trot, 4 miles through the snow, the ice and 29 degrees! It was c-c-c-ooold, but we did it, and we did it in under an hour (my goal as a beginning runner), and we WEREN'T LAST!! Yippee!!

We went to see Santa today, that didn't go so well. We talked and talked and talked about sitting on Santa's lap and telling him our Christmas wishes. But when the time came, Jude was too scared. He cried and cried, but did manage to give Santa a high-five AND a fist bump. And he squeaked out a "Bye Santa" in between the tears when we were walking away. The funny thing was about 5 minutes later, Jude says to us "Santa, I want a Darth Vader helmet!" I think "Santa" might have to do some on-line shopping after I finish this blog entry ;)

Snow and other things

2010-11-22T21:10:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Jude and I headed downtown to volunteer at the Food Bank, filling boxes for the holidays. Well, we were late and by the time we got down there, they were all done. So, after schmoozing with some other volunteers, we went to see what other trouble we could cause around town. We walked down the block and wandered upon our local water treatment facility which wound up being a WONDERFUL place! They have a little children's display, all about what happens to our water, how to conserve water and how we can protect the environment! It was really fun and I'm so happy to have discovered a new (and unlikely) place to have fun during the rainy winter! Here's some cute shots:

Imagine our GLEE when it started snowing on Sunday!! This is definately the earliest it's snowed in our recent memory, and we had alot of fun and excitement around the house. First, Jude and I baked some chocolate chip cookies (Jude discovered the joys of cookies on our Iowa trip, thanks Grandma!! hee hee) Then after munching on one, we bundled up for our outdoor adventure. At first, Jude was more focused on getting inside and back to the cookies, and it took a couple of tries to get him back outside and having fun. It didn't take long for him to fall in love with catching snowflakes on his tongue and throwing snowballs!! We didn't have any snow last year, so this really is the first time since he was a baby that we've been blessed with the white stuff!

Here's some pictures from yesterday and the beginnings of the snow. At this writing, we have 3 or 4 inches. Maybe our offices will be closed tomorrow and we can have a snow day!!

Our first snowman with a nasturtium hat. Weird to still have flowers in the garden and snow on the ground!

Long Overdue...

2010-11-20T16:34:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been so quiet on the blog lately, we've been a traveling family the last couple of weeks which didn't leave alot of blogging time. Our big trip was to Iowa to visit Great Grandma and the Grandmas and Grandpa's. We had a fantastic time, Jude really enjoyed playing with everyone and was just a treasure of a little guy the whole time.

Three generations of Withey men.

Jude and Great-Grandma.

Jude and Grandma involved in a light-saber duel. Jude's latest obsession is with light sabers, and he was very excited to have Grandma indulge him in his passion.

Jude and Aunt Betsy.

Jude and Sara. They had so much fun together, reading books and dancing. He just climbed right up into her lap and read her old books from when she was a kid. It was really cute!!

Priceless photo.

The rest of the pictures are from the Des Moines Science Center. We went TWICE while we were there - it was an amazing place for kids!! It was huge and had different rooms with an unbelievable amount of fun activities to play.

Bubble Room!! That's right - a whole room just for making bubbles!

Jude and the plasma globe.

Jude petting the snake during the reptile presentation.

We had such a fantastic time with everyone. Thanks to everyone for all of the love and hospitality, we miss you very much!!

In the Newpaper!!

2010-11-01T19:49:00.001-07:00

Jude and I got our picture on the front page of our newpaper as we were waiting in line for the costume contest at the Farmer's Market! We're in the background, behind a most adorable baby carrot and a baby turtle. Here's the link:

http://www.theolympian.com/2010/11/01/1423229/creatures-take-over-farmers-market.html

Click on the "Photos" box on the right hand side for the big picture, then there's one more in the "Photo Gallery" link.

Happy Halloween!!

2010-10-31T20:45:00.000-07:00

What a great Halloween weekend we had! It started of on Saturday, we went to a Caspar Babypants concert downtown. For all of you hipsters, Caspar was the lead singer of the Presidents of the United States for many years, then left the rock-n-roll life to start writing and singing kids music. If you know P.o.t.US, you know it's totally hip and cool. Jude chose to wear his Yoda costume from last year, which baarreelly fits him and he participated in his first costume contest.

Jude up on stage, dancing with Caspar Babypants. He had lost his Yoda costume by this time, but was still representin' with the Star Wars t-shirt.

