Airplane!

RJ works on a lady's car on a somewhat regular basis and, as with all mechanic work, this lady pays him, but she almost always brings something for LJ. This is a very nice thing to do. LJ is probably getting conditioned to believe that everytime he sees this particular car in our driveway - he is going to get a gift.

Indeed, LJ received a new toy over the weekend - and he LOVES this thing. I present the Take-a-Part Airplane:

Igore the "click to enlarge" words - it won't enlarge if you click it as I took this picture off of the internet.

LJ's plane is red with blue wings, but other than that - what you see is just like his. The drill takes 2 batteries and then it works just like a real drill. There are 3 different bits and using 2 of them (I have no idea why they included the 3rd) you can take the plane totally apart. LJ is really good at taking the plane apart, but he needs you to hold the parts together as he screws it back together.

He wants to "play airplane" all the time.

What is truly wonderful is that when he wakes up in the morning, it is like he's discovered the plane all over again. He starts playing with his toys and then he sees his airplane and I hear him shout "AIRPLANE" at the top of his lungs. He'll come to find me and say, "Airplane - Mama - Airplane". What a joy that must be!

Too Close?

Do you think LJ sits too close to the TV?

Just when you think your child is old enough to leave unattended for a few minutes while you do something in another part of the house...You come back through the living room to find this. I told you, he loves Diego!

Not to worry, he doesn't usually sit this close...and his vision seems fine thus far. I think he was helping Diego do something -as Diego does ask for help frequently.

New Tradition

It seems we have inadvertently started a new tradition in the J house. 2007 ushered in the "we celebrate every birthday with cake" tradition. It all started on January 4th as that is Uncle Bri's birthday. We told LJ, "today is Uncle Bri's birthday" to which he responded, "CAKE". Of course, we thought this was very cute and decided that we would have chocolate cake (from Jack-in-the-box) in honor of Uncle Bri's birthday. We never finish a whole cake in this house, so we thought it more prudent (because I don't need cake sitting around for days before we throw it away) to buy a piece of cake instead of make a whole cake.

January 6th rolls around and we told LJ, "today is Aunt Mary's birthday" to which he responded....yep, you guessed it "CAKE". We tried to tell him that Aunt Mary will eat cake, but we won't eat cake. He keep repeating - throughout the day - "Aunt Mary's birthday - CAKE". Aunt Mary is a fan of cheesecake and, in my pregnant state - that sounded pretty good. I figured LJ won't really like cheesecake, so maybe this will get him off of this whole kick. After dinner, we went to the store and bought a small frozen cheesecake. It seems that LJ does indeed enjoy cheesecake just as much as any other cake, so we have not dissuaded him from the idea that we must celebrate everyone's birthday with cake.

As I look at my calendar, I see the next birthday to come is his Godmother KK's. KK, what kind of cake will we need to eat in your honor?

How Often to Clean the Fridge?

I remember that my mom used to clean out the fridge about once every six months...and I was involved in this process as it was a "chore". When I say "clean out", I mean - take out all the food, throw out some stuff, take out the shelves and drawers, wash them down, and wash out the inside. Very thorough. I also remember thinking this was a royal waste of time because it was never very dirty. Conclusion: 2x a year = too often.

This house is the longest I've lived anywhere since I lived at home. While in college and single, I'd live in a place 2 years - maximum, so this "cleaning the fridge" thing hasn't been a thought in my mind since the days of living at home...it would naturally get cleaned every year or so as I would prepare to move and wanted to be sure to get my deposit back.

This past weekend, I discovered that every 5 years is not often enough. Let me tell you, it was disgusting. There are the spills about which you know - and you clean those up as you see they have occurred. But, there are also spills about which you have no idea. How does something spill and the only evidence you have is under the drawer at the bottom of the fridge? This spill goes undetected for...well, perhaps 5 years. Luckily, it is all food and it isn't too tough to clean up, but still. So, as a part of our weekend of organization, I thoroughly cleaned the fridge and it looks wonderful. I love opening it and seeing everything so neat and clean. At this point, there are no bottles and/or jars that contain inedible yuckies and all the shelves and drawers are spic and span. I really had no idea how disgusting the fridge had become. If you have been to our house and thought, "wow, that is one horribly dirty fridge" - thank you for not saying anything to me about it.

