Wow It's Been a Long Time!

The holidays definitely kept us busy - and me away from the computer!  I'll try to condense the last several weeks into a short post before I go to bed...

You've gotta check out 'Jasperisms' on the left sidebar with a bunch of funny things Jasper's said recently...

Josh turned 30 on December 12.  As a surprise, I took him to the Blue Chip casino and entered him in a poker tournament.  His parents chipped in the money for the buy-in as his gift.  He came in 4th out of 25 and won a little over $200!  We stayed the night at the hotel there and also went Christmas shopping.

Jasper's birthday party was on December 19 at McDonalds.  There were 7 kids and they enjoyed playing in the playland, eating happy meals and cake.  Jasper had a great time, and I loved having the party somewhere else - what a great deal!

We celebrated Christmas and Jasper's birthday with Josh's mom and husband and family after Jasper's party. Jasper was showered with an enormous amount of gifts.  His favorites were his camera (which really takes pictures which can be downloaded!!)  and his sled.

Christmas Eve morning Jasper got to open some birthday presents from Mommy and Daddy.  Then we went to my parents to celebrate Christmas.  Jasper was most interested in the cardboard that Josh's sawhorses came in and wanted to turn it into a rocket.  That evening, we went to the Balsbaugh extended family Christmas where Jasper got to play with several of his little cousins.  He had a blast!  That night we drove home so we could spend Christmas morning at our house.

Christmas morning, we had to wake Jasper up (I admit, it was with the flash of the camera) and then we read the Christmas story before opening gifts.  I got the complete set of Twilight books and Josh got an I-pod.  Jasper got a backpack, a basketball, and I can't even remember what all!!

Then we headed to the Rochester truck stop for our traditional Christmas Day Truck Stop Breakfast.  We went all out and had CARBS!!!  As Jasper was eating his blueberry pancakes, he said, "There's nothin' better than pancakes!"

After breakfast, we went to Jack and Judy's to celebrate Christmas with them and Judy's kids and parents.  Jasper got to meet his new cousin Xander for the first time.  He was so generous and gave one of his favorite stuffed animals to the baby.  He's never looked back and whined about it either!  MORE GIFTS...Jasper got a bike!!

I was off the week between Christmas and New Years, which was wonderful.  I got a lot of projects done and just enjoyed spending time with Jasper.  We went shopping one day and went to get his pictures taken (and go to Chuck E Cheese afterward as a bribe,  I mean reward.)  We got to see Derek and his fiancee, Katie during that week as well.  Josh, Jasper and I all will be in their wedding in May!

We've gone sledding a couple of times and Jasper loves it!  But he doesn't love the cold.  It takes almost more time to get bundled up than it does for him to get too cold and ready to come in for hot chocolate!  Josh and I had just as much fun as he did, I think.  We bought our own sled (well two since I broke the first one...)

Last week was back to work for me, and last Wednesday was Josh's last day at work.  He started a new job this past Monday and we are very grateful for the new opportunity.  2010 is looking good!

Well - that's most of December thru today in a nutshell!

I'm too tired to post pictures, but click here to see the ones posted thru Jasper's birthday.

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!