Thanks!

I have to say, I am thankful for ALL of the military veterans who have selflessly given of themselves to serve our country. But, I am especially thankful to these three today.

My dad

My sister

My father-in-law - no military picture:-( All I could come up with was this one that I nicked off of some fishing web site!

It couldn't have been an easy decision for them to choose to be away from their families for such a long time; to know that they could be called upon to sacrifice more than just their time if duty called. But each one made that choice.

So, who are the Veterans you're thankful for today? Have you told them?

Through the years

October 3, 2008 and October 3, 2009

October 3, 2010

Jude spent his second birthday surrounded by love from family and friends from near and far. He played many hours on the play ground, ate lots of cookout food, but none of his own birthday cake, and didn't want to open any more presents once he opened the fire trucks from Mrs. Maggie and Libby Kate;-) 

As exhausting as parting hosting is for me (I am soooo not an extrovert!) watching my little man have so much fun makes it all worth it! 

Food

Jude really enjoys "wice" these days:-)

Now I Know My ABCs. . .

Jude identified his first letter early in July (late in June?) and we don't really know where he learned it from. He just pointed at an O on Grandpa Phil's shirt and kept saying, "Oh! Oooooh! oooOOOooh!"

So we decided to capitalize on that and start working on a few more. My grandmother didn't know this when she gave Jude a set of foam letters for the bath in mid-July. He took to those things right away. He would carry them from person to person asking them to tell him what letter he had. My grandfather was the most favored letter holder/reciter. What can I say? The kid definitely has a preference for men (except Mommy, of course!).

By the middle of August, when we returned to Florida to bring Aunt Vickie home, he knew all but maybe 5 or 6 of the letters. Now days, he can usually say all of them except V. In the videos below he blanked on H, too. No worries, though. He has plenty of time to get that down before he actually has to start learning what they mean.

This is broken up in two parts: A-L and M-Z. Mainly because Jude got distracted halfway through and wanted to play with the camera;-) If you're only going to watch one of the clips, it should definitely be the second one, because in that one he says W and that's the best! (bub-oh-woo!)

Yes, he definitely still calls the letter C "cookie" and yes, he is doing part of the little dance he does when we play the Cookie Monster song. So, even though we tell him repeatedly that it is C, it is probably our own fault that he still calls it "cookie."

So, please excuse a shameless brag from a proud mama. I really didn't expect him to learn his letters before he was 2. Maybe that's the normal age for that, but it was a surprise to me:-)

I KNOW!

I have GOT to update my blog! With the little sister visiting and summer travel and coming home to start my tutoring gig right away, I haven't had a moment to organize any thoughts.

But, the weekend is coming:-)