This morning, we headed down to the Farmer's Market to do the first round of trick-or-treating with Brolin, aka Cap'n Hook. Jude sported his skeleton bat costume and participated in his second costume contest. In this costume contest, he got to go up on stage and once he got up there, he started flapping his wings and saying "I made it! I made it!!"

After lunch and naps, we met up with Brolin again for the evening trick-or-treat. I can't tell you how cute the boys were, going up and down the stairs, saying "Trick - or - Treat" and "Thank you" all night. We did have a very unfortunate run-in with a huge gorilla (the kind you see holding the signs on the side of the road for the discount mattress stores) that has prompted a new fear in Jude. Terror is more like it, I've never seen him so scared in my life. He now tells you "I scared of go-lil-las." Poor guy, hopefully he'll get over it by next Halloween.

"Wow - look at this! A whole BAG of candy!!"

Now, we put our candy outside for the Great Pumpkin to come pick up tonight and he'll leave Jude a toy since he's been such a good boy. And Mommy and Daddy will try not to eat all the M&M's. Happy Halloween everyone!!

Pumpkin Carving!!

2010-10-26T21:48:00.000-07:00

Drawing the Pumpkin face with Daddy

Carving with Mommy - which turned into a whole round of "my turn, my turn, my turn." Jude reaalllyyy wanted to get his hands on that knife!! We finally compromised by giving him a butter knife, which was pretty funny!

This is "Jude" the pumpkin. When we asked Jude what the pumpkins name was, naturally he said "His name is Jude." And every time we light the candle, he insists on singing "Happy Birthday Pumpkin...." hee hee.

The latest, greatest Jude video

2010-10-24T21:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry it kind of runs of the page! If you click on the video, it will take you to our YouTube account and you can watch it without the margin on the right. Enjoy!!

Another trip to the pumpkin patch

2010-10-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

We went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch with Jude's preschool last week. It was super fun and great to see Jude hang out with his buddies at the farm.

Waiting for the tractor to come pick us up.

Silly boy on the tractor, heading out to the pumpkin patch

M. Jai and Jude were carrying their pumpkins and I said "Show me your muscles!" and this was their pose.

Tully, Annika and Olin in the top row. Jude, Dorothy and M.Jai in the bottom. Annika and Olin are the older siblings of Tully and Max (not in the picture), they don't go to the preschool but tagged along since school was out this week.

Miss Sara and a few of kids. Did I say how much we love Miss Sara? She's our hero :)

Jude's doing really well in preschool. He's the youngest one there right now and is following the good examples of the older kids. He's doing alot of art and dancing and singing and comes home exhausted and excited from his day. He wakes up most mornings and says "Mama, wanna go to Jedi school." He even says it on Saturdays!!

He's also doing really good with potty training. He's peeing in the potty almost every day, but he still likes to wear his diapers and really does NOT like his pull-ups. He thinks they are for babies, even though we tell him that they're "big-boy underwear." I bet if we just took his diapers away, and after a few accidents, he would be potty trained. But then there's the poopies to contend with....'nuff said. :)

We'll be carving pumpkins later today, so be sure to look for a new blog post soon! We're excited for Halloween!!

Choc-a-lick

2010-10-17T17:47:00.000-07:00

Nothing more than a boy and his chocolate ice cream smiles (which he calls 'chock-a-lick')

Motorcycle!!

2010-10-08T23:03:00.000-07:00

Uncle Curt thought that, since Jude loved motorcycles so much, he needed one of his very own. Needless to say, Jude LOVES it and "rides" it every chance he gets. It actually goes about 4 mph, but we haven't hooked the battery up yet and Jude still likes it just fine. Wait until he finds out it moves!! Here's some pictures of Jude on it when it's half assembled. That's a whole nother story, he won't let us put the stickers on or the big front windshield on.

He saw some motorcycle racers on YouTube, including some crashes. Here's Judes version of a "crash."

Preschool!!

2010-10-03T17:22:00.000-07:00

Jude had his first day at pre-school. He loves it and the teacher, Sarah, loves him. We're wondering, though, whether he's a little too young since he has a hard time sitting through circle time and sitting long enough to read a whole book is challenging for a very busy little boy. He's the youngest in the class, and we're hoping the influence of the older kids will wear off on him and he'll get with it in the next month or so.

Here's a neat picture of Jude that we took downtown at ARts Walk. We were following a marching band that was parading down the middle of the street, that's the Olympia Film Society marquee in the background.

Hmmm....do you think Jude is his father's son? He appears to have inherited the same musical talents!! That's a toilet paper holder he's singing into, by the way. Jude likes to pretend it's his "monkey-phone" (microphone).

