Jude sounds

Jude is trying to communicate with us and he is becoming a good little mimic of sounds (especially issued by his brother).

He'll say...
"Mamamamama" for me
"Daddy, dadadadad" for Brian
"Bye" and "Hi" accompanied by a wave
 "Moo" or "Ah-moo"  for cow sounds
lip-smacking sounds for when he is hungry
"Mmmmm" while eating good food
"Vrooooommmm" for car, truck, and helicopter sounds
"Roar" for dinosaurs, dragons, and lions, but he says it really softly which is really cute
"Go-gog-go" for Go, go, go, which we often say to the boys when we want them to get moving
"Wow"...he just started saying this in the past few days.  Jude says it low and softly, like he's awestruck by something.

We still get raspberries and giggles, but only occasionally will he sign milk.  We've been trying to get him to sign more, help, and please...of which, he only sometimes signs more.

Finally more teeth

Jude finally has teeth number 3 and 4 poking through his gums.  These are his two top middle teeth. No wonder he loved gnawing on the apples last weekend at the festival.  However, he is a horrible teether.  He runs a bit of a fever, doesn't really want to eat much, wants lots of cuddles, and cries and cries and cries.  Thankfully, we had baby pain medicine on hand to help him out.

I haven't got him to give me a big grin for a photo quite yet...

And I'm selling stuff...

The stuff has been dropped off...
I'm officially selling stuff at the local mom sale happening this week.  Keeping the fingers crossed that lots get bought by other moms so I don't have too much coming back home.  And if stuff does come home again, I've got another sale in Feb and then in May to hit.

I just couldn't let go of a couple of things that my little boys loved, like the jumperoo and the toy piano.  I'll just stash those for possible future use by relatives or friends. 

But I am delighted at the possible storage space opening up by getting rid of these things!

(I really have a limit for crap build-up in our basement/ closets.  I think it all stems from the fear that I will turn into a hoarder and Brian will let me 'cause he loves me.)

On the flip side, can't wait to SHOP at the mom sale this weekend.  At one of the two sales, I get to shop early on Wednesday.  At the other sale, I generously volunteered my sister and I to help with set up at 6AM so we can shop before the crowd on Saturday.  I hope she isn't too much of a grumpy morning person, especially when sales are involved.  :-)

Our second day of festival

The second night at our campground went equally smoothly since the kids were pretty wiped out.  I, however, woke up early this time.  The nearly full moon was out shining brightly and our pillow was just outside the shade of the trees.  Bright moon = really pretty = poor sleeping.  However, the kiddos slept in to a bit past the crack of dawn :-)  We packed up all of our dust-covered things.  Brian wrangled the tent down into submission, but it took both of us to shove it into the tent bag.  The boys sat at the picnic table eating Cheerios and bread while we worked on this.  Our neighbors also thought that our antics were great morning entertainment and pretty much stared at us the entire time. (I really felt like sticking my tongue out at them for their ability to completely ignore Tam's overtures at being nice to them).

We got to the festival early again, but this time we had the schedule and a vague plan to see certain shows during the day.  Since Tam's outfit was filthy, he wore his robin-hood outfit from last year.  With the help of safety-pins, Jude fit into another hand-me-down gown I had made. 

We had a plan for the day...mermaids, queen, maybe joust, sit-down lunch, and  maybe the mud show.

First stop was the mermaids, who were stationed at the very back of the festival area.  We sauntered on back that way ahead of the crowds.  Tam was intrigued to see mermaids and I couldn't wait to see little Jude's face.  It was a bit like a side-show from a circus...enter the tent, gawk at the oddly enhanced humans with flippers...then exit.  BUT, Tam loved it, especially getting splashed.


 We then spent some time checking out the shops, though I just couldn't find anything that caught my eye as unique enough to purchase...even the jewelry seemed a bit main-stream for me.  Or maybe I've just upped my standards a bit in recent years.

We did have fun talking to vendors since we were early enough to beat the early-afternoon crowds.  I certainly noticed what was lacking...a simple fruits / breads / cheese booth with light snacky foods that are healthier.

 Jude, of course, found dirt to attempt to eat...

Tamlin found the bungee-jumping ride.  I have no idea how jumping on trampolines while tied to bungee cords is related to the Renaissance!  Tam so so so so much wanted to try this, especially once we found out that he was just above the minimum weight.  How could we say no to his grinning Peter-Pan-like face?

He got strapped in and then hoisted up a bit, which meant his toes didn't quite touch the trampoline.  No problem...the worker just grabbed an ankle, pulled down, released, and Tamlin was flung up into the air.

He LOVED it.

He also babbled to the worker the entire time about how he loved jumping and loved doing tricks (flinging his head back) and loved the fair and loved the worker (made him grin).

Jude and I sat nearby while Tam was bouncing.  Jude was getting fussy while waiting, so I handed him an apple to munch on.  Who knew that the wee tyke with only 2 teeth could chow down on an apple.  He thought it was an awesome snack.

Shortly after eating the healthy apple, the boys were given a couple of cupcakes topped with tons of frosting.  These were from a wedding vow renewal that had just occurred nearby.  Again, not very period, by thoroughly enjoyed by us.

We then waited to meet the queen, while vendors gathered for the noon parade.  Tamlin passed the time while talking to the girls with wax hands.  He was intrigued with the monster hands.  The girls were super nice while answering his questions and even let him place his hand inside the wax hand to see how it looked.

The queen and her court did arrive for visits from us commoners. 

 Tamlin went right on up and bowed before her majesty.  Jude crawled right up on stage and toddled right over to her.  The queen and the court were delighted and their little antics.  Tam even got a little gold ring from her.

After our brush with royalty, we decided to get lunch at one of the sit-down restaurants.  The food was good and fast because many others were out the joust.  I opted to not sit in the noonday sun to see the event, and knew the kids wouldn't sit through it either...food was more important.

Here's the find the Jude photo.




We did attempt to catch the mud show, but never seemed to be at the right stage at the right time.  Instead, we let Tam choose one last ride to go on.  He decided to attempt his own jousting.

At first he was a bit leery of getting on the wooden horse that is high up in the air.  However, he tried his best to get his lance through the ring as he sailed by.

But a miss! 

The wonderful game crew, pulled him back up to try again...


A success!

And he hit the pirate too!
What a look of concentration...

 

 And then such a grin!

Brian hoisted him up on his shoulder to announce his knighthood...

 Tam was so proud of himself! 
This jousting game was the same game that I ran back when working the Renaissance Fair circuit.  I was the cute chick wrangling the kids to come on over for a chance to slay a dragon to be knighted.  Who knew that my own son would ride the game ten years later!


The day was on tap to get a bit hotter, and it sure did.  In the end, I was sweating buckets, Jude was exhausted, and Brian bought a kilt!  Too bad that by the time he donned it, I was done and ready to leave.  I did manage to get this sweet little shot of Daddy and son before we left.

We pulled off garb, wiggled into street-clothes, piled into the car, and headed homeward.

We brought back lots of memories, a kilt, a dragon, and tons of dirt :-)