"gobucks!!!"

Jasper really, truly thinks that playing with a ball is called "go bucks!!" (always said all as one word and always with MUCH excitement). We think this stems from cheerin' on the OSU football season and then March Madness came along and confirmed this in his mind as he heard us cheering, "Go Bucks!!" at the top of our lungs.

Whenever he sees anyone, of any age, race, color, or ethnicity, playing with any ball, whether it's a bouncy ball, football, basketball, baseball, tennis ball, etc, he thinks what they are doing is "gobucks!!" instead of "playing with a ball", "throwing a ball", "holding a ball", etc. and he LOVES to announce to all within the nearby zipcodes (you folks in Georgia could probably hear him, too) that "da guy is GOBUCKS!" (aka "the guy is holding a tennis ball")

So whenever Jasper wants to play with a ball, he says, "Momma? Gobucks!!!? please gobucks!!?"

It's so stinkin' cute, it's the one thing in life that I can't bare to correct him on b/c it just melts my heart to pieces.

This morning, we had such a wonderful, lazy Sat morning playing "gobucks!!!" with Jasper's new ball that he got from Wal-Mart (or "Wammm-Art" as he calls it) last night. It was such a treat!!

lunch!

Hi! My name is Jasper! This is my mommy's blog and she is normally the one who writes stuff on here, but today, I thought I would share my new discovery with you!

You see, this discovery has absolutely changed my life (and hence, my mommy's life) and I really wanted to share this epiphany with you all.

You see... back in my darkened days, before my mind was enlightened, I thought meals such as breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, and snack were all just for eating. I would just sit in my chair, shove in my food, and pound it down as fast as humanly (or "toddler-ly") possible. I think most normal humans do this, too.

But guess what?!?!!??

I just recently discovered that meal time can actually be play time!! I can't believe I've been missing out all these months on all this extra play time! But let me tell ya, I've been making up for lost time. No longer do I simply eat. No way, Jose. That's boring. Now I magically transform ALL of my food into TOYS!!!!!! It's awesome!!

My mommy doesn't mind that mealtimes now take at least and hour and a half. She thinks it's pretty fun to watch me grow and develop a personality.  Occasionally, though, she does get bored (because she finishes eating in 20 minutes!! can you believe that?!?). And when that happens, she either reads the Bible aloud to us or she gets out the camera and snaps pictures. Today, she did both. Since this "new and improved" meal time has rocked my world so much, I want to show you just how much fun lunch was today, so maybe you'll be motivated to play with your food for hours tomorrow, around noon, just like I will be!!!

First, I positively, absolutely cannot start eating before I line up all my cars to watch me eat.

It takes me a long time, because I can never decide if I want them horizontal or vertical, forward or backward. I have 4 cars total, and with each car, the decision is excruciating and I try various poses and angles before moving on to the next car. Eventually, though, I get it all figured out.

But wait!!! The cars are hungry and must eat hummus!!!! This is the only thing I can think about, talk about, or do: feeding my cars hummus.

 Mommy tells me not to actually dip the cars in the hummus (after I did it a couple of times). I obey her, but I did get a smidgen of  hummus on the red car, and I start freaking out. My mom is quick to assure me that it's ok, she knows it was an accident, but I still need lots and lots of hugs and kisses before we can move on.

After spending most of the 21st century feeding hummus to my cars, my mom decides to give me an orange! Wonder of all wonders! I can line the orange wedges up in a row! I do so. Many times. Many, many times in many, many places. It's the best. Lining up orange wedges is my favorite. 

After lining them up time after time after time, I discover I can transform them into helicopter blades. Now I'm obsessed intent on making them spin and making loud helicopter noises with my lips. It was the bomb. Mom eventually makes me eat an orange wedge, and I'm happy to do so. But, honestly, playing with them was so much more fun!

Next we moved on to bread. This was my most favorite part of lunch because I discovered a new talent I didn't know I had! I can poke holes in bread!!! I had no idea this was doable (is it possible my mom was holding out on me??) but as I was trying to eat my bread, my finger popped through the bread and shocked the life outta me!! Seriously, I squealed with amazement and couldn't stop looking at my finger...sticking through the bread! It was so amazing that I did it again. and again. and again!!!!! I have a feeling this is going to be my new favorite activity!!

But then I got to thinking... why stop with fingers?? I mean, if I can poke my finger through my bread, what else can I poke through my bread?? My little brain searched and searched for the answer to that elusive question until.... ta da!!!! 

MY STRAW!!

I worked and worked and worked on getting the straw through the bread, and then...

I did it!!!

I achieved the un-achievable!!!! 

I drank my water through my straw that was poking through my bread!!!!

Really, it was way cool. You should really try it sometime b/c it's pretty amazing.

I did eventually eat my bread and I finished up my cheese and chicken, too, so I got a pretty filling lunch in addition to all the playing.

At multiple points throughout the lunch, I thought I may had possibly seen a bird fly past the window. I couldn't be sure, though, so I kept staring out the window and begging the bird (and airplanes, helicopters, and the mailman) to come past the window so I could see them. The mailman did actually walk by while we were eating and that was something new and exciting that I could talk about for the next half hour or so.