Pumpkin Patch

2010-09-25T19:58:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe it's pumpkin patch time! We headed off this morning to Lattin's Cider Mill which boasts one of the greatest pumpkin patches, but also about 1,000 other things for kids to do, too. We were lucky it was such a nice day to have so much fun!!

Wherever there is a motorcycle, Jude will find it and ride it. For a long time. A really long time. Really really long time.

This was such a cool thing - a couple of old pumps set up with PVC pipes to pump water and have duck races. It was super fun and the kids all loved it!

Yes, and pony rides! This pony was named "Tanner" and Jude loved it! He was a total natural in the saddle and went around and around about a ga-zillion times. At one point, he said "like a motorcycle." Sigh....

They have a lot of animals at the Cider Mill. You can buy little bags of grain to feed them, and Jude found some baby goats that were particularly interested in eating.

And the winning pumpkin!! We just got a tiny one for Jude, but we can't wait until it gets closer to Halloween and we can get the big ole carving pumpkin!! Happy Autumn everyone!!

Vacation Videos

2010-09-19T21:56:00.000-07:00

Fishin' (see entry below about Jude's new fishing pole)

Dancin' - we had a hard time explaining to Jude that he couldn't get up on the coffee table and dance. One day, while I was in the kitchen and Jude was watching Mickey Mouse, I came into the living room to this scene. I had to grab my camera because it was so cute. It's really hard to scold him when he's so dang adorable.

Jude at the Beach

2010-09-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

We just spent two weeks at Poppy and Grandma's on Long Beach Island and had a great time! William stayed the first week, but then came home to work while Jude and I stayed on for another week. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and we had many beach days and oodles of fun and excitement. Jude has NO FEAR of the ocean and, in fact, had 4 different times where he went underwater unintentionally. He did great though, and after a little shock and crying, went right back in the water. We took a zillion pictures, here's just a few of them.

The Beach at 21st Street

"Poppy's Puddle" at Holgate

Holgate is at the south end of Long Beach Island and is where you can get on the beach with a beach buggy. So, we loaded up Poppy's beach buggy and headed down there only to find that the storm a few weeks ago had left this great big "puddle" that was warm, shallow and full of fun things to do and explore. There were hundreds of little fish, a real horseshoe crab (which totally freaks me out even though they are harmless) and a wild hermit crab! One fisher-guy even told us he netted a juvenile barracuda in the puddle which seemed a little far fetched, but you know those fisherman's tales... We went back THREE different days to play there!

Loaded up in the beach buggy and ready to go!!

We're there!!

Making sand castle cities

Poppy gave Jude his first fishing rod!! Jude is VERY excited to pull it out and go fishin'! Just don't tell him it has no fishing line or lures on it quite yet.

Swimming with Poppy in the puddle

Careful, Jude! Don't fall backward!!

Tuckered out.

Fantasy Island

That's an amusement park on the Island that I used to go to when I was a little girl, it's been there for a long time. Unfortunately, the rides were all closed after Labor day, but we found the arcade which had a motorcycle that Jude discovered and became obsessed with. We couldn't even say the "M" word most of the week without Jude asking a zillion times to go ride the motorcycle.

He was slightly interested in the horse, but mainly wanted the motorcycle. At least he sat on it long enough to get a good picture.

Jude just loved hanging out on the front porch. Here he is, playing his puzzle with Grandma.

There is a great park that we found, right on the bay. They have a wood pirate ship to climb on. Jude really like to "play with kids" and had a blast there on many days.

Uncle Kyle was there for a couple of days. Jude was very fortunate that he was able to play the clarinet when Uncle Kyle was practicing. He really liked it and immediately told us he wanted a clarinet.

The girls went out to celebrate Kourtney's 30th birthday at a fantastic restaurant called Black Eyed Susan's. It was a fabulous meal with great company!!

What a fun time! One thing is for sure, Jude is a beach kid and before you know it, he's going to be fishing and surfing and turning into quite the LBI beach bum. If he's anything like his Mommy and Uncle Curt, all I have to say is "uh oh." :)

Fun Summer

2010-09-01T22:47:00.000-07:00

The many faces of Jude:

This past weekend, we had a party for our good friends, Tia and Evan, who after dating for EVER have finally decided to tie the knot. We had an engagement party for them which was a blast and a great collaboration between lots of great friends. There must have been at least 75 people in our yard during the course of the afternoon/evening!! Here's the backyard, pre-party, all set up and pretty.
I wish we took more pictures of Jude and his posse of friends playing, but things were so hectic that we didn't get around the camera too often. Suffice it to say, though, that he had a great time at the party and was in bed by 10, despite all of the commotion!

