Happy Birthday Jasper

You're 5!!!! O.K, so you were 5 yesterday.
You are growing up so fast. Your personality is really coming out when you are with your friends. Your best friends are Sam-bo, Phillip and Nicholas.
We have discovered that you can really throw a baseball. You have had fun playing in the back yard with Tripp and Daddy and Phillip. You started school (home-school) and I cannot believe how much you love it. It is so much fun being your teacher. You follow me around every morning asking me when we can do school and sometimes you ask me to bring school to your bed at night.
You still get up way to early (sometimes at 4:00 a.m.)! You and Daddy have quite a routine. You have to help make the chocolate milk then have a lick of the spoon. You always want to eat what Daddy is eating even if it's something you won't really eat and I'll find in your bowl when I finally get out of bed. You come downstairs every night to get in the bed with us and like to sleep right under Daddy. You don't take naps anymore and don't fall asleep at 5:00 in the afternoon either. You finally have a whole day of play. You are a fantastic big brother to Zoee-Grace. You play with her doll house with her and chase her down the driveway on the tricycles.
You still say the funniest things. My favorites are: ba-seen, ba-lava and fully moon. You also use, "in case" when you should say, "at least." For example today you said, "In case I didn't bump my head on that." I love to watch you when something really excites you. You are really expressive when you are with us and your friends. You still don't like to talk to people you don't know but we are working on it. We go to Publix every week and practice asking for a sticker before we go in and while we shop (which you LOVE to do). You still have not asked for one but the sweet ladies always give you one because they say that you ask with your eyes :) I wrote out a list of all the foods that you will eat and you will only eat 17 different foods. they are:
Cheese Quesedilla
Cheese dip
Hot dog (no bun)
Green Beans
Watermelon
Canned Peaches
Pizza (no sauce)
Meatballs
Popcorn
Nutella (not really a food :)
Spaghetti
Sausage (your favorite)
Eggs
Mac-n-cheese
cereal
oatmeal
Chicken
We'll keep working on it!
 You are excited about moving to Florida. You love fish more than anything else and have such a big heart for animals. I can't believe you are starting Kindergarten next year!!!!!
Here is your Birthday in pictures. We were going to take you to the Aquarium (your favorite place) but you and Tripp both had fevers :( So we stayed home instead. You had Sausage for breakfast (with candles in them of course).

You loved the Captain America card we gave you. It played music when you opened it.

You wanted Hot dogs for lunch but Tripp was too sick to go to the Grocery Store so we settled on McDonalds. You decided you did not like french fries anymore.

But you do like to turn them into mustaches.

We did school of course. You couldn't wait and you were so excited that Tripp was home to do it with you.
another mustache

Tripp read all your cards to you. You loved getting them out of the mailbox.

YaYa and Pops brought over your Birthday present (Tripp's too). You got a cool head light and a bandanna filled with

coins (25$). You and Tripp have been saving all your coins to buy the Lego Death Star for about 2 years.

We finished off the evening with Papa Johns pepperoni pizza and an Oreo cake. You wanted a cake that looks like an Oreo. This was the best I could do.

Of coarse you had to go outside and test your head light before bed. Oh, and you also howled at the fully-moon!

We love you so much Jasper Louis!!!!!

We're Going on a Bear Hunt...

We're going to catch a big one.
What a beautiful day...we're not scared.

We had our annual campfire and wienie roast last night. The trees were beautiful and the food was delisious!

Here are some pictures from our adventure.

Happy Halloween

In the weeks leading up to Halloween I think I said this a thousand times..."I hate Halloween!"  I guess you could have called me a scrooge or a Halloween Grinch. Well, I would like to take back all the negative things I said about this holiday.

Halloween was a blast!!

We started asking the kids what they might want to be for Halloween sometime in September. The replies were interesting.

Tripp wanted to be a spider monkey.

Jasper wanted to dress up as their best friend Sam Harwell,

and Zoee...well she had her heart set on being The Grinch.

Bill and I were not at all surprised by this revelation. She has a very interesting personality.

I did, however, think that by the time Halloween actually rolled around she would have changed her mind and gone with a more traditional costume. I was reassured daily that The Grinch is who she was going to go as. She asked me almost everyday if her Grinch costume was ready. I could not even begin to fathom how to make or where to find a Grinch costume.

Two weeks out from Halloween we had a plan. Womens green fuzzy knee socks on her arms and legs; a green fuzzy pillowcase with arm holes and a neck hole cut out; white, fuzzy slippers spray painted green and a green furry hair clip for her hair. Add a big red tutu from her closet and our little Grinch was born. Jasper looked at her and said, "she looks like The Grinch that Stole Candy." I thought that was a perfect and clever name for what/who we had created.

One trip to the Halloween store with daddy and the boys quickly changed their minds about who they wanted to be. I thought they look so cute and brave in their costumes.

We hosted a Halloween get together at our house with some friends and family. It was so much fun!!!!

