Big Boy Toothpaste

On Wednesday evening, Jasper used big boy toothpaste for the first time.  I explained that he couldn't swallow this kind, and he'd have to spit it out after he brushed.  He embraced the idea of spitting!!  He'd make the spitting noise, but nothing would come out.  After a while, he seemed to get the hang of it.  I think I'll get him a kids electric toothbrush for Christmas, then he'll REALLY be a big boy!

He says the CUTEST things!

Tonight, Jasper and I were watching a show on HGTV about how they decorate Disney World for Christmas.  They showed how they cover Cinderella's castle with thousands and thousands of lights.  As they lit it up, Jasper watched wide-eyed, and said, "OOH, I can't believe my eyes!"   I had to call Josh right away to tell him that one!

Jasper also thought the flowers and shrubs in the shape of Mickey and Goofy were pretty neat.  I wonder how long it will be before he starts asking to visit Disney World...

Decorating for Christmas

We began decorating the house for Christmas yesterday.  Jasper loves helping decorate the tree and putting out the decorations around the house.  He's especially into the nutcracker collection this year and wanted to 'play nutcrackers' last night.  I like to have a simple tree with just red ribbon, red, silver and crystal ornaments.  This year, Jasper wanted to put more ornaments up, so I let him do that at his level, which happens to be on the lower branches that you can't see from the main part of the living room since the tree is behind the couch...so that worked out well!  We have this dog with a santa hat that plays music and dances when you push his paw, and last night after Jasper was tucked in, Josh heard the dog singing Christmas songs.  Jasper is so excited already about the Holidays.  It's going to be a great month!!

Thanksgiving

We did a lot of celebrating for Thanksgiving.  Last Saturday, we had Josh's mom's side over to our house.  Josh made a wonderful meal of homemade French onion soup, smoked pork shoulder, baked sweet potatoes, fresh green beans with bacon and pecans and a shrimp/cream cheese dip.  Jasper got to play with his cousin Sklyer (10) who was a great sport, because Jasper kept saying, "Friend, come play with me!"  We all played Catch Phrase, which was pretty hilarious.

Thanksgiving morning, Jasper helped me make dressing and Pilgrim Hats (a fudge striped cookie turned upsidedown with a chocolate dipped marshmellow on top and a little yellow icing buckle.)  We had lunch at my Aunt Joyce's house.  Jasper was the only little kid, but seemed to have fun playing by himself.  Then we went to Jack and Judy's and Jasper was thrilled to play with Sklyer and Carter and to see Uncle Derek and Katie.

Jasper and I spent the night at my parents and Jasper, Mom and I went Christmas shopping on Friday.  Jasper was a trooper, and even said, "I love Christmas shopping!"  He picked out his two exchange gifts right away and also chose his birthday party invitations (Transformers!)

I have so much to be thankful for - a wonderful husband, an amazing son, fantastic parents, in-laws, grandparents and extended family, a nice home to live in, a job (and I'm even thankful that Josh has a part time job) and a God who provides for us and loves us unconditionally.  Happy Thanksgiving!!

A Night at the "Bounce Place"

This evening, Jasper and I went to one his favorite places - Bremen Bounce.  It is an indoor playland filled with the inflatable jumpy things.  They had a special event going on tonight where kids could decorate holiday ornaments, have pizza and play on all of the 'bouncy things' (as Jasper calls them.)

Jasper chose a dinosaur and a car ornament to paint.  The ornaments will be fired in a kiln and glazed, so we'll be able to pick them up next week.  We met my friend, Mindy, and her family there.  Jasper loved her two daughters (7 and almost 11) and they seemed to enjoy playing with him, too.  They bounced, ate pizza and played video games together.  Jasper kept calling them his new friends.  After bouncing (Mindy and I joined in, too!) we all went to Dairy Queen.  Abbi was nice enough to give Jasper the stuffed snowman she won in the crane game before we left.  Jasper said thank you and gave her a hug.

Jasper and the Computer

Jasper has been using the computer for quite a while now and he is a pro at using the mouse.  Just a couple of days ago he actually clicked and drug something!  He can play all sorts of games on different kids websites.  He's learning lots of things from the PBS Kids website.  His favorite is probably the Dinosaur Train games.  He has his own username/profile on our computer with parental controls so he can go to kid friendly websites.  He can double click on the icon to open internet explorer.  Once I get him to a site, he knows how to navigate to find the games.  He's got various games that are educational.  It's a nice change from TV and I feel like he's really learning!

Where Has Fall Gone?

Fall has been a busy season for us and I haven't kept up with the blog.  I'm going to do a quick catch up and try to get back on track!!

9/09
Jasper is:  32 pounds and 38 1/2 inches tall!


As Josh and Jasper approached a train track on the way to daycare, Jasper said, “What are those men doing?”  Josh told him they were fixing the tracks.  Jasper thought about it and then said, “I don’t want the train to hit those men!”  How thoughtful J  We’re seeing him really develop some critical thinking.  He’s considering cause and effect.  He asks ‘why?’ ALL the time now.  We try to give him thorough explanations, but after several ‘whys’ in one conversation, I said, “because.”  He said, “What’s because mean?”  I said, “it means as a result of”  He said, “what’s that mean?”  I said, “something happened to cause something else – there’s a cause and then an effect.”  He said, “oh”


At daycare, Jasper made a footprint picture.  It was blue paint on yellow paper.  When we went to his cubby to get the artwork before we left, he said, “That’s not my picture.  My feet are blue.”  I tried to explain that blue feet plus yellow paper equaled green feet.  He looked at me like I was crazy and said, “No, Mommy, my feet are BLUE!”  I tried to explain it again, and I think he sort of believed me.  


10/09

Prepared all month for his Halloween Party!  Jasper had a great time buying favors, decorations, goodies and crafts.  He enjoyed making invitations and then actually decorating and preparing for the party.  He had 7 friends come to his party and they had a great time.  It was very cute to see all of them in their costumes.  They did a ghost craft, played a few games and had snacks.  


We visited the pumpkin patch and carved a pumpkin together.   We made a scarecrow out of some of Jasper's old clothes.


Jasper dressed as a pirate for Halloween and enjoyed his GENEROUS grandparents when he visited all of them the day before Halloween.  On actual Halloween, he dressed as a fireman and stayed home to pass out candy to 'twick or tweaters.'


