hot peppermint tea, please!

jasper lilith has always liked hot tea – not as much as hot cocoa but she had no choice in that; she came from the loins of two hot cocoa lovers…  yeah, i just realized i said “loins”, too…

but while at neenas after christmas, jasper discovered a love of hot tea in “real china”… the kind of china that is so thin you can see through?  that china.

so now jasper likes to have, “hot honey peppermint tea in real china, please!”

neena is much nicer than i am so jasper doesn’t get my see-through china – she can make do with my second best china

but she is super careful and she loves the whole process of making the tea, putting the tray together and she even is particular about how long she likes it to steep.

“i like it really pepperminty and honeyed, mama!”

sometimes she takes it milk but most of the time, she likes her tea just with honey…  now you know

any time is a good time for tea but breakfast is a really good time!

hmmm, now i really want a cuppa hot peppermint tea, too!  with honey, of course!

 

at neena’s, we get to…

do all kinds of stuff!  like mad-cap science experiments, feed goats, you know, all that kind of good stuff!

mom got jasper lilith a science experiment kit for christmas and it.  is.  awesome!

jasper goes, “i’ve waited a thousand years for this!”

(of course, she also said that very same thing about the twizzler i gave her just a couple of days ago…  but it was a pretty good twizzler so…)

she was so stoked and mom sent me pictures of the two of them playing Mad Scientist the whole time she was visiting!  go, neena!!!

and when they weren’t playing Mad Scientist, mom took jasper to feed some goats!

ah, see the cowgirl boots in action?  i told mom to not let the pinkness and butterflyness of the boots fool her – those bad boys are meant for Real Horse Action.  manure and all!

and so they saw Real Action.  and jasper was happy!

thanks, mom and richard, for taking such good care of our girl!  she had neena stories for days after she came back and i loved them all

 

the girl scout called daisy.

it’s official!  like really, real official!

jasper lilith is a girl scout – a daisy, to be exact.  we now have a girl scout in the house.

i had better watch out.

at this stage of the game, she doesn’t have a uniform – she has an apron.  yep, i’m not making that up – it’s called an apron.  with patches on it and stuff.  as she earns her little daisy petals, her apron will get cuter…  so i am told.

but that’s just me – jasper lilith loves her daisy apron!  she is totally thrilled to be a part of the girl scouts – so hello to my little daisy girl!

and yes, in case you were wondering…  there are cookies.  girl scout cookies.  those tasty evil things.

boxes of them.

luckily, jon and jasper are well on their way to selling them all.  because i don’t know how long i will last before i crack and pop open one of those bad boys!  carmel delights or thin mints anyone?

no, no…  not going there.

and off they go!  the daddy and daughter combination is a devastatingly successful combination!  and throw in a little red wagon?  slay me now.  so freaking cute.

i suspect that if i went, they wouldn’t sell any many cookies – women are suckers for the daddy/daughter team.

so…  anybody want any cookies?  call me.  no, really.  call me.

 

the castle, the girl, the dog and the man.

david, heather and duncan gave jasper lilith a tent castle for christmas and it was perfect timing, let me tell you! 

she has been “camping in africa” for a while now and frankly, am i a bad mother to get tired of blanket tents all over the house (fine, just in her room but still)?  never mind, don’t answer that….

so when jasper opened this present and squealed, “now i have a real tent and it’s shaped like a castle!  and pink with purple!”, it’s possible that i was as thrilled as she was!  without all the squealing.  well, there was internal squealing…  besides, look how cute this thing is!

hello, intrepid camper! or was this a “princess day”…  cute, no matter what!

ah, mocker.  poor mocker. 

yeah, this doggie has seen the inside of this tent way more times than she ever wanted to.  i am pretty sure that jasper is convinced mocker loves to be in there. 

i, however, see the desperate escape attempt that is happening in this picture…  it’s in mocker’s eyes.  well, her entire body really.

and what’s this?  a leg and some hands?  another Gulliver’s Travels moment in the making!

i can’t tell…  does this look remind you of mocker?  has jon been cajoled into the pink & purple castle against his wishes?   is there about to be another escape attempt?

oh!  nope, only if you count jasper trying to get away from The Tickle Monster that just exploded out of her castle!

note:  there was very little attempt to escape.

 

argh, a giant is among us!

and the dollhouse building has commenced! 

i feel a bit like i’m looking at a scene from Gulliver’s Travels, don’t you?

