the superbowl game!

i know, i know, would you believe it?

we watched the superbowl!  after we got back from our Day of Doing Stuff (despite the cold and the rain), jon figured we would put the game on “just to see” and then we ended up watching almost the entire thing!

well, ok, i was reading and jon was drawing but the superbowl game was on which meant when we looked up, we saw it…  and we looked up quite a bit especially towards the end!

so we cooked dinner, started a fire and got comfortable and cozy in our house…

see?  this is a monumental photo moment:  this is jon watching a football game and being interested in it…

the completely unsurprising thing was that for a man who never watches football; he knew all about it – the people in the game, the rules, the tricks and the plays…

what exactly does jon not know?  could someone tell me?

jasper lilith and mocker entertain themselves in front of the fire…

i have no idea what she is doing in this photo but she is clearly up to something

as usual…

jasper is raising her mug to mine and crying out, “cheers, mama!  cheers!” and then we knock our mugs together in the traditional way

it’s our thing…

three little girls sitting on a bench…

so for about 6 weeks now, jasper has had a standing playdate with two girls from her class.

karen and i tried it out one day and everybody has such a good time that we kept doing it each week!  then we invited tammy as well and it got even better…  although i will say that two girls played a lot more quietly than three girls do!

the girls get together to squeal, giggle, boss each other around and be, well, Girls…  and the moms;  we hunker down on comfy couches or in the kitchen drinking hot tea or coffee.

while the little ones play, we talk, we compare, we watch the girls play, we mediate and we giggle as well – it is a great way to pass an afternoon and my only complaint is that we didn’t start this sooner in the school year!

we switch houses up – one week at my place, the next week at tammy’s place and then on to karen’s – you get the picture

i started going for jasper’s sake but now i enjoy going as much for me as i do for jasper

tammy has a piano that the girls love to get wild on – it is fun to watch them but boy, does it make me glad that we don’t have a piano

kendra must be thinking the same thing!

from left to right:  kendra (karen’s daughter), jasper lilith and kimia (tammy’s daughter)…

they are the only 3 year olds left in their class – everybody else has already turned 4!  and funnily enough, this picture shows them in order of oldest to youngest – kendra in july, jasper in august and kimia in september.

kimia threw the towel in but jasper and kendra are still at it

and now they are singing a little made up song too!  well, really, it’s 2 made up songs – they are both singing entirely different songs at entirely different speeds

once the weather evens out and warms up, we are going to start hitting parks but for now, it’s playdates at each other’s houses…

and i love it.

and the cowgirl gets her second wind…

just another picture of jasper lilith in her cowboy hat gear

her daddy is the “horse” and he is taking a nap right now…  and we know he is pretty tired ‘cuz jon (oop, i mean “horsey”) just finished carting the cowgirl all over the house!

and did we go to the supermarket like this a little later?

you had better believe it

gymnastics, gymnastics, gymnastics…

right.  so the era of the little gym is over and now we are on to gymnastics!

jasper had her first official gymnastics class today and here she is in all her adorable get-up…

the gymnastics studio is huge and even with heaters, it is cold in there until all the girls warm up so footless tights and leg warmers were an easy solution…

and hey, leg warmers?  how could i resist?

and the leotard is this divinely soft velvet – it makes hugging her a textural treat

jasper is striking a pose!

so this studio is definitely a place where jasper can continue to progress if she wants to – it is a technical and competitive studio and you can really tell a difference in the teaching techniques…

the little gym was more focused on getting the kids moving and active – this studio is as focused on technique and form even for three year olds…

jasper is the youngest in the class (of course) but when has that ever stopped her?

she has some catching up to do – cartwheels and such but i don’t see that taking very long…

“mama, i love gymnastics and i weally love my leotard!  and my leg wahmuhs are perfect too!”

hmmm, does she love the gym or the outfit?

i guess time will tell

attack of the whip cream!

we celebrated getting back home to jon/daddy by going to the cheesecake factory!

