Samuel Swims!

Just for my own records, Samuel swam all by himself during swim lessons yesterday! Here is evidence (super grainy, I know. It's the best I can do with a squirmy baby on my hip while shooting): Samuel crawls out of the water after he is released.
Here's is Jude learning how to dive in his Advanced Seal class:
Doggy paddle!
Jude retires to the small pool after his lesson and sits closely to his teacher, never socializing and rarely sliding down the slide.

She's Walking.

Above: we got really distracted by a leaky washer this afternoon and found Juliet had helped herself to the Trader Joe's cookies above. Below: they were taken away immediately (well, after we captured a few pictures =)).

Also: Juliet is really into accessories - wearing things on her head (headbands! Yay!), wearing things on her wrist, nail polish, shoes. What a girl!!

I think it's safe to say that Juliet is now walking. She spent the day cruising along furniture and walking halfway across the room - so for the sake of the baby book - at 15 1/2 months (adjusted), Juliet is a walker. Not to say that she won't spend most of her time scooting still....

Jude Turns Three!

Jude had his third birthday on Monday and it was a day spent running around (Samuel's preschool pick up and drop off), and then an evening at home. The first picture above is Jude loaded up in the car ready to go to Value Village (his choice location for picking out a birthday gift). Jude really wanted a pink Barbie car and a tea party for his birthday.

He picked up a few cars at Value Village. Unfortunately the Barbie car wasn't there this time - we'll buy it when we find it =).
We picked up some holds at the library - his cousin Wes was with us for the day.
Jude waited patiently for everyone to sit around the table to sing "Happy Birthday" to him.
"Fire!" he exclaimed when I lit the candles. Maybe he'll be a fireman someday like Colin.
Jude, Colin, Samuel and Wes went to see "How to Train Your Dragon" and loved it. We also went out to Vietnamese (his choice) and had our tea party there. What a wonderful day for my sweet three year old!

She Walks!!

Yesterday Juliet officially took her first three steps. Yay!! She's 13 months. It's really hard to catch her in action, but here are some photos from this morning.

Super blurry - but you can guess how hard it is to take pictures of her at this age. She's so busy!

She also likes to sneak off and crawl up the stairs....

Things I'm Loving This Week

I've hidden myself in the office while my children burn off their ultra-caloric dinner of Chunky Potato Soup and biscuits. I realized that I haven't taken many moments to blog in the last week as I decompress from hosting twenty some-odd people for Thanksgiving. Saturday night, I even snuck out to a movie by myself. A few years ago, I would have been horrified to sit in a romantic movie (yep, I said romantic) by myself, without a friend in sight. That's the cool thing about being thirty. You just don't care what others think. Especially when those others are teenagers (yep, it was a teenage romantic movie). I actually loved being out and about alone on a Saturday night.

The other things I'm loving this week? Jude's uncanny ability to be creative. He shoved every toy in sight into my microwave and I was too darned amused with the whole charade to tell him to stop. Do you see his big guilty eyes through the microwave door here?

On a different note:

-Samuel learned to ride his bike with no training wheels a couple of weeks ago. Really? When did he get so old?!

- Juliet did her first sign tonight - she signed "all done" after she was finished eating. She also tries to put her own shoes on. Now to transfer all these little accomplishments into her baby book!

- I am itching to get on the Christmas crafts - cards, sewing gifts, etc. On the other hand, I am also enjoying my craft stuff being completely hidden away for the moment - clutter free rooms really have the Feng shui thing going.

-As I spotted a lawyer walking with large files toward the Clackamas County Courthouse this morning, I had a flash of memories surrounding my dream to go to law school someday. I'm still not sure what box to file those dreams in. But then I realized that I truly am where I should be right now.

My Big Girl

Juliet is super nosy and is always up in the boys' business (as much as one can be that can't walk or crawl). She has enjoyed standing for a couple of weeks now and I stood her up at their picnic table today - fun to be had there!