Awww, and the sweet couple, playing with flower bouquets before the masses showed up
Here's Jude and Silas, "gardening" in the kale and zucchini patch. Honestly, it's a wonder we even have any food back there between the shovels, the rakes and the hoes. They love being in there and "helping!"

Here's a funny picture of Jude in an empty bathtub. Over the weekend, he got a bizarre infection that required him to take THREE baths a day. So strange, that's two infections in two weeks, I'm thinking they've got to be related in some way. Maybe his immune system was down and let some funk in. He, of course, loved all of the baths and decided that he wanted to just hang out in the bathtub even if there was no water in it. There was a little "bathtub" photo shoot, this is the cutest of all the pictures. Even when he's sick, he's still so dang cheerful and happy!

Summer Explosions (in many ways)

2010-08-22T21:36:00.000-07:00

Blueberries, blackberries, garden peas, and finally some tomatoes! Summer was slow to start, but is exploding now! It's been a busy few weeks, enjoying the recent sun and all of the goodness it brings. Then, throw in a 24 hour bug, and we've had some excitement! Jude is rarely ever sick, we can count the times he's been sick on one hand (and even have fingers left over), but he really got sick last Friday. So much so that we had to cancel our annual train trip up north to see our friends, the Rosens. Poor Jude, he threw up 10 times in 24 hours (the 2nd summer explosion)! Sick little boy cuddled on the couch:

This past weekend, we took the Intercity Bus downtown to go see the Pet Parade. This video starts off with him trying to open a little jar of salve he found in the bathroom. We told him the lid was "stuck" and he then spent the next 5 minutes trying to open it, he's so determined!! Then we talk about taking the bus downtown to go see the Pet Parade. We only live a couple of miles from downtown, but taking the bus is one of Jude's favorite things!

Here's Jude on the bus:

A couple of other "ups and downs." First the "Up," Jude got into the BEST preschool in town!! It's a new preschool, run by an Olympia guru of daycares that has had amazing preschools in the past. It's called "Padawan" from Star Wars, so Jude has been talking about going to "Jedi School" for a couple of days now. It's only 1/2 days, so I'll drop Jude of in the a.m. and William will work mornings, and pick him up by 1p.m. We are very fortunate to have gotten Jude into this school!!

Now, the "down." Jude has to have 7 cavities filled in September. To do this, he has to be anesthetized completely. We're a little freaked out, but got a 2nd opinion and found a fabulous dentist, Dr. Allinder, who has an office near our house. But watching your little baby go under will be so terribly traumatic, but I suspect it will be worse for us than it will be for him. Yes, 7 cavities. Sigh....and this from a boy that doesn't even like sweets and still won't touch ice cream or cake.

Well, that's the update. We're dreaming of our beach vacation at Poppy and Grandma's in two weeks!! Between now and then, we're having a HUGE engagement party for two of our closest friends at our house and are busy getting the yard ready for possibly 75 people. Jude keeps saying "Having a party. Gonna get PRESENTS!!" hee hee, he has no idea the party isn't for him. Maybe we'll get him some presents and he'll never figure it out. :)

A peek into the future

2010-08-11T22:18:00.000-07:00

Skateboards and motorcycles. Boy, are we in for it! :)

Lazy Sunday Morning

2010-08-08T21:56:00.000-07:00

A rainy weekend means pajamas till noon and cinnamon raisin bagels for breakfast while watching cartoons on PBS. Jude like to make himself a series of "nests" with pillows from which to munch on bagels and watch TV.

When Life Gives You a Pile of Concrete...

2010-08-04T21:50:00.000-07:00

...you make Excavation Central!! We've had this weird pile of concrete in the corner of the yard from the previous owners. It appears as if they had a bunch of bags piled up that were left in the rain and turned into a huge concrete mountain. This week, we turned that into Big Mountain, and dug a dirt pit around it and made Excavation Central (which includes the Great Great Woods, the Bone Pile (where we put the old dog bones we dug up) and Minty Meadows). It's been super fun to play in there, make mud pies and use our imaginations to go on adventures with the back-hoe and dump truck!