Japser loves his pets and has begun playing with Herman more.  Around Halloween, Jasper began calling Herman a 'haunted creature.'

Working on Jasper's tummy troubles.  He saw the doctor and has been on a Miralax/Metamuscil regimen.  We're back in pullups for the time being, but he still pees in the potty.  In fact one day at Walmart, he announced he had to pee, so we hurried to the bathroom.  In the full women's restroom, he said, "Mommy, I have a lot of pee in my penis!"  I tried not to laugh, and had to agree with him!


11/09 


Jasper is: 33.8 pounds 39 inches!!

Jasper loves dinosaurs and enjoys the PBS show 'Dinosaur Train' where he's learning a lot.  He told us that a dinosaur that eats plants and trees is a herbavore.  He can identify several dinosaurs including stegosaurus, brontosaurus, tyranasourus rex.  He told me one day as he was pretending to dig that he was a paleontologist.

Jasper knows all capital letters by sight, some lower case (mostly the ones that resemble the captials and a few others) and he knows most letter sounds.  He can come up with words that start with certain letter and vice versa.

Earlier this month he rhymed!!  He was asked what rhymed with cat and he said rat and mat.

He continues to SING!  Jasper makes up own songs including the tune and words.  A lot of times the words even rhyme.  He likes to play or pretend to play drums, guitar, horns,  He also likes to dance.

His memory continues to amaze us.  About a month ago in church the message was about the burning bush and there was a picture of it on a screen in the front of the church.  He was intrigued.  This morning, the pastor mentioned the burning bush, and Jasper began craning his neck looking for the screen and picture.

He loves to draw and make crafts.  He will tell us what he's drawing.  He can make rough faces, shapes

He pretends to write and read.

Jasper recently discovered he LOVES everything.  He will often say, "I do love helping Mommy!"

He likes to help wtih 'recipes' (we made buckeyes recently and he enjoyed the whole process)

Jasper enjoys helping wash dishes especially using the sprayer and lots of bubbles.  He actually does a decent job of rinsing things before I put them in the dishwasher.

He enjoys helping daddy outside and in the garage.  Last week we raked leaves and he loved taking a 'leaf ride' in the trailer.  Today, he and Josh built a bird feeder and painted it.  (Jasper's color choices were bright green and orange!)

Catching up from September

I haven't kept up with the blog very well lately, but I have been keeping track of some cute things Jasper has done, so here it goes ...

Friday, September 19, Jasper saw some scarecrows along the road on our way home from daycare.  They had pumpkin heads, and Jasper kept pointing at them saying, “There’s a pumpkin costume, and there’s another pumpkin costume!”  I asked him what costume he’d like to wear for Halloween.  He said, “I want to be Tigger like last time.”  I can’t believe he could remember last Halloween!  I asked him if he thought it would be fun to have a Halloween Party – boy did he think that would be a great idea!  All evening he talked about it.  We decided to make invitations on the computer.  I chose the “chiller” font and when Jasper saw it he said, “That’s creepy!”  He helped pick out clipart.  Then he told me who he wanted to invite.  He kept acting like he had to go potty, but he kept saying, “I’m waiting for the Halloween ‘potty.’”  (Potty and Party sound the same)  Well, he finally had an accident, and while we were getting his clothes changed, I asked why he didn’t go to the potty.  He said, “I was waiting for the Halloween POTTY!” 


Saturday,September 21, Jasper and I went to the Apple Festival in Nappanee while Josh was working.  Jasper played the fishing game and won a kazoo/trumpet instrument and a plastic dagger.  He’s been using the trumpet as part of his band (he makes one of us play it while he bangs on something calling it a drum and blows into his recorder.  He’ll say 1-2-3-4 and then point to us to start playing and then he’ll sing ABCs or some other song until he wants to play his recorder)  The plastic dagger has been waved around while he says, “ARRGH Matey.”  (I’m hoping I can talk him into being a Pirate for Halloween)  Anyway, back to the festival.  He also asked very nicely to go in the ‘bouncy thing.’  I explained that he’d have to go by himself.  He was all for it.  He did enjoy it, but wasn’t able to climb up the part that led to the slide, so he didn’t stay very long.  Later he tried his first carmel apple.  He took about 3 bites before he got to the apple and he said, “There’s an apple in there!”  Before we left, he wanted to go on this obstacle course thing.  I again told him Mommy couldn’t go with him, but he was so excited, I let him go.  He was tall enough (over 36”) but got scared on this rope climb thing, so I told him to turn around and come out the entrance.  Well, he couldn’t get up.  I tried to go in to retrieve him, but wasn’t allowed.  The worker of the ride, went to help him.  Luckily Jasper could see me, so I could assure him that the creepy guy was ok.  He never cried, but just seemed disappointed in himself for not being able to go through the whole thing by himself.

Jasper didn’t nap much that weekend, so Saturday night, he went to bed at 8 p.m. and slept until past 8 a.m. on Sunday.  He also took an hour and a half nap on Sunday afternoon, so he was feeling GOOD!  He was full of energy and had the sillies all day Sunday.  He was ‘cooking’ me food in his ‘oven’ (his toy barn) and gave me a book and told me, “Mommy, you need a menu.”  He’d say, “I need to make this hot in my oven.”  Then he’d get the plastic food out, and kind of juggle it and squeal, “It’s HOT!”  At dinner, he had a Lunchable which came with ham, cheese, crackers and two Oreo cookies.  He ate all his ham and cheese and a cracker or two, so he got to have one cookie.  After he finished it, he said with a grin, “Ok, I eat two more crackers, then I get a cookie, Mommy – right?”  I told him he needed to have some fruit first and asked if he’d like peaches or ‘cocktail’ (no sugar added fruit cocktail.)  He said he wanted peaches.  As I was walking to the cabinet to get them he said, “No, no I changed my mind, I want cocktail.”  Later in the evening, he went potty and saw one of my bras hanging on the bathroom doorknob.  He asked Josh, “What’s that?”  Josh said that it was Mommy’s brassiere.  Jasper said, “Oh yeah, it goes on your tummy (and pointed to his chest) – it’s for girls!”   He keeps us laughing!!

