River is On the Move

Now that I am back to work I don't have much time to update the blog with important things. Things such as River being on the move. He now "crawls", although as you can see from the video that is hardly what you would call it. I would call it the 'least efficient way possible for a baby to move', or 'you think you were original Jude?'.

Not only that, shortly after he mastered his less than smooth crawling, he is now taking steps. Well, actually he is running from person to person that usually results in a fall(hopefully into someones arms). He will abruptly turn around from whatever table, couch, or other item he is standing at and begin running to you, and you have to be ready to catch him. It is very alarming. He has also been know to hitch a ride on Jude if he happens to be passing by. I will have to try to snatch a video of his walking when I am not to busy chasing after him!

Busy as bees or beavers or something else alliterative...

Returning to work has made me pretty busy. Adjusting to the return to work, remembering how much I hate hate hate always having piles of grading needing my attention, getting over the grief of having to leave my boys every day, the boys adjusting to a whole new routine, learning how to get our whole family out the door by 7:15 am every day, and preparing for Christmas has left me feeling a tad overwhelmed.


Despite feeling somewhat smothered by work and home responsibilities, I make sure to find the time for the important things. Things like...

• Cutting down a Christmas tree with the boys.

(No, we are not stealing our tree, although we did not pay for it. We were rescuing it...from an old Christmas tree farm that was being plowed over to make way for a new subdivision. Seriously, the tractor doing the plowing over was even parked there and rows upon rows had already succumbed to its angry teeth. I like to think that our tree is the narrator of some classic Christmas story in which all it wants to do is bring christmas cheer to someone's home. And that home is ours.)

Baking an awesome truck cake to celebrate Jude's second birthday.

(Please note that the design of this cake is perfect for those with not so awesome cake making skills. I plan on finding other items I can creatively pile a big mess of cake into for future birthdays)

• Enjoying family dinners, or watching River enjoy them.
  

(Some of it does actually make it into his mouth, the rest must be absorbed through osmosis or something.)

Uh Oh...

I found the nativity set like this... I don't know what happened, but it doesn't look good...

So hard...

Back to work this week....it's so hard...not the work, but the leaving. I've cried all summer long at the thought of leaving the boys and now it is here. Big lump in my throat. Wish I didn't have to miss a minute.

Babies + Costumes = impossible to photograph properly

So....Halloween...Well, the boys had a blast even though they had no idea what the whole event was all about. I have always loved the whole costume thing, as a child I would spend the month of October dreaming up what my costume would be. As a kid, the bottom line was always candy, I never really thought about the "ickiness" that is Halloween. I always knew kids that didn't go out, and I thought it was too bad because it's just costumes and candy right? That is until this month when Jude started to notice the more "ghoulish" decorations which I informed him were classified as "yucky". It made me think...I don't know how much I like this 'holiday' anymore. Except that babies are super cute in costumes...

Last night we put the boys in their adorable costumes and made the rounds. First stop was Pops and Beps' house. All day I had been telling him that after supper he would wear his costume, we would visit people, he would have to say "trick or treat", and that he would get a treat. He proudly knocked on his grandparents door (which is a first, usually we just head right in), they gleefully answered the door and Jude thrust his bag out and said, "Present?". They were treated to crackers and cheese dip, a huge hit since Jude had never seen one before.

Next stop, Uncle Rob and Aunt Ashley's place. We were very tempted to place River in the giant spider web they had costructed in front of their house, he also thought it was a good idea. Instead of candy they were given a remote control train and a Halloween book. Who needs candy?
Last stop, visiting friend's houses in the neighbourhood. We visited only 4 houses, and Jude eagerly raced up the steps and knocked on doors. He was eager to hold his bag out, but didn't really pay much attention to what went in it. And River....well he didn't ask for any treats, but he loved the jack o'lanterns at each house.

Once home, Jude changed out of his costume, laid down on the bed and declared, "again" with a grin on his face. Yes Jude, we'll do this again, in a year...

p.s. below is a smattering of my attempts to get a cute picture of the two boys together in their costumes...it was a miserable fail...

Colour

Jude is beginning to learn his colours - orange seems to be a favourite. Orange shirt, orange pumpkins, orange, orange, orange. He also has been playing with colours. He was introduced to the wonders of fingerpaint the other day...


...it took a while for him to realize that you are supposed to put some of the paint on paper.

Thanks for...

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Kingston this past weekend.

There was so much to be thankful for....

Apples to pick.

Apples to eat.

Adventures that were had.

Smiles that were shared.
New friends to play pretend with.

Sunshine to play games in with a brother who travelled long distances to be there. Coffee and cuddles.

Music and curiosity.

Aunts and Uncles to play with.

Boston cousins that travel so far.

Pancakes made by Poppy.Adorable babiesAnd so many more that cameras did not capture:

Great grandparents that visited
Picnics that were shared.
Turkey dinner made by Dad, the master chef.

Sunny walk to the park.

Hot pies with whipped cream.

Searching for strangely shaped squash at the market.

Samples at the cheese factory.

Soft ice cream to lick.

Goats named Knit and Purl.

Ferry rides across the lake.

Cold beer in the hot sun.

Admiring the lake on the mountain.
Babies that fall asleep on long car rides...


God is good, all the time, He is good.

Om Johnny

Jonathan came for a last minute visit this weekend. Yippee!! River was excited to finally meet his uncle, and Jude was thrilled to have some play time with Om Johnny. Unfortunately he was bearing bad news - he is moving out west to Vancouver. That makes two brothers in B.C...boooo. I guess this means a road trip is in order. Hang on, cross the country with two under two? Mmmm perhaps we should look into flights.

We also fired up the smoker and made some delicous ribs and were excited to finally meet Trish and Terry's newest addition, Helena. She is adorable and sooo cuddly. I never realized how wriggly my guys were until I held her! Jude was excited to have some play time with Garret, and we enjoyed catching up with Trish and Terry.


Wait...were did those two little toddlers run off to?

Here we are!

On Being the Second Child

So, I've noticed that Jude gets a lot of 'face' time on the blog. I'm trying very hard to give River lots of attention, despite the fact that he is the infamous second child who usually never gets as many pictures taken of them. Today I want to share just pictures of River. He has all of a sudden been bursting with personality, it's like a little switch flipped and he is seeing things he never noticed before and is delighted by them (dogs, lawnmowers, people, anything moving or making noise). I love his smile, especially since it usually follows what is a pretty serious look (River tends to furrow his brows and give some stone cold stares). He is also a huge flirt, often he will smile at someone while cocking his head sideways, much like a puppy. I have yet to capture it on film, but it melts me every time!