Outtakes from Christmas Card Picture Attempt

We tried to take Judah's picture in his Christmas sweater to send out with our Christmas card. We ended up using a picture of him from this summer because the ones John Mark took at Christmas looked like these two. Better luck next year?

Judah's Second Birthday Party

We had Judah's second birthday party right before Christmas. He had a firetruck-themed party (most of his favorite books are about firetrucks and firemen). It helped that Papa is a fire chief and brought party favors for Judah and all the kids who attended (thanks, Papa). We appreciated having our church friends and so much family at the party. Judah ate birthday cake but seemed overwhelmed by opening the presents. As soon as he would open one, he was looking back to me to see what was next.

More from December 2009

Concentrating on the t.v. He is like his mama - don't talk to him while he is watching.
I wish we had gotten this pic before our Christmas cards went out.
This one is blurry but is so cute of him coming after his daddy.

Just wanted to post some quick random pics from the month of December before getting to Christmas and his birthday party.

Bell Choir Christmas Performance

Just in case you were wondering, I am very serious while performing with the bell choir. I am not sure why JM thought bringing the camera was necessary.

Garden Club Christmas Party

John Mark and I went to the Christmas party for the Garden Club. This is the only time I have worn one of my suits that I wore to court when I was pregnant with Judah. Unfortunately, there was no buttoning the jacket in the fifth month of pregnancy with this baby.

Thanksgiving 2009

I wanted to do something different for Thanksgiving this year. We had both of our families up to Saint Matthews - including Matt and Sara (the newly engaged couple). We still missed having my dad like crazy but we survived. I can't believe I don't have any pictures of all the family or my table decorations. JM's mom and sister decorated our Christmas trees for us and my mom helped me sort through Judah's clothes. Judah, of course, loved having so many different people to play with.

Random photos from November - JGP 24 months

Judah in his big brother shirt Aunt Mandi gave him. He talks about his baby sister all the time but I am not sure how much he really understands. I am sure the addition of a new baby to the household is going to rock his world (and ours)!
Judah playing with his puppies. I think that is the only reason that I tolerate the puppies these days. That is another long story for another day.
Judah loves his friend Christopher. We had Christopher's parents over for dinner and Judah and Christopher put on a concert.

Julie's Bday Cruise

Julie decided that she wanted to go on a cruise this year for her birthday. Being her best friend, I didn't want to miss it. I adore Julie and would do anything for her - but I am not sure that I will ever step on another cruise ship again. Maybe pregnancy was to blame. I was desperately ill the entire trip and spent a ton of my time in front of the toilet for much different reasons than other people that were on the cruise (not with our group, mind you).
We spent Halloween on board the ship with Julie as the Cat in the Hat with a bunch of blue-haired "Things."
Julie sampling cough medicine.
The ride into Cozumel. I was so thankful to get off the ship and not be sick for a little while. But then it rained and rained and we ended up going back to the ship early. Argh!!
They sang happy birthday to Julie while we were at the restaurant. I made them sing again after I found the video feature on my camera. Turns out you have to pay extra for that.
Me and the birthday girl (and the baby pooch) in front of the ship.

Fall Festival

Pumpkins Judah decorated with his Nana and Aunt Mandi.
Bobbing for rubber duckies?
Fishing for lollipops.

I was on Julie's birthday cruise for Halloween and Judah was staying with his grandparents so we celebrated early by taking him to the Fall Festival at the school down the street. No, he is not dressed as one of the "Grumpy Old Men" - that's just what he was wearing that day. There weren't many activities for a two-year-old but he did enjoy fishing for lollipops and reaching in the water to pick one of the rubber duckies (after I demonstrated a couple of times). Nana and Aunt Mandi tried to take him trick or treating on Halloween but the costumes were a no-go. I really wish I had the pictures to post where they were trying to get him dressed - hilarious! Maybe next year!

Judah 22 Months

I had sorted and folded a ton of clothes to put away and had them sitting in Judah's room to put up. I walked away for a couple of minutes and returned to find that he had taken all of them out of the baskets. I am sure that he was just trying to help. You know how he loves to do laundry.
He is also a huge fan of Elmo these days and has received Elmo shirts from Nana, Granny, and Aunt Mandi. He loves to wear all of them.
The point of the picture was to show his big boy clothes for church and not to show my maternity fashion.
We have two different playgrounds behind our house - one that belongs to our church and one that belongs to the Methodist church next door. Judah loves to frequent both.

Judah 21 Months

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I promise I can explain. John Mark got a very fancy camera in September and took a ton of pics of Judah while he was figuring out his camera. I couldn't decide on just a couple - thus, another slide show. Next time, I will try to weed through and pick my favorites, but it is just so hard to pick a favorite face of Judah.

Not a Fan

Looking at the previous posts, you can see that Judah's hair got a little shaggy before we decided to do something about it. Turns out that I knew what I was talking about by waiting. Judah hated getting his hair cut. It took both me and John Mark holding him down and even then the barber was just trying to cut his hair as he screamed and moved. Mom and I took him for his second haircut right after my Papa died and he did the same thing with two of us holding him. The barber finally gave up. Luckily, John Mark has decided he wants to try to cut his hair from now on. Our first attempt was with him sitting in a chair in front of Mickey Mouse clubhouse and that was kind of okay. The second time John Mark tried to cut his hair while he was in the bathtub - Again, you would have thought that he had been injured in a prior hair-cutting attempt. No, that was me at Gayfers as a child but that's another story for another day

Judah Busting a Move

As I was going through Hawaii pictures, I found this cute video of Judah moving to the music while we were at a restaurant in Waikiki. I just had to share!

Hawaii 2009

My mom and dad have good friends with a condo in Hawaii. We planned a trip before my dad died for August. John Mark's mom was kind enough to step in so we were still able to make the trip.
This was a really rough trip for me. We were supposed to fly to Hawaii with both grandmas but our flight from Columbia was delayed and we missed their flight. All things considered, Judah was wonderful on the way over, even though we had a longer flight due to the delay. The moment the plan touched down in Hawaii I became sick and struggled with all day motion sickness the entire time we were there. And let me tell you, it was hot!!
I didn't want to pay money to have the captions on the slideshow so here's what's going on in the pictures:
1) the first set is scenery pictures
2) the second set is from Dole Pineapple Plantation
3) next is the Royal Palace
4) Pearl Harbor
5) me, my mom, and JM hiking to a waterfall (that is mud on her forehead)
6) the luau at the Polynesian Cultural Center
Looking back at the pictures has been a good reminder of how pretty the island is. I had forgotten in the midst of all my "not so good" memories.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com