Finally, a Camera

I just ordered our new digital camera.  It's a Nikon Coolpix L100 10 megapixal camera with 15x option vibration reduction zoom.  I also ordered an 8G memory card!  This is such a huge step up for us.  We had a Sony Cybershot 3.2 megapixal with maybe 4x optical zoom - until Jasper dropped it.  Since then, we've been borrowing my parents' Kodak 2 megapixal camera.  I really appreciate them letting us use it, but I'm so ready for a camera that I don't have to tape the battery door down and can take more than a few pictures before the memory is full!  It should ship on Monday, so I'm hoping to have it my mid-next week.  Then the pictures will be coming fast and furiously!  I do have some pictures I need to send out from the past couple of months, but I am waiting to get some from my Mom's camera.  I feel bad because I haven't taken nearly as many pictures since our camera got broken.  I'm missing some of Jasper's cutest moments!  

It's a JOEY!

Josh was reading Jasper a bedtime story on Monday night, and there were pictures of animals in the book.  Josh pointed out a kangaroo and said, "Here's a kangaroo."  As Josh pointed to the baby kangaroo in the picture, he said, "Here's another kangaroo."  Jasper said, "No Daddy, that's a JOEY!"  We were amazed because neither of us remembered teaching him that.  When we asked him where he learned that a baby kangaroo was called a joey, he said "Grandma Debbie."  I asked Grandma, and she doesn't remember teaching him either, so I'm thinking it may have been Diego!

Look Mommy, It's a Mustache!

Jasper has been very artistic lately, and on Friday he was really in the mood!  He painted a picture, then glued silk flowers to a paper and added a bit of glitter.  After that project was finished, he wanted to draw with markers.  He drew a red figure on the page and said, "Look Mommy, it's the Big Bad Wolf!"  He drew some more and then decided the picture needed some stickers, so he decorated it with horse and dinosaur stickers.  Then he wanted his scissors.  He was actually holding them correctly and making small cuts successfully.  I was doing the dishes while he was concentrating on cutting, and he came over to me with his creation and said, "Look Mommy, it's a mustache!"  He had torn off a small piece of black paper and then made small cuts all the way around.  He held it up to his face to show me, and it really did look like a mustache!  What creativity!!

Eating Better, Losing Weight

Josh and I started the South Beach diet three weeks ago. The first two weeks, we could eat NO carbs or sugar. After two weeks, we added back in whole wheats and fruits in moderation. So far, I'm down about 11 pounds and Josh is down 8 or so (though probably more by now because our weigh in is tomorrow morning.) The plan is to stick with the low carb, low sugar, low fat diet until we get to our target weight and then add back in a few more carbs in moderation. It's a drastic change for us, but we're doing well. I hope to start walking on a regular basis, too, to help speed up the weight loss and to get healthier. We're starting a recipe blog to share some of our South Beach (and other) recipes as well as some of our hide-the-vegetable creations that we make for Jasper. I'm just setting it up, but will let you know when it's up and running. The address is www.kellemskitchen.blogspot.com

So Proud of My Husband!

Josh just got back his grade from his most recent class for his master's degree. Another A! So far he's got a 4.0. His professor actually e-mailed his final project to the director of the Health Sciences department and to the director of the distance learning program. Josh got an e-mail from the department director saying good job. The professor also said his final was one of the best he'd seen. I know Josh is smart and hardworking, but it's nice to see others recognize it!

Tour de LaPorte

Today was the Tour de LaPorte (a walk/run and bicycle race) sponsored by the LaPorte Hospital Foundation to raise money for Cancer care. My mom, her friend Carol Kunkle, Judy, Heidi and I walked as a team (Jasper was along for the stroller ride, too!) We walked the 3.3 mile walk in just over 57 minutes. I thought that was pretty good for pushing a stroller, Jasper walking for a few minutes, and stopping a couple of times to get Jasper snacks! It was a nice cool morning for the walk! After the walk, Josh helped coordinate a Mini Tour de LaPorte which was a race for 4-8 year olds. It was very cute and the kids seemed to love it. Maybe in a couple of years, Jasper will be out there. Jasper dressed for the occasion in his 'Lil Fish Club t-shirt (that's the school program that Josh runs.) After we got home, Josh, Jasper and I all took a nap! It was a nice day, but I just wish there was one more day to the weekend.

Could He Get Any Cuter?

Just when I thought he was as cute as he could possibly be...

This kid is just so sweet and funny and silly and smart!! (Can you tell I'm his mommy?)

Sweet: He says, "I love you more, Daddy!"
Funny: He took a pork rind out of the bag, took a bite and handed it to me and said, "Here, I crunched it up for you Mommy"
Silly: He's been pretending to be a baby and makes this shrill little whining sound and asks for a "baba"
Smart: We were at my parents house over the weekend and Grandma Lena called. My dad answered the phone and all we could hear him say was "Hi Mom." Immediately, Jasper said, "It's Grandma Lena!"

Potty Training Take 2

Jasper was potty trained for about a month this winter until he decided he wanted to wear diapers and, in his words, "be a baby again." We didn't fight him and just took a several month break. Two weeks ago, we started up again with the same technique as last time. We 'threw away' all his pull ups and had a big boy breakfast picnic, and I followed him around for a couple of days and took him to the potty everytime he went. By the third day, he went potty all by himself! He's been getting treats, a prize from the potty treasure chest or a balloon as a reward, though now he doesn't expect a reward. We're still working on that #2, though! He's had all sorts of issues since he went back to pullups after the first go around. He's now getting 1-2 prunes a day, plus prune juice mixed with his other juice and a small dose of Miralax daily. We had success in the potty tonight and he seemed excited about it, so hopefully that is a good sign. We've been telling him for months that whenever he's ready to pee and poo in the big potty and keep his undies dry all the time, he can have a 'Big Boy Bouncy Party.' (He loves going to Bremen Bounce, which has several of the big blow up jumping things.) He has remembered that and even talked about it occassionally in the 'off season.' After he went tonight, I told him that after one more time in the potty, I thought we'd be ready to plan our party. He said, "I don't have to poop more, I just went, Mom!"