Part of the fun of cleaning the fridge is that I got this groovy thing called the Can Around (canaround) for Christmas. You put it in your fridge and it helps you keep the jars and cans organized around the back and edges of the shelves. I'm thinking about getting some for the pantry (I know, I know - those of you who have seen our pantry can't believe how much food is in there) to help organize the shelves.

In other news from our organization weekend - while LJ was visiting Bri and Me...

We did get the guest closet cleaned out and organized. We took several boxes of clothes to Goodwill - where we were turned away. I was shocked, but they had received lots of stuff recently. I refused to take these boxes home again, so we tried a couple of other places, but they were closed. Finally, the Goodwill store in the adjoining town accepted our donation (it is a new store). Then we took 3 boxes of books (from my English lit. grad school days) to Half-Price Books where they gave us more money than I expected to get. Little did they know - I just wanted to get rid of them, so as long as they didn't tell me I had to take them back home - I would have accepted anything. I might have even paid them something. The stuff we kept was organized more neatly into boxes and RJ built some shelves in the closet on which to put the boxes. Now, you can actually find stuff in there! And, we rearranged some things from the guest room into LJ's room and vice-versa. Now the back part of the house is uncluttered and looks pretty nice. It makes me happy.

We did not get to the garage, but that may not be such a big deal. You'll have to wait for a future post to find out why.

"Nice Ball Mama"

We've finished all of traveling this Christmas - I think it was hardest on me and I am becoming increasingly more uncomfortable. There is no disguising that I am pregnant now and my backside seems to be in a competition with my front to see which can be the most huge. Not a pretty picture.

I was in the shower the other night and looked down and thought - for the first time this pregnancy - "wow, I really look pregnant". After the shower, I went out to show RJ this newly discovered belly and he commented on it in an appropriate way. Then, LJ came in, came up to me, patted my belly and said, "Nice ball Mama"!

In between the travelling, LJ has been enjoying his Christmas gifts very much. RJ likes to put the unwrapped gifts back under the tree, so everyday, LJ has had fun getting them out and playing with them. His biggest gift was a play kitchen...

Reports on the Internet said that it takes 2 hours to put together - of course, RJ did it in a little over an hour. I helped by reading the directions and telling him what to do next and handing him the appropriate fastener. The kitchen resides in our kitchen and LJ has played with it a lot. It came with a baking set...

LJ has spent more time putting those cookies in the refrigerator, taking them out - putting them in the oven, taking them out - putting them in the bowl, taking them out - and starting the whole process over again. This is great!

His Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and Grandparents were very generous with him and he has many fun things to play with...he "mows the floors in the house", plays with his "tow car car" (car car = truck), enjoys "cutting and washing his play food", and he received many things Dora and Diego which is ALWAYS a big hit. Plus, he got to see so many relatives and play with many cousins - which he loves in a big way.

We had a most excellent Christmas and hope you did too.

This weekend, LJ is at Bri and Me's as RJ and I have plans to clean out the closets and tackle the garage. We hope to sort into "throw away", "give away", and "try to sell" piles. Then, we will THROW AWAY and GIVE AWAY and store until we have a "garage sale" next month. In general, I don't like to have garage sales, but...why not set the stuff outside and see if someone will buy it and THEN give away the left overs? Maybe we'll make enough money to buy some new stuff to fill our closets?! Just kidding - these closets are being cleaned so that we can switch rooms with LJ in preparation for a new person who will accumulate their own stuff - which we will have to find a place to keep. It is a vicious cycle.

