some things about Jude

Jude is the best. He's such a sweet, happy boy. He is almost 14 months old. And he has the goofiest front teeth you've ever seen. He has recently been weaned, and he goes down for a nap and at bedtime like a charm. Most nights he tries to dive into his crib while I'm singing to him. Either he really loves sleep or he really hates my singing. Too bad he doesn't sleep as long as I wish he would. He's still an early riser, getting up anywhere between 5:00 and 6:00 am. He has blonde hair and brown eyes, which is weird for me. I always figured all my kids would have dark hair like Nate. He started walking about a week after his first birthday. He loves to wave and say "hi" and "bye bye" to strangers. He also seems to love being held by stranger men, and by that I mean strangers who are male. I went to a wedding last month where I didn't know anyone but the bride, and Jude wandered around crawling into the laps of grandpa-types. It was a little embarrassing for me to go and fetch him. He is a good little eater. He is not much of a milk drinker. Green beans from the garden are his favorite food. He says "moo" and "baa" and "ssss" as far as animal sounds go. He tries to say "cheese!" and "shoes" and "ball." He signs "please," "all done," and occasionally "more" and "eat." He will point to his nose, eyes, ears, mouth, and head. He freaks right out when Nate gets home. He mimics me when I call out the kids names to get them to come upstairs. He actually mimics most everything. He says "ma" and "dada." He can reach the top of the counter and table and desk and pulls down anything that is unattached. He is trying to help me type this right now. He shakes his little booty to music. He got really excited the one time we let him watch TV with the family. (It was America's Funniest Home Videos. I'm properly ashamed.) He loves to clap. He has recently learned that he likes books. He also tries to say "book." We're still working on the sign. He loves to be outside playing with the kids, especially in his swing on going down the slide. The kids fight over taking turns going down the slide with him, but he prefers to go by himself. He is still very tall and skinny, being in the 95% for height and around the 30% for weight at his last check up. He has four teeth on top in the front, and three on the bottom. I just discovered today that he also has three molars! What?! That does explain away a lot of his recent fussiness. When he goes to Granny and Papa's house, he goes straight for Papa. He cries if Nana comes over and does not immediately pick him up. He also cries when she leaves. He likes putting toys in and out of containers. He likes his shape sorter and animal mix up thing. He screams and gets really jealous when someone else takes his blanket or when someone else sits on my lap. He walks around all day with a smile on his face. He really is a great kid and I'm so happy he's mine.

Jude Hates Shoes.

Halloween!

A few pre-Halloween pictures. Jude was really into this Little People house. He digs the sounds.

Colin won an Award of Merit for Literature in the Reflections contest at his school. I didn't know what that meant, so I asked the PTA lady about it. Apparently it's a step down from the winners that go on to the regional competition, and a step above everyone else who entered. I'm not sure how many winners there were in each category because Nate went with Colin to the ceremony thing and I stayed home with the little ones who had to go to bed. That's also why there are only these two pictures to document the occasion. The theme was The World Would Be a Better Place If... Colin's story was a description of his invention that would put diapers on bullies until they learned to be nice. I wouldn't have had him enter at all, but it was required for his class. Here's the full text he entered, what he dictated and I typed:

The Bully-inator 3000 would make the world a better place. My invention would put a diaper on anyone who was being a bully. This would make the world better because it would stop people from being bullies. No one wants to wear a diaper, because they would be embarrassed. So they would stop being bullies and then they would be safe from my invention. There is a sensor that is an antenna that picks up the waves and knows when someone is bullying. There are lots of buttons on the Bully-inator 3000. One button is the power button. One button makes the locks. The outside of the machine is turquoise. It has rocket boosters that take it to the bully. The bully gets sucked up inside the machine and as it goes through a diaper gets put onto it and it comes out the other side wearing the diaper. If the bully tries to take the diaper off, it can't because it comes with a lock on it that no one can undo. The diaper only comes off after the Bully-inator 3000 sees that the kid is now being nice to others. So my invention makes the world a better place because it makes it so there are no more bullies and all kids can play together nicely and have fun.

On Thursday Kate went on a field trip with her friend Hazel, and I watched Hazel's little brother Zev while the big girls were gone. He's a cute, quiet kid. They little ones fought over who got to sit on my lap for stories.

And now for the good stuff. Halloween! So, the challenge each Halloween is how to create cute costumes for my children while spending the least amount of money possible, so as not to anger the Halloween Grinch (my husband). I made all 4 costumes this year and spent less than $25 total. Huzzah! Success! I thought they turned out pretty well, too, though I say it myself. Halloween was a busy day. I was finishing costumes in the morning, then we went to story time at the library, then we went straight to my mom's to pick her up, then to Nate's work to say hello, then to Heather's work to trick-or-treat, then to Colin's school to see the costume parade, then back to my mom's to drop her off and eat some lunch, then back to Colin's school to pick him up, then finally back home for a bit before trick-or-treating for reals. It was exhausting.

Jude's hat. I made it myself. And I threaded the sewing machine and turned it on and sewed the dang thing myself. That's a big deal for me. I'm not gifted in the sewing department.

Story time at the library.

I made Kate turn around so I could take a picture of the curls I painstakingly slaved over that morning. The curls had already globbed together by this point. They weren't the mass of individual ringlets they were an hour before. Grrr.

Sleepy Kermit who had just woken up.

Sleepy Kermit and Nana.

This is the only picture I took whilst trick-or-treating at Aunt Heather's office. This was my first experience with business trick-or-treats. Apparently, Myler Disability gets really into Halloween. Heather and her coworker dressed up as each other. Apparently they come to work in matching clothes all the time. Their pants and shoes also matched. I guess Heather dresses like a dude.