Jasper the Detective

I was able to bring home a box from work that looked a lot like a briefcase, so last week, Jasper and I filled it with detective tools. Jasper chose his Thomas the Train laptop, his 'doctor tools', colored pencils, his toy phone and the cardboard magnifying glass that I cut out to fill his briefcase. What he really wanted was his View Master, but we couldn't find it, so that became our first case - The Case of the Missing View Master. He put on one of my blazers and his cowboy hat over his pull up and away he went searching for clues. He soon shed his detective get up, but kept using his magnifying glass and found clues at the top of the stairs and on the door to the playroom (I think the 'clues' were just marks of crayon!) He did locate the view master and we called 'headquarters' with the play phone and then returned there (under the desk in the living room) to turn in our briefcase. It was fun pretending with Jasper. He has such a great imagination!

Jasper Writes a Letter

Monday, when I picked Jasper up from daycare, the first thing Jasper did when he saw me was run up and say, “Mommy! Daddy put this shirt and this shorts and this shoes on me.”

When we got home, Jasper wanted to color, so I told him to go get a coloring book. He came back with the construction paper, so he just drew. Josh and I were cooking, and we could hear him saying “I love Mommy, I love Daddy, I love Papa, I love Colin, etc.” He was writing with his crayons like he was writing a letter. Then he’d say, “Mommy this is for you” and he’d bring the paper over to me and pretend to read it. One time he said “I love Mommy very much.”

When it was dinner time he wanted to eat with Diego and Diego's dinosaur, so the little figures sat on the table next to him and Jasper talked to them and offered them bites.

Family Vacation

NOT MANY PICTURES YET - Mom and Heidi took photos, that I haven't gotten yet. When I do I'll put them with this post.

We had a great mini-vacation over the weekend. We left Friday morning with my parents, Colin and Heidi. Our first stop was at Bickels Café and Catering in Anderson. It was a cute little local restaurant with great food. Jasper’s favorite part of the meal was the “bickel”berry pie. It was cute to hear him say it. Then we headed to Summit Lake State Park where we played on the playground, walked to the lake and fished with my dad’s remote control boat. Jasper that it was very cool – and he thought it was really fun to touch the fish we caught (I was ‘driving’ the remote controlled boat when we caught the fish!) We rented 2 rowboats and took them out on the lake. Jasper wore his new life jacket. Josh, Heidi, Jasper and I were in one boat and Colin and Mom and Dad in another. We claimed defective paddles, because we kept drifting to one side. Jasper really liked the boat and enjoyed seeing the ducks and crane. Then we headed to the hotel to get checked in. We went on a long search for a restaurant for dinner but ended up with a great choice of a local ribs and seafood place. When we got back, Jasper, Heidi, Colin and I went swimming. Jasper was getting braver in his floaty swimsuit (it has a floaty built in.) That night Jasper was up until nearly 11 with only about a 15 minute nap the entire day, but he was a trooper! The next day, we went to a fantastic breakfast at a local pancake house. Jasper was pumped about the Mickey Mouse pancake. We then headed to the Indianapolis Zoo. Jasper got to see some animals he’d never seen before –giraffes, rhinos, a komodo dragon (which he was really excited about the whole time– though I think he thought it was going to breathe fire!) and dolphins. He LOVED the dolphin show and especially liked when they jumped out of the water and hit the ball hanging from the ceiling with their noses. We went back to the hotel for a brief rest and then headed to Symphony on the Prairie – it was looking a little dreary, so Mom and Dad pulled out the emergency ponchos and rain suits (they are always prepared!) We stopped off at Marsh to pick up our picnic dinners ( a great deal!) The prairie was PACKED, but we found a decent spot and enjoyed our dinner and the music of the Beatles. Jasper did a few of his “new moves” for us. It was a good time. We got back to the hotel late, and went straight to bed. Sunday, we ate what I don’t think could be classified as a continental breakfast (a couple bagels, some jelly, one package of cream cheese, some white bread, one container of cheerios and a carafe of milk and a toaster) and then Jasper and I took a swim. I would tell him what number to count to and then when he got to that number I would lift him up in the air and splash him back down in the pool. He was counting very well – up to 14 every time with no mistakes. After swimming, showering, getting dressed and packed, we headed to Muncie for Ribfest. Josh was sporting his fluorescent orange Ribfest T-shirt from 2002. We ate, looked at some of the booths, and Jasper jumped in the kids bouncy toys. Then we went to Incredible Yogurt (Josh and my favorite Muncie location!) before Josh, Japser and I headed home and Mom, Dad, Colin and Heidi headed to Peru. Jasper was so good the whole time, so we stopped at Wal-mart on the way home and let him pick out a toy. He chose a Diego toy that he insists is a bath toy. He loves it.

A Trip to the Walkerton Dunes...

Last night, Daddy and Jasper got supper and went to the park to play (new park name – middle school park is the bridge park) I got home and Josh and I ate, cleaned up the kitchen and then we all went to the climbing park and played in the sand pile with Jasper’s pail and shovel. We all took off our shoes and socks and ran up and down the sand pile, collected rocks and built sand castles. It's our own little Walkerton sand dune!

Jasper’s been dancing. He told me yesterday, “I got a new move, Mommy” He does this little twist thing with one leg while holding up one arm. He also runs sideways and kicks out one leg. The other day he was watching a show in my bedroom and I heard a lot of noise. I went in and he was dancing to a song on the TV. SOo cute!

We’re starting to be able to reason with Jasper on the whole vegetable thing. He had to eat one bit of sugar snap pea before he could have his cherries for dessert. He sagged his shoulders and his eyes welled up with tears. We told him he could not cry about it. He either had to take one bite and then have his cherries or take no bites and get down from the table without the cherries. He eventually did take a bite. He’s also taken a bite of green bean on another occasion. After that bite, I asked if he liked it and he said, “Yes” then I asked if he wanted more and he said no.

We didn't make him eat veggies last night, and as a special treat (to celebrate Josh and my 7 year anniversary) we got ice cream. Jasper ate his ice cream sandwich and then tried to drink the melted ice cream out of the bowl by sticking his face in the bowl!

Jasper’s getting better at some pronunciation. He still replaces ‘f’s with the d sound. He says ‘dun’ instead of fun. I will say fff, fff, fun. He’ll repeat fff, fff, dun! He usually says yeah instead of yes, which sounds more like nyeah – so we’ve been encouraging him to say yesss – and he can now.

A Busy Week

Jasper had a BUSY week last week, but here are some highlights.

