O Christmas Tree...

We got our tree up!!

It took the better part of 2 days to get it up, due to lots of snack breaks, nap breaks, emergency pancakes (we saw the syrup while getting out the raisins. Naturally, we had to make pancakes.) runs to WalMart for more lights, etc.  However, it was a blast to do it as a family! Jasper really enjoyed the process, and we really enjoyed watching his enjoyment. He loved "putting" the ornaments on the tree with me; he would kind of throw the ornament toward the general direction of the tree and would eagerly grab another ornament and repeat the process (he was trying really hard to be helpful). Yes, several ornaments did suffer death at the hands of this toddler, but it was a small price to pay to have Jasper's precious help.

helping Daddy conquer the lights

helping Mommy put on the ornaments

saying "hi" to the tree

If ever Jasper forgets about the tree, no matter how briefly, he always runs full blast back into the living room to say "hi" to the tree. And we said many "hi's" and "bye's" to the tree before his nap this morning. How precious.

Jasper is sick

Jasper woke up sickie this morn. Poor, poor guy. He vomited during the night and had "the runs" this morn. Poor baby.

We immediately canceled our plans for the day (fun get-together with my friend Stacy and her kiddos) and spent the day at home, recuperating from the sickies.

So. What did we do since Jasper was a sickie, you wonder?
Cuddles? no.
Rocking? no.
Reading books? no.
Anything involving sitting still? no.

Instead, we:

- did all of Jasper's "favorite things" (IE bubbles, scale, pens, etc)

- watched for birds while standing on the back of the couch

- played the guitar

- went for a walk, with me on crutches

- watched as Jasper stole my crutches

- and looked for airplanes

Basically, we did exactly what we always do. Apparently, Jasper was born with an anti-cuddling clause in his DNA. But that's ok. Standing on the back of the couch while looking for birds is pretty fantastic, too.

Happy Birthday, Andrew!!!

Precious Andrew is 30!!!

Andrew, andrew, andrew... how do I describe such a wonderful, thoughtful, amazing man?

Simple.

Andrew is:
1 part Andrew, 3 parts awesome.

That pretty much sums it up.

He is so kind and thoughtful, very considerate, SUCH a hard worker and wonderful provider for our family, extremely handsome and good-looking, very much loves the Lord, is atheltic, knowledgeable about politics, current events, sports news, and is very, very in tune to me, his self-proclaimed trophy wife.

Not only is he in tune with me, but he studies me, knows me, loves me despite of my many faults, and spoils me. How on earth did I get such a great man??

He was such an amazing man when I married him, and he continues to grow and mature each year. He's so precious!

*side note- where has the time gone?? I can't believe my husband is 30! I feel like I should still be going to the mall with my friends (oh wait. I still do that.) and chatting on IM. Crazy!

Anyway, yesterday was Andrew's 30th birthday! It was a Wednesday, so he had to work, but we made sure to still celebrate, and most of the celebration involved food!! (why ever not??)

Andrew and I enjoyed breakfast in bed before he took off for Wass.

Then, Jasper and I met him at Raising Canes for a yummy lunch and lots of laughter.

Jasper and I had a fun afternoon of hanging out with the newest Weston, Daniel James, and Nana.

Then, Andrew came home and we had a delicious dinner, courtesy of Bonefish Grill (I so wish I could have cooked for him, but i'm not yet able to do much while hobbling around on crutches).

After Bonefish (yum!), we celebrated with ice cream cake (yuk!) and presents!

Then we played "chase" with Jasper around the house, as is our nightly ritual. Or rather, Andrew played "chase" with Jasper while I took videos of them playing together. Be still, my heart.

And then Andrew received his much-anticipated and longed-for tablet and spent the evening setting up some stuff on it.

We hired a sitter (thanks Debbie and Daniel!!) and are going out for a romantic dinner this upcoming Sat, without the little one. The party keeps on partyin'!

It was a great, great day.

Yup. Andrew's a special kind of awesome.

Love ya, babe.

parade and bubble tea!!

This last Saturday, Andrew, Jasper, and I went up north to Marion for the annual "Grandparent's Christmas" which includes my parents taking all the grandkids (and andrew and I, by default) to a yummy breakfast, then the Marion Christmas Parade, and then distributing ornaments to all the grandkids.

It was a blast. And slightly (and at times, VERY) chaotic. But... seeing as how "boring" is overrated, I'll take "chaotic" anytime. I was also on crutches and unable to help corral the little ones, so that didn't help the chaos at all. But nonetheless, it was a blast!

Below are a few pics of our very fun adventure!

We started the morning off at Denny's, for a delicious pancake breakfast. Here's the gang from left going clockwise: Elliot, Mom, Kinlee, Jasper, Andrew, Dad, and Brogan.

After the "Grand Slam" (aka pancakes, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, eggs, and coffee) for the adults and ketchup and chocolate milk for Jasper (his choice, not mine), we headed out and went to the parade.

Jasper's playing peek-a-boo with his cousins while waiting for the parade to start.

