Fun Family Weekend!

We had a weekend full of family fun! Friday the boys and I headed over to Mike's parents house and got to hang out with his mom, sister, and her 2 kiddos. We visited at the house for a little bit and then took all the kids to the neighborhood playground. The kids had a blast playing together but I think they had the most fun feeding the fish and ducks.

Eli got to go down a tunnel slide for the first time!!

Jude enjoyed the swings for s few seconds before he wanted out to crawl around

Madeleine riding the big dinosaur
Waiting to feed the fish and ducks
Who knew fish liked Cheese its
The ducks enjoyed the crackers too

Saturday evening we headed over to my sister Tracy's house for my niece Grace's 8th birthday party. It was a blast. It was great to be able to see Grace open her presents since we had to miss her party last year. After the presents and cake the big kids went swimming and we got to play outside. Eli found a battery powered 4 wheeler and had a blast! He would have ridden it the entire evening but the batteries died. It was a great party!

Grace with her cousins at the party
Look at his smile!
My sister Tracy and a very serious Jude :-)

On Sunday we headed back over to Mike's parents for a pool party and dinner. I was so impressed with how well Eli can swim now. He still wears his little life vest and arm floaties, but he cam swim all over the pool by himself. I couldn't believe it. Next time we go over there I will remember my camera so I can take a video of him swimming.

Weekends like these are why I am so glad to be back in Indiana. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful families and I want to spend as much time with them as we can. It is so wonderful to watch Eli play with his cousins and see how excited he is to go to Grandma's house.

Sweet Moments

My newest favorite picture!!!

I love the sweet nights where we have nothing going on and we can simply step into our back yard and make magical memories that will last forever. These boys hold my heart is the palms of their hands.

My Boys Are Growing Up

Both of the boys are showing me how big they are lately! Eli wants to be so independent with everything he does. He no longer wants to be carried up or down stairs. I still hold his hand when we go downstairs because our stairs are a little steep. He likes to sit up to the table for meals instead of with his tray. This has actually cause us a little problem. He thought since he didn't need to be buckled in his booster seat he no longer needed to be buckled in his car seat. He was throwing huge fits every time we put him in the car. It took us a few days to figure out why he was throwing fits but once we did it was easily resolved. We just explained that everyone had to be buckled in the car and once we showed him that even mommy and daddy have to be buckled he was ok with it. :-) Another thing that Eli likes to do all by himself is put on his shoes. He is so proud of himself when he gets them on.

Eli put his shoes on all by himself!

He did such a great job! (wrong feet) :-)

Jude has also been going through some changes lately. For the last month he has really been losing interest in nursing. I was just trying to keep him nursing until he turned 1. Since we made it to his first birthday I decided to see how he would do without nursing. I don't think he has even noticed. We have also started limiting how much he has a pacifier. Right now we are leaving it in his bed during the day and letting him have it for nap and bedtime. We also are letting him have while we are in the car for now and maybe church (he can be loud). He has done pretty well with this. There have been a few times where he has fussed for it but I just get him interested in a different toy. And the latest change for Jude is that we have started giving him milk. Since he hasn't been nursing anymore it was time to give him milk. He really likes the milk, but it has been giving him some tummy aches. He has been waking up crying and tossing and turning in my arms. Yesterday was the worst. He just cried and cried in my arms until he fell asleep. Gas drops have been helping a little and the Dr said it may just take a few weeks to get used to the milk. He didn't have any milk today, I wanted to give his tummy a little break. Hopefully his tummy will adjust to the whole milk.

Jude with his first cup of milkIt was a hit!

Jude Walking

Jude took his first steps the day before his first birthday. This video was from a few days ago. He is getting better and taking more steps each day. It won't be long before he is walking everywhere!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Zoo

Since Mike has a little while before he starts class and work and I am not watching kids right now we decided to take the boys to the zoo. We checked the weather and it wasn't supposed to be too hot and we figured it wouldn't be too crowded on a weekday. It ended up being a perfect day for the zoo! Eli loved seeing all the animals and Jude really got into it as well. We were very excited to see the new cheetah exhibit but the were sleeping the entire time so they weren't too exciting for the boys. Both boys really enjoyed the fish and other water animals. Eli thought it was so cool to touch the shark. But the hit of the day had to be the dolphin show. Both boys LOVED it! I knew that Eli would love it and I was so happy that Jude did too. The show was at 12:30 and Jude was getting so tired. He was really fussy while we were waiting and I was worried that I was going to have to take him out. As soon as the show started he was into it. He had a smile the entire time and kept clapping and waving his arms around. It was such a great day full of memories!

Mike and Eli with the giraffes

Me and my boys at the Dolphin Show

Eli was so happy to watch the Dolphins
Jude loved it too!
Me and Jude and the Polar Bear
Eli touching the shark

Jude checking out the aquarium

Daddy and Eli hand in hand!

Eli thought the penguins were so funny
The zoo was exhausting for Jude

It was a quiet ride home for Eli

And Jude

Happy 1st Birthday Jude!!