Monday – Daddy worked late, so Jasper and Mommy went to the park, had a picnic and played

Tuesday – Daddy played tennis with a friend in LaPorte, so Jasper and Mommy drove to the tennis courts with our supper, ate and watched Daddy play. Then Jasper played “ball boy” picking up all the loose balls. Then all three of us played at the “Castle Park” Jasper now has names for all of his favorite parks. There’s the red park (the one at the elementary school that has red playground equipment,) the climbing park (the one near the highschool that has a climbing wall,) the castle park (the one at Kesling Park in LaPorte that has wooden playground equipment that looks sort of like a castle.)

Wednesday – Jasper spent the day at Grandma Cathy’s. Josh and I went vehicle shopping in the evening, so we didn’t pick him up until about 7. He had a blast! He has claimed the spare room there as “Bapper’s room” He was playing superman and batman. He loves to run around with his arms out yelling I BATMAN! I’ll sing the little song from the TV show and at the end he’ll yell BATMAN!

Thursday – After school, Jasper and I drove to Peru. Jasper stayed at Grandma Marilyn’s house with cousins Sklyar (8) and Carter (6) while I went to a scrapbooking class. He had a great time – so much that he didn’t want to leave. “I want stay at Gwama Mawiwin’s house!!” When I finally did get him in the car (around 10 p.m.) he stayed awake all the way to my parents’ house and then played a while there before falling asleep on his cute little cot.

Friday -Mom, Jasper and I met Grandma Marilyn, Skylar and Carter and Aunt Bonnie at Chuck E Cheese’s in Kokomo. The kids had a blast! Jasper especially liked the virtual roller coaster and getting his picture taken and printed on a little ID card (three times!) He wasn’t into the live Chuck E Cheese though – said he was “scawy” After that, we headed to Plymouth for Matthew Finney’s b-day party. Jasper only slept about half an hour, so I was a little worried how he’d do - especially when he started screaming – I DON”T WANT TO GO TO MATTHEW”S PARTY!! We made a stop at a car lot so he could walk around, and he sat in the grass and picked weeds while I talked to the salesman. He then proceeded to give the weeds to the salesman –it was pretty cute. He ended up being excited to go to the party because there was a sand box involved. He had a good time at the party and even did a good job when Matthew opened his presents. He did say, “I want dat” a few times when Matthew got new toys. Instead of a traditional gift, I wrote Matthew a personalized story and made it into a book with a cute cover. His mom liked it and hopefully he will when they read it to him! We ended up being the last to leave and then went home to relax!

Saturday - stayed home, cleaned, worked on breezeway

Sunday – We went to church, and Jasper wanted a pencil to draw with. There wasn’t one in our section of the pew, but there was in the section of the man next to us. I told Jasper to whisper and ask nicely for the pencil. He whispered as loud as he could, “Can I have dat pencil – pease?” The man either didn’t hear him or ignored him, so Jasper repeated himself several times. Then he looked at me and whispered, “Dat man isn’t saying yes, Mommy – dat man isn’t saying yes”. After the children's story, all the kids got a neat slice of a rock. It was purple, and he was soo excited about it. He showed everyone in the lobby after church his ‘pupple rock’ and then he had to carry it with him the rest of the day. He did end up dropping it and breaking it, but when I said, “It’s ok, now you have three” he seemed ok with it. He got a cute, short haircut and was such a good boy during it! We went to Lowes afterward, and he kept taking off his hat and telling people, “I got a haiwcut” Jasper took a nice long nap so I could get some more work done on the breezeway.

What a Busy Weekend

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend, but it was a busy one!! It all started Thursday night when we went to the Walkerton Festival. Jasper didn't want to leave home, so he screamed in his stroller the whole way there. As soon as he saw the rides, though, he started ooh-ing and ahh-ing. He jumped in a small inflatable thing and insisted on riding the kiddie cars that went around in circles. We explained that he'd have to go by himself and he was all for it. We bought tickets, led him into the ride, and Jasper hopped into a vehicle, let the guy buckle him in and gripped the steering wheel, grinning with delight. The first trip around, he still had that excited smile on his face, and Josh and I couldn't believe it! The second time around, he looked happy; the third time, he looked indifferent; the fourth, he looked scared; and the fifth he looked terrified and was SCREAMING. We had to have them stop the ride for him to get off. It was kind of funny... We got some snacks, played the ducky game and headed home - and Jasper screamed because he didn't want to leave.

Friday afternoon, Colin met us at our house, and we all headed to Peru to the Gahs' campground. Colin rode with Jasper and I and Josh drove Colin's car. Colin hadn't eaten lunch, so we went through the McDonald's drive through. Colin jokingly said as we pulled up to the window, "Uh-oh, I don't have any money." Jasper grabbed the pennies from his carseat's cupholder and said,"I have two coins, Uncle Colin." How cute is that?? When we got to the campsite, Jasper and Ada played, we visited and ate dinner. Jasper went home with my parents, and Josh and I got to stay and ride 4-wheelers. It was a blast! We got a little muddy...and got off the trail once, but Tyler came and we 'followed him back to safety.' (A funny thing Jasper said while he was at my parents': After waking up at Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Brooke’s house in the same room as Uncle Colin. Colin said, “Jasper, are you ready for breakfast?” Jasper said, “I eat breakfast and get big and strong like Mommy and Daddy, and you, too, Uncle Colin!”)

Saturday, Josh was in the LaPorte 4th of July parade in the morning. I stayed home and installed the laminate flooring in the breezeway - all by myself! I got about 2/3 of it done and was very happy with how it turned out. After Josh got home, we headed to Jack and Judy's (picking Jasper up on the way) for a picnic (if you could call it that with all the rain.) It was fun to see so much family and after Jasper warmed up, he had a great time. He was so excited about Grandma and Grandpa's new swimming pool, he just HAD to go swimming in the 68 degree weather. That, of course, meant that Mommy had to go, too. It actually wasn't as bad as it sounds, and Jasper loved it. As soon as he got his new suit on (he got one with floatiesactually inside the suit,) he said, "I gotta show Grandpa Jack my new swimming suit!" Jasper also enjoyed playing with Katie, Uncle Derek's girlfriend. At one point, she and Jasper were playing with toys, and Derek went in to see what they were doing. Jasper said, "We playing with Little People. Go away!" Since it was raining, there weren't many fireworks, but Jasper did get to hold a sparkler (with Daddy's help) for a little while.

