Playdate with Cade!

We had the wonderful privilege of spending yesterday afternoon with Cade and it was so special!! He treated us to a healthy, homemade, yummy lunch and a playdate at the park. It was so lovely and we left feeling so loved and encouraged! Below are a few pics of our afternoon together. We love you, Cade!!

(in front of Cade's house) 

 Boys are never too old to play! :o)

 Jasper did the slide app 87 times

 teeter-totter!!

 fun family moments!

Prayer

Jasper and I stayed at home today.
Other than some sweet friends coming over for lunch and playdate, we had an absolutely rotten day.
Jasper screamed all afternoon.
I pulled my hair out all afternoon.
Then, I cooked dinner.
Andrew came home.
We sat down at the table to eat dinner.
We folded our hands.
I said the prayer for our dinner tonight. It was this:

"Dear God. Please let Mommy not go bonkers and shoot her foot off tonight. Amen."

And Andrew said, "Amen!"

That was probably the most heartfelt, honest prayer of my week.
Thank goodness the Lord's mercies are new every morning, eh? :o)

doe duh.

They say that women speak 50,000 words in a day and men only speak 10,000 words in a day. In other words, we women speak 5 times more than the average male.

Well, Jasper blows that statistic out of the water; he apparently is NOT the average male.

Jasper talks. He talks and talks and talks. He talks until he's blue in the face and he's talks until he's talked both my ears off. He talks. He LOVES to talk. Talk, talk, talk, talk.

I love it. I delight in it. I truly do. I love that he's talking and I love talking with him.

But... if I could, I would change 1 thing. I would add another topic or 2 to his conversation list.

He currently has 2.

Don't get me wrong. He knows prob 200 words and uses all of them throughout the day (IE Jasper will say "andel! top! gooory Gooood!!" aka "there's an angel on top of the Christmas tree and the angel says, 'Glory to God!'")

But he really only has 2 conversation topics and I'm really starting to loath them with every fiber of my being. Every day, all day, for the last 6 weeks has gone exactly like this, verbatim (and no, I'm not exaggerating):

Jasper- "Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! "

me- "yes Jasper, we saw a helicopter 6 weeks ago!"

J- "Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Ome. Ome. Ome. Doe duh ome. Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Ome, ome, ome, ome, ome."

me- "yes baby. the helicopter went home."

J- "Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Ife. Ife. iiiife. iiiife. Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh ife. Ife. Ife. Ife. Ife. Ife. Ife."

me- "yes baby. The pilot in the helicopter was driving it. And he drove it home."

J- "Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Boo-boo? boo-boo? boo-boo? Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! boo-boo? boo-boo? Doe duh!"

me- "no honey. The helicopter doesn't have a boo-boo. The helicopter is healthy."

J- "Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Ome. Ome. Ome. Ome. Ome. Ome. Ome. Ome. Ome. Ome. Ome. Ome."

me- "yes baby. The helicopter went home."

J- "Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! ife. ife. ife. ife. ife. ife. Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! ife! ife! ife! Ome. ife!"

me- "yes, baby. The pilot was driving and he drove that crazy helicopter home."

Now, after 45 consecutive mornings of this exact conversation, often it's right about now that my patience for that darn helicopter is starting to wear thin, and seeing as Jasper has no intention to stop this circular conversation, I start trying to use diversion distraction, and bribery.

J- "Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh!"

me- "yes baby. We saw a helicopter. But look at this AMAZING ball!"

J- "Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh!"

me- "let's talk about dogs!!! Jasper, say 'dog!'"

J- "Dog. Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh!"

me- "Cats!! Jasper, say "cat'!"

J- "Cat! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh!"

me- "Chocolate, candy, sugar, syrup!!"

J- "Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh!"

me- "cookies!! Big, yummy, chocolatey cookies!!!"

J- "Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh!"

me- "Jasper, I will give you $10 if you stop talking about that helicopter."

J- "Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh!"

me- "Jasper, I will literally give you everything I own if you stop talking about helicopters. I will give you money, sugar, a trip to Disney World, a puppy, a pony, ANYTHING!!"

J- "Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh!"

And right about now is when I am praying to the God of the universe to give me patience for this dang helicopter. I hear so much about heli's that I now dream about them. In fact, I have nightmares about them. I never want to hear about one or see one ever again in my life. However, there is one foolproof way to get Jasper to stop talking about helicopters. It's his only other conversation topic and I only pull it out in extreme emergencies. After 20 minutes of non-stop talk about the dang helicopter, I feel like an extreme emergency is ensuing, and so I pull out his only other topic....

