TWO!

My sweet, spunky, crazy, willful, cuddly, squishy, adorable, cheeky Jude,

Oh how my heart bursts with love for you.

Also, how are you TWO!?

Your long legs and short hair cut, your many, many words and your hilarious facial expressions; all these show to me you are no longer "baby", but quickly turning into "boy".
I cherish each day.
Not necessarily longing for the past or yearning for the future but learning to be happy each day with whatever stage you are in.

This year has been a full one for us all!

You continue to surprise us with the amount of things you know; colours {you know red & purple!}, numbers, letters, songs and words to songs, characters {minnie and mickey  mouse!}, you love to jump, run and climb and you HATE being left behind somewhere in the house {upstairs, downstairs, etc.} but you have no qualms about running off in the mall by yourself.
You are a mystery and yet you are predictable.
You are a joy and a challenge.
You are ridiculously cute and cheeky and you know how to do "blue steel" looks on command.
You call Noah "Neeno" but now know how to say "Noah" and also call him your "brutha". It's cute.
You call your Daddy "Daddy" and you call me "Mama", "Mom", "Mommy" and sometimes "A-nessa". Cheeky.
You are determined and creative and I am loving each day of getting to know you more and more.
I pray for you often and hard and I think about who you are becoming and who you will be and how I can help you get to be the man God wants you to be.

Your Daddy and I pray you will come to know Jesus and love Him with all your heart, soul and mind and that you will contend for the faith wherever God leads you.

August 2010

September 2010

October 2010

November 2010

December 2010

January 2011

February 2011

March 2011

April 2011

May 2011

June 2011

July 2011


Happy 2nd birthday my sweet boy.
We love you.

sunny days...

so remember this and this?

we're house sitting just steps away from that beach.

until next Friday.

call me if you want to come visit. 

we won't have internet {or time to check. we'll be at the beach!}.

a new take on Christian kids songs

today while putting Jude down for a nap I was singing "Yes Jesus Loves Me" to him and Noah was nearby and joined in with his own version:

yes, Jesus is creepy
yes, Jesus is creepy
yes, Jesus is creepy
the creepy told me so.


I couldn't help but smile. I don't even think he knows what "creepy" means.

an ode to my jude

Jude is 4 days away from turning 2 years old.
How did we get here?
How did time fly by so quickly?
I don't know, but I am holding onto each day and trying to remember to live.in.each.moment.
For the longest time every time we introduced Jude, he would get a hearty,

Hey Jude!

with a big smile and usually a comment about the Beatles.
It's a good thing we like the Beatles (and I love that song) and I hope Jude will too because he's likely going to get it for the rest of his life.
So in honour of the Beatles, Jude, and his approaching 2 year birthday enjoy this collection:


love this movie.


cutes patoots. love his pronunciation.


ukulele!


if you watch only one of them, this is the one to watch.

(this one is pure jokes)


hey Jude

I love you.

breakable

kids are pretty resilient.
but they need some sort of stability in their lives.


it was a long, drawn out, somewhat difficult bedtime tonight but God gave me grace and patience for my sweet boys.
noah looked at some books while i rocked jude to sleep and then i lay down with noah until he fell asleep so he wouldn't be scared on his own.
they are both quiet and sleeping now. i pray they sleep through the night okay.

while i lay there with noah, he and i had another conversation about africa.

n: do aunt heidi and uncle jordi (whose place we are house sitting for now) work at daddy's work in guelph? (the university)
me: yes.
n: but daddy doesn't work there anymore.
me: you're right.
n: why?
me: because we're going to move to uganda and he'll be working there.
pause
n: but why do we have to move to uganda?

oh how my heart squeezes with a little grief as i try to explain to you, sweet boy, why we feel God has called our family to move to uganda. away from what we know. to something different.

oh how my heart is excited for all that you (we) will experience and how it is going to be so worth everything we are "giving up".

