picking blueberries

Well, the leaves are turning and I'm reminded that it's time to finish up some summer posting. I suck at blogging, seriously. If you've stuck around, bless your heart, and thank you :)

Since I fall short of logging all of the stuff we do, I've decided to only expect myself to post happenings that fall within these categories:

1. Amusing (to me) stories, usually involving the short and stout people who live here
2. Major (to us) events in our lives
3. Photos I can share quickly with only a few words
4. Traditions I'm starting that will hopefully weave themselves into the fabric of our family
5. Posts that give me an excuse to list things

The perfectionist in me can calm down about the fact that there is no way to log it all, nor is it a necessary part of life. As long as I take some photos and video now and then, and dust off this blog once in awhile, my family members will not resent me as adults for not documenting anything. There will be plenty to read and look at, let's not ruin the moments we're having by salivating over making sure they're forever captured.

Just a little self-pep talk there.

On to one of our new traditions: a little blueberry-picking expedition to Post Farms!

I don't think Jude could quite believe that there was an entire field of blueberries that no one was eating. He wasted no time.

Whose pail is whose?

Theo's usual mode of obsessively watching what Jude is doing.

Grass in the face. Thanks, bro.

They both have old man hats now. Jude actually wore the blue one Theo has on, but probably at eight weeks old rather than eight months (the child has a huge gourd).

One thing I recall happening as we left... Jude was walking ahead of me down a blueberry row to the car and suddenly yelled, "QUESADILLA!" (Kids.)

We plan to pick these every year, freeze them, and use them in our oatmeal and smoothies all year long. Nothing like freshly picked food, even if you're eating it frozen in January.

The fall wardrobe

I am obsessed with picking up two-dollar flannel shirts at thrift stores in size 3T.  

If you see Jude this fall, he'll be in flannel.  And probably a pair of sagging jeans because he has no bum and nothing from 24 months on fits his lower half.  

Feel free to squish him a bit when you do see him.  We do.

Stylin'

I've heard it said that it isn't as fun to dress boys as it is to dress girls. Frankly, I love boy stuff. Better than girl stuff. Not that I've ever had any opportunity to buy girl things, but whatever. Don't tell me the items below aren't more irresistible than any tu-tu you've ever seen. Don't tell me.

My friend Ernie has a hat similar to this one, picked by his wife of good taste, Kristen.
I think Jude could pull it off spectacularly.

From Woodland Rogue on Etsy

If we lived in Liverpool I might dress him in this:

But these will do. Based on British flashcards.
(They'd do a whole lot better if they weren't so bloody expensive.)

From Charlie and Sarah on Etsy

OR, Jude and mama could be twinners. A shirt for him, a bag for me:

Charlie and Sarah again, on Etsy

OR we could be twinners again wearing matching shirts.
This may be taking it too far. But I'll admit, I'm going there in my head.




From Happy Family on (where else) Etsy

Hmmm. There is a 2nd birthday coming up. And I suppose I could make a couple of exceptions to his second-hand wardrobe, for the occasion.

Handmade Baby Bling

Jude has two new pairs of booties from friends and family that I need to show off.

These are his Mongolian baby boots that we got from Rhoda and Johan, friends who just finished up a stint teaching in Korea and went to Mongolia before they came home. (First of all, jealous, secondly, thankful they thought of Jude while there). Apparently many a Mongolian babe toddles around in these. I think they are made of wool and leather and are handmade by someone. Nice.

Here's a pic of J & J before church a few Sundays ago. Bambino is wearing a fantastic pair of hand-knit booties that were made by Jono's cousin Rachel. (Please note: he is also wearing a sweater.) My favorite part are the teeny wooden buttons. Rachel quick stitched them out during the few days we spent at their place in Seattle. Skillz.

I know most mama blogs tend to showcase the mama's own crafty abilities. Maybe you noticed that mine does not follow this trend. Someday I'll hone my fine motor skills and learn to sew and knit something other than a scarf that requires the same stitch over and over. Meanwhile I'll continue on that rust-orange scarf I started, like, two years ago.

The Bathrobe

Need I say more?

P.S. Did you notice that I am currently sucking at keeping up with my weekly installment? Well, I am. It's supposed to be Jude Discovering Stuff. He's discovering plenty - I just don't feel like taking pictures of it all the time. I hate to say it, but I think I'll sign off of it for now. Don't worry. If Jude happens to be wearing a hat or discovering something that is putting me over the edge, I will be sure to share it with all of you :)

Making a Comeback...

