Jude always wants.....

...what he can't have. He has been persistant about trying to get to our laptops whenever they are in his view. We unplugged the keyboard from the desktop computer and tried giving him that - but he saw right through it. So for christmas santa brought him a toy computer. He loves to hit the keys with all his might and it passes the test as long as our laptops are not in view!

16+ Inches.....

of snow fell during Christmas week. The snow on our deck was so high it came up to the window in our living room. My sisters and my brother in law helped us shovel the snow off the deck while all the kids played outside on Christmas morning.

Happy Birthday 2 (I couldn't resist.....)

....posting just two more. They were too cute. Love that you are standing in a bucket in the first one and your smurf shirt in the second one. Sam, what are you wearing in that second picture? Too funny!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Sweetheart! It was fun to look through your childhood pictures and decide which ones to post. I see so much of you when I look at Jude and know he will grow up to be a great man just like his dad. Here's to a great 31st year!

In Love

Jude is in LOVE with his Jackrabbit basketball that santa brought for him on Christmas morning. He bats it around on the floor, does his modified crawl to get to it, and then licks it excitedly.

Friends, Fun & Flu???

We traveled to visit Grant and Nicole to celebrate the New Year. Jon got hit with a 24 hour stomach flu a few days before we left but was feeling good so we packed up our things and made the treck to Grant and Nicole's house. On the drive I started feeling a little off and after only being at Grant and Nicole's for a few hours I threw up... The next day Nicole had it and the day after Grant had it too. Despite the sickness we had a great time just hanging out and catching up with good friends.

Reflections on 2009

2009 was a year of change for us. Although busier than I thought imaginable and stressful at times, we had so much joy in our lives in 2009. You know that list of stressful major life events? Well, I think we take the cake for completing nearly everything off that list...within the last year. Here is a brief rundown of our 2009......

1. Found out we were expecting Meendering #3!

2. Finished renovating our first house.

3. Interviewed and accepted new jobs.

4. Welcomed our first baby, Jude Harper Meendering, to our family.

5. Sold our first house .... ourselves....to the first person who looked at it!

6. Packed our belongings in two u-haul trucks in a flurry (learned we should have adjusted the packing timeline when you have a 2 month old) and moved all of our belongings into storage.

7. Said goodbye to our first house, great friends, and good jobs for a new adventure.

8. Traveled for nearly a month visiting friends around the Midwest with a 3 month old.

9. Lived with my parents for 3 months while looking for a house in our new location.

10. Bought a new house.

11. Started renovating our new house.

12. Started new jobs.

13. Started learning how to balance work and home life.

14. Realised how much we have accomplished, how much we have to be thankful for, and how much joy can come from the love of a family.

15. Lived through it all - even though I doubted at times!

First Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday with family and friends. After 16 inches of snow during Christmas week we definately had a white Christmas. It was fun to see Jude experience our traditions on the Gee and Meendering sides of the famiy and for our small family to create some new traditions of our own. Do you like our Charlie Brown Christmas tree? My parents cut us a fresh tree in the Black Hills and it was perfect! No ornaments on this one or Jude would have had them all pulled down in mere minutes!