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

LJ is napping, RJ is wrapping gifts - after his morning of shopping for "incidentals", I just made peanut brittle and we are all looking forward to Mass later this afternoon. After Mass, we will come home and I'll make dinner - this year, we are having stuffed shells, peas (I'm sure LJ will be thrilled), and apple cobbler. We are hoping LJ realizes this is the last night of chocolate from the "cal" (Advent calendar) and won't be too distraught when there is no chocolate tomorrow night. He has been very good about not opening the presents under the tree, but he talks about them all the time. Tomorrow, he will finally be able to open them - and I hope he isn't too disappointed. I know he'll like most of his gifts, but the potty and pull-ups may not be met with favor. Every time we ask him if he'd like to sit on the potty (we have a seat the fits on the big potty), you'd think we were cutting off his toes with a butter knife. We thought that he might do better with his own potty which sits on the floor - we'll see how he reacts tomorrow.

After Christmas morning here - we are headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas with RJ's family.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

LJ's First Trip (Without Ma-Ma & Da-Da)

When I write Ma-Ma and Da-Da it is because LJ calls us what sounds like Ma-Ma (like a little Italian boy would call his mommy) and Da-Da (like "day day") - where he got this pronunciation, I don't know. But, he says a lot of things that I'm not sure from where they come. Like blanket = "gwee" - which sounds a lot like how he says "green"... a word with which "gwee" would make sense. This causes some confusion when we are in the car, stopped at a light and LJ says, "gween" - I often think he is saying "gwee" and I tell him he can't have he blanket in the car. Then I realize he is saying "green" and I kind of feel badly for telling him no to something about which he didn't even ask. But, that is how it goes...

The time had come that I was OK having LJ spend a weekend away from home. He had spent a weekend away from us, but that was at his home and it was out of necessity (RJ and I had to go to a conference for work). RJ had been taking LJ up to "Bri and Me's" (as LJ calls them) one morning a week and LJ had been really enjoying his playtime in the country. So, he is really familiar with that environment and with being around Bri and Me. Plus, LJ is to the point where, when he does something he isn't supposed to do - he pretty much comes and tells you about it. Like if he puts something in his mouth, he comes over to you and shows you what he has in his mouth. When he sees a snake in a book, he shakes his finger and says, "no, no, no". These things make me feel as though he has a small level of accountability, so that - along with the excellent supervision provided by Bri and Me made me feel no qualms whatsoever about LJ spending a weekend at their house. Plus, I knew he would just LOVE it.

RJ and I took him up there after work on Friday, December 1st - Me was a little concerned that LJ would not like it when we left without him after dropping him off, but I really didn't think he'd mind in the least. Sure enough, we got a wave as we were walking out the door and that was it. RJ and I came back to town and went out to eat - it was great...we could talk about whatever we wanted, uninterrupted - and we could take as long as we wanted.

Saturday, we slept late - OK, for me that was 7:30, but when I woke up I didn't have to watch Dora first thing. I actually read the paper and drank coffee without having to say, "be careful, this is mommy's hot coffee". I went to get my hair cut and RJ went to the junk yard to look for parts for a truck on which he's working and then we went Christmas shopping and out to dinner. We did talk to Bri and Me and they said everything was going well. LJ had woken in the night and called for Ma-Ma and Da-Da and Bri went in to comfort him. But, he seemed to want Me, so she came in and that was fine. Me sent us pictures to show what fun they were having playing outside most of the day.

Sunday, we slept late again and then went to brunch where I ate the most delicious migas I've ever had. When pregnant and when not pregnant - I love spicy food and these migas were soooo good. I've been wanting them ever since. I think RJ spent the rest of the day fixing the garage door and I can't remember what I did, but we left around 3:30 to go get LJ. When we arrived, he was playing outside with Bri. When LJ saw our car he started yelling Ma-Ma Da-Da and running toward the car. This is just the reaction to warm our hearts - he is such a compassionate child!

It is apparent that he had a great time and I think it is safe to say that Bri and Me enjoyed their time with LJ as well. Me made a CD of the pictures they took and she called later in the week to inquire when he could come again - they are experiencing withdrawal. We are figuring out when that time will be!

New Title - New Look

I still owe you a post on LJ's first weekend away from home (without Ma-Ma and Da-Da), but I thought I'd give you the "and more" I promised.

So, here it is...we are publicly announcing that there will be another Baby J come April 2007. Now you will have to endure tales of pregnancy and you have no idea what a relief it will be to vent, er...I mean share the joy of all the great changes that occur in these 40 weeks. We are on week 22, so you have 18 to tag along with me.

