Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Some Things to Speak of

Jude is growing so fast, everyone says the same thing about their kids, it's total mommy jargon, I know. I will tell him a new word just once and I can see his little sponge wrap itself around it and soak it in. A few weeks ago I heard him calling from upstairs over and over again. I finally realized what he was saying, "Christin! Christin!" The past few days the new phrase has been, "that is so funny!" Everything is "so funny." He has also taken up something that I say a lot (didn't know I said it a lot), "oh, man." As in, "oh man, firetruck is loud!" Or, "oh man, I eat crackers!"























Speaking of crackers. Does anyone else not understand what compulsion drives a 2 year old to those little crunchy squares? They are a fairly new staple in our house these days, I have never been a cracker-eater. Jude is a little obsessed with them, and they are a rather convenient snack, unfortunately. It's much easier to throw some in a bowl than to cut up an apple or strawberries (ok, that sounds lazy). Look, we pick our strawberries around here, I'm tired from picking, I don't feel like cutting.




Speaking of picking strawberries. There are so many great fun things to do here. I am still literally in awe of what I see whenever I leave my house. I was talking to my neighbor the other day and we both were saying how we couldn't believe we get to live here. This is how it is in VT in the summertime. Everyone gets a little giddy and full of themselves. We say things like, this is so worth the cold months. I actually had someone tell me that the high cost of living here is like a luxury tax. Every Saturday we walk downtown to the farmers market. Live music, farmstands, art booths, food vendors, jasmine rice with curried vegetables and steamed dumpling, $3. We also walk to the beach on Lake Champlain, right across the street from our house. Jude and I have taken to going in the mornings when the sun is still behind us. I sit under this great tree on the sand with Wren and Jude splashes around with his bucket and shovel.





Speaking of time with Jude. I took Jude on a date the other day, Kevin stayed home with Wren for several hours. I have been feeling a little disconnected from him lately and Kevin suggested I spend an afternoon just the two of us. We went on his first ever trip to the movie theater and saw Winnie the Pooh. My little guy is pretty sensitive, he's scared of anything even remotely thematic. So when the trailer for the Disney documentary about chimpanzees came on, he buried his head in my shoulder and squirmed and cried. I thought maybe I had made a big mistake by bringing him there, but when the movie started he seemed to really like it. Then we had some good froyo at Ben & Jerry's and did happy dances around trees on Church Street.



Speaking of happy dances. Kevin took Jude on his first kayak ride. Jude did the happy dance when he saw the boat and jumped right in. Wren and I took a nap on the beach while the boys boated. Jude was fast asleep by the time they came back into the beach. THEN, that night Kevin set up the tent in the backyard and they slept out there all night! This kid loves the great outdoors, just like daddy. Our neighbor Vicky and her 2 hids joined our camping party that evening and we roasted s'mores over a fire pit. So fun.







Speaking of s'mores. A couple of weekends ago 6 great friends from NJ came to see us! They brought a backyard cookout with them, including lots of good s'mores. Saturday, farmers market for lunch then beach and kayaking, then nighttime cookout. Sunday, home fellowship meeting at the park overlooking the lake, picnic, worship. God blessed and refreshed us by bringing these lovely familiar faces to Vermont.







Speaking of lovely faces. Wren is smiling these days! Smiling and laughing, it just floods my heart with good things. She gets so distracted when I pull out the camera, but I managed to capture these pictures of happy smiles.








And speaking of happy smiles. Jude has a new best buddy here in Vermont that illicits lots of happy smiles. Augustina is is special favorite these days, she's a few months younger than Jude and they play together so well. They ask for each other on days that they don't see each other, it's way too cute. There is a picture of a baby on the side of a diaper box that we have that Jude thinks is Augustina. The other day we were walking down the stairs and Jude says, "Augustina no fall down the stairs." Ok.





Tuesday, August 9, 2011

I can't believe You did this

I said this to God today while I watched her sleep. Sometimes I am just in awe.