Jude showing more and more interest in music every day and loves to play all kinds of instruments. He also is amazing at remembering words of songs and tunes and loves to sing. Lately, he's really into the violin and loves to watch violin players on PBS and YouTube. We've been keeping our eyes open for a real violin (used and cheap!), but until then, he's perfectly happy playing his violin rattle with a drumstick:

And this last picture is super cute, but we couldn't get Jude to keep his eyes open! We thought Grandpa Withey would particularly enjoy it, though. Warm up your strings, Grandpa, Jude will be ready to play before you know it!!

Goin' on a Lion Hunt!!

2010-07-26T23:01:00.000-07:00

For some reason, the video on the blog isn't centered, but if you double click on the video, it goes to our YouTube account and you can see the whole thing, subtitles and all!! Enjoy!!

Lakefair!!

2010-07-19T22:08:00.000-07:00

Every year, Lakefair comes to town and brings rides, music, parades and fireworks. It's super fun, especially now going with Jude, and of course we had to spend an evening there checking it out. Unfortunately, Jude is still about an inch too short for most of the rides:

He was big enough to ride the fire engine ride, which he promptly climbed onto....

then immediately off....he wasn't too keen on the idea of the ride, maybe next year.

We went to the parade, but the batteries in the camera died and we didn't get any pictures. It's too bad, because Jude loved it so much and even ran out in the road and did a little dance when the marching bands came by. There were floats and fire engines and horses and clowns and he loved them all!

Then, the last night of Lakefair is the big fireworks show, so we went to an afternoon BBQ, then headed to an overlook park to watch the big show. Here's Brolin and Jude having a fun wagon ride our friends backyard:

Playing the piano with Cecelia:

Hanging out in Cecelia's garden, waiting to leave for the park. Jude has pie all over him, and is pretty dirty but is having the time of his life running around with the Cecelia and Sadie!!

Finally, at the park. Jude still loves to wear his Yoda hat from Halloween, and it is a really fun hat, so he donned his hat and grabbed his Yoda light to help him see and off we went. Brolin's all decked out with his earphones.

Last, this picture really isn't about anything, other than Jude being silly. And playing his ukulele, which he now takes EVERYWHERE with him. Singing and playing his uke - that's Jude these days :)

Summertime!

2010-07-13T20:49:00.000-07:00

Summer finally came for a few days. It was supposed to be in the 90's one day, so we headed down to the beach in the morning. It was low tide, so it was extra fun and muddy. We looked for crabs under the rocks, played in the waves a little bit and watched the clams spit water from deep in the sand, which Jude called "fountains" and kept saying "Again!" but I had to tell him only the clam could do it again. I don't think he got it since he couldn't see the clams, but he tried to chase the "fountains" the best he could.

Looking west, you can see the Olympic Mountains in the distance, and what's unbelievable is that they still have snow in July. That's because it's been such a cool summer so far, and we've never seen snow on them this late in the year.

Looking south at a pretty heron, with the capital dome in the distance.

Here's Jude the other morning, being just like Mommy, sitting in front of the laptop, talking on the Blackberry (yes, that's my real Blackberry for work), eating breakfast. Working from home sure had it's moments, looks like Jude picked right up on it!!

Here's Jude joking "Where's Blackberry?" If you look close, he's hiding it under his leg. Little stinker :)

Singing like a canary

2010-07-11T12:35:00.001-07:00

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

ABC's (or most of them, anyway)

The Big Catch-Up

2010-07-06T21:07:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since we've had time to sit down at the blog and get pictures up. Sorry for the silence!! We've had a very exciting couple of weeks, including Daddy's annual "Spring Beard Trim." This year, the boys did it together, Jude helping with his Play-Do scissors and Daddy with the beard trimmers. Now, Jude says "Where Daddy beard go?" and hold his arms up in the air.

Jude has been obsessed with hide-and-seek since before he could walk and will play anytime someone is up for a game. Jude and Silas love to run around the yard and play hide-and-seek with pretty much anything. Here's a cute picture of them playing through the dogwood tree limbs.

Finally, the Fourth of July brings some summer sun. We've had a TERRIBLE summer so far, with only TWO sunny days since May 14!! No lie!! Thankfully, yesterday afternoon brought some moments of sun and Jude and Brolin enjoyed themselves thoroughly in the water table....

...then in the garden, where they expertly "weeded" out two rows of radishes with their garden tools :( It's a good thing they grow fast and are easy to plant.

Then, soaking wet and filthy, we stripped the boys down and rinsed them off with the hose and threw towels on them, which they loved to wear. They wound up running around with the towels on....

...and accessorized with the bike helmets laying in the yard for even more fun and giggles...

..and monsters....RAAHHHH....