Jude turned 1 on Saturday, August 14th. He had a wonderful 1st birthday, despite not feeling the best. He had had a cold for a few days and woke up on Saturday with a fever to go along with it. He was in a great mood so we decided to go ahead and have his party. We let all our friends and family know that he had a cold and told them we understood if they didn't want to come.

My Birthday Boy in the morning

We decided to have our own special family time and gave Jude his presents from us before the party. He and Eli both enjoyed playing with his new toys.

Opening presents from Daddy and Mommy

He did a good job ripping the paper

Driving a Car on his new mat

Both boys playing with the new Fire Station

Driving his new Fire Truck

While both boys napped we were able to get set up for the party. Guests started arriving around 3:00 and both boys were still sleeping. I ended up having to wake them both up around 3:15 to get the party started and thankfully they both woke up in good moods. Eli was so excited to have his cousins come play. I was worried about how Eli would do while Jude was opening presents because he had already told us several times that he wanted presents too. Luckily he was so busy playing with his cousins he didn't even care about the presents. Jude did pretty good with opening presents. You can't expect much from a 1 year old.

Opening presents

After presents it was time for cake. Jude is such an eater, I knew he wouldn't have a problem eating cake. He did seem a little surprised when I sat the whole cake in front of him. I had to help him get the first bite, but then he got the hang of it and did a pretty good job. After a few minutes he started to get fussy, for him to leave food on his tray must mean he wasn't feeling well.

The Cake

Digging in

Big Brother helped celebrate

Our Family

Jude (and Eli) have both really enjoyed the new toys. Jude love to play with cars and he got plenty of new vehicles to play with. We have to keep reminding Eli that these are Jude's new toys so he has to share them. He is doing pretty good, but there have been a few timeouts over it. Eli better watch out, it won't be long before Jude is shoving back. :-)

Jude loves his new tool bench from his Aunts and Uncles!

Eli does too!

Playing together

New truck from Grandma

Jude LOVES his race track

I can't believe how fast this year has flown by. So much has happened this past year and I wouldn't change any of it. I am so glad to be back in Indiana, but I will always have very fond memories of Iowa because it was Jude's first year. I love this little boy so much.

My Sweet Birthday Boy

Jude's First Steps!!!

I have been trying to get Jude to take his first steps for the past month but he just wasn't into it. He would walk next to me just holding onto my pants but as soon as I stepped away he would sit down and crawl. There were several times where we thought he was going to try, he would lean forward and go on his tippy toe like he wanted to take a step and then just sit down. I wasn't worried at all, just wanted to see if he would try.
On Friday August 13th my mom came to visit to help get ready for Jude's birthday party. We were both sitting on the floor playing with the boys so I just stood Jude up to see if he would walk to grandma. At first he just kept leaning forward until we caught him but then he finally took his very first step!! Mike was watching and was doubtful that he was trying to walk until he took 3 steps in a row!!! I am so proud of my little boy! He will be walking all over the place before we know it! I will post a video soon.

The Big Move!!

We made it to Indiana!!! My mom came out to Iowa Friday August 6th with my niece Alex. My mom headed back to Indiana on Sunday(with the dogs) and Alex stayed to help out. I was concerned about how the dogs would do in the car while we stopped for lunch since it has been so hot lately so my mom generously offered to take them with her. It was such a great help! On Monday morning we dropped Mike off at the U-haul store to get the truck and Me, Alex and the boys headed back to Indiana. It was great to have Alex with us. She put in movies for Eli and handed Jude his toys and pacifiers if he needed them. It was also great to have someone to talk to during the drive. We made it to my mom's house Monday and the boys had a blast. On Tuesday we got to hang out with my best friend Sam and here little girl Sienna in the morning and then in the afternoon we headed to Mike's parents where he was meeting us in the Uhaul truck. The first thing Eli wanted to do when we got there was to swim, so of course we did!!! We spent the night with them and then on Wednesday the boys got to play with grandma while we moved back into our house!

Eli had fun at Grandma's

Jude had fun at Grandma's

Even the dogs had fun at Grandma's

It was so awesome to walk back into our house. It really felt like we were supposed to be there. The renters left the house in great condition, the only complaint we have is the paint job they did in 2 of the bedrooms. We had told them that they could paint as long as they painted it back to a neutral color when they left. They painted 2 of the bedrooms and painted them white when they moved out, only I think a 5 year old could have done a better job. There is paint all over the carpet, every stroke touched the ceiling, there are big drips down the baseboards, there is paint on the blinds, the door stopper, the back of the door, and the walls need at least 1 or 2 more coats to cover up the previous color. We will definitely have to paint those 2 rooms.

It was so much to show the boys our house. We have been telling Eli about it for few weeks and he could see how excited we were about it. We had the downstairs pretty much put together and both of the boys rooms done before we brought them home. Eli was happy to see that his toys made to trip to Indiana and then he wanted to check out upstairs. In our new house the boys each have their own room. I will miss waking up to hearing them talking to each other, but I am glad I don't have to worry that one will wake the other up in the middle of the night anymore.

Happy to see all his stuffed animals

Yay a ball

Lets check out upstairs!

We were super busy unpacking Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to get ready for the big day on Saturday; Jude's First Birthday!!! More updates to come soon!