Father/Son Photoshoot

Sometimes you just want to take pictures of your guys when you are out enjoying pastries. Although, it always takes some cajoling.

Cousins

This Thanksgiving was the first time Jude and his two cousins on my side were all together for Thanksgiving. The girls were instant best friends and Jude wanted to do whatever they were doing. Of course, when it came to picture time, the girls loved having their picture taken, while Jude pouted.

Pumpkin Patch

The weekend before Halloween, we headed out to to Sweetberry Farms in Marble Falls. I love this place. With the drought this year, there weren’t as many pumpkins as years past, but it was still fun.

Jude rode a barrel train on his own. It almost made me cry to watch him drive away on his own (although it was only going 1 mile an hour), waving to mommy and daddy. At the end of the day, Jude picked out his favorite pumpkin and we ate strawberry popsicles.

Actual Coversation

[headed towards the trashcan with messy trash on my hands only to discover there is no trashbag in there]

ME: Urrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhh!

JUDE: Mama, what did daddy do?

Museum Day 2011

We love Museum Day. By we, I mean Joe and I. Jude…not so much. It’s probably because he’s just getting over being sick, but he was just grouchy for most of the day and non-compliant. Buck up, young man! You’ve got 15 more years of this, so you better start to love museums. We only went to the LBJ Presidential Library today due to heat and bad attitudes. It was my first time going, and it was actually interesting to see all the events that occurred during his presidency.

The Eggmen, a Beatles cover band, played outside and we had free snacks that were invented in the 60s (slim jims, ho-hos, poptarts, pringles, & doritos). Gotta love the crazy Austinites that dance like they just emerged from some time machine.

Bedtime

The both like to listen to bedtime stories. Every boy needs a dog!

Swim Lessons

Jude started swim lessons yesterday. He had fun, except that he couldn’t go down the slides, he doesn’t like when people sing songs (there are songs during swim lessons), and he had to listen to someone else. But he is a natural in the water.

Land of Enchantment

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New Mexico

Earlier this month, we went on vacation to Santa Fe, New Mexico. The vacation was long overdue, since I haven’t had a proper one since before Jude was born. We were nervous, since Jude hadn’t been on a car ride longer than 3 hours and made plans to stop frquently and add extra days for driving time. But, he did amazingly well. We drove there in one day and he was just fine, thanks to this invention: the portable DVD player.

The trip was great. Very relaxing, despite a few snags (Jude locked my iphone for the week but making his own 3 year old password & getting a speeding ticket on the way home). But the best part was the weather. Oh man, warm but not crushingly hot and humid. The night weather was cool and a surprise for a Texan in July.

Santa Fe was a cute city. I didn’t realize how small it was until we got there and googled the population. But, it was easy to navigate (a plus) and we were close to everything we wanted to do.  I wish I had more time to do some shopping.

We officially crossed the state line. Jude was freaked out by the flying ants which were rather large in his estimation.

Joe has this thing about wanting to take pictures in front of teepees.

An acutal ghost town in Texas near the border. Joe was really interested in it and took lots of creepy pictures. This one sums it up the best.

My baby. Thank goodness he slept for a third of the drive. Heading northwest in Texas is kinda boring.

This is our casita where we stayed. It was a charming studio rental with — wait for it — a hot tub. That’s right!

We visited the New Mexico State Capitol. Joe is having some hijinks with the statues on display.

They love art in New Mexico. Every inch of wall space in the Capitol was covered with local art. This was my favorite piece.  A buffalo made of mixed media. You can’t tell, but there were things like film canisters, plastic spoons, a fishing rod, that were all used to construct this sculpture.

The next day we went to Pecos National Park to view some Pueblo ruins.  Joe said this was his favorite part of the trip. We even went inside a kiva, which was pretty neat.

On the outskirts of town, we went to visit the Camel Rock. I love the sky and how it frames Jude in this picture.

We also went to some cool museums and shops, but I don’t have any pictures of those places. I imagine we will return to visit at another point in our family history.

Birthday Camping

We took Jude camping for the first time on his 3rd birthday this year. Our friends, Courtney & Steve, invited us to camping at Inks Lake with them and their girls. We had fun, but my it was extremely hot. Judd lived swimming (and throwing mud and rocks) in the lake and fishing with his Daddy. We even had rainbow cupcakes to celebrate Jude’s birthday.

The funniest part of the whole evening was all the animals we saw in the evening. Since there was no campfire, they came awfully close to us. In the tent, we could hear them sniffing around the tent. We saw a skunk, raccoons, nutria, and a pair if deer. Before he went to bed, Jude and the girls played with glow sticks in the tent and they were making “laser light show” videos with the camera on my phone. They got a kick out of watching their glow stick movies.

The worst part was the heat. Poor Jude woke up at 3:00 am to tell us he was hot. He was delirious. We ended up sleeping in the car because our tent was so humid. The second worst part was getting “shushed” by out neighboring campsite. We were laughing about a skunk that snuck up on us and apparently that was too much for her. “Seriously, it’s 12:30!” she yelled. I guess we didn’t get the memo that camping wasn’t supposed to be fun.

I hope Jude might have some memories of this trip, but if not, we will be telling him about it for years to come.

Reading for fishing (after swimming)


What’s camping without an iPod for music?


Setting up at the fishing hole


Making memories


What do you mean I have to sleep in here?

Sewing Classes

During Spring Break, I took a beginners sewing class at the Stitch Lab. It was so much fun! I even convinced Joe to let me use our escrow overage check to buy a new sewing machine. Last week, I took an Amy Butler Bag class to make myself a new summer purse. I’m super proud of my creations, because I get to say, “Oh, I made that.”
I can’t wait to take more classes; already in my wishlist are pajama pants and a reversible skirt class.

Here are some of my creations.

Throw pillow with a zipper. I made a matching pillow at home so I could put them on the couch.


Messenger bag


My new purse