Colin at the Sage Creek Halloween Parade. I didn't know what a big deal this thing was. I drove really fast back from American Fork and arrived just as it was about to start. But then I had to park over 3 blocks away because Every Single Parent came to this thing. Luckily, Colin's class walked by right as we got there and stopped right in front of us. And I swear every other girl was dressed as Elsa. Sheesh. Colin's chef hat looked more like a pioneer woman's hat when we arrived.

But don't worry—I fixed it. Because my mother demanded that I fix it. Several times. Loudly.

 Back at Nana's house for lunch. Kate and Gray were dancing around with the huge Mickey and Minnie Mouse dolls. They wouldn't stop for a picture. They just shouted, "Cheese!" as they spun around. I have 10 pictures that look just like this.

At home before trick-or-treating: The Swedish Chef, Miss Piggy, Constantine: The World's Most Dangerous Frog, and Kermit. I was sad that Colin's sweet mustache and eyebrows wouldn't stay on his face. The double sided tape stuck to his face, but not to the back of the craft hair stuff. Grrr. And I never did find green pants for Gray. Oh well. I made Kate's ears and tutu, and the little boys hats, ruffs,  and hand and feet flaps.

Heather (Hermione) and her boyfriend Austin (Starlord? Or whatever that guy from Guardians of the Galaxy is called) took the kids trick-or-treating around the block. I was glad I didn't have to do it! I just tossed Jude into his bed, handed handfuls of candy to the 6 kids who knocked at our door, and enjoyed my evening.

Okay, so they were only gone for like 20 minutes, and then I drove them over to Granny's house so they could show off how cute they looked to the grandparents.

the end of october, or, everything up until Halloween

I have a video of Colin speaking Chinese at his SEP conference. But blogger says the file is too big. If you really want to see it, check Facebook, I guess.

Grandpa Pumpkins. They are all super rotten on the inside.

Last Thursday was a busy day. In the morning we had our friends the Dyes over for a Halloween craft. The kids made handprint spiders on paper plates and then laced a spiderweb over the top with yarn. I know, I'm a Pinterest master. This is the only picture I took of the spiders.

After the Dyes left we had Hazel over for Mom School. We made rock candy. This is the first attempt, which I realized had too much sugar. So I threw it all back in the pot and melted it down with a little more water. It took forever. But the kids had fun. And now the jars are sitting on my counter awaiting the day when the kids get to eat their candy.

After Mom School we had a little quiet time, picked up Colin from school, and went straight to the pumpkin patch for Round Three. We met up with our friends the Dargers and had a great time.

Gray, Kate, and the huge pig.

Kate and Zoey in the corn.

Jude got surrounded by a bunch of girls. I didn't know some of them.

After the pumpkin patch we had pizza for dinner and then went to the ward Halloween Carnival with the Dargers. It was super fun, even better than last year. It was so fun, I kind of forgot to take pictures. I took the three big kids with me, and Humbug Nate stayed home with sleeping Jude.

Gray wanted to give the mummy a high five.

Dad and Gray relaxing with a book after the carnival.

Jude being adorable and playing with the trains at the library during story time on Friday. He was making little shhh-ing sounds while he drove the trains around. So cute.

Making funny faces. Colin wanted Meeko to photobomb our picture.

On Saturday the kids had a practice for their primary program. They had pizza and cupcakes at the end. They brought their cupcakes home so I could take a picture of them.

Sunday we had (what was supposed to be a surprise) Golden Birthday party for Hannah. She turned 27 on the 27th (but her party was on the 26th). She's wearing some of her gold presents for this picture. We gave her golden slippers and that sweet gold lionshead necklace. Also, I wrapped her presents in a box of Golden Grahams, but put tape over the word Grahams and wrote Birthday instead. I rocked it. Way to go, me!

Playing at the park while waiting for Kate during her ballet class. Maybe Jude was tired?

I made jack-o-lantern pancakes for dinner on Tuesday. I thought they were cool. Nate thought they were gross. The kids agreed with me.

Here are some videos from Kate's ballet class. The parents were welcome to come for the last half and see some of the things the girls have been working on.

the middle of october, including pumpkin carving and the chemistry magic show

Pumpkin carving! Hannah and her boyfriend Dean were kind enough to come over and carve pumpkins with us. And by us, I mean the kids. Nate and I supervised. And by supervised, I mean did nothing. Okay, I took pictures and cleaned up and gathered supplies. And it's okay to be impressed with those fine pumpkins, because I grew all 5 of them in my garden! What what!

This is how Nate carves pumpkins.

Kate's pretty girl pumpkin.

Gray's pumpkin. It's Mickey Mouse on the other side.

Colin's pumpkin.

Dean's pumpkin.

Hannah's pumpkin.

I don't know why he likes to swing like that.

Our new huge family picture! I couldn't be happier. I have wanted a big canvas print of a cute family picture for years. And now I finally have one! Huzzah!

Jude likes stealing apples.

Kate likes dressing herself.

Colin asked if he could type something on Microsoft Word. This is what he brought me when he was finished.

After a really rainy August, the weather has been amazing. We've been to the park a lot. Colin got to come with us during Fall Break.

Nice face, Jude.

Gray was so proud of himself for climbing the rock wall all by himself. Way to go, buddy!

This is another day at another park.

Jude decided he loves the swings.

And Tuesday, the 21st, we went to the chemistry week magic show at BYU. My mom joined us and kept track of Jude for me so I got to enjoy the show!

Elephant toothpaste! I love that kid's expression.

Something exploding. Potassium metal maybe?

And some videos! I hope I didn't upload the same one 4 times. I guess we'll see.