Christmas Fun!

Well, more proof that Jude has Schoppet in him--he loves his mama's garlic dip--"Great-Grandma Schoppet-Style"....Nobody did it better than her...

Jude was thoroughly spoiled this Christmas...it was sort of a barn-yard, rockstar, cleaning Christmas for him. I think the guittar might have been his favorite gift and possibly mommy & daddy's least favorite!

worn out from all the opening

PJ's from Grandma!

Aunt Carrie's Here!

Aunt Carrie, Uncle Brett, and Jax arrived last night for a 3-night stay with us...Jude's already got her reading to him. He knows how to work his magic!

You know it's cold out when...

Jude will put his hat on himself and actually keep it on! Brrr...stay warm!

It's A...

Went to the Dr. today our little girl is looking mighty healthy. In fact, she's appearing to be a little ahead of schedule...but let's not hold our breath. Oh, yes, it's a girl! Very exciting...baby Jude is going to have a rude awakening :)

Christmas Deco--Check!

Not sure where the motivation came from, but the day after Thanksgiving....it arrived! That feeling you get and you're like, if I don't do it now, I may never do it, so just go for it! So, I lugged all the boxes up from the basement and the decorating began! Aunt Carrie made it over just in time to help with the outdoor lights (which I am no good at). Thanks Car! Now, we'll see how long this tree thing lasts with little Jude's hands into everything, but we're going to give it a whirl!

Coloring: A new experience

So, we enlightened Jude with crayons and a coloring book for the first time at chilli's the other day and I think it was the best meal; eaten out; WITH Jude, we've ever had! So, I thought, "why not buy him some?" He went nuts last night with it! He really gets into it...concentrates and everything!

Little Stud

So, not only did Jude not look like a girl today at church...he looked quite manly if you ask

me..Although, he slept through most of church so I really don't think anyone got to see him!

My baby gets a haircut

Well, after 3 Sundays in a row of Jude being called a "girl" because of his cute little golden locks...I decided I should maybe trim it up a bit. This is really hard to do, because you see, it makes him look older or something.. I like the "hippy-look" he had going, but Abe really didn't care for the "oh, isn't SHE adorable" comments anymore. Tonight, he was enthralled w/ the water coming out of the faucet, so I thought, "What better time than now to get out the scissors."
He's still got a few fly-aways, so it doesn't look totally clean-cut..for those of you "hippy-look" fans! (Katie & Joy)

Happy Halloween

Ok, first of all, so sorry for not posting in like 2 weeks! I think I'm starting to get some energy back now, but for a while there I was just dragging! Anyway, Jude was a rooster today for the big daycare parade.

He was so funny! All parading around until he saw his old buds from the infant room in their buggy; he had to go greet them and then help push their buggy around the playground. He thinks he is such big stuff now!

Cousin Fun

Jude thoroughly enjoyed his weekend with the Zeller cousins...Chase drove Jude all around in his little Jeep and Jude just thought he was somethin'!

Couples in Common?

What do these two couples have in common...Um, well they are now both expecting little ones---4 DAYS APART! Congratulations Lena & Aaron!

Tanner's Trip

Jude thoroughly enjoyed himself on Saturday when Grandma, Aunt Nancy, Aunt Carrie, and Mommy escorted him to Tanner's to hand-pick some apples.

Loved touching all the pumpkins..there were hundreds!
And of course, had to get a picture on the school bus..(with mom being a teacher and all :)
So, here's one of Jude's hand-picked apples that he was so proud of. Watch in the sideways video below...it's really funny, well until the end..those apples on the ground can be dangerous!

Jude knows what's up!

So, Mom bought me this book when I was pregnant with Jude. The title is Baby Owner's Manual. It gives all sorts of instructions for how to deal with a new baby-toddler age child. This book has been sitting on a shelf collecting dust for, oh, about 6 months or more and all of a sudden, this weekend Jude picks it up off the shelf...scoots on into his room, up into his rocking chair, and pretends to be reading this book. It's like, does he know something's up or what? I was just cracking up. Each day since, he's been faithfully reading it (or thumbing through the pages:)

Coming This April

Who does this boy look like?

Since the day Jude was born, he has been a "Daddy Look-A-Like" according to everyone, including myself; however, I think the tables are starting to turn. People think I'm crazy, but I can definately start to see more of me in him each day. Here's a pic of me way back when..

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

I do know when I'll be be back again...Sunday night hopefully! I leave today to travel to the big city of Boston...without my little Jude and hubby Abe :( I'll miss them to death, but am excited to travel around the big city for a few days. A little nervous, but excited! I'm staying at the Westin Waterfront, which appears to be a pretty neat hotel in the center of downtown. Meetings will consume my Saturday and Sunday a the Wang Theater and Boston Convention Center, but hopefully I can squeeze in some sight-seeing :)

Rainy Weekend

I think I still feel dirty today from wearing my silly flip flops through rain and mud all weekend long. We did brave the Morton Pumpkin Festival Friday night with Ruggard's and Millers..Jude thoroughly enjoyed the pumpkin ice cream; so much so that we had to take some from Joy's cup when his was finished! The downfall was, the rain and nasty, muddy ground! Saturday we traveled to Gridley to catch up with Aunt Carrie and Grandma/Grandpa and in the evening I attended my 10-year class reunion! That's right--10 years! Fun to catch up with old classmates. I did attend solo, as Abe was in Des Moines for a bach party. Sunday we spent the majority of the day INSIDE! Sorry no pictures from the weekend, however tonight Jude was out in full force.. It was like a dog let out of his pen after days. He was running around the yard like a Ya Who (mom would say something like that, right Car). Anyway, we were all happy for a break from the rain.

