Boston Trip

Isobel

Jude is two! TWO!

Can you believe it? Jude. Jude Jude Jude. It has been two whole years since the glorious day of your birth!

Brooke was out of town on business yesterday (the actual birthday) so we celebrated with cupcakes and presents on Friday. And then we celebrated a little more yesterday without Daddy. We had delicious Birthday Cake Pancakes for breakfast, visited the Natural Science Center, and in the afternoon we went out for milkshakes.

So I think he had a good birthday; it's always a little hard to tell with stoic Jude. He's so sweet though. We all adore him. I'm so happy he's in my world.

Anyway, here are some more photos! The cupcakes are probably the most beautiful-looking and worst-tasting thing I've ever baked. The birthday banner is our traditional baby/toddler bday decor. And lastly, feast your eyes on the fruits of Jude's birthday portrait sesh.

Happy birthday Jude!

Smells like teen spirit

Guess who's back, back again? It's me Brooks (as some people call me despite reading my name on my business card). I feel like sharing with you the truth about germs: They are EVERYWHERE EVEN IN UR HOUSE AND ON YOUR HANDS SO WASH THEM 4-7 TIMES A MINUTE OR YOU WILL BE LIKE THOSE GROSS PPL IN CONTAGION AND SOMEONE BEHIND ME SNEEZED IN THAT MOVIE AND I ASKED THAT PERSON TO LEAVE. my arms are raised because i believe in song.

Brooks- Hey Isobel.
I- wut.
Brooks- Guess who's birthday it is today?

I- Yours.

Brooks- And Stella's

I- yeah right

Brooks- you don't believe me?

I- nope

Stella- Ruh Roh.









That shirtless kid was the ringleader in the rare photograph of an undercover fingerpainting money laundering front. All monies collected went to buy Lindor Truffles.

Girl, girl, shirtless Casper the ghost.

The PA Shiffs paid us a visit and left one of their kids here for what they called "collateral for a really big deal" and promised to get her in April "when the showers will bring May flowers; wink, wink". It was awkward.
THE END.

Cadillaaaaaac Dinner

So! Each year, Isobel and Jude's school holds a big fundraising dinner and auction. This year I co-chaired the auction part with my friend Dani. We worked hard and learned a lot. Here are some of the things I learned:

• I'm not really a great leader, but I CAN follow directions
  
• I know nothing about planning events
• Local businesses here in Greensboro are very kind and generous in their support of B'nai Shalom
• Brooke is GREAT at getting out there and talking to people and asking for things. (I already knew this, but I was reminded.)
• I miss my kids when I'm away from them a lot.
  

But you know what? The dinner itself was really fun and successful. I loved seeing so many of my fellow mom friends lookin' fancy! I took advantage of the opportunity to buy a new dress (which I'll also get to wear to Brooke's cousin's wedding in April) and get a professional updo for the first time ever! Unfortunately Brooke was out of state for a food show; it would have been more fun if he had been there for the culmination, especially since he helped so much with all the preparation. Next year I hope we'll be able to attend together.

Don't you love that fabulous pin curl? (Thanks again, Hayley!)

Of course I can't write an entire post without mentioning and presenting photos of my children, so here are some recent favorites:



















See? They're still cute. Here are some tidbits about them: Jude has skipped his nap for three days in a row now. I'm starting to worry that the end is near for my long, quiet afternoons. :( On a happier note, Isobel can write her name! She puts a smiley face in the "O" every time, which I think makes her name an adorably accurate representation of her happy, sweet personality.
After watching videos of my niece, Amélie, I realized that it's been ages since I took a video of Jude. So a couple of nights ago I took this one of him and Stella. Enjoy!

Old Salem with the Little Guys

Remember when I mentioned Old Salem before? Well, recently Jude and I had a little playdate there with Amanda, a friend who has the hookups (a membership) and her little boy, Kingston. This was my first time getting to go in the buildings and see demonstrations of Moravian life. It was awesome!

I love old stuff.

Jude's Room

About six months ago I posted about Isobel's room. Then I wasted a whole bunch of time feeling guilty about Jude's, since I hadn't really put any effort into making it look like it belongs to him. I had lots of grand ideas: painting the dresser, painting the wall behind the dresser, a painted shelf to display Jude's name block...

None of those things happened.


But since we're hoping to buy a house sometime within the next year or so, I'm just going to leave Jude's room as is and call it good enough. We did hang a few pictures, and it already has a great color on the walls. Jude's is the smallest room by far, but it's my favorite (even though it always smells like diapers) because it gets the most natural light.


So anyway, here's the biggest project that happened in Jude's room: I painted three lowly Ikea spice racks to match a baby gift from Nicole that I wanted to use as the basis for the room's color scheme.

Here they are before books...

And after!

They were really easy and quick to paint and put together. My only complaint is that they aren't very sturdily attached to the wall (I just used nails because I stink at hardware-type things) and if anybody hangs on them they're going to come a-tumblin' down. They've been up for a week, though, with no unfortunate incidents. So maybe it won't be a problem. (Knock on wood.)
Here are a few more views of the room:

I love love love those yellow walls! How do you like the smears of white and blue paint? They're left over from when we painted Isobel's furniture in this room. Maybe it's because I'm used to looking at them or because I know I'm too lazy to do anything about them, but I kind of like the way they look against the yellow.
The prints above Jude's bed are from this awesome etsy shop, Collage-O-Rama. And the cars lined up on his dresser are automoblox: toy cars that are aesthetically pleasing enough that they deserve to be displayed.