choo-choo!!

some friends and i met up at the little trinity river railroad station in fort worth to go on the scenic route…i thought it was like a 3 hour trip and was wondering how crazy i was to expect jasper lilith to sit still that long…but i was wrong – the trip is about 45 minutes with a little stop at a duck park on the way…whew!!

so it was great!  the weather is beautiful and we just followed the river – all the water and the flowers and the greenery – just very peaceful…jasper loved it!  she sat beside me and just stared and stared and stared out at everything – trying to take it all in 🙂

ethan and jasper lilith wondering why their mommas are taking so many pictures…and wondering why the train isn’t moving!!

laughing at each other…

jasper is clapping her hands and excited because the train is starting to move again…and yes, i am still taking pictures…i performed some kind of jet li move as i swing back onto the moving train with my camera still clicking away!  it was pretty impressive if i do say so myself 🙂

national geographic here i come!! 

what is that hanging out of her mouth??

ooooohhhhh…it’s her tongue:)

mom, we haven’t “officially” worn those sweet ballet slippers that you bought for her yet but unofficially, jasper lilith wears them all the time…she loves those shoes!  and brings them to me to put on her or just puts them on herself 🙂

she came out of her closet with her shoes and then dolled herself up with a necklace and some ribbon…

and then she posed for the picture…with her tongue hanging out…ah, my future supermodel 🙂

duncan turned 6…it’s true! we saw it!

duncan had his “i turned 6!” birthday party this saturday at a local park…the weather was great!  it has been in the 80’s all week long but this weekend a cold front visited us and it has dropped into very comfortable, slightly cool weather – perfect park weather 🙂

heather and david put on a fun party and jasper lilith had quite the time letting everybody take turns in admiring and complimenting her! 

jasper was both the entertainer and the entertainee by the party people – i had a sweet time watching her interact and love on everybody…

nick included!  she took his hand and pretty much lead him around for a bit…he indulged the little one and let her 🙂

ah, and the two headed dragon survived the transfer to duncan…or should i say jasper survived the transfer?  i saw her focus and get still when he pulled the dragon out of his gift bag but that was the extent of her reaction – i guess there was so much else going on around her – after all, what is a dragon compared to a puppy named lucy? 

we had some badmitton (did i spell that right?) rackets and birdies that we played with and jasper wanted in on the action…turned out she didn’t want to play so much as take them away and carry them around…ok, then…

there was a piñata…filled with candy…enough said 🙂

did lucy the puppy really think she could escape from jasper? 

 ah, here is where lucy is eating food off the ground and jasper decided to join her…”mama, i mean really, if it is good enough for lucy the puppy then it is good enough for me…right?  right?  oooh, chocolate cake!!!”   i don’t think so, sweetie, i don’t think so…

we had a great party day with our little girl, our friends, duncan the brand-new 6 year old (heather, you have a 6 year old boy!!!  can you believe it?) and, of course, the puppy… 

ride ’em, cowgirl!!

this is the first time i have seen jasper lilith ride her giraffe but it was worth the wait!  the funny part is that she kept trying to get next to something to hold on to while she climbed aboard the giraffe but she couldn’t get it quite right – she tried several different pieces of furniture (i guess thinking it was the furniture’s fault?) but she stayed about 18 to 24 inches away for all of them…i shouldn’t laugh, she was starting to become frustrated but it was really funny!  i kept my giggles silent (just believe me, ok?) until she finally managed to work it out…

and here she is! 

and then later today, she came running out of our bedroom all dolled up in some of my necklaces and bracelets…jasper lilith was very, very pleased with herself! 

a roll in the laundry…

i had a big load of jasper lilith clothes that i washed this morning…i pulled them out of the dryer, put them in her laundry basket and left it on the floor while i went off and did something else (i don’t remember what but surely it was Very Important)…

when i walked back into the dining room, jasper had pulled all the clothes, towels, crib sheets, etc. out of the basket and piled them up in a big, warm, comfy clothes-stack (similar to a haystack but less prickly)…she then proceeded to lay on top of the clothes-stack and roll around on it! i am not kidding, people, she rolled around in the pile like a little puppy!  i was speechless with…something…pride?  love?  amusement?  amazement?  tenderness?  i don’t know what it was but it made me slow in getting the camera…

by the time, i got the camera up and raring to go, she had reduced the big pile to a flat, widespread clothes-puddle (similar to a mud puddle but less muddy)…jasper then just lay there amongst the clothes looking as content and sleepy as…as a little girl who just got to roll around in straight-from-the-dryer, soft clothes as much as she wanted to 🙂

