Power tools

So, when I get an idea in my head, I run with it. I tend to do "all or nothing", "go big or go home" whenever I'm working on a project. I can also be pretty independent when working on projects; I like being able to do things myself.

Anyway, I started a project this afternoon and I needed Andrew's help with part of it. Andrew, however, was at work, so we texted back and forth and afterward, i re-read our "texting conversation" and found it entertaining. It went like this:

me: hey- how do you get that little piece out of the end of the Dremel (andrew's power tool) so I can put a different one in there?

Andrew- whaaaaaaat??!! maybe I should just do that... what r u planning?

me- no. i can do it. Just tell me how to switch it. I've already been using your drill. But the drill doesn't seem to be doing what I want it to do.

Andrew- ur makin' me scared, hon.

me- Please just tell me. You're delaying my "rest time".

Andrew- I will help u if u tell me what ur trying to do.

me- please just tell me.

Andrew- there's a little wrench in the bit box that fits on the flat part of the collar of the dremel. you have to twist the rotor until you can depress the black button near the tip. that locks it in place so that you can use the wrench to loosen the chuck and change your bit. Then you need to tighten it back up before using it. Please consider eye protection.

- long period of silence-

me- that sounds complicated.

Andrew- can I do it for u when i get home? Please??

me- sigh. ok. but I like being able to do things on my own.

Andrew- if u like, I can just show u how to do it and then u can do ur thing.

me- ok. I was using the drill, but the thingys kept flying out the end when I got it up to high speed. I think the dremel might be better.

Andrew- I totally trust u, but I'm still scared.

me- lol. I was just trying to fix my jeans.

Andrew- hmmm... typically that doesn't involve high-speed power tools but ok. I'll help you when I get home.

Just one of the many reasons I love this man. :o)

(also, the jeans have been fixed!! hooray! Lo and behold, we only needed a pen and not the high-speed power tools I spent the afternoon trying to figure out how to use. It was Andrew's idea to use the pen and it was brilliant!)

New Toy!!

Andrew and I have never actually bought Jasper a toy before.

For Christmas, we got him nothing.

For his birthday, we got him a water bottle (which he loved, by the way).

In July, I got him a little "doo-dad" for 10 cents from the thrift store.

But that's it. No new toy, nothing, nada. Occasionally I'll give him a spatula and act like it's an amazing new toy for him to play with, but after 6 months of the spatula trick, Jasper is no longer impressed with the long piece of plastic.

Anyway, I was at Target on Saturday, and I came across these funky little bouncy balls that, when you throw them, they light up and flash all sorts of colors. I new instantly that Jasper would LOVE these. Not wanting to spoil him, though, I walked around the store for half an hour wondering if I should splurge the $2 to buy him his very first toy from Momma and Dada. In the end, I couldn't resist, and it's not like the $2 was going to break the bank, so I bought him the "LED light-up ball".

To say that Jasper was overjoyed with his new ball is a complete understatement. He is in complete, absolute, total love with this ball. The first thing he does when he gets out of his crib is grab both froggies, his big monkey blanket from the Clausons, a paci, his sippy cup, (yes, he likes to have all his favorite things around him at all times) and then run full blast to his new ball. Then his jaw drops and he just grins and grins and squeals and grins some more! Occasionally, he spins around in a circle as an extra expression of joy!

I'm not sure what he likes more- the new light-up ball or the fact that after 17 and a half months, he finally has something new to play with.

But it's so precious!! I love watching him get so much joy out of his toy and it's a good reminder to me that somewhere in the Bible, it says something to the effect of, "just as a parent loves to give good gifts to his child, so does the Heavenly Father delight in giving good gifts to those who love Him".

Below are a few blurry pics of Jasper this morning and his new light-up ball.

Mexican Bean Salad

Hi ladies! Some of you from the shower today were asking for the recipe to the Bean Salad.

side note- below is Jurga, the beautiful pregnant sis, and the rest of the Weston Women. Love my fam!

