The Best Day...in Instamatic

Today was an A+ day. Really, Wednesday and Thursday were, too....Ben and I had the entire day to ourselves on Wednesday and Thanksgiving was wonderful at his mom's with his family. Today was filled with little moments that were what family is all about, and I caught many of them with my favorite app! Ben and I woke up before the boys and got to spend about an hour just talking and enjoying the quiet before the boys woke up. They joined us in bed. Ben made breakfast. We hung out in our pajamas most of the day. Got Jude up from his nap and went out to Kenwood to see our favorite Santa (Sam thinks he's THE Santa). Just basically had a day where we weren't on a schedule and could do whatever we wanted. We have very few of these, so we really relish them when we do.

Showing off his belly. He's very proud of his lately.

Well rested - so nice

Sam forcing kisses

Jude's response

No need to get out of bed...

...until Sam decided he was ready for breakfast

More belly

Happy baby

The snowman sings - and Jude dances

Practicing his drawing. He's quite the perfectionist. My mom says he reminds her of someone....

Caught this moment at the mall while Ben was looking for something

Another family shot this year. Sam had so much courage until right before the big moment! He finally peeled himself off of Ben in time to blurt out some of the things he wanted for Christmas to Santa. Santa was so kind and patient; Sam had been rehearsing what he was going to say to Santa all afternoon, and Santa listened to Sam while he said a few items that he was able to remember. He was so nervous. He gave Santa a handshake and a high five and left feeling proud. During dinner, he kept bringing up things that he forgot to tell Santa - "I forgot to tell Santa I'm 3 and a half," "I forgot to tell Santa I want a bounce car," and "I forgot to tell Santa that I've been a good boy." We reassured him that Santa already knew he was 3 1/2 and that Dizzy (our elf on a shelf) will be reporting to Santa when he's a good boy. Of course, Jude wasn't scared of Santa at all - he sat right on his lap, looked up at him, and gave him a big smile!

Sam had been so good - walked the entire time and was very patient when we shopped for some things. So we rewarded him with a shoulder ride and a visit to the Lego store. On our way home, I asked him what his favorite thing was about our trip to the mall. He said, "Actually, I had two favorite things, and it was telling Santa what I want for Christmas and going to the Lego store."

Now the boys are sleeping in their rooms and Ben and I are going to catch up on some DVRd shows on the couch by the Christmas tree. It doesn't get much better than this!

I know....it's been a while!

So, the beginning of the school year kicked my butt!!! It was the craziest start to a school year I've had in 9 years of this job. But things have settled down, and Ben tells me some people are wondering why it seems I have abandoned the blog, so here we are. I have quite a backlog of pictures and I could spend hours downloading them here, but I'm not, so here are some of the highlights!

Sam's first movie! We took him to see Winnie-the-Pooh in the tiniest little theater ever. Sam loved it, though. Even Ben and I were laughing. It was actually kind of funny!

Sam started planning his Halloween costume back in August. He is so excited to be Batman, and decided that Jude will be Robin (of course). When I went in to turn his light off one night last month, this was what I found. So cute.

We went to a fun event last month - Bluegrass for Babies. It's a fundraiser for Children's Hospital. Mom went with us and we had a great time - the band we saw was really good and the kids were jamming out

Jude taking a breather - checking out the scene.

Sam was dancing like crazy! He's got some moves!

Sam also had his first visit to the dentist last month. I took a half day and we had a little date before hand at First Watch. He was so good at the dentist - Cindy the hygenist was wonderful with him and he followed every direction she gave him. He was really excited about the prize box afterwards, too. Here he is with his shades on to help with the bright light.

Afterward, he had to practice it all out with Daddy.

We celebrated Nana's birthday last month, too. On her actual birthday, she came over for dinner and we had some special cupcakes we'd made for her.

Jude during his first haircut at Cookie Cutters. Whoever came up with the idea for that place is a genius. Jude was in the zone, watching a movie.

And Sam is "Seahorse of the Month" at school this fall. This is the bulletin board in his classroom. My favorite is the bubble that says "What I want to be when I grow up," and his says "A Daddy or Batman."

Till next time! Hopefully it's not 3 months from now!

The End is Near.....

It's our last week of break! So sad about this...could really use an additional week or two.

Ben put Sam's Spiderman costume on Jude the other day when Sam and I were out somewhere. He looks so threatening, doesn't he?

Watch out, bad guys

Jude had his last bottle last night. It was kind of bittersweet. Bitter: he's getting older so fast. Sweet: LAST $27 CAN OF FORMULA! Hooray!

I've noticed that over the last couple weeks, Sam and Jude have really been having some sweet brotherly moments. Yesterday, I cut up an apple for Sam and Jude. I peeled Jude's slices and put them all on Sam's plate. Sam was sitting next to Jude and would hand him slices as he would finish them. I was coming into the room from doing some laundry and I saw that Sam was trying to take the peel off of one of his apples with his fingernail. He looked up and told me that he was trying to get the peel off so he could give Jude one of his own since Jude had eaten all of his already. I love these moments!

Happy Birthday, Jude!

