Michelle and Jamie at Sam and Kaylee's wedding

Here's a shot of Michelle and I at the coolest place for a wedding (and best weather) possible.

Toy Rotation, So Far a Success!

I swapped out toy set 1 for set 2 this week and Judah has been having so much fun playing with these toys (once he discovered they were new in his baskets). We’ve rotate between blocks, books, laptop, trucks, racecars, and the kitchen. With a visit to the deck or backyard also thrown in. I love that he’s doing such dedicated play now, not sure if its the age or this toy rotation, but it can’t be hurting. I decided we need to probably rotate the moving toys (fire truck and grocery cart) at least in and out of his room. He’s also definitely taking more of an interest in books then he has previously which I love. One thing to note when I reorganize for Christmas and Birthday, probably can remove the ring stacker and some of the other babyish things, he just isn’t interested in them much.

Judah News- September 16

Judah’s new favoite book, “Brown Bear” has lots of animals in it so we’ve been working on learning the sounds they make and their names. Judah has taken it a step farther and has recognized that the frog in the book is just like his stuffed frog and the doggy in the book is like Ally the dog and his stuffed dog. He also likes to look at all the pictures in the Jesus Storybook Bibile, so we do abbreviated Bible stories as we flip through the pages. It’s good for me to think on the fly about how to summarize and remind him of each story. In other BIG news, Judah went pee on his potty for the first time this week! Jamie took him in and sat with him for awhile, wet his hand with a washcloth, and he went. He was a bit surprised by what happened. The next day we practiced a few times, but the one time he went it was after he started running for the door and it got all over the floor. Oh well, guess that gives me time to read up on this potty training stuff. I’m hopeful he’ll be ready after he turns two, but have every expectation that he might be three.

This week we also got to go to the zoo! Even better, Dad got to come with us. We got our zoo pass so now we can come back even more often. We saw penguins, elephants, gorillas, a zebra, and a hippo. It was great!

FH Visit for Kaylee and Sam's Wedding

After our fun weekend with the Johnson’s it was really hard to go back to work. So after one day we decided to cut out early and head the island on Thursday since Adam had the day off. We caught the morning ferry and were there by 11. I had to work some so I hung at Andi and Dan’s office to get stuff done while Jamie took Judah to see some construction equipment. Then it was off to Stone’s where we had yummy sausage for lunch and Judah headed to bed in his tent. The weather was gorgeous so we did lots of hanging on the front porch, sipping sun tea, and doing our nails. Ashley and I even painted Judah’s purple, which his Dad did not appreciate, but he was really excited about them. The Zaehring clan came over for more yummy food at dinner and Bryan and Jenn joined us again after bedtime to do some singing and recording.

Friday was full of more hanging out, topped off by a beach BBQ in Kaylee and Sam’s honor. Adam made all this yummy sausage for it, so we ate well yet again. Judah loved the sand and the water and had a great time playing with cousin Hazel. We got to see lots of island friends, including the extended Ellingson clan, which was great.

Saturday started out with garage sales! Our favorite. I picked up an awesome stool for Judah in the kitchen, some fabric for jean blankets, and candy land. We spent the afternoon at the Zaehrings, where we got out the sand and water table for the kids. They proceeded to get super messy because of course I had not brought a change of clothes. Then it was lunch and naps. I headed to the store and made some cornbread for Sunday brunch. Once Judah woke up we had to hightail it back to Stones to get ready for the wedding. Ashley did my hair and makeup which was a huge treat. Then back to town to board the bus to Lime Kiln Lighthouse. The wedding was gorgeous, overlooking the sunset. They had champagne and pictures after, followed by a reception in town. The food at the reception was particularly amazing.

Sunday was Gus’ dedication at church. I wasn’t feeling well so Judah and I missed out, but Jamie was able to stop in to represent us. Then we were off on the ferry to head home.

Judah's Kitchen

I found a really cute blue, wooden kitchen on craigslist this weekend. It came with a bunch of wood food that you can “cut” up, as well as dishes and pots and pans. I set it up and we brought Judah in to see it, unfortunately we forgot the patio door open so he totally didn’t see it in his qwest to get outside. After bringing him back in and putting him right in front of it he was super excited and started playing immediately. I think he played for over 2 hours with it, we had to make him stop at 6:30 to eat some dinner, which is actually very late for his dinner, he usually gets cranky for it by 5:45. This morning he was right back at it and kept pulling me over to it. One cute thing he kept doing was laying the pillow on the floor, pulling me over by the finger, and wanting me to lay down beside him. Not sit, lay down. Not sure where that was coming from, maybe he realized I should be comfy for all that playing he would be doing. Overall, a pretty successful CL find!

Labor Day Weekend

Our original plans to camp with some friends from Idaho got scrapped so we were looking for something fun to do for the holiday weekend. Jenn and Bryan were happy to oblige and joined us for a stay-cation at our house. We had a really relaxing, fun weekend hanging out at home. The kids loved playing together with the kitchen, shopping cart, swing, in the backyard, and in tents.

On Saturday morning Jenn and I got to take a fun outing to Value Village! I needed some 2T jeans for Judah and Jenn found some cute outfits for her kids. While there we found out about the Monday 50% off sale which we were also able to hit up. There Jenn really scored, getting a cartful of clothes for her kids. I found a few shirts for Judah and some sheets for the trailer.

Meanwhile, Jamie and Bryan visited the cash and carry to get a brisket, turkey, and chicken to smoke. They also picked up some supplies for Bryan to reinforce our deck railing. We had a yummy dinner of smoked chicken and creamed spinach. The brisket ended up getting done several hours early, at 5 am on Sunday, we held off and had it for lunch after church.

The other fun thing we did was some music recording with Jenn and Bryan. Jamie continued figuring out how to use the recording equipment and software to edit the music. He even found an old recording from Low Tide with the Stones.

Here's some more pics

Trucks On The Road

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Judah's current favorite book is Trucks. Here's Daddy reading it before bed.