Over the weekend, we took advantage of the nice weather and took Jude through his second corn maze!  This time he was awake for the entire maze!!  

After the maze we went into the barn where we enjoyed a cup of hot apple cider (Jude of course was eyeing it up!).  Delicious!!  (Maybe next year Jude!)  

Jude then had a fun time exploring....

...and of course running (or so he tried)!

Driving the little fire truck....

Of course he only has his permit so he had to be accompanied by an adult!  (haha)!

He only sat here a second before he thought, "hey I have things to do!  Excuse me..."

...and off he went!!

He found a bin of balls...Aaron has taught him how to throw one, and he does really well.  In fact sometimes he will put his hands out like he is going to try and catch it!  He is picking up on things so quickly!!

Today Jude and I went over to Uncle Bobs' farm.  He hasn't seen Jude for months and he has been wanting me to bring him over to see the cows!  

Jude just enjoyed playing in the leaves until Uncle Bob was ready for him.....

Uncle Bob took Jude for a little spin in the yard on the four wheeler!  Jude wasn't so sure what to think...about Uncle Bob or the four wheeler...haha

Uncle Bob really enjoyed showing him around....

no tears....yet (haha)

Something about this atmosphere that takes me "home" (along with the smell)...lol

Next we visited the cows.....

And then someone decided that it would be more fun to dig in the dirt and throw stones....typical boy!  

Oh, and he has to get that thumb in at some point...!!

I sat Jude up on the hay bales and he liked crawling around....the backdrop in this picture was so beautiful!

There's Farmer Jude for ya.....holes in the jeans, flannel shirt, boots, and of course a little dirt (at least we hope it's only dirt....haha)!  You never know on a farm...

And finally I mentioned on facebook today that I started taking Jude's one year pictures!  I know it's a bit early but I had to take advantage of the weather.....for all I know it will be snowing next week!  Anyway, I can't share all of them (especially my favorites)... but I will give a sneak preview to those of you that can't wait.  Trust me, it's hard for me to not post all this cuteness....(but hopefully it will get you through the next few weeks!)

So are you ready for more??  

Well, is it that time again??  Another month has come and gone, but this one has been a bit more...should we say.... busy?  Or should I say, "someone" has been busy!  That's right, Jude took his first steps at about 10 and a half months! With each passing day, he gets more confident and makes longer and faster strides.  His other fascination right now is going up and down the steps.  Believe it or not, he actually taught himself how to go down on his belly.  He was pretty careful at first  - feeling for the step below and looking behind him to make sure where he was.  Now he simply slides down the steps, and let me tell you, he thinks he is hot stuff. The other thing he thinks he has to do is carry something with him as he travels the steps.....a shoe, sock, toy....just about anything!  My mom (Jude's Nana) came in the other weekend and she was probably the first person he really took the most steps to from the start.  I know that made her weekend!  

Jude and I went outside the other day to shoot some pictures, and let me tell you ....he was thrilled!  ha!  No, actually he wasn't bad at all  - just not in the mood to really smile.  Let's just say it was a more serious photo shoot!  However, he still wouldn't give up the thumb!

 Of course, Jude enjoyed pulling the mums off....I guess it was the closest thing he could find to dirt.

Excuse me...just what do you think you are doing??

So these days, I see a lot of what is in the pictures below....Jude chasing Sophie!  Poor Sophie takes quite the abuse but she handles it well!  Whether he is waving a toy at her face, cruising the bench in the dining room where her bed is, and not caring if he steps right on her, or simply wanting to "pet" her (he is actually getting a little better) - she hangs in there!!  Some days he simply just giggles when he sees her and it's almost as if they have some inside joke between them...if only we knew what he wanted to say!  I don't think it will be long before he's talking up a storm (I guess he'll be taking after his dad...haha)!  

Standing like a big boy!!

..and here we go....AGAIN...

 Today was such a gorgeous day in Johnstown - 70 degrees and sunny!  What a difference from the past few days!!  We decided after church to run up the road to a small pumpkin patch and corn maze.   There is still another one we want to go to but we didn't have time today to go that far!  Today's maze was constructed in such a way that you had 8 different items to locate in the maze.  After we found 4 of them, Aaron was about to give up.  He just enjoyed the "fun of it"...not me!  I was determined to find the other four we were missing (and I did I might add!)

                 Here was how the fun started!!!  He looked excited, right?

Starting out the corn maze....I guess Jude will miss out on all the fun!

Beautiful fall days.....

Someone is waking up....a little too sunny??

Jude and his dad walking along.....

Ok, now someone is awake....and SMILING!!!

In the corn bin..."wait, I am where?? Not to mention, I am not having a good hair day today.  Did you have to take a picture from this angle, mom?"  

 Now someone figured out what to do - yep, throw the corn!!!

"I think I want this pumpkin.  It's only 50 dollars.  Is that ok?"  

One more month until I am ONE!!!