Slacker

Well, only on the blog front. I've definitely been a blog slacker. Only because I can't slack in my other responsibilities. Except maybe cleaning sometimes. Although a woman I work with who has 3 grown children has told me that she regrets being such a clean freak when her kids were young because she could have spent that time she spent cleaning playing with her kids. I always think of that when I realize that I can write my name in the dust on my furniture and it makes me feel a little better.

The boys are great. Jude likes to do his impersonation of Linda Blair in the Exorcist every couple of days and drown himself, me, and anything around us in spit-up puke. And then look at me and smile. We're taking him for his 6 month check up Monday so maybe they can enlighten me on what's going on with him. Sam is just always saying funny things and is curious about everything. He's also constantly starting family soccer or football games in our foyer. I've played more soccer in the last few days than I have in my life (which, admittedly, is not much).

Today is Jude's 6 month birthday! We can't believe it. He's had a couple firsts in the last few weeks...first cereal and his first tooth broke through this week! Jude's not a big eater. Although he loved the peas I made him, he's "meh" on the butternut squash. Maybe he'll like my sweet potatoes better.

I've been having fun with my super-duper DSLR camera my AWESOME husband got me for Christmas. Since we've had kids, our biggest splurges are things like a night out at the movies, so taking the plunge on this camera was a big deal. But I love taking pictures of my boys, so it will go to good use. Here's just a few of the zillions of pictures I've taken with it!

Sam has really taken to the big brother role. He is so sweet to Jude and also so proud of him. Jude's a big hit with Sam's friends at daycare, and Sam's very protective of him.

Jude's first cereal.

Bathtime Photo Shoot - he hammed it up for the camera for about 40 pictures.

Scary Santa

It's been such a busy December and I'm finally posting our Santa picture from this year. We went to see him after Thanksgiving with Ben's family. He kept telling us that "Santa is a nice guy" and that he wasn't going to be scared of him. When it was his turn, he totally froze and just stood and stared at Santa. Meanwhile, Jude was loving every minute of it. We decided to turn it into a family picture and then Sam felt more comfortable. When Santa asked Sam what he wanted for Christmas, Sam belted out "Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear!" just like he had practiced. Sam keeps telling me he was scared that day so he had to sit on my lap, but that he's not scared of Santa anymore.
A couple weeks ago, Ben arranged for a phone call from Santa to come for Sam (through Cincinnati Bell). Sam patiently listened to Santa's message and then excitedly reminded Santa that he wants Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear for Christmas. When Santa stopped talking, he told him "I being a good boy. I not being a bad boy!!!" Later that night, when Sam wouldn't try any of his dinner, Ben went upstairs and called our home phone using his best Santa voice. When Sam answered, "Santa" explained how he had been watching Sam and he saw that Sam wasn't eating his dinner and that he wanted him to eat 3 bites. I've never seen Sam eat that quickly in his life!

This has really been a fun Christmas season so far. We can't wait to see Sam's face when he comes downstairs Christmas morning!

Photographer Sam

Sunday morning, Sam asked to take some pictures. Here's some of his work:

He was pretty proud of his pictures. :)

Gobble Gobble

We stuffed ourselves silly on Thanksgiving this year at Neenee Sue's house! Although it was Jude's first Thanksgiving, he got the same old meal, of course. But the rest of us sure enjoyed the food! Sam got to sit at the kids' table with the boys, which he loved. His favorite part was probably playing football with his cousins, who were so sweet to him.

Jacob reading a story to Sam

Uncle Jim gets some baby time in.

Jude hanging out with Aunt Jane and Aunt Susan

Droopy Drawers

Jude's Baptism

We had another exciting event almost a couple weeks ago - Jude was baptized! He had a lovely baptism. Uncle Paul was his sponsor, and Neenee gave me Paul's baptism outfit for Jude to wear. It fit perfectly and looked adorable on him. Neenee thoughtfully gave him a beautiful little pair of white satin shoes and a little pair of white socks with crosses on them to complete the look! He looked like a little angel.

After the church service, we came back to our house for some barbecue and cake. Events like this (along with the upcoming holidays) remind us how blessed we are to have such wonderful family to support us and be there for these special occasions!

Halloween, Part 2

AAAHHHH! Crazed School Psychologist on the loose!!!

Halloween was so much fun this year! Sam really got what it was all about and loved trick-or-treating. We carved pumpkins in the afternoon and Sam helped us pull out pumpkin guts and decide whether to make our pumpkins "scay-we" or silly (mine was scary and Daddy's was silly, in case you were wondering). Sam did not love playing with the pumpkin guts and let Daddy handle most of that. He was really excited about his Spiderman costume he picked out, and had no qualms about wearing the mask all night, unlike last year, when the mask was ripped off before we even made if off the front porch! Jude seemed to enjoy it, too. He gotdressed up in Jackson's old pumpkin outfit, which was warm and snuggly for him. He enjoyedhis stroller ride down the street and back. The nice thing about Halloween is that you get to meet all the neighbors you don't normally talk to....we have many nice neighbors and quite a few had special treats for Sam, which was really sweet. Know what else is sweet? That Sam can't possibly eat all the candy he got, so Mommy and Daddy get plenty of treats,too!

Yeah....that looks icky.

Jude presiding over pumpkin carving

Giving our neighbor, Mrs. Bowman, a hug. I think Mrs. Bowman gave Sam 10 pieces of candy!

Halloween Festivities, Part 1

We had our 3rd annual visit to Hidden Valley Fruit Farm last weekend to find a pumpkin! We met up with Uncles Paul and Brett, Aunt Dianah, and Neenee and had a really nice time. Jude got to come along in the Baby Bjorn. I think he really liked being able to see all the action.

Mmm...forget apple cider. This Baby Bjorn is DELICIOUS.

Had lots of fun with Uncle Brett

Sam loved the hayride. He thought the tractor was really cool. Only sad thing was the lack of color because of the draught. It was a lot of brown trees and grass.

With Neenee on the hayride!

Sam made a little buddy while looking for a pumpkin. He had noticed a couple of pumpkins that had broken open, so he kept pointing at pumpkins and shouting "broken!" over and over. Even at the pumpkins that were perfectly fine. Madeline chimed in, too, and then they ran off. Sam's probably telling her that these pumpkins are "broken!" here.

Sam got to do something new this year - ride a pony! He was so excited, and not scared at all, which really surprised Ben and me. This is one of the pictures I got of him trying to smile. I think it's hilarious because you can tell he really was a little nervous.

More halloween pictures will be coming soon!