Baby Massage

When Jude was a few months old, we attended a few Baby Massage classes. We never thought it would turn into this. He now uses a battery-operated, hand-held, massage devices to soothe his head! Actually, Abe taught him. Abe has always loved to have his head rubbed; or for someone to do it for him. It's rubbing off on Jude.

Longing for Labor Day

Doesn't it seem like when you work; you long for the upcoming holiday, simply because it means a day off! This Labor Day, we spent in Gridley at Gree and Grockey's. Here are two of the chefs, preparing what would be a splendid breakfast!All the family & friends gathered around enjoying the food!
Jude had a great time with cousins, Chase and Ty.

It started out that Chase was pulling Jude around in this tractor. I knew eventually that Jude would become too heavy for him, even though he insisted on doing it.

As you can see, Aunt Katie had to take over!

Teeth in Tub--A New Concept?

Tonight Jude was watching me brushing my teeth, while he was in the tub with his boring ol' toys...pretty soon he starts pointing at me and making his normal "Uh, Uh, Uh" noise, which means, "I want that!". So, I decided, "What the heck?". If he wants to brush his teeth, that's a good thing--right? Well, not sure how good it is when in the tub. He started out just fine; keeping it IN his mouth. After about 4 minutes, he started dipping it IN the bath water and returning it to his mouth. Not so sure that Brushing Teeth in the Tub is the way to go!

4:45 Wake-Up Call

Ok, so, since Friday morning, Jude has been waking up at 4:45 everyday! What is up with this! And it's not because he is going to bed too early...in fact Saturday night he stayed up and partied pretty late with the Dohner's. I have no idea what is going on, but Abe and I aren't too crazy about it. Any suggestions?

New Experience--Brushing Teeth!

So, this morning, after a 4:45 wake-up scream from early-to-bed-goer Jude...we had a bath and Jude's first teeth-brushing experience. He only has 4, but man did we get them clean! He didn't want to give up the brush; walked around the house for probably half hour with it!
Finally, we had to do the trade-off--the Spatula!
And you can see, the spatula wasn't easy to give up either. He had it through morning nap, lunch, and pool-time! I think he may suffer from detachment issues!

Sleepy Boy!

Jude has had a really "off" week this week--taking abnormally long naps; being abnormally fussy and the past two nights, has fallen asleep on the way home from Peoria (5:00ish) and slept until the morning and yes--Missing his dinners! The girls at work are giving me a hard time for not feeding poor little Jude. I think you can see he's perfectly content here in his crib...with meat on his bones.. None-the-less..I don't know what's wrong with the poor kid!

Cooking Skills

Here is Jude displaying his cooking skills! He picked this spatula up at Gree's on Sunday and has not put it down since then. It even followed him with him to the crib for naptime! I don't know Abbey, we may have a girly-boy on our hands too! (and even without any girls in the house!)

He Shoots He Scores!

So, Jude learned, the other night, the purpose of the BALL! It's not only to throw to someone or to NO ONE (in Jude's case), but it is to SLAM DUNK! Jude, after some "positive reinforcement", or so Coach Zeller says, Jude got the hang of takin' it to the hoop (awh Kristen, do I hear a little GHS Cheer there?) Anyway, watch the video, if you wish!

Where-Are-We-Weekend

Where were we? Well, a little bit of everywhere...Friday night we spent at the Waibel's for dinner...excellent food, I might add! Sat. morning Jude and I traveled up to the north suburbs of Chicago for a little Sister/Aunt bonding and SHOPPING while Daddy attended PromiseKeepers conference in Peoria...But of course, this included a trip (or three) to Starbucks!
I thought he was reaching for my Double-Shot on ice; turns out, he just wanted the straws...who'd have thunk?

He thoroughly enjoyed the water fountain located outside Starbucks...for a moment, I thought he was Ben here...

Who could resist this smile...


So, we headed back to R-town on Sunday...and headed right to Peoria for more shopping and swimming at Aunt Joyce and Uncle Bill's pool! Jude passed out on my shoulder WHILE in the pool.. Too much shopping! Great weather. Great weekend!

South Haven Get-A-Way

We just returned yesterday from a week-long Zeller-Meiss trip to South Haven Michigan! What an awesome time we experienced...And we only had to travel 4 hours...(I think that was the best part!)
One of the houses we rented was just 1 block from the beach..so yes, we spend um...EVERYDAY at the beach! Looks like these basketball coaches (and future bb player) are discussing some serious plays in the water above.

Gree spent quality time with all the grandkids! (Her favorite part of the vaca)
Jude liked the beach, but not so much the water...He liked me holding him in the water, but really didn't want to do too much else with it. He really got into the sand aspect however!

The last night, the Zeller family spent downtown Chicago--a trip to Ovengrinders was a must! Followed by a trip to Morton's for Chocolate Souffle. Gree and Grockey kept all the kids, so it was an enjoyable night away for all of us! Thank-you for an awesome vacation! We love you!