Anyway, this is one of our favorite "go-to" recipes for every day life because it's so fresh and healthy. Below is the recipe:

Combine in big bowl:
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, drained
1 green pepper, chopped
1 red onion, chopped

In smaller bowl, mix together the following:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
2 TBSP lime juice
1 TBSP lemon juice
1 TBSP salt
1 clove crushed garlic
1/2 tsp chili powder
dash of pepper

pour mixture over the beans/corn.

refrigerate

serve with tortilla chips

Enjoy!!

hardworking

Andrew's work has been crazy busy this last month or so, and the final deadline for everything to be turned in is this evening (yikes!!).

Andrew has been going to work early every morning, workin' like crazy, racing home long after the sun has gone down just in time to say goodnight to Jasper and sing him "Jesus Loves Me", serving me and ministering to me after we put Jas down for the night, doing additional Wasserstrom work from home in the evenings, dropping into bed exhausted, and then getting up and doing it all over again the next day. And the next day. And the next day....

He is the hardest working man I know and he does so with joy and integrity; he's such an example to me and my complaining heart as I'm so quick to grumble if Jasper is annoying me or such.

I can't believe I got such an amazing man for a husband; whenever I think about it, I'm moved to tears and realize how very blessed I am. I married way, way, way up when I married Andrew David Meade.

I'm so thankful for him and to our God for giving him to me.

Cool shades, dude!

Jasper was rockin' the sunglasses this afternoon while playing in the yard and eating dirt.

love. love. love.

Did someone say, "whisk"??

Today, Jasper and I have had the wonderful joy of staying home the whole day, and boy, was it a blessing!! The last few weeks have been pretty busy for us, so today gave us some time to catch up on a few things around the house and also to just play together.

Well, we were making homemade applesauce together earlier this morning, and I gave Jasper a whisk so he could  help me stir the apples (he LOVES helping me do anything and he really enjoys learning how to do new things and new processes). Being the "gadgets" guy that he is, he immediately fell in love with his whisk and carried it with him the rest of the day.

The part that just melted my heart, though, was that whenever I said anything about his whisk...

such as:
- here, babes! You dropped your whisk!
- Jasper!! You're doing a great job using the whisk!
- That's a good idea to put the whisk in your firetruck trunk!
- Oh no! Where did your whisk go??

he would immediately stop everything he was doing and instantly show me one or both of his wrists.

It was adorable and the eagerness with which Jasper showed me his wrist EACH TIME just filled me with laughter. You haven't seen "cute" until you've seen a toddler confusing the words "wrist" and "whisk". :o) Love it!! :o)

Hi Grams!!

I'm currently suffering from parental exhaustion, so my brain is refusing to come up with any new material, but I wanted to take a moment to say "hi" to Grandma Tractor, my blog's biggest fan!!

In case you didn't know, my Grandma Tractor is one of the strongest, caring, most beautiful woman you will ever meet (and she'll kick your butt in Euchre). She never ceases to amaze me.

Love you, Grams!!!

Saturday mornings..

Saturday mornings are meant for pj's; we stay in our pj's and rock our bed head as long as humanly possible.

Andrew decided to go shopping late Saturday morning, and since Jas and I were still rockin' our pj's, we decided to stay home. Here are a few pics of Jasper waving goodbye to Andrew as he left (notice I did NOT include any pics of me in my pj's and bedhead... not nearly as cute as a 1 year old).

Later on Saturday, our dear, dear friends, the Clausons aka Uncle Drew and Aunt Melissa, volunteered to come over and watch Jasper so Andrew and I could go on a date!! So precious of them and we readily accepted!

We went putt-putting...

(andrew smoked me but I did get a hole-in-one) and then went and cheered on the undefeated Bucks at Rings and Wings.

Thanks Clausons!!!

The most precious sound...

I always thought the most precious sound I would ever hear would be the crying of my newborn baby. I was mistaken.

Don't get me wrong... hearing Jasper's first cry was absolutely precious. It simultaneously gave me tears and took my breath away. Absolutely precious.

But last night, I heard something even more precious.