Other big events from the last couple of weeks:

Jude peed in his potty!!! He's been going outside in the yard with Daddy, but this time, I asked him if he wanted to sit on the potty and he said "yes" and then sat down and peed!! Yippee!! Of course, we followed it up with a rousing "Jude Peed In The Potty" dance for about 10 minutes which he loved. Hopefully there's more of that in the future. The first time, he only had an IKEA catalog to read. Note to self: get Jude some good books to peruse while he does his business on the potty.
Jude LOVES fireworks!! He had SOOO much to say at the 4th of July fireworks display and he proudly pointed out all the fireworks to the people sitting around us. He told them the color, which was always "geen" or "puuhhh-ple" regardless of the actual color. We're working on colors. He also told everyone they were "so pretty" and "sparkle sky" when one would go off, he would inevitably say "Again" right after. He was lovin' every minute of it!
Jude has found his singing voice! We'll post some videos soon of him belting out a few of his favorite ditties. Mostly the stand-bys, Row Row Row your Boat, the ABC's, Itsy Bitsy Spider, etc. And, of course, Daddy loves that he sings one Grateful Dead song, too

That's about it for now. The sun it out, I suspect we'll have some beach days ahead of us. As Jude says, "It's fun summer."

Being 2

2010-06-24T22:18:00.000-07:00

Here's some pictures of our week. On Father's Day, we had a little BBQ and Jude had a fun time with his friend Cecelia. They've known each other their whole lives and play really well together and the evening was filled with giggles and lots of kid-watching. Here they are having popsicles together after dinner.

We've been trying to get rid of this old backpack that's been hanging around here forever. I finally got around to giving it away, but not before Jude got his hands on it and decided it would be fun to wear it around, even though it's bigger than him!

Jude finally got a new bed, which is something we've been meaning to do forever. The idea is that he'll be sleeping consistently in his own room before we know it!! He loved it the minute we brought it home, and kept saying "new bed new bed!!" Here is is, snoozing away on his first night.

Finally, a funny video from 4:30 this morning when Jude decided it was a great time to get up and play. He ran and got the toilet-paper holder from the bathroom and asked for "Jammin'" which means he wants to watch Bob Marley on the computer. So, we got Bob on YouTube, singing a live version of "Jammin'" and Jude sang right along with his toilet paper holder as a microphone (or monkey-phone as he calls it). I suspect he and his cousin Cia might make a great band someday!!

Naked gardening, parties and Father's Day!!

2010-06-20T17:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day!! We love you, Daddy and Grandpa's!! Jude's so lucky to have such an AWESOME Daddy who takes care of him and loves him and is his best buddy. Thanks for being such an amazing father, Daddy!! And we LOVE and MISS all Jude's Grandpa's too! Thanks for being so wonderful, we are so sad that we don't live closer so that we could see all the Grandpas on this special day. We're BBQing in honor of all of you!!

We haven't had many sunny days so far, but last weekend we had a nice Saturday in the sun in the backyard. Jude especially had a fun time naked (one of his favorite ways to be!!)

We also had fun at Brolin's birthday party!! It was a cowboy party and Jude had a great time hanging out with his 2-year old crew.

Jude really enjoyed Brolin's ukulele and broke out in this rendition of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" (you have to listen closely to hear it, but it's there, I swear).

Publish Post

Even smart kids eat poo

2010-06-13T22:48:00.000-07:00

So William and Jude are at the grocery store, and Jude is doing his normal thing, pushing around the little kids cart filled with groceries. He really likes to push the little cart around and, much to the grocery store people's relief, he is getting much better at steering and navigating those corners stacked with those lovely, but breakable knick knacks they insist on putting everywhere. At one point, William looks at Jude and Jude has his hands behind his back, begging the obvious question "Jude, what do you have? What's behind your back?" Chocolate, you might think? Candy? It could only be one of a thousand things he could have picked up on his travels around the store. But no, Jude carefully pulls his hands out of his pants (Daddy now notices his hands are not behind his back at all, rather down the back of his pants) and hands over a little handful of....yup....you guessed it. Poop. POOP! PPPOOOOPPPP!!!! In the middle of the grocery store! William, of course, as level headed as always, yet trying to be as invisible and unobvious as he can be, scoops Jude up and races back to the bathroom as our little angel is trying for some UNGODLY reason to put his hands in his mouth. Thankfully, there was no poo-to-mouth connection and William was able to get him cleaned up and out of the store in a jiffy.