I didn't get to go trick or treat with the boys. We all set out as a huge group but got separated by the boys speed and Zoees lack of. She took her time and twirled around in her costume down every sidewalk. She lingered on every porch to listen to people compliment her on her costume and if there was a door cracked just a little bit she didn't hesitate to walk right in and yell, "TRICK-OR-TREEEAAAAT!!!"

She was a hoot to watch. Her favorite thing to say as she danced away from each house was, "Mom, I totally got 2 pieces of candy."
I think it was her favorite holiday so far and I have to admit it was more fun than I expected. So I am a reformed Halloween Hater!

We even made her a little "Max" to carry around with her so that people might have a better chance at quessing who she was.

My friends Stacy, Meagan and I

My good friend Carrie

Bill and I

Zoee led the pack

Zoee and Jane at a very spooky house

Zoee and Jane standing by our candy bucket.

Tripp set up everything for the trick-or-treaters. He painted a picture of a haunted house and made a sign that said, "Pick two." He even drug a table off the porch to make a candy station for all the kids.

Hope everyone had as much fun as we did on Halloween!!!!!!

Family Dinner

Even before I had kids I thought about what life would be like with little ones running around my house. They would be sweet (always), love to play with each other, eat lots of fruits ad veggies (no junk, of coarse, because they wouldn't like it) and, most importantly, we would all sit down together every night for a healthy home-cooked meal.

Ha!!!! I think I had watched too many episodes of the Duggers.
I love my kids. I think they are really cool. They fight, they love junk food and they actually are really sweet (most of the time).

 

We usually don't get to eat dinner together. I feed the kids around 5:30 and Bill eats when he gets home around 6:30, so when the stars align just right and we have an opportunity to all eat together it's wonderful. We take turns talking to one another and everyone is always very complimentary to the cook.

CHAOS!!!!!!!!

Maybe I'm doing something wrong but I have the hardest time getting everyone seated. You can forget having everyone pleasant and eating the same dish.
Last night was one of those rare (thank God) occasions that we were all assembled around the table at 6:30 eating the same meal.

Here is how it played out! Enjoy!

I have been trying out different crock-pot recipes to save some time and some sanity come 4:00.

I started it at 8:30 am in anticipation of it being ready by 6pm and went about my day. I did laundry, played with J and Z and even got in an hour workout. It was a pleasant day.

By 5:00 the little ones  (sorry Jasper...I know you're not little) were so tired  (no nap) and cranky so went upstairs to busy ourselves until Bill came home.

I was helping Tripp in the classroom when I heard a loud crash. That sound usually does not turn out well around here. I ran into Zoee's room and found her standing next to a broken glass lamp. I think I let out a gasp and I'm sure an inappropriate word or two.

Zoee started screaming and doing her "I know I'm in trouble...but I don't like to be" tantrum. I needed her to be out of the room while I picked up all the tiny little glass pieces so I put her outside (her room...not the house) which infuriated her! When she has a tantrum I put her in the bathroom to work it out. I tell her that I love her but she cannot disrupt our house and when she is calm, she can come out. She is pretty  extremely strong-willed so calming down is not a high priority for her.

I cleaned up the glass, disposed of the lamp and vacuumed while she sat screaming in the bathroom.

Bill got home in the middle of it all.

We took the kids downstairs to wash hands and sit down for dinner. I sat down last and as soon as I did Zoee threw her cup of water across the table. She went back to the bathroom to calm down. O.K., we can still have an enjoyable dinner with a screaming 2 year old in the background. Jasper complained about dinner, Tripp could not sit still, and Zoee wailed in the background.  I brought her back to the table and convinced Jasper to just try a bite (I bribed him with some candy). He tried it and I waited for him to sing praises of my crock-pot chicken concoction.

Instead...

He vomited the entire contents of his stomach all over the floor and chair, not once, but 3 times. Bill and I just sat there (in denial) while Tripp ran and Zoee screamed and Jasper got up and slipped in his own vomit and fell.

So much for a happy, family dinner. I won't stop trying but I will lower my expectations :)

On to more fun topics...

This is my new invention (O.K I know it's not a new concept but it's new to my kids and they think it's the coolest thing ever and that they are the only ones that get to do this). It's called the Black Widow (because of the color of the sleeping bag...NOT the risk of death).

The pictures are self explanitory. It is sooo much fun. Bill and I have both done it several times. It reminded me of riding down my grandmathers stairs on a baby matress with my sister when I was little.

I couldn't believe how much Zoee loved it. Yes I could!

These are random shots taken at my grandmothers house during our last visit. Tripp found some binoculars that belonged to my grandfather. He had so much fun exploring with them.

Zoee ran around without any shoes like a little tree nymph.

My dad and I.

My sweet grandmother.

These are from our first trip to Yogli Mogli. It's a great self serve frozen yogurt shop with about 50 toppings. A few that stood out were:

Captain Crunch

Fruity Pebbles

Strange little balls that burst in your mouth (I forgot their name)

and Leeche fruit

I love this picture of Zoee playing in the rain!