Such news calls for a new "look" for the blog, but I have to tell you that it was very difficult for me to decide on one that I feel captures the essence of what I try to share. This will do for now. I direct your attention to the picture on the right...I am now so brave as to include a picture of the back of LJ.

Check back often in the next weeks as I have many stories that encapsulate the great fun that it is to have a 2 year old in the house...and much more time in which to craft them.

Thanksgiving, First Weekend without LJ, and More

Busy-ness and laziness ensue! End of the semester = much work to do and a lot of it is on the computer. Yes, I've entered the 21st century and my students now turn in their assignments via the internet. It is great...no paperwork, but it means I spend a lot of time at the computer - which means I like to take a break from the computer - which means the blog went on the back burner. But, I am back and I promise juicy morsel for your blog-ready pleasure! The J's hosted a nice crowd for Thanksgiving 2006! LJ's Uncle RJ and Aunt KJ along with the J'fy cousins, Aunt ML and Uncle CL along with the L'ft cousins and MawMaw...made for a nice crowd and lots of fun. Everyone had arrived by noon on Thanksgiving Day and we first feasted on deli meats and cheeses, chips and dip, deviled eggs, and KJ's cheese ball. Then there was playing outside, visiting, and football watching (and napping for LJ) until the big dinner.

The Menu:
Fried Turkey
Ham
Garlic and parmesan mashed potatoes
Sweet potato casserole
Green bean casserole
Cranberry sauce
Homemade croissants
Pumpkin pie
Pecan Pie
Homemade whipped cream

My Menu Analysis:
Fried Turkey - cooked too long? It was black when it came out of the fryer...but, it didn't taste bad and the dark meat was yummy (I prefer dark and didn't even taste the white).

Ham - regular ol' ham

Garlic and parmesan mashed potatoes - a bit salty, but yummy

Sweet potato casserole - sooo good! I loved it and I will make it again. Yum!

Green bean casserole - made by J*fer and did not disappoint...excellent!

Cranberry sauce - from a can, as requested...what can I say?

Homemade croissants - MawMaw, Aunt ML and I did a great job and they were loved by all. Children snuck them off the baking sheet and one child hid under the table to eat the contraband (yes, it was my child)

Pumpkin pie - a Thanksgiving staple provided by the J'Fys

Pecan Pie - RKJ says she'll never eat it again...now that she knows what goes in it

Homemade whipped cream - light, fluffy and sweet...as always

I was exhausted at the end of the day and declared there would be no more cooking after breakfast the next day...which consisted of Betsy's Beautiful Breakfast (yummy egg casserole), French Toast Casserole and BACON! Friday after the above mentioned breakfast, we commenced with the Annual Thanksgiving Throw Down. The football game between the Jos and the NoJos was as fiercely competitive as ever. RJ painted a field complete with end zones, yard markers, and a turkey in the middle. The cousins had fun painting the end zones for each team...Jos = Anyone with the last name J'Fy and the NoJos = anyone without the last name J'Fy. It was a tough battle, but with LJ's expert distraction and some last minute scoring by the NoJos - the NoJos cinched the victory. This provided a nice prelude to the other exciting victory that college football provided. Due to the "no cooking rule" I enacted, we ate wings from a famous wingery and burritos from a locally famous burrito-torium for lunch. Dinner = Thanksgiving leftovers. Saturday saw the goodbyes of the family guests - after the J'Fys had a bit of car trouble. We rested and I started to feel as though I was for sure coming down with a cold. I am still stopped-up, but I haven't felt badly for about a week.

Sunday, we went to visit RJ's side of the family and partake in their Thanksgiving leftovers - and then we started the last week of classes for the Fall 2006 semester.

The First Weekend without LJ and More will be the topics of posts later this week...I don't want to give you too much to think about at one time!

Happy 2nd Birthday - Nov 14th, 2006

Tomorrow LJ will be 2 years old. I can't believe it. I was putting some things away yesterday and found some leftover newborn diapers...I can't believe LJ was ever small enough to wear them. But, he is growing up - luckily, it happens gradually, so I don't notice it unless something like a birthday or newborn diapers remind me.