Yes, this is the same little boy that astounds us with his amazing verbal skills and busts out with sentences like "I don't want french toast, I wanna poskaskil"and sings the Itsy Bitsy Spider from start to finish . I guess it just goes to show you even smart kids try to eat poo.

In case this story totally grossed you out, here's some cute pictures to get that poopy visual out of your mind:

Here's a picture of Jude making "Grandma' face" again

Two boys, two diapers and one big old dance party.....

2!!!

2010-06-07T21:23:00.000-07:00

We had Jude's two-year old doctors appointment today. The doctor said that Jude is "unusual," but, not in a bad way! When we told Dr. Sarah that Jude knows his shapes (triangle, heart, star, square, circle), she actually said that's "unusual." She was also surprised he's counting to 10 in English and Spanish and that he refers to himself as "I", like "I wanna paskaskil (popsicle)." She was impressed that he's pedaling a bike and said that's even challenging for a three-year old! He's 27.2 pounds and is about 34 1/2 inches tall, which is right on target for his age.

What's it like to be around two-year old Jude? Here's an example conversation that we had tonight:

Jude: "Wanna go for walk. Go see llamas" (we have llamas around the corner). He says this as he's tugging the handle of the stroller.

Mama: "Do you want to go for a walk?"

Jude: "Nooooo."

Mama: "Does 'no' mean 'yes'?"

Jude: "No means yes."

Mama: "OK." and off for a walk we go.

So fun, so busy and continues to be an incredible experience. Jude really is such a sweet boy and we've really been enjoying it all. It's amazing to look back at just two years ago:

And today:

Party Weekend!

2010-06-05T21:36:00.000-07:00

What a great weekend! Granny came on Thursday to celebrate Jude's 2nd birthday with us and what fun we're having! Jude is in Grandma heaven lately, and has learned last week that reading with Grandma's is fun. He keeps asking Granny to "read book, please" and they have spent quite a bit of time together, pouring through Jude's growing library.

On Friday morning, Jude awoke to an early birthday present, a cool pirate water table that has a fountain and a shooting cannon. It was raining outside, so we played with it in the kitchen. Granny hung out with Jude for the morning while I ran around buying birthday party supplies and they had a grand time together.

Later that night, Brolin and him Mom came over for a little "pre-party" celebration. The boys had a BLAST together, running around like lunatics and riding bikes. They are such good buddies, it's really fun to watch them together. Here's dinner.....

....and dessert!! Raspberry sorbet ice cream sandwiches. YUMMY!!

Ahh, then the big birthday party. Hard to believe Jude's almost 2! We had his party at a park in our neighborhood, which was fantastic fun! It turned out to be the best day of the spring so far, so we were really lucky! The kids were pretty spread out the whole time, between the playground and the skateboard park and kicking balls in the tennis courts, so we didn't get too many pictures, but here's a few of the cutest:

Brolin is giving Jude a hand opening his presents.
Mmm...cake. Emma, Sequoia and Dawson eating some of Judes "Lego" birthday cake. I wish I would have got a picture of the cake before we gobbled it up, but it was two Lego blocks (one chocolate with strawberry filling and one vanilla cake with vanilla filling) with a little Lego tower made out of real Legos. It was pretty cute and really fun to make.

And here's a few videos. This is the second year in a row that we sang "Happy Birthday" before the camera was ready! Oh well, we have many more years to get it right. Here's the tail end of the song:

And here's video of a little man with big dreams:

Hello, Summer? You can come anytime now!

2010-05-31T20:26:00.000-07:00

It's been a bit dreary since Grandma left. We miss her and it seems while she brought the sunshine, she took it back to Florida with her when she left. It has been raining for 2 weeks straight! So, we just have to revisit that sunny time with one last picture of Grandma that we just found on the camera from her last night. Jude kept taking her hand and saying "help me, please" and bringing her into the bedroom to read books in bed. It was extremely cute. This is a picture of probably the 5th book he asked her to read.

This is the closest thing that we can get in a photograph of Jude's "Grandma face" which is a face he started doing to mimic the face she sometimes makes when she plays with him.

Ahh... a moment of playing outside in between the rain.

Starsky and Hutch, at it again...Jude and Silas hamming it up for the camera!!

And, we finally made it! The gardens are done!! I'm not sure what happened, but round about March, I got the fever to rip out all our old gardens in the front and plant all new ones. I really wish someone would have stopped me then, but finally, this weekend, the last bag of mulch was laid and I think we're pretty much done. We've got some more plants to throw in, but the digging and 4 yards of dirt are mostly gone. Here it is:

And all that work in the front came at the expense of the vegetable garden, which also finally got put in this weekend. It's the latest we've ever finished, but we were reassured by a gardening friend that the cool spring hasn't even warmed the soil yet, so we're not really too terribly late.