after a bit, she sat up and started pulling all the laundry ariound her again…i stepped in to take the clothes so they wouldn’t set all wrinkley (it was a tug-of-war with the first couple of shirts but jasper gave it up when i let her know that she wasn’t going to win this one) and left her the rest of the laundry to play around in…

when i came back in the room from putting her clothes up, she had gathered all the laundry around her and was still sitting in the middle of the pile like a dragon hoarding her gold…luckily, this particular dragon is pretty friendly and she decided to help me put it all away 🙂

oh, and her pacifier?  she is only allowed to have the paci. during her naptime now but!  somehow she dragged a stool to stand on so she could reach the “hiding place” (i keep it up and out of her line of sight and therefore, usually, she doesn’t think about it) and had it in before i even realized what she was doing!  it was close enough to her nap time that i didn’t bother taking it away from her…but so much for that hidey hole, guess i have to find a higher place to keep the paci. now!

 

gorbella’s green day experience…

jasper and i got all painty and dirt-covered this morning and it was worth it! 

gorbella’s was having an earth day inspired event today and we got dressed ready to get dirt on our hands and paint on our clothes…well, jasper lilith got dressed for that anyway, i didn’t…i still got all painted up but that’s ok, they are just jeans 🙂

we met some of our playgroup moms & kiddos at the park (another gorgeous mansfield park that i have never been to!!  heather, this little town must be throwing all kinds of money at their parks because they are beautiful, big and well-maintained…throw some of that parkness our way, mansfield!!)  we signed in, got our terra cotta pot and paints and proceeded to double-dip paint brushes, eat markers, paint up my jeans, paint up ellie, play with stickers and, incidentally, paint the pot 🙂

jasper kept wanting to pick the pot up and i finally had to flip it over so she didn’t have the edge to grab…once i did that, she got serious about painting…

like all talented artists, jasper lilith knew when to stop…since i couldn’t see the Big Stop Sign that she did, i kept giving her markers, crayons, more paint and stickers to try to get her to paint more but she would have none of them…at that point, she got upset when i dared to mark on her pot (i was thinking to encourage her, sheesh!) and just wanted to play in the paint pots…so i finally grokked that she was finished with the pot and let her paint up her paper plate instead…which she did with glee…

she is spooning wildflower seeds into the pot…

now she is dumping them into the soil…after about 3 spoonfuls, i had to take it away from her!

clever girl – using the spilled dirt to finish the pot off…

and the final result…taaaa-daaaaaaaahhhhh!

dragons do exist!

heather, avert your eyes!!  no, i am kidding – the dragon is for duncan, i guess that means you can see it 🙂

but houston, we have a Problem because jasper lilith has fallen in love with this two headed dragon!  she talks to it, she carries it around, she pets it and tries to tie her beloved balloon (and that is another story!)…this morning i could hear her asking for something and i walk in to find her trying her very, very hardest to stretch another 3 feet and get that dragon…right out of the gift bag that clearly reads “duncan” on it 🙂

now it has been suggested to me that this love affair simply exists because the toy is new (jon!) but whatever the reason, it is funny to watch!  i am curious (and slightly worried) about how she is going to react when duncan opens his present and she sees what she considers to be her dragon in there!  i think my first mistake was to let her see it at all…my second mistake was to let her hold it!

will there be tears?  will there be screaming?  will there be calm acceptance?  will there be copious amounts of distraction from Her Parents?  will there be (jon, cover your eyes) another dragon for jasper alone? 

tune in next week to find out!  same bat time!!  same bat channel!!

a sunday day…

again, today was both fun and productive!  jon and i both finished a bunch of yard work (i planted some mammoth sunflowers against the fence and a bunch of wildflowers) and then moseyed on over to the faire…

jasper was very jon-centric today – she wasn’t all that interested in her mama and only wanted her da to hold her and love on her…and he loved every minute of it!  well, mostly…if i ignore the desparate, “daune, take her for a minute – my back is killing me!” plea that i heard a couple of times today…not that it did much good because i would gladly take hold of her and within a couple of minutes she would be struggling to get down and run over to her da…she just wanted her da! 

here are duncan and jasper lilith hanging out…duncan told heather and i that we should be taking a picture of them and then offered to hold jasper’s hand for the picture but jasper didn’t cooperate and just wanted to wiggle around and be silly instead…but that is ok, sugar, your daddy will surely want to put off holding hands with a boy for as long as possible!