We celebrated with RJ's side of the family yesterday. I billed it as "LJ's Birthday Party". Every time I asked LJ what he wanted for his birthday, he'd say, "cake". I'd ask him what else he wanted, he'd say, "cheese". One time I asked him if he wanted cheese cake and he said, "Noooo" - so he didn't think that sounded too good. His daddy made him a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting - it was goooood!

Whenever I'd ask LJ who he wanted to come to his birthday party, he'd say, "Dora" - so I worked hard to collect Dora party supplies. It was no problem as Dora is EVERYWHERE as discussed in previous blog entries. The trick was collecting these things on the sly so they would be a surprise to LJ.

We put LJ down for his nap on Sunday and then continued the preparations for the lunch the adults were going to have while he slept. Hamburgers, brats, baked beans, chips, queso, veggies, dip, potato salad...the works! After a long lunch, we cleared the table and set up for LJ's Dora party. I bought a white plastic table cloth and put Dora stickers all over it. Then set the Dora napkins, Dora plates, Dora party hats, Dora center piece, and Dora cups on the table and hung the Dora party banner over the door. We put the chocolate cake on the table - no Dora decorations on it and went to wake up little LJ. I don't normally wake him from a nap, but he had been sleeping 3 hours and he's been taking long naps lately (growth spurt?) and the guests were anxious to see the birthday boy. LJ was sound asleep, but he finally woke up and was so excited to see everyone - including Dora!

LJ enjoyed the cake and really loved peeling the stickers off the table cloth and putting them on his clothes. He blew out his "2" candle like a professional and did a great job opening his gifts...and then playing with his gifts. He was happy to have people there to play with him! He thanked everyone with a hug and a kiss and was sorry to see them leave. We left the decorations up so when he came out this morning, he was delighted to see Dora, Diego, and Boots all over again. I'm sure he'll have a great day playing with his toys.

Tomorrow, mommy and daddy will give him the birthday gift we found and we'll have to eat more cake!!

Mote, Mote

LJ asks to watch Dora ALL THE TIME. No joke, he talks about her as though he expects her to walk in the room any minute. Now, I'm not that concerned because he doesn't watch Dora THAT much, but it does get tiring to have to talk about her as though she is real. He loves her though. Sometimes, he says, "Dora" and hands me or RJ the remote and says "mote, mote". If we don't seem to be using it correctly (meaning, to turn on Dora) or if we say, "we aren't going to watch Dora right now", he'll try to push the buttons to make it all work. The odds are slim that he'd actually get Dora on the TV.

Last night, he wanted to watch TV and we said, "not now" and he tried to use the remote. When that didn't work, he picked up RJ's fingers and tried to use them to push the buttons...as if LJ doesn't have the "right fingers", but Daddy does! It still didn't work, but this was hilarious. With this new information, I wonder how LJ thinks the remote works now?

1, 2, 3...

Last Sunday was my day to sleep late...which means I slept until 7:30, while RJ got up with our alarm clock (LJ) at 6:15. When I came out at 7:30, RJ told me that he had exciting news...LJ had counted to 8 earlier. It went something like this:

RJ was changing LJ's diaper (we are no where close to showing interest in potty training) and LJ pointed to his PJ top and said, "car". To which RJ said, "there isn't just one car on your shirt, there are three." And then LJ counted all the way from 1 - 8 all on his own! RJ was very impressed and I was too, but since I hadn't heard it myself...well, I guess I didn't show the appropriate amount of jubilation.

Later in the day, I asked LJ if he wanted to count to ten and then I said, "one" and he repeated. I said, "two" and he repeated - and then he took over from there and counted all the way to 10! It was VERY exciting to hear!

LJ has books that reinforce counting and Dora is always counting things on her adventures, so we are perplexed as to where he learned this. But...he has always said, "two, two, three" when 'counting' so for him to go all the way to 10...well, we just had no idea he had that in his head! Who knows what else is up there that he just won't share?