We all stayed the night at Jack and Judy's, and the next morning Josh got up and fixed us a wonderful breakfast. (I helped a little) Then we headed to Grandma Cathy's to celebrate her birthday. We went to the Edgewater in Culver - very yummy. After that, we went back to Cathy's and Jasper LOVED playing with the new books Grandma had gotten him. He was also very into the banana peppers she picked out of her garden. He insisted on carrying them ALL (if only he would actually eat one...) By the time we left, we were ALL exhausted. At home, we all took a nice long nap!

A Turtle and Some Magic

My boss found a nice sized turtle in his yard yesterday and brought it to work today so I could bring it home for Jasper. I picked Jasper up from school and told him I had a surprise in the car. He said, "What is it Mommy??" I told him it had a shell, walked slowly and put its head in and out. He said, "It's a turtle!" Later this evening, he decided to name him Jeffery. (He used to have a sock puppet named Jeffery...) He said that Jeffery liked pizza and meat!

Jasper and Josh got the turtle out and let it run around in the back yard. Jasper even picked it up and put it on his playground and even pushed him down the slide.

After all that turtle playtime, it was time for a bath! As I was getting Jasper dressed, he held out both hands with his fists clenched and said, "What hand is the penny in?" I had never heard him say anything like this before, so I pointed to one hand. He opened it and said, "NOO" so then I pointed to the other hand and he opened it and said NOO. Then he put his hand up to my hear and pretended to pull a penny out and said, "It was in your ear the whole time. I'm a magician. I have a rabbit and a hat and I'm a magician!" He even duplicated the trick with a real penny for Josh. He first actually stuck it in Josh's ear so he could really pull it out when he said, "It was in your ear the whole time!" We don't know where he learned this!!

I'm so far behind!!

I have not been doing a very good job of keeping this blog updated lately. Summer is BUSY!

Here's some highlights from the past few weeks...

Jasper says the FUNNIEST things now. A sampling:
*"I want to push the ding dong button." (the doorbell)
*"Whatcha doin' Mommy?" I said, "Watering the flowers." Jasper replied, "That will make them happy!"
*When given tangerine pieces and told they're like peaches, Jasper said, "I want pretty peaches."
*"Your toenails brown, Mommy?" I said, "Yes, Mommy painted them." (not really brown, a dark pinky color) Jasper said, "Daddy paints his toenails, too." (Daddy hurt his toe and one is all black)
*Jasper said,“Mommy, be a dragon.” Josh said (trying to convince Jasper to eat a veggie,)“You know what dragons eat, don’t you? --Carrots!” Jasper quickly replied, “AND boys!”
*When seeing painted breezeway for first time, Jasper said,“Cool – it’s blue!” The next day he said, "I like this color!"
*As I was pulling into a parking spot, Jasper said honestly, "Mommy, it's not going so well."

Jasper's Grandma Cathy got him his "very own playground." He loves it! He can climb the climbing wall like a pro. He played with a frog we found in the yard the other day and decided the frog should go down the slide.

Jasper spent the night with Grandma Debbie and PaPa Brooke last weekend. (So Mommy could paint the breezeway - looks great!) He was, of course, an angel for them. He got to sleep on his new cot, which he seemed very excited about. We picked him up on Saturday, and we went to the Binkerd's house for a cookout to celebrate their baby boy (due in a couple weeks.) They also have an 18 month old, Kiley. Jasper loved playing with her and all her neat toys. She had a sandbox and Jasper liked playing in it, if he didn't have to actually touch the sand.

One day after dinner, Jasper said, "I want to go to Bounce Place." (We've gone to Bremen Bounce, a place that has those big blow up jumping things in them, twice.) He was quite adament about it, so I improvised and we made our own 'Bounce Place" out of every pillow in the house. Jasper loved it!!

Jasper and I made a bus out of the box that his playground came in. This was another idea from the book that we have. It was complete with a door, a windshield, wheels, headlights, and a steering wheel. Jasper thought it was pretty neat!

This week, Jasper got to go to Grandma Cathy's house and he had a blast. So much so that he said, "I don't want to leave yet!" He was asleep not 5 minutes after we left, though!

The past few hot days, we've played water games in the evenings. We used squirt bottles and squirt guns and wet sponge balls. Yesterday we ran through the sprinkler. Soon we'll put up the pool.

Today, Jasper got to see Grandma Judy and Grandpa Jack. He didn't want them to leave either, and he hugged and kissed and hugged and kissed them!

Tomorrow starts another new week. Starting this week I will be working 4 days a week because my job is so busy. Jasper will either go to daycare, Grandma Cathy's or Grandma Cathy or Grandma Judy will come here to watch him. I will have Fridays off. I am giving piano lessons to two boys, so that will be on Fridays as well as playdates, errands, chores, other summer outings, etc. It will be busy, but fun.

Projects, projects, projects

Our breezeway repairs were completed yesterday (for less than the estimate!) and I started taping so I can paint soon. We had some leftover supplies that we were able to return to Lowe's tonight so that will go toward the flooring.

Tomorrow Josh and a friend are digging postholes for a new, bigger, stronger fence for Nano. He's been jumping out of his current one. We got all the rest of the supplies for that project this evening.

Jasper has had a good couple of days. Yesterday he went to daycare like normal, but I took a vacation day to be home while the guy was fixing the breezeway. It was nice to be 'home alone' to get some things done (mainly laundry and cleaning...) It was nice to be home with the whole family last night since I had been gone Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at various church meetings.

Jasper woke up at 5:45 this morning ready to go. We went to the Hershberger's new house today for a playdate. Jasper was excited to see their big playroom (and he was not disappointed!) We stayed there until around 1:30. Jasper slept for maybe 30 minutes on the way home and then woke up when we got home, whined for about an hour while I made him lay down and then was up and wanted to play! I don't know how he does it! We worked in the breezeway and in the workshop, Jasper took a tractor ride with daddy. Then we got cleaned up and went to Ponderosa for dinner and shopping for our project supplies.