red velvet cheesecake.  and that is all i am going to say about that!

jon was zorro himself with that whip cream covered fork!  nobody was safe!

and once jasper got her own whip cream covered fork?   well, it seems the barrier of the camera wasn’t enough to protect the innocent photographer…

what is the world coming to?

kitty love…

jasper and i spent the weekend with mom and richard & co. and despite the cold weather, we had a grand time…

frankly, as long as jasper can play with the kitties and feed the horses, she is just fine.

and both of those things are going to happen – rain or shine!

i can’t decide who is cuter – the kitty or the jasper…

(sorry, richard, you got trumped by the kittens and the little girl!)

“aww, kitty!  you so handsome…”

those kittens are growing even faster than jasper is!

thanks for another cozy and animal-filled weekend, mom!

you wear the cowboy boots; the cowboy boots don’t wear you…

jasper lilith and her cowboy boots are quite the pair, aren’t they?

me:  “smile, jasper!”

jasper (through gritted teeth):  “mama, i alweady smiling!”

“yee-haw!”

the cul de sac girls…

the weather was rain and muddy boots on saturday but the sun came through on sunday and it was wonderful!

jon and i did yardwork while jasper played with the kids of the cul de sac – i love that she is old enough to do this!!

caroline (one of jasper’s neighborhood playmates) is 6 but that doesn’t stop jasper lilith from keeping right up with her – they make great playmates!

once jasper saw caroline outside with her bike, she had to go get her trike as well!

“mama!  i weally need to wide my trike too!”

for some reason, jasper started a sing-a-long – she started making up a “riding my trike” song and caroline was quick to start singing with her…

so they ride around and around the cul de sac and up the driveways all the while singing their songs!

too funny…

and there they go!

not safe for parents…

ok, i admit it, i might be exaggerating a little but chuck e. cheese?  not impressed.

jasper, however, loved it!

a school friend of jasper’s had her birthday party at chuck e. cheese this past sunday and this was the first time that i had been in one since i was a kid!

there were a fair number of games and rides and once jasper had her little cup of tokens, she was ready to rock and roll…

jasper is not that impressed with this ride – she is asking me to “make it go fastuh and highuh!”

now this game she liked!

she hit those things as hard and as fast as she could and had a blast doing it!

jasper particularly liked the racing games but she couldn’t reach the pedals so i would have to work the pedals while she worked the steering wheel – now this i liked…  she really got into it and i had fun watching her gasp and twist and turn while she maneuvered the tracks!

“mama, this wide is fouh itty bitty babies!  i not itty bitty anymore.”

so that ride is out to then

after the rides and the games, we moved on to pizza!

happy birthday, sutton!

(janelle, jasper picked out sutton’s bday present herself and do you know what she picked out?  a candyland game just like hers!  she saw it at target and said, “oh, mama!  sutton needs this game!  i love this game!”)

here is chuck e. cheese himself!  it was kind of funny, all the little girls except jasper were scared of chuck e. – the boys weren’t and jasper wasn’t but none of the other girls wanted anything to do with the man in the suit

which surprised me, jasper doesn’t usually like people in costumes but she had no problem with the man-sized mouse.

and now we have the cake!  the all-important birthday cake

i know, i complain about the venue but in general, we had a good time…  i couldn’t help but have fun watching jasper have fun!

and boy, did she have fun!

goodbye the little gym!

thursday was jasper lilith’s last day at the little gym!

there was a “see what they have learned” type graduation and all of us parents had a great time cheering the little monkeys on!

volleyball, soccer, t-ball, football and basketball:  all covered; whoop!

if you can believe it:   in this picture she is hamming it up and calling out, “thank you!  thank you, ladies and gentlemens!”

indeed!

and now she is taking the clapping and laughing as her due

the cheeky monkey.

(next up?  a technical gymnastics class that jasper was lucky enough to get into even though she is only 3 years old!  pictures of her first official day at the studio will soon follow…)