He is worth it. all of it.

i pray that you will know this and experience this. with all my heart this is what i pray for you and your brother.

photo credit

photo shoot

oh heat wave. you are hot. and wavey.

anyway, so apparently we picked the hottest day for a photo shoot. outside. with the humidity it was 46 degrees celcius (117 degrees farenheit!). 

yikes.

oh. and i forgot jude's shorts at home. and all my bribery snacks. 

sigh.

but we still went out (jude in pajama shorts) and braved the weather.

dang.

it was hot.

and my sister did such a great job - especially with two moderately grumpy kids and all of us being generally hot and sweaty.

we will likely try again before jude's birthday party, but for now, enjoy this little beauty:

"blue steel" (too bad jude didn't participate - he's got a killer blue steel look)
(also, i really want this to be the picture for our prayer card. but it probably won't be. because while my jawline looks incredible, there are far cuter ones of the kids and jamie.)

my random life

just now i walked into my room to find noah in his "quiet time" sprawled on my bed with books covering his entire body - even his head.

he peeks out from under the books and says,

mom, i'm not done yet.

i tell him i know and asks him if he wants some music. he says yes. and then he says,

and then go back out, mom.

well alrighty then.

i ask him what he's doing and he says,

being quiet.

um, okay. sounds good to me. strange child.

also this happened today:

and i wish i had my camera with me last night at 10pm at the beaches jazz festival. noah was shaking his booty and grooving to all the big band jazz. it was awesome.

the kid has some sweet moves!

share the love

farmer's tans.

no, scratch that. i don't love farmer's tans. 

but both my boys have 'em.

because they're almost always in a t-shirt. 

hence, my love for sleeveless shirts.

and specifically for younger kids - rompers.

oh my heart. 

on a day like today (yeah, it feels like 46 degrees with the humidity) noah is in a sleeveless top and jude is in a sleeveless romper and i.love.it.

i think 2 yrs might be the longest i can push the romper on jude, but dang! so cute!

Old Navy

Carter's

Carter's

love.

what are some summery things you love?

get on your boots

tomorrow my sister (the lovely and talented photographer that she is) will be doing a family photo shoot for us before we move.

thanks to Pinterest (oh Pinterest, you are full of lovely ideas and a very good time waster.) i found some inspiration for some poses, props and outfits. 

love the apples and the red barn background.

ties! love.

oh this looks like such a fun family. 

the setting + their outfits = awesome.

so this morning i took the boys to Good Will to see if i could find any treasures.

it took some searching and if you've got young kids {ahem...boys} you'll know what it looks like to "search" in a store {basically it looks like racing up and down the aisles as fast as possible while at the same time keeping your eagle eyes on the lookout while also sweet talking your kids into behaving and engaging with them to see what they can find - my boys liked the hats and the little animal nicknacks.}.

in the end, i think i did come out with some great finds.

i got 2 dress shirts - one for each of the boys; we'll roll up the sleeves for a beachy look - both from old navy as well as a pair of gorgeous brown ankle boots for me (for $9!).

i know. ankle boots aren't really summery but i honestly could not resist. i've got some plans for these babies and our photo shoot tomorrow.

now to prepare my kids. you can dress 'em up, but you can't make 'em smile. 

but we can definitely be flexible and have fun. 

so hopefully we get the fun and the smiles. 

here's hoping!

more noah funnies

today during the boys' bath time, noah and i got talking about men and women and being married.
it went something like this:

n: and one day when i become a man i'll have kids too!


me: well, if you want kids, you'll have to get married so they can have a mommy.


n: so i'll marry you!


me: aw, that's sweet noah, but i'm already married to daddy. so you'll have to marry someone else.


n: what about auntie jen?


me: *laughs* nope, she's married to uncle graham.


n: what about miss jen?


me: nope. she's married to mr. nick!
*pause*
you know how you have friends like hannah b and hannah t and leah? well when you become a man, they will become women. so maybe one day you'll marry one of them.


n: yeah. like hannah t. 


noah thinks about this for a bit longer and then becomes distracted by jude playing with the bubbles. jude flops on his belly in the bathtub and laughs. noah does the same and laughs as well.

n: i think i'll just marry jude.


oh kids. i love their innocence. i love the lack of filter. i love being a mommy.

.

