Ponies and Somersaults

Have I mentioned before that the folks that lived her before us left behind a whole bunch of stuff?Their movers really sucked, so they fired them midmove and just did the rest themselves. They asked if we minded them leaving some things and we were fine with that because we figured we'd just get rid of what we didn't want. (We really weren't anticipating them leaving that dog, though!)

We actually gained several pieces of furniture and kid's item this way. (Also some car ramps and about 15 gas cans?!?!) One of the great kid's items was one of those horses that is just the head on a stick which we recently rediscovered in the back of Jude's closet. He spent the better part of today running around with it calling it a camel. But once Jeff put new batteries in the thing, he figured it out.

Those somersaults are our most recent achievement. Last night he just started doing them in the hallway after bath time. I truly think they would be grand if he would figure out how to keep his hands on the floor as he goes. But who know? Maybe I have a future gymnast on my hands?

He gets it!

Dream no more, Bing. Your white Christmas has become a reality. Well, at least for those of us here in Northwest Georgia. . . Jude and I both experienced our first white Christmas together this morning. And as opposed to any of the snows we had last winter, Jude really seemed to know what to do with it this year!

He also seemed to understand some things about Christmas this year. When I told him we were going to go to grandma and grandpas and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, his face just light right up. Last night, at Christmas Eve service, he sat relatively attentive while Travis gave the children's sermon about persecuted Christians in Arab nations who were not able to safely celebrate Christmas like we could. And when he gave the little gift bags to the children, Jude came running back to me with his, excitedly exclaiming, "Tra-bis! Tra-bis!" He was so proud of that little gift from Travis.

Here is our day so far:

Thomas shirt from Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa















Thomas bath toys from Mommy and Daddy
















Thomas books from Mommy and Daddy
















Do you notice a trend yet?

And then there was. . .

Checking out the snow
















Eating the snow. . .

Jude Is All Boy!

My child can spend HOURS going down the same slide, climbing back up and going down again. This realization sent me scurrying to Craigslist to find a Little Tikes plastic slide for our house --so that I can get things done around here while he's occupied with that thing! Can't get house work done if I spend 2 hours at the park;-)

We went and picked up our $30 find tonight and I really thought Jude might just decide to forego bedtime because we put it (temporarily) in the living room until we can scout out a flat spot in the yard in the daylight.

Not only was he completely enthralled by the new slide, but also by the fact that he could see exactly what I was filming, since I used the iCam on my work MacBook. This video is a bit longer than I usually take (because my other camera will only film 3 minutes worth) but your patience will be rewarded at the end when Jude counts to 10. (With help!)