Lovey?

Jack insisted on bringing his keyboard to bed for story time last night! Opa, I think Jack is missing his computer, baaaad! We hope you're feeling a lot better and also hoping you'll get that computer fixed soon. We love you!

An Ordinary Day

Yesterday, we were blessed with an absolutely ordinary day. We did not do anything spectacularly amazing. We did exactly what hundreds of other preschoolers and moms did yesterday. First, We went to a park where it is nice and flat so that Jack could get some more practice riding his tricycle. As you can see, he has mastered going where he wants to by pushing with his feet on the ground and steering. I just love that look of determination.

I don't have a really great picture of him with his feet on the pedals and pedaling. He did not exactly want to stop for a picture and I did not want to discourage the pedaling. After we had been riding around the park for about an hour and a half, Jack wanted to swing so we headed to the playground. I wish I could have gotten a picture of him scurrying up the climbing wall but it was just the two of us there and well, safety first! I was spotting him just in case. Oh yeah, he also did what hundreds of other little kids did on playgrounds yesterday. He slipped and whacked his face on a metal platform. A quick check and some soothing from Mama and off he went again. Down down down the big tube slide, climbing up the bar thingies (with some assistance from Mama), down the little bumpy slide but only once because he does not really like that one. After playing on the playground for a half hour, we were back on the bike around and around the park. Jack was so tired that he was leaning his upper body on to the handlebars. Like all preschoolers, he still did not want to leave and got pretty upset when Mama said, "It's time to go. You need to rest." He protested but settled in with his juice and cookies in the car.
We got home and he was still chomping at the bit to ride some more so off we went down our inclined sidewalks in search of a flatter area. Jack pedal pedal pedaled up a great bill hill (with Mama pushing) and we found this nice flat spot at the end of a dead end road.
Jack decided it was time to rehydrate...
Look how absolutely amazingly beautiful this shot is....did you miss it? Look again....four fingers and a thumb on each hand!!! At the end of the road, there was some construction debris and lots of rocks and dirt! What's a little boy to do? Play in it of course!!! Jack got good and dirty. It was fabulous! Here he is thinking about this one little concrete platform.It's a step up off an uneven surface onto a slightly inclined even surface. Should I ask Mama for help? What if I fall onto those other big rocks? Oh wait, I still got my helmet on.I can do it. No assistance required. Made it!
Jack rode his trike back to the house and we played on the swingset and in his clubhouse then we ran inside to get our stuff and head to church.
So that was our super deluxe ordinary day. Life is good. God is great!

Ma why ya always gotta take a pic?

No fuss helmet wearing. Does life really get better than this? :o)

Taking Elmo for a Ride

How sweet! I asked Jack if he'd give Elmo a ride. He was playing with his little table and I said Can you give Elmo a ride on your trike? I put Elmo in the back basket and said Elmo wants a ride around the house. Jack immediately hopped on his trike and started pushing.
So people have asked, Well how do you like Elmo? He's a fabulous furry little guy who teaches about a variety of subjects and is always sweet and polite. What's not to love? And nothing is more adorable than Jack jumping up from my lap to go get Elmo (Buh-bo in Jack speak) so we can tickle him.

What We Do for Fun!

We dress alike......Sometimes Jack likes to put some of his favorite things together...
Mama-check!
Signing Time movie-check!
Bouncing on exercise ball-check!
Sit and spin-check!


Makin' a lil' music....
Out for a stroll in the dark....
Life is good here. Jack goes for annual check ups soon. I'll keep you posted.

Triangle

We were out for a stroll on his new trike and suddenly Jack said triangle (well it actually took me a few tries to understand because it was not clear as a bell). I looked over across the street and sure enough...there's a triangle. I hope you can see it. My camera phone has no flash.

Sitting in Traffic

School traffic is not a lot of fun. It can be veeerrrryyy slow. We sometimes get bored. Jack seems to like having his seat over by the window but I'm a bit torn. The safest place is the middle of the backseat, with behind the driver's seat being the second most safe. We had to move the seat one day for some reason...oh yeah, it was when Elise and Jack both needed their boosters in the car and they would not fit side by side. Anyway, we've since left the seat there. He has a booster seat with an awesome safety rating and great head protection. Did I mention he really enjoys looking out the window? What to do?!!?

King of the World

My life is....