The Big Hobby Room Project

I've been so excited to renovate our breezeway into a mud room/hobby room. Of course it's been a bit more difficult that anticipated! First the pipe to the hot water heater busted this winter and got water all over the floor. We were able to find a plumber to cap it and we plan to replace it with an electric heater. As we were pulling up the carpet (because I want to install laminate wood flooring) there was a place that was kind of bubbled up and soft. Josh stepped on it and fell through! Josh tore up the subfloor in that area (no small feat since the nails were rusty!) and found that the joist had completely rotted in that area. When he got the last corner piece out - he could see outside! The 'foundation' (an old concrete porch/patio had crumbled so the corner of the breezeway was basically just hanging in midair. We called a contractor to come look at it. The day he came (Monday) it was raining and we saw that water was pouring in. This is why the joist and the floor rotted. The contractor is going to have to tear up some of our deck, replace the concrete, put in flashing. Then replace the joist and put in the subfloor. He's doing all of this for less than $600 and he's coming tomorrow. As soon as this is repaired, I plan to paint, then put in the laminate flooring, put on baseboard and trim around the door, make curtains, and then eventually I want to install some cabinets, a countertop, a corner storage unit/bench, refinish a couple of old chairs and buy a small chest freezer. Can't wait to have a place to store all mine and Jasper's craft supplies!

Jasper Draws A Monster

Jasper is really beginning to have some control over his drawing. He can easily draw circles and straight lines. He has begun saying he's drawing mommy or daddy, and will draw two dots and a curved line so it looks like a smiley face. Yesterday he drew a circle and said, "Look, Mommy, it's a monster." Then as he drew lines coming off of the circle he said they were two arms and two legs. He drew two dots and said they were eyes.

He's also been trying to write letters. So far, he's told me he drew a D, an A, and an H. I could actually identify them, too!

Jasper Makes New Friends

 
We went to a cookout at the Hildebrand's house on Sunday evening. Jasper was very social and quickly made friends with Brian (1) and Jenna (3 1/2.) Jasper and Brian played on the slide and in the wagon together. When Jenna arrived, she and Jasper were soon running after one another. After dinner, the adults were playing euchre and dominos and Jasper and Jenna were getting out every toy in sight. Around Jasper's normal bedtime he announced he was ready for bed. We got his PJs on and then he and Jenna covered up on the couch to watch some cartoons. The sleepy time didn't last long and he was going until we left at 11 p.m. (and then he was up and at 'em at 7:30 a.m. the next morning!)

Cousins Galore

 Jasper had a great weekend and got to see lots of his cousins on Saturday evening. We went to a cookout at Jeff and Lanette Combs' house. The whole extended family was there including the two babies, Nathan (1 in a couple weeks) and Ada (turned 1 in April.) The coolest part was that both of the babies started walking right there in front of us! Jasper had a blast playing with them and with his older cousins Austin and Jayden.

Jasper's Spring Program

Friday was Jasper's Spring Program. He'd been practicing songs all month including Jesus Loves Me, He's Got the Whole World In His Hands, I've Got the Joy Joy Joy, If You're Happy and You Know It. I was really looking forward to him standing up on stage and singing, but it turns out that all of those songs were for the older kids. Jasper is still in the 'toddler' class, and won't 'graduate' to the 2's class until fall, so he basically just sat on the step and looked cute! After the program, we had snacks and then he got to show us his classroom and do a little craft. Grandma Cathy and Walt came along, so it was fun for him to show them around, too

Wonderful Weather Week!

This week has been beautiful! Jasper has had a bit of a runny nose, but we've determined that it must be allergies because when he's on kid's Zyrtec, it's SOO much better!

It's sad, but I can't even remember what we did over the weekend...oh yeah, Josh worked Saturday, we went out to dinner Saturday night, church and groceries and house projects on Sunday. We did get ice cream on Sunday evening. This time Jasper opted for the ice cream sandwich. It was bit messy...

Wednesday, Jasper and I took a morning walk and played at the park in our PJs - Jasper loved it! Then we came home and got ready for our playdate with the Porters. Norah (4) and Brady (2) and their Mommy, Mary (I won't reveal her age) came over. The kids had a blast playing inside and outside. Jasper was so sad to see them go and kept calling for "Dora" to come back. Norah said through the window of the car as they left, "It's ok, Jasper, I can come back tomorrow." Jasper refused to take a nap after they left because he was so upset, so I told him we could go in the truck and see if we could find Norah (I know, a bit of a lie...) Well, he fell asleep, but as I was carrying him inside, he woke up, looked around and said worriedly, "Where's Dora??" Needless to say, that didn't work, and he didn't actually fall asleep until 4 p.m. Between my first attempt at nap and actual nap, Jasper dropped and broke our digital camera - so no pictures for a while. Looks like I'll be able to borrow my parents old camera until we can replace ours.

All week, Jasper's been serenading us with songs from his school program (tonight) and it's so cute to have him sing to us before bed instead of us singing to him. My favorite from this week was He's Got the Whole Word In His Hands (the verse when he said, "He's got da wittle bitty baby in his hands" was the best!)

Last night was so beautiful that we ate dinner outside. I think Jasper enjoyed that. Heidi brought her dog, Fink, over to stay for a couple days while she helps her sister move. Jasper thought it was neat to have two dogs at our house!

Today, Jasper and I went to the greenhouse to get flowers and vegetable plants. He was very good! Then we went to the library for books, movies and CDs and to sign up for the Summer Reading Program. Then home for lunch, a little playtime, and then I did a brave thing (or stupid??) I took Jasper and the two dogs on a walk. I hooked both leashes to the stroller and off we went. All of them did well, but we had to bring the dogs back before we were really done walking because it was so hot. Jasper fell asleep as we finished our walk and is still sleeping now. I had to stay in for a while to cool off, but am now headed out to plant flowers.

Prince Jasper

Today started early with Jasper up several times during the night with the start of a cold. He and I ended up sleeping on the couch from about 4 a.m. until he announced he was ready for breakfast at 6:15. One good thing about an early start is that I had eaten breakfast, cleaned up the kitchen and started a load of laundry by 7:30 a.m.

Jasper and I decided to build a castle of a cardboard box this morning. We have a book that gives ideas of all kinds of things you can make out of boxes. Our castle has a drawbridge and flags and 'Prince' Jasper has a crown. He is currently watching 'Cars' and eating a snack inside the castle. I take that back, he just said his castle was too scary and climbed upstairs to play (but he's still wearing his crown.) Earlier he told me that it was "nice and warm in my castle."