Jude turned 1 year old on Friday! I thought Sam's first year went fast, but Jude's seems like it's gone by even faster. At the same time, it's hard to remember what it was like before Jude came into our lives. He's added so much to our family - just in the cuteness factor alone because he's so darn adorable. :)

With that being said, poor Jude had a rough birthday. He awoke bright and early at 4 AM ready to party! When I went in his room, he was writhing all around the bed like crazy. When Ben was changing him later, we figured out why - he had a rash all over his front and back. He was itchy! We went ahead an moved up his well check to that morning and he got another lovely birthday present - 3 shots and a foot prick! Lucky guy. 1 year stats: 20 lb, 10 oz and a little over 29 inches. His weight is just under the 25th percentile and his length is between the 25th and 50th. Still kind of a peanut but not quite as small anymore.

Jude did have one small period where he seemed kind of happy/content during his birthday - he got a yummy birthday Busken doughnut for breakfast. He had no idea how to eat it, but definitely liked the icing. It was a little preview for his cake at his party in a couple weeks.

We had another first for Jude last week - his first haircut! His hair was starting to look a little stringy and kept sticking in his eyes at the pool, so we decided the time had come. He looks less rag-a-muffin-y now:

Another first from the other day - Jude finally took action against Sam. I guess he'd decided he'd had enough of his nonsense.

Little Brother

Conversation today between Ben and Sam:

Ben: "Don't you love your little brother?"

Sam: "He's kind of a little monster!"

Lazy Lazy

Tonight marks the end of our first week of summer break. It's been delightful. Spent some time at the pool, at the zoo, visiting friends, and lots of just hanging out. What has been really nice is not having to worry about when I'm going to get the laundry done, go grocery shopping, or clean up the house since we're always short on time for those things. Now, if I don't feel like doing it right away, I don't really need to, because I'll probably be able to find some time later.

Here's a pic of Sam in the zone - the TV zone, that is. He's watching one of his favorite shows here, Super Why.

A frequent sighting: Jude after a meal with food stuck to his behind.

This weekend, Jude's been practicing hard on standing up without holding anything. Our friend Greg saw it first while we weren't looking, but we've had plenty of opportunities the last 2 days since he keeps trying it over and over again. Probably won't be long before he's walking! Crazy to think about...

Coney Island

We are loving Coney again this summer. Jude got to ride his first ride last week! It was pretty sedate, but he looked like he was having fun. Sam took good care of him and had his arm around him the entire ride "so Jude wouldn't fall out." Luckily for Jude, it wasn't in this choke hold for too long!

Rock and Roll!

We've been having lots of fun this May, even though it's been really busy! Sam has his first admirer, his friend from school, Isa. She is an adorable little girl with blonde curly hair. Their cots are next to each other. Miss Polly told us that about a week ago she looked over and Sam was rubbing her back to help her go to sleep. The next day, she saw that they fell asleep holding hands. And the next day, Sam got his first kiss courtesy of Isa! He told Miss Polly, "Isa kissed me." When she asked, "Where?" Sam pointed to his lips. First kiss at 3 years old!

Every day after school, Sam wants to play soccer or baseball or some other form of ball outside. He loves to play ball. Now we just need a break from this incessant rain.

Here's a picture of Sam after a bath doing his rock 'n roll pose:

Jude's busy getting into everything....dog bowls, behind chairs, under chairs, in the dog's crate, pushing the button that sets off the carbon monoxide detector....he is so much more curious than Sam ever was. We never had to baby-proof with Sam; Jude is perfectly content crawling around to see what he can get into. He loves Sam's toys and is always trying to play with him now. When Sam gets rough with him, Jude screams back and pushes him. Go Jude - defend yourself!

I can't resist posting more bath pictures. :)

Rain Rain Go Away!

We've had fun stuff going on over the last few weekends. We've been out of town the last three weekends, trying to dodge rain. We managed to have a few nice days! I took over 300 pictures since 3 weeks ago, so here are just a very few highlights:

Joseph's First Birthday in Louisville - this is the way to eat cake!

Jude enjoying the sun out at Joseph's party

At the zoo over spring break.

Brothers at Easter at Neenee's house

At COSI in the submarine! Can't believe Ben got Sam to go down in that thing. We went to COSI and a Columbus Crew soccer game for Ben's birthday and had so much fun.

They had some practice areas set up for kids to play. This is Sam post-kick in the air! He loved this.

Soccer is a serious game.

Fun with Instagram

Enjoying my break so far....here are some pictures from throughout my day today with those nearest and dearest to me.

So that's where all the Puffs went

Sleepy baby

"Pretend sleeping"

Time to relax

Spring is here! (for a couple days, at least)

St. Patrick's Day, we enjoyed a little porch time with the boys. Sam was having so much fun just running around and Jude loved having the breeze blow through his (crazy) hair.

That night, the boys took a bath together for the first time! They loved it, although Sam kept trying to wash Jude's hair and made him cry. A few minutes later, he was staring in awe at Sam as Sam kept squirting water at himself, cracking himself up...

Sam is pure joy in this picture...he was laughing so hard he looks like he was screaming!