Just for this week, Jude in a Hat is making a comeback. This is almost my favorite one so far. Jono's Aunt Kathy found it at a garage sale, and I call it his "old man hat". He is scrumptious in it, don't you think?

Tree Hugger

I don't know about you, but our weekend was fantastic.

On Saturday we went to the farmer's market for opening day of the season. Jude wore his spiffy knit mukluks (Thanks Aunt Jessie ;) The Schnitz Deli is on our way over there, and there was a couple sitting at a table out on the sidewalk. As we passed the guy said, "Look at that." His girlfriend said, "Oh my gosh." Then they both started laughing. We have to be careful. He may cause car accidents in these.

We went for our first Spring hike together on Sunday. We even skipped church to do it (shhh). I promise you we did not brain wash him into this, but it's official: Jude is a tree hugger. Now that he can face forward in his baby carrier, his new thing on walks is to reach for everything we pass and try to grab it.

He also has taken to sputtering with delight on every walk. It's hard to describe what sputtering is, but he gets so excited that he starts making a "pbbthhhht" sound with his lips. Spit starts flying everywhere, the droplets airborne and glistening in the sunlight. After a good sputter he gets a sloppy grin on his face. You can hear him doing it for a second in Part I of the video footage (below).

Here are a few pics of our tromp through the woods at Seidman Park.

See that green stuff? What is that?

Jude is looking in the river.

Tromp tromp tromp...

Tromp tromp tromp...

See, I told you!

I took some video footage out there too. You can probably guess what my subject was.

Hike Part I:

Hike Part II:

Hike Part III:
(Turn up the volume on this one.)

J to the U to the D to the E...

...in a H to the A to the T. This hat is a little big on him and looks like head gear at the moment. But sadly, it is Jude's very last hat. I will have to start a new installment. (No, this is not a plea for everyone to go out and buy him a gazillion hats. But if the spirit moves you...)

Please vote your preference:

Jude About Town
Jude in a Tank Top
Jude in Booties
Jude Doing Grown-up Things That Are Funny When a Baby Does Them
Other Ideas?

You

Someone told me something about you. They told me you want to see Jude. They said you're feeling picky today, because you don't just want to see Jude. You want to see Jude in a HAT. I get it.

Well, here you go then.

Yes, I know how unbelievable this is. And it's time they took me to the nut-house, because it's putting me over the edge.

FINALLY.

Most people have a babe's room ready months before he/she makes an entrance, but it just didn't happen that way for us. With the chaos of moving in when I was nine months preggers, we were a tad behind. Sure we had a crib and changing table - the essentials - but for me a room isn't really finished until there's stuff on the walls and it's arranged to my liking. I can be a little, shall we say, picky about the placement of objects, so it took even longer than it should have.

But all is well now - we finished the room last week. I don't know about you, but I love peeking into other people's houses to see what they have around and what it says about 'em. If you're as nerdy about that sort of thing as me, you'll enjoy this post, if not, you'll think this post is, well...nerdy.

A few interesting tidbits:

1) I'm not big on the blue-for-boys, pink-for-girls idea in bedrooms. So we did green walls and lots of bright accent colors.

2) The "E is for Elephant (and Emily)" bib was mine. My mom made it for me. Now it makes a nice wall hanging for Jude.

3) The four-bird textile (now in a frame) was brought back from Panama from Jude's globe-trotting Great Grandma Klooster. She went there just a year or two ago. The rest of us can only hope to be as cool in our 80s.

4) The rocking chair was my parents', and my mom rocked me and all three of my brothers to sleep in it when we were bambinos.

Pics! (Click to make them bigger.)

He's Crafty...

...He's just my type.

Foxes are crafty no? I think it's a fox. A quirky one. It says "Aladdin" on the tag, but I don't remember any foxes kicking around in that flick.

This hat was found by Jan and Dad (aka Grandpa and Grandma K) at a second-hand shop. Yay for weird thrift store finds!

For Grant

Do not look directly at the lion booties. Your head might explode.

Does anybody know what time it is?

It's time for a little Jude in a hat.

(He's flashing the peace sign in that last one.)

It's Friiiiidaaaaayyy...

That's right, it's Jude in a Hat. In typical proud-mama style, I couldn't pick just one.

And then this super fat one:

Rachel Dieleman made this hat with her own two hands