Jasper, snuggling in his daddy's strong arms.

Nana and the little ones, watching the parade.

The gang, minus Andrew, after the parade.

Jasper and I, laughing at Brogan's cute antics.

After the "Grandparent's Christmas", A, J, and I headed back south to Cbus and stopped at Matcha on our way home. Matcha is a very, very cool fro-yo (aka frozen yogurt) and bubble tea place. We'd never been before, but after visiting it for the first time on Sat, it completely stole our hearts. We will be back.

Our yummy and very fruity fro-yo topped with jumping beans. Yep. Awesome.

Jasper l.o.v.e.d. it!

My 2 handsome, handsome guys.

Matcha has a neat kids' corner and Jasper really enjoyed playing with the chalk. He didn't draw with the chalk, but he spent considerable time moving all the chalk into just 1 area, instead of having them evenly split between the 2 chalk boards.

I'm thinking engineering might be in his future (that, or a mad scientist. Both good.).

And finally, Jasper "sharing" my bubble tea with me on the way home.

I'm blessed, indeed!

Favorite Things

I'm a stay-at-home mom. So what does that really mean? It really means that, basically, Jasper and I get to do whatever we want. So, being no dummies and since we get to choose, we choose to do our favorite things.

We have normal "favorite things", such as eating, sleeping, play dates with friends, trips to the park, and so on.

And then we have the day-to-day "favorite things". And these day-to-day "favorite things" are what really fills those long, witching hours from 4-7 pm and gives us much laughter and things to look forward to in our day.

Some day-to-day "favorite things" include:

- watching bubbles.

Jasper has discovered that the screen saver on our computer is bubbles that gently float across the screen. He's absolutely, totally, completely addicted to the bubbles. I got him out of his crib this morning and he instantly and quite forcefully squirmed out of my arms, ran to our computer, and shouted, "MAMA!! BUBBLES! BUBBLES! BUBBLES!! Mama?? Mama?? BUBBLES!!". We spend many an hour watching the bubbles. (seriously, can life get more exciting than this?)

- brushing teeth.

Not only brushing our teeth, but Jasper sneakily uses his toothbrushes (yes, plural) as toys when he knows I'm distracted. It's just so cute, I haven't the heart to really enforce the "do not use your toothbrushes as toys" rule. We brush and brush and brush (probably 15 times a day if we're home all day) and even then, I have to finally tell Jsaper, "all done brushing. No more toothbrushes." and he gets quite sad.

- looking in the fridge.

This is a relatively new "favorite thing", but I suspect it will be a life-long "favorite thing" of Jasper's. He really is a good helper and loves to put his milk, left-over grapes, or cheese back in the fridge. He will also get things out of the fridge for me on command. But then other times, I'll randomly walk into the kitchen to find him just staring into the fridge, gazing longingly at all the goodies in there (IE pickles, mustard, 5 week old sloppy joes, etc). Also, I'm starting to find the occasional toy in the fridge, which is always an amusing surprise to me.

- marching on the scale.

I know, this sounds really, really odd. But it is most definitely a "favorite thing" for us. Let me preface this by saying that Andrew and I never, ever weigh ourselves. In fact, we never even had a scale till we had Jasper (ignorance is bliss, right?). But we bought it because we thought we would weigh Jasper on it to make sure he was gaining weight properly. Well, Jasper just discovered the scale. He loves it more than life itself. He carries the scale with him everywhere (yes, even to watch bubbles) and when he gets on the scale, he marches. Always. He never gets on the scale just to stand there. He always has this compelling need to get on it and march. It's the cutest thing you've ever seen. I really should take a video of it.

- doing the pens.

Doing the pens involves Jasper getting the pen box thingy off the shelf, bringing it into the kitchen, asking me for a mixing bowl, transferring all of said pens into the mixing bowl, asking me for a spatula (usually I give him a whisk for old times' sake), and then stirring the pens with the whisk. Then Jasper transfers said pens back to the pen box thingy, carrying the pens back to the shelf, comes back to the kitchen, puts the mixing bowl away, puts the spatula/whisk away, and then he does it all over again. I'm not quite sure how this all got started, but Jasper loves anything involving steps or a process, so we do the pens all the time. It's my go-to when I'm trying to get dinner on the table.

- chasing.

Jasper lives and breathes to chase. Either for him to chase me (not likely) or for me to chase him (most likely). One way or the other, though, we end up chasing each all through the house, all the time. He'll get that mischievous look on his face, start slowly inching away from me, then with a shriek of laughter, he'll break into a dead run, regardless if I'm chasing him or not. But, seriously, how can I refuse? So I chase him. And chase him. And chase him. This could be a reason why we both take very good afternoon naps. :o) Chasing always ends in laughter and giggles unless Jasper happens to spot the pens, the bubbles, or the scale during the chase. If that's the case, we put the brakes on the chase and play with whichever "favorite thing" Jasper just spotted.

