a quick photo bomb

I haven't been putting many pics up lately b/c our photo-editing software is still broken (sniff sniff) and I don't see the point in putting up unedited pics... but... I wanted to do a quick update of photos from the last week so far-away fam can still catch a glimpse of our lives.

Last Sat- our newest family tradition is homemade doughnuts, in our pj's, on Saturday mornings. We ALL love this family tradition!!

Gearin' up for the bucks!

 ice cream treat for the boys.

 admiring the motorcycle at Easton

Last Sunday, we went to Arby's to eat (yum!! Lunch date soon, Karie??) and they're building a new Whitecastle right next to the Arby's. Well, Andrew not only took Jasper over to see the excavator after we finished eating, but talked with J and listened to him and just spent time (a lot of time) enjoying Jasper's life with him. It was so precious to watch Andrew spend "lazy" minutes with Jasper. Andrew's a great, great dad. He's a really amazing dad and I learn so much from him about how to truly love on, care for, and mentor our son.

 I especially love this pic b/c you can tell that Andrew is just listening to Jasper and truly concentrating on what he's saying. My breath gets taken away at moments like this.

Today, Jasper and I went up to my parents' house, which is truly a slice of paradise, and spent the day playing outside... trucks, rocks, dogs, gator rides, nana & papa = a little boy's dream!

my car ride

As Jasper and I were driving around town today, I was struck by how truly precious this time with Jasper is. Before Jasper learned to talk, my driving time was rather quiet, interrupted only by the radio, horns, or my occasional singing and praying. NOW, however, they are so interactive and observant; little Jasper not only notices everything but also comments on it all and keeps up a running commentary the whole way to, say, BSF. Then the whole way from bsf to Meijer. Then the whole way from Meijer to home. It is so. incredibly. precious and today I found myself savoring each moment of his running commentary and clinging to this special time with him, my little buddy and sidekick. I know this running commentary is going to be gone before I know it and I thank God for this truly special time in my life.

I invite you to take a quick peak into my car ride from this afternoon:

As we're loading up in the car to leave for the morning:
"WOOK (aka look)!! momma!! Ah! Wook, dere's a weaf (aka leaf) on the fwoor! Wook, Momma! The weaf is hiding from baber! itsa cwunchy weaf. itsa not a smoove weaf. itsa cwunchy weaf. If Baber steps on da cwunchy weaf, it goes, 'cwunch cwunch cwunch cwunch.' Like dat. Ah!! Silly weaf! AHAHAHAHA! Cwazy weaf!!!! Smoove weaves do not go cwunch. only cwunchy weaves go cwunch cwunch... Baber's seat belt wight dere!! Dat's baber's seat belt. Mommy's seat belt is up dere but Baber's seat belt is in Baber's seat."

pulling out of the garage:
"Baber going backwards! Mommy and baber's car going backwards! AH! now forwards. Mommy and baber's wittle white car going forwards now! Where'd dadda's wittle bwack car? oh. Dadda's wittle bwack car at Bofferfrom. Dadda be home time for ninner. Dadda works so hard for us. Going down the hill. Baber's wittle white car going down the hill now. Turning, turning. Going on Southampton now!! Baber's wittle whit.... AH! RED wight means stop!! mommy, stop! Red wight means stop. Oh! gween wight now. Gween wight means 'go, go weally fast! turning. turning. turning. Baber's wittle white car is turning now. Baber on Wess Bwoad Street!!'

Pulling onto West Broad street:

"OHHH!!! Wook mommy!!!! Escavatatatator!!! (aka excavator) Escavatatatator has arm. Arm has hydrolic pistons on it. Hydrolic pistons have wawa (aka water aka fluids) help it move wike this. backward, forward, backward. Pick up dirt. The arm has uh shobel (shovel) and da shobel picks up dirt. Then dump dump dump dump. Da wittle Escavatatatator arm with da shobel dumps the dirt in the back of the dump truck. Den da dump truck goes, goes, goes, goes... dump truck weally woud (aka really loud). Dump truck weally woud. But dump truck goes, goes, goes, goes, and dumps da dirt in big pile! Den da gwada (aka Grader) pushes da dirt like this. Push, push, push, push, push, push, push, push. Like this. Wook Mommy. Da gwada pushes the dirt like this. push, push, push... OH WOOOK MOMMY!!!!!! Dat guy has no shirt on!!! He has pants on! He has shoes on! he has socks on! he has a hat on! But he has NO shirt on!! Cwazy guy! AHAHAH! Cwazy guy!!! Oh look!! MOTOTOTOTOTOCYCLE!!!! Wook at that hoooooooge (huge) motorcycle!!! 2 peoples on da motorcycle! 1 people isa guy, and 1 people isa guwl (girl). Dose guys hab no helmets on but da guy is holdin on to da hanndabars (handlebars). Da guy holds on weally tight to keep him safe. Da motorcylce's weally woud sometimes. Sometimes, itsa not weally woud. Sometimes it's quiet like this: 'vrrrrmmmm.' but sometimes itsa weally woud like dis: "VVRRRRMMMMM!!!" OH WOOK MOMMY!!!! Buldozer right dere!!! Dere's a bulldozer right dere and da guy isa pickin up poles! Da guy is dwiving da bulldozer and he has a helmet on to keep him safe. When Baber gets big like daddy and if baber wants to, baber can ride a morocycle but Baber MUST wear a helmet to keep him safe. Like dat guy right dere! Dat guy is wearing a helmet to keep his head safe. Good job, guy!!! OH WOOOOOK MOMMY!!! A gas twuck! A cement twuck!! Dat truck have no twailer (trailer) on! Dat truck is bobcatting (official term for a truck without a trailer, we learned from a trucker at small groups). Dat poor truck is bobcatting. Dat truck needs to go to da gawage and pick up his twailer. Den he won't be bobcatting anymore. Dose guys workin weally hard to make a new road for us. Dose guys go home in time for ninner. Dose guys hab a mommy to make 'em ninner. Does guys working weally hard for us. Oh wook mommy!!! 3 guys have helmets on, but one guy does NOT hab a helmet on! Cwazy guy! Cwazy guy needs a helmet to keep his head safe. When Baber gets weally big like Dadda, Baber can ride a......."