Mmmm...strawberries, the promise of summer. We don't dare tell Jude what these are, for fear he'll eat the green one, "taw-bare-oos" as he calls them.

En Espanol, por favor

2010-05-25T22:44:00.000-07:00

Here's Jude counting from 2 go 9 in spanish! We hate to admit it, but it probably comes from watching Dora the Explorer. TV, it's a love/hate relationship.

Counting to 10!!!

2010-05-19T22:17:00.000-07:00

Jude is now counting to 10! Yes, it shocked us too when he first did it. He can also count to 10 in Spanish, but it's not as clear as this video. We'll capture that soon.

He so smart, he amazes us every day!!

Whadda Week!!

2010-05-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

Grandma is here! Grandma is here!! She got here on Friday and brought some Florida sunshine with her (both in her smile and with the weather!). We went to a birthday party at the park for Jude's friend, Sequoia, we went to the Farmer's Market, we went to Tumwater Falls Park to see "big water" as Jude calls the waterfall and river, and a visit to the Children's Museum topped off a perfect visit. It was so fun, Jude really really loves his Grandma, they're like two peas in a pod. And Mommy and Daddy got a date night! Whoo hooo!!!

Playing at the park with Grandma.

"Big Water" - with Jude, adding a little of his own "big water" to the mix (click on the picture to make it bigger, you'll see what I mean)

"Little water"

It was finally warm enough to break out the pool that Poppy sent Jude. He loved to play in the sprinkler part of it and dip the watering can in and water the plants. Jude just loves playing in the water, whether it's a drinking fountain (see picture above), the sink or the hose spigot, all you have to do is turn on some water and he's happy for a long time. So, he never did get around to getting IN the pool, he was perfectly content playing OUTSIDE the pool.

Man oh man, we had a great weekend. Thanks Grandma!! We miss you already!!

Jude's First Ice Cream!

2010-05-08T21:31:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful day, so we thought it is the perfect time for Jude to enjoy his first ice cream cone. So, we headed downtown to Capitol Lake and got cones at a little deli, Jude had the Loganberry from Olympic Mountain Creamery (the BEST ice cream ever!) The funny thing was that Jude got the cone in his hand and instantly said "Yummy ice cream" but he never ate it and refused to even lick it! BUT, he did totally enjoy carrying it around and saying "ice cream" over and over again. We walked around the park, Jude's cone melting all over himself, until he accidentally dropped it in the Lake which caused a MAJOR meltdown. Even the ducks that paddled over to munch on the cone didn't make him happy. He really liked his ice cream cone and I suspect that he'll like it even more once he actually eats it.

Dance Party!

2010-05-06T22:48:00.000-07:00

Every night before bed, we have a dance party to get Jude's last wiggles out before night-night. He really has some moves, here's a little video of him dancing to "Last Night" by the Mar-Keys. He's really learned timing, and we play this game where we "Stop" and "Go" with the music.

Piano Man

2010-05-02T22:02:00.001-07:00

Procession of the Species!

2010-04-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the Procession of the Species, which is part of Olympia's Earth Day celebration. There were 3,000 people dressed up as animals, from slugs to gigantic pink elephants. It was raining almost all day, so we almost didn't go, but a sunbreak at the last minute gave us a window of opportunity to run downtown and see the parade. Here's my favorite, a pink elephant that was new this year:

Mama and Jude self-portrait:
On the way back to the car after the parade, we played in the beautiful gardens at the Farmer's Market. Here's some cute pictures:

Happy Earth Day!

2010-04-22T22:03:00.000-07:00

Jude and I decided to plant some flowers for Earth Day. He's turned into quite the helper in the garden, although lately his favorite past-time is stripping all of the flowers off the grape hyacinths and bluebells. Oh well. Here's our adventure planting some bee balm in the front gardens:

1. Dig hole.

2. After Mommy puts the plant in the ground, make sure you give it lots of water. Put your hand on your hip while you water, because that makes it really cute.

3. Get more water in your watering can. Then forget planting more flowers, because playing in the water is way more fun. Let mommy plant the rest of the ferns and the poppies while you get soaking wet with the hose.

Just when you're ready to get rid of a toy, Jude throws on Daddy's hat and rides around on his rocket for a long time. Guess we have to keep this toy for a while, now.