Lunch was great! Lunch was SOO great!

I can't wait until lunch tomorrow.

But wait!!

I forgot about dinner!!

I wonder what toys we're having for dinner tonight....

these are precious days.

So often lately, I feel like my heart is positively overflowing.

Overflowing with how fun life is, how cute Jasper is, the new things Jasper is saying or learning how to do, how lovely it is to be a family of 3, etc. Each day, I just revel in how many blessing God has given us; blessing after blessing after blessing! There are the occasional hard moments, of course, but very largely overall, life is just plain old FUN these days! All day long, Jasper and I just play and play; he's very much turning into my little buddy and we just pal around all the time, gabbing away, talking a mile a minute, and just doing really, really fun things. And then, as if that wasn't good enough, Andrew comes home in the evening and we have the wonderful privilege of have lazy, lazy, fun evenings together as a fam! Eatin', playing, talking,  hanging out with neighbors and friends, and playing some more.

Every day is fun and every day I look around me and wonder how I got so lucky in life. Every good and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father, and I've been so full of praise and thanks to Him for giving me such a sweet life. I just wanted to make sure I take the time to write this in my blog (aka my diary) b/c I don't want to forget these incredibly precious, worry-free days. I feel like we have nothing but time and fun and love on our hands and Jasper is in an incredibly precious stage where we get the privilege of learning his sweet personality and helping to mold him and point him to the Savior. Other than playdates with friends and the occasional grocery shopping trip, we have nowhere to go and Jasper and I greatly enjoy and appreciate the slow pace of life where we can notice and observe things together, talk about them, pray about them, etc. It's such a sweet life.

I don't want to forget, so here are a few things Jas has done recently that have melted my heart to mush:

- very often throughout the day, I'll hear Jasper say, "wuv oo God!" (aka "I love you, God") just randomly, for no particular reason. I know he doesn't fully understand, but I'm convinced that he partially understands about God and prayer. It's the sweetest thing in the world to hear Jasper say "wuv oo God" while he's busy playing with his firetrucks.

- Jasper knows at least 4 Meijer cashiers by name (and they ALL know his name, too) and EVERY time we go to Meijer now, he clambers out of the cart, runs up to Mukesh, Abernashi, Kim, and Carol and gives them huge hugs and kisses. All the cashiers stop what they're doing (aka checking out that person's groceries) and they pick him up, talking to him, and hug him. Jasper's got the whole store wrapped around his finger (all the meat department ppl know him as do the bakery ppl). As soon as we pull into Meijer's parking lot, Jasper says, "Mukesh!! hi Mukesh!! Baber hi Mukesh!!"

- Sometimes when J and I are alone, I lift up my hands in praise to God while we're listening to worship music. Jasper now sings with his hands in the air. :o)

- Jasper can sing the whole chorus of "10,000 reasons" (granted, he only says about every other word, but still...). I love it!

- Andrew is the best, and I mean THE BEST, husband and dad in the whole world! He constantly astounds me with the love, patience, sacrifice, and energy that he puts into his relationships with me and Jas.

- Jasper LOVES bugs (who doesn't??!) and he often walks around the house and driveway saying, "ere arrrre dooo buuugs???" (aka "where are you bugs?") in a very high-pitched, sing-song voice. It's the cutest thing in the world.

Jasper's talking to the ant

J is now on the constant lookout for bugs

- I was so sick yesterday with a high fever and migraine, so Jasper spent the day sitting on my lap, drinking herbal tea (yes, Jasper drank an entire pot of herbal tea) while watching youtube videos of "waste management trucks", his favorite thing in the world. it was so sweet!!

- also, yesterday during my sick day, Jasper and I snuggled deep under the covers of my bed and watched almost an hour of Ice Age and he barely moved a muscle. He just rested with his head on my chest, snuggled up by me, and we enjoyed such a fun lazy afternoon together.

I love, love, love, love this stage! It's the cutest stage in the world and my heart is so overflowing with thanks to God!

playing with bubbles outside

Also, we think Finn, the crab, is dead. shoot.

so...

have I mentioned how much we LOVE to be outside?? 

We L.O.V.E it!!!

Jasper and I had the blessing of being home all day today with nowhere to go and nothin' to do. As a result, we just played and played the day away... most of it outdoors (we also made and canned homemade strawberry jam together- super fun!). I believe we went on 6 different walks and talked with over 20 different neighbors. :o) I love our neighborhood!!

I'm so tired right now and want to go join my hubby in bed, so I'm just going to throw up a few pics on here b/c I don't forget our wonderful day. I don't have time/energy to write anything witty or to put any thought into this post. But here are the pics.

From our morn:

Jasper LOVES our neighbor, Avery, and first thing he does every time we go outside is to see if Avery's on the porch (he most often is).

 Smelling Sandra's flowers.

 Trying to capture the ball. :o) He loves this new ball nana got him. 

J discovered the 8 month old water in our nasty watering can...

 and then spent the remainder of the morning playing in it. :o)

From our evening:

Jasper's newest favorite way to play with the cart.