Cuspids

LJ is finally getting his cuspids...all 4 of them at once it seems. If you refer to the teething chart posted much earlier, you will find that LJ *should* have gotten them between 16 and 18 months. I believe the bottom 2 are supposed to precede the top 2. But, here he is - 23 months old and just now getting his cuspids. According to the chart, he should have gotten his 2nd molars in by now, but I'd imagine those will be late too...surely you must have cuspids first? He has gotten his teeth in the correct order, just no where near the correct time frame.

He is handling it all very well - if you count waking up way too early (5:45 this morning) and being a bit more cranky than usual.

Happy Bithday Daddy!

Today is Daddy's birthday! I'm so excited because Mommy made chocolate cake. It is sitting on the kitchen counter right now. I want to touch it, but I've been a good boy and I haven't tried...yet. Mommy also made Rice Krispy Treats - yummy! We went out yesterday and bought Daddy 2 presents. Mommy let me pick out one all by myself. I hope Daddy likes it. I would like it. This morning, Mommy got out the crayons and paper and let me color a picture for Daddy while she got ready for work. Then, when it was time to wake-up Daddy - I took him my picture. He loved it! Now, I just have to wait for dinner time so I can have some of that chocolate cake!!!!

Love,

LJ

Hi - from LJ

Mommy says that I need to get on here and tell you what is going on with me. We have all been sick. Daddy and I had colds that lasted a while, but Mommy had a cold and a stomach virus. She was really sick for lots of days. She was very sad and begged Daddy to just drop her off at the hospital. Daddy didn't do it though. Instead, he made her eat ice even when she didn't want to eat it. I love ice, so it is strange that Mommy didn't want it. We are all better now, but Mommy and Daddy seem to be working all the time to catch up from the time that Mommy was so sick. I got to watch a lot of Dora, Diego, and Blue's Clues. I like Blue's Clues. My cousins and Aunt KJ and Uncle RJ came to visit. That was fun. They are fun to play with. I am talking more, but I don't sleep as much as I used to. I have to go play now.

Love,

Little Baby J - LJ

4:30 am Playfest

I know some of you out there have experienced this, so I need you to tell me that there is nothing to worry about, no irreversible bad habits are forming, and that this will pass - got it?! Or, you can tell me the truth ;-)

The past 2 nights, LJ has woken up and played at about 4:30. He has the Ocean Wonders Aquarium thingy attached to his crib and he plays it non-stop. He turns it on and on and on and on. The big blue button activates the music, bubbles and lights. If you hit the blue button again, it goes off...or it goes off after 5 minutes - which is when LJ hits the blue button again, and again, and again.


We can hear it, but we have the volume low enough that we can go back to sleep. Anyway, he doesn't call for us and he doesn't cry - he just plays. Come 6:30 - he does call out...that is our normal awake time anyway. I suppose I should just be grateful that he doesn't demand our attention at this time! He seems in a fine mood all day, so he isn't a crank for getting less sleep. He goes down for his nap ok, but he hasn't been sleeping as long as usual (2 hours instead of 3) AND today, he slept about an hour before I started to hear the tell-tale sounds of the aquarium.
I'm starting to have dreams with that freakin' music!

Should we take action or let it ride?

No Boundaries

First, thank you for your patience. School started this week and we are adjusting to our new routine. As always, it'll be fine, but it always takes time to get into the groove.

LJ opens doors now. He has been demonstrating this ability for about a month. He's very proficient at doing it. Oh, and he can unlock them too. Really, this leaves us with 2 choices: 1) figure out a way to reconfigure the knobs so that he can't open them, or 2) discipline and an every-watchful eye. So far, we're going with #2...and it works, pretty well.

The first time the opening of doors was alarming was when we'd just returned from our camping trip. We had tuned into "Dora" and thought LJ would be engrossed (as he always is) enough that RJ and I could go unpack the trailer. As RJ and I are gathering the various items in the trailer, LJ appears in the doorway. This means that he, opened the door to the garage, foraged his way through the garage (not a task just anyone can tackle), and luckily, checked in at the trailer before heading off to some undesirable location. He had broken Dora's spell. With a chorus of "no, no"s, we corralled him back into the house with admonitions concerning the opening of doors.

