This week

One of Nick's new staff members is part of the band The Nadas. He gave Jay this shirt, so I had to have him model it. I just love the "aw shucks" grin on his face and then the big smile.







We saw this Ninja Turtle shirt at Target last night, and Jay had to have it. This is him looking in the mirror with it on for the first time. "I LOVE my shirt!" Then he ran into his room and got his Donatello toy. "I have TWO Donatellos!"




I am on my two week break between summer and fall classes. So today we went to the zoo. I actually took my nice camera! But I haven't gotten the pictures off of it yet. These are from my phone.


He was so happy to ride the train. It went very slowly by the animals, so he was a bit bored. Then it turned around, and the driver hit the fast button. He couldn't stop smiling.

The last picture is him in a tortoise shell. He said he was a sleeping tortoise and he was staring straight ahead, not moving at all. Yep, that's a tortoise!

First

3 years, 7 months, 10 days: first time doubling up on ice cream by taking advantage of a parenting switch.

Nick picked JJ up from daycare and took him to band practice. When I got off work, I picked him up and brought him home. We stopped at Wendy's to get dinner and got a frosty to share. Then when we got home he decided to tell me that Papa took him to Dairy Queen after daycare.

Imagination

JJ decided this morning that it is Umicar's 3rd birthday today. He is excited that they are both three! He threw a birthday party with all of his toy cars in attendance. Most notable as guests were Jeepers, the Jeep that is 5 years old, and the green car that he got at Summerfest that is 9 years old. There were so many presents, JJ had to juggle them like Santa does. Umicar had three birthday cakes! We played pin the tail on the elliephant (not elephant, not donkey).



Happy birthday, Umicar!

Beauty

My gratitude moment for the day:
Opening up the curtains in the kitchen to see the rising sun steaming in. Watching Jay discover his shadow on the wall. Playing with the image of himself and moving the cereal box around on the table to see what would happen. Capturing the image as best I could.

Spring Break

Just hanging out, watching Saturday morning cartoons.

We've had a cold spring break! I was able to get some time off while Nick has been on break. We have been looking forward to getting outside, but the weather has not cooperated! We haven't done anything really special. We've just been enjoying our time off together. Nick and Jay have been a little under the weather with colds/ strep throat and I didn't feel good yesterday. Grandma and Grandpa Hoover came over on Wednesday with their new iPhones and iPad so we were able to show them a few tricks on how they work.

My school workload has been a big stressor the last couple of weeks, so I am very happy that I've had this time to get ahead on a lot of assignments. There are only 4 weeks left in the semester and my instructors have both jammed them full of big projects. I think I still have to write 12 lesson plans, give two presentations, and then teach two class periods of 7th grade Literacy for my practicum.

Phone photo catch up

I have been a bit overwhelmed lately with no sign of a let up. Thought I should at least post a few pictures. Remember to click on the pictures to get a better resolution.

Just a genuine smile, goofing around at a restaurant.








Napping with his latest favorite toy - his Donatello Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.












The mantle is all done!

Piano

Grandpa Thimmesch got a piano!




Their first duet:

Nap time deep thoughts

Jay looks up at the zebra poster on his wall.

I like zebras.
I don't like bears.
I like dogs
and ducks
and rabbits
and frogs
and teachers
and people
and Papa's new Halo game.

Monsters

Night three of sleeping in his big boy bed. JJ comes out of his room.
JJ: The monsters are really coming. The monsters are coming in fifteen minutes.
Nick: Who told you that?
JJ: The monsters are coming in my bed!
Nick: JJ, when Grandma and Grandpa gave us this bed they made sure that no monsters could come. It's monster proof. Isn't that right, Mama?
Mary: Yep, there are no monsters.
JJ: I'm hungry. I need more food.

I love...

We play a little game with JJ where we name different things that we love. Usually they are silly things to make him laugh like ketchup and garbage, with plenty of "I love you"s thrown in. Tonight we were eating some ice cream and this is what Jay had to say.

I love....ice cream cones.
I love...ice cream...rectangles.
I love ice cream...cylinders.
I love ice cream....squares.

I hadn't thought about how a toddler would see a cone as another shape. And a cylinder? Really? I didn't realize that he knows what a cylinder is!