I hope I am not violating a coyright. I took the title for this post from a blog by Rachel Coleman of Signing Time (http://www.signingtime.com/rachel/2009/01/21/my-life-is/). She talks about how she used to think that her life was hard and one day she realized that she wanted to redefine the way she thought about her life. I can so identify with thinking my life is hard and it would be so easy to sink there again. Fortunately, I have two handsome fellas that keep me smiling. I think how you fill in the blank in the phrase My life is.... reveals a lot about how you perceive your life. That perception colors everything in your life. It determines whether you are having a great day or whether you dread getting out of bed. My life is full of oppurtunities. My life is great. I pray that David and I are modeling and can continue to model a positive life outlook for Jack so that when he fills in that blank you know its good. How do you fill in the blank?
Sent from my Palm Treo

The Others

I figured out what was wrong. The fancy new camera that David gave me for Christmas takes pictures with such a high resolution that the files are too big for uploading so here's a few more pics from the weekend in the wrong order. FYI, if your camera resolution is too large you can use a program such as Microsoft Digital Image Suite and use the save a copy for web option.

Happy Boy Ligtning Manufactured at The Science Center--Bobbie took the picture for us. There was clapping after the first demonstration and Jack got really upset so we went outside and stomped on the tile in the lobby.

What makes science more fun? Hanging out with your cousins, that's what!

Cold Weekend

Jack and Elmo visited Nana this weekend. She was a little tired but not too tired to play with Jack. Hopefully, she will be feeling much better soon. We love you Nana!

This is how we handle the cold weather....

So this is the layer that we started with--long sleeve t-shirt and jammie pants! Jack thought he was ready to go after we added a sweatshirt and blue jeans.

Not so fast, mister. I chased him back upstairs and added another layer of fleece.

Finally, a fleece lined rain resistant wind breaker type jacket (warmer than it sounds but I don't know what to call it), gloves and of course we had to add shoes. Ready for some cold weather!

Alas, silly Mama believed that the weather forecasters knew what they were talking about when they said that Sunday would be as cold as Saturday. Once we got outside we realized we were a little overdressed. Although, I must say I'd rather be toasty warm than freezing cold!

I had more pictures from the weekend but I'm having trouble uploading to Blogger so that's all for now, folks!

Mark and Carly

We have been looking for David's old army buddy, Mark, for years! We finally found him thanks to his daughter's MySpace and Facebook pages. We all had a great time visiting.

We forgot that we own a tripod and a camera with a self-timer so there is not a group shot of everyone at once.

Mark is smiling through the pain. He did not know how heavy Jack was until he picked him up for the pictures. Hope your back is okay today, Buddy!

I'm a little teapot short and stout....hey, did everyone realize how short I am before I stood next to beautiful, tall, photogenic Carly?

Jack liked 'em so you know they're good people.

We had a blast guys! Hope to see you again real soon.

B-A-T-H!

Last night, I came down the hall to the living room where Jack was busy playing. I said, "Whose ready for a B A T H? B A T H? (I fingerspelled as I verbally spelled it) Jack got a curious look on his face and looked at me. Me-"Well what does that spell?"
Jack-"Ba?"
Me-"Ba?"
Jack-"Baaaaa!!!" while he signed bath and started pushing me to the bathroom.
Me-"That"s right, bath! Okay don't push."
How cool is that?

Sent from my Palm Treo

You Talkin' t' Me?

Sleepin' in a Fire truck

The last couple of nights Jack has been jumpin up into his "new" fire truck bed to go to sleep. We took this before he started desaturating and we had to put his mask on. I don't know if you can see it but I found a fire man quilt that one of Jack's grandma's friends made way back when Jack was born. Now we just have to get some new sheets; I don't think Winnie the Pooh in pastels really goes with the fire truck. :)

I think he likes it!

Jack's cousin sent him a monster truck for Christmas....what do you think? I think he likes it.

Big Helper

What's this trike doin' in the kitchen? Mama could fall over it! Better move it out of the way.

Plum Tuckered Out

Jack hung out with his buddy Sidney and Sidney's little sister Sophie all day today. Looks like it wore him out!

House o' fun!

If you can't find fun at our house, you're a stick in the mud!

Toddler energy

No coffee yet, eyes barely open, he hops out of bed and hops on his trike!

Still Livin' at Home

It's been three and a half years and he's still living at home without a job! I'm taking him around to fill out job applications next week.....

What? Is there somethin' on my face?

Jack visits GranBeverly

Jack really enjoyed visiting GranBeverly (Noah's grandma) yesterday. I wish I could have gotten a picture of him giving her this big huge grin. I just hope GranBeverly is not too sore today from the workout Jack gave her. :)