Since then, we've had to be on our toes so far as the doors go. Blink and LJ is through the hall door and into his room trying to coax blanket and paci through the slats in his crib. There have been only a handful of sessions in the naughty chair that have resulted from door-opening behavior.

Last week, I was blow-drying my hair and LJ was curiously not wreaking havoc in the bathroom. I went to check on him and he was playing with his Legos - what a sweet child. About 3 minutes later, LJ appeared at the bathroom door with a laser level in his hands - offering it to me in hopes that I could "make it work". I knew that he must have been in the garage - AND, I had LOCKED the door. I walk into the kitchen to find the door wide open (such a newbie to this game - he didn't even try to cover his tracks) and there were several glass jars with various fasteners in them neatly lined up on the floor. I'm sure LJ had a great time arranging all of this and I hope he thought of it fondly as he subsequently spent time in the naughty chair.

He hasn't opened the door to the garage since.

We're Back...

We've been out and about for the last week, but we are back and I'm back to work for the Fall 2006 Semester.

Last Saturday, August 5th, we went to visit some moms and toddlers from my online "mommy message board". There are several of us who live within 3 hours of each other, so we get together every so often. It was a lot of fun and LJ had a great time playing with the other kids his age. The message board is for moms of kids born in November 2004, so all the kids are LJ's age. There were lots of toys and there was lots of room, so the kids had a really fun time playing together and the mommies had a fun time talking with each other.

After that we headed down to spend the rest of the weekend with SJ (our niece and LJ's cousin and first "Friday Companion"). She was kind enough to keep LJ for us while RJ and I celebrated our anniversary. We had a nice visit, swam in SJ's pool, ate out, watched Dora, named her frogs and fish (although I don't know if she'll keep the names), and other fun and relaxing things. Monday, we headed home to get reading for phase 2 of vacation.

Tuesday, we got the travel trailer out of storage and spent the rest of the day packing it for our trek to Mount Nebo State Park in Arkansas. We chose this location in hopes that the weather would be a tad bit cooler than it is here. According to the literature, "the temperature at the top of Mount Nebo is ten degrees cooler than Dardanelle (the city at the bottom of the mountain)". It must have been boiling hot in Dardanelle. While it was hot, it wasn't humid and there were no mosquitoes, so we felt pretty good. It took us a bit (say 3 hours) longer to get there than we thought it would, so it is a bit (say 3 hours) too far to go, but we liked it very much so we might just have to put up with a drive that is a bit too far.

We were 1 of 3 families at the campsite, so we pretty much had the park to ourselves. One was in a tent and one was in a pop-up. It is likely that there are more trailers there because you are warned not to take a trailer more than 24 feet long up the mountain. Our trailer is 21 feet long - and warning bells were going off in my head as we were going up the mountain. There are several switchbacks and "hair pin turns" that are rather steep in grade. At one point, they were one right after another and it was a bit scary. RJ had a great time analyzing our ascent and how he would do it differently next time. At 2 points, we lost traction on the back tires of his truck and (he tells me this later...I mean, I realized we lost traction, but I didn't know what he was thinking until he told me) he wasn't sure we would make it up. RJ says if it had rained or been wet at all, we wouldn't have made it. I guess it is a good thing we arrived on Wednesday because it did rain enough to wet the road on Thursday and Friday.

We spent our time relaxing, swimming at the pool, and riding bikes. We bought a bike trailer for LJ - one that RJ attaches to his bike and LJ sits in it as RJ rides him around. We weren't sure the LJ would like it, but he climbed right in and stared chanting, "CHOO CHOO" over and over again. I think he liked it just fine!

And, here we are back to the grind...laundry, grocery store, work, etc.

We Be Chillin'

The title, while grammatically incorrect, is a reference to 80s rap - but, I think it should be You Be Illin'? Anyway...

August 1, 2006 - a day that will live forever in the memory of the J family - the day the central AC was powered up! Get excited people - this is a MAJOR milestone for this house. Do you have any idea how nice it is not to have the window units making their horrible racket? Do you have any idea how nice it is to be able to hear the TV without having to decide between TV and AC after LJ has gone to bed? Do you have any idea how nice it is to be able to sit on the back porch in the afternoon and not feel as though the sun in boring through your skin? Do you have any idea how nice it is to be able to turn on the oven and not think about how many degrees this is going to set you back? Do you???