J saw an airplane. Probably the 185th one we saw today, yet he still stops and stares at each and every one till they're out of sight.

My phlox are starting to bloom!!! yay for spring!!

Jasper was having a blast on our Andrew's shoulders on our walk. Now whenever we go for walks, Jasper says, "dolders. Dadda, please, dolders!!!" (dolders = shoulders). Andrew's poor neck!

Dolores' fam put a flower in her yard to remember her by. They also gave me a huge, huge beautiful arrangement of flowers to thank me for being so involved in her life. I need to take a pic of those!

a beautiful evening!

tonight was absolutely, positively one of the most gorgeous evenings we've had in 2013 so far! So, like the rest of our neighbors, we played outside!!! It was so precious!! Not wanting to forget such a lovely time together, I snapped a few pics of our evening.

running, of course!!

 Jasper giving sweet hugs to dear Sandra...

 throwing a ball with daddy...

chasing said ball...

Andrew trying to get Jasper to pose for a pic, but Jasper had no time for that.

and dearest sandra, enjoying it all. :o)

question:

Question:

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop Roll?

Answer:

A ton. About 45 minutes' worth, to be exact. :o)

Playing in the rain!

This week has been such a fun week of firsts!!!

For example:
First crab!
First time Jasper held an itty bitty baby (Annalise)!
First time Jasper half fell in the park pond while feeding the geese.
First time Jasper tried to dip the crab's leg in the candle wax (he was not successful seeing as how I quickly intervened and stopped him!).
First time Jasper threw his pig in my coffee (that was actually a few weeks ago).

AND....

First time playing in the rain!!!

As I imagined he would, he LOVED it! :o)

Here are our dear friends, Sarah and Joshua, just arriving to significantly brighten up our morning! :o)

fav crab pic

I want to do a bigger blog about our crabs and how/why we got them, but haven't yet found the time to do it. In the meantime, this is my favorite crab picture so far. :o)

mourning

Today, we're mourning the loss of our dear friend and neighbor, Dolores. Her death was very unexpected and came as a huge shock both to her family and to us. My heart is just broken, knowing that she's gone; we loved her to pieces and will miss her so much in the weeks and months to come.


Here are a couple snapshots of Dolores at Jasper's 1st bday party last May (she's in the white sweater).

(

what a glorious day!!!

Today was a very ordinary, stay-at-home, nothing-special kinda Friday for me and Jasper. And it was such a glorious day. Absolutely, positively the best day we've had in weeks... months... maybe ever.

Several times today, I thought to myself that this is by far some of the most precious time i've ever had in life.

Granted, Jasper had a few moments of rebellion, which resulted in immediate and loving discipline. But that's normal. He's a sinner in need of a Savior. Nothing new there.

Anyway, as I was saying, aside from a few disciplinary issues, it was such a precious, precious day. Jasper has entered a new and fantastic stage of life.

He has realized that he can run.

He can also say the word, "running." (he doesn't know "run" or "ran", just "running". So it's always referred to  in our house as "running").

So starting yesterday (this is a very new phase), he lives and breaths to run, and he yells "running" at the top of his lungs while doing so. He throws both arms straight back, puts his head and shoulders down, and yells "RUNNING!!! BABER RUNNING!!" :o) It's the cutest thing you've ever seen.

Guess what we did all day today? Yup, we were "running". We ran at home inside, at home outside, on a 1 mile walk around the neighborhood, up the alley, down the alley, at the park, back at home, took a 4 hour nap, then Andrew and Jasper did running in the ditch outside Chipotle (our evening meal), then more running at home with Timbits in hand. Jasper was in heaven. I was, too. It was such a treat.

I realized tonight that we never, ever, ever have the tv on when Jasper's awake. Jasper occasionally watches a few minutes of "garbage waste trucks" on youtube if I'm wearing thin on patience and need a break, but other than that, we never watch tv with little Jas. And i'm so thankful. The day will come, I'm sure. But for now, I'm so content with just playing outside with our son, running, flipping, climbing, and kissing. :o)

about to embark on our morning running

Later this evening, after we got home from Chipotle, Andrew grabbed the camera and took a mini-photo shoot of me and Jasper running. If you look closely, you can see Jasper holding on for dear life to half a chocolate Timbit in most of these pics. (here, he's showing you his Timbit)

 Occasionally, he would see a small rock on the driveway and think it was a Timbit crumb and pop it in his mouth...

Anyway, here's a taste of a typical evening in the Meade home. :o) Enjoy!

running up the driveway

running down the driveway

running up the alley

running down the alley

We sat down to take a break from all the fun running and Jasper realized he could do flips over my shoulder. It was a very relaxing "break"! lol! :o)

After much flipping, we decided to switch to climbing. Jasper loves to hold my hands and see how high he can climb on me before we both fall over. It's very... muscle-building.

 And of course, sweet Jasper gave lots of kisses throughout the day. I think it's kinda gross, but he likes to plant big wet ones right on the lips. Let's hope that's a "family-only" type of kissing habit.

It was so, so precious. But seriously... I need a redbull.