heather, doesn’t it look like duncan just told jasper a joke or something kind of silly story?  i love it!

couch tales…

we had a productive weekend but we still managed to grab some downtime and scarborough faire time…and chocolate truffles – jasper lilith managed to grab a truffle or two and proceeded to devour them in a way that left tracks…and handprints…and little toddler toe prints…and then lip prints all over me when she kissed me before i could wipe her clean…

and did i mind?  are you kidding?  did you not see the picture right above you?  how could anybody mind a chocolatey kiss from a little sweetie pie like that?  in fact, i probably would have given her another truffle in exchange for a kiss (wow, am i easy…) but jon put a stop to that and into the bath jasper went…with a big smile on her face and chocolate all over her, me and the house 🙂

on to the next day:  jon and jasper lilith spent saturday morning on the couch – watching noggin, acting silly and being sweet… 

they were having a wrestle match for the drum sticks…i am not sure who won – jon’s toes or jasper’s hands…i am guessing that with jon being as ticklish as he is, an inadvertent slip on jasper’s part would have sealed up the match right then and there 🙂

can you say, “awwwwwwwwwwww“?  well, then go ahead and say it cuz this picture is pure gold!

i walked into the living room to find jasper arranging and rearranging her giraffe on the pillow…she would lay him down on the pillow and then pick him back up only to lay him down again in a different position…then she would stand him up and pat him (like she does the dogs) for a bit before starting the process all over again…i think this shot has caught her in a distracted tv moment 🙂

we had a good day!  

look at all those strawberries!!!

today was a fun day!  every friday we go to the main library for what is called “storytime” – it is a toddler oriented class (group?  session?  something like that)  with books and songs and puppets…very loud, rambunctious and audience driven…it is alot of fun and jasper really gets into it especially when there are a bunch of children there…it is held in a little amphitheater and i have found that if there are a bunch of us, she really enjoys singing and clapping with a newfound buddy…if there is just a few of us, she gets distracted easily and wants to climb around…needless to say, i like it when there is a crowd!!  anyway, that was our morning but the best part of today was in the evening!

there is an organic, pick-your-own fruits and veggies farm called gnismer farm right down the road from us – it has strawberries, blackberries, onions, corn, blueberries, tomatoes, etc., all depending on the season…heather and i have been saying for years that we need to go and we finally did!  whoop!

right now, they have tons and tons of red, ripe strawberries just waiting for jasper and i to go pick them…we met dave, heather and duncan over there and went to town – well, i guess it would be more accurate to say, “went to farm” but you know what i mean 🙂

jasper lilith was fantastic!  she followed the rules (no picking of the green berries, stay out of the rows and don’t step on the plants) in a very mature way and we had a great time hunting and gathering!  she picked for a while and then just wanted to carry the bucket and, let me tell you, i was not allowed to put the strawberries in the bucket – i had to give them to her to put in the bucket or she let me have it!  and i think i got just as excited at finding the big, ripe ones as she did!  we got into a good rhythm and before i knew it, we had a box full of beautifully red berries…

she kind of matches the strawberries, doesn’t she?

jasper had sound effects, too!  she wouldn’t just pick them, she had to make this grunty, breathy “uhhhhh…” noise while she was doing it…every single time…it was hilarious!

here is the box/bucket of berries – it was pretty heavy towards the end but she pretty much refused to give it up and contined to carry it even when it was obviously a bit tricky for her…

and there she goes!  a girl with her strawberries :)…wait, sugar, you have to share those you know!!  i don’t think she heard me…

so the way it goes is that you pick as much as you want and then they weigh the box and you pay by the pound…we got up to the stall, they weighed, i paid and afterward i was rifling through the pretty berries (admiring them really) and realized that i had also bought a Rock…a Big Heavy Rock…

huh…well, i had taken a couple of jasper-found rocks out already and thought that i had gotten them all – you know jasper and rocks, she can’t go anywhere without finding some that she just has to have – but apparantly, the girl snuck one in that i didn’t see…i didn’t see and i ended up buying…buying a Rock…oh well, i guess we will paint the Rock and call it “George”…

and can anybody guess what jasper lilith ate for dinner?  strawberries…and that is pretty much it…well, with some pieces of apple thrown in there for roughage 🙂

it was a berry wonderful day (ha!  i couldn’t resist!) and a great way to end the week!  happy friday all!