J- "Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh!"

me- "SUGAR!"

J- "Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh! Doe duh!"

- deep breath... do I really want to do this? yes, I do...

me- "Hey Jasper. Poop!"

Complete silence (for the 1st time all morning) as Jasper stares at me in wide-eyed wonderment.

Then....

J- "Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Me!! Mee!! Meeee! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Me! Poop! Poop! Poop! MEEE! MEEEEE!!!!!!!"

me- "Yes honey. Sometimes you poop."

J- Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Ail. ail. ail. Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Ail. Ail. Ail. Ail. Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Ail. Ail. Ail."

me- "Yes baby, you're right. We put your poopy diapers in the diaper pail."

J- "Poop! Poop! Poop! Assshhh. Ants. Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Assshhh. Ants. Poop! Poop! Poop! Assshhhh. Ants. Poop! Poop! Poop! Asshhhh. Ants. Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Asshhhh. Ants. Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Assshhh. Ants. Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Asssshhh. Poop!"

me- "yes sweetie. you're right. Sometimes poop gets on your pants and then we need to wash them."

J- "Poop! Poop! MEE!!!! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! MEE! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Me. Me. Me. Me. Me. Me. Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! ME!"

me- "yes baby. Sometimes you poop."

J- "Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Ail. Ail. Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Ail. Ail. Poop! Poop! Ail. Poop! Poop! Poop! Poop! Ail."

me- "yes baby, when you have a poopy diaper, we put it in the diaper pail."

and after 20 minutes of this non-ending conversation about Jasper's poop and when neither love, money, or bribery will take his mind off his poop, I take a deep breath and say:

"Hey Jasper! Remember that one time when we saw a helicopter?"

milk

I forgot milk could be so fun. :o)

Snow

Over Christmas break, Jasper had his 1st real encounter with snow!!! I was thrilled! Andrew was thrilled! Jasper was not so thrilled. :o)

He wasn't quite sure what to think of snow. These are his very 1st steps ever in snow. He struggled to get his balance (to give him credit, the boots were 2 sizes too big for him as is his black coat) and kept saying "off! off!" if any snow got on him. I had to brush his boots off quite a few times. 

(here, andrew is trying to teach J how to eat snow. J just kissed it instead.)

The next day, I remembered that I should prob put Jasper in a hat and gloves while being out in the snow (whoops!!), so we bundled him up in his matching hat/mittens/coat set (thanks M & D Meade!) and took him out for round 2 of "snow play".

I plopped him in the snow, and he refused to move.

It was really quite funny. While he seemed perfectly content to stand there, he would only move his head and nothing else. Not even his hands.

I finally rescued him from the peril of snow and the little one enjoyed playing with Andrew on the shoveled driveway while I took pictures from the dry, warm garage.

Snow: friend or foe?

Yet to be determined.

juice glass

Almost every morning for the past 8 months or so, Jasper and I share a small glass of juice over breakfast. I drink the 1st half, then I help Jasper drink the 2nd half of juice. After he finishes his juice, he keeps the glass pressed against his face and is amazed that he can see me through the glass.

Every morning, I say, "I see you!!" and every morning, he giggles. You think it would get old after 200 days or so, but it doesn't. It still fascinates him and it still melts my heart.

Scintillating blog material?
No.

A precious memory I don't want to forget 5 years from now?
Definitely yes.

* disclaimer- 2 juice glasses have crashed to our stone kitchen floor and have thus met with a tragic death during this daily ritual, but it's well worth it.

wild side

I've spent the past 2 days sitting  on the floor with Jasper, putting on chapstick and playing with his new slinky.

We are leaving the house this afternoon, for the 1st time in 2 days, to buy some beans from Kroger.

Never let it be said that I don't live on the wild side.

* side note- putting on chapstick is Jasper's newest favorite thing. He is constantly either putting on chapstick or begging me to let him put on chapstick. His upper lip, lips, and chin are constantly covered in a gooey mush from all the chapstick he puts on. He's in love.

** other side note- the slinky is from our Chuck E Cheese's excursion on New Year's Eve. It takes approximately 150,000 tickets to "buy" the slinky. We had a grand total of 62. The teenage boy must have taken pity on us, because he loaded us up with all kinds of prizes we couldn't afford to buy. Including the slinky. So sweet.