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.