Shopping Fun

Well, I decided to brave the local Wal Mart for a gift for Sarah. There was an $80 difference between the everyday price and the Black Friday price so I figured it would be worth it. I got up at 4:15 and went straight to the store and headed for my line. Items in this particular department had to be paid for on the spot, so when the madness began and people began to scurry all over the store, our line remained quite still. During the wait, people were continually asking, if there were any items left, to which the customer service rep would answer, yes they have plenty. No one ever asked about my particular brand of item though. After an hour and a half of waiting, I got to the front and was asked what I wanted. When I told them, they said that the item I wanted was going for the everyday price and that they were all out. Nevermind that I had been there just yesterday asking that department about the current price and the black friday price. So, I got a great deal on some goldfish crackers and went home.

On the bright side, no one in my family is vomiting and no one is dying in my spare bedroom.

Brandon and Heidi, thanks for making this holiday season more tolerable.

Thunderstorms

As Jude continues to resemble Sarah almost exclusively, I have been looking for other ways that he is like his Daddy, particularly in personality.
Just now we shared a great moment as a thunderstorm was rolling through. I have always been fascinated with thunderstorms and love any chance to watch one roll through, even if I have to get out in it. So when the thunder started rolling, I took Jude out under the carport of the church. I was inspired to sing "How Great Thou Art" at near lung capacity. Jude, looked around at the storm, then at me, and then began clapping. It was something I myself have done many times when a particularly good lightning show was taking place. I would applaud God for his wonderful display. Now I can do that with Jude. I am certainly glad he shares my appreciation of thunderstorms.

Oh, and these pictures are just a slight twist on two of the previous pictures.

Halloween Pics

Today is the day before thanksgiving, and so it is only fitting to take Jude's halloween pics today. Well actually we only have one Halloween picture so far, the others are just cute pics of Jude. Before long, I will load up the recent video of Jude and post some highlights. Check back on Christmas eve for our Thanksgiving pictures.

A few pics

Slow Down!!!!

The past two weeks Jude has gone into a development frenzy. Two weeks ago he took the very first crawling steps. Now, not only is he crawling all over the place, but he can also climb the two steps that go from our bedroom to our bathroom. And he has started pulling up on things and has gone from stomach to standing all on his own. Sunday, at an area wide devotional, we were singing some "clap happy" songs and we turned to see him clapping along with the songs. That was the first time I had ever seen him clap. Now, the very next day, he will clap anytime he sees Sarah or I clap. Today, we took him for his 9 month checkup (20 lbs, 29 inches/45th and 75th percentile respectively) and the doctor discovered that his first tooth has broken through. With all of this, doesn't it figure that our video camera broke 3 weeks ago. I finally exhausted the possibility of cost efficient repairs and bought a new sony handycam with a 40x optical zoom. It shipped today, so we should be able to film him by the end of the week, by which point I am sure he will be walking, running and playing soccer at the rate he is going. But on the bright side, with the 40x zoom, he can crawl or walk through our yard, down the street and across the highway and I will be able to get great footage from the comfort of our front porch swing. Technology sure has made parenting simpler.
Another development came last week when I was listening through the new Paste CD with Jude on my lap. He was mostly unresponsive through all the songs until #19. On that particular song, he began to slap his knee on beat with the music. Normally, this would have made me proud, but in this instance it broke my heart. It was the most backwoods, redneck, country song I have ever heard on Paste, AND THATS THE ONE HE IDENTIFIES WITH??!! Chalk that up as parenting failure #1. Let's hope there is still time to reshape his musical tastes before too much damage is done.

On a side note, we will have more pictures soon. In the tradition of the Brandon and Heidi Baker family, we will take Jude's Halloween pictures within the next few days as well as his 9 month pictures. As soon as I get them on the computer, I will post them here.

I Still Love You New York

Grand Central Terminal

On the Ferry To Liberty Island

In Line for the Ferry

The Ladies

Ferry View of Lady Liberty

Manhattan From the Pedestal

Tonna at the Reception

Central Park

Adrian and Joseph

Ground Zero

Break while waiting in line for the Statue tour

McAlisters at breakfast

Night at the Museum

Mom and I before the wedding

the Wedding

Wedding Exit

The Plane Ride

Central Park

Date Night

Tavern on the Green

Times Square

Well, we are back from the city and back in a county that has 1/15th of the population of the smallest borough of NYC. We are glad to be back where a nights hotel stay will more than cover our month's rent. Jude had the most fun of our family, with myself coming in a close second, with Sarah trailing behind with a dissatisfaction mostly due to my persistent desire to see and experience everything in Manhattan. We are in agreement that the best part of the week was the wedding and the reception. It was such a unique experience to watch a wedding in a beautiful cathedral style auditorium with an opera choir, amazing violin, piano and organ players, and one of the largest pipe organs in the country. "A Chorus Line" was a good introduction into Broadway in that it gave us a greater appreciation for the work that goes into becoming a Broadway star, but was definitely not spectacular in any sense. The weather was beautiful for our Statue of Liberty tour, and we had excellent Korean, Italian, Indian food as well as some American food and pizza. We had so much fun eating that I gained 8 pounds, even with the continual walking required in Manhattan with Jude strapped on me.

Some moments of note were that Jude crawled for the first time in the Excelsior Hotel on the Upper West Side with Sarah, Granny and I all watching when he did it. He also fell off of a bed for the 3rd and 4th times while in NYC. Jude got so many compliments while walking around the city because he never stopped smiling. I cannot stress enough how much he enjoyed the City. We even got chased down by a street artist because he wanted to take pictures of him with his head sticking out of my jacket. We got to meet one of Sarah's best childhood friends that she hadn't seen in years. And Sarah spotted a famous person. Jason Patric...off of the Lost Boys. I didn't turn around in time to see him. I was more interested in famous buildings and places than famous people.