Andrew's had a very, very busy couple of weeks at work; he's been run ragged and is working hard, through his exhaustion, and doing a marvelous job for his company. I had a Moms2Moms get-together last night, so dear Andrew came home early so I could rush off to my get-together.

Jasper was just waking up from his nap as I was preparing to leave for Moms2Moms, and he unusually started crying as he was wakening. I was just about to rush out the door when I heard the creaking of the rocker going back and forth, back and forth. Pretty soon, Jasper's cries turned into whimpers and then into silence as he was being held and comforted in his daddy's strong arms.

Feeling rather touched, I instantly thought how sweet it was that instead of taking a moment to rest on the couch, exhausted Andrew went to his crying son and was rocking him. However, the next sounds stopped me in my tracks.

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see..."

My strong, handsome, manly-man husband, who was drained and exhausted and still had several hours of work to do from home, was rocking our son and tenderly singing Amazing Grace to him.

It stopped me in my tracks. The whole world suddenly faded away as I stood there, with tears in my eyes, listening to my precious husband (who thought I'd already left for Moms2Moms) tenderly sing of the redemptive love of our Savior to our whimpering son.

My whole heart overflowed with this over-powering love for my God and my family. It's one of those moments where nothing else mattered; one of those moments that, for me, is frozen in time.

Hearing Andrew gently sing of God's love to Jasper is by far the most precious sound I've ever heard.

Be still, my heart.

I haven't forgotten!

I haven't forgotten about my poor, neglected blog.

I really haven't.

I hope to upload my pics soon and have a "recap" of the last few weeks. Last week was super busy and this week has been a nice balance of busy and relaxing. During my discretionary time this week, however, I find myself much more inclined to relax (amazing how much of my energy my precious little guy uses up!) or get caught up on housework (amazing how unintentionally destructive my precious little guy can be!) rather than make my way to our poor, dusty computer, upload pics, sort through said pics, and find witty things to write to go along with the pics.

Jasper has been obsessed to saying "goodbye" to everything and everyone these days. I'm not just talking about simple things like when Daddy goes to work or nana leaves to go home. Jasper says goodbye to the hummus, plates, used napkins, utensils, carrots, and bread that I clean up from lunch.

He says "buh bye" to the tiny little gnat that flew briefly into his line of vision for a millisecond.

He says "buh bye" to each and every car, bus, plane, helicopter, van, and truck that makes an appearance on Southampton Ave.

He says "buh bye" to his dirty diaper when I throw it away.

He says "buh bye" to the sun when it disappears behind a cloud.

This boy needs serious closure.

And he doesn't just say "buh bye". He stops everything he's doing, gets very concerned, loudly proclaims "buh bye", waves his hand, and looks at me as he continues saying "buh bye" at full volume. It's not enough for me to agree that the grapes have gone "buh bye" when I put them in the fridge. Nope, merely agreeing isn't good enough for little Jasper. I, too, must stop everything I'm doing, get down on his level, look him in the eye, and say something like, "Jasper!! You're right!!! I put the grapes in the fridge and now they've gone 'buy bye'! Let's say 'buh bye' to the grapes!"

I've said "buh bye" to more things in the past 3 days than I have in my entire life. I've never noticed before how often things (like dirty napkins that get thrown in the trash) disappear. It's fun (mostly) to see the world from the perspective of a toddler.

Alright, that's about it.

Buh bye.

hyperventilating

Jasper thinks it's absolutely hilarious when I pretend to hyperventilate. Since Andrew had been gone for 4 days and I had completely run out of things to talk to Jasper about or to teach him, I spent all of lunch yesterday pretending to hyperventilate.

Jasper was in heaven.

He would laugh and laugh so hard, he couldn't breath.

As soon as I stopped hyperventilating, he would get the look on his face (seen immediately below) that conveyed, "Mom! I know you can do it! I'm ready to laugh! So bring it on!!"

And seriously, how am I supposed to refuse such a sweet "bring it on" face??

So I would hyperventilate, he would laugh hysterically and rock back and forth (seen below)..

and then he would randomly get entertained by his tomatoes.

It was a pretty great lunch. :o)