Pre-birthday noodle fun

32!!! That is how old Daryn is as of Thursday! One of his favorite meals is a Vietnamese noodle soup that our friend Teresa makes. Soooooooo, I took it on for part of Daryn's birthday gift. It is an all day soup that requires much time in the beginning to make the broth and then cooking for several hours an then compiling it with the fixin's. Teresa and I had this big plan that she would come over to my house with her kids and she would teach me how to make it. Well, wouldn't you know it, her kids got sick and she was not able to come. But, she had other plans. Her husband Luan met Jude and I at the Asian market to purchase all of the things (so I would know what to buy in the future) and then Teresa walked me though the steps throughout the day. Thanks Luan for taking time out of your day to help me. AND thank you Teresa for being at my beck-and-phone-call all day. It turned out perfect and Daryn loved it!!!! At the end of the day Teresa was able to stop by and make sure that I was doing it right. She added her 2 cents and about 1/2 of a bottle of fish oil. :) We usually have Wednesday night dinner at my Mom and Marty's before their care group but this night I had it here at our house with Andrea, Becky, Lauren (who took the picture), and all of the kids. FUN!

Art Festival

Jude painting. He painted on the star fish and then pressed a piece of paper on it to transfer the image. Here is his wand that he made. I am happy to say that he liked tasting the glue and glitter. When he presented it to Daddy I had him dance around and wave it in the air. Daddy LOOOOVVVEDD that I am sure.
Here Jude is checking out his shadow again.

While Daryn was at church Saturday morning I took Jude out to the Mainsail Art Festival. We had a lot of fun doing a couple of art projects. After the art we walked over to the playground and to the beach there. He had the most fun running in the water. Needless to say getting his feet wet was unrealistic and ultimately futile.

Jude was so proud to show his dad his picture that he did AND his magic wand! (which turned out NOT to be magic. Big disappointment. :)

Proud Mama

The other day was one of those proud days that I, as a mother, have been waiting for. Lanie and Jude were digging in my mom's back yard and found a worm. Lanie, screamed out that they had

found one and then had Jude pick it up to come and show us. She herself didn't want to pick it up so every time Jude dropped it she would point out where it fell and he would pick it back up. Proud mommy? Yes! As he got closer to my mom and sister he dropped it and my they started their high-pitch girl noises. Well, Jude thought that this was hilarious so he picked it up and threw it at mom which landed on her leg. She screamed and flicked it off of her. Then she was trying to tell Jude to pick it up again to put it in the bushes. Thank goodness he doesn't have listening right away down because he picked it up again and threw it causing more screams and laughter. Proud mommy - indeed! Finally my mom picked it up and they brought the lizard to put him in the bushes. Really, hasn't he suffered enough already? The kids all followed and watched as the wormed acclimated to his new surroundings. Then Lani yelled, "A lizard is eating the worm." And thus, the circle of life.

Where was I during all of this? Trying to take pictures. This is all that I got though. The worm is in his right hand.

Dad's visit

My dad was here visiting from Michigan this past week. We had so much fun, as we always do, with him. The kids loved playing with Poppy at the pool. Jude had a blast in the water. He loves jumping in over, and over, and over, and over, and over.........again! But getting him out of the pool was another story. Several melt-downs there. We always have good quality time with him. Even when our time together is short we never part ways feeling that it was.