God is so good.
you know when people say that and you're all,

really? that's so cliche.

but you know when you say it and feel like sobbing at how good He really is and how overwhelming His goodness is in your life?
that.
Jesus is totally and completely all-consuming and everything i need. and He's been reminding me of His goodness is sweet, sometimes subtle ways.

like in a book given to me by a wonderful, wise woman. or a book i've already blogged about. or from His Word here. and here. and here. and through a song on the radio.
and every sunday at church i'm just a mess because He is speaking so clearly and ministering to me and preparing me for this crazy adventure i'm about to go on.

i am learning about trusting Him. for everything. to be everything. in everything.
i am learning to thank Him. for everything. in everything. because He is. everything.

like, not just love

i took off my engagement ring the other day.
women in uganda don't wear engagement rings and quite a few don't wear wedding bands.
i'm already getting used to how it feels.

today we went down to the beach and oh.my.heart.
it does me good to be there.
jude fell asleep a few minutes before we got there so jamie and noah went for a walk along the boardwalk while i sat in the car and read my bible and listened to mumford & sons and watched two different cars parallel park with perfect execution.
the breeze was a little bit of heaven blowing in through our open car windows.

once jude was awake we had a picnic lunch consisting of boardwalk hotdogs and some of the best fries i've had in awhile.

it
was
perfect.

it was nice to just be our family. and i like our family. not just love them. but i like them too. i enjoy being together.
just us.

later on we spent some time with family friends that we've gotten together {multiple times a year} with since jamie and i were dating {and they were getting together long before that without me!} and made some more fun memories and said our good-byes and were incredibly blessed by their generosity and thoughtfulness.

we are so blessed.

eucharisteo

upon the recommendation of a new friend i bought the book, 1000 Gifts.

i read this today at the end of the second chapter. the words almost jumped off the page at me,

...life change comes when we receive life with thanks and ask for nothing to change.


i have many thoughts swirling in my head from this book so far.

and so i am consciously giving thanks and hope to chronicle my thanks here.

(1) foam swords found beside the toilet for it means that there are lively, active, laughing, imaginative children {my children} in my life.

(2) air conditioning on hot, humid days and a glass of coke zero chock-full of ice

(3) impromptu kisses from my almost 4 year old

(4) walking hand-in-hand with my husband of 7 years to the grocery store at dusk - still in love - casual, quiet conversation on the way there and back. (5) realizing we both seek out strangers' eyes when we're out in order to make eye contact.

i found a little notebook that is blank (with the first 10 or so pages ripped out - i can't remember doing this but it was likely me who did it) that i want to fill with thanks to God for His goodness in my life. for there is much to be thankful for.

summer

if this doesn't say summer to you, i'm not sure what will.

we've been having so much fun spending time with friends and family that i've barely picked up my camera and i've talked so much that i feel as though i have nothing to blog about!

{which is totally not true, but ... i'm processing verbally which is so much faster and satisfying.}

we got some bins that we're going to use in lieu of suitcases.

i bought a bunch of stuff from ikea today.

i'm making lists like a crazy woman {i actually enjoy making lists. besides, it helps me feel sane.}

the packing is beginning.

this is good.

and

i finally completed my "family yearbook" for 2010 and ordered it today {from blurb in case you were wondering. they are amazing. i've purchased at least 5 books from them and have NO regrets as well as being completely impressed at the quality and speed of delivery. true story.} and i'm really excited to get it. i think it will be really fun to have and look at while in uganda.

Jude-isms

{Not to be confused with Judaism}

Some things I don't want to forget that Jude says/does:

Nama & Gumpa = Grandma & Grandpa

On his baby bike he's either pumping his little legs saying "Fast! Fast! Fast!" or after getting in a good push he'll put his legs up in the air and ride out the push until he stops.

Mama up! {melt my heart}

He loves pressing buttons, turning knobs, pointing out fans, opening cupboards, pulling out cheerios, throwing his food on the floor {grrrrr}, tunnels {seriously, he loves tunnels}, cats, his bunny, swings, slides and climbing up onto anything.
He doesn't like being chased {it freaks him out}, getting his hair wet, getting "too close" to dogs, cheese, when Noah's playing with a toy that he wants {which is almost all the time} and getting his diaper changed {although he did just learn how to say "bum cream" this week}.

Neeno = Noah {I absolutely love that he calls Noah "Neeno"}