Boys Will Be Boys

The girls were a bit outnumbered at our house last night. Our friends the Turveys and Jones came over with their kids for dinner. Between all the families, there are five little boys! That's one three-year-old, 2 two-year-olds and 8 month old twins. The boys had a blast together. They started their evening of playing in the swimming pool. The twins are still a bit too little to play with the bigger boys, but they had fun watching all the action going on around them. 

This is the best picture I could get. They weren't wanting to stop playing to take a picture.
 But hitting the camera with the noodle was a good reason to look at me. 

Swimming wore them out so they had to watch Mickey Mouse for a little while to get their strength up again.

After supper they headed outside for brownies and ice cream, and lots of running around and playing on the swing set. In fact, Jack ran around around so much he threw up -- out of his nose. I wasn't outside when the unfortunate incident happened, but Nathan said he was much more concerned about having to stop playing than actually throwing up. After that it was time to come inside again and for everyone to go home. I think they probably all slept well last night.


Jack had another exciting day today because we went to the zoo to see the polar bear for the first time. The exhibit is really neat because you can see underwater to watch the bear swimming. The zoo was very hot though so we didn't stay too long. After nap time, Jack and Taylor played in the sprinkler and then we all played a game of washers. Everyone, including the 2-year-old and 6-year-old, scored more points than me. It was kind of sad. 

Uncle Will and Fluffy the Bunny

We've had an exciting week -- mainly because Uncle Will is home! Jack and I went to Mom and Dad's earlier this week and got to spend a couple days with Uncle Will and Gracie the Person. Gracie is Will's fiancé, but Jack calls her Gracie the Person every single time he talks about her. That's because his favorite bear is named Gracie (after Gracie the Person). So he wants to make sure we all know who he's talking about. 

Here they are reading a truck book that was Uncle Will's when he was little. 

Today we met them at Zona Rosa for lunch and then we went to Build a Bear. Jack got to pick out an animal and he chose a bunny. Build a Bear is really neat and I was surprised at how affordable it can be. He got to help stuff his bunny and put the heart in, and then he gave it a bath and we printed the birth certificate. He decided to name his bunny Fluffy. I know, not too original, but I was under pressure to help him with the name. But the thing he liked the most was decorating Fluffy's "house" after we got home. He spent about 30 minutes coloring it with markers and decorating it with stickers. And guess where Fluffy is sleeping tonight? Not in his house that's for sure. No, in bed with Jack. If he gets any more animals to sleep with there won't be any room for him anymore.

I kept trying to get him to look at me for a picture and he said, "I can't look at you right now. I'm busy doing something." I'm not kidding -- he said all those words!

Jack Quotes of the Day

Sometimes Jack says the cutest things. Today is one of those days. Here are a couple quotes from today.


"Who loves Daddy? I do. It's my job."
"Don't eat my slush." This was a serious threat. Jack has discovered apple cider slushes and is a big fan. Today we stopped at Gordon's Orchard on the way home from Lebanon so we could get slushes and peaches and he had to warn me not to touch his slush.
"I have a new baby." Nathan's response: "Where is it?" Jack: "In my belly."
"I have a plan." This is his new favorite phrase. Tonight he was getting ready to announce he wanted to go play with his Legos. 


I could keep going but I won't bore everyone. There were just a few today that needed to be recorded.

A Big Day

Today was a big day. First, we went to the ENT doctor and Jack is getting tubes in a couple of weeks. We are hopeful this will make for an easier fall and winter for Jack and his poor ears. We want to avoid the constant ear infections he had last year. Because he was such a big boy at the doctor, he got a lollipop. He recently discovered lollipops and loves them.

Second, Will called at 6 and he is back in America! We are so excited he is home and can't wait to see him next week. Jack and I talked all day about Uncle Will coming home on an airplane today so he was very excited to talk to him on the phone tonight. 

And last but not least, tonight is Grandma and Grandpa's last night in Independence. Tomorrow is their big move to Baldwin. We are looking forward to having them closer to us so we can see them more often. Here is one of my favorite pictures of them.

Grandma's house has always been one of my favorite places in the whole world, and I know their new house will be the same. 

Summer

We've had quite a break from my last post, and I guess I will blame that on being sick from being pregnant. So, we'll do a bit of catching up on our summer in this post. We are having a great summer and Jack definitely prefers being outdoors to staying in the house. Here are some pictures from way back on Father's Day. 

A typical week for Jack includes going to the pool a lot, usually at least two times. On the days we don't go to our neighborhood pool, we swim at our house in our pool. Or, our neighbors get their pool out a lot, and Jack is best friends with their little girls so he really likes playing with them. Yesterday we had our pool out and Nathan got home from work a little bit early so he got to swim with us too. We also have a really great pool near us that has water slides, a spray park and a wading pool, all made for little kids. We've been there several times and Jack loves it. I did have to take him down the slide the first time kicking and screaming, but then he didn't want to stop. 

Jack calls this his airplane and he always has it when he's swimming. 

He loves playing on his swing set and yesterday he started calling it his clubhouse. Playing catch is another favorite and just this week he really started being able to catch balls when we throw them to him. Our garden has also provided all kinds of entertainment. We have to go check it pretty much every day, and he and Nathan go pick the ripe vegetables in the evening. He also occasionally wants to climb a tree.

He has turned in to quite the big climber this summer. This tree is one of the few things he's not been able to climb all by himself recently.


He is also just a wild man lots of the time. The other night he discovered how fun it is to put your t-shirt over your head. 

Jack keeps us laughing pretty much all the time. He says the funniest things. When he gets the hiccups he tells me, "I'm hiccing up." And yesterday I asked him what we should name the baby and he said, "God." Tonight he told me, "Mommy is pretty like a princess." I think he learned that one from Daddy. He also loves making up songs. He knows a million nursery rhymes and he changes the words to make a new song. This should catch everyone up on our summer, and hopefully I'll be a bit better about posts now.

