Visit with Grandma and Pa

Jack has been having a great time at Grandma and Pa's house. He has been helping his cousin Max learn to crawl and appreciate the characters from Toy Story. Here Max is taking notes on the evil emperor Zurg! Just looking at these two, you KNOW they'll be getting into some mischief in the future! "Hey Max, whattaya say we...." (fill in the blank).



In addition to playing with Max, Jack has been dying to play with Abbi. Unfortunately, Abbi just had surgery on her leg last week and she is in NO position to play her usual game of chase. Tonight he settled for chasing Kelsey around the living room instead. Abbi has been very sad about spending time in her kennel, but with a rambunctious 2-year old in the house, she's enjoyed being safely locked away from the chaos. When she does come out, Jack likes to lounge in there too. He spends enough time with Gracie to believe he is part dog, so it's no surprise he wants to hang out where ever Abbi does.

While he has been away, Rob and I have had time to see two movies! Up in the Air and The Book of Eli, both really good. I also had some time to work on our new curtains in the bedroom, finally! But as nice as it has been we both miss him so much! We are ready to have him come home soon.

It's a Hat, a Broach, a Brontosaurus...

Jack was his typical, adorable self a breakfast today. We FINALLY found Woody's hat yesterday (after about 12 hours MIA). And let me tell you folks, when Woody's hat is missing it is an all consuming problem. I think this kid has OCD sometimes, surely by the fitieth time I heard, "Woo-y hat?" I was ready to take him for a psych evaluation. But now that Woody and his hat have been reunited, Jack won't let them out of his sight. He was so excited to find the hat, that this morning he tried it on a lot of his animals. Brontosaurus got to wear it during breakfast. Jack has developed enough of a sense of humor to realize that this is pretty silly...dinos don't wear hats! They ride Gracie like a horse, bounce in the jumper, travel in a back pack to have lunch with Auntie Julie, but they don't wear hats. That's silly!

Hat Tricks

We have come to agree with what parents have said for generations...don't waste your money on fancy toys, kids will choose to play with the most simple things you have lying around the house! First it was the box that Grandma and Grandpa's TV came in; it is still in our garage being used as a playhouse! In Big Bear it was Grandpa's work hat! Jack galloped around the house for hours with it! Whatever floats your boat, Kid! We are going to invest in rubber tubes, packing peanuts and Tupperware instead of computer games, radio controlled cars and bicycles!

Cold and White

After our great trip to Big Bear, I'm finally scrapping 10 minute together to add a few new photos to the blog.

This first photo is in Grandma's studio, looking out toward their patio. Difficult to tell in this shot, but it was virtually a wall of snow out that sliding glass door! The snow was nearly to the top of their chain link fence around the dog run (almost 6 feet) and there was about 5 feet on the patio! But the squirrels and birds managed to make it onto the porch for food. Jack loved watching them come so close. Of course, Gracie loved to bark at them. Our watch dog...she protected us from all the ferocious woodland creatures!

This was taken on our way to Aunt Susie's for dinner. Jack was wearing his new outfit that Daddy bought for him on State Street. Collared shirt, white sweater and even a tweed sports coat

complete with suede elbow patches and collar. He was very handsome, and really out-shined all of us that night. He had Buzz and Woody with him for an exciting night out on the town!

Other than driving, the trip really centered around the beautiful new snow. In addition to tubing, we played for quite a while right outside the house. We tried to build Jack's first snowman, but honestly the snow was too fresh and fluffy. It was like trying to build a snowman with sawdust! We made the first ball and then gave in to snowballs instead. Jack had an absolute blast. Gracie did too! They both romped and crawled around in the deep stuff for about an hour. Daddy taught Jack how to make snowballs and throw them at Gracie.

We also tried to do snow angels, but honestly...

IT WAS JUST SO SOFT AND DEEP! It was really a glorious day. A good time was had by all. Jack finally whined a little and grabbed at his wrist. Turns out, his mittens slid down and they were packed with snow around the wrists. He was already red from the cold. But, he was so well bundled that this wrists were the ONLY thing that got cold. Back in the house for some hot chocolate, tons of lasagna and more playtime with Gracie and Ruby. We had a fantastic time.

SNOW PLAY

After 8 hours in the car yesterday, we were wondering if it was worth it to drive up to Big Bear for the fresh snow. Rest assured...it WAS!

We came up the mountain yesterday behind about 5,000 idiots, but finally made it to Grandma's just in time for homemade lasagna. Jack was such a great traveler it was amazing! We stopped once in Apple Valley at Target for a new toy, but other than that he made it straight through. He finally took his nap for the last 30 minutes of the trip!

This morning we woke to a glorious day. So after breakfast we bundled up and headed to Snow Play to sled in the tubes. It was great fun for all three of us. Then we returned to Grandma's for snowman building and a snowball fight before lunch. It was mostly us against Gracie, but she loved it! She hopped through the snow, biting the snowballs and digging for rascals. We've had a wonderful day so far. After nap time we hope for a little more play time and then dinner at Aunt Susie's. We hope you are all having a fun weekend too.

Super Jack

Our friend Lorena made a Super Cape for Jack as a Christmas gift. He loves to fly around now with Buzz Lightyear, pretending to save the planet from the evil emperor Zurg! He had us in stitches.

We have had a busy Saturday so far. After breakfast and a little lounging, we headed off to run errands. This included a trip to Target for a new humidifier for our stuffy, snotty little boy. Low and behold, what did we find on the Christmas clearance aisle? A huge set of play food for only $5! Once we got home Jack had a blast feeding his toys and parents from his new pantry. He fed Buzz and Woody, complete with chewing sound effects!

And if that wasn't exciting enough, our new mattress was delivered this afternoon. You would have thought they delivered a giant teddy bear tied up with a red ribbon the way Jack hooted and squealed over the new arrival. Geesh, who knew he wanted us to have a new mattress so badly.

After he takes his nap (wishful thinking) we have a wonderful evening to look forward to. Our neighbors are hosting neighborhood movie night in their driveway. They will be showing the movie Up, complete with popcorn and hotdogs. So we'll load up the wagon and roll on down for at least part of the show. A movie on a Saturday night? Feels like a date to me:-)

Vote for SMA

It should come as no surprise to anyone who follows our blog that we are supporters of the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation. Bill and Victoria Strong are a lovely couple from Santa Barbara with a beautiful daughter named Gwendolyn. While Gwendolyn was born perfectly healthy, she nearly died at 6 months old and was diagnosed with SMA type 1, Spinal Muscular Atrophy. SMA is degenerative and terminal! This is the #1 genetic killer of children under the age of 2. Like Gwendolyn, children with SMA lose all motor abilities and must be assisted via machines for the most basic of functions, such as coughing. However, their minds are very clear, they are bright and social! The good news is that the National Institutes of Health have coined SMA as the "CLOSEST TO TREATMENT". Given proper funding, treatment is expected within a few years! Furthermore, many scientists feel that SMA is a "gateway" disease that can lead to breakthroughs in treatments for many other diseases, including Parkinson's, ALS/Lou Gherig's, Alzheimers, spinal cord injuries, muscular distrophies and even some types of cancer.

Currently, Chase is planning on giving away $1 million to a deserving charity via Facebook. And The Gwendolyn Strong Foundation is in 4th place out of 100 charities! If you have a Facebook account please use one of your votes for GSF to cure SMA. If you don't have a Facebook account it only takes a moment to set one up and then you can vote too! PLEASE HELP CURE SMA! Thank you.

http://voteforsma.com/