Coffee and a Cactus

Jasper has done some funny things lately. One that I put on the quote of the day last week was really good! I was making tea on the stove and went to pour the hot water into my cup and Jasper said, "I want coffee, too, Mommy." Then he continued, "In my bird cup...with a straw." We have a mug that has a flamingo as a handle that he had hot cocoa in this winter, and I would give him a straw to drink it out of, so I think he assumed all hot drinks worked like that. I was curious to see what he'd think of my decaf tea, so I poured a bit in his "bird" cup and put a few ice cubes in. I gave it to him, he looked in the mug and said, "I no want ice." I poured out the ice. He took a sip and said, "It's not hot, warm it up, Mommy." I put it in the microwave for a few seconds. He took another sip and said, "Still not hot, warm it up again, Mommy." I warmed it up again. He took another sip and said, "I don't like it." HILARIOUS!!

I mentioned last week that Jasper told me he was drawing a cactus. I happened to catch it on video - here it is...

Jasper Goes to a Fashion Show

On Saturday, my mom, both grandmas, Aunt Elaine, Mary Porter and I went to a fundraiser event for the Peru chapter of Birth Right, a pro-life volunteer organization. Heidi is volunteering for the organization now, so she was there, too. The plan was to have Jasper stay at my Grandparent's house and one of my cousins to come over so Grandpa Pete wouldn't have to be chasing him around. The plan didn't work out because both cousins I asked were busy. So, Jasper stayed with my dad until he had to begin work on the deck project he had planned for the day. I went and picked Jasper up at that point and took him back to the fashion show. He was ok for about half an hour, but then began saying, " I want go home" over and over and over!

Later in the day, we got to go visit the Porter's new house in Wabash and Jasper loved playing with Brady and Norah. Norah was so cute because she wanted Jasper to play with a certain toy, but Jasper wasn't interested. She tried everything she could think of, and finally said, "Jasper I need your help, I have a really big problem." That worked and he followed her, only to run into her nose and cause her to break into tears!

That evening we visited Grandma Lena and then Grandma June and Papa Pete. Jasper was in such a good mood and was showing off left and right. At Grandma Lena's he loved playing on her new lift chair, but was a little scared when it lifted Mommy up. He also climbed on Grandma Lena's footstool and colored - then he insisted Grandma color, too. At Grandma June and Papa Pete's house, Jasper broke out the song and dance routine again. He sang "If You're Happy and You Know it." He did 'clap your hands,' 'stomp your feet,' 'jump really high,' 'shake all over.' The best part was when he said, "Get up guys" and made us all (except Grandpa - somehow he was exempt...) get up and sing and do the motions. This went on for a LONG time and if one of us would sit down, he'd say, "Come on guys, get up." After that song, we had to do "Ring around the Rosie." He was still singing after we left! In the car, he sang his ABCs and at the end he'd sing, "Next time won't you sing with me?" and then he'd say, "One more time" and point his little finger, and start all over again!

Jasper stayed at Grandma Debbie and Papa Brooke's house all night. Josh and I had a nice evening and day together on Sunday, and then picked him up (and our compost bin) on Sunday evening.

Dinner and the Zoo

Last Friday, Jasper, Grandma Cathy and I went to the zoo. This is the second time we've used our season pass - it's so great to have a free visitor pass for each visit!! We plan on taking everyone at least once this summer.

Jasper walked almost the whole time we were there! He got to ride the train and loved the alligator (nearly 400 pounds!) We went to lunch at Chick-Fil-A and I now know it was a STUPID idea to go somewhere with an indoor playground when we didn't have time to stay and play. Jasper threw a huge tantrum as we left and it took me around 10 minutes to get him strapped into his car seat because he was throwing such a fit! After a few minutes of driving, though, he was asleep and slept for 3 hours!

That night we went out to dinner with Cathy for Mother's Day at a nice Italian restaurant in LaPorte. Jasper was in good form and after he was done eating, he got out of his high chair and did a little song and dance routine in the restaurant. So cute!

Jasper and the Outdoors

Jasper loves being outside! Since it's gotten warm, we've been spending a lot of time outdoors playing t-ball, soccer, basketball, bocce ball, pretending to mow the yard, digging holes, finding worms, riding bikes, etc. The other night we were digging up an area to plant some wildflowers, and we found a toad. Jasper thought it was hilarious!

Playing Catch Up

I haven’t posted in a while… Here’s what’s been going up with us. Two weekends ago, Grandma Debbie came up and spent the night with us. She watched Jasper during the day while I was out so Josh could work outside. Then she watched him so Mommy and Daddy could have a date night (Ponderosa and a movie – Josh actually picked 17 Again!) Sunday was the Mother’s Day Banquet at church that I helped plan. It went really well and it was fun to have my mom and my Jasper there!

Last Wednesday, my Grandpa Pete had surgery, so Mom and Grandma June spent the night here. Jasper loved spending time with them in the morning and even got Grandma June into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Uncle Colin visited on Friday night for a seafood meal on the grill (Josh grilled salmon and scallops and made a shrimp dip.) He stayed the night and Jasper had a blast playing with him. At one point Jasper decorated Colin's face with smiley face stickers. After Colin left, Josh, Jasper and I headed to Plymouth for a picnic at the park and then went to the driving range. Jasper and I lounged on a blanket while Josh practiced with his new golf shoes.

We decided over the weekend to give Jasper a break from the potty training. He's in pull ups for a while and we're hardly even mentioning potty to him. He did tell Daddy on his own last night, so we figure he'll let us know when he's ready to start back up. It is just a little frustrating that he had been doing so well, but I know that is not uncommon.

Jasper and I stayed home today and did all kinds of stuff - crafts, books, toys, songs, took a walk, made cookies...and then this evening he got to go to his favorite friend, Matthew's house for a little while because I had a meeting at church.

Jasper is now signing several new songs - If You're Happy and You Know It, God is So Good, I've got the Joy Joy Joy, He's Got the Whole World In His Hands. He is also showing interest in the piano and even likes to look at the music books. He now knows the number 0 by sight and continues to show a great memory. He does a really good job kicking his small soccer ball and can hit the ball off of his cone (we have a caution cone for a tee.) He can also pedal his tricycle. He plays pretend all the time and his favorite thing to be is a monster! Today he was drawing and told me he drew a cactus! I didn't even know he knew what a cactus was!!