At any given moment during any given day, if you think, "I wonder what Natalie and Jasper are up to today?" now you know. :o) It's a very, very precious life.

So very thankful!!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this past week, celebrating all the many different ways God has blessed us with His faithful kindness. Some top blessings of my life:

- my salvation in Christ
- my amazing husband who never ceases to amaze me. I'm so thankful for his love, his witty humor, his steadfast endurance when life isn't always rosy, and his commitment to Christ and me & Jas. Love him.
- my darling son who wraps my heart around his little finger more and more each day.
- my (and Andrew's) family, family, family, family. I don't know where I'd be without my parents, siblings, and grandparents. Andrew and I so often talk about how we would be lost without the love and support (and humor) of our family.

Some other things I'm thankful for:
- sunny days
- neighbors who try really hard to be quiet during Jasper's nap time (even though they often get confused as to when his nap time actually is), who buy Jasper his favorite juice, who ask us to pray for them, who regularly remember important things in our life, and who bend over backward to minister to us even though they're 85 years old and can barely walk.
- friends. we have the most amazing friends in the world. Hands down.
- coffee when I'm tired.
- coffee when I'm not tired.
- rocket dog shoes and leather boots.
- 3 new pair of jeans that fit me well and are so comfy.
- cozy-ing up in bed with Andrew and watching a good show on tv
- belly laughs (Jasper is providing me more and more of those these days)
- not only friends, but friends (and family) who regularly pray with/for me and who care about things (often insignificant) in my life.
- finding a new, healthy, and relatively inexpensive meal to serve my family for dinner.
- having an impromptu photo shoot where most the pics turn out perfect (again, Jas has been helpful in this arena)
- leisurely mornings involving the treadmill, my bible, and a steaming bowl of oatmeal.
- saying "10-4 good buddy", "roger that", "over and out", and "if you choose to accept, your mission will be to......" in random conversations with my hubby.
- reading a good book
- cheerin' on the Bucks!
- and many more!!

This last week, we had the pleasure of having Andrew's parents stay with us for the week and we had such a blast!! Jasper is walking around, saying "Grama! Baba!" (aka grandma and grandpa) and looking longingly at the door for them (poor guy!). We played games, hung out with extended family, went shopping, Andrew and I went on dates, went to COSI, went to the park, made yummy food, cheered the Bucks on to a perfect season, celebrated our birthdays, read books, and much more! Below are a few pics from the wonderful week of Thanksgiving!

 A walk to the park on Thanksgiving Day

At the same park. Jasper had a fever that day, so he wasn't lookin' so hot in any of the pics.

 I enjoyed running in the Luminary 5K the day after Thanksgiving.

 Playing at COSI.

Jasper reading his favorite book with "Gama."

highlights :o)

This past week was somewhat long and lonely and gloomy for me. Andrew worked super-duper hard all week, leaving for work long before the sun came up and getting home from work long after the sun had set. He and Jasper saw each other very, very little this week and I found myself struggling to fill the long, long afternoon and evening hours with Jasper each night.

*side note- have I mentioned what an amazing man Andrew is?  His work ethic is so wonderful, and when he comes home exhausted every night, he spends his very little free time ministering to me and serving me. Love him.

Anyway, although I was lonely this week and each day kinda felt like an eternity, the Lord was so gracious to me and gave me lots of precious, joyful moments with Jasper, some new ideas of "playtime" with Jasper, and also some very fun "highlights" to the week.

Main highlight #1- we have a new nephew!!!!!!

Daniel James Weston III was born to Danny and Jurga on Tue morn and he is the most precious little bundle ever! We love him with our whole hearts and are quite smitten!

(pic of the 5 Weston cousins)

Other highlights from the week:

Highlight- Stromboli night with the Clausons

 (Jasper and Uncle Drew banging on pots together- boys will be boys :o))

 (Jasper and Aunt Melissa reading the Bible together)

(The gang makin' strombolis and Jasper moochin' all the toppings)

We cheered the Bucks on to victory, enjoyed strombolis, and played Dominion. Have I mentioned before how awesome the Clausons are? We greatly enjoy any time we get to spend with them and are so blessed by their friendship. 

Highlight- impromptu park playdate with Sarah K. and the kiddos. Love them!

Highlight- BSF

Highlight- getting to see my hubby a little bit, here and there.

Highlight- getting to visit Rach and her sweet, precious, newborn Audrey.

Highlight- ordering 2 new fiestaware colors to add to my collection (plum and turquoise).

Highlight- a very messy "Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese" dinner-date between me and Jas and a wild tubby time afterward. 

(Jas' favorite tubby-time activity is trying to see how much water he can dump on me with his blue cup. I was pretty soaked by the end :o))

Although it was a hard week, upon reflection, I have so, so many things to be thankful for. The Lord has given me SO much this week and I'm so thankful for all He's provided me with. 

That being said, after 3 months of Andrew's "busy season" at work, I'm really hoping it slows down a bit and he can be home for dinner occasionally in the near future. If not, though, that's ok. God will give us grace for each day.