It was a long road and a tough one to travel. It turns out there is a lot more to installing central AC then I ever imagined. There is a lot of electrical work that has to be done. City Code says that there has to be all kinds of things that we didn't have, receptacles in the attic, lights in the attic, drains from this to that, etc. There are all kinds of calculations to be performed, checked, and rechecked before you go ahead and drill holes in your ceiling and in the side of your house. Never mind that the HVAC industry seems to be operating in the Stone Age (I noticed this and RJ informed me just how un-21st century the industry is)...for example, you use tape to secure the ducts to the vents. Tape! The same technology I use to wrap Christmas presents (ok, ok...that RJ uses to wrap Christmas presents) is the technology used to hold this whole AC system together. Granted, it is advanced tape, but it is still tape. Oh, and you think you are buying the AC unit and that is all you need - ha! If you think that, you are a rookie (as was I). Sure, you need vents and ducts you say. True, but you also have to construct many many many boxes out of fiber glass board-like stuff and you have to TAPE all these boxes together and make all kinds of things poke out of these boxes. Make boxes? Crazy, if you ask me.

But, you know what the most amazing part of this whole process has been...how unbelievable smart and capable RJ really is. He did it all - with help from his brothers and his father - and he knew how to do it. There is some serious electrical and plumbing work involved...RJ figured out what he had to do and then knew how to do it. Then, there is the whole HVAC component - RJ knew how to do it. He and his brothers would talk about this, that, and the other - and I'd be so impressed at how much they know about something that is not their occupation...not even close to their occupation. It is just so amazing how much LJ's father knows - I hope that LJ will take an interest in learning from his father.

Next order of business - take the window units out of the windows and look at a view we've not seen!

New Toys

LJ and I had a little extra money to spend, so we took a trip to the toy store. First of all, LJ can spot Dora and Diego from a mile away. He was saying "Dora" and over and over, so I'd look around and there would be a tiny key chain with Dora on it...how he spotted it I'll never know. Later, he says "Dora" again...I look around and can't find her anywhere. He keeps saying it, so I look harder this time - she is on an old, half-deflated, Mylar balloon wedged in a light on the ceiling. Wow! I've gotta hand it to LJ and his super-Dora vision.

I was happy to see that they now have a selection, albeit very limited, of Diego things...backpack, lunch box, action figure, animal rescue center - but, we did not buy any Diego paraphernalia. I went with a purpose and only got side-tracked by one thing.

My purpose

To buy a wooden train set like the one LJ played with and Aunt ML's house. LJ seems to really like trains lately and I thought he might enjoy having a set with which to play. We brought it home, but waited until he went to bed to set it up. This morning, we told him he had a surprise in the playroom, so he ran out, saw the set and yelled "choo choo" with much excitement!



The Side-tracker
I thought LJ might enjoy a Viewmaster, so that he could see Dora, Diego, and other cool things in 3-D. Have you tried to find a regular, run-of-the-mill, plain-ol' Viewmaster lately? It is impossible. They are all projectors or you insert some thing in it make it animated - really high tech stuff. I found a "gift set" which includes a plain Viewmaster, but has some extra disks...and, it is Dora. Can't go wrong, right? Well, there is only one and from the looks of the box, it has been submerged in water and tossed around the storeroom a few times. But, I decide to buy it anyway. I get to the register and say, "I don't know what happened to this" - she rings it up and it costs 1 cent! Fantastic! I was so excited...1 cent. LJ kind of gets what he's supposed to do, but this morning, he realized you can take the disk out. He disappeared with it for a while...I found it in the DVD player, but I think that is pretty smart actually.


Water Babies - he didn't get upset on Tuesday...until I put him underwater. He only stayed upset until I got the water out of his eyes. The rest of the class, he had a great time. RJ took him today and they played in the baby pool. From what I hear, LJ liked that - he could walk the whole time, but he did fall as he walked to the deeper water and became more buoyant.