The Foot Cup!

Today after nap time we went outside to play in the sprinkler and then Jack got to use, for the first time, the foot cup! It was mine (only at Grandma Pat's house) when I was little and was a source of quite a few fights between Will and I. Grandma even pretended to throw it away once because she was tired of us fighting over it. Then she wrapped it up and gave it to me for Christmas several years later. It was one of my best Christmas presents ever! So it was kind of a big deal for Jack to get to use it today. He thought it was pretty cool.

Here he is holding it up for you Grandma Pat!

All of his running through the sprinkler made him tired.

The best part of Nathan's day was supper. He smoked some delicious ribs for us. And guess who is a big fan of ribs? Jack! He kept saying, "I like meat." I had only two ribs, and he and Nathan ate the rest of an entire slab. He even passed up corn of the cob so he could focus on the ribs. That is a pretty big compliment for the chef. 

Wedding Weekend

Last weekend Aunt Lindsay got married. It was a wonderful wedding and a very busy weekend full of family and fun. Jack started the weekend out with an evening with Uncle Mizzou and Aunt Christy. He was very excited because they have horses and a tractor at their house. He got to feed and pet the horses, but wasn't quite ready to ride the tractor. 

Saturday was the big wedding day! Jack got to wear his very first suit, courtesy of his pal Ben. He was pretty proud of himself since he looked just like Daddy.

He didn't enjoy the ceremony nearly as much as the reception. He had a hard time understanding what was going on during the ceremony and why he couldn't run up and down the aisle as he pleased. He really wanted to be with Grandma. So, he had to leave for awhile to compose himself and then got to watch the rest of the ceremony at the back of the church. He had much more freedom at the reception. As expected, he was all about dancing. Here he is at the beginning of the night checking out the dancing scene.

His preferred dance move was running around the dance floor as fast as he could. He also tried his hand at break dancing after he saw another little boy showing off his moves. He even got to participate in the dollar dance with Aunt Lindsay. Although he was a bit disappointed she wouldn't run around the dance floor with him.

Here's a rare picture of him sitting still during the reception. Grandpa probably had cake.

On Sunday he went fishing for the first time. He caught three fish with Daddy and insisted on doing everything all by himself. But I think the most exciting part of the fishing trip was getting to see Great Grandpa Dee ride up on his tractor. Even before this weekend, Jack had decided he wants to be a farmer when he grows up. Now he definitely wants to be a farmer, most days at least! 

Guitars and Painting

We've had a busy week, filled with firsts for Jack. On Saturday he went to his first concert.  His favorite musician, Mr. Stinky Feet (thanks to a CD my old boss gave me) was giving a concert at the Power and Light District so we went, in spite of the rain and cold. Jack liked the music and got to be in the band with his pal Sophie. He didn't really know what to do, so he just stood up there with his little tambourine and mainly stared at Mr. Stinky Feet. The next day he was still talking about Mr. Stinky Feet so Nathan got his guitar out to show Jack. 

Jack was quite impressed and wanted to play it right away.

Today he got to paint for the first time. The paints I bought were actually finger paints, but after one try he decided he didn't like using his fingers. No big surprise since he hates it when his hands are dirty. But, he loved using the paintbrush. We even had to make two paintings because he wasn't ready to be done yet.

Painting took all of his concentration and it was so fun to hear him tell me all the things he was painting. He painted lots of curly snakes, his name several times (he makes four marks on the paper and spells his name while he does it), a tree, a pink teddy bear and I can't remember the rest. 

Last, here's a funny thing he said yesterday. After his "nap" (he tried but couldn't fall asleep) he found a navy blue hat he has and put it on backwards, and then came to find me in the laundry room. He announced he was a policeman and I asked him what he did as a policeman. He responded quite seriously, "Help people with Uncle Will." Then I asked him where Uncle Will lived and he, again very seriously, responded, "In a humvee." I guess that's close enough to being right! I bet Uncle Will feels like he lives in a humvee sometimes.

Oooh! What's This Right Here?

This past weekend, Nathan built Jack his very own swing set. We weren't going to get him a swing set, but then we found one at Toys R Us for a good price and on sale. Nathan had to call all the Toys R Us stores in Kansas City to find the very last one. The reviews online said it took an average of 12 hours to put the swing set together. But, Nathan is a super dad and it only took him 10 hours! It was a very long Saturday... but it was worth it when Jack finally figured out what Daddy was doing. He saw the ladder first and exclaimed, "Ooooh! What's this right here?"

Here he is in his "house," as he calls it.

He really likes graham crackers these days, as you might notice in these pictures.

He was a big help to Nathan the whole day. Ha, ha.

Looking out his window...

And trying out his new swing.

And here is the almost finished product. I guess I didn't take a picture after all the swings were finished. I don't think Nathan will be starting a side business assembling swing sets anytime soon. But I'm sure Jack will get hours of fun from his new house.

Big Boy Bed

Since my last post, Jack has graduated from his crib to a big boy bed. We haven't had a chance to buy him a twin bed yet, so we converted his crib into a toddler bed. He loves it and definitely enjoys the freedom he now has to get out whenever he wants. I wouldn't say I enjoy his freedom however! He really is doing pretty well though, and today he took a nap for the third day in a row. Considering his recent napping habits, this is a really big deal. Here are some pictures from the big event of converting his bed. He really likes helping with the drill whenever he has the chance.

Here he is enjoying his new bed for the first time.

  
Last, here he is with all of his animals. He won't even think of going to sleep unless they are all in his bed.