Mud, planking, and friends

 During the summer, Lance gets to spend four weeks with his dad (broken up and taken here and there). Last week was one of them. Jude and Cole and I tried to stay busy while George was at work.

One day we went to Michaels and did their daily craft with some friends. Jude was much more interested in washing his hands multiple times than gluing feathers on a mask, but when he saw the glitter paint, he put the soap down.

Squeeze!

Nice!

It rained one day and of course Jude managed to find the puddles at the park.

It wasn't a big deal, but I was sad he got his brand new Spiderman shoes wet and dirty. He had picked them out himself at the store and now always requests to wear them wherever we go.

Such a boy!

Jude's noise level personality has skyrocketed and he is simply hysterical. He is constantly bouncing off the walls and yelling happily while saying the funniest things. Here is just a glimpse of the little imp that lives inside our sweet Jude:

I think my favorite thing he says now is "you're better than that!" He'll say that to me when I do something he doesn't like. Ha! 

He's also started to do the "but why, Mom? But why?" whenever I ask him to do something. When he's about to be in trouble, he'll often counter and say, "No, I a good boy!" or "But I love you!"

 One night we were trying to get Jude to go to sleep and George laid down next to him. It was too much for Jude and he promptly took his pillow and put it on top of George's head, laughed, told George he was a "sandwich" and pretended to eat him. We couldn't stop laughing.

One of my all-time favorite things he does right now is he's always always super excited when George or I have been gone for even a few minutes and we come home. He'll run up to us yelling "you came back! you came back! I love you!" and give us a big hug. This can go on for a few minutes. He'll start playing with something and then turn around, realize we were gone but are back and give us a hug and yell again, "you came back!" I'm going to be sad when this phase ends. It's good to be loved loud and often!

I love this picture. It's so Jude. Bare feet and muddy, trotting back to our house after playing outside, looking for a snack.

Popsicles. Jude's all-time favorite snack, night or day. Well, maybe it's tied with fruit snacks. Maybe. 

How can you tell a baby is mobile?

Probably when he has to take a nap like this. (Don't worry, he was breathing!)

Cole has started scooting! He's been trying to crawl for a couple weeks now and hasn't quite figured it out, but he's got the right idea.

Baby push-ups!

He gets his knees under him and starts rocking back and forth, trying to figure out where to go from there. He's figured out that if he falls forward, he moves an inch or two. That's where we are now. He's not fast, but he can roll and inch his way across the floor before you realize it.

Good job, Cole! It's a bit nice that he's a little more mobile because it is much more entertaining for him and he's content to spend a while on the floor exploring everything he can reach.

This past Saturday we met up with some old friends from George's undergrad years at Short Pump for dinner.

Matt and Lindsey with Eric, Elliott and Trygve. It was great to see them again and catch up a bit on their lives. They live so close--Richmond--but with everyone busy in school and work it's rare that we are able to get together. I'm so glad it worked out!

Jude's favorite part of the trip? 

Probably the ice cream, rivaled only by the girl washing windows at Cold Stone. She had a little shadow for a solid 5 minutes. 

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