at this point, we've maybe gone a mile down the street. He keeps this up the entire time we go anywhere! It's the most precious time. I just drive, listen, smile, pray, and enjoy this little guy God has given us!

Scentsy

Jasper loves Scentsy even more than I do, if possible. His morning chore is to turn on 3 Scentsy warmers and make sure they have adequate wax in them; he loves this chore and takes it so very seriously! It's precious!! :o) I'm preparing for my first "real" Scentsy party tomorrow and I let  Jasper play with the discontinued scents... he was in heaven! He has been carrying them around in a basket all day. Eating with them, sleeping with them, showing them to neighbors (and strangers!), playing with them, and crying when we separate him from the basket in order to wash his hands. The picture below says it all!

1st day of bsf

This morn, Jasper woke up SO SO very excited to go to bsf, Bible study fellowship, today! This is our first one of the year and, boy, have we missed it! Jasper immediately asked if he could be "handsome" for his class, so we picked out a "handsome" outfit, got out his new fall shoes, put gel in his hair, and picked out a special blanket for quiet time. He was so very eager and it just melted my heart to pieces! It's such a blessing to my heart to be a part of a bible study that my 2 year old LONGS to go to and looks forward to each week with eager anticipation.

I asked him if he remembered bsf from last year, and he said, "Des (aka yes). sanitizer an' music." (bsf leaders are very quick to put hand sanitizer on the children many times throughout the morning class, so Jasper hit it right on the head with his answer. :o))

Anyway, as he excitedly walked into his class this morning, I found my heart begging the other kids to be nice to him, to play with him, for the teachers to love him, etc. He's such a tender little guy with a sensitive heart and I was just begging the Lord for him to have a good morning. And he did!!

Anyway, we are very excited to be back in the swing of things with bsf and here's a pic of J that I took right before we left. Also, today is special b/c it's the first day Jasper has helped me highlight my hair. It was quite a fun, bonding experience and Jasper got the biggest kick out of making my hair look "crazy"! :o)

Life is good!

hot and humid

today is hot, humid, and close to 90 degrees, which comes as quite a shock to my system since all of August was cool, breezy, and in the '70's! At a loss of what to do today since the pool's closed and I'm a sweaty pregnant gal who shirks any contact with humidity if at all possible, Andrew suggested putting Jasper in a swimsuit and playing in the yard with the hose.

It was perfect!

few tidbits...

Like normal, I don't have much time to write. Jasper's down for his nap, and my weary preggo body is screaming for me to go take a nap, also. Through tried and failed efforts, I have now learned the wisdom in sleeping any chance I get. I know I'm a wimp. But being the pregnant mom of a (very!!) energetic toddler is truly exhausting for me. So anyway... I'm headed up to take a nap. But there were a few tidbits I wanted to write down.

- Duck Dynasty. one word- awesome. It's my and andrew's new favorite thing and we're either watching it or thinking about when next we can watch it. :o)

- hydraulic pistons- Jasper's newest favorite thing. He loves to talk about them, point at them in books, point at them on the excavators on West Broad, dream about them, talk about them, talk about them, talk about them. It's pretty precious!

- bsf- starting soon and I can't wait!!!

- corn meal much- I just discovered that Meijer's sells it for $1.39 a roll!! And all my life, I thought one could only buy it at Amish Country stores!! It's been the highlight of my day, for I just discovered it at 11 am this morn. I've already fried up and consumed half of it. I think it's going to be a weekly staple for us!

- pool's closed, humidity's dropping, summer's over. Fall is my absolute favorite time of year so I'm livin' the dream these days!!

- 8 years and 2 days of marriage- it just keeps gettin' better and better. And the longer I'm married, the more I realize that when I married Andrew Meade, I married up. Way, way up.

- Scentsy- I'm selling it, I love it, and I love selling it! It's been a true blessing in my life so far and a very fun outlet for me.

- Brody- kicking and moving more than ever! Such a precious blessing. Brody's room colors- white furniture, pale gray walls, with accents of "kelly green" and dark gray.

- nap time. now.