 

the golden child…

christmas is over, new year’s eve is done, we have jasper back (she spent a week after xmas with her neena) and our lives are back into full swing… with the new addition of The Gold Hat. 

oh, my.

“mama, i’m ready to go run errands now.”

she was pleased as punch at her outfit of course.

and yes, the blue puppy came with us. 

closeup!  because i have been told to “make sure they see my earrings, mama!  and see how shiny my lips are?”

shiny.  yep, she surely is.

 

a christmas family.

look what i found!  a picture of us all!  oh, this is rare – i mean, it only happens once a year…  at christmas.  naturally.

merry christmas to you all out there in Too Far Away Land!

and now on to the new year!

 

a little bit of extra christmas.

I did warn you there would be more pictures of our christmas chaos!  louis played santa and handed gifts out while jon took pictures and susan and i did the mom thing – you know, ”helped” our kids unwrap the tricky presents and ooooh & aaahed right along with them…   
Wrapping paper everywhere!  Susan and I are busy doing…  stuff…  important stuff, i’m sure.
hi, babe!  here is jon (and jasper’s head) inside the cardboard coloring house.  this would be before the two girls stuffed it full of dolls, doll beds, stuffed animals and the kind of things little girls just have to have inside their play houses!
hello to you both!  gram and pop share a moment that someone (jon?  louis?) was quick enough to capture on camera.  merry christmas, you two!

another mom moment!  uncle fair and aunt vicky gave jasper a build-a-bear that you stuff and sew yourself -super cute, no?  and, of course, jasper had to have to stuffed and sewn immediately.  no time to waste!

so i get busy doing another mom thing and my two supervisors/helpers watch over me to make sure that i follow directions and get it done properly.

 

finally. part two.

i am usually the picture-taker during all the unwrapping but this time around, jon was The Camera Dude!

so we have pictures from a slightly different perspective this year – the daddy perspective!

jasper found a pair of sparkly clip-on earrings in her stocking!  she is modeling them.  she chose to go with A Serious Face, i see.

and the gold hat!  oh, my, this hat!  this is a gram gift that has since made many trips to the grocery store, my shop and more.  she loves this hat…  loves it.

if there was any doubt (uh, nope!) that this girl was an extrovert, well, i believe the love of this hat puts that to rest.  she loves the attention she gets when she wears this golden cap and she loves the sparkle!

ah, more dollhouse pictures!  the camera must have changed hands, hello, jon!  hello, jasper!

and cowboy boots!  jasper lilith outgrew her 2nd pair of cowboy, sorry, cowgirl, boots so it was time for a new pair.  thanks, gram!  can you tell she was excited!  she had been talking about new boots and wanted to make sure that “santa” knew she needed another pair…  in pink…  with butterflies. 

and what else do cowgirls need?  pink bb guns!

oh yes, you read that right.  jasper is now in possession of a pink bb gun from her pop.  she and jon are more excited then i am…  me?  yeah, i keep wanting to quote The Christmas Story and holler, ”You’ll shoot your eye out!” but that’s the mom in me. 

 

jasper lilith and her Daisy!

jon walks jasper through some basic safety factors while all she wants to do is put her pink cowgirl boots and hold her pink gun

while i took pictures and bite my tongue…  reminded myself that i was shooting at her age already and all that stuff that moms have to do to even let their kids out of the house. 

we had a blazingly fast christmas – it went by in a blur but what i do remember?  the good stuff, that’s what…  i remember the good stuff.

more christmas pictures to follow…  what, you thought i was done?  oh, no…  no, no.

 

finally. part one.

after everyone had their sustenance, we moved ourselves closer to the christmas tree and into our spots. 

and then?  the stockings first!

treasure!  in a sock!

a baby blue tinkerbell watch!  thanks, pawpaw and mimi!

and another pawpaw and mimi hit:  the leopard hat/scarf/mitten combination!

ghillie loved it too!  man, i hope jasper isn’t actually letting that dog kiss her.

not thinking about it.  not thinking about it.

(thinking about it a little.)

this gift was a big hit with everyone!

including me

jasper lilith has been talking about a dollhouse since before her 4th birthday and jon finally deemed her old enough to have one.  not just any one, of course, the cool and complicated kind that you have to put together!

jon read my mind (or my wishlist) and got UGGs for me!  yay jon!  yay warm and fuzzy feet!

aunt susan made stick horses for all the kiddos – jasper is giving hers a little bit of loving here!  she named it “Pinkaliciously Pink”…  of course.  or at least, that is what she is calling the stick horse now. 

on to more wrapping paper being thrown in the air!