oh, crawfish…

how we love to eat you!

what’s the first thing you do when you visit louisiana this time of the year?

you eat crawfish, that’s what!

hello, all!

(yeah, the crawfish was good!)

deborah came to eat crawfish with us and if you don’t know by now, jaz loves her deborah!

man, oh, man…  looking at this picture?  totally makes me want some more crawfish.

what kind of face is that?

if it were me, it would be a The Crawfish Is Almost Gone Face but since jaz only likes crawfish “a little bit” then who knows?

but it makes me smile; her little face.

natchitoches is humid!

did you guys know that?  well, it is…  and it’s not even summer yet.

oh, boy.

but other than the humidity, we had a Way Too Fast Visit with gram and pop – good but oh so fast!

while we are out and about doing Stuff, jaz keeps herself entertained for at least a couple of minutes

kids just love forts!  if there are sheets or blankets, then a fort is bound to happen eventually.

this is good.

jon and i got our runs crossed off the list first thing in the morning…

running in 100% humidity?  sweaty and hot.

(and yes, jon is not wearing a shirt.)

if there aren’t little girls crawling through forts, there are little girls playing with horses, barns and kinds of cowgirlish figurines.

the best part?  these were gram’s toys when she was a little girl!

i think…  do i have that right, gram?

fort worth nature preserve…

jon, neena, jasper and heidi are all going to run a 5k (the buffalo boogie) at the fort worth nature preserve in a couple of weekends so jon wanted to go check out the trail that they would be running…

i’ll be at work but i have been promised minute to minute updates

he is going to run FAST while jaz, neena and heidi run the 5k at their pace…

so today we went for our sunday morning run at the preserve…  we ran on the roads so jasper had to hang her bike up and get into the jogging stroller but she just plugs her ear buds in, turns her ipod up and jams while we huff and puff behind her!

i offered to switch with her but i got shot down by both her and jon (jon is the stroller pusher)…  huh.

after we did our mileage, we put the stroller up, let jasper run with us for the last bit and then went to eat lunch.

after lunch, it was time to hit the trails!

jasper does love being the “trail leader”…

and i love that she loves it!

“if you don’t jump as hard as you can on a bridge, how do you know if it’s built strong enough?”

word.

the pink gun comes out to play.

pop got jasper lilith a pink bb gun this past christmas and you can be assured that we have been asked many times, “when can i shoot my pink gun?  i can’t wait!” more times that i can count.

i have gotten the impression that she wants to try this shooting thing out…  and so she finally did.

jon set up a target out in the back yard and they went to town on the thing.

the target never knew what hit it…  and yes, she did hit it

but first jon explains The Rules. 

and then he explains The Rules again… you can’t remind kiddos of The Rules enough. 

but finally jon lets her start plinking away at the target.

awww, daddy and daughter pictures!

jon totally got the evil eye from me when he didn’t take any pictures this weekend but luckily, arnetta stepped in to take up the camera!  thanks, gram!

apparently, that little penguin bore the brunt of her plinking because she was pretty excited about “hitting the penguin”…  and here i thought she liked penguins!

the pink gun has been shot, penguins have been hit, little girls are pleased and daddies are tickled pink…  weekend update covered!

cousins!

jon and the jaspernator went down to natchitoches this weekend and despite the fact that she was recovering from an earache (first earache ever for jaz and she made this one count!  let’s talk about something else that doesn’t remind me of a screaming girl and a sleepless night), they had a good visit!

can i do run-on sentences or what?

they left friday night and as i watched them drive away, i experienced the typical motherly response of 70% wishing they had stayed and 40% relishing the fact that i was about to have my house to myself… it didn’t take long before it morphed into a clean 50/50 split – made easier by the fact that jon kept me updated on jaspy’s ear ache and she was clearly having a good time with her gram and pop!

look at the smile on pop’s face…  i think he’s smiling on the inside though.

jasper lucked out and got some cousin time as well – mark, ila and jackson were down for a visit too and jaz can’t get enough of cousins!  any cousins!  all cousins!  she just likes the cousins…  good thing she has plenty, huh?

mark walks jasper through a book?  i think.  he looks very professerly here, doesn’t he?

jackson, jasper lilith and ila make pretty for the camera…  well, the two girls do anyway

jasper has fond memories of the tiger book – it’s been a natchitoches staple since gram got it for her when she was not even a “talking toddler” as jasper likes to say.

happy cousin day!

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!

early christmas morning torture…

and it’s finally here!  christmas morning! 

jasper was so excited to wear her christmas morning pajamas!  i think her annual xmas pjs are The Indicator to her that it’s going to finally be xmas morning.  “do i get to wear my polar bear pjs now?  that means we can open presents, right?”

right, kiddo.  that’s what that means!  after coffee…  and breakfast. 

the kids are used to this kind of torture.  we’ve never been that family – you know, the 7 am Family?  nope, they have grown up with having to wait until breakfast is made, coffee is obtained and we are all awake, semi-put together and ready for the free-for-all.

and it’s fun.  really, i’m not just saying that!  they don’t know any different since we have always done late morning present unwrapping and they get a kick out of all the newly put-out presents they haven’t seen yet and the freshly stuffed stockings!  they get all amped up and rarin’ to go – it’s fun, it makes me smile just thinking about it.

it’s delayed gratification in the best possible way! 

also it helps to have things for the kids to do while they wait for us to make breakfast

jasper and juliet amuse themselves while they wait.  yep, that’s my apple-lovin’ girl!

arnetta got all the grandkids a present they could share – it’s a big playhouse made out of cardboard that is ready to be drawn all over!  isn’t it awesome!

i will tell you right now; that particular gram gift was The Hit of christmas morning.  the kiddos played in and out of this little house the rest of the time we were there.  they went crazy with markers and crayons and got a kick out of being able to color on the walls as well as pile the inside of the house up with dolls and such.

good gift, gram! 

the cousins making a mess and having a good time!

don’t worry, sugar pies!  your time is coming; i’m pretty sure i just heard the coffee finish brewing.

hello, santa.

one of the christmassy things we love to do in natchitoches is go visit santa (or as i like to call him The Man Dressed Up Like Santa.  hey, it’s an important distinction…  in my head.)!  of course, we always wait until the last night but that’s ok, the santa-hungry crowds are usually thinned out by then so the line is pretty short.

as we wait in line for The Man Dressed Up Like Santa, i amuse myself by taking pictures.  jasper amuses herself by trying to avoid me while i take pictures.  there was success on both sides. 

hello, Man Wearing Plastic Beard!  and hello to you, jasper lilith!

after the requisite santa picture, we head down to the river to run along the edge and stare at all the christmas lights!

it’s gorgeous at night downtown – the lights, the people (yes, jon, even the people) and all the kids having a ball!  the stage becomes an impromptu playground for all the kiddos and so jasper went to visit and make new friends while jon and i hung out and enjoyed the evening.

and yes, she was a “kitty” all evening long.  you can see the kitty ear barrettes, right?  did you think she would deign to be anything else? 

hello the natchitoches night!  filled with lights and hot cocoa and meat pies, we loved you!