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!